Dennis Yu

Bad business decisions from good statistics

I charge a premium for consulting.  
Clients pay for your years of experience, not how many minutes you spent on an issue.

If you were to compare a jet aircraft versus a Greyhound bus, you might conclude the cross-country trip of 3 days and 2 hours (74 hours) is a great deal for $289.
That’s only $3.91 per hour.

United has this trip for $213 and the trip takes 5 hours and 6 minutes non-stop.
That’s $41.76 per hour, which is 10 times as much.

But unless you really want to see America’s highways and truck stops, I’ll bet you prefer the direct flight.
It’s cheaper, too.

Stephen Curry, NBA MVP this season, made $10,629,213 last year.
Over 82 regular season games (not counting playoffs and not counting endorsement earnings), that’s $129,622 per game.
At 32.7 minutes per game, that’s $3,964 per minute.

If the Warriors hired me for $3,964 per hour— I’d be a heck of a deal, right?

So consider your fee relative to your value, not how much time you spend.
Otherwise, you have an incentive to take longer, so you can charge more.

Secret knowledge hidden in plain sight

Many folks have criticized me for openly sharing digital marketing techniques in blog posts instead of charging.
I’m not Steph Curry– nobody is going to pay $120 to wear a jersey with my name on it.

But I can tell you where the value comes from knowing which technique to use in their particular situation.
You can buy a toolbox of hammers, pliers, and nails for cheap.
But the carpenter is not– and the architect is an order of magnitude more than that.

Knowing what hammer to use is more valuable than having the hammer.
The blueprint is more valuable than the technique.

If you put your techniques on public display, then others can see for themselves if they work.
So ironically, the more you share your knowledge (assuming it’s probably good), the more you’re worth it.
The blueprint is something you design for a client’s unique situation– and they pay you for the know-how, not the cost of the drafting paper.

Emeric Ernoult is a long-time “builder”, and shared his thoughts with us:

In today’s crowded and noisy world, there is only one way to make it. It is to stand out because what people see from you is unique, helpful and insightful. It is to be recognized as an expert in your niche.

It takes an awful lot of time to build, it’s very difficult and not everybody can do it but that’s why those who can will win!
Being a recognized expert requires 4 key component which are all very hard to do:
  • Strengthen your practicing a lot. You can only become an expert if you are a practitioner (Jon Loomer is a great example for that matter)
  • Love that thing you want to be known for (you’re gonna do a LOT of it, better love it!)
  • Make sure you document what you do and learn and share it with others (blog, tweet, go to conferences, don’t keep your learning for yourself)
  • Be patient. It will take time. But it will pay off, eventually

Back to basketball– if TV cameras didn’t exist, NBA-type salaries wouldn’t be possible.

The biggest audience you could get is however many people could fit in a stadium physically.

Electronic media creates a bigger stage and greater demand.

And likewise, in the digital arena (or whatever you do professionally), the fact that anyone can find and more easily consume your content means that you can more easily extract your true worth.

If you want to take it to the next level, you distill your knowledge into a set of rules that a computer can follow.
That’s called software– and it’s the automation of things that you’d otherwise do manually if you had the time and know-how.
Passive income and SaaS (Software as a Service) models depend upon knowledge built into a recurring revenue model.

The consultant is now replaced by an intelligent tool– self-driving cars, humanless factories, and social media management software.
Have you considered systematizing your knowledge into software or even a franchisable way of operations?

Consider if you could have a thousand Steph Curries running around.
I guess I’d settle for a million George Foreman’s– plenty of royalties there.

So are you charging by the hour or by your expertise?
Are you selling time or selling value?

I hope I don’t see you on Greyhound any time soon.
Preferably in the Admirals Club at a major airport.

If you’ve gotten this far, you probably know I’m explaining another angle of the triangle called CCS (content > checklist > software).


It’s one of the 9 triangles that undergird all I know– specifically that great content is borne of direct execution and that this execution can be packaged into automatable checklists, which become software.

The content producers are working by the hour in a world that is driving content cost down to zero– the best guys don’t charge, so what is your fee?

The checklist people are smart consultants who use processes to scale their agencies and produce machines at low cost– let Big Blue do your marketing, too.

But the winners of the game are the captains of software since they sell the blueprints to the robot makers for maximum leverage.

This a parable for you on how to go from worker bee to Queen.

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations. You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel. You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.
I'm a member of Blitzmetrics Academy and a friend of Dennis to boot. Not only is Dennis highly intelligent and full of great and creative ideas, he's also incredibly generous with both his knowledge and his time. Success couldn't come to a better guy. Thank you for all that you do for the world, Dennis! 🙏

Michael Pacheco

Marketer

Thanks 🙏 for being shining light in this industry. Love what your building for works overseas too network for jobs so innovative. Dennis helped me navigate having bad experiences with marketing agencies and doing dollar a day marketing which has helped my personal brand tremendously. Highly recommend.

Eric Skeldon

Founder at Kingdom Broker

Working with Dennis has been a delightful experience. After meeting him in 2015 I got to collaborate with him on countless occasions. His understanding for state-of-the-art marketing, his implementation, and his leadership put him into the top 0.01% of marketers and mentors.

Jan Koch

Ihr kompetenter Partner für innovative KI-Strategien.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dennis for my podcast in 2021 and since then we have maintained a friendship that grows with each interaction. I have seen Dennis' devotion to his friends and clients firsthand, and our conversations often result in us talking about how we can provide more value to the people around us. He is someone whom I can ask questions on a technical level, and look to on a personal level. If you have any hesitancy about hiring him, get over yourself and do it!

Isaac Mashman

Help scaling personal brands.

Geez, where do I start recommending Dennis? First, he is an absolutely brilliant marketer who understands where marketing is today and where it's going tomorrow. He also has an incredible passion for the International Worker community. The lessons he has taught me from his almost 20 years of experience hiring International Workers have been immense. Most importantly though. Dennis Yu is someone who wants the absolute best for you and is willing to tell you the truth. Dennis sat with me at a point in my business where I was floundering but did not want to admit it. He asked some very straight forward questions to get me to admit my issues, highlighted the issues, and then helped me create a roadmap to success.

Atiba de Souza

International Keynote Speaker | Video Content Superman | Superconnector |

Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will notr regret Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will not regret

Nixon Lee

The PR Whisperer

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