STAGE TWO: SCAN — RESOURCES
OVERVIEW
Scan by researching new and related skills, talking to other people, and mapping out potential opportunities.This is the exploration phase: oftentimes the scanning phase involves doing research, identifying and plugging knowledge and skill gaps, and having a wide variety of conversations with an expanded network, without falling into analysis-paralysis or compare-and-despair. Scanning includes: people, skills, and opportunities.
PODCASTS
TEMPLATES
- Opportunity Grid Brainstorm: Scan and pilot with a plan; this template will help you brainstorm potential skills, people and projects.
- Plan Your Next Career Move: This template will help you start to lift the fog on your career — it breaks down various categories within a job or career (location, company size, type of work, etc), and provides space for you to brainstorm a list of must-haves, nice-to-haves, and can’t stands for each area.
- Network Email Mad-Lib Template: This template outlines exactly how to reach out to your network once you’re clear on what you want to do next, and what you bring to the table. Simply fill-in the blanks, personalize, and voilà! You’re ready to send to your inner circle so they can help keep feelers out for you.
- Meet Market: Moving to a new area? This template will help you brainstorm ways to meet new people.
- Mentor/Network Tracker: Track contact info of people you meet that you want to follow-up with. No need to refer back to business cards – info is easily accessible online (& centralized). Skim through your list every few months & follow-up.
- Mastermind Best Practices, Facilitator Guidelines, and Group Discussion Template: Guidelines for setting up a mastermind group with peers, and an optional discussion template that you can modify before meetings to share updates.
- Bartering Best Practices: Pointers for swapping services with friends without exchanging money; brainstorm what you could give and receive; identify what factors will help a specific barter proposal feel fair for both sides.
- Professional Development Strategy: This template has three strategy areas: Your Vision (brainstorm about desired impact, what you want to do & have), The What (skills, knowledge, education, experience), and The How (quarterly benchmarks & resources).
- Platform/Niche Brainstorming & Attracting Ideal Clients: Worried that the market you want to serve is too big? Too small? This worksheet will help take your intended audience from fuzzy generalizations to a clear, specific description that will allow you to become discoverable to your ideal clients (and help friends and family better spread the word).
- Ideal Business Design and Action Plan Template: This template will help you outline your high-level business goals (schedule, finances, “red carpet” offering) and guide you to create an action-plan to make it happen.
BOOKS
- So Good They Can't Ignore You
- The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies
- Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want
- Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
- Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success
- Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following
- To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others
- Your Network Is Your Net Worth: Unlock the Hidden Power of Connections for Wealth, Success, and Happiness in the Digital Age
- The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything . . . Fast!
- The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life
- The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
- The Education of Millionaires: Everything You Won't Learn in College About How to Be Successful
- Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence
- How to Work a Room
- Getting There: A Book of Mentors
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
OTHER
- Momentum Community: A private community for smart, creative, driven solopreneurs, side-hustlers and HGNIs. With Momentum, you will get access to all my best tools, templates and resources, as well as the ability to ask me anything and collaborate with others.

This is one of my favorite conversations in five years of podcasting — AND I made the silly error of not checking my inputs when switching over to Zoom for this one! 🤦🏻♀️ Forgive me, and I hope you’ll bear with the audio on my side to hear the many priceless gems from CrisMarie Campbell and Susan Clarke, two instant friends who I know you will love as much as I do!
We talk about why conflict is necessary to move past mediocrity, tools for tough conversations, calming ourselves when triggered and tempted to use familiar (unhelpful) coping mechanisms, and why courage = vulnerability + curiosity.
Get full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/240 »
🎙Last call to join us! My 3-hour live (He)art of Podcasting Masterclass is tomorrow, June 25 at 10am ET. Register for the live masterclass here »