You already do something without thinking that other people get stuck on, and you have probably filed it under not a big deal. This tool runs the "you do you, boo-boo" audit from the episode on that thing: what comes completely natural for you, and where you can go give it away, so you can test it in front of real people instead of assuming it is ordinary. Jess found hers by giving away the blank note template she builds for herself at every event, and strangers in a room of nearly 400 women started calling her the notes lady before she had met them. She blames her mother, an English teacher, and her father, an engineer. Run the audit on the thing you already do, and pick one room to give it away in.
Step 1: Name the obvious thing
The first audit question: what comes completely natural for you that could be special for somebody else? What do you do without being asked, without hardly thinking about it? What costs you next to nothing, so you filed it under not a big deal? What have people already asked you to share?
Step 2: Strip it down to two drops
Drop 1 shows people how you start. Drop 2 shows them how you finish. Jess's drop 1 was the blank template, speaker list, agenda, book links, no content. Drop 2 was the same thing filled in with her actual notes.
Leave all of this out. Jess built her whole system from her phone in bed, holding a sleeping kid. No developer, no designer, no tutorials. Check off each thing you are leaving out.
0 of 6 left out.
Step 3: Pick the room
The second audit question: where can you go give it away? One group of people. One place to drop it. Jess's room was the event group chat thread, and the drop went in before she ever got to Kelowna.
Your giveaway test
The thing: (name it in step 1)
Kind: (pick one above, or skip it)
Drop 1, the blank container: (describe it in step 2)
Drop 2, the filled-in version: (describe it in step 2)
The room: (pick it in step 3)
Stripped: 0 of 6 left out.
After the drop, watch what comes back
Skills prove themselves through response, not through feelings. These are the responses Jess got in Kelowna. Check off each signal as it happens.
0 signals so far.
No signals yet. The test needs a room and a drop before it can answer.
You do not need a massive documented strategy for this. You just need to go do the test and get the data.
FAQ
What is the "you do you, boo-boo" audit?
It is a quick two-question audit. Question one: what is something that comes completely natural for you that could be special for somebody else? Question two: where can you go give it away? The phrase is the one Jess uses when she trains coaches in the I Love Coaching Co. community, and the whole point is showing up as yourself, which Jess calls one of the most underused, underrated strategies people have. You do not need a perfect offer, a custom QR code, or a discount code specific to the event. You need the thing you already do, and one room to give it away in.
Why does the thing that makes you stand out feel so ordinary?
Because it costs you next to nothing. Something you do without effort that other people find themselves stuck on gets filed mentally away under not a big deal, right next to everything else you assumed anyone could do if they tried. That filing system is wrong in more places than it is right. Jess never once thought of her note-taking as a skill. It was just what her brain does, and it was detailed enough that more than one person at the event asked if she had used AI to build it.
Why give away the blank version first?
Because the container and the content prove different things. Give away the blank version first, empty except for the structure, and people see how you start. Give away the filled-in version after and they see how you finish. The blank one does the introducing: people who grabbed it walk up to you already knowing your work, from the first morning of the event. Jess ran the test in two parts, the blank template before the event and her filled-in notes after, and roughly 10 to 15 percent of the group opted into the blank one before she ever got to Kelowna.
How do you know if the thing is actually rare or valuable?
You put it in front of people and watch what comes back. Cal Newport makes the case in So Good They Can't Ignore You that you should not chase passion as a starting point, because passions do not announce themselves in advance. The thing that comes first is a rare or valuable skill. And you only find out if something is rare by putting it in front of people and letting them give you feedback. People are the ones who give it attention or build trust. A real conversation is the filtering mechanism. Skills prove themselves through response, not through feelings.
What does "strip it down" actually mean?
It means the plainest version that still works, with nothing bolted on. No branding, no funnel, no web pages or automations. No custom landing page, no design work, no Canva doc, no QR code, no developer, no designer, no tutorials to record. One shareable document, with /copy at the end of the link instead of /edit or /view, so people make their own copy in one click and you never get a permission request. One opt-in form, one automated email as soon as they click send, and the form URL behind a subdomain on your own site so you never have to remember it. Jess built her whole system that way, from her phone in bed, holding her sleeping kid. That was the system.
What if walking up to strangers is the hard part?
Then give something away before you ever get in the room. Let what you give away do the introduction, so conversation is easier for you before you are ever standing in the room, and connections come from value you already provided. Jess did not get braver the second year. She gave away her notes in advance and let them do the introducing, after a first year spent mostly with the three people she knew and hiding in her hotel room at lunch.
Go deeper
In Episode 24, Jess tells the story of her second year at the Pink Skirt Project Summit in Kelowna, hosted by Renee Warren, a room of nearly 400 women where she knew maybe three people going in. The first year had given her something she did not know she was missing, a real sense of identity outside of titles or roles other people had handed to her. This year she went back clear on how she wanted to show up and the specific impact she wanted to have, and when speakers talked about purpose and alignment and impact, she felt affirmed instead of behind. The idea for the test showed up while she was snuggling in bed with a sick kid during naptime: if she always gave away the finished notes for free, maybe the structure underneath them would help somebody else too. She gave away the blank template before the event and the filled-in notes after, and walked out two days later with far more phone numbers, coffee dates, and real opportunities than she expected. The tool above runs the same test on the thing you already do. The episode tells you why the notes worked: they were real and honest, with no agenda attached.
Listen to Ep 24: You're Already Doing It (So Stop Thinking You're Behind)
Book referenced: So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport
"I walked into Pink Skirt as a speaker and a coach, and I walked out the notes lady. And it turns out that might have been the best business card I never meant to make."
Related
- Episode 28: You're Not Behind (You're Just Waiting for Permission) Stop building in isolation and wondering why it does not land. The conversation comes before you feel ready, and permission only comes from other people.
- Episode 39: Say It Plainly (Drop the Title, Say What They Get) In that room, Jess said she was a speaker and a coach and let people ask follow-up questions. One sentence earns the next question. The Next Question Test runs on the same instinct.
- Episode 37: Identity Is Built. Community Is Too. (20 Years to Realize) The first Pink Skirt year gave Jess an identity outside the titles other people handed her. Identity and community get built together, and neither one happens alone in a room.
Big Ideas Made Simple is a weekly podcast for entrepreneurs and fast thinkers building a business around who they are and how they operate. Hosted by Jess Webber. New episodes Mondays at bigideasmadesimple.captivate.fm.
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