The law of least effort

In this episode, we dive deep into the cosmic dance between business and spirituality. 

We explore the Law of Least Effort and it's profound implications for your business journey. Discover how embracing convenience can turbocharge your growth, why making buying easier is the key to customer satisfaction and how to shift your business mindset to prioritize convenience for your customers. 

We discuss the concept of cognitive ease and it's role in simplifying business processes, as well as strategies for streamlining operations to optimize the customer experience.

Join us as we navigate the ever-changing landscape of customer preferences and learn to trust the universe to guide us towards business success.

You can find Ané and Stacey on Instagram at:
Ané - @ane.mgmnt
✦ https://www.instagram.com/mgmnt__/
https://msha.ke/anemgmnt

Stacey - @barefootbranding
✦ instagram.com/barefootbranding
🌐 barefootbranding.academy
https://barefootbranding.academy/eyes-above-waitlist/

Visit us here: 🌐 trustingtheuniverseandshit.com
Email us: 📩 hello@trustingtheuniverseandshit.com

Intro music by Tyler Dixon from @tones.on.toast - tonesontoast.com

Transcript

Stacey: 0:04

Like, I really wanted to do it the complicated way, but you don't need to, it doesn't have to be hard. It doesn't always have to be hard.

Ané: 0:12

how many times do we have a little bit of a fixed mindset or fixed way of working? If you just soften into that skill you can actually end up. Getting so much growth from just surrendering to the process

Stacey: 0:47

Hello, and welcome to episode 47 of trusting in the universe and shit. It's N a and I here today.

Ané: 0:55

Hello everyone. Welcome. Welcome to another episode.

Stacey: 0:59

So today we're going to be talking about something very juicy. We're going to be talking about the law of least effort. So this sounds very like, Ooh, intriguing. What is that? So what is the law of least effort and how can we apply this to our customers? Two. Grow our businesses make more money. Make it easier on ourselves as well.

Ané: 1:23

I'm really excited for this cause like, as we know, convenience is probably the number one thing that our generation really values. I mean, we can get anything from our fingertips and we literally don't ever have to leave the house. Which is pretty scary if you think about it, but also yeah, convenient. So like we want to just riff on that and yeah, give you guys some insight of some stories and stuff that we've, we can share about the, whether it's easy to make things hard or simple. Mm hmm, mm hmm,

Stacey: 2:03

Okay. So I'm heading to Japan soon. And I yesterday, I went on to buy my airport train ticket and a three-day subway pass. And you think, okay. Yeah, I'll just buy my ticket. You know how in Australia, we just, when, when you leave the airport, you just go to the thing and you buy a ticket, they give it to you at the bus terminal, and then you just. Get on the Boston. It's done. When buying this ticket from on the train in Japan, not only are there multiple, multiple options. But I also, there was, I had to put in my name, my agenda, my address. Actually, no, that's not right. I didn't put in my address, my name, my agenda, my. Dates the times that I'm traveling. And then I put in all the information from the terminal to. The train station I'm going to be getting off at. And then what they do is they send you an email. The email is half in Japanese, half in English, so you can't really read it. You just kind of click the link and hope for the best you click the link. And then it sends you back over to the same website. With the pain section. So in order for all this to happen, just to get the train to the city. You have to put in all this information and everything in Japan is like this. Like you have to have physical tickets transferred. From you've already bought your ticket, but you have to go and get your physical tickets. There are so many. Things, I feel like in Japan that are displaying this, and it's kind of cute in a really weird way. Like it's not, it's very steeped in the old world. And. It's quite. Yeah, it's quite cute. But. It's also funny because I, after I bought this. Th this three-day train ticket and the. The the airport ride. It's sent me an email and I said to my partner, I didn't even know if I bought the right thing. I there's no way to know. The emails off in Japanese

Ané: 4:00

my god,

Stacey: 4:02

I can't really tell if I bought the right thing.

Ané: 4:05

yeah, yeah,

Stacey: 4:07

it's this kind of convenience that we're going to be talking about today of making things easier for your customers. So, This is something that we all want to be doing. We want to be making easier for people. If we're, if we're trying to grow with thinking, I really want to make more money. I want to help more people. Because ultimately that's what we want to be doing. We want to be helping more people and that's how we're going to be growing and making more money. And once we do that, We get to a point where everything is very smooth and everything is functioning in a really, in a really easy way. So. I want to introduce this concept from this guy, his name's Daniel Conaman and he wrote the book thinking fast and slow. So he was a famous psychologist and he won the Nobel prize in economics. And so yeah, he calls this the law of least effort. So you're providing your customers cognitive ease. So they have actually done studies on this and I may have already spoken about this on the last episode, but as a refresher, in case you didn't listen to that. They did a study on all of these bottles on the shelf. Shampoos and things, and the higher, the amount of choice people had. The hotter it was for them to make that choice. So it's the amount of choice, but it's also the ease and convenience. So it's those two separate things. So we have the convenience of something and then we also have this. This yeah, we have the convenience and then we also have the just the, like the cognitive, the cognitive load. Like the psychological cognitive load of making a choice. So having those multiple multiple choices. Makes it less and less people will buy the more choices that they have. So this is, this is just providing that cognitive ease for people. And it helps people to make. So you are helping people to make that choice. If you reduce the amount of offers you have, for example, in your business.

Ané: 6:11

to understand correctly, you're saying that there's like If you have those two phases, or not even phases, but options or sections, then there is a higher chance that people will be in your, I guess, Product or business or service just because you've given them the convenience of being there. And also the choice isn't so great that they just don't choose. I mean, we've spoken about this too, right? Like, so when there's a gazillion choices of like cereal, you just end up not buying any because you're like, well, I don't even know which one's the best one. So it's like,

Stacey: 6:49

Yeah. Or you just buy the one that you have had, you've been buying even though maybe there's a way better option. It's cheaper. It's more convenience, close to your house. Then the one that. You just buy because you're in a habit of doing it.

Ané: 7:04

And it's funny that you mentioned about that because with everything in Japan, like you're saying with like booking, like they've probably run this system for hundreds of years. Well, when the internet was out, I guess, and they were just like, haven't updated it. Don't need to. And you're like, actually could, could be helpful for us who is traveling and wanting to buy the train ticket. Right. And whether or not that's an. Intentional, unintentional way of not getting too many travelers in, which is fair enough, because.

Stacey: 7:38

Yeah,

Ané: 7:38

that could be another option too.

Stacey: 7:40

Because I saw somebody, they, so even though I've done all these steps, I still have to go and exchange it for a physical ticket. Which is fine because you have to put it through the train slots. I totally get that. But somebody said they waited 40 minutes in line to get this ticket. And it's because of so many people and everything. Right. But I just think, especially when it, yeah, when it comes to Japan, things are so much more convoluted than they need to be. And if we, as business owners, most of us have online businesses. Where we want to try to keep our choices to. Maybe three kind of choices on a page. So, you know, when you're on a website and you see. Best known most popular option and they bold it and it's like in the middle. And then they have like beginning one and then a pro version. So the reason they're doing that is because they just want to give people three options in that said any more than that and the sales go down. So you want to have just those. Minimal options. Because people get confused the more and more you add. So if you have tons and tons and tons of products, Sometimes it's going to lead to overwhelm and maybe it's time to think about retiring some products that don't really fit. The journey that your customers go on. So if they're sort of going on a journey and it doesn't really make sense for it to fit, it might benefit you to remove something. For example, rather than just to continue adding more and more stuff.

Ané: 9:06

So with, it's funny that you mentioned about like the two to three option max, because I've noticed another way that people try and sort of put customers and clients and like the right pathway of their service by doing like a quiz. I've seen that a lot, you know, so they have like a, cause let's be real. Like we've spoken about this too. Sometimes the problem that clients come to us about is only a fraction of the problem. And there's another problem that's there as well. And it's sort of like this two to three solution base thing that we provide for them. And so I've seen this as well. This is something that you guys could potentially do. as well. And I'm thinking of doing it is having a bit of a quiz. So this quiz could lead to, you know, having a few of those problems. And then whether That's a yes, no answer, it will come up with the next step. Question about the next set of problems that that type of archetype is having, or that client is having. And not only will this help you figure out what exactly service they would need from you, but it. will also help them understand sort of the solution they're after. And it'll take them to the right sort of email sequence that you're trying to get them to. So that's like a really, really good, Yeah. just like a, Hack, I would say. And at first when I saw these quizzes, I was like, that's so silly. Like, why would you do this? But hello, we've been doing surveys for gazillions of years, like for this exact reason. Like you're getting feedback back. You're also understanding like what they are after and you can like implement for your content or whatever. Like there's just so many win wins from this. And so, Yeah. I think that's one, one way that you can, Yeah. work smarter in a way and figure out the the problems for your

Stacey: 10:58

Yeah. So it's, it's that? Problem. Solving portion of what you're doing in your business. So I've set up a few quizzes for clients and. It's even if you're thinking, okay, that's a bit too complicated for me now. I can't really think my way through creating a quiz. There's another way that you can sort of do it. That's that gives you this similar results. So. If you, in your email newsletter, you can have people click on a thing and say, what would you like the most help with and give them a couple of options and then have them click on, oh, I really want help with like sales or I really want help with. My funnels or whatever it is, and then have them click that. And then that will put that we'll tag them and put them in a specific bucket. So essentially we're having them. You know, we're solving their problem for them easier. So it's making easier for them. So quiz we'll do that too. So you're making it easier for them to say, this is the exact solution for your problem. Here you go. So it's not like we're leaving it up to them to make the choice. So it's a perfect example that you said with quizzes, because we're not saying, okay, well, you know, do you have this problem? Do you have this problem? Do you have this problem? We're going no, here, here is your problem. Here's my solution for that problem. So it makes it very easy for you to sell to that person because you know exactly what it is that they need help with.

Ané: 12:19

Yeah. yeah. And also on that note, like before when we were speaking about how, you know, sometimes It is complicated and like with Japan intakes and stuff like it can be complicated and at the start when you were like saying how it's like you can kind of be cute like with all of this like complications and you know places it's taking you. I also think, I also want to emphasize that it's okay that if you have a bit of a complicated side of business, It's okay. Like you, sometimes you need those complications to happen, to then refine it and then create these quizzes or create, like you said, like a bit of a, not an intake form, but a bit of a form where they can click what service they'd like, or what they're struggling with in your email marketing. Like all of these things are kind of adding to the story of your business journey, you know what I mean? Like what you're saying. And so. I mean, obviously, like we know at the start, like everything was all over the place and thank goodness people were still coming through and giving us a little bit of feedback, like feedback is really good to get to then refine and and shift it and it doesn't have to be this huge like restructure thing, you know, it can be as simple as a quiz or simple as, Yeah. sending an email out to your to your audience and asking a few questions.

Stacey: 13:39

I think where it becomes a problem is when you get an, I know this because I do this myself. I get a sense of satisfaction when I complete something really complicated. Like the way I used to install a website used to. Take me when I first learned it used to take me maybe 40 minutes. And then I knocked that down to 20 minutes because I did it more and I got so much better at it. And then one day. They went and brought in the one click install. And I was like, Hide it. I was like, no. I had my system. I had my process, I followed my process. I really liked my process because I felt like I had accomplished something that was quite complicated. And I, and I. And this skill and they took that away from me. So I feel like that's where it can become detrimental because you become stuck. In feeling the satisfaction of something. Because it was complicated. And then you go, ah, Like, I really wanted to do it the complicated way, but you don't need to, it doesn't have to be hard. It doesn't always have to be hard.

Ané: 14:44

Yeah, Oh, I, that's so funny that you mentioned that like, it's so true. Like how many times do we have a little bit of a fixed mindset or fixed way of working? And like you've mentioned before, like it, it actually, if you just like soften into that skill or whatever, you can actually end up. Getting so much growth from just surrendering to the process, like you're saying, and just doing it this new way. And yeah, it may be a little bit tricky to readjust and adjust your ways, but then it's actually saving you at least a couple of hours a week of that. You know, process of the work which is interesting because that so many of us do that in business and as business owners, like I see them all the time. It's like sometimes they get so stuck and they're fixed in this one way of doing stuff and then like, as we will do, we'll reflect and we'll refine on, you know, show them perceptions of different systems and processes we can add. And at first they're like, no, but I've been doing it this way for gazillion years. But then once they start implementing the new way, yeah, there's a bit of an adjustment period, but then it actually saves them so much time in the long term.

Stacey: 15:54

Yeah, absolutely. And there are countless examples I have for this, but I'll just give the one of me going to the hospital that. Is where I normally get a blood test. So I normally go to this hospital. It's further from my house and I need to go. But I've just always gone there and I'm used to it. I know where the stairs are. I know where to park. Today. I thought I only have a short amount of time. Let's put in the effort. To find somewhere closer and to see if it will be more beneficial, even though it was causing me the effort. So I was weighing up the effort. Versus the pattern. So the pattern of me just going and doing what I'm normally doing. So it's almost like this bandwidth in my head, the cognitive load of it versus the cognitive load of doing something new. And when I did it, the new way. It took a little bit of cognitive effet, but in terms of the time saved was huge. So it probably saved me an hour just to just the quick two minutes I did when I. I searched up where it was. So sometimes we're resisting doing something new because we know the cognitive effort is going to be. You know, a bit of a chunk of cognitive effort. And maybe sometimes we overestimate it. Like we think it's going to be a huge, big thing. But maybe it isn't going to be that big. And then we are overestimating how much. You know of that bandwidth is going to take up and maybe it isn't and we've just, we're just like blowing it up in our heads, thinking it's going to be this huge, big deal.

Ané: 17:30

Yes, and I like that you gave the example of something so well relatable firstly and secondly that it's like not really to do with business per se because sometimes like ask yourself this question like is this effort because it's a new way of doing it or is it because it's actually the harder way of doing it, you know what I mean, and see what comes through and try It I think it's easy to start by doing it with like, yeah, like life things, admin life things, and then build yourself up with your business stuff. I know I have a client and she does like, just like how we have the wheel of life. She's got the wheel of business and she uses this about three to six months every year. Well, three, six periods of time to figure out, you know, the gaps in her business. What's sticky, what, what can be. Evolved what, what needs to be refined. And this is pretty much what you're saying. It's like, are we, am I going to use my effort of change here? Or am I going to use my effort of hardness and struggle? And sometimes you'll be surprised with the answers that you get. So definitely try that. I love, I love that story.

Stacey: 18:38

It was just mind blowing to me because I thought, I can't believe I've been doing this. This really difficult way. Time time and this way was faster. It was, it was closer to my house. It was really nice. It was like, oh, Hey, I've. And I had all pretty plants in there and they. I just thought, oh my God, I've been so stupid.

Ané: 18:57

And the thing is, is we're actually quite mutable, like with our sign that we are and mutable is all about change. Like we, we don't struggle too much with like change per se, like we can be okay with shifting, but I know there's other people that. really struggle with change and shifting their ways, but it is there for a reason. Like, like we say, I mean, if it's a sign that it's too hard or you feel depleted or burnt out, like maybe it's time to shift a few things. And so this is just, yeah, these are just some examples that we're giving you guys to try.

Stacey: 19:33

So we're saying, how can you make it easier for somebody to buy from you? Because you're doing a disservice to them. If you don't. You're making it harder for them. To help themselves through whatever your product or services. So we want to make it as easy for them. So what you're creating and putting out into the world is going to have a big impact. And so you need to show them. How you need to show them and explain to them. Why they need this product, why they need to be helped. And I have another example, sir. You know, when you're the movies and you get your popcorn and you get your drink and. Apparently the popcorn costs, the popcorn cardboard box costs more than the popcorn itself from the movies. I don't know if anybody knew that, but this is. This is, this is the case. So you go there, right? It's it's way more expensive than you go to the supermarket. But it's just the convenience of you and the ease of you getting it. And it's there. It's sort of. You go in, you smell the popcorn, you get the popcorn in your drink and it costs you, you know, 20 bucks probably cost you more these days. I don't know. But alternatively, what could you do? You could go to the supermarket, you could buy a Coke. You could take a cup of ice. You could. I know this cause this is my mom. My partner does. You buy a cup of ice, you know, and you take the cup of ice in your, like, you know, your thermos cup. You pour it in, in the movies and you know, you make a snack at home. But how much effort is that going to take you? Most people will opt for the convenience of something and they will pay more for it. So, you know, the cost of a mechanic Herrick, depending on where it is, will change, depending on if it's at the supermarket, if it's in the fridge or the supermarket, it's cost more than if it's on the shelf. If it's at a festival it's going to cost small, it's the same product. But just where it's located will completely change the press. So sometimes we've got to think about, okay, it's not just the value of the product as well. It's the convenience and the deliverability of, of how you're getting that to somebody you're making it really easy for them to consume. Maybe that's going to factor into your price too, and not just the value of the product itself.

Ané: 21:49

Yeah. I like, I like that you brought that up and if you guys listened to the money episode, then I kind of like can intertwine with that too, because where are you have leaky money energy? Because this can be one of them, right? Like if you just took a little bit more effort to make your own snacks, maybe you're gluten intolerant anyway, so you have to prioritize these things anyway, so have your own snacks and stuff For the movies. It's the same way as if you had to If you end up just paying 30, 40 bucks, I think it was like, it's so, it's so crazy. Like how expensive movies are now, it's like a luxury now. It's not even

Stacey: 22:30

Yeah.

Ané: 22:31

you know and that's fine. If that's, if you like to have that experience and have the luxury to You know, pay that and have this jumbo size things and, you know, you're going to indulge all of it, then go for your life, then that's fine. But if you're just doing it for the sake of doing it and you're not really like enjoying it or whatever, and you can't spare another 10 minutes beforehand to make your own meals, then Yeah. look at that and see if you can like shift that a little bit. But I love, I love that. I can just imagine your partner have like the ice and like the moment. Like bottle and just like go to the baby's mom with ice in it. So funny. So funny. I love it.

Stacey: 23:11

For sure. It is pretty funny, but yeah, it is this idea of how can we maybe make it more convenient for people to buy. How can we make that process for them? Just, oh, that was effortless. Like I was, yeah. I do want to consume this because maybe you're thinking to yourself like, oh, I don't know if anybody wants this. Like, I don't know I've made it. I sort of posted about it a couple of times to send a bunch of emails, but I'm just like not getting this kind of feedback that I want. Maybe it's not because your product isn't good. Maybe it's just not. Easy enough for them to understand how they need it and how easy it would be for them to consume. And maybe asking them, like, maybe it needs to be packaged in a different way. Like maybe you're only doing one-on-one live calls. Like, you know, when you see a website and you see the call to action is a book, a call with me. I just die a little inside because I think. Like that, that is such a huge investment for somebody to book a call with you as your free offering. To book time with you to, to one-on-one because they know I'm going to get their service pitch to me. Maybe I'm not ready. I want to just like dip my toes in. So make it easier for them. Just give them something that they can download. And then you can continue nurturing that with kill emails and. You know, send them like something$9 so they can buy that's easy for them. Don't feel like you have to have this huge course. It's 12 modules long in order for you to make any money in your business.

Ané: 24:47

Yeah. I'm glad that you brought up the whole like, is it a language barrier thing when it comes to like the marketing and the, you know, the copywriting, because you're right, like nine times out of 10, it may just be a few tweaks That needs to be nurtured in order to, you know, Show them how much this particular service or product is that is going to help them grow. And I think you're right. Like, even if you just did, let's say about the quiz or whatever, and then now in your email marketing, like even just creating a few automations where you're nurturing those new clienteles and yeah, give them that 9 offer or give them this like PDF where they can start. Really kind of self learn into your world and then eventually work one on one with you. And in fact, I like that you mentioned all of this because I recently with a client, she was about to, she was starting to promote her like six months mentoring ship service. And this is huge thing. And it was really successful last year. So she's like, cool, let's do it again. And there wasn't this energy anymore. And. As people, as she was trying to, you know, promote it and have conversations with people, they just weren't interested. They were saying things like, I just, I would prefer like a mastermind or a group program. So what did she do? She shifted it. She was like, cool. I know now what my clients want or like the customers or audience one and we're shifting. And then last week we've been just pivoting from this mentorship, not scratching it, but just having that on the side and now focusing on this eight week program. And within the first. 48 hours. She got to sign sign ups and it just helped sort of for her to sit back, observe, refine and just yeah, and pivot and you know, promote that and that's as easy as it can sound to do. Like I think sometimes we get so scared to shift or pivot, but it's right in front of you. All we have to do is just not be so fixed into our business and the mindset of it.

Stacey: 26:45

Yeah. That fixed mindset of no, but I've been doing it this way for so long and I want to keep it. And so we had a friend who did a money mindset masterclass recently, and I saw one of the pieces of feedback that came back that said, I'm so glad you did this in a one-off workshop. And not a course. Because maybe that's just easier for people. If you just do it, go for two, it went for like almost three hours. So you get people in there and sometimes people can learn really quickly like that. Maybe rather than, you know, dripping it every week. Maybe it doesn't have to be dripped every week. Maybe it could be condensed. And also how you said trying to. Involve people in your world. So they kind of like get swolled into your Wells world slowly. I could not put that a better way because you want people to assist tip toe in. They dip their toe in the water and then they. They get the freebie and then they do a little workshop and then they, they, maybe they do something else. That's going to help them to not only get steeped in your world, but also they're going to get to the point where they're ready to buy the big thing. Maybe they're not ready. They needed learn a few things before they get to that big thing and to actually get the benefit out of it.

Ané: 28:01

Yeah. absolutely. Absolutely. And I, I think just like coming back to the whole, you know, organizing Japan and building up with Japan. It's like, it's the same thing. It's like, maybe it does need to be a little bit hard at the start and then it will be easier with everything else. Once you're there, you know, you know, now how everyone works or what the rules are and regulations are. Cause you, you know, that it's very different. Cultures but in the long, in the long run, you know, now when you go back, how things are run and how to build with that rather than, but then, then, but then the question is like, is it too hard for some for others? Right. And is it, then it has this sort of made them not like more customers and clients, not clients and travelers, because it was just too tricky to. Get around and have things booked. So that's another question. So ask yourself that, like, is this a really hard, you know, business model for your customers to come through?

Stacey: 29:07

Yeah. And if you don't know, just ask them, ask them what they want and how they would want it delivered. It's the easiest way for you to figure it out rather than you sitting there. Going round and round in circles of your head. Like, should I do it like this? Should I do it like this? Should I do it like this? Just ask them and then you'll get your answer.

Ané: 29:24

Absolutely. Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. In fact, we, my friend and I, we have a very, very exciting project that's coming into the works and it's giving a bit of, I don't really want to give too much away. I mean, she doesn't even know that we're doing this right

Stacey: 29:40

Ooh.

Ané: 29:41

know what? I'm just going to start talking about it, but let's just say it's got to do something about traveling, travel guides, being a personal that's what I'm going to say. Actually, I don't want to give it too much cause

Stacey: 29:56

intrigue intrigue.

Ané: 29:58

cause yeah, you just, you never know with these things, but yeah, so keep an eye out and an ear out because there's more to it. Especially if you're someone who struggles to book for things, and it gets really, really hard. So yeah, that's all we got to say. Of

Stacey: 30:20

I've created this whole itinerary and. Everything just became really yeah, it took quite a lot too for me to, do all of that. But. I got there eventually, but I think for some people, yeah, that's going to be very difficult and it's only because it was very highly motivated that did I, was I able to do it. So I think if you're really busy and you don't have time and you want somebody else to do that for you, I would. So. If I was in that position. And could let go of the control factor a little bit. I could definitely. Ha ha like love somebody to help me with that.

Ané: 30:56

Yeah. no, for sure, for sure. Especially if it's also last minute. You know, who, who there's my last minute girlies. I mean, I'm definitely one of them. You're like, Oh, my anniversary is next week. Jokes, don't have anything planned. Everything is. Booked out, you know what I mean? Or whatever. It's just like those things or you've got a, you're a bridesmaid or a maid of honor and your bride has been hinting you that she's been wanting to go away instead of having strippers at her house. I mean, gosh, there's just the, it's, yeah, the possibilities are endless. So yeah, we'll, we'll speak more about it on next time when it's fully launched. But if you are someone who has those troubles, then Yeah. do email us and let us know, or DM us all of our social links are in the show notes. Otherwise you can email us at hello at trusting the universe and shit, catch you. next time. You guys, bye.