Zero Dawn Protocol: Buy back 20 hours/week in 6 months. (Coaching)

Reality: At some point, if you are experiencing a growth ceiling, you've become the bottleneck that stops growth.

Reality: You don't. You just have badly designed systems. Your inability to delegate is killing your business momentum

Reality: They can. You just have the wrong people, or they are in the wrong seats, and you've never systematized your decision-making process

Reality: A business dependent on one person will fail eventually. Sounds like you are the problem you need to solve.

Deadline:

Done within 7 calendar days before program

Checklist:

• Setup & login into your company's internal communication channels and systems. (As necessary)

  • Instant Messaging: Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, Telegram...etc

  • Domain Email: Google Workspace, Outlook...etc

  • ERP Systems

• Business Information

  • Company legal name and structure (LLC, Corp, etc.)

  • Date founded and key milestones

  • Primary business model and revenue streams

  • Geographic markets served

  • Industry classification and competitive positioning

  • Current annual revenue and growth trajectory

  • Number of employees (full-time, part-time, contractors)

Deadline:

Done within the 1st 7 calendar days of program start date.

Checklist:

• Step 1 - Schedule a 1 hour session with Founder/CEO.

• Step 2 - Pleasantries & formal introductions.

• Step 3 - Briefing on what the Zero Dawn Protocol is. (Core + Bonus Modules)

• Step 4 - Briefing on how the Zero Dawn Protocol will be implemented (Process + Timeline)

• Step 5 - Briefing on the expected results if all steps are followed exactly as instructed,

• Step 6 - Briefing on the cooperation needed for each module to be successful.

• Step 6 - Briefing on immediate next steps to start the program. (Zero Dawn Company Pulse Check)

• The Goal: We need to take your company's "temperature" with the Zero Dawn Company Pulse Check.

• Why: Just like a regular themometer, this exercise will tell us a score that gives us a benchmark on how "healthy" your business is from an objective standpoint which gives us a standardized way to measure progress as we apply the Zero Dawn Protocol to your company.

📌 Recommended Order of Implementation:

• Step 1 - Furnish Founder/CEO with Zero Dawn Company Pulse Check Template and complete the assessment for the first time.

  • Step 1.1 - Schedule a 30 min session with Founder/CEO.

  • Step 1.2 - The founder/CEO will answer the questions on the Zero Dawn Company Pulse Check

    • Step 1.3 - Once the exercise is done, a total score will be tabulated. The coach will assess the score and intepret it for founder/CEO.

    • Step 1.4 - Based on the score, the coach will explain where all the problem areas in the business to improve are.

• Step 2 - Coach and founder/CEO will set the dates for the next few reviews to repeat the exercise again to see progression over time. (Usually at the start of each new quarter)

• The Goal: To find the right people and put them in the right seats. (And to smoke out the people in your company that don't belong.)

• Why: When complete, you will have absolute clarity on who's accountable for what. If Module 2 is complete before all remaining modules, they will be much more potent and effective because you have created a world of accountability.

📌 Recommended Order of Implementation

• Step 1 - Furnish Founder/CEO with RespOrg Chart Template, and create a RespOrg Chart with the Founder/CEO(To map out your company's organizational structure and at a glance, who is in charge of what.)

  • Step 1.1 - Schedule a 2 hour session with Founder/CEO.

  • Step 1.2 - Brief the Founder/CEO of the ground rules and how the process works before creating the RespOrg Chart

    • Rule No. 1: You must look forward. You cannot look back or get caught up in the present. It will distort your judgement.

    • Rule No. 2: You must detach yourself from the existing business, your current role, and your ego.

    • Rule No.3: You must elevate yourself above the business, look down on it, and make decisions for the long-term greater good of the company.

    • Expain the main 3 functions of business (Finance & Admin, Sales & Marketing, Operations.)

    • Explain what "Integrators" are, and what their job scope is (what the CEO/Founder's "right hand man" should be doing)

    • Explain what "Visonaries" are, and what their job scope is (what the CEO/Founder should be doing)

  • Step 1.3 - Together with Founder/CEO, fill up the RespOrg Chart. (Function, Department, Teams)

    • RespOrg Chart Structure: Map out the basic functions of the organization. (Leadership team: Visionary, Integrator, Sales & Marketing, Operations and Finance & Admin)

    • RespOrg Chart Structure: Map out the departments under each function.

    • RespOrg Chart Structure: Map out the teams under each department.

    • Put the right people in the right seats: Fill in the name of the leader who is ultimately in charge of each basic function.

    • Put the right people in the right seats: Fill in the name of the leaders who is in charge of each department.

    • Put the right people in the right seats: Fill in the names of leaders and staff who is in in each team.

    • Add in major roles: Write out up to 10 one-liner descriptions on what they are supposed to be doing while being in charge of that function.

    • Add in major roles: Write out up to 10 one-liner descriptions on what they are supposed to be doing while being in charge of that department.

    • Add in major roles: Write out up to 10 one-liner descriptions on what they are supposed to be doing while being in charge of that team.

  • Step 1.4 -After the 1st draft is complete, Schedule a 1 hour session with Founder/CEO and leadership to refine it into the final structure.

    • Once every leader agrees to the final structure, and major roles on everyone on the RespOrg chart, sign off once and for all.

  • Step 1.5 - Publish the final RespOrg chart into the company's intranet and send emails to everyone in the company to review it.

    • Update it as necessary when there are changes in staff (promotions, demotions, new hires, fires...etc)

• Step 2 - [Part of Module 1] Direction Component: Figure out your company's core values

  • Step 2.1 - Schedule a 2 hour session with Founder/CEO's leadership.

    • Location: Away from the office (Strategic thinking is always best done off premises)

  • Step 2.2 - List 3 people (who if you could clone them) would lead the company to market domination.

    • These 3 names should ideally come from people inside of the organization.

    • Once all members in the meeting have his/her 3 names, post all of the names on a whiteboard for everyone to see.

  • Step 2.3 - Go over the 3 names, and write down the characteristics that these people embody into a seperate list.

    • What qualities do they exemplify?

    • What do they do that puts them on the list?

    • Start with a long list so everyone can see all the possibilities.

  • Step 2.4 - 1st Round: Narrow down the long list of qualities into 5 to 15 core values.

    • The organization's core values are somewhere in this long list.

    • In the first edit, circle the ones that are truly important,

    • draw a line through the ones that are not,

    • and combine the ones that are similar.

  • Step 2.5 - 2nd Round: Narrow down the long list of qualities into 7 core values.

    • Through group discussion and debate, decide which core values really belong and are truly core.

    • Once decided and agreed by all members of leadership, write down the 7 core values on a doc.

  • Step 2.6 - Schedule a 30-min session 30 days after the first meeting in step 2.1 to have leadership revist the final 7 core values again.

    • Do not run out and tell everyone immediately after you have established your core values.

    • It's important to let it simmer for 30 days and meet one last time to sign off once and for all on the final list.

  • Step 2.7 - Communicate the new core values to the rest of the organization.

    • Create the Founder/CEO's all-hands rally speech.

      • Under each core value

        • Back it up with stories

        • Back it up with analogies

        • Back it up with creative illlustrations to drive home it's importance.

        • Word each core value with the same pattern or tense (e.g., "To always..." or "We always...")

          • Make sure to bullet point 3 to 5 supporting examples under each core value.

    • Have the Founder/CEO deliver the presentation speech in the next company's all hands meeting.

• Step 3 - Furnish Founder/CEO with Talent Analyzer Template and run all existing staff through the Talent Analyzer (To assess if you have the right people)

  • Step 3.1 - Schedule a 1-hour session with the Founder/CEO and run through how to use the Talent Analyzer. (Without the Leadership Team)

    • "+" means he/she exhibits the core value 80% of the time.

    • "+/-" means he/she sometimes exhibits the core value 50% of the time.

    • "-" means he/she doesn't exhibit the core value 20% of the time.

  • Step 3.2 - Furnish the Talent Analyzer with your company's core values and employees.

  • Step 3.3 - Score each member of your organization according to your core values. (Starting with the leaders, then the remaining staff.)

    • Minimum Benchmark: "+" must be 4 or more, "+/-" must be 2 or more, and never a "-".

    • Above the Bar: means the staff meets the minimum benchmark.

    • Below the Bar: means the staff does not meet the minimum benchmark.

  • Step 3.4 - Introduce the 3-Strikes Rule to Founder/CEO.

    • Strike 1: Discuss issues, and your expectations with the person, and give him/her 30 days to correct the problem.

    • Strike 2: If you don't see improvement, discuss his/her performance again and give him/her another 30 days.

    • Strike 3: If still no improvement, he/she is not going to change and must go.

  • Step 3.5 - Schedule a 2-hour session with the Leadership team to "Talent Analyze" each other.

    • Firstly, this helps to validate the core values. If most leaders are weak in one particular core value, we should question whether it should even be a core value.

    • Secondly, the Founder/CEO will see if any leader is below the bar.

      • In such cases, apply and follow the 3-strikes rule. (Most of the time, this person will improve performance)

  • Step 3.6 - Get all leaders to "Talent Analyze" everyone in the organization and then have each manager share those results in one-on-one sessions with the Founder/CEO.

  • Step 3.7 - Integrate the Talent Analyzer into performance reviews with all team members.

    • Let team memebers "Talent Analyze" you (Founder/CEO) as well.

  • Step 3.8 - If leadership team is struggling with a personnel problem, run the person through the Talent Analyzer.

    • This will give you (Founder/CEO) a clear idea on whether it's a "right person" issue.

      • If it is, put him/her on the 3-strikes rule.

      • If not, the problem is he's in the wrong seat.

• Step 4 - Furnish Founder/CEO with GWC Analysis Template and run all existing staff through the GWC Analysis (To assess if the right people are in the right seat)

  • Step 4.1 - Schedule a 1-hour session with the Founder/CEO and brief Founder/CEO and on how the GWC Analysis works.

    • Get it - The staff truly understand the role, the culture, the systems, the pace, and how the job comes together.

    • Want it - The staff genuinely like the job. They like the role, understand the job, and want to do it based on fair compensation and responsibility.

    • Capacity to do it - The staff has the time as well as the physical, mental, and emotional capacity to do the job right.

    • How to score: The rating on the GWC analysis should be a black-and-white "Yes" or "No".

    • Scoring Criteria: All 3 criteria of the GWC analysis must be a "Yes" (This tells you that you have the right person in the right seat.)

  • Step 4.2 - Together with the Founder/CEO, run the GWC Analysis on the leadership team first for the 1st round.

  • Step 4.3 - Together with the Founder/CEO and leadership team, have the leaders run the GWC analysis on the remaining staff for the 2nd round.

• Step 5 - Let go of the wrong people.

  • For all the people in your company that are have failed Talent Analyzer and are Below the Bar, put them on the 3-strikes rule. (Before deciding to let them go)

• Step 6 - Re-organize the right people in the right seats.

  • If any one of the leaders are fail GWC, then founder/CEO needs to move the leader into the right seat.

    • It is recommended for the Founder/CEO to have a 1:1 with the leader to confirm if they feel like they are in the wrong seat. (9/10 times, the person in the wrong seat will express that they feel like they're in the wrong seat when prompted.)

  • If any one of the staff under the leaders fail GWC, the Leader in charge needs to move the staff into the right seat.

    • It is recommended for the Leader to have a 1:1 with the staff under him/her to confirm if they feel like they are in the wrong seat. (9/10 times, the person in the wrong seat will express that they feel like they're in the wrong seat when prompted.)

• Step 7 [Optional] - Create L1-L6 structure for Organizational Units & Groups (Google Workspace or equivalent)

  • Step 5.1 - Setup Google Groups (L1-L6)

  • Step 5.2 - Setup Organizational Units (L1-L6)

  • Step 5.3 - Add all members of the organization into the 6 respective groups & organizational units.

  • Step 5.4 - Set necessary permissions for all staff across all levels.

• The Goal: Once module 2 is complete and you now fully understand who's accountable for what, and who, The company's leadership needs to document issues with the company on all levels in a single, accessible location with different levels of access for different levels of staff.

• Why: Once you have all of your issues captured on your issues list, it would be easy to organize and solve those issues during meetings.

📌 Recommended Implementation

• Step 1 - Create a Problems List

  • Step 1.1 - Fill up Problems List (Company Level Issues - Tackled in quarterly meetings)

  • Step 1.2 - Fill up Problems List (Leadership Lvele Issues - Tackled in weekly meetings)

  • Step 1.3 - Fill up Problems List (Department Level Issues - Tackled in weekly meetings)

• Step 2 - Introduce IDS Framework

  • Step 2.1 - Identify

  • Step 2.2 - Discuss

  • Step 2.3 - Solve

• The Goal: Once you know who's accountable for what, and know what issues exist, the company's leadership needs to set their priorities straight.

• Why: You want your leaders to evolve towards setting and achieving needle-moving initiatives that generate business results every 90 days, and you want to focus on the most important priorities quickly and gets you and your team to work on accomplishing them.

📌 Recommended Implementation

• Step 1 - Create Rocks (Set 3-4 90D Priorities per leader)

  • Step 1.1 - Map out High-Level-Steps for each Rock (These become 30D-90D Projects)

  • Step 1.2 - Map out Projects & It's High-Level Steps (These become 7D to 30D To-Dos)

• Step 2 - Establish the company's Meeting Pulse

  • Step 2.1 Introduce the weekly Level 10 Meeting framework.

    • Step 2.1.1 - Setup 1 pre-scheduled weekly meeting cadence (For the company)

    • Step 2.1.2 - Setup 1 pre-scheduled weekly meeting cadence (For all departments)

    • Step 2.1.3 - Setup 1 pre-scheduled weekly meeting cadence (For teams in each department)

  • Step 2.2 - Setup 1 pre-scheduled quarterly meeting cadence (For the company)

  • Step 2.3 - Setup 1 pre-scheduled annual meeting cadence (For the company)

• The Goal: Once module 2, 4 & 6 are setup. you should have momentum building in your company. The next step is to track progress.

• Why: Numbers help to create real accountability across all members of your company. When everyone has a number, it cuts down egos, fires the right people up, and gets you measurable results that help drive business decisions.

Recommended Implementation

• The Goal: Once module 2, 4, 6, and 3 are setup, you should have a solid foundation and the momentum, accountability and platform to execute your vision. The next step is to map out the company's vision.

• Why: Without a strong foundation, devising a vision is easy. However, it's only effective if eveyone in your leadership team wants to execute towards it. Doing the tough work of putting a strong foundation in place leads to more intense and productive planning work.

📌 Recommended Implementation

• Step 1 - Create a D/MO Canvas for the client's company

  • Step 1.1 - Direction Component: Figure out your company's core values

  • Step 1.2 - Direction Component: Figure out your company's core focus

  • Step 1.3 - Direction Component: Figure out your company's 10-year target

  • Step 1.4 - Direction Component: Figure out your company's marketing strategy

  • Step 1.5 - Direction Component: Figure out your company's 3-year picture

  • Step 1.6 - Momentum Component: Figure out your company's 1-year plan

• Step 2 -

• The Goal: Once module 2, 4, 6, 3, and 1 are setup, you should have a solid foundation and the momentum, accountability, platform to execute your vision and have your entire company rowing in the same direction. The next step is to document "best practices" into playbooks and start delegating it away.

• Why: We have to document the way things are currently done and map it out. This is to create consistency in your processes. No business process can be improved until it's become predictable and consistent.

📌 Recommended Implementation

• Step 1 - Identify all of your business core processes.

  • Step 1.1 - Schedule an hour with your leaders.

  • Step 1.2 - During the meeting, have your leaders identify all of the core processes that address every activity going on in the business.

  • Step 1.3 - Get your leaders to agree on what to call your core processes.

  • Step 1.4 - Once there is concensus, list them in one document and make sure the leaders are 100% on the same page with the amount, the names and what they are.

  • Step 1.5 - Once the core processes are written on the document, make sure all the leaders call each of them by the exact same name from this day forward.

• Step 2 - Document each of the core processes.

  • Step 2.1 - The person who is accountable for a certain process takes charge of documenting the core process.

• Step 3 - Ensure that they are followed by all.

  • Step 3.1 -

📌 Recommended Order of Implementation:

• Step 1 - Schedule a 60-Minute session to Introduce the concept of the Buyback Principle

  • Don't hire to grow your business. Hire to buy back your time.

  • Hire employees to free up time on your calendar to focus only on what makes you money and what lights you up.

  • Founders/CEOS only excel at a few tasks, and are mediocre at best at other tasks.

• Step 2 - Introduce the concept of the Pain Line/Growth Ceiling, and what Founders/CEOs commonly do when they reach it.

  • The Pain Line/Growth Ceiling is the point which growth becomes impossible. (Roughly at ~12 direct reports, and just over $1m in annual revenue)

    • Founder/CEO built his business based almost entirely on his/her own work ethic. Even with employees, the 90% of the stress is still on the Founder/CEO.

    • Founder/CEO has "the buck stops with me" mentality.

    • Founder/CEO has the "no one can do it like me" mentality.

    • Founder/CEO is swarmed with endless emails, to-dos, and low-level tasks that they hate doing becaues it sucks their energy. It creates a wall of pain.

      • The more the founder tries to grow while ignoring this wall of pain, the more this pain compounds.

    • The Founder/CEO dreads going to work, or putting in their best effort, or constantly wants to "escape" and take days off.

  • When Founder/CEO hits the pain line/growth ceiling, they will subconsciously do one or more of these 3 things:

    • Sell: Because the pain is too great, and if the Founder/CEO can sell the business. It offers instant relief.

      • Founder/CEO can grind so hard that their drive and passion for the business diminishes into extinction.

      • If Founder/CEO truly wants to sell, sell on their own terms.

    • Sabotage: Getting distracted, and making bad business decisions that harms their business, and bring it back to a "safer" level, and using that decision as the excuse.

      • Hit pain line -> Makes bad decision -> Tries again -> Hit pain line again -> Makes bad decision again -> Rinse and Repeat.

      • Every time Founder/CEO hits the pain line, they will subconsciously ruin their business by rationalizing unnecessarily dramatic decisions. (But in truth, these are overractions to being in pain.)

        • "Let's launch a new product"

        • "Let's try a new market"

        • "Let's do a rebrand"

        • "Let's revamp our website"...etc

    • Stall: Founder/CEO confessing that they "rather have a smaller company". They make a conscious decision not to grow. (Because they are "tired")

      • A decision to stop growing is a decision to slowly die.

      • Marketplaces are dynamic and always evolving. Consumers will always want better products/services for cheaper prices. If you don't evolve your business, someone else will, and gladly take your customers. Customers will leave for the better option.

      • Growth isn't just necessary for expansion, its necessary for survival.

• Step 3 - Introduce Systems > Goals thinking

  • Systems = Save yourself time effort and money.

  • Founders/CEO are smart, and always have plenty of ideas on how to solve problems in the company. The problem is that 90% of Founders/CEOs don't have a system to ruthlessly prioritize and focus on the right problems to solve right now.

  • What winning Founders/CEOs have are systems that support decision making and prioritization.

    • "Winners and losers have the same goals." - James Clear (Atomic Habits)

    • "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." - James Clear. (Atomic Habits)

• Step 4 - Introduce the Buyback Loop and ATF Method.

  • Buyback Loop: When Founder/CEO hits the pain line, he/she needs to do a buyback loop, which is the process of using the ATF Method. (Audit-Transfer-Fill)

    • Audit: Find out what low-value tasks are sucking up the Founder/CEO's time and energy.

      • "What tasks do I hate doing that are easy and inexpensive to offer to someone else?"

    • Transfer: Delegate those low-value tasks to someone in your company who ideally enjoys the task and are better at it.

      • "Who do I have on my team - or who can I hire, even part-time - to take over these tasks?"

    • Fill: Fill up that freed up time with higher-value tasks that light you up and make you more money.

      • "What tasks should I focus on that I love doing that can immediately bring more money to my company?"

• Step 5 - Summarize the bonus module with the Buyback Rules:

  • The Buyback Principle: Don't hire to grow your business. Hire to buy back your time.

  • You can't personally outwork yourself to a better business. The problem is you only have 24 hours a day. Eventually, if you're doing everything, you (or one of your relationships) will break down.

  • If you keep grinding, you will eventually hit the Pain line/Growth Ceiling, where you're experiencing so much pain when you try to grow that you'll do one of 3 things: stall, sabotage, or sell.

  • When you hit the Pain Line/Growth Ceiling, it should act as feedback loop - Use this as a signal to invite new changes into your company. If you don't make changes soon, things will start to break.

  • Whenever feeling stuck, frustrated, and reached a visible growth ceiling, perform a buyback loop using the ATF Method.

• Step 6 - Applying Bonus Module 1

  • Ask the Founder/CEO to "Envison your life without the barrage of to-dos and all the menial parts of your business you hate doing."

  • Ask the Founder/CEO to think of all the possible things that he/she can do if he bought back all that time.

    • "What would I fill my time with if I wasn't spendingall of it at work?"

📌 Recommended Order of Implementation:

• Step 1 - Schedule a 60-min session with the Founder/CEO to Introduce the DRIP Matrix.

  • Step 1.1 - Introduce the Delegation Quadrant.

    • Definition: "Makes you little money. drains your energy." - These are low-value tasks that you don't like doing, that feel like a waste of time.

    • Examples: Administrative work, billing, invoiceing, setting up travel arrangments, responding to emails, data entry, creating reports...etc

    • Insight: Tasks in the delegation quadrant should be found and quickly moved to someone else on when possible (especially if they are better at it, and ideally if they like it)

    • Action: List down all of these tasks in the delegation quadrant, find someone to off load these to, and transfer them out ASAP.

  • Step 1.2 - Introduce the Replacement Quadrant.

    • Definition: "Makes you money, drains your energy." - These are higher value tasks that you don't like doing, but it's not a waste of time.

    • Examples: SEO optimization, Blog writing, Social media managment, Content creation, Prospecting for new Customers, Directing a sales team, Creating a marketing new campaign...etc

    • Insight: Tasks in the replacement quadrant should be handled with more care before transferring it to another person to handle.

    • Action: Before transferring these tasks, make sure you have the right people in the right seats (Talent Analyzer + GWC Analysis) to confidently take up these tasks. (These people will build the processes and SOPs)

  • Step 1.3 - Introduce the Investment Quadrant.

    • Definition: "Makes you little money, lights you up." - These are low-value tasks (today) that may become high value in the future, and they light you up.

    • Examples:

      • Physical activities: Hiking, snowboarding, workouts, marathons, going to the gym...etc

      • Time with others: Breakfasts, Hanging out with friends, family, significant others, congregation, community...etc

      • Hobbies: Biking, Yoga, Pilates, Gaming, Netflix, Travelling...etc.

      • Industry Collaboration: Podcasting interviews, Guest blogging, Go for industry events, network in local business community, give a TED talk...etc.

      • Personal & Professional Development: Going on a diet, Read a new book, go for conferences, workshops, go for public speaking opportunities, get a online certification...etc

    • Insight: Tasks in the investment quadrant is necessary to prevent burnout. The goal of is to always have some activities in the investment quadrant that nourishes your soul, relationships and flex your creativity.

    • Action: Make a list of all of the things you personally enjoy doing that fill the 5 categories above. List as many as possible.

  • Step 1.4 - Introduce the Production Quadrant.

    • Definition: "Makes you lots of money, lights you up." - These are high-level tasks that make you the most money, and you enjoy doing.

    • Examples: It depends on the individual.

    • Insight: Tasks in the production quadrant makes you lots of money, and you can feel your energy flowing. By permanently spending your time on these tasks, you have unlocked true freedom. The market responds by bringing you more money. This is where you want to spend all of your time in.

    • Action: Make a list of all the things you are doing right now that make you the most money, and you genuinely enjoy doing. Once you have outsources all the tasks in the other 3 quadrants, spend all your time doing tasks in this quadrant.

• Step 2 - Introduce the Hourly Rate, and the Buyback Rate.

  • Step 2.1 - Introduce the Hourly Rate

    • Definition: "How much money you are taking out of the business for your time."

    • Formula: [How much your business pays you/2000 Hours]

      • How much your business pays you: This includes all profits from your current business — including salary, discretionary expenses, plus any other profits of the business after all expenses are paid.

      • 2000 hours: This is the average amount of hours a person works in a year.

  • Step 2.2 - Introduce the Buyback Rate

    • Definition: "The hourly rate that you can and should hire someone else for to offload the tasks in your delegation and replacement quadrant."

    • Formula: [Hourly Rate/4]

      • As a rule of thumb, you want at least a 4x ROI per headcount.

      • Everyone has a buyback rate.

• Step 3 - Furnish the Founder/CEO the Buyback Rate Calculator Template and calculate the Founder/CEO's Hourly Rate & BuyBack Rate

  • Step 3.1 - Calculate the Founder/CEO's Hourly Rate

  • Step 3.2 - Calculate the Founder/CEO's Buyback Rate

• Step 4 - Calculate the Hourly Rate, and the Buyback Rate for the rest of the Founder/CEO's team (starting with the leaders, followed by the rest of the staff)

• Step 5 - Summarize the bonus module with the Buyback Rules:

  • Science shows that people perform better working on tasks they enjoy. Higher performance leads to higher pay.

  • Every task you perform sits on 2 axes: one of money, one of energy. Each task brings you from little money to lots of money, and either drains you or brings you more energy.

  • Many entrepreneurs hire away the parts of their business they love the most. This typically happens accidentally — as they grow, they don't hire to buy back their time, they hire for a position or role, mistakenly making themselves the administrator of their own company

  • 80% done by someone else is 100% freaking awesome.

  • The DRIP Matrix: Delegation, Replacement, Investment, Production

  • From now on, there should be no task you should be performing (that you don't enjoy) whose cost is less than your Buyback Rate.

📌 Recommended Order of Implementation:

• Step 1 - Schedule a 60-minute session with the Founder/CEO to introduce the 5 Time Assassins

  • Step 1.1 - Introduce "The Staller"

    • Definition: You sabotage your own success by hesitating on big decisions

    • Signs:

      • Stallers rarely if ever take any action (yes/no) when an opportunity that can grow their business presents itself.

      • They always choose to wait as the default mode of action.

  • Step 1.2 - Introduce "The Speed Demon"

    • Definition: You make rapid decisions, such as hiring the quickest/easiest/cheapest option. Then you find yourself in the same position again.

    • Signs:

      • Speed demons believe that speed is everything, and they will make you believe that success is driven by making decisions as quickly as possible.

      • Rashly hiring people based on feelings (friends, family...etc)

      • Forcefully select the first technology platform you find (even if it doesnt meet your needs)

      • Go with the first vendor available. (regardless of other, better options)

      • Ends up what always happens is that:

        • The employee eventually quits

        • The technology platform chosen doesn't work as anticipated.

        • The vender chosen becomes a pain in the ass.

      • Without stopping to consider why something happens, you're unlikely to fix the issue.

  • Step 1.3 - Introduce "The Supervisor"

    • Definition: You fail to properly train, micromanage others, failing to empower them to grow and learn.

    • Signs:

      • When you hire someone and then do their job for them.

      • You either micromanage others or just take oevr completely.

      • When you micromanage/hijack the employee's job, you think you are "working" or "teaching the employee"

      • After "teaching", employees didn't learn anything and you have to teach them again.

  • Step 1.4 - Introduce "The Saver"

    • Definition: You have money in your bank account but don't understand the value in spending it on growth opportunities. You let it grow like a nest egg instead of investing it in your business.

    • Signs:

      • The saver doesn't understand the concept of investing.

      • Saves money for the sake of saving or "preparing for a rainy day".

      • The saver is usually price sensitive, and doesn't consider the value that he is getting in exchange for the price.

      • The saver is more concerned with protecing what he has, than getting more of what he has.

      • The saver usually says "no" to anything that sounds risky immediately. But if they don't, they have lots of "is there a cheaper option" objections.

  • Step 1.5 - Introduce "The Self-Medicator"

    • Definition: You turn to food, alcohol, and other vices to reward yourself when you have success. Then you rush to the same destructive activities to escape failure or pain.

    • Signs:

      • Always feels like they need to "over-celebrate" over reaching a milestone or goal.

      • Pushes other people (usually their team, or close ones) to self-sabotage to celebrate, and self-sabotage to escape (Drinking, Smoking...etc)

      • Whether it's win or lose, it's always a good idea to "get a drink" or "take a smoke"...etc

      • Whether overworked, bored, or exhausted...etc, the self-medicator always has a reason to rush to their vices.

• Step 2 - Introduce "Hand Grenades"

  • Definition: These are random spurs of action that are spontaneous in nature, not well thought out, and often times, not necessary, because they felt like working. ("Leap then look" vibes) Especially when they are "not working"

    • Signs:

      • Randomly suggest overhauling their entire website.

      • Randomly firing a key employee

      • Randomly panicking over a new competitor

      • Randomly changing business models when they are finally making progress.

      • Randomly "checking in" on employees to see if they are doing their jobs right.

• Step 3 - Help Founder/CEO recognize the 5 time assassins that are affecting them.

  • Step 2.1 - Take out a sheet of peper and list your last 10 major decisions, the ones that really shook things up.

  • Step 2.2 - Look at your list and ask yourself: Were these all necessary, or were they hand grenades?

  • Step 2.3 - Look for patterns in the decisions that weren't necessary. Were you rushing, micromanaging, penny-pinching?

  • Step 2.4 - If you see a pattern emerge, write down your current time assassin. (There can be multiple.)

  • Step 2.5 - Once you realize which time assassin is haunting you, internalize it and accept that you have this flaw. So the next time you see it appear, you can recognize it, and you will not be distracted by it.

• Step 4 - Help Founder/CEO recognize the 5 time assassins that are affecting their team. (Starting from their leaders)

• Step 5 - Summarize the bonus module with the Buyback Rules:

  • "Most entrepreneurs are addicted to chaos."

  • Your ability to deal with chaos gives you an entrepreneural advantage, but it also can make you subconsciously seek out chaos.

  • Your chaos addiction shows up as one of the 5 Time Assassins

  • Most people bounce from one assassin to another without facing the root problem: addiction to chaos.

  • Becoming the person you want requires you to get real with your Time Assassins.

📌 Recommended Order of Implementation:

• Step 1 - Schedule a 60-minute session with the Founder/CEO to introduce The 3 Trades.

  • Step 1.1 - Introduce Level 1 Trader: Time for Money

    • Definition: Anyone who trades their time for dollars.

    • Easy Example: Employees

    • Result of Trade: Income

  • Step 1.2 - Introduce Level 2 Trader: Money for Time

    • Definition: Anyone who trades their dollars back for time.

    • Easy Example: Entrepreneurs

    • Result of Trade: Leverage

  • Step 1.3 - Introduce Level 3 Trader: Money for More Money

    • Definition: Anyone who trades money for more money.

    • Easy Example: Empire Builders (Investors, Business Owners...etc)

    • Result of Trade: Freedom

• Step 2 - Introduce the Time-Energy Audit.

• Step 3 - Implement the Time-Energy Audit with the Founder/CEO

  • Step 2.1 - Determine your Buyback Rate

  • Step 2.2 - Audit every 15-minutes of your workday for 2 weeks.

  • Step 2.3 -

The goal of this program is to help you (the founder/CEO) save at least 20 hours a week in 6 months.

Simply put, you are making an investment in yourself, and your leadership team to build a stronger and more resilient company equipped with robust internal tangible & intangible structures to scale past your current growth ceiling.

It depends on the company and leadership. But the goal is to clear all the core modules in 180 calendar days or less.

Each company moves forward at its own pace. Our fastest client, a 11 person team, rolled out 80% of the Zero Dawn Protocol in just under 5 months. In contrast, our slowest client, a 7 person team, took 27 months.

Neither is good nor bad (as no one company is the same), but a good rule of thumb is about a year is to be expected.

Yes. And you can continue whenever you are ready (All coaching hours are tracked via clockify.)

In fact, this is the reason why we made the program modular. This allows for flexibility on your end as a founder and gives you ample time and resources to prepare your team for the program and work around high-key seasons unique to your business model.

Example

We once had an e-commerce client who paid upfront in full. He engaged us in Q2, and implemented Zero Dawn Protocol for 6months and hit pause because Q4 was his most profitable quarter (Black Friday, Cyber Monday, 11.11 shopping festivals...etc) and he required all hands on deck for tight coordination. He only resumed the program in early Q1 of next year.

Yes.

But, one important thing to take note of is that the leader directing/overseeing the off-site location has to fully embrace the Zero Dawn Protocol, and understands the tools before rolling it out to their site and operations.

Also, it's best that leadership team members are present at the locations to help teach, guide, and show support for this initiative. So if you have multiple locations, be prepared for the the additional complexity that implementing Zero Dawn Protocol will bring.

Yes.

To be specific, we grant you the license to use our intellectual property (the templates, worksheets, frameworks...etc used in the program) for the specific purpose of implementing the Zero Dawn Protocol, however, once you fill them up with your company's proprietary data, the populated assets becomes your company's intellectual property.

Yes

This works for companies at any revenue size as companies may reach their growth ceiling at any size.

Success depends on the management team's willingness to take action to adopt recommendations covered in the coaching program.

For a full list of risks, please read our professional disclaimer.

Ideally, we want you to complete the core modules in 180 days. (To complete the challenge) But if it takes longer, our coaches (if it's not Kenric) are here to support you untill Zero Dawn Protocol is fully implemented in your company.

We will only officially end the coaching program once we have gotten your company's Zero Dawn Company Pulse Check Score to a minimum of at least 65 points out of 100. (By successfully implementing the core modules) — At this point, you should have bought back at least ~20 hours/week.

The above is also the condition to unlock the bonus modules.

No special software requirements are needed.

However, we do prefer if clients are already using:

1. Google Workspace

2. Trello (Or any modern project management sotware)

It depends.

If you want your company to adopt the Zero Dawn Protocol quickly, then it's reasonable to expect disruptions to operations while your teams and leaders adopt a new way of doing things. At the end of the day, we leave it up to the planning of the founder/CEO.

The entire program can be done remotely.

But if on-site presence is required (as agreed by the coach and client) or preferred, It can also be arranged. (For clients outside of Singapore, all cost associated with hosting, travel and accomodation for the coach shall be borne by the client.)

The Zero Dawn Protocol, is a program designed to build a stronger business foundation by evolving the company from the inside out.

The Real Value Proposition: "A COO costs $100K-$300K annually and when they leave, you're back to square one. A consultant charges $200-$500/hour and you're dependent on them forever. Zero Dawn Protocol is a one-time $12K investment that builds permanent systems thinking and operational excellence directly into you and your leadership team.

After 180 days, you don't need us anymore - you've become the operational leader your company needs. The 20 hours/week you save is yours forever, not dependent on keeping someone else on payroll."

You cannot scale chaos.

The Math Doesn't Work:

• New hire cost: $50K-$100K+ annually (salary + benefits + onboarding)

• Zero Dawn: $12K one-time investment

• New hires need management (taking MORE of your time initially)

• Zero Dawn gives you back 20 hours/week within 100 hours

The Real Issues More Hires Create:

• Communication overhead increases exponentially (each new person needs to communicate with existing team)

• More people to manage means less time saved, not more

• Scaling dysfunction - if your systems are broken, more people just scale the brokenness

• Higher operational complexity without addressing root inefficiencies

When you hire after implementing the Zero Dawn Protocol, those new hires integrate into optimized systems rather than chaotic ones. They become productive faster and require less micromanagement because the operational foundation is already solid.

No. The program is currently priced at USD$12,000

This program is designed for founders and business owners who want to exchange money back for time. (Buy back 20 hours/week in 100 hours or less.)

The right founder/business owner will see this as an investment to buy back their time, because they understand their time is worth infinitely more than the program cost in the long run.

We partner with Stripe. Most major online payment methods are supported. Please refer to the full list of available payment methods below.

List of available payment options:

We offer a 14-day satisfaction guarantee to ensure program fit:

• Days 1-7: 100% refund available (minus delivered materials)

• Days 8-14: 50% refund available as goodwill gesture

• After Day 15: No refunds available for any reason

Once any coaching session begins, the program becomes non-refundable regardless of timing. This policy reflects the transformational nature of coaching - insights and value are delivered immediately upon program commencement..

For complete Terms & Conditions: Please refer to our full refund policy.

Yes. Up to 3 months.

We offer 3-months installments to make it more affordable. This installment facility is administered by us with no extra charges, and is available for both options 1 and 2.

Yes

As the Zero Dawn Protocol evolves to become better over time (more effective and more efficient), it will definitely command a higher price point in the future to reflect that increase in value.

The price displayed does not include taxes.

This price only reflects the cost of engaging us as coaches to walk you through implementing the Zero Dawn Protocol specifically for your company. It does not include any other external softwares or tools that may be recommended during the program to facilitate the implementation.