May 13, 2025
You’re smart. But are you executing? In this episode of Bringing Simplicity Unfiltered, Greta and Judy talk about a trap a lot of intelligent coaches fall into: learning without taking action. As Judy puts it, knowledge isn’t power. Execution is.
They also dig into why the learning never stops, how to avoid information overload, and why concentrated effort is the common thread among the successful entrepreneurs they work with. Plus, Judy ends up in the hot seat over a popcorn reel.
It’s easy to feel like an expert at what you do and decide you’ll just teach others. Yes, and how are you going to keep teaching people? To reach new levels, you have to keep learning. Judy points to Steph Curry, who has famously practiced hundreds of three-pointers for years. All you see are the shots in the game. He’s not going to stop practicing.
Knowledge can be powerful if you use it. But we meet a lot of very intelligent potential clients that we don’t end up working with because they’re not willing to do the part most people aren’t willing to do: execute.
Why don’t people execute? Because they might fail, and nobody likes failing. But as long as you’re learning from it and growing, you’re failing forward. If you’re a coach or mentor and you’re not continuously educating yourself and executing on it, how are you helping other people and making an impact?
Greta shared a quick aside from a recent client call. We regularly check in with clients by asking real questions, like “What feedback do you have for us?” When the feedback is positive, it naturally becomes a testimonial. You should be checking in with your clients on how things are going anyway.
On that call, the client said he could tell how committed we are to consistently learning. And we’re not ashamed of it. Greta is almost always reading a new book or taking a training. Judy is always listening to podcasts, YouTube videos, or audiobooks on selling and psychology.
Greta has been rereading Alex Hormozi’s $100M Leads, because every time she reads a book, new nuggets stand out. One that hit her this time: early on, Alex’s ego got in the way. He’d see what others were doing and decide it wouldn’t work for him. His takeaway, in short: “Quiet the ego, look for the lesson.”
That has helped Greta shift her mindset from “I’m not enough” to “I will never have enough information. I always have to be learning.”
Greta doesn’t think it’s a conscious decision. The busier we get, the harder it is to carve out time to learn. But to stay ahead of the curve, you have to keep evolving.
Judy sees two other patterns:
There is such a thing as too much information. If you learn a new social media strategy every week and try a different one each time, none of them will feel worth learning. Here’s what works for us.
As soon as Judy learns something or gets inspired, she takes action. She creates a social post, shares it with the team, or starts testing it. And she doesn’t flip-flop.
We talk every day, so we hold each other accountable: “What was that event you went to? What are we going to apply now?” We’re also in coaching programs ourselves, and nobody wants to show up to their next mentorship call and admit they didn’t do the thing.
We consume a lot of content on the same topics. About 90% of what Judy consumes is sales-based. Greta’s recent courses and books are about marketing, tech, and data. It might seem counterintuitive, but we keep fine-tuning what we already know best and hire experts for the rest. It’s not Greta’s job to master how to structure client slide decks, so she relies on Judy for that.
Repetition builds the muscle. Inconsistent execution creates inconsistent outcomes. We even outsource things we know well, like building Notion databases, because that isn’t the best use of our time. Greta looks at the numbers: if Judy spent her time building a database, how many slide decks or webinar scripts wouldn’t get created, and how much revenue would that cost?
Our client on that call was able to launch his coaching program where the only things he had to focus on were his pitch and his offer. He said he wouldn’t have even known he needed everything else we handled. Instead of spending six months learning how to fill a room, set up automations, and structure his content, he spent that time perfecting his pitch. That’s concentrated effort.
Online and in-person education are both valuable. We try to go to at least one live event a year. When you’re in a room with other people, you hear what’s possible that you never knew about. You don’t know what you don’t know.
Greta asked Judy about a recent reel where she bought popcorn. Judy opened with “I’ll tell you what I think at the end,” then went shopping, then delivered her review. Why? To get people to watch to the end. It creates anticipation, like a movie trailer. She makes the kind of content she likes to watch, and the “can’t reach the top shelf” moment wasn’t even planned.
She edited it in Instagram’s Edits app in about 10 minutes, even with lots of clips, and says it’s a game changer. You can also save reels for inspiration and leave yourself notes for future content.
Knowing what to do isn’t enough. Results come from taking action on what you learn, testing it, and repeating it enough times to see the reward.
Take action right away on what you learn, build in accountability with a partner or coach, and stay focused on learning within your zone of expertise instead of trying to master everything.
No. Double down on what you’re best at and hire experts for the rest. Look at the ROI of your time before investing it in learning a new skill.
One approach Judy uses is to tease the payoff at the start (“I’ll tell you what I think at the end”) so viewers watch to the end, and to create the kind of content you enjoy watching.
If you don’t want to learn everything we talked about, from ads to launches, webinars, and pitches, see what we handle for coaches or reach out to us.
Want more? Watch every episode of Bringing Simplicity Unfiltered on our YouTube channel.
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