Eric Yim · Process · 20 answers
Listen closely, find the real difference, make it clear, and give the owner a chance to correct it.
Explore questions 61–80 ↓
I start by understanding the person and the business. What do they do? Who do they help? What do customers come back for? What is getting in the way right now? Sometimes the answer is not a marketing problem, and I want to be honest about that.
Then I look for something concrete: a job, a question, a decision, or a story. I ask why until the answer is more specific than a service category. I want to connect the owner’s values and mission with who they help and what they can show. That gives us a clear reason someone might choose them, grounded in what is already true.
From there, I want a simple rhythm. Capture the real work, prepare a draft, let the owner review it, publish the approved version, and learn from the response. AI can help with the repeated preparation. The owner’s experience and a human’s judgment still set the direction.
Process · 61–80 of 100
Question 61
First, I want to understand the person and the business. What do you do, who do you help, and what is getting in the way right now? I don’t want to start by selling you a package. I want to know whether what we do is actually useful for the problem you have. Then we can look at the work and the story that are already there.
Question 62
I look for the details that would help someone make a good recommendation. Who do you help especially well? What do you care about? What can you show from the work? A service category gives me a starting point, but I want enough context to understand why this business could be the right fit for a particular person.
Question 63
I ask more questions before I decide what the answer is. A person might come in asking for more content, but that does not automatically mean content is the thing holding them back. I want to understand what happens when a customer discovers them and why someone would choose them. If marketing is not what they need right now, I should be able to say that.
Question 64
I try to spend enough time with the person to understand why the business exists. It is easy to collect the services, the logo, and the contact information and start making things. I want the conversation that gets past that. What seems ordinary to the owner may be the detail that makes someone else connect with them.
Question 65
I usually look for clarity first. Can someone understand what you do, who it is for, and why they might choose you? One clear message and one real example give us a stronger starting point. Then we can build the website, content, and next step around that understanding.
Question 66
The rhythm I’m building is: listen, find the story, capture the real work, prepare a draft, get the owner’s review, publish what they approve, and learn from the response. The owner should not have to manage a pile of tools to participate. They should be able to send us a text or a photo and understand what happens next.
Question 67
The part I care about most is understanding both sides of the introduction: the business and the person it wants to help. If I only hear the service category, the message stays broad. When I understand the owner’s values, experience, and specific strengths, I can help explain the fit much more clearly. That is where I think the useful work starts.
Question 68
I want to understand the owner, get clear on who they serve well, and find the work that supports what they say. Then we can shape the message and let the owner check it. The order matters because every piece we share should connect back to something true and consistent about the business.
Question 69
The messy part I’m trying to systemize is everything between a useful conversation and a piece of content someone can publish. There are notes, drafts, edits, formats, and scheduling. I want those steps to happen in a clear sequence, with the owner knowing what they need to review. That is a big part of why we are building Protocol around a simple texting relationship.
Question 70
I still want to have the real conversation. I want to listen, ask the extra question, and notice when something matters to the person. When I can meet someone in person, I value that. I’m happy to use technology for the repeated work around the conversation, but I do not want to automate away the understanding that makes it worth having.
Question 71
AI helps us turn a conversation into a draft and work through different ways to explain the same idea. The owner still reviews what represents them. I want the repeated preparation to become easier while keeping that moment of human judgment close to the work.
Question 72
Human judgment matters most when we decide what the story actually means and what we can honestly say. A draft can sound confident and still miss the person. Someone needs to ask whether the claim is supported, whether the owner recognizes themselves in it, and whether it is useful to the customer we are trying to reach.
Question 73
I’m learning to balance the big direction with the small thing that is blocking someone today. The long-term vision matters, but it should not become an excuse to ignore a confusing experience. I want to spend time on the detail that changes the outcome, show it to someone, and use their response to decide what deserves attention next.
Question 74
I try not to let entertainment metrics decide the whole strategy for a service business. A big view count is not automatically the right audience, and a trend is not automatically relevant to what the owner does. I care more about whether we are explaining something useful to someone who might actually need that service.
Question 75
Start with an action the customer already understands. Send a text. Send a photo. Tell us what happened on the job. Then we do the preparation and make the next decision clear. I care a lot about the product experience because the owner should not need to understand all the technology underneath it to get something useful done.
Question 76
A longer conversation can reveal the reason behind the service. That is what I’m looking for. Someone might tell me the thing they sell, and then a follow-up question reveals a memory, a value, or a choice that changes how I understand the business. A standard intake form can be a starting point, but I do not want to stop there.
Question 77
It is meant to prevent us from amplifying a message that does not really fit the person. If we jump straight into output, we can make something polished that could belong to anybody. I want to check the understanding first, then let the owner correct the draft before we turn it into something public.
Question 78
Earlier, more of our work centered on websites and software projects. Protocol grew out of CleanOS, and our focus has developed toward helping service owners get found and trusted through their real work. I now think about the ongoing relationship: how the owner shares, how we prepare, and how they keep participating.
Question 79
I learned that trying to perfect the product before showing it to people can hurt me. I can spend a lot of time on a detail before I know whether it is the detail that matters. I still care about quality, but I’m trying to let real conversations and real use shape where that care goes.
Question 80
I think the amount of time I spend talking with people might surprise them. I work with technology, but a lot of what informs the work comes from an ordinary conversation or going out to meet someone. The software is important. So is understanding the person who has to use it and the story they are trying to tell.
The difference between writing down what a business sells and understanding why it exists.
What I would tell a service business owner staring at an empty posting calendar.