On video calls, I’m always looking down.

Is it because I’m distracted? Checking my phone?! Gasp… bored?!?!

Nope, nope, and definitely nope, uh-uh, no way.

You see the top of my head on a call because I’m leaning down and drawing what you’re saying in real time.

There’s a small notebook right in front of me, like always. Pen is in hand. While we talk, I’m making visual notes of the conversation. Maybe what you need, or think you need. What clearly matters to you. The problems you or your team might be trying to solve.

But I have to tell you, it wasn’t always part of how I worked with new people.

August 2023

I lost 12 bids in a row that summer. 12! In a row.

It was clear something had to change. But what? What was I really doing “wrong”? Turns out nothing. Really just needed to involve one more step. I’d been drawing during my calls forever. Sketching out challenges, or things they were looking for, problems they were trying to solve. So many of these visual notes of the conversation.

So what was the “big” change?

Simple: I’d send the drawings to the person after the call. Sometimes, if I’m feeling extra bold, the pricing for a live visual drawing session appears in the bottom corner. A full image of displaying some form of what you said, what we can do, and what happens next.

And like snap-your-fingers-magic, the number of live sessions went up.

Sales-y sales folk call these discovery calls. People call wondering about your services or think you might be able to help them.

And some of you might know that many discovery calls feel transactional. Someone asks questions, takes notes you’ll never see, promises to follow up.

Our talks are different because a few hours after we hang up, there’s a drawing in your inbox. What you said, in sketch form.

It’s something close to proof that the conversation mattered. That someone absorbed what you were actually trying to communicate, not just what questions they needed answered.

When we meet in person for the first time, I bring the physical copy. Some people have almost forgotten about it. Others have been thinking about it since the call.

Either way, it becomes a new type of conversation.

The Notebooks

I've filled multiple notebooks with these. Clients. Friends. Coaching sessions. All of them.

Some of these people I’m still working with. But not all of them.

These notebooks don’t just exist so I can try to book live gigs. I learn from them too. It’s fun looking back and seeing how conversations evolved, what patterns emerged, how my style has changed, and even where I could have listened better.

Doing something you're good at and giving it away creates a different kind of video call.

One where someone walks away with something tangible and unique.

Most people don't get a drawing of their conversation.

You do.

Grateful you are here,

Wade

CTA - Want your first live sketch? Let’s talk…​