DISRUPT YOU!

Workbook

Jay Samit

DISRUPT

YOU!
Workbook

FLATIRON
BOOKS
NEW YORK

DISRUPT YOU! WORKBOOK

D isrupt You! is written to empower you to transform your life, seize new
opportunities, and thrive in this era of endless innovation. You have already achieved the first stage of your journey by reading the book and
committing to self-disruption. The Disrupt You! Workbook is one more
tool to help you achieve your potential and realize your goals. To change
who you are, you must first change who you think you are. The more effort and energy you put into completing the exercises in this workbook,
the more you will get out of your career and your life.
Before you begin, here are some tips to organizing your self-disruption
journey and maximizing your results. Start each day with a few minutes
of visualization. As discussed in the book, visualization puts you in a
positive frame of mind and opens you up to new possibilities. By visualizing what you hope to achieve, you can develop a step-by-step plan for
realizing your goals. When you get in the habit of setting daily attainable
goals, you will be amazed what you can achieve during a week, a month,
and then a year. Be consistent and persistent in your pursuit. As you
read each chapter in Disrupt You!, youll learn new lessons for disruption,
then reflect on how these principles can be applied to your life, your journey, and your goals. Lastly, when there are setbacks and you have to pivot,
go back to the examples in the book for inspiration and ideas of how to
proceed. Remember, if it were easy, everyone would do it.

JAY SAMIT

Chapter One
In Defense of Disruption

Before embarking on your own journey of self-disruption, it is important that you understand the fundamental concepts of disruption. This
workbook is about personalizing the lessons and information in Disrupt
You! The following exercises are designed to help you identify how you
can disrupt yourself. Remember, the most rewarding project that you will
ever work on is you! Time to begin:
1. Whether driven by ambition or circumstance, every life and career
gets disrupted. Define disruption as it applies to your life and your career. What is making you think about disruption at this moment? How are
changes in your work affecting you? What will happen if you dont change?

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2. Write down your fears about being disrupted? Are you worried about
losing your job? Could your company go out of business? How are changes in technology and the economy impacting your future? Are their local or
government issues that are affecting your stability? Be specific about the
obstacles ahead of you.

3. What is the one thing you would hope to change about yourself?
What personal traits do you believe are holding you back from attaining success? How do your co-workers and bosses perceive you? What
shortcomings do others say you have? What have employers noted on your
performance reviews in the past?

4. Is there anything holding you back from making a change in your life?

JAY SAMIT

5. What do you risk losing if you try to disrupt your life?

6. Who is telling you that you cant have success? Did they give up on
their dreams and is that why they want you to give up on yours?

7. Are you willing to change?

8. Are you capable of change?

9. Do you believe in yourself?

If you answered the last three questions in the affirmative, congratulate yourself. You have already gone farther than most people because you
understand that the difference between who you are, and who you want
to be, is what you do. Now do it.

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Chapter 2
Become a Disruptor

Chapter 1 was an introduction to disruption. You learned that success as

a disruptor is about capturing the value that is released through disruption. Before you can focus on external rewards, it is important to focus
inward. Success comes from stepping outside of your comfort zone. The
better you know yourself and your desires, the more likely you are to
achieve your goals. We all create our own reality. These exercises are designed to help you create something wonderful.
1. Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses. Be honest and really
give yourself a hard looking over. What are the attributes that will help
you achieve your success? What are the attributes you admire in others
that you wish you had? What are the challenges that limit your ability to
achieve?

JAY SAMIT

2. Why do most people set limits when none actually exist? List one
achievement that would change how you feel about your limitations. For
example, if you are afraid of public speaking, the achievement to list would
be giving a speech. If you arent knowledgeable about a certain business, it
would be taking a course or reading a book on the subject. Choose something just outside of your comfort zone.

3. You already know step three. Take on your weaknesses by proving

that you can achieve whatever you conceive. Leave your comfort zone and
discover what you can do.

4. Congratulate yourself on achieving your goal and strut your stuff.

Use social media to post your achievements. Be proud that you ran that
marathon, finished your degree, or presented your paper to a room full of
strangers. Congratulations! You proved that you have no limits (and neither
does opportunity).

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Chapter 3
The Disruptors Map:

By completing the previous exercises, you proved that there isnt anything
in your life that cannot be changed. Chapter 3 is all about being specific
with your goals. Dont let your dreams stay dreams. Write them down in
an honest and organized manner. These exercises are your opportunity
to turn your dreams into a disruptors map. Life is short. Now make the
most of it.
1. Write a list of the things you would like out of life. This list can include
personal as well as material goals. Be honest and complete. Keep this list in
a journal or on your computer and refer back to it in coming days, months,
and years. Feel free to update and revise your list as your desires change.
This list is your first step at gaining control over your lifes journey.

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2. Take your list and sequence as best you can. Think about the order
in which you are likely to attain your goals. (You cant have grandchildren
before having children.) You may find it is easiest to start at the end of the
list and work backwards to the present.

3. You now have destination points of your Disruptors Map. Hang this
list on the wall by your desk or on your bathroom mirror. Study it and revise
it. Look at it often. You will be amazed how much you can accomplish once
you focus your priorities.
4. Rewrite your ordered Disruptors Map on a fresh sheet of paper, this
time leaving spaces in between each goal. In these spaces, you need to fill
in two key pieces of information: the date by which you must achieve your
goal, and the resources needed to ensure your success.
5. Look at the list of necessary resources that you just came up with.
Think of those resources as a To Do List. Write up an action plan of how
and when you are going to do each of the items on this list.
6. Lastly, congratulate yourself. You have taken the important first step
in controlling the outcome of your life; you have made a plan and you have
outlined the steps needed to achieve it. The plan will be altered by time and
circumstance, but you now possess a powerful Disruptors Map for staying
on course. Your life now has a purpose and your journey a destination.
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Chapter 4
Building a Brand of One

For many readers getting that perfect job is the first step towards achieving
personal transformation. Chapter 4 discussed the importance of language
in defining who you are and how perspective employers perceive you.
Recruiters and prospective employers will only take a minute to eyeball
your resume. These exercises will help you make every second count.
1. Describe yourself in one sentence as if you were a brand. What are
your brand attributes? What do you want people to know about you? What
strengths do you bring to each position that you have held? What makes
you unique?

2. Take out a copy of your existing resume and list all of the verbs you use.

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3. Make a list of five people you would like to emulate in your career.
These people can be senior executives in your company or notables in your
field. Go to LinkedIn and review profiles of other people who have held
similar positions to yours that you would like to emulate. Notice the words
they use to describe the positions theyve held and the accomplishments
theyve made. Pay special attention to their use of active verbs (designing,
deciding, creating). Which profiles jump out at you? What skills do they list?
Which candidates would you want to hire? What image does their profile
convey?
4. Circle those skills that you possess, but might not have articulated in
your own resume. Also note what training, certification, or other credentials
these individuals list in their own profiles. You may need to develop in order
to achieve industry success.
5. Now look at the chart youve made and compare it to your resume.
Replace any of the past tense or passive verbs on your resume with active
verbs found in the Transferable Skills Chart in Chapter 4 of Disrupt You!. Try
not to repeat the same verbs for multiple jobs or experiences.
6. Now print out a fresh copy of your resume and circle all of the adjectives. Replace any duplicates with synonyms that give your resume more
depth.
7. Update your LinkedIn page to incorporate the changes you made to
your online persona.
8. Congratulate yourself on your first step in changing how the world
perceives you. You should be proud of your professional makeover and can
now strive even harder to accomplish what your role models have achieved.

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Chapter 5
Disruptors at Work and the
Value of Intrapreneurship
Not everyone can go out and start his or her own business. As discussed
in chapter 5, many people benefit from learning to be an intrapreneur
and disrupting from inside a company can be the best path to achieving
your life goals. These exercises are designed to get you to look at your
current employer through the eyes of a disruptor.
1. What is the biggest challenge facing your company or your industry?

2. What new competition is threatening your company?

3. How have new competitors stolen market share or challenged your

companys products? Think beyond their pricing or specific ad campaigns.
Try to focus on what they are doing different and how it is being perceived
by your customers.

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4. What would be the one thing your company could do differently that
would most positively impact its future? This doesnt have to be something
in your area of the company, or even something that involves you. The
goal is to look for where value is captured through disruption. Does your
company need to move into an adjacent market or does it need to change
its value chain?

5. Who in your company would gain the most from implementing your
ideas for disruption?

6. What skills or training do you need to be able to implement your plan?

7. What is stopping you from suggesting your ideas to senior

management?

8. What do you have to lose by trying to change the status quo?

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Chapter 6
In Search of a Zombie Idea

Every entrepreneur wants to discover the one big idea that will change
his or her fortunes. As detailed in Chapter 6, the search for the Zombie
Ideathe idea that cant be killedis a methodical process. The first step
is to find obstacles that can be turned into opportunities by a disruptor.
These exercises will help you find your Zombie Idea.
1. Start looking for problems. Over the course of one month, write down
three things that can be improved in your world every day. They can be big
or small; personal or global.
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18.
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55.
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2. Review your ninety problems. Which are you most passionate about?
Which problems do you believe bother the most people? Which problems
have the least viable available solution?
3. Select the three problems for which you would most like to find a
solution. Brainstorm ways of solving three of your problems. Come up with
three Big Ideas.

4. Find ten strangers (friends want you to succeed and wont be honest
enough with their feedback) who share the same problem and tell them
about your Big Idea. Do they feel it will it help them? What would they pay
for a solution? Ask them to try and kill your Big Idea. (Tip: Phrase your
questions in an open ended manner so as not to lead them into artificially
supporting your idea. How would you use this product? is a more useful
survey question than Do you like this product?)
5. Modify your idea with the feedback received and test the new-improved Big Idea on ten new potential customers. Test and repeat until your
Zombie Idea cant be killed. Revel in having created a Zombie idea and yell
Its alive!
6. Congratulate yourself on having the makings of a really great startup.
You now have vetted the concept with a test audience and are ready to
build your company or start your social revolution.

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Chapter 7
Pivoting Your Energies

The lesson of Chapter Seven is recognizing that failure is not the opposite of success; it is part of success. Virtually all businesses must pivot
at one point or another. These exercises are designed to help you turn
setbacks into opportunities. The following is an exercise I do at least
once a month with every company I advise. These are tough questions
that require open, honest and complete answers. They can be assigned
to everyone on your management team individually or shared as a group.
Remind your team that this isnt personal. It is the only way to know
when to push ahead or when to move in another direction. All too often,
disruptors are too busy working in their business to be working on their
business. Here are the ten key Disrupt You! questions for pivoting your
energies:
1. Are you or your business achieving the milestones outlined in your
disruptors map?

2. If you are not meeting your projections, is the cause internal,

external or both?

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3. What would it take to achieve the original plan?

4. Do you have the financial and personnel resources to stick with

the plan?

5. What unexpected obstacles did your business face?

6. What new opportunity do those obstacles provide for you or your

competition?

7. What are your actual customers telling you? How does the data differ
from your initial assumptions?

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8. If you hadnt started your business when you did, and now knowing
everything you know today, would you still start the same company?

9. If you broke down the value chain of what you have created, what
better business opportunity could you pursue with your current assets?

10. Is it time to pivot? If the answer is yes, congratulate yourself for being honest and facing the tough fact that it is time to move forward in a new
direction. You are in control of your future and nothing feels better than that.
If the answer is no, then focus your efforts on fixing the issues identified by
your team. Either way, you tacked your ship across stormy seas and you
are headed for success once again.

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Chapter 8
Unlocking the Value Chain

Understanding where value is created and captured in a companys value

chain is key to building a successful enterprise. Chapter Eight proposes
a paradigm for viewing how each and every business functions. Understanding your industrys specific value chain will help you identify the
link that is best suited for disruption as well as where the greatest value
can be captured. Since all links are not of equal value, it is important to
spend the time analyzing how your sector operates. Before setting your
sights on disrupting a business or industry with your Big Idea, try the
following exercise:
1. Draw out your industrys value chain as it exists today.
2. Place each link on a separate card.
3. Analyze the cost versus profit potential of each link in the chain.
4. Now reorganize the cards in the order of value creation.
5. Which link generates the most value and which link captures
the most value?

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6. Will your new business unlock hidden and unrealized value?

7. Will you be able to capture the value you are creating, or will your
business be disruptive without generating value for your new company?

8. How will you defend your new value chain from future disruptors?
(This may require you to take another set of cards and map out the value
chain of your new company.)

9. Select the card of the link you are going to disrupt and congratulate
yourself on decoding your industry. You are now in a position to be a
disruptor.

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Chapter 9
Research & Development:
Unlocking the Value of Waste
Not all disruption requires you to invent something new. As the examples in Chapter 9 illustrate, you only need to find an existing idea and
apply it to a new industry or in a novel way. Local, state, and national
resources are available to you for discovering intellectual property that is
waiting to be discovered and put to use. The following exercises will help
you source your Big Idea.
1. Go online or to your local research university and see what research
is going on that may be applicable to your Big Idea. Many universities have
an office of technology transfer. Meet with someone from that office and
learn how you can gain access to their portfolio of intellectual property (IP).
Find out what are the financial terms for licensing university research.
2. Look through the list of research patents available for technology
transfer licensing from university and government research centers. Can
any of these be used for a purpose other than the one originally intended?
3. Contact the scientists or professors involved with creating the original
IP and see if they will work with you to grant a use-specific license to their
patent.
4. Involve a lawyer in this process to make sure that the entity granting
you the license has the authority to do so and to protect your rights going
forward. Ask if your new use enables you to file for additional patents in
your name.
5. Congratulate yourself on saving millions of dollars in research and
bringing your discovery to market.
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Chapter 10
Disruption Through Aesthetics

Brand extensions are a powerful way to take your unknown product and
make it instantly familiar to the public. Chapter 10 shares a wide range
of examples of how branding can be used to disrupt existing markets
and save on marketing dollars. Leveraging an existing brand can catapult
your Big Idea to success. The following exercises will help you determine
if this approach is right for your new product.
1. In a perfect world, what existing brand or company should have
launched your Big Idea? Make a list of all the brand names that would work
with your new product.
2. Mock up some fake ads for your brand-extension production. Test
these with prospective customers to gage their reaction and brand affinity.
If budget permits, run some targeted ads online to see which brand yields
the best click through rates.
3. Armed with your data, reach out to the brand manager of the
established company to see on what terms you can license the brand. Even
if you dont have the capital to execute the license, get the contract in hand.
4. Congratulate yourself. You now have a monetizable asset for your
new company. A term sheet to utilize an existing brand may be enough for
you to go out and raise your funding. You are on your way to leveraging all
of that brands existing goodwill and building a new business in less time
than you ever imagined.

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Chapter 11
Production: Reuse, Repurpose, Re-create

Many low-cost approaches to manufacturing now exist to help the under-funded startup compete with major corporations. Chapter 11 focuses
on the various capital-saving approaches to creating physical products.
These exercises provide a step-by-step approach to outsourced manufacturing.
1. If your Big Idea is a physical product, how and where are you
planning to manufacturer it?

2. Does 3D printing enable your product to have more features

or customization? Could 3D printing provide your product with a key
differentiator from other similar products on the market?

3. Are their suppliers online that can rapidly prototype your product for you?

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4. Get samples of your products made utilizing an existing online

community. Test the quality and cost of different suppliers.
5. Can you build an ecommerce site that focuses on customization for
your consumers?

6. Congratulate yourself if you are now holding a prototype product and

have a functioning online store. You now have in your hand two assets that
will assist you in raising money for your new venture.

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Chapter 12
Marketing and Sales:
Finding the Problem to Fit Your Solution

Building the right business model can be as important to your success as

having the right product. Chapter 12 is all about matching the approach
to sales and marketing that is right for your unique product or service.
Take the time to really challenge your assumptions and you may discover
a winning formula that has eluded others in your field. Too many entrepreneurs skip the important step of challenging how their product should
be monetized. The following exercises should help you determine the
path to likeliest success.
1. What is the business model for your Big Idea? How does this compare to similar products in your industry?

2. Are there other revenue streams or other sales approaches that could
be applied to your new business?

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3. Who sets your pricing? How much pricing elasticity can your
business model handle? How important is competitive pricing?

4. What marketing channels already exist for your target audience? Can
you leverage someone elses sales channel or sales force?

5. Could branded content get the word out for you more effectively?

6. Have any of your competitors tried a different business model in the past?

7. Does your business model capture the most value from your product?

Building a solid financial model for your new company will help you
raise the capital you require to launch your company. If you dont have
Excel skills, hire someone to help you with your modeling.
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Chapter 13
Distribution: Unlocking Unattainted Value
and the Challenge of Unlimited Shelf Space

Digital distribution has disrupted the business models of all forms of

content, including newspapers, magazines, books, music, videos, video
games, films and television shows. Chapter 13 showed how the world of
content is swiftly evolving, making it ripe for a new generation of disruptors to unbundle existing channels and recreate new consumer offerings.
If you are contemplating a business involving digital distribution, the
following exercises will help you hone your business.
1. How will your startup disrupt digital distribution? Will you work with
existing providers or create your own sales channel?

2. What is the best business model for pricing and consuming your
service offering? Is your target audience best suited for subscription, rental,
sales, or an ad supported model?

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3. How is similar content being digitally distributed today? Are other

content companies profitable in your sector or are they struggling to find a
sustainable model? What gross margins can you expect with your business
model?

4. How can you compete or defend against the major players in

distribution today?

5. What data can you gather to better target successful prospective

consumers and reduce your customer acquisition costs or customer churn?

6. Is your audience using computers or mobile devices to consume

content? Where should you first spend your development dollars?

7. Have you found an unexploited niche for disrupting distribution?

8. If you answered yes to question number seven, congratulations.

You are doing better than most giant media brands.

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Chapter 14
Capital Revisited: Other Peoples Money

Other Peoples Money (OPM) is a concept where you can leverage the
budget of major corporations that benefit from your new offering and
therefore arent required to pay them back for the capital they spend assisting your efforts. Chapter 14 gives specific examples of how OPM can
be used in a wide range of industries and markets. These exercises are
designed to help you identify potential sources of OPM for your disruptive idea.
1. Write a detailed description of your target audience. Go beyond the
standard demographic information and include the psychological details of
what will make customers emotionally connected to your product or service.
Try to be specific.

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2. Now make a list of all of the non-competing national and international

companies marketing to the same audience. Next to each company write
out their tag line or slogan.

3. Identify the advertising agency representing the brands listed above

and get the name of the account director at the agency responsible for the
brand.
4. Craft an email as to how your company can help them better market
their clients product. Remember, you are helping them do their job not
asking for a favor.
5. Take the user profile from step 1 and list which charities are also
targeting the same audience. Come up with a way for your team to work
with a charity on a cause marketing campaign.

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Chapter 15
Disruption in the Era of the Crowd

The power of the crowd is the power to fund any solution. Chapter 15
is an introduction to crowdfunding and crowdsourcing as new ways to
build a startup in the 21st century. The following exercises are designed to
help you determine how you can put the crowd to work for you.
1. Search Kickstarter, indiegogo, FundRazr and other crowdfunding
sites for projects similar to your idea. See how many were successful in
achieving their funding objectives.
2. Make a list of the terms and rewards offered to funders. How can
your project meet or beat these existing market expectations?
3. Study the amount of money raised in each prior project. Try to determine the sweet spot for fundraising. (Remember you can always raise more
capital than the minimum amount you requested.)
4. Check with an attorney to see what restrictions there are under the
JOBS Act for selling equity in your new venture.
5. Make a list of friends and family that would likely participate in your
crowdfunding. Send a test email to see how many would be interested in
supporting your campaign.
6. If your test marketing is positive, launch your crowdfunding campaign.
7. Promote your campaign through social media and provide supporters
with frequent updates. Turn your early supporters into a network of promoters.
8. Congratulate yourself for getting funded.
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Chapter 16
Disrupt the World

The principles of Disrupt You! apply far beyond the world of business.
Ideas are worthless unless you get them out of your head and into action.
Chapter 16 shows examples of how disruption can be applied to governmental and social institutions. For those of you who dream big and really
want to change the world, nothing is stopping you. You have disrupted
yourself and your career, now follow these exercises to disrupt the world.
1. Just as you did in Chapter 6, look at the world around you and write
down three major problems every day for a month. These are not the small
business solutions, but the macro issues. (Ill give you your first three:
climate change, clean energy, and potable water.)
1.
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14.
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50.
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86.
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2. Review your list of ninety problems and pick the one you are most
passionate about solving.

3. Using the tools outlined in this book, write your Disruptors Map for
arriving at your solution. Are there organizations that can help? Is there a
cause-marketing angle that can get big businesses involved?

4. Who can you get to join you on your journey?

5. How can you leverage the crowd to fund and source your solution?

6. How are you going to build out your network?

7. When are you going to change the world?

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Conclusion

Part of being a disruptor is paying it forward. If these exercises have

helped you achieve your goals, please share the story of your success on
jaysamit.com to help encourage others. We want to learn from you and
your journey. What tips or insights can you share to make the road a little
easier for others around the globe? Disrupt You! is a movement. We are a
community of individuals determined to make a difference with our lives.
I thank you in advance for your contributions to our world.

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JAY SAMIT