“Teach with cadence, lead with consistency, be the heartbeat, not the echo” 

Hey ,

So...

Yesterday I showed you how to predict which frameworks will make you rich.

Today I'm going to help you identify the intellectual property vampires that are sucking your practice dry.

But first...

Let me tell you about the framework that nearly destroyed my consulting practice...

#sipscoffee

Once upon a time....

There was a consultant who fell in love with his own brilliance.

Plot twist: The brilliance was actually stupidity in disguise.

Do I need to tell you who it was?

#sideeye

Here's the story about how how I wasted three years and 200 hours developing a framework that generated $42.50 per hour...

It was called The Leadership Authenticity Matrix and it was my pride and joy for three years.

I'd spent months perfecting it.

The theory was solid.

The psychology was sound.

The visual framework was beautiful enough to frame and hang on my home office wall.

There was just one tiny problem: It didn't work.

Oh don't get me wrong...

It worked in theory.

And it worked when I explained it to other consultants at conferences.

They'd nod appreciatively and tell me how "great " it was.

But when deployed with actual clients who were paying actual money?

Complete and utter disaster.

The framework was too complex.

Required too much setup.

Demanded too much introspection from executives who just wanted practical solutions to immediate problems.

Yet I kept trying to make it work like some kind of intellectual zombie.

I refined it.

Simplified it.

Created new versions.

Developed supplementary materials.

Wrote case studies based on the one time it sort of worked with a client who was probably just being polite.

Over three years...

I invested approximately 200 hours developing this framework.

Total revenue generated: $8,500.

That's $42.50 per hour of development time.

#sigh.

This is what I call Framework Zombification...

#walkingdead

When dead intellectual property continues consuming resources because you refuse to bury it.

The Leadership Authenticity Matrix should have been retired after the third failed deployment.

Instead....

I kept it on life support for 36 months...

Feeding it development time that should have gone to frameworks with actual commercial potential.

Anyways...

After the Leadership Authenticity Matrix debacle...

I developed a systematic process for identifying framework zombies before they drain significant resources.

Every 90 days....

I audit my entire framework portfolio using these six questions:

The Revenue Reality Check:

How much money has this framework generated in the past 12 months?

The Deployment Frequency Test:

How often am I actually using this framework with paying clients?

The Client Demand Assessment:

How often do clients specifically request this framework or the solution it provides?

The Competitive Advantage Evaluation:

Does this framework create genuine differentiation, or is it solving problems that other approaches handle better?

The Development ROI Analysis:

How much time have I invested in developing this framework versus revenue generated?

The Energy Audit:

Does thinking about this framework excite me or drain me?

The Framework Triage System

Based on audit results, frameworks get sorted into three categories:

KEEP: High revenue, frequent deployment, strong client demand, clear competitive advantage, positive ROI, energizing to work on.

IMPROVE: Medium performance on most metrics but clear path to improvement within 90 days.

BURY: Low performance on multiple metrics with no realistic improvement path.

The Bury category is where most consultants fail catastrophically.

They can't let go of frameworks they've invested time in, even when the market has clearly rejected them like a bad blind date.

This creates what I call The Sunk Cost Framework Trap....

It's continuing to invest in frameworks because you've already invested in them, not because they have future potential.

Now for The Burial Protocol

When a framework gets marked for burial, I follow a specific protocol:

Step 1: Extract the Salvageable Elements

Before retiring the framework....

I identify any concepts...

Tools...

Or insights that could be incorporated into successful frameworks.

Nothing gets completely wasted.

Step 2: Document the Lessons Learned

I write a brief explaining why the framework failed.

This prevents me from making the same mistakes with future frameworks.

Step 3: Permanent Retirement

The framework gets moved to a retired folder and I commit to never developing it further.

This prevents zombie resurrection.

Step 4: Resource Reallocation

The time and energy previously invested in the dead framework gets immediately redirected to high velocity frameworks with proven commercial potential.

Now...

After auditing hundreds of frameworks both my own and for clients...

I've identified the most common types of intellectual property vampires:

The Academic Darling: Theoretically sophisticated but practically useless. Impresses other experts but confuses clients.

The One Hit Wonder: Worked brilliantly once but can't be replicated. Based on unique circumstances that rarely repeat.

The Over Engineered Solution: Solves simple problems with complex methodologies. Clients prefer simpler alternatives.

The Ego Framework: Exists primarily to demonstrate your intellectual sophistication rather than solve client problems.

The Hobby Horse: You keep developing it because you find it personally interesting, not because the market demands it.

Now pay attention...

Here's the math that will change how you think about framework zombies...

If you spend 10 hours per month developing a framework that generates no revenue, that's 120 hours per year.

At a $200/hour consulting rate...

That's $24,000 in opportunity cost annually.

Multiply that by 3 or 4 zombie frameworks and you're looking at between $72,000 to 96,000 per year in lost opportunity.

WARNING: Do Not Covert To Naira

That's not just lost development time...

That's lost revenue from not developing frameworks that actually work.

Once I started systematically burying zombie frameworks...

A number of things started to happen...

My framework portfolio became more focused and profitable.

Client results improved because I was only using proven methodologies.

Development time got concentrated on high velocity frameworks with clear commercial potential.

Most importantly...

I stopped feeling guilty about abandoned frameworks because the burial process was intentional and systematic, not random neglect.

Every minute you spend on zombie frameworks is a minute not spent on frameworks that could make you wealthy.

Tomorrow I'll share with you The Framework Empire Blueprint...

It's a systematic approach for building multiple high velocity frameworks that work together to create a comprehensive intellectual property empire worth millions.

I'll be doing a Deliberate Design Workshop for members of IST in September were we'll unpack how to go from From Scattered Insights to Systematic IP Empire. I have 10 guest passes available for $100 (N150,000).

If you'd like to join us...

Hit reply and I'll send you details.

Lets lock in your seat.

This is The Certain Way.

Get out of your own way.

CTM