My dad loved to catch fish.

He wasn’t always the most patient guy, so a day of casting and waiting for fish wasn’t his jam. So when he and I would go fishing, we’d often hire a guide to help us get to the places where we could catch a lot of fish.

On a trip to Montana, we had two days to fish.

The first day our guide took us out to a stream and told us where the best fishing spots were. He’d help us with our flies or our casting, but mostly he left us alone to catch fish.

We caught some terrific fish and had a blast doing it. He did exactly the job we asked of him – he got us to a great place to catch fish.

The second day was different.

The next day, our first guide wasn’t available. So we hired a different guide.

The second guide took us to some ponds on private land where we had to pay an extra fee to fish, but these ponds were loaded.

We caught over 100 fish that day! At one point, I was resting from catching so many fish, and my fly fell into the water. A fish bit it and almost pulled my pole into the water.

Driving home that second day, my dad and I reflected that as much fun as we had that first day, we’d choose to come back and have the experience we had at ponds over and over again. Every time I’ve gone fishing since then, I’ve thought of that day on the ponds and how much fun it was.

Are you the first guide, or the second?

The first guide gave us what we asked for, and it was a great day. The second guide understood what we wanted and changed our expectations of what a day fishing could be.

Are you delivering what your clients ask for, or are you changing their perception of what is possible?

I’d love to hear what you think. What would it look like to deliver an experience that changes people’s expectations forever?