You've tried to create your signature framework before.
You bought the course. You filled out the worksheets. You picked your 3-5 steps, gave them clever names, maybe even added alliteration. You drew a diagram.
And somehow it still felt generic. Like you were describing what anyone in your field might do, not what you actually do.
Here's what nobody told you: DIY framework building works best for early-career professionals still developing their approach. If you have five or more years of expertise and a track record of results, you don't need to create a framework. You need to find the one that's been hiding in your work all along.
The key difference: DIY asks you to build from scratch. Extraction reveals what's already there.
This matters because you're probably sitting on something valuable. You just can't see it yet.
What's the Difference Between Framework Extraction and DIY Building?
DIY framework building is architectural. You start with a blank page, study what others have done, identify your "unique angle," and construct something new. Most courses teach this approach. Pick your steps. Name your methodology. Build your visual.
Framework extraction is archaeological. You dig through your existing work, client calls, emails, decisions, and results to uncover patterns that are already operating. Extraction is discovery, not invention.
The distinction sounds subtle. The results aren't.
DIY assumes you need to create something that doesn't exist yet. Extraction assumes you already have something, but it's become invisible to you.
Research on tacit knowledge confirms this. Psychologist Michael Polanyi put it simply: "We know more than we can tell." After years of practice, your methodology stops being something you think about. It becomes something you just do. The neural pathways are so well-worn that the process happens below conscious awareness.
Your framework got shy. It stopped explaining itself around year three or four. Now it just operates quietly in the background while you focus on the client in front of you.
This is the part I find fascinating. The better you get, the less you can articulate how you do what you do.
When Does DIY Framework Building Make Sense?
DIY isn't wrong for everyone. It works well in specific situations.
You're early in your career. If you have fewer than three to five years in your specialty, you may still be experimenting with different approaches. You haven't developed enough unconscious patterns yet to extract. Building from scratch helps you think through your process deliberately.
You're launching something genuinely new. If you're creating a service you've never delivered before, there's nothing to extract. You need to design it.
You have time and enjoy the creative process. DIY takes 50 to 200 hours or more. If you find that energizing rather than exhausting, and you're not in a hurry, it can be a worthwhile exercise.
You want a low-cost starting point. Courses range from $500 to $5,000. If budget is a constraint and you're comfortable with the time investment, DIY is accessible.
The honest assessment: DIY can work, but it often produces generic frameworks. Without deep pattern analysis, you're likely to create something that looks like everyone else's methodology with slightly different labels. The templates produce similar outputs because they start from similar inputs: conscious assumptions about what you think you do.
When Does Framework Extraction Work Better?
Extraction fits a different profile.
You have five or more years of experience in your specialty. Long enough for patterns to form. Long enough for those patterns to become invisible.
You've delivered results for clients but can't explain why your approach works. They get outcomes with you that they didn't get elsewhere. Something is happening. You're just not sure what.
You've tried to create a framework before and it felt forced. You have documents titled "My Methodology" that now live in a folder called "Old Stuff" alongside a business plan from 2019 and a headshot you no longer use.
Clients say you're "different" but you can't articulate the difference. When someone asks what makes you unique, you stumble. You know you're not doing what everyone else does. You just can't name it.
You want to scale but don't know how to package your expertise. Courses, licensing, training others. All of these require a documented methodology. You can't teach what you can't see.
The extraction process works with raw materials: call transcripts, client emails, proposal documents, notes from engagements. AI-powered pattern analysis across multiple projects reveals what's consistent. What would take a human hundreds of hours to spot across dozens of transcripts, AI can surface in a fraction of the time.
The patterns were always there. The technology to find them at scale wasn't.
The sequence of questions you always ask. The diagnostic moves you make without thinking. The beliefs that drive your recommendations. AI recognizes the repetition you stopped noticing years ago.
The framework already exists in your work. Extraction makes it visible.
Side-by-Side: Extraction vs. DIY
| Factor | DIY Framework Building | Framework Extraction | |--------|------------------------|---------------------| | Starting point | Blank slate | Existing body of work | | Time investment | 50-200+ hours | Done-for-you process | | Best for | Early-career, new offerings | Experienced experts (5+ years) | | Risk | Generic, forced frameworks | Reveals actual uniqueness | | Output | Created methodology | Discovered methodology | | Authenticity | Variable | High (based on real patterns) | | Requires | Creative energy, time | Raw materials + AI analysis |
The outputs look similar on paper. Both produce a named methodology with steps and a visual. But the source is different. Created methodologies reflect what you think you do. Discovered methodologies reflect what you actually do.
The gap between these two is often enormous.
The Problem With "Create Your Signature Framework" Courses
Most signature framework content teaches architecture, not archaeology.
The standard approach: Study frameworks in your industry. Find a gap or a unique angle. Design your steps. Create clever names. Build a visual. Test with clients.
This works from templates. Templates produce similar-looking results. If everyone follows the same process to create their "unique" methodology, the outputs converge. Different names, same structure.
The bigger problem is tacit knowledge. After 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, knowledge becomes automatic. The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition describes this as moving from "conscious competence" to "unconscious competence." You no longer think through each step. You just know.
Courses ask you to consciously construct what you unconsciously do. That's like asking someone to explain how they ride a bike by designing a bicycle from scratch. The skill lives in the body, not the blueprint.
Experienced experts often feel frustrated by framework courses. "I already have something," they think. "I just can't see it."
They're right. Creation was never the problem. Visibility was.
What Does Extraction Actually Reveal?
When AI analyzes someone's actual work, patterns emerge that they couldn't have articulated themselves. The technology recognizes repetition, sequence, and structure across conversations you'd never think to compare.
Your unique decision-making patterns. The specific sequence of questions you ask. The order matters. The phrasing matters. You've refined this over hundreds of engagements without realizing it.
The diagnostic moves you make automatically. How you assess a situation in the first five minutes. What you're looking for. What makes you lean in or pull back.
The beliefs driving your recommendations. Not just what you suggest, but why. The principles underneath that you've never named.
The language that resonates with your clients. Specific phrases you use. Metaphors that land. Ways of explaining things that make people feel understood.
Why clients get results with you specifically. Not generic "expertise" but the particular combination of moves that creates outcomes.
One consultant discovered she had a five-phase diagnostic process she used with every client but had never named or documented. Within three months of extraction, she licensed this methodology to four other consultants. The framework was always there. It just needed someone else to see it.
How Do You Know Which Approach Is Right for You?
Ask yourself these questions:
How long have you been doing this work?
- Under 3 years: DIY may help you think through your approach
- 5+ years: Extraction will likely reveal more than creation
Have you tried to create a framework before?
- Never tried: DIY is a reasonable starting point
- Tried and it felt generic or forced: Extraction addresses the root cause
Can you explain what makes you different?
- Yes, clearly: You may not need either
- No, you stumble: Something is invisible that shouldn't be
Do clients get results with you they don't get elsewhere?
- Not sure: Too early to extract
- Yes, consistently: There's a pattern worth finding
How much time do you have?
- 50-200 hours available: DIY is possible
- Limited time, need efficiency: Extraction is done-for-you
If you recognized yourself in the extraction profile, here's what's actually happening: your methodology doesn't want to be found. It sits in the corner of every client call, arms crossed, watching you give it away for free. It's been doing this for years.
It's not hiding because it's weak. It's hiding because it got good enough to stop needing conscious attention.
The framework is ready to be found. It has been ready for years. It's just waiting for someone else to make the introduction.
What's Your Next Step?
If you're early in your career and still experimenting, a DIY course might be the right starting point. Build deliberately. Test your approach. See what sticks.
If you have years of experience and a track record of results but can't articulate what makes you different, extraction is worth exploring.
Ready to see what's been hiding in your work? Book a discovery call to find out what patterns you've been using without knowing it.
Not sure which approach fits? Check out why your framework sounds like everyone else's or take the assessment to see how invisible your expertise has become.
Sources:
- Dreyfus, H. & Dreyfus, S. - Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition
- Polanyi, M. (1966) - The Tacit Dimension
- Ericsson, K.A. - Research on deliberate practice and expertise
Last updated: December 2025