Are you on the hamster wheel of one more course, one more programme, one more event? Each one that you see advertised looks so enticing, it's the perfect thing to turn your dream into reality and help you earn consistent income. But the last course didn't live up to its promise, the last programme is sitting unopened on your desktop, the last event was fun but didn't really make the difference you hoped for. Still, this next one will do the trick, huh? Perhaps you signed up for Marie Forleo's BSchool, Nathalie Lussier's 30 Day List Builder Challenge, Denise Duffield-Thomas's Lucky Bitch Money Bootcamp, or one of my own programmes like 28 Days to Your Best Month in Business. Have you seen it through? Did you complete every module, every action? If not, the truth is, you're not learning. Spending money on courses and events and doing nothing with them is such a waste - and in reality you could have spent your money in better places. If you were to be really honest with yourself, did you get a return on your investment? When you analyse the return on your investment, was it really worth it? Could you have learned as much from a book or a course on Udemy? And when it gets to being honest with yourself, do you really need to be learning from another course or event, or is it time to implement what you already know? When you analyse the return on your investment, was it really worth it? You see, I have this thing about serial course attenders. By spending so much time with your training wheels on your business bike you're never progressing, never stepping outside of your comfort zone. Did you know it's said that around 98% of the population stay within their comfort zone? Are you one of the 98%? Chances are this is where you feel safe, and so it's safer to do another course, attend another event than it is to apply what you've learned and risk failing. As long as you do this, though, you are simply helping someone else's business to succeed whilst setting your own success aside. Is that what you want? If you attended an event or purchased an online programme in the last 3 months, I would love you to reflect on what you did with the learning you gained. Did you make notes? What did you do with those notes? What actions have you taken as a direct result of undertaking the learning? If you're done nothing so far, it's not too late. You can take action now and put the learning into effect. Did you know it's said that around 98% of the population stay within their comfort zone? Are you one of the 98%? Are you ready to make that investment in your learning worthwhile? Here's the 5 step plan to get you going:
Rinse and repeat. Keep going until you've taken all the actions from the first course. Then you can start again with the next course, and keep going until you have worked your way through every course you've bought. A word of caution - it's ok if you come across a course that really wasn't worth buying, or perhaps just wasn't right for you. Move on to the next one. Now, if you still don't work your way through the courses ask yourself this - do I really want to be in business working for myself, do I really want to learn how to make it in business, or am I buying the courses as a way of creatively avoiding doing what I need to be doing to become a success? One final thought - if you're being swayed by the adverts online, by the newsletters that drop into your inbox screaming at you to buy now there are two actions you can take straight away. Firstly, unsubscribe - and yes, I know this means you may unsubscribe from my newsletter, but hey, if it's not serving you then yes, you need to unsubscribe. Please go and do that now. Secondly, go off-line. Don't spend so much time in the online world where you find yourself enticed into buying things you may not actually need. What are you like at being told what to do? I'll admit it, I squirm when I'm told to do something. It's like going back to my teens and having parents, teachers, near enough everyone in my life telling me what to do. I hated it then ... and I'm not so keen on it now if I'm honest! Working with one of my 1:1 clients this last week we got talking about questions and how powerful the right question can be. Which took me down the road of asking her "What questions could you ask yourself instead of telling yourself to do something?" Her eyes lit up. It resonated with her. Our monkey brain kicks in and tries to rebel You see, many of us struggle with being told to do things - and yet that's how we communicate with ourselves all the time. Our monkey brain kicks in and tries to rebel - I'm sure you've been there with the procrastination or suddenly finding the cleaning or ironing to be much more fun than writing the blog post you're meant to be doing! I've just managed to spend the last hour packing boxes for moving (it's not like we move in the next few days either) just to avoid doing what I told myself to do this afternoon. What happens is this: our brain receives an instruction. Instead of searching for the solution to the specific instruction it searches for how to handle instructions. And the automatic responses kick in - rejection, rebellion, procrastination, boredom, excuses, distraction - whichever our go-to avoidance tactic is, that's the way we handle the instruction we give ourselves. We pretty much need to treat ourselves as if we're a a client. We have to encourage and enable through asking the right questions - because the power is in the questions. Instead of being hard on yourself the next time you use your go-to avoidance strategy, check in with yourself about whether you told yourself to do something or asked yourself a power question. The two main question types that work are the "how" and the "what" questions. These encourage a process of working out solutions. The power is in the questions. I have a selection of go-to questions that work for me. These are questions that encourage my monkey brain to kick in to support me. You see, the monkey brain can't help itself - when we ask it a question, it searches for the answer. And that's what we need to happen - we need the monkey brain on our side, working with us, creating solutions. Asking the right questions will get your monkey brain working in your favour.
Here are some of my go-to questions - try them out and discover if they work for you, and let me know in the comments below what questions work for you.
Is that you? Afflicted by Shiny Object Syndrome? You know the kind of thing – someone tells you that this course, that product, the other programme is a must have for you. In fact, it’s apparently so crucial for you to buy now that you will only reach your dreams if you do. Or something sounds too good to be true … and looks so pretty … sounds so good … feels so amazing. You get it. And we’ve possibly all be affected by Shiny Object Syndrome at some point in our lives. The only trouble is, in business this syndrome is possibly killing your dream. By constantly buying the latest promise to grow your business you are in danger of spending everything you have to get nothing. This isn’t a new phenomenon. It’s been going on since time began. There is always someone out there who will show you that the grass is greener over on the other side. Sadly, though, they have their own interests and earnings at heart, not yours. They are more interested in the sales they can get than the way your finances look. By constantly buying the latest promise to grow your business you are in danger of spending everything you have to get nothing. So if you find at least one of these applies to you, then you may need to get the self-diagnosis of Shiny Object Syndrome:
Your bank account is not growing, but you still think about committing more money than you have on a new something-or-other. Is there anything you can do about it? Can you get over your self-diagnosed psychological disorder and put Shiny Object Syndrome to bed? The good news is yes, you can. Here are 7 simple steps to follow:
I wanted to share with you my favourite poem this week, as the message in it is very powerful. It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it. It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human. It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!” I want to know if you can see beauty even when it’s not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children. It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back. It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. Have you ever had that experience? You think you're doing just fine with your business and along comes that person who decides to tell you that you've got it all wrong. You discover a new ‘should’ because this person confidently tells you that you should do it this way or that way. This kind of person plays judge, jury and executioner for you and your business as they tell you what you must do, how things need to be, the only thing that works. For many years now I’ve worked with the principle that when a 'should' enters the conversation it’s time to search out alternative options. It’s not that I’m saying that someone who dictates their mandate is wrong. Not at all. It’s simply that the word ‘should’ is meant for them, not you. Their strength of opinion comes from an action having worked so well for them in their business, in their life, they convince themselves this is the best way to do things – maybe even the only way. "When a 'should' enters the conversation it's time to search out alternative options." This kind of approach comes from a fixed mindset. Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, introduced the concept of fixed and growth mindsets. Her research found that with a fixed mindset we are focused on proving that our actions, our intelligence, our way of being, the outcomes we achieve are right. We work to prove the status quo. This can lead us to becoming the judge, jury and executioner of others’ ways of being, because in working to prove our ‘rightness’ we might become righteous, and can dogmatically dismiss the opinions and actions other people adopt. I say dogmatically – and I suspect that many of us would struggle to accept that word, as we'd say it's not that we are dogmatic when we suggest alternative options and actions to other people in business. Humour me, though. Over the next week observe how others behave. Listen in to your own dialogue. When are you telling people what they ‘should’ do? When are you telling someone that ‘this’ is the right way? When are you imposing your thoughts onto others? We all do it to greater or lesser degrees, and at times we may be in danger of becoming dogmatic, authoritarian, blunt as we tell people what they must do – afterall, we’re human, and we’re conditioned to prove that our approach, our knowledge, our intelligence, our action is the right one. What can you do when you notice others are ‘should-ing’ you? My approach that has worked for me for years is to immediately seek out the alternatives. I may end up coming back to what the person told me I should do, and adopt their approach. But before that I at least carry out the research. I also consider any bias the person ‘should-ing’ me might have. What is behind their ‘should’? What is behind them imposing their perspective on me? Will they benefit financially from me taking on their ‘shoulds’? Is it that they need validation for actions they’ve taken in the past? Is there some other motive for them taking on the role of judge, jury and executioner? "By asking questions we can enable the person to find what is right for them instead of imposing our own perspective on them." And what if you catch yourself out ‘should-ing’ other people? What can you do then? Again, I can only go on the basis of what works for me (see what I did there?) And so I qualify my comments, just as I did in the previous sentence. I also find it helps to stop myself in my tracks and move from telling to asking. By asking questions we can enable the person to find what is right for them instead of imposing our own perspective on them. Asking is much more empowering than telling. And asking leaves the power of choice in the hands of the other person, something that is crucial for them to be able to learn what is right for them.
And finally, remember the post I wrote a couple of weeks ago about “Who Are You Listening To?” – it may be time to take that on board and check out whether you’re listening to the right people. It may even be time to switch off the noise and listen to your inner voice so that you can learn to trust your own opinion. When has somebody else's 'should' got in the way for your business? When have you felt like you're being judged for going your own way? Have you noticed the trend? Near enough every newsletter that has landed in my inbox in the last 2 weeks has been someone telling me that they have the secret and they're going to share it with me -they are going to take me to 100k and beyond, heck, let's not stop there, let's go for the cool looking mil! And it's got me thinking ... did all these people really make the money and turn their life around? Did they all go from massive debt, through spending crazy sums on learning and setting up their business, to now being hugely successful living the millionaire lifestyle? And even if they did, seriously, can they not come up with something different for their marketing message? Do they really all need to be telling me the same thing in their newsletters?
It's like they've all been on the same 'stack 'em high, sell 'em expensive' course as 6 figure Sally and 7 figure Fiona (fictional characters), and all that changes in their newsletter is the photograph they use (please tell me you did change the photograph!!!). And it all starts with the supposedly relatable story of rags to riches that is starting to sound more brags to bitches! Heck, I'm only jealous because I never quite got to rock bottom - sense always prevailed and I got myself out of shit before things got too bad. Damn my pragmatic side! No sob story for me then. I'm kind of over so many people marketing with the exact same message of "I'll share my secrets in this fabby dozy download/on this coolio doolio webinar with my secret formula that I learned overnight through 5 minute's hard graft" (ok, ok, I'm exaggerating for effect here!), that tells you nothing new, takes way too long to get to the point, and then the point is ... well ... a bit point-less .... come on, the 6 figure Emperor has no clothes on! It's time to look for new ways to market, let's look for new outcomes, let's look for new and wonderful, engaging ways to market. Let's look for some unique stuff rather than the same old same old. You see, I'm of the mind that following the masses doesn't work. We get bored way too easily and look for something new - so you have a choice, you could follow the masses and risk everyone getting bored before they even find you, or you could dare to be different, dare to be you. I get that it's easy to follow a formula that you learn in a book you read on your Kindle on your commute to work at the day job. I get that it's easy to copy the step by step process that someone takes you through on their webinar that you watch whilst cooking the dinner. But business, successful business comes from more than that. A small group of people may well achieve the 6 figure dream, and an even smaller group will achieve the 7 figure dream by all doing the exact same thing they read about, watched about, learned about from somebody else. The reality is that true success in business (by which I mean YOUR definition of success) comes from you being you, it comes from you finding that unique product, service or course that is yours, that combines what you truly know from experience, from years of working in your specialism, it comes from achieving what you want in your life. For me that's more about happiness, time with my family, freedom to choose how I spend my day, and sure, it also comes from earning. But I'm not in search of the 6 figure dream (there, I said it! I've come out of the 6 figure closet and announced to the world that a high income is not my motivator). I'm in search of freedom, happiness, and success for my clients. I beg you to do your research before you next part with your hard earned cash. Check that the person who is making you promises has had consistent success (at whatever level), check that their promises are true, trust YOUR gut instincts rather than the crowd mentaility, check out what they mean by having a 6 figure income, and where that comes from. My husband and I ran a lovely little retail business that brought in a 6 figure income for 6 years. Only thing is, WE didn't earn 6 figures from that business because of the costs of doing business - plus we worked between 90 and 120 hour weeks to achieve that income level. I was also a partner in a radio station that we sold for £2.5m - I'd love to say I personally earned that 7 figure income, but in reality, nope, it didn't happen that way. So, if you want to learn more, sign up for my super duper, fabby dozy, coolio doolio download that will tell you how I achieved overnight success over the last 8 years! My secret formula takes you through my story from brags to bitches and tells you how you can turn into me with the special click of the fingers and wave of the magic wand. (Pssst, you know I don't have a magic wand, right?) You know there's no actual download on this? Phew! Though you're welcome to sign up to my weekly newsletter to NOT hear about how I can take you to a 6 figure income - just sign up HERE to keep in the know with what I'm up to. Rant over! I'd love to hear what you think. Please tell me I'm not alone in my rant! There is so much noise out there - so much! And so many people telling you what to do, what to think, how to run your business ... heck! How on earth do you know who to listen to? You don’t want to be taking business advice from someone who is just a month or two ahead of you in what they do. You want someone who really knows what they are supporting you in. But can you be sure you are listening to the right people?
It's not as difficult as it might sound - there is a solution. Follow these simple steps to check out that the people you are listening to have your best interests in mind.
How is noise affecting you in your business? Let me know what’s going on for you. What do you do when you get a hater? Someone starts picking holes in what you do, they tell you they don't like this or that or maybe even that they don't like you. Do you cry? Do you huff and puff in indignation? Do you ignore them? Watch the video to find out who needs haters, and what to do when you get your first hater. How do you know what you don't know? You have this great idea, your mum loves it, your best friends tell you that you're amazing - but you don't know if it will sell, you don't know if people will like it, you don't know if it's something that sufficient numbers will buy to make the money that makes it worth the effort.
Time to get out and ask. Market research is your best friend in business. It's the lifeblood and the brain of your business.This isn't a once-only activity - market research needs to a continuous process in what you do. Using market research is giving your business intelligence - about your target market, your product, your pricing, your competition, you partner. In fact, everything! Let's face it, though, it's scary asking people to tell you what they honestly think about what you're doing - what if they don't like it? What if they think you're too expensive? What if they don't like YOU! Oh my word, it's scary! And yet it's far less scary than failing in your business because you didn't get around to asking people. Here are the 3 minimum things you need to conduct market research into.
Now you know what you're researching, these are the 3 key steps for effective market research.
So you don't know what you don't know? Time to find out. Get going on your continual journey of market research. Set that fear aside, and ask. Hey, you may even find you like the answers you get! “You are enough, that’s all I’ve got to tell you.” That’s how she started. “That’s it! That’s all I’ve got to say to you.” I’d made a trip down to London from Liverpool and that was all Denise Duffield Thomas of Get Rich Lucky Bitch and the Lucky Bitch Money Bootcamp fame was going to say? Thankfully not! But it was a great start. Because she’s right. “You are enough.” I am enough. Denise started Lucky Bitch Live in London with an evening session where she encouraged a roomful of over 200 women (and one man) to believe in ourselves, to take ourselves seriously, to accept that we are enough. She shared with us the words of Suze Orman (of The Suze Orman Show in the US, and author of many books around money and finances) “I stand before you a very very VERY wealthy woman” which she encouraged us to say out loud to each other. And we put our hand on our heart and say out loud “I am enough. It’s my time and I’m ready for the next step. I serve, I deserve.” It all sounds a bit cultish, doesn’t it? And yet it was so very empowering. If you haven’t heard of Denise Duffield Thomas she is the author of two books – Lucky Bitch, and Get Rich Lucky Bitch. I came across her second book, Get Rich Lucky Bitch, as a freeby on Kindle. A friend had a link to Amazon saying it was free and you couldn’t go wrong with a title like that – my first thought was “well, I’m not going to get poor, am I?” I bought the book (can you say you bought it when it was a free download?) and immediately devoured it. It’s not that she was saying anything new. I’d heard much of what she was writing about at some point in my life. But I’d never taken any notice previously. Something about the way Denise wrote about abundance, manifesting, and forgiveness got me to stop in my tracks and take notice. Denise’s system is one of those that is so simple, but not always easy. It’s all based around identifying your money blocks and through various methods dealing with them. Of course, I started off by saying “I don’t have money blocks, me and money blocks, pfft!” How wrong could I be. Little by little money blocks surfaced and I was able to deal with them. And then I go up a level in what I’m doing and again think “I don’t have money blocks, me and money blocks, pfft!” You know where this is going, don’t you? At each level I’ve reached, more money blocks have surfaced. Lucky Bitch Live managed to unearth a couple of deeper blocks for me to work on too. At the Wednesday evening event I was very privileged to be asked to introduce Denise and welcome her to the stage to the sounds of Daft Punk and Get Lucky – that song is still going around my head now. And she entertained us whilst also getting us to acknowledge that we are enough, and we do deserve. I think the funniest bit of Denise’s presentation was her comparison of how men sell and how women sell. Man: Hey, I’ve got this thing. Wanna buy it? Woman: Hey, I’ve got this thing, well I think I’ve got this thing, do you think you might, well it’s not quite ready yet, but I don’t mind if, well maybe not, you see, oh no don’t buy it yet, how about I give you discount, no, no, I’ll let you have it for free because I like you, you want to know about my thing, what thing, oh that thing, I’m not sure it’s good enough … and so on. The way Denise told us this story was such a good comedy routine, and we all laughed, whilst also cringing inside as we recognised ourselves when selling our ‘thing’! The full day event on the Thursday had us working through various money blocks. Many people had a-ha moments and revelations of what they need to do differently to help them move on in life and get the success and happiness they deserve. For me it was a great push, reminding me that I get in my own way with my business at times, and I don’t need to. Denise’s phrase “It’s my time and I’m ready for the next step” rang through my ears on the journey home. Recently I was fortunate enough to interview Denise about the things that got her the life of her dreams. It was a very touching and heart-felt interview. I’ve attached it here for you to enjoy too. Let me know what you think in the comments. Oh and if you want to find out more about Denise, check her out here and you can enjoy a free money blocks webinar she has here. I hope you enjoy it. I've been getting a lot of messages over the last week - 'Did you do Marie Forleo's BSchool?' 'Will I miss out if I don't do Marie Forleo's BSchool?' 'Should I do Marie Forleo's BSchool?'
They are pretty much the only questions I get asked. Which surprises me a bit because nobody asks 'What do you cover in Marie Forleo's BSchool?' 'What's Marie Forleo's BSchool about?' 'This is what I need to learn - does Marie Forleo's BSchool cover this kind of stuff?' 'What return on investment can I expect from doing Marie Forleo's BSchool?' Now that's a whole other story. Because trying to answer the first questions is not so easy - except the first one, of course, because the answer is yes, I did Marie Forleo's BSchool. I am a 2014 alumni, and I've loved it. Does that mean it's right for everyone? No. You see, the first thing you need to understand is that it's mainly targeted at people who are setting up an online business of some kind. Sure, there are concessions to product-based businesses, but having run product-based businesses, these concessions don't truly turn a programme for online businesses into one that is directly relevant to product-based businesses. There are some who sell products, who have brick and mortar businesses who have managed to make BSchool work for them - in truth that's not the majority. Let's get this clear - I'm not dissing BSchool. I'm a 2014 alumni and I've done very well as a result of doing it. I've loved the community, I learned a little from the materials, I learned even more from the people I've met through BSchool. It's got a lot going for it. But we've got to be clear. It's not for everyone. Do you want your best month in business? Who doesn't, right? Watch the video to find out what many people in business get wrong so that you can avoid the mistakes and have one best month in business after another. Watch through to the end - I have a little challenge for you and I'm after you letting me know you're in by commenting below. I'm currently on a course to take my coaching skills to the next level - very exciting as it's about 14 years since I last invested in my coaching skills. The first exercise we've been given is to develop some principles for our coaching business to share with clients. And I'd love to share mine with you.
What do you think? Do you find any of these principles resonate ... or maybe sit uncomfortably with you? In the training we received, the trainers shared their principles with us, and the first one made me cringe. At first I was, of course, blaming the trainers. How could they get it so wrong? And yet after thinking about the principle for a few minutes I realised that my dislike of that principle was based on not wanting to admit to myself that in fact it's probably the one principle I need to spend most time on. What was the principle? "How you do one thing is how you do everything." And the reason I dislike it is my tendency to avoid things that I don't want to do. I don't procrastinate as I'm busy on actual work that needs to be done. What I'm so good at is busying myself to such a point where I have no time left in the day to do anything else - having successfully avoided that one thing I don't want to do. So I guess it's time for me to get working on that one principle. What about you? Do any of the 10 principles I've created above rankle for you? Are any of them tough to accept? Keep these principles in front of you over the next week and check in with them as you work. You may find that you can learn a lot about how you approach your business from how you react to these principles. Let's take a couple of the principles and go into a little more detail. "There is always a reason for resistance. Find the reason, release the resistance." If you are anything like most people you will have things you resist in your business. And I'm going to hazard a guess that you are probably really good at explaining away the resistance. Now, what if you could release that resistance completely? What difference would that make to your business? Would the same excuses still hold true? Would you still see your business progress in the same light? Would you still hear yourself coming up with excuses? Moving onto another one I love in these 10 principles - "You are guaranteed the results you believe you deserve." Stop for a moment and consider what level of success you truly believe you will achieve. If I were to tell you that you could be running a 6 figure business, do you believe me? What about if I told you that you could consistently achieve 5 figure months - does that seem possible to you? Whatever belief you have about the results you can achieve in your business, that is what you will aim for. I have owned a 6 figure business - one that delivered 6 figures every year for 6 years. I was also a part owner of a successful 7 figure business. As a result I believe that both of these are possible. I have no doubt that these levels of success are achievable. Do you? Leave me a comment to tell me which of these principles resonates best with you, and which you like least. I'd love to read your comments. Alongside my business coaching I also provide a life coaching service for people who are ready to change their life. I myself experienced depression - in fact I nearly took my life. You can watch the video of my story below. And so I put my coaching skills to good use to help others who are also low, depressed, stressed, overwhelmed. Today I'm proud to have a double page spread in the UK national press, The Sunday Mirror, on 28 Days to Happiness. You can read the article here - and please share it, like it, tweet it so that others can benefit from reading it too. Click here to read the article Are you ready to raise your game? Are you ready to be earning from your endeavours? It's frustrating when you've worked so hard to develop your product, you launch it with pride and excitement and then .... crickets! You can see the tumbleweed rolling along the proverbial street. You feel a fool for believing what you'd created was amazing.
And you know, it probably is amazing. It's just that you may have missed one or two steps out of the process. You need to go back to the drawing board on getting your message out there, and create a marketing campaign with purpose, taking strategic action. The first step is to know what outcome you are aiming for. Do you want people to simply know that you exist, or do you want sales? If it's sales you're after, how many sales? This will impact on the actions you take. When you know what outcome you want to achieve you can purposefully design your campaign. Each step of the way ask yourself ‘will this achieve my outcome?’ If the answer is no, don’t take that step. If the answer is yes, get it done. Remember, your campaign is all about increasing your visibility which means that your next step has to be all about being visible. If people don’t know that you exist, it doesn’t matter what products you create, what prices you set – people won’t buy because they don’t know you’re there to buy from. It’s a bit like opening a shop down a back alley and then being upset because there’s no passing trade. And remember, being visible isn’t a once over process – you have to keep at it, keep letting people know that exist. The moment you stop being visible, you stop existing. Next, create a need, a problem to solve, a desire or an inner circle. People need to be shown that they need a problem solving (did you know that you wanted a vacuum without a dust bag before the Dyson?), or they want a desire to be fulfilled, which could be as simple as the desire to belong. You can even create the need before you create the solution. This will turn you into the hero who solved the problem. You now want people talking about what you do or what you have on offer. Have you ever wondered why some people make outrageous statements? Well, it’s great marketing when it’s done strategically as it gets everybody talking about you. Remember the photographer who said they didn’t photograph anyone over a size 14 some years back? Dreadful! And yet everyone talked about them – including the local and national press. Your marketing campaign needs a call to action, telling people what to do next. The likelihood of people reacting to your call to action is linked to the scarcity and urgency associated with your offer. Open-ended offers tend not to attract as many purchases as those with urgency and scarcity attached, such as sales, only 3 places remaining, available to the first 5 people who book etc. The final part of your campaign is to use social proof. People need to know, value and trust you before they will spend with you. And that comes from knowing that others have used your services and had a good experience. Social proof is the positive comments on social media, the testimonials you put onto your website and so on. Now you have a marketing campaign, deliver it with purpose, remembering that people will need to see or hear your message around 17 times before they will even notice you. Mentioning what you've got for sale just the once is unlikely to get you and your product noticed. And you know, if you've created something that people really need, they really need to know it's there for them. Time to solve their problem for them. You've made the decision, you're ready to hire a business coach to support you as your business grows. But how do you go about choosing the right one? It's not easy, is it?
You know, all it takes is a few simple steps, and I want to share them with you here. Step 1: Know why you want to work with a coach. The worst reason to work with a coach is because everyone else has one! Be clear about why you want to work with a coach. Write out your brief of the kind of coach you want, how they will support you and what you want to get out of working with them. Be really specific so that when you get carried away with marketing hype you can return to your list to check that the coach fits your criteria. Step 2: Know what outcomes you want to achieve in your business. It's great to have a coach to pass things by, but you'll get the most out of working with your coach when you know what outcomes you're working towards. You can then choose a coach who has expertise in taking people to your outcomes. Make sure you ask about their expertise linked to your outcomes. Step 3: Ask other people about coaches they have worked with. Ask people you actually know about the coaches that they have experience of. Beware of the syndicates where people shout out about how awesome somebody is - and yes, these do exist. Step 4: Do your research. Find out about the background of the coach. Do you want someone who has only been a coach, or someone who has a track record of running other businesses as well? What kind of experience do you want the coach to have? Also find out how long they've been coaching for, and what training they have undergone. There is a growing trend that you don't need training to be a coach, just experience. I disagree with this as the training teaches you to take clients through a process of transformation. Coaching is about so much more than giving advice (though this is a part of it, for sure). A trained coach knows how to go beyond the advice giving, and how to help you transform your thinking and work practices so that you really can make a difference with your business. Step 5: Check out the coach's website and prices I'm often amazed at the people who talk with me with an interest in booking in with me who have never looked at my website. Make sure you check out the website, Facebook fan page, prices, and more. Step 6: Beware of great copy and no coaching substance. Also known as fur coat and no knicks! Some coaches have cleverly created the perfect website without having developed the substance behind their coaching. It may well be that the copy is all true - but dig deeper so that you can be sure you're not being taken in by hype. This is a big investment, and you need to be sure that the coach can deliver with you. Step 7: Interview a selection of coaches. Most coaches offer 'strategy sessions' 'discovery calls' and 'power hours' to 'find out if we're a good fit'. Remember, this is your opportunity to ask questions so come prepared to the meeting and ask the questions that will help you make your decision. Ask the coach about what they do when things go wrong, and ask about the last time when a relationship didn't work out. Be bold - this is your investment. Step 8: Speak to people who have worked with this coach. Ask the coach for 3-5 people that you can speak to. And when you speak to them ask them what they loved, AND what they wish had been different. Again, be bold. Step 9: Be sure to check back with your brief. Remember step 1? Creating your brief for the kind of coach you want? This is where you now check back to make sure that the coach you're thinking of hiring fits your criteria. If they don't there has to be a good reason for you to book in with them. And remember, if you have any doubts, move on. It's nothing personal - this person just isn't right for you at this time. They may be right for you at some time in the future. Did you read this post on the blog about how to transition into working for yourself? It's worth a read -Surviving Transition You're in business. People are going to want to negotiate with you because that's what happens in business. People negotiate. Over the price. Over the delivery timescale. Over the content. It's nothing to get uptight about - but it is something to get right. Here are 8 things you must do to get to yes in any business negotiation.
Get all these things right in your negotiations will increase your success rate. Are you ready? Go negotiate! |
Hello!Welcome to the Journal. This is where I post musings, learning, tips and ideas. |