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Think that guy from the product launch formula thingy with the weird shaped head writes good salesletters?
Think again.
If this couldn’t get me to trade in my 2002 purple Huffy Island Cruiser for a car…..I don’t know what could.
(for what it’s worth, I once knocked a polar bear unconcious too. Trust me, they don’t stay down for long...and if you aren’t quick on your feet like me, it ends badly. RIP Susie. You are not forgotten)
I am grateful to be doing work I love, for being allowed to be creative, for feeling inspired everyday and being afforded the opportunity to touch people with my words and work – friends, family, and strangers who stop by only for a slender sliver or frozen moment – we’ll never meet – but I’m grateful we met.
Thank you for coming.
I am grateful for the occasional gift of silence and solitude – for the suffering and the struggle and the blankness in my brain that occasionally makes me want to scream – and for for that small still voice within that eventually speaks up and shows me the way. I’m grateful that from that place of endless emptiness and ineptitude……often arises the clarity – and creativity and keeps the carnival moving.
I am not a blogger.
I am not a writer.
I am not a lover.
I am not a neighbor.
I am not a son.
I am not a brother.
I am not a friend.
I am not a healer.
I am not helpful or hurtful or hopeful.
I am not to be trusted.
When I am not who I am, who will I become?
I have completed a software program that calculates the perfect quantity of Facebook updates per day – it includes some proprietary algorithms that can’t be shared here – but at the core – it divides your default feeling of “I have a lot to say” , with your strong sense that “this is really interesting/inspiring or important” with the reality of “no one really cares” and then quickly scans and rates your friend’s unique Facebook activity and gives you a good number exclusively for you.
It will also give you most likely outcomes – like “lots of comments likely” – or “mostly likes with the exception of comments from close friends, family and “always on” Uncle Steve ” or, “slow down genius…..this is going to flop and you’ll be deleting this after 7 ill advised shots and a Xanax at 3 am. ”
(PS – for those of you who got a complimentary anonymous copy this morning – please subtract 4 from your number )
Q: What is the best way to start a coaching business?
What should I focus on? Do I need to pick a niche before I begin…..or can I simply give general life advice to people who are struggling and make a great living from that alone?
A: The truth is, working with aspiring coaches and passion professionals, the most common conundrum, crisis and question that comes up is……
“WHAT should I focus on? I mean….I l can help people with all of their problems, should I just be a general life coach and work with people of all types and stripes and figure the rest out later?”
Honestly – from my own personal experience on both sides of this issue…..it’s not a great idea to start a coaching business from the vantage point of a “generalist” – and for far too many reasons to list here..;-)
Many people who have a ton of empathy, and are the shoulder to cry on and open ear to emote to…..are the types of people who think that coaching is simply about listening and giving great advice and that this alone will transform lives in a powerful and positive way.
And as a friend…it can, and is the greatest gift you can give. (short of a vital organ 
BUT – when it comes to coaching and people actually paying for you for your time , giving good advice is rarely enough…and more often than not, is actually counterproductive to offering the sort of insight that’s going to lead to lasting change.
Why?
In my own coaching business….I find that one of my most common failures is that offering empathy – or understanding – only goes so far.
(and can lead to a sort of dependence on empathy rather than action)
Understanding where people struggle and suffer is NOT enough – and cheerleading them through a difficult time is not going to faciliate the sorts of transformational change or “A-Ha” moments we all need to overcome the obstacles that hold us back from living lives we love.
Your best bet if you are thinking of launching a coaching business and aren’t sure where to specialize in simple:
Then…..simply apply a simple strategy of straight lines…..(Content + Community + Curriculum= Clients) by identifiying where your ideal audience lives….and aggressively approaching them with creative content around your area of expertise to get them to pay attention.
Convering your content into a community of fans, friends and followers….and your community into a smaller group of clients and customers at that stage is easy, and allows you, over time to embody “expert” or authority in your area of specialty.
(By demonstrating thea ability to faciliate real change in the lives of those you’ve been privileged to work with)
Later of course, as your own interests grow and expand and continue to evolve, you can simply build on additional offers, or channels of expertise and influence, and continue to grow as a person…and a coaching practitioner to boot.
For some alternative opinions on building your coaching practice….check out some of the additional resources below from around the web……., or use the “Ask Me Anything” link above to see how I may be able to serve you better with your own challenges
If I was to hire a coach and show up for the first coaching session and the coach had no agenda, I’d fire that coach. I need a leader in the coaching dance and who better to lead than the coach who is the expert?Imagine, you are hiring a coach; they have expertise but won’t share it (because they insist YOU have the answers!) and they have no planned curriculum – you just show up to the call. Would you pay good money every month for something this vague? My answer is no – no because most coaches who do this can’t make money… so, the public is saying “hey, we want more” and hiring people like me who give more. I don’t tell my clients what to do, but I do give them valuable information that helps them choose the best course of action for their goals.If you want clients to hire YOU, you must change your model.With no agenda, no plan, no curriculum, why hire YOU?
If you are one of the 5 or 6 people looking for the secret to happiness…..
I’ve got good news for you.
I found it.
(and it’s on TED)
Of course you can watch it here instead.
Which would make me happy.
And, believe it or not….based on the instructions in the video, staying put and watching it right here will make YOU happier too!
(which is the important thing to me
None of this make sense?
Don’t worry.
I’m just trying to fill up this space with a little bit of filler text…..so it really doesn’t make much sense to me either.
I’m just sort of winging it…..which has pretty much been my entire strategy for the last decade or so, which my therapist tells me isn’t really a good plan.
What does he know?
He’s driving a 1989 Honda Civic and has been divorced twice.
If you ask me, he should be coming to me for advice instead.
Anyway – the video is above – and if you are serious about becoming happier like me, you really ought to watch it.
What was the question again?
First of all – I want to apologize sincerely to Tumblr.
I know that as a blog building platform you don’t have real feelings, and you may not even really hear this, but for having looked down upon you for far too long, I want to offer up a sincere helping of humble pie.
I am truly sorry.
For you are far sexier, and more strategically smart than I ever realized.
And like many marketing muses……once one gets to know you better, under your superficial good looks, and your offputting popularity with the teenage beiber fever generation, I have found you to be a warm, welcoming and wonderful place to passionately play.
And before this gets too weird – here is a pretty great resource for folks looking to leverage the incredible viral potential of Tumblr to get your marketing message out to the masses…..and on a pretty pedestrian budget to boot.
I’m a BIG fan of WordPress for building blogs and your business……but the truth is, using Tumblr is far faster for both content curation and organization, and for creating rapport, relationship, connection and COMMUNITY with other people who share your passion for a niche or specific interest or industry.
So if you are struggling to find an audience for your marketing message and are finding that your conventional wordpress blog is NOT getting heard……
Check out the great article below on some of the cacacophy of creative ways you can use Tumblr to build your brand, your blog and your business……without really needing to create any original content of your own. (at least not for starters)
(it’s also a ton of fun and addictively easy to use
The interesting secret to going viral on TumblrTumblr is really great for sharing short, punchy – cool content that doesn’t demand too much from the user. Unfortunately this makes creating viral content really hard.Let me explain.Most of the posts on Tumblr are cool images…but they are never really cool enough that you want to share. Or if it’s text, the common content share on Tumblr happens to be a quote. And unless it’s a really good quote, it’s probably not going to go viral.If you want to up your chances of getting content to go viral, the secret is to publish a long post.That may sound counter intuitive since short attention spans are pretty common on Tumblr, but the impact of something long coming across your visitors screen can be quite startling…getting them to pause and take notice.
If you aren’t on my email list, this went out a few minutes ago to the group……I thought I’d post it here as well as I’ll be talking about this a lot over the next few weeks
You don’t need me to tell you that local marketing is the niche du jour these days…..but the truth is, it’s ALWAYS been the very best, evergreen niche for folks who want to build a real business, without the gimmicks, gadgets, gurus or goofiness.
Helping real people in your own community – and servicing real professionals with established budgets is infinitely easier than trying to sell high hype digital downloads or crossing your fingers that a certain percentage of your traffic clicks on a certain ad, or clicks on your links and then of course, in the affiliate space…… buys the product on the other side of that click for you to get paid a penny.
If you havent’ read my “Build Something” blueprint that went out last month…..it’s available in the 2012 download/PDF’s section in the navigation menu above.
Would you be interested in starting your own marketing “agency” or offering web based services in your local (or extended) community?
If I could help you build a real business that allowed you to help local professionals where you live.…….and sell everything from consulting, to web design and SEO, to social media management, content marketing, list building, email marketing, blog, brand or business building,and be able to offer a whole slew of high level suite of premium priced services within your community, would that be something that appealed to you?
I ask…..only because I just finished a very simple system that should allow just about ANYONE who has a little bit of experience in the online marketing landscape, to be be able to go out and very quickly generate new clients in the $500-$1500 range,without breaking a sweat, and without wasting any more time on gimmicks, gadgets, gurus or goofiness.
(and when I say “go out” – I don’t mean you even have to leave your house…..because you don’t – you can work from your home office in your PJ’s if you want)
If you read the PDF I posted last month titled “Build Something” – it covers the over arching idea, but I’ve added a bunch of depth and detail to the process that is dead simple to implement and quite simply, is the most sensible, straightforward and intuitive wayto take everything you’ve learned about “marketing online” and transform it into a fun, easy and profitable business that truly will allow you the freedom – financial and otherwise, that we all crave.
All of the “big talk” now in the online promotional space is about “local” marketing.
Most of those folks will want to sell you some sort of product, or home study course, or some other silliness that is doomed to disappoint.
Local marketing has ALWAYS been the very best way to make a phenomenal living online……tbut with so many bright and shiny distractions out there, it’s super easy to forget the obvious.
I want to work with, mentor, mastermind and help a small group of people who actually WANT to build real brands, want to start real businesses, and want to contribute in their own communities by doing what they love most.
“I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve been”working” online for 3 years…and have STILL not made a dime”
“I get super excited about “X” idea….and then, invariably, “Y” arrives in my inbox the next day, and that looks even better” (until “Z” shows up….and X and Y are forgotten forever..:-)
And so the cycle of analysis paralysis and seeking, searching, stumbling an fumbling continues to spin.
And yet….while all of this is happening, either in your life……or someone else who is reading this right now…….some other similarly smart soul builds a simple website for a local doctor and sells it for $1000- or gets his or her first response to a SEO ad they placed on Craigslist, or they’re celebrating their social media management client who just agreed to pay them $300 a month to send out a tweet a day….and have already referred two professional peers to boot.
An asset. An idea. A campaign. A community.
And while building for YOU is always a great way to build your business and have a ton of fun as you go………
Building for others is a great way to build up your bank account while you grow and flow
So….as the lazy, hazy days of Summer draw to a close……..
If you are interested – reply to this email, leave a comment on my blog, or let me know you are interested on our Facebook page and I’ll share the details.
This is something I’ve been wanting to do for just about 2 years….and every time I tell someone I want to do this, they tell me I’m nuts.
(“Ian – if you promise to get on the phone with your client’s prospective clients and sell their services for them, you need to have your head checked”)
Hope you are well -
Ian
BTW – this is NOT for affiliate marketers, or the get rich quick crowd. If that is your interest….this ain’t the right path to pursue.
Remember, the goal here is to develop a real home based (or location based) business that allows you to become a true online marketing professional, helping real professional people, with real budgets, grow their own online marketing campaigns in their own communities and beyond.……all while building your own brand and bank account doing things you really love and enjoy and will grow to excel at as well.
This is exciting stuff for me….and as my own business becomes increasingly aligned around this idea, and this overall approach – I’d love to find a small, smart, creative community of people who care about contribution as much as cash, progress as much as profit…….and see this as an ideal approach to putting it all together and finally…..at least as it applies to your work…….living a life you’ll love.
“Empowering People Through Service, Information & Opportunity”
