Kathy Mallary | Coaching Biz Tips

Where do I get started building my coaching business?

The other day, one of my clients from the current Success Circle emailed me with this question: 

I'm realizing that what's in my way of getting started is trying to map it all out at once. What I need to do is to JUST GET STARTED. So I was wondering how much you started with and in a very general way how fast it grew from there.

Well, the first thing that came to mind was that I sure wouldn't want my client to do what I did -- because on the way to figuring out what works to build a sustainable business, I did all kinds of things wrong and made lots of silly (and expensive) mistakes!

Instead, I want her (and you) to have an easier and much less expensive journey.

Now, I happen to know that this particular client already has a pretty good idea of who her target market is and what problem she's helping them with.

That's actually the very first step -- get clear about your niche. After that:

First of all, keep in mind that your business must do these three things for you: 

1) Get new customers
2) Keep existing customers
3) Grow the life-time value of your customers

So here's where I recommend starting:

BUILD A SUBSCRIBER BASE
The widest end of the product funnel is where new customers typically enter, so the first thing to do is create a free info product that you offer in exchange for subscribing to your mailing list, like a newsletter or a special report (in my case, it's the coaching program Starter Kit, which includes the weekly tipzine that you're reading right now).

Your free offer should relate specifically to your target market--don't try to appeal to the masses by being too generic. (You can see why it was so important to do your homework on your niche.)

(By the way: It may seem counter-intuitive, but you don't want the whole world to subscribe. You only want qualified prospective customers on your mailing list.)

HAVE A STRATEGY FOR STAYING IN TOUCH
Ideally, your freebie should help you stay in touch with your subscribers on a regular, consistent basis. You need to offer value-driven content (i.e., don't just email them with promotional stuff). As a general rule of thumb, try for 90% content, 10% promotional offers in your emails.

A newsletter or ezine is ideal for this, but if you don't want to do a newsletter, a free ecourse would work, too. The idea is to build relationship and establish yourself as a credible expert over time.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T MAKE THIS MISTAKE
One mistake that I see many coaches making (and I made this one myself in the early days!) is to throw together a generic freebie and then start trying to fill teleclasses and in-person workshops right out of the gate.

That's like trying to run right up the side of a mountain without the proper gear. After trying to fill a couple of workshops with the same 100 subscribers, you realize it's a very steep mountain.

So the first step is to greet your customers at the door (the wide end of your product funnel) with a welcoming smile and offer them some refreshment (your freebie).

Be patient and stay in touch with them; earn their trust and confidence by providing good information that truly helps them with whatever they're struggling with.

Once your business is doing a pretty good job of getting new customers (which is what the wide end of the product funnel is about), then you can shift your focus to keeping and growing the lifetime value of your customers by creating products and packages deeper in the product funnel.

Incidentally, I've found that if you do the first part well, and if you're really paying attention, your customers will actually TELL you what to create for them next.

The same way my client from the Success Circle gave me the perfect topic for the tipzine (and this blog post) this week!

Tagged--again!

I knew she'd get me back sooner or later. Chris Owen from Pink Apple Connections has tapped me in a new game of blog tag. (I tagged her a while ago.)

This one was started by Aaron Potts (and BTW, finding his blog, which I'd never read before, is an added bonus definitely worth being tagged for). Aaron started an "interactive research project" called Simply Successful Secrets. The idea is for people to share a list of things they do every day that helps them be successful.

And, since it's a game of tag, after revealing your keys to success, you're supposed to tag some of your bloggy friends to get them to join in and tag THEIR bloggy friends.

Well, I'm kind of curious to see what sort of stuff successful people are up to from one day to the next, so this sounds like a fun game. Here goes:

1. I go to bed late and get up early. I know, it doesn't sound like that would be very successful, but it works for me.

2. I try to spend at least 15-30 minutes each morning in Remembrance, which is a Sufi spiritual practice.  It helps me get centered in my heart before I jump into the day. Lately I've been listening to Adam Kayce's Inner Audio Series, which is based on Remembrance.

3. Each morning, I write out on an index card a short list of things I want to accomplish and list of things I'd like God's help with. Then at the end of the day I write down all the things I'm grateful for on the back of the card. Going through the cards at the end of the week is amazing. Things just seem to work out brilliantly when I pay attention in this way. 

4. I DON'T let Outlook automatically check for messages for me. I manually retrieve my messages from the server. This has been a HUGE help -- instead of being constantly distracted by new mail popping up unexpectedly, I feel like I actually have control over my inbox.

5. I DO empty my Junk folder every time I check for messages. Keeping an empty Junk folder makes it easier to rescue legitimate emails that mysteriously get flagged as spam.

6. I spend at least an hour on market research every day (i.e., surfing, reading blogs, contributing in forums where my clients hang out, etc.). In fact, I'm waaaaay more consistent with my market research than I am about getting outside for a walk! (I think I'm developing carpal surfer's butt)

7. I make a point of taking a break when my son gets home from school just to connect and chat with him. Well, maybe 'chat' is too strong. He's seventeen, so sometimes we just mumble, stretch and scratch. Quality time w/mom!

8. Before each client call, I take just a moment to get centered and do a little Remembrance. Sometimes during a coaching call I do this, too. It's like turning the knob on the radio to get better reception!

9. I listen to music while I work -- everything from Mozart to the Blind Boys from Alabama to Pink.

10. I make a point of taking a break to watch either Oprah or Judge Judy (usually not both on the same day!). Oprah to remind myself to dream big and dig deep; Judge Judy to keep me humble.

OK, so those are the keys to my success. Now I would like to hear from:

• Mona Grayson - Question The Mind
• Michele Corey - Knee Deep
• Patricia Klingler - ReMarkable Women Speak

(I just realized that there are a whole slew of folks I'd like to add to the list -- but none of them have a blog! Hmmmm...)

How I got the best of myself in business

I used to think that being a successful solo-professional was a piece of cake.

Of course, that was before I quit my day job.

Plant yourself in the path of your customer

Looking out my kitchen window the other day, I watched my cat, Sebastian, gingerly pick his way along a faint path from the back gate to a hole in the fence to the neighbor's yard.

My other cat, Phoebe, tends to use that path, too, as do other cats in the neighborhood; it's the Cat Path. As I watched Sebastian make his morning commute, I couldn't help but wonder whether squirrels made paths, too. The corner of Squirrel and Cat would have to be the most exciting intersection in the yard!

Hmmmm...that made me wonder: What if you could plunk yourself down right there in the middle of a customer's path? After all, finding the intersection of Customer and You is really the whole point, right?

A tip for encouraging return visitors to your web site

I just learned a great lesson in how NOT to frustrate your customers -- and I got to learn it from the customer's perspective, which is good, because now I can prevent this same thing from happening to my own customers. Good for me & my customers -- not so good for the owner of the site I was trying to navigate around, though.

Here's what happened: 

Blogs vs. newsletters

I've been noticing the 'blog vs. newsletter' debate lately. Should you have a newsletter AND a blog? If you do, do you need to create separate content for each?