It still stings to admit it, but it's the truth! You see, when I discovered personal development and coaching at 35 years old - yeah, I was a late bloomer - I KNEW that I had finally found my calling. I searched, absorbed, sunk thousands of dollars and hours into getting qualified, invested thousands in my own coaches and supervisors, and opened my mind in ways I had never even dreamed of.
When I launched my business at the beginning of 2014, I truly believed that I would easily find clients because, as I looked at my friends, my former co-workers, even my family, I realised that coaching was so desperately needed in our society.
My coaching certification programme included business building modules, but I quickly came to realise that the advice to set up a website and just "talk to people" was never going to get me the clients who wanted to go really deep and make huge transformation. And it wasn't going to afford me any kind of laptop lifestyle or even the freedom to be anything more than a frazzled entrepreneur. I sunk a few thousand more into working with a business coach. I created a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, an Instagram account, and much more. I updated my LinkedIn profile. I blogged, posted and tweeted like my life depended on it. I created lead magnets. I sunk thousands into Facebook ads. I built my list (slowly). I attended more than a dozen free webinars each week. I had business cards printed up. I invested in a marketing programme. I created a YouTube channel and started sharing my videos across my social profiles. I started live public speaking 2-3 times a month. I hosted online webinars. I revamped my website. I joined the life-coaching directory. I started networking endlessly. I invested in sales training. I changed my branding. I reprinted my cards. And you know what I got for all of that? Well, my coaching dream was thrown in my face. Along with the sinker!! None of it worked. Sure I’d get clients here and there. But never enough to cover my bills consistently. So we lived on credit cards. And you wanna know why?
Well it sure wasn’t because I didn’t invest enough. I most certainly did. To the tune of $17,000 in those first 18 months. But, no one could ever really explain to me what I was doing wrong.
Yet, when I finally figured it out, the turn was like an avalanche. I went from scraping, often, less than a thousand dollars a month to regularly bringing in 5 figures, within just a few months of figuring out how.
That most crucial step was to nail my niche - I’m not talking about boring, well-worn, ideal client BS like how old they were, what profession they were in or what magazines they read. I’m talking about the heart and soul understanding of a single human being, in the single moment of their life where their burning problem or desire, the thing they’d give their right arm to resolve or achieve, was the one thing that I was an expert at helping them to achieve.
As soon as I learned to talk to them in that moment when that one thing was impacting their self-worth, when it was making them snap at their children, when it was making them binge eat, when it was making them tired and frustrated, when they would literally do WHATEVER IT TOOK to change it; EVERYTHING CHANGED FOR ME.
Instead of trying to convince people, who blatantly didn't want to change, that there was a better way, I started speaking directly to the people who knew there was a better way and were ready to make the change. NOW.
And even today my followers constantly reach out to me to ask "How do you do that?"
Well, honestly, the answer is three fold.
By knowing your perfect client, better than she knows herself, and understanding what really makes her tick.
By showing up consistently and persistently, in the right places, with the same core message, day after day after day.
And, by up-levelling your mindset, so powerfully, that you never, ever hide away or fall back into fearful convincing again.
And once you can do that - you understand EXACTLY what those perfect peeps want from you and can create irresistible content and intriguing offers they simply can't resist, which easily leads to high-end coaching clients, straight from your social media posts, because your messaging and your expertise is so damn compelling...
That's when you can start to truly up-level your business.
That's when you can rapidly build your brand influence.
That's when you can command $3k, $5k, $10k, or even more for your 1:1 services - because the results are priceless.
That's when you can use lead magnets, funnels and FB ads to drive sales, rather than just leads.
And that's when you can finally start to embrace the coaching dream, stop being a frazzled employee in your business, and create the CEO lifestyle you've been dreaming of.
Now, are you ready to give up the struggle, unleash your inner CEO, and take action to build your 6-figure biz?
