Introduction of New Ebook: Why Being Invisible In Business Hurts Your *Psyche*

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Here is the next excerpt from “One of a Kind: The Powerhouse Strategy for Standing Out and Leading the Way with Your Business.” I’m releasing the ebook next week on an inteview call I’m doing with Therese Skelly. Definitely get on that here so you can hear me share with her how to get a truly one-of-a-kind business identity!

INTRODUCTION

If you are on this planet to serve the people on it through your business, you must succeed. You were not graced with the calling, talent and skill that you have just to fade into the background, unrecognized.

Yet, as you’ve heard countless times, talent and skill do not equate to business success. So many follow their passions only to end up sharing the very best of themselves with only a tiny circle of friends and family. They end up giving up and packing up because they cannot support themselves.

But then something far, far, far worse ensues. They end up living a life “unused.”

“This is the true joy in life: the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature…I want to be thoroughly used up when I die…” –-George Bernard Shaw

To be used up, I believe, is what every one of us wants. Not being so may be the only cause of our depression, the only thing that truly ages us.

You must be thoroughly used up when you die. And if your purpose is linked to your business, you must get your business right. But so many don’t take the time to understand all that is involved. This book isn’t designed to give an overview of all of the elements essential in building a successful business—there are plenty of those out there. This book is here to impress upon you one single thing:if you are not different in the marketplace, you will die with your song still in you.

The pain of blending in is a primal one, and will affect you on deep levels.

How does it feel when you get a blank stare or a look of confusion when you talk about your business? Or when only a few people sign up for your tele-call or seminar? How does it feel when people unsubscribe, or you go days and weeks without a single opt-in? What happens in you when, one after another, prospects slip out of your net?

I’ve seen it. A part of you is thrust back to high school, to the popular guy who never so much as sent you a glance; to the day you were passed over for the team; to all the parties where you hung back against the wall, unnoticed…and to all the times since, when friends, colleagues and even your own family haven’t recognized your value.

IT HURTS.

When your business isn’t special, it’s much too easy to start to think that you aren’t, and your confidence suffers a mighty blow that can too often be fatal to your business and your mission.

There is nothing more painful than not being worthy of someone’s attention. And in business, nothing more deadly than not being worthy of someone’s money.

When you can fill in this sentence, everything will change for you: “My business is the only one you will ever find that ____.”

When you can master this, the pain you’ve felt every time a prospect has rejected you will be replaced by a confidence that surpasses all understanding.

Being the “only one”–not just in your field, but period–is the game-changer.

Being “the only one who____” changes you from the inside out.

It heals the primal pain of going unseen.

It removes the pain of not fulfilling your life’s mission.

It assures you that you will be “used up.”

And it is the answer to most of your business problems:

  • Your vague and fuzzy articulation about what you do
  • Disinterested prospects in your 1-to-1 sales conversations
  • Poor attendance on tele-calls and other speaking events
  • The uphill battle to get clients
  • Low opt-ins on your website

Being provocatively unlike everyone else is the direct route to making money and to bending ears so that you change the world (which you’re here to do, by the way.)

So decide right now that you will put your attention on this. Very few other business efforts will matter if this isn’t right. To thrive–in business and in your own heart–you cannot spend one more minute in oblivion.

You would think this was obvious, but just take a look around at most service-based businesses: you could line them up and not one would stand out. You may notice shades of differences here and there, but overall, nothing would raise your brow in intrigue. Almost instantly, your brain would check out.

Why is this?

…The Establishment

I can’t speak definitively, of course, but  after ten years of experience, I believe one answer is that there isn’t a clear enough definition of “what is different enough,” and so service entrepreneurs delude themselves into thinking they’re somehow making the grade….

You can read the rest next week when the book will be available.  Do listen in to my call with Therese, too, on May 5th. We’re bestest friends and it’s going to be a great interview! Check it out here.

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Preface of New Ebook, “One-of-a-Kind”

April 22, 2012 By 1 Comment

I am very excited to be introducing my new ebook next week! One of a Kind: The Powerhouse Strategy for Standing Out and Leading the Way With Your Business.

I will be doing an interview call with Therese Skelly on Thursday May 3rd, so if you want an early bird copy of the book, go check out what I’ll be sharing with her!

Until then, here is the preface of the book…

 

PREFACE:

In fifth grade, we were given, “antiestablishmentarian,” as a spelling word. Now, I don’t know how it was defined for us—what eleven year-old understands the “establishment”? But I instantly knew how to spell it and I instantly understood (and felt affinity for) its meaning. Its official definition is: “viewing a nation’s or society’s power structure as corrupt, repressive, exploitive or unjust,” but its common use definition is, “The practice of being anti or against most everything that was established as the norm (marriage, government and laws, and most obviously war).”

 The year before, I had lopped off the “E” from the front of my given name, despite having been named after my father’s favorite sister who had been killed in a car accident—so perhaps I raised my hand in class and asked my fifth grade teacher if I was an antiestablishmentarian—and perhaps she nodded. The moment of dawning.

Or perhaps I spoke up and told Mrs. Patterson that when I was in my mother’s belly, my father had left his congregation and family to march for civil rights in Mississippi with Martin Luther King. “Is my father an antiestablishmentarian?” I may have asked. Or, I may have waved my hand again, even then eager to ruffle feathers in that post-Vietnam War world, and told the class how one of my brothers had dropped his weight dramatically to avoid the draft and that another had taken to the road at fifteen for a three-month solo bike-riding odyssey. “Are my brothers antiestablishmentarians, too?” If so, I can picture Mrs. Patterson smiling tightly and even nervously and acknowledging, yes, your family is antiestablishmentarian.

So, I come by the practice of going against—if not being against–established norms honestly, and have a long track record of living my life that way. In high school, Shakespeare moved me when I first heard, “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” Indeed, I named my first business, a coaching business, Living True. And in college, I first read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance essay and fell in love with his quote that sums up all I believe, “Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.”

You cannot separate this life-long practice of going against the established norm from anything I think, say, or do—including, most especially, how I have shaped my business and how I conduct it. Every single program I have created from the inception of my entrepreneurial career over ten years ago with a coaching business–is different from anything else you’ll find out there. And today, I help my clients shape programs that are different from anything else out there.

I know that to be successful in business and life, we must pull away from external authorities–the established norm—and plug into our internal authority…no matter how unpopular we may be for it. That is our place of freedom, and I stand for every human being living in that freedom—and I cannot help but help my clients get there as one-of-a-kind, stand-apart leaders who lead the way.

And so I write this book for you. To help you claim that freedom that is your birthright and to give you some direction in making your business one-of-a-kind. It must be, you know. Not just because every business must be differentiated, but because you are here on a special mission—to lead the way–and you cannot do it by being like everyone else. You must leave the pack to fulfill your purpose!

In this book, I am going to guide you through the steps to leaving behind the established norm, to going where there is no path so you leave a trail.

I welcome you to the land of the antiestablishmentarians!

To the land of the free, the brave, and the successful.

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Your Target Market is the Problem With Your Business

April 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I’ve never met a service entrepreneur who didn’t squirm when confronted by a marketing truism: you must target your market. You cannot serve “everyone.” I cannot tell you the stunts students and clients have pulled, trying desperately to defend their position not to choose a narrow-population market. They fear they’ll be confined, bored, and will lose money. If you relate to that and haven’t chosen a targeted group of people to market to, that is your problem.

You are shooting yourself in the foot and setting yourself up for a business of fits and starts; erratic client income…and invisibility. Furthermore, you won’t be recognized as an expert if you’re talking to “everyone.” Experts are experts because they help a particular group.

So, here are 6 reasons you MUST narrow your market to a slim population and why you’ll FAIL if you don’t:

  1. Your target market IS your business when you’re a service entrepreneur. Every program you offer and information product you develop must be directed and composed specifically for them. If you are targeting “everyone” or straddling a few markets, your program offerings can’t solve the very unique and specific needs and desires of that market and will fly under their radar; they’ll never even “see” what you have to offer because it’s too general.
  1. It’s the fastest (and, most likely only,) way to become an expert. When you have a solution for, say, teen-age girls at risk, you will be noticed and sought out because it is assumed that you have very specialized knowledge and experience with that group. When you stay broad, you will never, ever become an expert.
  1. It clarifies your thinking. Your brain cannot picture “everyone” and so your thinking stays unfocused and broad. When you can see a specific population in your mind’s eye, you are able to form the specific wording that gets noticed by your prospects’ brains—which are always looking for one thing: how does this apply to me, specifically? I always say, “You write only as well as you think.” That goes with anything you’re producing, really. It all starts with a clear image. If you cannot SEE the careers and lifestyles of your market, your thinking is fuzzy and so will be your business identity.
  1. Your promotions get heard and noticed. When you speak to the laser-focused specific needs of your market, you leave them feeling something that is priceless for a business: heard and understood. If you convey your value in vague and general language, it won’t hit your prospect’s heart. EVERYONE wants to feel that they are fully and completely understood. When you have a sliver-population-target-market, you will tailor your message to them; they will feel embraced and understood and valued by you—and compelled to work with you. It is the most powerful, psychological gift you give to people who haven’t worked with you: I know you. I get you. And I can help YOU, specifically.

When a business speaks to everyone, it gets heard by no one.

  1. Your excitement will increase. When your communication about your value is specific to a specific group’s needs, you get excited because suddenly you really know who you’re helping!  You are here to alleviate pain, solve problems—when you are doing that for a narrow population who needs you, the very best of you will spring forth and you will love sharing what you do! Trust me on this. If you are feeling flat about your business–it’s probably because you don’t really know who needs you most. If you’re uninspired, your business will fall away.
  1. Your marketing efforts explode in effectiveness because you know precisely where to put them. You find where your target population congregates, and your articles, website links, advertising, newsletters, etc. go directly to them. The time and effort you put into marketing drops dramatically—something every business owner must appreciate!

I’ve got a 24-page workbook for you that will help you determine your narrow market FAST–AND it also gets really deep into their heads. Part 2 takes you into the “inner psyche” of your market’s minds. You will know exactly what they need so you can build the most marketable programs and write the most compelling copy. And there’s a 2-hour workshop that goes along with it next Thursday, April 19th, when I will coach you to have your perfect buyer AND teach you how to use their psyche to sell. Jump on this asap!!!

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