Is There an Inspired Thought Leader Inside of You?

Sixteen years ago, as legend has it, I read a book in six days and everything in my life changed. Upon finishing it, I knew that I needed to leave my marriage and to change the course of my career–writing novels–which I had adored.  I woke up from that book knowing I needed to do something that was more real and substantial than creating fictional plots and characters had been for me. The words that I said–in the privacy of my own head—were, ” I want to change the world.”

For two years, all dressed up with no where to go, I searched for the venue that would help me to do that and finally came upon coaching. It was not what it is today: no one had heard of it, no one understood it (I think most still don’t) and so it was wide-open terrain. I was passionate about it because I knew its empowering methodology could indeed change the world.

accelerated learning mapFive years later, at a seminar, I was captivated by a method of working with audiences derived from education science called “accelerated learning.” It was another life-changing few days, as I decided to leave coaching and immerse myself in learning everything I could about accelerated learning and brain-based learning. Eighteen months later, passionate and convicted, I launched my second business—Inspired Leaders’ Academy—with a new kind of public speaking training just for entrepreneurs, using these technologies. I knew that when used properly, this “new paradigm of audience leadership” could change the world.

It’s been many years since that launch and many more since my realization that I wanted to change the world, but the drive is as real and fresh in me as it was when I closed the cover of that book.  I still believe coaching can change the world; I know that leading audiences with the technology of brain-based-learning will change the world—and now I work with coaches and other experts to help them change the world with a third element: Thought leadership.

Here’s my conviction: No business will make it now without leaving the pack and standing far apart from everyone else. And the way coaches, consultants and other experts will do that is with a fresh, provocative, even radical, message that shatters the status quo. A thought leader message. It’s essential for survival, and the only option for changing the world.

But a thought leader message isn’t enough. I named my business Inspired Leaders’ Academy years ago because I knew to stand out, and to change the world, you must lead with inspiration.  The fact is, inspiration sells as no data, evidence, or sound intellectual arguments ever will. My father was a minister and I adapted his natural ability to inspire, so when I began leading my public speaking trainings and free events, I saw that truth in action: inspiration is the ultimate call-to-action.ShieldHighResVersion

So, to be successful and change the world, you can’t just have a thought leader message that is intellectually satisfying; you need the fire and passion of inspiration to move an audience to truly “hear” that message and make it their own. On the other hand, you cannot just have an inspirational message—heat and heart—without a solid idea that confounds common understanding, fries brain circuits and destroys conformist thinking. You need them both.

I’ll be leading a virtual event in a couple of weeks: Is There an Inspired Thought Leader Inside of You?” It’s not an easy road; it requires rigorous thinking and a commitment to excellence beyond anything you’ll see around you–but if you are here to change the world, there will be only one answer for you, as there was for me sixteen years ago: Yes, and it’s ready to come out!

So…Is There an Inspired Thought Leader Inside of You?

How to Build Your Front-End/Back-End Business Funnel

By now, and especially after the PDF I sent out recently, you know that you need a progressive line-up of programs with a low-time/low-LADDERinvestment “front end” that builds to a more-time/higher-investment “back end.” And you’ve heard the rule that “the profit’s in the back-end, ” which is true. You invest in customers at the front-end, but don’t need to continue getting new customers because they flow naturally into the back-end.

So, how do you develop this “ladder” of programs? (I call it the FE-BE ladder.)

Well, as Steven Covey is famous for saying, “You start with the end in mind.”

What is the end result your customer wants? (If you’re this far in strategic planning, I presume you have the foundation set: you know your market,  their greatest pain, what they’d kill to have, and your #1 solution.)

In my case, the experts I serve want a formidable, marketable, one-of-a-kind Inspired Leader business–ready-to-go, ready to change lives, ready to make moneyfast and sans all the pitfalls.

So, what is the final result your customers want?

Next, you want to write down all of the typical mistakes they make on their way to that desired result.  Perhaps their final result is to be in a loving, long-term relationship–but your male customers tend to be too ego-centric,  too career-focused, date too many women at one time, stay distant so as not to be too emotionally intimate–and on and on.

This list now magically reveals the skills they need to learn/actions they need to take.

Man with pen and questionnaire. 3dYou write out that list, from start to completion: what they must learn first, second, third…thirty-fourth…fifty-sixth…until you’ve exhausted everything it will take for them to get to their desired result.

This is a good time to discuss an exception: I didn’t write my list of mistakes my market makes because frankly it’s so numerous, it would take up three paragraphs, but I will use myself as an example now to show you that you may not be teaching skills–as I don’t anymore. I get my clients their “entire business ready-to-make-money” by rolling up my sleeves and doing it with/for them. So, in this case, there are projects they must complete, not so much skills they must learn. If that’s the case for you, then you would write out everything that must be done to arrive at the final destination for your customer.

Now, you have a long list of skills they must learn/projects they must complete. This list becomes your FE-BE ladder! You break those skills/ projects into consumable chunks…i.e. programs. Your first set of skills will be the most-needed, “hot-button skills,” and will comprise your Signature Program.

The next set of needed skills becomes the next-in-the-line-up program. Voila! Easy-peasy. (Well, sort of.)

This is the mistake MOST experts make: Their programs are not progressive. They’re, at worst, a hodge-podge mess of disparate ideas–and at best, good concepts, worthy of a program–but that don’t bridge from the last program.

Why do you want them to bridge? So you don’t have to go out and get new clients! So, the person in Program A moves naturally to Program B, then on to Program C, etc. And you want them to feel compelled to go to the next program because it has the next-in-line skills they know they need to arrive at their desired destination.Picture8

My clients never want to leave my progression, because they know they need every project in my line-up: their one-of-a-kind brand identity and Inspired Thought Leader message…(that’s one consumable chunk, The Powerhouse Method(TM))…then they need to express that in tangible forms: develop their free product, paid product, Portal (free feeder) Program and Signature Program (the next consumable chunk)…then they need a full marketing strategy and the marketing copy, so those tangible items convert (the next consumable chunk), they need all of that tested and evaluated by me (the next consumable chunk) and finally, to deliver it all with dynamic power, they need to learn my system for being one of the most effective speakers/teachers in the world (next consumable chunk.)

In a successful business funnel, each program starts where the last one left off. This is how your Front-End/Back-End ladder should look…and I just gave you a super-fast way to create it. So, don’t waste a minute: go develop yours right now!

BIZLIBSCroppedOn April 16, you’re going to get the chance to evaluate ALL of your funnels: business, marketing and sales on the first-ever “Game-inar:” BizLibs: Funnel Vision. Remember MadLibs? It’s like that: you’re filling in blanks in a fast-paced, timed environment that will squeeze great ideas out of you and show you what you need to improve. You’ll walk out with a KILLER blueprint for exactly what you need to do to integrate your funnels. Just as our endocrine, circulatory, and nervous systems are us, your funnels are your business—and can either be sick or healthy. We’ll get them healthy on this very special webinar. Click here to read more and register!

Freedom to Lead Series 9: Freedom to Rise

(Sigh. YouTube clearly scans a video and chooses the worst placeholder it possibly can.)

This 10-day video series honors our Independence Day here in the States–July 4; honors the determination our forefathers had to be free by looking at the freedoms entrepreneurial thought leaders must claim in order to be successful in business and in changing the world.

In this next-to-last 9th video, we look at one word that will give you everything you need to rise to the top and far above the crowd.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJPeZmtQKpc[/youtube]

Your Target Market is the Problem With Your Business

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!!!

Leaders of Change: The Future of Entrepreneurship

In my last post, I cracked the moral whip, taking a zero-tolerance
stance on “how-to experts” who earn a living sharing their expertise,
without ever learning the expertise of teaching. I made it clear
that I find doing so irresponsible and glaringly out of alignment with
their professed intention of wanting to help others. No one is being
helped by an expert who doesn’t know how to successfully transfer
knowledge. And I ruffled a few (not many, but a few) feathers,
clearly hitting a nerve.

So, let’s leave morality behind and get practical. Teaching power-
fully is the difference between a message sticking, and a message
evaporating into thin air. Teaching effectively is the difference between
your viewers, readers or listeners taking the action you want them
to, and slipping away into oblivion. Teaching well is the difference
between their buying on the spot, and procrastinating. Contributing,
and making excuses. Participating full-on, and sitting on the bench.
Telling others about you, and remaining silent. If you got triggered
by my wrist-slapping the other day, you can certainly agree with the
common sense fact that teaching well is good for your reputation,
your business and your intention to stimulate action.

But I believe there is a critical purpose to teaching effectively that is
greater than the moral value and the benefits to your business—and
it has to do with the historic times we find ourselves in, and what
they mean for the future of entrepreneurs.

Have you noticed the once-incomprehensible changes that are happening
on the planet right now? Upheavals of almost every kind abound, and
with them come growing fear and uncertainty. And whether you realize
it or not, your role as a business owner is changing, too. Where once,
you were in service to your individual markets—now, you’re in service to
the planet. Your role as entrepreneur is being upgraded to “leader of
change.”
I met an 85-year-old woman the other night who was terribly
excited about the GET ON YOUR FEET2011 movement I’ve launched,
and she added a new word to my lexicon: world-citizen. In these times,
we are being called to world-citizenship as businesses.

Which means we will be called forward to lead–on platforms we’ve
never stood on before.

And we must be worthy of that leadership. We must communicate
so potently and effectively, that our words of insight get through, and
move people to change with these changing times. It is essential that
we not waste a breath speaking, unless it impacts. As a leader of change,
everything we convey must count. And that is the most important
reason to teach with powerful effectiveness. Not just because it’s morally
responsible (which it is), or because it will make you more money (which
it will)—but because you are here to achieve something and become a
part of something bigger than you, and its success is imperative.

The “new world” we are so quickly inhabiting will require powerful new
leaders with new-paradigm qualifications
. Teaching with excellence
will be just one.

On Thursday, February 24 at 4pm EST, I am doing something I have
never done. (You’ve heard that one before, right?) I’m serious, though. For
years, I’ve taught a revolutionary public speaking training based on brain
research in memory and learning
. Secrets of Impact and Influence
has been an enduring and highly acclaimed signature program—that I only
give live. Outside that training, I have never so much as whispered to any-
one the secrets I teach there—and all of my attendees have been sworn to
the same code of honor.  But on Feb. 24, I am opening up the Secrets of
Impact & Influence
manual and teaching page 13: The 10 “Don’t-Bother
-Teaching-Without-These” Factors of Deep and Rapid Learning
.

And because I’ll be using all 10 factors, The Inspired Speakers teleclass is
going to be unlike ANY free call (or paid call!) you have EVER experienced.

If you’re an expert, you cannot miss this. If you’re an entrepreneur, this
is your future
: leaders of change must know this information. So go now,
read all about it and sign up!

What’s the Key to a Stimulating Presentation?

Do you remember in English class, we were told to “show, don’t tell” when writing fiction? That’s because it’s boring to “tell.” Here’s a quick example of “telling: Bob was tired. He walked to the sofa and lay down. The room was too bright and he covered his eyes.

How would we write it if we were to show this same scene, not tell? Bob rubbed his eyes and yawned. He stood up and dragged his feet across the wooden floor into the living room, where he collapsed with a heavy sigh onto the sofa. Sunlight streamed relentlessly upon him and he threw an arm across his eyes. This is more interesting and taps our visual and even auditory senses. We are more engaged and intrigued —i.e. more attentive.

But this is not a post on writing, so what’s my point? My point is that “telling” in any format—writing or speaking—is boring! And when you’re speaking, your audience will lose interest if you “tell.” This is called the “pour and snore” technique!


Yet, do you know that 80% of
presenters I see “tell” almost
exclusively?
And 99.99% “tell”
far too often?

So, when you’re speaking, what’s the alternative to ‘telling’? Asking.

Here’s one of my firm mottos:  Whenever you would tell, ask a question instead.

Glance up three lines. Do you see that I asked a question–“Yet, do you know that…?” I could have made it a statement, couldn’t I?
Where I would have said, “80% of presenters I see…” But I asked a question. And look back in this paragraph. I posed two questions that most people would have made as statements. “Do you see that…?” would have been, typically, “Glance up three lines. You’ll see that I asked a question.” And rather than write, “I could have made it a statement, couldn’t I?most would have told instead: “I could have made it into a statement.”

Have you ever seen an Improv comedy show? One of the games is the Question Game. Two members begin: one asks a question, the other must answer with a question. The member who answers with a statement, or whose mind goes blank, goes to the back of the line, and the next troupe member plays against the winner. Obviously, the last member standing is the one who has succeeded in asking only questions all the way through. Kind of fun, isn’t it?

I would go so far as to say the speaker/presenter who asks questions all the way through his presentation will be the last one standing.

Even if you are a natural born question-asker—as coach or reporter or interviewer—it will still be challenging to take this on. We’ve been taught by our educational system that the person in front of the room knows everything and is there to “pour information” into us.

Despite hating the effect of “information download” when we’re in the audience, we tend to perpetuate it on stage because we haven’t been taught to ask questions.

How on earth can you ask questions all the time, you may ask? Well, can you envision one of your main teaching points and how you usually express it? Or a single statement you might make? What would it be like, turned into a question?  (Please note 4 questions in this paragraph.)

All right, let’s try an example, shall we? Say you’re
giving a presentation on the most advanced techni-
ques available for screwing in a light bulb. So, there you are and you’ve got a light bulb in one hand and a fake socket on a demonstration table next to you.
With me so far? A typical presenter would tell her audience how to insert the light bulb: “First, make sure all electricity has been turned off. Next, rattle
the light bulb to make sure it makes no sound—that means it’s new. Finally, make sure there is no water nearby.”

So, how boring is that?! Can’t you just imagine everyone in that audience nodding off? How can we turn it into a question-based presentation
instead?

Can you tell me what you think we’re going to be doing here today?”
Answer: “Screwing in a light bulb.”

“And for what reason?” Answer: “To make light.”

“Excellent. Before we screw it in, what are some safety precautions we should take?” They think of the water and turning off the electricity, but not ensuring that the light bulb is new. So, you shake the bulb and ask, “What do you think this might tell me?”

There you have a very brief example, but can you see what it does for the attentiveness of those in the group? The brain cannot abide an un-answered question. It’s like not answering a ringing phone. Your brain is compelled to answer.

Can you see that “telling” does not activate
the brain at all? It keeps it in a passive state—
which is the kiss of death for attentiveness,
comprehension and retention! Curiosity pro-
duces chemical reactions in the body that
directly stimulate learning and recall.

So, what’s the bad news for you? Well, you don’t get to show off every-thing you know when you’re asking questions—which can be a problem
for many experts, right? But that’s not what you’re there to do, is it?You’re there to enable the audience to see how much it knows.

So, what’s the motto you want to keep front and center when you’re delivering a presentation? Wherever you could tell, ask.

Got it? Do you promise to ask a LOT more questions? Do you think you already do? Let me assure you—you could almost never ask too many questions. Not if your goal is to stimulate a peak state of learning.

Join me tomorrow, April 7th at 7:30pm for my last free teleclass on “the new paradigm” of public speaking. Learn why it is we “tell” and don’t ask (it comes from an archaic cultural influence)–and find out what the other 3 influences are that destine you to be ineffective (and mediocre) with audiences. Read more and register here. It’s tomorrow!

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