10 Years of Business Lessons–Chapter 6: Scale or Integrity–That Was the Question

On February 27, 2017, I will celebrate the 10th-year anniversary of the launch of my second business, Inspired Leaders’ Academy. This is a series of excerpts that tells the story of these ten years to help you navigate these same waters more easily and faster! Read chapters one here, two, three, four, five here.

And be sure to take advantage of the free resources I provide at the bottom of this post.

When we last left our now-5-years-into-her-second-business protagonist, she was whipping into shape the strategic business plans, brand concepts, signature programs and marketing language of solopreneurs: coaches, consultants and speakers. And she was doing it in her second proprietary program, 12 Sentences, where participants in her online class answered the 12 most challenging questions prospects ask (or at least think)—and did so in single sentences.

The question none answered to Lizabeth’s high standard was, “How is your business different from everyone else’s in your field?” (She preferred, “…everyone else’s, period?” but no one came close to satisfying her criteria with that one, though she knew it was possible.)

So, one day, she sat down for a reckoning, pondering deeply an idea she calls, “consumption capacity.” It examines the capacity of a targeted client base to consume material and it’s an essential question for those wanting to do their best by their clients.

The questions are, What form of learning will my market realistically consume, given their lifestyle? What form of learning will yield them the best results? Do we even care that they consume? To what degree do we want them to consume?

For instance, a prospect once spoke with Lizabeth on a free consultation about the new 6-week online course she had created in Marie Forleo’s B-School. It was on “engaging employees” for C-suite level executives. Instantly, Lizabeth saw three glaring problems:

1. No C-suite level executive is going to watch videos and fill out PDF worksheets. (Consumption capacity failure)

2. There would be inadequate results from this format (Consumption capacity failure)

3. There was absolutely nothing original in what she was teaching. Employee engagement?? (Marketability failure)

She hired me (we’re returning to first person now :-)) and I cleaned up the mess made from the course with consumption capacity issues she took (which is generally what I do now, clean up those messes) and we created a truly one-of-a-kind brand and signature program for her that she is rocking right now. It is for executives in a form they will consume.

I am a teacher and transformation artist at my core, and so I absolutely cared that my clients consumed my material and got results. I had no issue with students consuming my public speaking material in a training because that was actually the best form for learning it: they could watch me do what I was teaching, and they could practice. I have, in fact, never disseminated that material any other way because it is not consumed best any other way.

But brand development? Crafting a truly one-of-a-kind signature program with a proprietary process? Articulating the message with influential wording? Eh…cannot be done in a class format. Not to my standards anyway, and they are exceptionally high; I’m about as exacting as they come.

And that was a defining moment for my business. I could become a Home Depot of Original Brand Development with online products and classes that I know No. One. Consumes—and if they miraculously did, would yield them mediocre results because the conceptualization phase of a business cannot be done right with do-it-yourself programs or masterminds.

Or I could be a fine, master-carpenter, working with meticulous detail on the carving of an original work of art.

There was no question: a client would consume this, and do so easily because I’m handling the expertise he doesn’t have, and a client would have get results, the most crucial result for success: an original, highly marketable business that sells.

“Your integrity is going to cost you in the long run,” a colleague told me, who was developing a Home Depot business model for herself.

I nodded and said, “It all depends on the yardstick you decide to use to measure your success.”

For me, it wasn’t a choice. I must do right by people or I fail. Period. No, I don’t have the fame and seven figures that others have in this field, but if I had, I wouldn’t have my integrity. That’s a cost I could not abide.

Instead, I have clients whose hands I never let go of, and the mama bear in me succeeds each day because of that. I give them results, and the entrepreneur in me succeeds each day because of that. I am at my creative best, and the artist in me succeeds every day because of that.

And I offer what I truly believe is the best fine craftsmanship available in branding and creative communication—and my soul succeeds every single day because of that.

I asked myself the question years ago, “What is my market’s consumption capacity?” And it gave me the business model best for me because it’s best for them.

It’s a question I offer to you.

I hope your story is as gratifying as mine.

**

Only one chapter left: How did I structure my boutique business, what was is its signature program, and how have I marketed it? That’s posting Saturday. Tune in then also for a once-in-my-business’s-lifetime opportunity to work in my carpenter’s shop with me.

Here are free resources for today! You’ll get a great deal out of each one:

Unleash the Brilliance of Your Next Big Thing Workbook 
http://inspiredleadersacademy.com/inspired/unleashnbtworkbooktoaudiofb/

One of a Kind 
http://inspiredleadersacademy.com/inspired/one-of-a-kind/

The Sequence Secret 
http://inspiredleadersacademy.com/inspired/sequence-secret-fb-2pg-swap/

10 Years of Business Lessons–Chapter 5: Oops! Did I Sell the Wrong Program?

On February 27, 2017, I will celebrate the 10th-year anniversary of the launch of my second business, Inspired Leaders’ Academy. This is a series of excerpts that tells the story of these ten years to help you navigate these same waters more easily and faster! Read chapters one here, two, three, four.

I did a lot of things right as I launched my second business (unlike my first coaching practice, where I did most things wrong). One of the things I did correctly was give my target audience a single focus for my business: my public speaking training.

They knew what I did and had just one potential action: to learn this methodology. I didn’t have an array of options. I had one. I cannot underscore how key this is! Your business “store front” must indicate just what you do, very clearly, no confusion. And the best way to do that is with a “signature program”; this is, at the start, the identity of your brand.

It bears repeating that being crystal clear with one offering is key to being successful early on. That one offering must be a program that has shape and form: with a name, a specified duration, a process (another key: a proprietary process) and very specific deliverables.

I could go on for an entire book about this, but sometimes less is more, so let me repeat this: early service businesses must guide a targeted market to just one main offering that teaches a proprietary methodology.

But eventually, a solo practice wants to develop an “ascension” business model. This means that you
create a second program (with name, duration, proprietary process and deliverables) that your clients/students from your initial signature program “ascend into.” In this new program, they are learning the next set of skills, or moving to the next level of transformation.

This is something Harv Eker taught us, though he called it having a “progressive line up of services.” Long ago, I began calling it the “ascensions model.” Same thing. To grow (vs. launch) your business, this is a must. Why? Because rather than always searching for a new client, you want to me smart and keep a client as long as possible. This reduces your marketing costs and the headaches that come with it, for one thing, but is another stream of income.

About three years into my business, I began to see a glaring need in those who were attending my public speaking training. Many would hire me to help develop their “experiences” (I taught them to use this word in place of ‘presentation,’ ‘workshop,’ ‘seminar,’ etc.) and the problem was revealed when I asked where the experience fit in the strategy of their business.

“I don’t know what you mean,” they would say. Essentially, they just wanted to give any old workshop or talk; they wanted to get out there with something.

I asked them what they hoped the talk would accomplish, what would folks do as a result of attending? To answer that, though, they had to know who would be attending. Most of them didn’t know. They thought in terms of “people,” not a targeted group. Then, when we discussed content, it had no theme consistent with their business; they really had no brand identity. Their “experience” was not going to clarify who they were.

Oh, boy, I thought. Have I been selling the wrong program? They’re not ready for the material in my public speaking training—their businesses aren’t strategically developed!

And so, I created my second program, which while logically should have preceded the public speaking content, was offered to those who had attended that training. My ascension model had begun.

I was smart enough, though, to offer this new program to those on my list who had never attended Secrets of Impact and Influence and soon I was teaching “12 Sentences” to new as well as familiar folks.

“12 Sentences” was unique. As a communication strategist, I knew that only good thinking can produce good articulation. And I knew that good articulation (what the business achieves and how it is different from all others) was job number one for any business owner. But for some reason, few understand how inadequate their articulation is.

So, this virtual group class rolled up their sleeves and dove into some seriously tough thinking, using my Nine Strategic Inquiries Manual as a guide.  Then, the course required them to take all of that good thinking and cogently answer 12 questions in single sentences.

These were the questions prospects wanted to hear the most. I knew that when a business owner can articulate in single sentences, s/he knows the business cold. This program was aimed at getting people to know, and then describe powerfully, the value and distinction of their business…cold.

For one year, I led both Secrets of Impact & Influence and 12 Sentences, and then phased out SII as a live training in 2012. This is when I was learning a few very important things about the needs of my market. The most important was that of all of the 12 sentences they had to craft, one stood out as the hardest. It was nearly impossible for them to answer: How are you different from everyone else?

I have exceptionally high standards for that answer and very few in the class were meeting them. I was not okay with this. They were; they thought they had a unique differentiation because what they had was so much improved over what they’d had. But I knew they could have something much, much better.

But how to get it for them? It took a while for me to make a pivotal decision for my business. I remember telling a colleague what it was, who responded, “Your integrity is going to cost you.”

I’ll tell you what it is next chapter. This is a question you may face, too.


So, what are you taking away from this chapter? Here is a summary. Be sure.
..

  1. your business has a single focus
  2. and that it is a program–with a name, duration, deliverables and…
  3. …a proprietary process.
  4. Be sure to develop an ascension business model
  5. that your business is strategically developed!
  6. that it is different from everything else offered in your field!
  7. that you have done rigorous thinking before you articulate your value!
  8. that you never forget this: Articulating your value is job #1!!! You need to be able to do it in single cogent and concise sentences. And never assume you are doing it well unless you get conversions.

“The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.”
-George Bernard Shaw

10 Years of Business Lessons–Chapter 3: How I Got People to My Live Events

On February 27, 2017, I will celebrate the 10th-year anniversary of the launch of my second business, Inspired Leaders’ Academy. This is a series of excerpts that tells the story of these ten years to help you navigate these same waters more easily and faster!

*

In the last chapter, I told you that my marketing strategy for launching my new business, which then centered around a proprietary public speaking signature program, was to lead a free live “teaser” event. This was educational and highly engaging, but also the opportunity for me to sell my public speaking training. Back then, this was a new strategy; now, of course, you see it online everywhere in webinars.

So, how did I get folks to attend the free teaser—and how is this relevant in today’s world, when so much of this is going on online?

Let me answer that question first. The world of online marketing is so saturated with free webinars, in many ways, they’re becoming invisible, wouldn’t you agree? Smart business owners are seeing the need to get back to basics and meet with people in person again—thus the rise of the MeetUp. In the ten years since I was doing free live events, I’ve seen the progression away from them, beginning in 2009 to back again in 2015. I encourage all new solopreneurs to lead live events, and MeetUp is helpful in that it promotes for you (on a very limited scale!), but my strategy from ten years ago is more valid today than it has been in years.

Essentially, I filled my teaser (i.e. “portal” event) by going to local networking events. My market was business owners and my thesis was that public speaking was–hands down–the best strategy for getting business, and my call to action was, come see how to be better than virtually all other speakers so you stand apart and get sales.

The most important key was providing them with a “ticket” to the event in the form of a colorful postcard with compelling copy.

I can’t find the February 2007 version, but here’s one from 2009.

On the back, I shared the value of the event in dollar terms ($49) and then said that “with this ticket, you attend for free.” I went to networking events constantly, but by May 2009, word of mouth was working for me.

Getting them in the room is 70% of the challenge—but the rest is what happens in the room. It has to be great or you will lose the sale. You and I have seen many, many, many really bad free talks (whether online or in person) and what’s sad is that the leader doesn’t understand that the content and delivery cost them dearly. Don’t make that mistake: thinking you’re delivery and material are compelling when they’re not!

In my event, I used the very brain-based-learning technology I was “teaching and teasing” and of course, this worked (because these techniques are highly experiential and compelling.) I asked lots of questions; invited people onto stage to be scribes, or to demonstrate. I had everyone verbalizing throughout the event because twice as much brain circuitry is activated when we talk versus just listen. It was fun and it was memorable.

But it was also new. I was teaching things no one had heard of before. This is the “thought leadership” I now focus on so precisely in my work: you need to illuminate what is wrong with current conditions (in this case, how most people give talks) and how an entirely new methodology (talking to the brains in their audiences) would get them far greater results.

And it called them into action in a very concrete way, as I described in detail in Chapter Two. This is a critical distinction, though, and worth repeating. If the rest of the challenge is what “happens in the room,” then it stands to reason that what happens must be effective. Making an offer in no uncertain terms is effective. Harv Eker said often to us, “Never, ever let warm bodies out of the room [without telling them what you have for them because it’s human nature that they will get distracted by the next day].”

When you host your own event, you can do this. I spent 20 minutes on the offer–after over an hour of teaching. And I gave them a heck of a deal. Remember, you are offering something extremely valuable (hopefully!) at a discounted rate that they couldn’t get if they weren’t in the room with you. This is a gift for them. They can choose to take it or not, but you are helping them by giving them a choice to improve their lives. Many don’t see it that way, but that’s only because they have internal conflicts around selling. (I know about this! As I said, I refused to sell for years and consequently hated anyone who tried to sell to me. The two are inextricably linked.) But the truth is, giving an opportunity for someone to achieve a better standard of living is always a gift.

So, there’s how I filled my free portal events and how I made them work for me by giving a high-value, stand-apart experience with an explicit offer.

This is a strategy you want to duplicate.(In subsequent chapters, I’ll tell you how I transitioned to doing this online.) But remember, people want to meet in person more and more now, so be sure that a live talk/seminar is part of your marketing strategy.

   *

To conceptualize and structure your next talk/event, download my proprietary design template, The Easy Plugin Design Model. Click here for it.

And today, I am offering 2, 90-minute sessions to help you duplicate my marketing strategy (free live event/talk) as well as conceptualize the content. Because this is my 10th year anniversary celebration, I’m offering my expertise at a discount, which I never do. Just fill out this form now that gets us on a quick free call to ensure you’re ready for this.Go ahead! I promise there’s nothing to lose!

How Good Is Your “Funnel Vision”?

I’m interested: how would you fill in this blank….

My business funnel consists of _______________; my marketing funnel consists of these sequential steps __________________; my sales funnel for my Signature Program consists of these steps______________.

These terms are bandied about so inconsistently, they’ve become meaningless–and maybe I’m only adding to the mix by creating yet more definitions, but I believe these will clear the cobwebs. I want you to be clear about what each of these does, and the fact that you need all of them in your business–done correctly.

Why am I so nutty about funnels lately? Because they are EVERYTHING! You don’t have a business without a business funnel; you won’t be seen without a marketing funnel, and no one will buy from you without a sales funnel (properly sequenced.)

I’m going to explain the differences today, but on April 16th, I’m leading a brand new BIZLIBS fill-in-the-blank game–“Funnel Vision”—that is going to be insanely educational—and fun!

 To get you ready, let me explore the differences in these funnels.

Think of these funnels on increasing camera zoom lenses. So, metaphorically, your business funnel zooms in on a “state”; your marketing funnel then zooms in on the “town,” and your sales funnel zooms in on a “house.”

          

I define a business funnel as your complete, progressive line-up of for-sale programs, which begins with the lowest time/lowest financial investment and gradually increases in both. I wrote a blog post in February outlining how to develop your business funnel; definitely make that weekend reading.

On BizLibs: Funnel Vision, you’ll be filling in blanks to develop or test this line-up or programs in your own business. Invaluable.

Just as your business funnel consists of sequential steps (that paying customers take,) your marketing funnel consists of sequential steps, as well—that prospects take. For the most part, marketing is a “front end job,” meaning that it focuses on getting people into your business, into the front end, namely your Signature Program. You do much less marketing, if any, for the backend. So, what does a typical marketing funnel look like? Here’s an image:

Picture6CROPPED

(1) You use social media, blog and other writing, speaking and JV partnerships to move people to (2) your opt-in page to get something for free. I always advise a written gift and also (3) a free event, which I call a “portal event.” Once there, they learn about the (4) Signature Program (and we move into the business funnel).

On BizLibs: Funnel Vision, you’ll be filling in blanks to help you create your marketing funnel. So easy and very instructive.

So, then, what is a sales funnel? Like the other funnels, it too is a sequence, but we’re now zoomed in on the “house,” so-to-speak. Concretely, this means that a sales funnel is the micro-sequence used to sell a product or program. People’s education on this is very minimal because not a lot of people are out there teaching it well. But let’s face it, you must go through a very selective series of steps on your “free portal event” to get people to actually buy your Signature Program. You must go through a very selective series of steps on your sales page to get people to buy your product. The same is true when you offer free consulting calls: a very selective series of steps needs to be taken to get callers to actually buy. So, you need properly converting sales funnels for everything in your business funnel.

Make sense?

On BizLibs: Funnel Vision, you’ll be filling in blanks to help you think cogently about your sales funnels, too!

So, what can you do while you await word from me on the BizLibs game?

EXERCISE: Review each of these funnels and visually sketch out the sequential steps you’ve currently got. Then ask yourself if you’re happy with the conversions of each of the programs in your business funnel. If not, check out analytics and conversions of items in your marketing funnel and improve your social media; increase your speaking; befriend more JV partners, etc. Then, look at your sales funnels for each program/information product. This is where you may have difficulty seeing the trouble-spots. You probably think you’re selling properly and don’t realize that you’re not pricing things creatively, or asking the right question at the right time, or making a “no-brainer” offer (and on and on).

BIZLIBSCropped

On BizLibs: Funnel Vision, you’ll play the game and then I’ll be answering questions on all of this! 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!

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!

A NEW Kind of “TLC” on Valentine’s Day for the Service Entrepreneur

Happy Valentine’s Day! “Tender” isn’t the word used to describe me as a consultant (as in Tender Loving Care). In fact, a recent student of mine referred to me as a passionate pit-bull. So, I don’t have anything tender for you this Valentine’s Day, but I do have a NEW meaning for TLC, that definitely expresses my love for you.

A couple of weeks ago, a client of mine referred to me as a thought leader–which I accepted gratefully and humbly–in the same instant that I clapped a hand to my head and thought, “I build Inspired Leaders…but to be much more specific, they are Inspired Thought Leaders! So, the TLC I’m giving you this Valentine’s Day is: Thought Leader Clarity….namely, the 12 Steps to Thought Leader Clarity! (TLC!)

[Read more…]

Determining Your Target Market: 6 Ways You’ve Probably Not Considered–Part 5

# 5: Your 4 Business Roles

As a service-based business owner, there are 4 roles you will likely play in your career. But only one is where you want to spend most of your time. One is the best option given your mission. One is the best option given ethical behavior toward your clients. And it is very important to build your business so that you are utilizing the best role in your Signature Program—the program that is central to your entire business. Since your Signature Program will be populated by a certain target market, it stands to reason that you need to know which of these roles you’re playing in that program so you can determine who should be “in the room.” [Read more…]

How A New Program Drew 350 Registrations–the First Time Out

A client of mine, Teresa Aziam of The Aziam Center, led a telecall last night that interested 350 people in just a few days of promotion. She went to her list and asked two JV partners to promote for her—but out of the gate, with not a whole lot of promoting at all, this was a strong number.

Here’s what they were drawn to: There is a single formula that explains your lagging business success—and it’s the same (and only) formula you will ever need to get all the clients, sales, buzz and love you want!

That was the hook–and the essence of her “Teaching Story”—the story she unfolded on the call.

They may have been drawn to the title, too, but we didn’t measure that: Off-the-Charts: The Only Formula You Need for Breaking the Ceiling on Business and Life Success.

They stayed because—as one woman near the end of the call said, when asked how one of the exercises affected her, “I can’t even express it, it was so profound.”

 

This is Teresa’s “Portal Program,” as I call it–#3 on the diagram. It is the pre-event to her star-money-maker, Signature Program.

This diagram illustrates the strategic line-up of offerings I help my clients create. But it doesn’t just magically happen. Here’s how Teresa and I got to her “Teaching Story” hook above.

She came to me, knowing that her specialty was “mindset work.” First order of business is always determining target market.

 We went back and forth on that for a few sessions and finally she decided on “mom-preneurs” with kids under eight years of age. (I always have my clients, working with mothers, determine the age of their kids; it reveals yet another dimension of their problems/needs/desires that need to be addressed.)

The next order of business is determining that market’s “urgent problem.” I always say, “You must be urgently wanted (b/c you solve an urgent problem) or you will be an elective…and you can’t afford to be an elective.” So, we quickly determined that her market’s urgent problem (even though Teresa didn’t feel qualified at first to address it) was, “poor sales.”

“I don’t teach sales,” she said to me repeatedly, as she was trying to grasp that as her business future. She felt she wasn’t credible to solve that urgent need. (Can you relate? Then read on.)

“There are many solutions for someone, for example, who needs to lose weight,” I told her. “Someone can help nutritionally. Someone else can provide hypnosis treatment. Someone else, liposuction. Someone else, self-mastery techniques. The problem is the same, with many solutions. You can help that problem, as one of the solutions.”

That accomplished, we began to drill down into what she believed mom-preneurs needed to do to succeed. It wouldn’t be a sales technique, or strategy for attracting leads; it would be her answer, based on what she does well. After days of thrashing about in deep reflection (my questions tend to do that to people), she determined that above all, (that’s what I look for) her market needed to know their own self-worth to succeed. Without it, there can be no success.

And that began the very mysterious process that happens between me and a client in developing their Teaching Story. We sit on a see-saw, the two of us, and as she pushes off the ground in answer to a question of mine, it rolls down to me, and stimulates an idea, and back and forth we go, as my brain—always scanning for a Brain-Sticky concept—begins to think of what to teach to the market.

It’s completely non-linear and a process I cannot teach or I would make it a group program, but in no-time on that see-saw, keeping in mind a) her market; 2) what they most want; 3) what they need to know; 4) what she does best and 5) what they don’t know, I knew the hook: your sales are directly proportionate to your self perceived value. They will be low if your value of yourself (in any or all areas of life) is low; they will be high, if your self-perceived value is high. Teresa loved it because it was true. She said, “Yep. There is no exception. It can’t be any other way.”

I always test and test my clients’ convictions, and so I asked (as I’d asked it multiple ways before), “If they try any of the other solutions to boost their sales, will it work?” She was an emphatic, “No! This is THE answer!”

And so, I whipped the concept into a formula (which I don’t want to reveal here, for proprietary reasons, but you can go find out yourself!)

From there, I began to design the “arc” of the Teaching Story—how she would teach this to an audience. As you know, she gave it last night to a live audience, but even if she was never going to “be on stage” with it—having a Teaching Story Arc is a sweet, key way of developing an “idea” that no one else in the world has. No one else has the formula of her Teaching Story—and no one else has the teaching content we developed that teaches the formula, what do with it, and then presents a natural new problem to the audience.

Her Teaching Story was “urgently wanted” because it: addressed a nagging problem (low sales) with a irrefutably true concept (your sales are proportionate to your self-perceived value), spun in a unique way with a hook, (the formula), built with unique content (provocative exercises and data that taught the formula and the science behind it, in her case), delivered, using the unique curriculum design I’ve been teaching for years, which “teaches to the brain”—then resurrecting a new problem (how to effectively change self-perceived value forever to achieve off-the-charts sales and other business success), which is solved by the next event, the Signature Program.

And that is how 350 people came to register for the “only formula you need for breaking the ceiling on business and life success.” Congratulations, girl!! If you want to find out more about Teresa’s event, click here.

To do this work with me, email info (at) inspiredleadersacademy.com with “I want lots of people on my telecall, too!” in the subject line 🙂 or go read more at: www.inspiredleadersacademy.com/powerhousemethod2.

 

 

How Building Your Service Business is Like Writing a Novel

I saw Midnight in Paris yesterday (a really fun movie; I
recommend it), so I’m in a bit of a literary mood. I want
you to think of your service business as a novel that you
must write, chapter by chapter. It must have a single topic,
a gripping plot, a meaningful message, an heroic protagonist,
and a villain. It must stay on-point, have clear direction, a
decisive conclusion, a captivating title—and, more than
anything else, it must stir the emotions of its readers.

Writing a novel (I’ve written two in my day, so I do know
something of the process), requires forethought and some
strategy, and of course, it must be written in a linear fashion.
You can conceive the final chapter and write backward, but
the execution must come sequentially. The same is true for
your service business: you must know where you want
your business to end up
—“begin with the last chapter in
mind”–but then you must go about writing the chapters
in a specific order, to render a best-seller
.

This summer, I am here to help you write certain chapters
of your business.
Following is the order in which you should
be writing; you determine which chapters you need the most
help on.

Chapter one is discerning your business’ mission (the decisive
conclusion that your protagonist wants more than anything),
then chapter two is honing your business’ differentiating
edge—
how it is different from every other business out there
(thus begins the plot, and the meaningful message that will
stir emotion).

Chapter three heats up the plot considerably as you take that
differentiation and turn it into a marketable package—with a
best-selling title. This is your Signature Program—the program
you will be known for, and that can earn you thousands and
thousands of dollars through repurposing.

Chapter four builds irresistible suspense into the plot as
you design a successful business model: the repeatable system
you will use to get and keep clients. This model keeps you and
your business on-point and moves you systematically toward
your story’s decisive conclusion (the result you promise your
clients).

Chapter five is the chapter of seduction: how you entice
your readers to pull your novel off the shelf and not another’s.
This is the art of language, the essential element of any
best-seller–
what you say on the inside flap–your home-page,
squeeze page, post card–to engage your potential client.

Chapter six is the final stage of seduction: the “irresistible
offer”
that includes creative pricing strategies and myriad
other incentives to buy.

And finally, chapter seven is the set-up for the sequel: the
information products you must have in your funnel to compli-
ment your Signature Program. What should they be? And
what will make them “Brain-Sticky” enough to entice your
audience to buy them, too?

Every chapter is essential to creating a finished product.
You cannot skip a single chapter
.

But it takes time—and each chapter must be done right. To
ensure that he was crafting a true best-seller, Gil, in Midnight
in Paris,
had Gertrude Stein herself read his manuscript until
he got it right. Let me be the expert who oversees your
business
chapters this summer in my private consulting
program
, Camp Brain-Sticky. You can focus on one chapter
or a few.

Go here to get on a free 15-minute call with me to ask any
questions
you may have and to see the details of each “chapter.”
Do hurry, though. Only a few slots are available for this program. 🙂

How Seductive is Mediocrity in Your Business?

Mediocrity is a form of madness, a dream embraced by the
masses because it makes just getting by an acceptable —
sometimes applauded — social art form.” ~Guy Finley

So, I love this quote. Love, love, love it.  This is what we are
escaping, when we’re escaping the wannabees: mediocrity.
The madness of accepting “just getting by” because so many
around us do. We’re all guilty of it, to greater and lesser degrees.
I think we shake ourselves out of banality only when 1) doing
so is somewhat easy for us; it’s an area we don’t resist too
strongly (like giving up chocolate for Lent), or 2) when it has
finally pushed us to a pain we can’t bear any longer. However,
that leaves us wallowing in (and comfortable in) mediocrity
if we’re somewhere in-between: not willing to leap into foreign
territory (giving up sex for Lent), but not yet burning in the fire
of our desperation. For most of us, this is in-between is our every
day.

And the consequence? Here’s another quote I love, shared by
David Hepburn, Jr. today on Facebook, “The place you want is
currently occupied by what you have settled for.” Virtually every
day, we’re giving up what we want, to allow what we’ve settled
for. That is insanity!

In business, this means that we’re willing to “leave the hive,”
Escape the Wannabees, only when doing so isn’t too risky—the

price of outsourcing is reasonable—or when we’re on the cusp
of bankruptcy. If something costs a bit too much for our comfort,
or failures aren’t too painful, we deepen the grooves of the hole
we’ve burrowed in and slip deeper into “mediocrity madness.”

I regularly plant explosives beneath the burrow of my clients,
catapulting them into new realms that terrify them. And I take
great pleasure in doing so! Some blame me, at the start, for
the immediate dishevelment of their burrow; it truly is a work
of art for them, no matter how undistinguished. Others applaud
the freedom! I’ve noticed, over the years, that the former type
slink back to their old ways when we’re done; the latter keeps
climbing to higher ground.

I am currently teaching a new course, Creating a Transform-
ational Signature Program
, and on the call yesterday, one of

the participants said, “Wow, I just don’t think this way,” when
I was teaching them my proprietary “Transformational Arc”—
how to provide a paradigm shift for every audience they engage
with. It was totally new territory for her—and for all of them;
this is revolutionary stuff—but for her, “leaving the hive” this
way, where she has to get her audiences to feel, in order to
transform, thus breaking her away from the majority of
speakers and teachers who don’t know how to do this (and
are afraid to)—this was momentarily unsettling for her.

I also have them going out on a limb in this class, excavating
and crafting their “Meta Message”an inspirational message
with a universal truth
, that will inform the content of their

signature program; will be woven into the personal story they
tell when they deliver their program or a keynote speech; and
that they will infuse into their marketing. This is exhilarating
for all of my clients—they see that they are creating their
business to align with their deepest inspirational belief—and
they’re going to attract like-minded clients with this extremely
powerful message. But it’s not being done out there, so they
have to move out of their comfort zones to dare to lead with
this bold kind of message, vs. the typical marketing messages.
They have to leave what they’ve settled for in order to lead
others
with this message of change.

I’m inviting them to step into their role as an “inspired leader,
and there is nothing mediocre about going there, so–just as with
all of us who have pushed off what we’re called to do and want
to do because “settling” is so much easier—my clients hover

around the hive for a while before finally escaping it. But then,
they transform and end the madness. At least in that area.

I suppose as long as we live, there will be some “acceptance of
mediocrity” to uncover within ourselves…yes? Or no! What do you think?

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