Teresia's Blog

As coaches in business we will spend the majority of our time “marketing” (yes even when you are an established coach). To leverage your marketing efforts you want to ensure you have captured contact information.

Once you’ve attracted someone’s attention and captured their contact info, you’re in position to seal the deal – by converting interested prospects into committed clients.

No matter what kind of marketing activities you’re doing – online marketing, speaking, networking, or something else – the goal is to create your community (through your blogs, social media, weekly newsletter etc) and steer people toward a complimentary coaching session.

Before jumping into how coaches specifically can create community it is helpful to look at how other local businesses are successful. For this example we have chosen local bakery and brand name, Terra Breads. Terra Breads was one of Vancouver’s first artisan bakeries, they have a strong commitment to community and authentic artisan baking remains stronger than ever. They operate four bakery locations around Vancouver. So, how do they garner a community?

Firstly, lets look at what they do offline:

This screenshot from their website shows how many different existing communities they get involved with. Helping other communities is a great way to introduce yourself into the right circles and start to get your name out there. Depending on what kind of coach you are will make a difference with what existing local communities you can start to penetrate. For instance, if you are a life coach who has experience in personal finance, then making yourself known and offering some hours at the local non-profit credit counseling service is a great way to meet new people within your community.

Let’s turn our attention to online marketing. Terra Breads have an easy to navigate, well branded and informative website. It tells the visitor everything about artisan breads, shows the visitor some rich media in the form of photos and gives great detail about Terra Bread’s story. This on its own is not enough to garner community, however it is imperative to facilitating an online following. Without a central place to find information, how will people find you? Terra Breads also run a Facebook Page and Twitter Feed to keep their followers up to date on company news, local events and promotional offers. It is important to notice that they do not just talk about themselves on social media, they share and comment on other companies Page’s in their community (see below). For coaches this means getting online friendly with your local ICF Chapter, non-profit organizations and other relevant businesses to your type of coaching.

Now for some coach specific points; this is the lynchpin of the marketing process, and there are a few ways to work it.

• At regular intervals, invite the prospect to contact you and inquire about coaching options. (Have your tiered menu of offerings and new-client package ready).

• Periodically let your list of prospects know that there is an opportunity for them to get the support they need to move ahead. (“I have three new spaces open in my practice at this time. If you’d like to see if coaching is for you, I’m offering a complimentary coaching session to anyone who may be interested in exploring new ways to get what you really want”).

Another pathway into your practice is to enroll people in a group program. Often, this eliminates the need for a complimentary coaching session. (“In two months, I will be starting a 10-week tele-class series, and the first 10 people to sign up will get to register for half price”).

A word to the wise: As you nurture leads and aim to convert prospects, be sure that the majority of your messages are value driven, not promotional. If you’re consistently delivering value in short, bite-sized pieces, people will stay on your list. If you’re too heavy handed with promotional messages, your prospects will soon abandon ship. So be sure you honor their interest and maintain their loyalty by consistently delivering more value than they ever expected.

Passion Into Profit Coach Challenge: Be consistent in sharing value with your community and be clear of your call to action strategy.

  PS. I would love to hear from you! Do you have a great way to convert your interested prospects into clients?   Please  share with us on Facebook.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

This month’s newsletter is all about the power of planning.

“The bigger your vision, the more time you must spend on planning”

Be sure to check out our resources of the month section. For a limited time, I am offering a special opportunity to participate in a breakthrough blueprint strategy session. Make this your most profitable summer yet!

Happy Planning!

Your personal business building mentor,

http://Teresia.com

Feature Article

If we had a hidden camera to spy on the lives of 10 entrepreneurs it is a good chance  most of them would exhaust us just by watching their day. The thing is, most entrepreneurs get stuck in a mode of reacting to things – catching and dealing with whatever comes up. The phone rings, they answer it. An email comes in, they respond immediately. A co-worker has a problem, they’re on it.

While this may seem to be a good idea in the moment, at the end of the day they feel scattered and unproductive. Can you relate?

And when this continues over time, profits, motivation and quality of life suffer a great deal. When people don’t see results, we tend to lose interest. Loss of enthusiasm eventually leads to total burnout, both personally and professionally.

The only way out of this situation is to make the decision to be deliberate with your time and attention. No more reacting to whatever comes your way! It’s time to set up your day in a way that ensures that the most important things get done – always. And the best way to get yourself into this mode is to do some planning.

Michael Gerber, renowned author of The E-Myth, talks about working ON the business, not just IN it… and that’s exactly what we’re telling you to do. Not once, not periodically – habitually. This is a mission-critical skill for ongoing business success.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Are you a new coach? Are you struggling with deciding on how much you should charge for your coaching services? Today I will share the first thing you need to ask yourself when deciding your coaching fees to make the income you want to make as a coach in business and highly serve your clients.

Passion into Profit Coaching Challenge: Decide and claim your intended monthly revenue.

  PS. I would love to hear from you! Have you decided and claimed your monthly revenue? Please share with us on Facebook.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Building a coaching business can feel daunting, especially if the entrepreneurial world is new to you or you don’t particularly like the whole marketing conversation. But let it be known, you do not have to do the hard driving, grit your teeth action to build a profitable business.

If I told you it was possible to market your business through activities that you found fun, energizing and effortless, would you believe me?  I’m going to share with you how to make that vision true for you.

Building a successful business is like building a skyscraper, you need a solid foundation to support a six-figure business. But beyond a solid foundation to support it, you need a consistent source of energy to keep doing the activities you need to do to get the results you desire.

What is this source of energy? We’re talking about marketing. Not flash-in-the-pan marketing… sustainable marketing. And if you want it to be sustainable, it has to be easy. It has to fit with your natural abilities – the things you are good at and enjoy doing. I call these your attractive abilities – your key to successful entrepreneurship.

Every single person on the planet has a unique set of talents and gifts. These are the things that come easy to you and complement your personality. You are good at them, and naturally, you love to do them.

For example, some people are extroverted and enjoy engaging those around them in meaningful conversations, like Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates.

Others are introverted and they have an impressive skill set when it comes to processing information and putting their thoughts on paper. Example could be leaders such as Warren Buffett or Steven Spielberg.

Sometimes, these abilities feel so natural that we assume everyone can do these things. But that simply isn’t true. These traits are gifts, specially developed aspects of your personality, and they form the basis of your unique ability to contribute in the world.

Give yourself a chance to thoroughly investigate what it is that you are both great at and love doing. Begin by asking yourself these four critical questions.

1. Which business activities energize you, both during and after you do them?
2. Which business activities make time fly?
3. Think of a time when you were successful as a professional. What activities were you doing?
4. What activities do other people complement your performance on (and you feel surprised because you thought everyone was good at it)?

Passion into Profit Coaching Challenge: Decide today to align your marketing activities with things you love to do and what you are great at and embrace the effortless way of being a coach in business.

PS. I would love to hear from you! Are you clear on your Attractive Abilities?  What are you doing to build your business that you love to do?  Please share with us on Facebook.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Today’s business building breakthrough session is with Tania Walter Gardiner of Integral Connections. Tania is a graduate of the Art and Science of Coaching and the Passion into Profit program of Erickson College International. Tania is an extraordinary example of taking her passion and talent for coaching and creating a profitable coaching business. Today we talked about how to use three tier pricing to position and design your coaching programs to make it easy and compelling to have your potential clients make the decision to hire you as their coach. Tania shares her three-tier pricing model and how it has benefited her in growing her one-on-one coaching practice.

Passion into Profit Coach Challenge: Create your three tier pricing strategy – make it easy for you potential clients to work with you!

Be sure to join me on Feb 26th at 9:30am PST for a complimentary Explore Entrepreneurship Webinar where we will be exploring proven strategies to take your talent and passion for coaching and turn it into a profitable business. To learn more and to register please click here.

  PS. I would love to hear from you! Have you created your three tier pricing strategy? If so, please  share with us on Facebook.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

You have done a great job marketing your services, you have captured their contact information (they are part of your database) now you must consistently nurture your prospects. What do I mean by nurturing?

Once you have their interest, you have to work to keep it! You can do this by creating an automated follow-up system that puts you and your expertise in front of your prospects on a regular basis. Maybe once a week, they get an e-mail that shares more value – another one of your unique processes, an interview with an expert, a resource – something that will make your ideal prospect glad to be on your list. Or perhaps you will simply set up a monthly newsletter.

These communication pieces should be:

• Speaking to the biggest problems that your niche faces. Educate them about the causes of their problems; explain certain aspects of the solutions.
• Delivered in your natural style, in a way that suits your attractive abilities (video, blog entries, podcasts, whatever feels most effortless to you).
• Highly targeted. Don’t be afraid to lose prospects that would not make good clients.

In every contact you have with your list of prospects, you want to:

• Speak to their biggest problem;
• Educate them on the cause; and/or
• Discuss the solution.

So, in every contact, and they’re getting one of these three pieces.

By doing this you are establishing a strong relationship, you are building trust, credibility and sharing information that they experience of great value. Every once in awhile (every 3 or 4 contacts) you will invite the recipient to take the next step – that may be a free ebook, a free webbing, a complimentary coaching session.  You might say something like, “If these tips have created value for you, then you may want to consider a complimentary coaching session. Here’s how to register…. ” That way, by the time they are contacting you, they’re ready to get moving.

We can use the Erickson Business Center as an example. Once we capture a prospect’s email address we first send them our Top 10 Tips for Turning Passion Into Profit, followed by an Intro To Social Media. We then invite them to join our Explore Entrepreneurship webinar and finally send an email reminder to join the webinar making sure into include links to our blog and YouTube content.

All of this can be automated so that every time someone becomes part of your community these series of messages is automatically launched.

All of this can be automated so that every time someone becomes part of your community these series of messages is automatically launched.

Passion into Profit Coaching challenge: Consider how you will continue to nurture your online community. How will you communicate with them? How often? Through what means (newsletter, blogs, audio, video etc) and remember to automate!

Be sure to join me on Feb 26th at 9:30am PST for a complimentary Explore Entrepreneurship Webinar where we will be exploring proven strategies to take your talent and passion for coaching and turn it into a profitable business. To learn more and to register please click here.

  PS. I would love to hear from you! Do you nurture your clients? Would love to hear how you maintain a   consistent relationship with your clients.   Share with us on Facebook.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

We are almost at the end of the first month of the year. A great time to check in and ask yourself how is this year shaping up so far?  At the beginning of the month I shared a concept that I am very passionate about, one that has transformed the quality of my life and the life of many of my clients, and that is living a life aligned with your values.  When we are engaged in activities that are MOST important to us, it increases our energy, our passion for life and pulls us toward creating the results we most desire in our life. I am grateful every day for a business that allows me to live my highest values and this month I celebrate an over the top inspirational evening with the most influential woman in the world OPRAH WINFREY!

Sharing the evening with great friends, being in the same room as one of my role models (OK,  it was a big room) and soaking in every word she said, was a night of living my highest values. I continue to ask myself how can I continue to increase my quality of life and fully step into my highest values on a daily basis and in today’s article I ask you the same question! 

See below in our resource section we have extended the holiday price ( for 3 more days!) on our ebook on “A New Approach to Goal Setting” - a step by step self coaching guide on clarifying a living your life aligned with your values.

Feature Article: Foundation of Living a Life You Love! Part 2

Earlier this month, I introduced the concept of setting goals that reflect your true values – goals that inspire you to take action (instead of those you have to force yourself to achieve). Many of us have been conditioned to “goal set” to live a life we love. Goal setting is powerful but only sustainable and fulfilling if they are aligned with what we most value.

To help you get clear on your own personal values, I asked you to complete the following sentence:

“If I had plenty of free time and all the money I could ever want, then I would be free to _(action)_ and that would let me experience more _(value)_.

When you answer this question, you end up with a list of attributes that you value. (To review, examples include authority, adventure, connection, creativity, etc.)

Now you’re ready to set goals that support your values.

First, make a list of initial goals for this year. Consider the different areas of your life: relationships, career, finances, health, spirituality, recreation, etc. Take a few minutes and brainstorm all the goals you have in each area.

Now, take a close look at your goals and eliminate those that stem from something you feel you “should” or “have to” do. If it doesn’t light you up inside, cross it off your list. (Really – it’s okay!)

Next, compare your remaining goals with your list of values; can you find any goals that are aligned with a values?

I recently went through this process with one of my clients, Kim, an ambitious self-employed consultant. She was overwhelmed with goals and quickly losing interest in them. With a lot of encouragement, she eliminated all the “should” goals – effectively cutting her list in half. With a little more work, she identified her top 3:

1. Lose 15 pounds
2. Update her website
3. Increase her bottom line by 30%

At first, Kim wasn’t very excited about these goals. Then we reviewed her values – health, expertise, and making a difference. She came to realize that her goals would help her experience exactly what was most important in her life. Losing weight would improve her health; updating the website would showcase her expertise; and increasing her bottom line would mean more clients, more work, and more impact in the world.

Once she made these connections, Kim was eager to take action. She was committed. Every day, she did some kind of exercise – walking, yoga, at least some stretching. And she wasn’t thinking about those 15 pounds… she was thinking about improving her health. Not only did her motivation go up, but her level of confidence and clarity increased. She knew she was living her life exactly the way she wanted to. Within months she made great progress toward all of her goals, but her focus was on living in alignment with her values. Her goals were looking after themselves.

When you narrow your focus – to live according to your values – you don’t have to set as many goals. Give yourself permission to let go of the “shoulds” and say yes to what you’re passionate about. These things will naturally lead you to a more engaging, fulfilling and easier life.

Create goals that are about the experience, not the result. What goals could help you experience more of what you value the most? For example, if you know you value contribution, how can you step out of your box to contribute more? Perhaps you could accept more leadership at work, or volunteer for a local charity. Create an outlet for your values, whatever they are. The benefits will ripple across all areas of your life.

We get so caught up in the responsibilities of day to day life that most of us lose touch with the things we love to engage in. Life does not need to be a struggle. Stop pushing yourself so hard, and take time to reconnect with your inspiration. Make a commitment to reorient your life around the things that energize you and nurture your soul. I promise, your quality of life will improve and you will naturally be pulled towards the results you want in your life.

Coaching Challenge:

1. Eliminate any goals that reflect a “should.” Only keep those you truly want to achieve.
2. Associate each goal with one of your core values.
3. Decide what kind of action you need to take to honor those values and move closer to your goals.
4. Get excited and get moving! You’ll make quick progress… I’m sure of it.

Resource of The Month:  A New Approach to Goal Setting Ebook

‘A New Approach to Goal Setting’. Ebook

We have extended our special offer for you! For a discounted rate of $19.97 (regular price $29.00) you can literally transform how you live your life! (I have discounted the rate in hopes this will help you decide to give yourself this gift of working through this life changing process.) Special offer available until January 31st. Click here for more information.

This is a self-coaching e-book that helps you identify what’s most important to you, and teaches you how to design your life according to your values. It just might be the fastest, easiest way to boost your life to a whole new level, and it will certainly give you a fresh new perspective on your New Year’s Resolutions!

  PS. I would love to hear from you! Have you taken time to explore and design your life around your values? I would love to hear how this process made a difference for you.  Share with us on Facebook.

Your personal business building mentor,

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

The first goal of online marketing is to attract attention to yourself and your business by emphasizing the unique value you can deliver to a specific group of people.

Today, in the era of social media, this has never been easier. Whether you prefer to write, deliver speeches, connect through videos, create illustrations, or even just chat with people, the Big Four of Social Media will help you and your business gain exposure.

1. Facebook
2. Twitter
3. LinkedIn
4. Youtube

By sharing your unique processes and expertise through the different online venues, your goal is to make people say, “I really enjoyed this (article, video, comment, blog post)! I want to check out the website and learn more about this (person, topic, solution).”

When people get to your site, they’ll be interested to learn more about you and see what else you have to offer them. They see your smiling face and read a little about “what’s in it for them.” They’ll spend some time reading your blog entries and/or watching your videos, absorbing the information and resources that you’ve posted to entice your ideal clients. Ideally, they learn something about you and your unique processes, and they get excited about learning more.

Passion into Profit Challenge: Determine your strategy to share your expertise through the big four of social media and make it a consistent marketing practice.

This is the first step in developing a relationship – consistently connecting with people and establishing credibility. When they get some value from this step, they will move on to the next step – investing in your services!

Be sure to join me on Feb 12th for a complimentary Explore Entrepreneurship Webinar where we will be exploring the power of claiming your niche. To learn more and to register please click here.

  PS. I would love to hear from you! Have you created your Social Media strategy?   Share with us on Facebook.

Your personal business building mentor,

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

We have shared many blogs on the power of clarifying your niche. Once you know who your ideal client is, you want to know where they hang out.

Many people who fit in a specific niche (or micro-niche) are in regular contact with others who fit that profile. This can be a huge marketing advantage.

• What associations do they tend to be members of?
• What publications (books, magazines, websites) do they read?
• Where do they exchange information?

Establishing a presence in these areas can catapult you into a rich field of ideal clients. The goal is to get people talking about you by becoming an active member of the community. Once people get a sense of who you are and what you bring to the table, they will begin passing on referrals and mentioning your expertise to their circle of influence.

When you’re really clear about what you do best, it’s easy for your community to send you people. The more specific you are about who you serve best, the more people get it – and the more they’re going to tell their friends, “Hey, if you have that problem, you need to connect with this coach.”

When you become known in a niche-specific community, your phone will start ringing with ideal clients who are excited to talk with you.

Begin doing your research now and make a list of where your niche hangs out and get busy “Becoming famous”.

Be sure to join me on Feb 12th for a complimentary Explore Entrepreneurship Webinar where we will be exploring the power of claiming your niche. To learn more and to register please click here.

  PS. I would love to hear from you! Do you have a niche? How has it made a difference in building your business?   Share with us on Facebook.

Your personal business building mentor,

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Many business owners are reluctant to identify and target a niche – and micro-niches make them super nervous. Why? Because they think a niche will become a limitation, something that will hold them back. They think, “I’m just starting out… how I can fill my practice if I niche myself?”

Truth be told, a niche will indeed create limits. It will limit your interactions with the hordes of people who are NOT a good fit for your business. And by putting that “limit” in place, you aren’t blocking out opportunities – you’re blocking out the people who will waste your time.

Remember, with online marketing, we have access to the entire world – billions of people! And to make the kind of revenue you probably want to make, you need only 10 to 20 one-on-one clients. Niching will help you connect with those people.

Don’t be afraid that a niche is going to lock you into a certain groove forever; you can always change along the way. As entrepreneurs, we are always rebranding and digging deeper. Your business will continue to evolve, so get excited about that. As you grow, you will have more to bring to your clients.

The Niche Paradox:

Sometimes people are afraid to niche because our skills can be used in a lot of different areas. We think, “I don’t want to characterize myself as a certain type of coach.” That’s understandable. But, believe it or not, a narrow niche does NOT lock you into a narrow field of coaching. For example, I help coaches build their businesses, but in every breakthrough session or strategizing session, I get to talk about a wide variety of things: who they are, their beliefs, confidence, and who they need to become in order to create what they want. So probably 50 percent of the time, I’m working on things totally outside of my niche. Even with a strong micro-niche, I attract people that I love to work with – and that opens up so many different areas to work in.

Leverage your efforts, leverage your expertise, leverage your marketing strategies and decide on a niche today.

Join us in the Erickson Business Center for our free Explore Entrepreneur Webinar on February 12th where we will be exploring how to choose the right niche for you. Click here to find out more.

  PS. I would love to hear from you! Have you created your niche? What might be holding you back?   Share with us on Facebook.

Your personal business building mentor,

Bookmark It

Hide Sites