5 Questions to Help You Describe What Yo...

Most of you know by now that your business is not about you. People who are checking you out aren’t looking for coaching or consulting. They want to find solutions to a problem. Your job is to know what that problem is and to explain what you do in terms of results. Imagine what it would be like to answer the question “What do you do?,” with a great story about your client. For example, let’s say you specialize in business coaching and someone says, “So, what do you do?” Your answer: “I’m a business coach. Let me tell you about...

Qualifying prospects for your coaching b...

How would you go about making a guest list for a really fun surprise birthday party? Think with me out loud here. You might start with people who are easy going and who you love hanging out with. You might consider people you have known for a long time, friends with whom you have history. Family members might make the list. New neighbors or people you want to know better might be included as well. Bottom line, you want to invite people who will come, who enjoy celebrating, who can make for a really wonderful event. Right? Believe it or not, it’s the same for your coaching...

An easier way to offer services...

Have you ever seen the Progressive insurance commercial on television that features a spokeswoman and customer in an insurance “store”, browsing through shelves of insurance (i.e. boxes that say Motorcycle Insurance, Homeowners Insurance, RV Insurance, etc.)? I love this visual depiction of services, and you know what, our prospects are in the same boat as the shopper in the Progressive commercial. They might not know why they should choose our services or be able to compare us to the next guy. So let’s get a little creative and create a package of  services. What...

3 Reasons to write your own web content...

[Photo Credit Flickr smoorenburg ] I know that some readers may disagree with me when I say you should write own your web content. Some of you may feel uncomfortable writing, may not have time to write, or just prefer hiring a professional writer for projects such as this, but I am here to encourage you to participate in the process at least a little bit. Here are three reasons why I think you should write your own website content. When someone lands on your website, one of the first things they are thinking is “what can this person do for me?” Your content is really...

8 questions to help you find your coachi...

[Photo credit Daveness 98 on Flickr] When you first open your coaching practice or even after being in it for a year or two, you may not know your coaching specialty, i.e. that group of people who are the hand-in-glove fit for you. It’s okay to cruise along in discovery mode for awhile, but eventually you may want to choose a marketing niche. Why? Because it will be much easier for you to become visible and attract more business if you can articulate whom you are trying to reach, especially for online marketing. Here are some questions to help you figure out what group...

7 Great Website Tools for Coaches...

I think sifting through website tools is somewhat like comparing apples to oranges and not really an easy job. Nonetheless, I wanted to try to give you a few tools I would recommend due to popularity, ease of use, support and customization. Keep in mind that any tool you use will be more powerful if you have written compelling and audience centered content. Your design is important, but your content is KING. I have grouped these into two categories, open source (host anywhere) and hosted (software as a service). The open source tools are available for download and can be installed...

What Celine Dion taught me about marketi...

We enjoyed Celine Dion in Omaha from the sixth row a few months ago. I couldn’t help but filter her concert through the marketing grid in my head. Here’s what came out. Be honest and humble. Celine’s original concert in Omaha last fall was cancelled because she got sick. Her first words after the opening blast of “I Drove All Night to Get to You” were “thank you for allowing me to sing for you,” and “I’m so sorry I had to cancel.” Question: Have you had an opportunity to be honest about a situation in your business?...

What 30 Minutes a Day Will Get You...

You know how you are so used to someone that you see them without really seeing them? Well, the other day it was like I “saw” my husband for the first time and wow — he has lost 15 pounds and he is looking fab-lee-ous! One thing I admire so much about him, once he makes up his mind to do something, he sticks with it. So he made up his mind to workout for 30 mins a day every other day and he has been faithful to this for at least two months. And see what happened?  Sheesh. He makes it looks so easy. I’m a little jealous (in a good way), so now I have...

Could you make a TV show?...

Have you ever heard of Gary Vaynerchuk? Me, neither. That is until I started seeing his name as a speaker on just about every conference agenda I saw…South by SouthWest SXSW in Austin, Future of Web Apps in Miami, Web 2.0 New York…you get the picture. So, I thought, who is this Gary Vaynerchuk guy? Turns out he is an entrepreneur and co-owner of Wine Library, his family’s wine business in New Jersey. He has taken wine to a new level of accessility for the younger generation with his popular internet webcast, WineLibraryTV.com, also known as The Thunder Show....

Share what you know...

I did a fun thing last week. I attended the Big Omaha conference for creatives and entrepreneurs with Holy Cow Design Gal. It was a sold out crowd of twenty and thirty somethings (they still let me in), and a fantastic lineup of tending-toward-geeky speakers such as Jason Fried of 37Signals, Micah Laaker from Yahoo!, Micah Baldwin from Lijit,  Jeffrey Kalmikoff of Threadless and the one-and-only Gary Vaynerchuk from Wine Library. I think it was Jason Fried who mentioned the idea of sharing what you know as a way to grow your company. The example he gave was that of professional...