To make sales, you have to make offers!

Ask Me Anything, Segment 17

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In this segment of Ask Me Anything, I fill in the final piece of finding coaching clients. You have to make offers! If you don’t actually give your audience a chance to say yes and make a purchase, it’s much harder for them to say yes to working with you. This is Segment 17 of the Ask Me Anything Series.

Summary here:

In this video, I cover the importance of making offers for your coaching services and for other products or services.
It’s not enough to just have a website and hope people will visit and purchase.
After building an audience and regularly communicating to them with valuable content, you have to actually make an offer for which they can pay you.
Some offers are for a free item such as a webinar or teleseminar, however at some point you must make a paid offer in order to make money.
Takeaway: After taking the time to grow an audience and nurture your relationship with them, you have to make clear and specific offers for your coaching services.
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Use the right language to attract your ideal clients

Ask Me Anything, Segment 15

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One of the best ways to attract the right people to your audience is by using the right language for them. This may not be the same language you use when talking about your work to people in your field or people who aren’t interested in the results your work brings.

Summary here:

This segment of Ask Me Anything is on how to attract just the right people to your audience
Use the language your clients use when describing your work
Don’t use clinical, technical or industry terms
Don’t focus on showcasing your incredible vocabulary! Instead, focus on communicating in a way that makes your ideal client feel like you completely understand them and can help them.
Takeaway: By using the language that your ideal clients already use, you’ll attract those people to your audience
If you liked this tip, go to www.michelechristensen.com and enter your name and email address, and I’ll send tips and strategies like this for solopreneurs right to your inbox!
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What kind of clients do you love to work with?

Ask Me Anything, Segment 14

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When building an audience for your coaching business, it’s important to focus only on attracting those people who you love to work with and who get great results from your work. In this video, I teach how to spot those people. This is Segment 14 of the Ask Me Anything Series.

Summary here:

This video goes further in answering the question “How do I get coaching clients?” It’s a continuation of Ask Me Anything Segments 12 and 13. If you haven’t read or watched those, I suggest you do before reading or watching this segment because you will get more out of it. Click here for Segment 12.
In the last segment of Ask Me Anything, I talked about building an audience of people interested in the work you do. In this segment, I help you get very focused on a specific subset of those interested people, your ideal client.
There are lots of terms you could use to describe the people you really want to work with – people use target market, niche, demographic, etc. but your ideal client is a specific subset of these terms.
I could teach an entire series on describing your ideal client, and some people do, but in this video I’ll present a short list of characteristics to think about in describing your ideal client.
Your ideal clients are the people you love to work with. For me, that is super-creative “right brain” people. I’m very concrete and linear, so working with right-brain people creates magic!
They get great results when they work with you.
They have a specific challenge that you totally geek out on! They struggle with the one thing you love to talk about.
They value you and your expertise.
They are able and willing to pay for your service.
They follow your advice and love the results they get.
The final and very important characteristic of your ideal client is that you like them! Don’t fill your practice with people you don’t like. Neither of you will get good results.
Now that you know what kind of people you are looking for, in the next segment I’ll teach you how to attract those specific people.
Takeaway: Get really specific about the kind of people you want to attract to your coaching business.
If you liked this tip, please go to www.michelechristensen.com and enter your name and email address, and I’ll send tips and strategies like this for solopreneurs right to your inbox!
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Build an audience of interested people (Ask Me Anything Segment 13)

Ask Me Anything, Segment 13

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Instead of trying to sell to people right away, focus on building an audience of people who are interested in the services you provide. That way, you can build credibility and connection before you try to sell anything. Link mentioned in the video: michelechristensen.com.

Summary here:

This video goes further into answering the question “How do I find coaching clients?” You’ll get the most of out this video if you’ve already watched Segment 12 of the Ask Me Anything series because this video expands on that one.
In the last video, I made two points to start with finding coaching clients: don’t try and sell “coaching,” instead focus on the change your work provides, and second, know who is will benefit most from your work and tailor your message to them.
Building on those first two points, before you try to sell anything, start by cultivating an audience of people who would be interested in the services you provide. The people you want to be building a relationship with are people who may at some point make a purchase if the right offer comes at the right time.
You can build your audience on social media, speaking, by building an email list or a number of other ways.
By building an audience before you begin selling, you will have time to build rapport, show that you can help and demonstrate your expertise.
Takeaway: To find coaching clients, first build an audience of people who are interested in the change your work provides. In the next few Ask Me Anything videos, I’ll show you how to do this.
If you liked this tip, please go to www.michelechristensen.com and enter your name and email address, and I’ll send tips and strategies like this for solopreneurs right to your inbox!
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Your solopreneur business: one big experiment

When you are trying something new in your business, it’s almost impossible to get it perfect on the first try. That’s why I suggest that you always be experimenting with your business. Even if a new idea that you try works out great, it’s valuable to learn why it worked and how to repeat it.

There is no limit to the number of things you could be doing in your business. If you are randomly doing new tactics and not stopping to measure your results, you are probably wasting time on things that aren’t working.

Before you start anything new in your business, know what you want from that effort. If it’s a new product, you probably want sales. If it’s a listbuilding event, you want people to sign up for your email list. If it’s a social media campaign, you may be trying to make new connections or grow your influence. The point is, always have a goal in mind and a way to measure if your efforts are working.

In the book “The Solopreneur’s Success Strategy: Use Metrics to Know What Works,” I teach you how to get started with metrics, or measuring results in your business. Metrics is the only sure way to know what works for your specific business, and you’ll have everything you need to get started in this book. Grab your copy in the Kindle store! (Note you do not need a Kindle device to read Kindle books. You can get a free Kindle app for your device or desktop.)

How To Find Coaching Clients

Ask Me Anything, Segment 12

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In this segment of Ask Me Anything, I give the first of several tips on attracting coaching clients. This video explains how to view your coaching services from the point of view of your potential clients. Link mentioned in video: www.michelechristensen.com

Summary here:

In this video, I give the first of several tips on how to find coaching clients. The very first thing to understand is how to view your coaching services from the perspective of a potential client.
Nobody lays awake at night thinking “If only I had a coach….” What keeps people awake at night are the problems and concerns you help them with. People probably lay awake thinking things like “If only I could lose this 20 pounds,” or “If only I didn’t fight so much with my spouse,” etc.
So, in order to find coaching clients it’s important to think less about the fact that you provide coaching, and focus more on the fact that you solve problems that people suffer from.
It’s also very important to focus on who you help. Even if you do work with everybody, if you try to write or speak in a way that appeals to everybody then nobody will feel like you get them and their exact situation. Ideally, someone who would benefit from working with you will hear or read your words and say “Oh my gosh, how does he or she know exactly what I am thinking?”
In the next few Ask Me Anything segments, I’ll be giving you specific examples of how you can use this information to find coaching clients.
Takeaway: The very first step to finding coaching clients is to think about your service from the point of view of your potential client.
If you liked this tip, please go to www.michelechristensen.com and enter your name and email address, and I’ll send tips and strategies like this for solopreneurs right to your inbox!
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Every action you take in your business must have a purpose

Excerpt from the book “The Solopreneur’s Success Strategy: Use Metrics to Know What Works“

Ultimately, the purpose of your entire business is to make a profit and to allow you to do your work. Therefore, every action you take in your business should have some positive impact on profit either directly or indirectly. I advise the business owners I work with not to do anything within their business without knowing the purpose for it. Even the most basic of things should have a defined and preferably measurable purpose.

The things you do in your business can impact your profit directly or indirectly. Examples of directly impacting profits would be things that either create sales or decrease expenses directly. Indirect examples would include things like expanding your reach. For example, you may build a social media following or attend live events with the goal of meeting new people. You may not expect to sell to them right away, or even soon, but you may meet people who are interested in what you have to sell or who can introduce you to people who may be interested in what you have to sell. So while building your reach may not directly contributing to profit it does indirectly contribute by giving you the chance to make more sales.

Don’t take for granted that you “have to” do anything. Even something as basic as having a website should have a definitive purpose. Why does your site exist? Is it to sell things directly? Is it to serve as an online version of a brochure and answer questions? Is it to collect contact information so you can follow up? Is it to educate people so they can make an
informed choice about your product? There are so many reasons to have a website that they could probably fill a book by themselves. Yet, so many people have no idea why they actually have a website or how it will make them a profit. It’s just become an unquestioned “given” that you have a website and so people don’t actually think about why they have one or what it
can do for them.

It’s almost impossible to know what will work in your business the first time you try something. The only way to know what works is to know why you are doing each thing in your business and measure your results.

In my book “The Solopreneur’s Success Strategy: Use Metrics to Know What Works,” I teach how to get started with metrics for your business so you can get better results and save time. The book comes with a downloadable metrics starter kit to get you started even faster. Click the link below to check out the book and grab your copy!

The Solopreneur’s Success Strategy: Use Metrics to Know What Works

Write a daily to do list just for today (To Do List Tip #4)

(Prefer to read instead of watch? Scroll down to below the video for a summary.)

In this video, I teach you the practice of writing a small to do list that is just for today. It’s inefficient to pick from hundreds or thousands of tasks every time you need to make a decision about what to work on. Instead, make a smaller to do list just for today. Link mentioned in video: michelechristensen.com/daily.

Summary here:

In this video I teach you why it is important to write a daily to do list just for today and how to do it.
If you have a solid habit of writing things down either electronically or on paper, you may end up with hundreds or even thousands of tasks on you to do list. There may be a mix of small tasks and huge projects.
Make it a daily habit to create a to do list just for today. Once per day, scan that huge list that holds all your tasks and select just a few for today based on what your day looks like.
You can write your to do list at night, as a way to wrap up the day and be ready to go in the morning, or in the morning as a way to start your day.
The real value in this practice is that is saves you looking through those hundreds or thousands of tasks every time during the day you need to move to the next task. Instead of picking from a big number, you can pick from a small number of tasks that are relevant to today.
You can feel more confidence that you are working on the right thing right now.
The takeaway: Set aside a few minutes every day to write a to do list that is just for today. You’ll work more efficiently and confidently throughout the day.
If you like this tip, go to michelechristensen.com/daily and get your free copy of my special report “The Five Biggest Mistakes Solopreneurs Make in Writing Their Daily To-Do List and How to Avoid Them.”
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Book Review – Launch by Jeff Walker

This post is a review of the book “Launch: An Internet Millionaire’s Secret Formula to Sell Almost Anything Online, Build a Business You Love, and Live the Life of Your Dreams” by Jeff Walker. In short, this book is great and has everything you need to follow his launch plan. You’ve probably seen product launches using his formula and just didn’t know it. That’s the beauty of “PLF” or “Product Launch Formula” style launches – they deliver great value whether the potential customer buys or not, and can be done without hype or aggressive selling tactics.

For an investment of less than $10, you really have everything you need to launch PLF style. There are a variety of case studies in very different niches, and these case studies had me continually saying “I can totally do this!” The case studies are a great way to show you the information in the book in action, but also a way to show you how different people use the PLF for their launches.

There are several types of launches presented in the book, but one of the most useful is the Seed Launch. This is, in my opinion, the most useful because it assumes you are truly starting from scratch. You don’t need a finished product, a list or even a website. Of course if you have any or all of those things, your launch will be much easier but the Seed Launch chapter demonstrates that you don’t need any of them to launch your first product. In fact, a seed launch can help you create your first product, start your list and make some money if you need it to get your website built.

One of the errors I see business owners making in launching is thinking that if they put something for sale that somehow people will find it and want to buy it. Once you realize this isn’t true, you are left with a problem of how to let potential buyers know you have something for sale and why they might want it. If you are like most people, you don’t want to sound like too pushy or sales-y. The Product Launch Formula gives you a step by step method that overcomes all of these problems. You’ll also have plenty of time and space to say what you need to in order for people to understand your product or service.

In short, this book delivers huge value for the money and has earned a spot on my Solopreneur Reading List. Grab a copy on Amazon here.

Image of Launch Book cover from Amazon.com

Discover the hidden gold in your email list!

Today I’m sharing some wisdom on email marketing from one of my personal mentors, PJ Van Hulle! Enjoy, and be sure to check out List-a-Palooza which starts today!

You’ve probably heard that, “the fortune is in the follow up,” but if you’re like most of the 1,000’s of entrepreneurs I’ve worked with over the last 14 years, your follow up systems leave something to be desired.

Here’s why “the fortune is in the follow up,” and what that looks like…

According to my friend and online marketing expert, Vrinda Normand, in most niche markets, or the specific group of people you serve:

3% are actively shopping for what you offer

7% are aware and open to your services, but not looking

30% are not aware of their problem or your solution

30% may know you exist, but it’s not the right time

30% are simply not a fit

This means that if you’re not following up, you’re leaving behind the 67% of people that might be ready to sign up for your products or services down the road!

When you follow up consistently, you will stay in front of these people. Maybe they’re not ready now, but when they are ready, you’ll be at the top of their mind and therefore you’ll be the one they hire over someone that didn’t follow up.

Imagine how much more money you could put in your pocket just by staying in touch with those 67% of people who may need you in the future.

The easiest and most effective way to follow up and nurture those relationships is to build an e-mail list of clients and potential clients who have “opted in” and given you permission to send them e-mails.

A good rule of thumb for monetizing your list is to shoot for $1 per subscriber, per month. So if your goal is to generate $10,000 per month in income, focus on growing your e-mail list to 10,000 subscribers.

With a profitable e-mail list you can:

● Attract more clients and sales

● Turn current clients into repeat clients

● Fill your seminars and programs

● Promote other peoples’ programs that you believe in and earn $1,000′s in affiliate commissions

Building your list is like taking advantage of compound interest. The sooner you start, the better. And the longer you nurture your list, the more profitable it will be.

To quantum leap your e-mail list to the next level, I recommend participating for FREE in the List-a-Palooza 90 Day List-Building Challenge.

Register Now for FREE

PJ Van Hulle works with speakers, authors and coaches to grow their e-mail lists so that they can attract more clients and sales with less time, effort, and stress. She’s the creator of the List-a-Palooza 90 Day List-Building Challenge.