I don’t want you to make these mistakes.
You’ve got brilliance to share, and it’s time to start getting paid for it.
Number One: You are not selling anything.
Now, this might sound crazy to you, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve worked with online coaches and brilliant women who struggle to make money. I’ll ask them, “What are you selling? How many of your services/products have you sold?”
And then they realize: they haven’t put anything out there yet!
God, you could put ANYTHING out there. Maybe you have this idea for this course, or you have this idea for this one-on-one coaching, but you haven’t actually sold any yet because you haven’t told anybody that it exists! Or, you haven’t committed to creating it or making a sales page, a payment processor, etc.
If that’s you; if you’ve been sitting with this brilliant idea for the last 15 years and you haven’t taken action on it, you’re not going to make money.
If you’re not selling anything or you’re not putting your services out there to your audience, nobody is going to buy it. And your business isn’t going to make money. Seems pretty simple, but you would be surprised how many people run into this problem.
So ask yourself: have you packaged your vision?
Have you put a price tag on it?
Do not get hung up on picking a price. Just pick something and put it out there. You can always adjust it later. Figuring out how much to charge is always the biggest hangup. But, honestly, you’re probably undercharging. So, if you’re reading this, increase your prices right now.
Ask yourself: what’s really stopping you from putting things out there?
Is it a fear of rejection? Is it a fear of nobody buying, and then everybody KNOWING that nobody bought? Everyone will see that nobody liked your post?
What about it feels overwhelming?
If it’s a technical hangup, like a payment processor, all you have to do is Google it. “How do you take money as an online coach” will result in, like, 59 different websites with lots of examples.
Is it a fear of imperfection?
I know that so many of you struggle with this. You compare yourself to Tony Robbins, who has like 40 years of experience.
Why are you comparing yourself (at day one) to somebody who is at the highest stage of excellence? It doesn’t make sense.
Maybe your course isn’t as perfect as someone who’s been in the game; who has a professional makeup artist, who has a copywriter and a whole team of people helping them create this launch. But who gives a shit? Who cares?
Some people just want you.
They want to connect with you. They want to learn from you. They want to hear your take on it. So, you’ve got to put stuff out there. Forget about making it perfect.
Or, maybe you only have one very small thing that you’re selling; maybe a seven dollar e-book that you’re trying to get to six figures with this one product. Well, diversify after that seven dollar product.
What else does this person need?
If you are a health coach that focuses on Keto coaching, make the recipe book and then what’s the next step for that person? Create a nice suite of offerings for clients. Then, they have options of ways to invest with you wherever they’re at financially. You can create a variety of offerings for beginners, AND those at the advanced level.
Don’t get overwhelmed by what you’re offering.
Pick one thing to start with, and go all in. Make sure that you can sell at least one thing and have that proof of concept before you start spreading yourself out. Then, expand your offerings when you’re ready for growth.
Online coaches are afraid to seem spammy. They might not have the sales and marketing background to know how to really position it in a way that it doesn’t feel ingenuine. One of the questions that I hear a lot is,
“How often should I sell this? How often should I mention that I’m launching this? How often should I pitch my products or programs?”
Honestly, it depends.
It depends on the individual. It really has to do with how much value you are putting into the market and into your following. Do you have an audience? Have you shown up on live video? Do you have a blog?
Are you using any platform to position yourself as the expert, or are you just positioning yourself as a contributor to the conversation?
There may be some people who know you personally in your warm market that are willing to buy.
However, first, you should build that audience. Build that “know, like and trust.” Build rapport with people, and allow them to vet you with your free content. Then, a launch and an ask for the sale is going to be a thousand times easier. It’s going to be an obvious natural next step. When people just try to sell and constantly put out those posts, that’s when you start polarizing people. That’s when they just think you’re there to sell, because you haven’t actually added any value first.
Ask yourself: why is somebody buying from you?
Why is somebody going to specifically work with you over the other coaches that are in the industry?
Sometimes, people get a little bit uncomfortable thinking about that. We’ve heard of imposter syndrome and to not compare and despair; just work on your own stuff. But, I DO think it’s important to be really critical about asking the hard questions.
Am I showing up? Am I showing up BIG, or am I playing small somewhere?
Most of us are barely, or not even, tapping into 75% of our potential.
If you are giving value 80% of the time, then you can sell 20% of the time.
Specifically, a lot of network marketers are struggling with figuring out how to position their product in the market. They want to start putting it out there.
But, most of the time, they’re lacking a freemium, or a free piece of content. They don’t have a system for warming up that cold lead who’s brand new to their work.They don’t have a way to build trust.
A freemium is a really key component in this process.
You experience freemiums all the time; maybe you see ads on social media. Someone says, “Hey! Wanna grab my freebie for the best converting Facebook ads?” Sure, why not! You put in your name and email, and then into your inbox comes this free piece of content. They’re building that rapport with you. Now, if they had directly pitched you and you were brand new to them, you’d probably be reluctant because they don’t know you yet. But, if you download a free piece of content, they give you some great quick wins.
From there, since you’ve completed the free PDF for converting Facebook ads, perhaps you’re ready to start with Facebook ads and you’re looking for help. You notice their $97 course where they walk you through the ad creation process.
What would be the likelihood that you’re going to sign up? Probably pretty high.
They’ve established trust by delivering great content.
When you take the time to nurture a new person, the sale doesn’t feel weird.
I promise you. This is the logical necessary next step for the person that you want to work with. It just feels natural and easy. You’re not selling them. You’re just saying, “Hey, I know that you’ve been struggling with X Y and Z. I created this course, because I know that this is what you need now. Do you want to learn how to do this? Are you ready for it?” And then they excitedly say yes.
Also, I would strongly recommend that you pay attention to your own buying habits in the online space.
When you are engaging with other people in the online space,. what are they doing that’s effectively persuading you to continue a relationship with them?
What type of e-mail titles do they have that you feel compelled to open?
What are they writing in their e-mails?
What makes them different, and why are you picking them?
The things that attracted you to their stuff is probably a lot of the same things that are bringing people into your business. You’re attracted to that style for a reason. So, pay attention to it, and use it as inspiration.
Unfortunately, especially for new entrepreneurs, they have the challenge of juggling a lot and learning a lot of new things very quickly. So, they are the designer, the coach, and the website builder. They are the social media manager, the podcast editor, the community manager for a Facebook group, and on and on and on. It’s one person doing 15, 20…maybe even 30 jobs. So, it’s no surprise that you might be feeling some overwhelm in your business.
I will never forget when I worked at a TGI-Fridays. The way that they had their business structured wasn’t super effective. As a server, you were responsible for about 15 different things. You sometimes had to greet the guests, you had to bring them their drinks, you had to run your food, you had to put in the order and about 10 other things. Whereas, I had many friends who also worked at Cheesecake Factory, and the way that they structured it is they had all of their people working on three to four primary tasks. So, as a server, you would greet the table, take the order, put it in. You would bring drinks and bread at the same time. All of the food was run by Food Runners. It allowed the servers to spend more time making sure that people enjoyed the food and making sure that they connected with them emotionally. As opposed to having servers running around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying to do all of these different jobs at once.
When I started to understand efficiency in business, that was such a light bulb. I was like whoa.
That’s why one company is a Fortune 500 company, and another one is shutting down.
They just have little subtle things that they’re applying inside their business model; things that allow every single individual to live up to a higher potential.
What are some things that you need to take off your plate right now?
If you are the person who’s working IN your business and you’re not able to work ON your business, then it’s not going to grow.
If you’re the coach, you need to be on camera. You need to be creating content, and coaching your clients. Hand off some of the backend stuff: the graphic design, the social media management, etc. Those are things that need to get off your plate as soon as possible.
Maybe it’s not even a business thing. Maybe you commit to hiring a cleaning lady twice a month so you can get back those two hours a week to work on your business.
I get it. Some of you may not be at that level where you would know what to delegate. That’s OK! You’ll figure it out sooner or later. But, having the support to free up your time and to actually spend legitimate time on your business… it’s going to be SO worth it. It all really comes down to… what is your goal? What is your vision? What do you want to create this year?
If it’s a big lofty goal, it’s really about reverse engineering that. What will actually be possible with the things that you have at your disposal right now?
If you find what you want is not possible right now, then something’s got to change.
You gotta make some kind of shift if you want to achieve this goal. Don’t make it a pipe dream. Make it something that you’ve truly planned for. I would encourage you to pick one primary project to focus on for a determined amount of time. Maybe you decide to make “quarters” in your business, where the first quarter or the first season is January – March. 90 day goals are really attainable, but just give yourself a structure. Learn everything you need to know, and then do what you’re planning to do.
You may even find that you end up doing all of that stuff faster than 90 days. Cool! Then you can move on to the next project that’s on your list. But, I really would not recommend having more than two things on at a time if you’re a new, solo entrepreneur.
So, to wrap up: the three ridiculous reasons why your business isn’t making money.
Number one: You’re not selling anything or putting anything out there.
Number two: Not effectively asking for the sale.
Number three: Not focusing on money making activities.
If you guys are not already inside the Facebook group, you can find us by going to heyjencasey.com/group.
Come hang out with other people who are like-minded entrepreneurs who are looking to level up!
