CEOs, by the time you get this email, I would have finished hosting the LIVE Self-Publishing Workshop at Hotel Zaza on Jan 14th and a few hours before hosting the Online Workshop Jan 15th.

 

I also have only one slot left for Private Book Coaching left this month. So, if you’ve missed all of the opportunities for January, remember, I’ve created a pretty detailed download on Self-Publishing on just how many covers I went through, how I managed my editing issues, how I decided on the layout, how I wrote the marketing plan for the book and how to focus my books around my business goals. So, make sure you take a look at it here.

So, now that I’ve covered everything Self-Publishing, I wanted to see how your new year was kicking off in addition to giving you some advice so that the end of 2017 can look drastically different from the end of 2016….

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Package Up Your Knowledge. A mistake that a lot of people make, especially women, thinking that we MUST be considered an expert before we start packing, benefiting and helping people with our knowledge. I can’t imagine what would happen if we all just shared what we know, what we’ve learned and watch how many lives we’d change. I call it my “recipe” . My recipe like your recipe is unique. Your life experiences coupled along with your knowledge will help someone. You don’t need to be an expert, you don’t need to know it all. You just need to package up your recipe in a way that will help those who don’t have that knowledge. You can do this ALL while you are still learning and perfecting and growing. My coaching is MUCH better in 2017 than it was in 2013 and I expect to offer even more in 2018 than I did this year. Does that mean that I should wait?

 

Focus on Profit-Related Activities. What 3 things make money in your business? List them in order of their weight. Then, after you list them, keep track of how much time you spend on them.

This is a simple fix that I make in some of my client’s businesses immediately. They make the most money when they speak on a stage, but they spend so much of their time making spreadsheets, giving their prices over the phone ( instead of listing them on their website ), having meetings that do not relate to speaking, etc. etc. What you focus on, is what grows-in every area of your life, but being busy in business simply won’t make you successful. You must be busy focusing on, working on, increasing your knowledge on the areas that are most profitable in your business. This is where the bulk of your time should go, while you hire out for the rest.

 

Put yourself in the shoes of your customer. Think about that product, that book, or that course that you finally bought. How long did it take you to buy it? How hard did you vet the coach? Did you watch how long they were consistent? Did read everything that you could about them before you bought? Did you check references, go to their free webinar, download all of their free items on their website first? It’s possible that you did ALL of the above before you bought even an inexpensive product.

 

Now, when it comes to when you are the person who’s selling something, you somehow totally forget that people need and want to vet you too. So, if you don’t have ways for them to get to know you-they won’t buy from you. If you come out the gate with only 1 ways to get to know you and get familiar with your knowledge-they may not have enough information about you to make a decision.

 

Remember, there are SOOOOOOOO many Instagram coaches right now…in EVERY industry. So, if you had yet another coach offer you a product without an entry way ( a book, an ebook, a webinar ) to get to know them, would you buy? Ok, so now, why would someone buy from you? Take some time, develop your offerings and understand the process of your buyers.

 

 

Promote yourself heavy. People can’t buy, like or support what they don’t know about. I know, everyone is scared of people thinking,” Oh, she markets herself so much. She thinks she’s this and that.” CEOs, I get it. Everyone wants to be in business but no one wants to actually look like they are in business. But that’s not how any of this works.

It is your job as a business owner to make your offerings and how you can help your people known.

Does Target, Apple, Walmart have commercials? Do they tell you what’s new at their company? Do they let you know when they are having a sale or special?

I can remember the first time I saw a commercial for the newest Apple phone- I had never bought an Apple product but I was amazed. Apple was doing it’s job. They were letting new people know about their offerings all while reminding those who already were aware of them to check our their new phones.

Why is your company, your new website, your new book, what you can help your potential clients with- why are you and sharing that information not worth it? Why go through the trouble of getting a website done, a book published, or creating an event if you’re not going to share it or share it timidly?

Why are you truly timid? What are you scared of? Are all of the things you fear about putting yourself out there bigger than your goal of a successful business?

Promote yourself. Promote your business. Promote your offerings. If someone doesn’t want to hear or know about you, they will leave AND it’s a fantastic chance that they would have never become a client anyway.

 

No team, no problem. I cut a young lady off on Thursday. I was listening, I was letting her tell me her obstacles, but when she fell on excuses, I stopped her. I really wanted to submit a proposal to xxx, but I didn’t have a proposal or know how to make one…. This is where I stopped her. Really? You let not knowing how to create a proposal stand between you and potentially thousands of dollars? That CEOs, is an excuse. We live on them, we let them fill our days and create our current reality.

If type into Google “ How to Create a Proposal” enough information comes up to keep you busy for days- you can pick one template ( for free ) then model yours behind it. OR, you can hire someone on Fiverr for roughy $15 to make one for you. Now proposal is done and you have at least taken a swing at the opportunity.

Having no team, is stressful, but it’s not the reason you should be holding back. There are simply TOOOOOOOO many resources available for us to learn to do something ourselves or to hire ( at a very low cost) someone to help us.

The truth is, it’s better to delegate and to spend your time on tasks that directly make your business money, BUT, most of you reading this email may not be at that level yet. For many of my business years, I wasn’t at that level AND this was before the creation of Fiverr. So, I understand. But for now, not having a team is simply an excuse. You cannot find nor send me a problem, that I cannot find a person to fix. If you think you have an unfixable problem and your entire business is being held up by not having a team, email me your problem here.

 

As you plan your business initiatives for the year, keep these tips in mind AND keep your eyes on this space. Just as we did last year, Women CEO Project will put out a lot of new content and give many opportunities for us to meet on and offline.

 

Kristi