My Essay Blog

Do new Internet businesses really need the services of a business Coach, even if they can afford it? Being that one of my roles is as an Internet business coach I am somewhat biased and would generally answer “yes” to my own question!

Nonetheless, it is possible to effectively self coach regardless of whether you have a flesh and blood business coach or not.

While a student with the International Coach Academy, I also had a demanding full-time IT career with a major investment bank. And during my own transition from salaried employee status to that of startup Internet business owner, I used the following 5 self-coaching tips regularly.

1-Be Open To Alternative Ideas:

One potential downside of the social and peer conditioning in schools and corporate life, is that many people automatically resist even considering new ideas. Why is this? My experience suggests that these people have learned by experience not to rock the boat. If you think this looks and smells like fear of failure, you’d be absolutely right. As a solo business owner your challenge is to notice alternative ways of achieving objectives. Practically speaking, even if only a small percentage of these ideas might be useful in your business, they could still be the difference between success and failure.

2-Experience Life To The Max:

Here’s a saying I recall that brings this into focus:

“there are people worrying about what they will be doing in an eternal afterlife who have no idea how to spend a wet Sunday afternoon.”

The more richness and vitality you can find in the ordinary aspects of your everyday life, the better equipped you will be to handle the ups and downs, and yes the occasional boredom, of running and operating your own solo business. So, what are you going to enjoy doing on the next available rainy Sunday afternoon?

3-Who Needs More Accountability?:

Probably all us…based on what I have observed about effective coaching. It comes down to this. There are two primary ways I know of making real and usually lasting changes in a Business person’s life. Number 1 is raising awareness and number 2 is taking responsibility.

(Notice that I did not say taking 100% responsibility. - the degree of responsibility taken is a matter of practicalities as much as personal ownership.) As far as self coaching goes, taking more responsibility (number 2 from above) invariably ends up in applied accountability. Applied personal accountability. Choosing to compassionately but precisely observe your behavior several times a day can add up over time to a liberating feeling of accepting more accountability and all that goes with the territory. Are you up to this challenge? Just start with a basic intention of being more accountable and notice what happens over a period of weeks and months.

4-Get To the Point:

Getting to the point is in danger of becoming a lost art in a corporate world where taking responsibility is sometimes like being exposed to a highly contagious and career limiting disease! And that’s probably why it surprises many new Internet business owners when they comprehend just how many hours in their already busy business days are being expended in not getting to the point. In this arena I have again found that self coaching works well with simple acts of observation. All you have to do at the start of each activity is to ask yourself : “what’s the point of this?” Keep asking and you’ll get answers. OK, so had you a purpose in mind before reading this article? If not, get one.

5-The Art of Polite Conversation:

Internet business owners spend a lot of time glued to computer screens. However, there are people out there with whom it is probably a good idea to be able to have a polite conversation with. In person, via email, on the phone, via Skype-chat etc. Whatever, the ability to talk in a polite and respectful manner, and still get the job done, is a skill that will never age! In fact, a set of basic rules based on the art of polite conversation is probably the single best thing you can do for your own peace of mind and happiness in your Internet business. Although you can probably come up with your own way of doing this, an increasingly famous and incredibly effective method is given in Dr. Paddi Lund’s book, “Building The Happiness-Centred Business”. Go get the book out and say G’day to the Solutions Press folks who publish it!

What’s the single most important process determining whether or not your coaching business is successful?

The correct answer to this question can completely change your coaching business forever. It can change your perception of your business. It can change your focus in your business. It can change how you go about operating your business. And most importantly, it can determine the success or otherwise of your business.

We asked dozens of coaches this question and got a broad array of responses. But only 4% of them were even close to the mark! Most coaches answered: quality service; number of clients; pricing; branding; advertising copy.

…And whilst all these issues are critical, the single most important process is your marketing methodology. Whilst you must have all the other elements as well, it’s your marketing methodology that ultimately determines the success or otherwise of your business.

Let us explain…

Nearly all coaches use a marketing methodology that’s a sales-based marketing methodology. This is understandable as most traditional marketing methods teach sales-based marketing methods. We’re all impacted by sales-based marketing at every turn &ndash on TV, newspapers, magazines, billboards, radio &ndash everywhere. And when coaches research marketing methods, they are most likely to learn about traditional sales-based marketing methodologies &ndash print ads (in newspapers, yellow pages, journals, magazines etc), direct telephone calls, radio, flyers, direct mail letters, etc.

But there are several extremely powerful forces at play against coaches employing a sales-based marketing methodology…

Most coaches invariably feel uncomfortable delivering a ‘sales pitch.’ Coaches generally have better technical skills than marketing skills. They’re therefore uncomfortable talking about themselves and endorsing the quality of their product. This means they don’t close, and comes across to prospects as a general lack of confidence in themselves, and their product and service.

Sales marketing is extremely expensive &ndash narrowing your net margin on your service. The more you spend to get a client the less net profit you’ll retain at the end.

Generally people are very sceptical and defensive against sales approaches. This exponentially increases the barrier of making a sale. When you employ a sales-based marketing method, most prospects have already closed themselves off to learning about your services due to their natural tendency to put up a defence against sales-based marketing.

There is no trust and rapport built through a sales-based marketing approach. For a prospect to buy from you, there needs to be an element of trust. Your prospect needs to trust that you can deliver on your promises and that they’ll gain a positive return on their investment. This level of trust is extremely difficult to build through a sales-based marketing approach.

You build no reciprocal obligation on the prospect to investigate your offer or purchase from you. It’s a natural human tendency to reciprocate in kind what’s been given to you. You can not build reciprocal obligation through sales-based marketing.

You attract price sensitive shoppers and ‘tyre kickers’ that take up a lot of your time and result in extremely low conversion.

It’s difficult to maintain contact with prospects for long enough to build rapport and trust &ndash it generally takes 4 to 6 contacts before a prospect will buy from you.

So, we can hear you shouting “If sales-based marketing is not going to be effective, what’s my alternative to get clients?”

And the answer is… Education-based Marketing. Education-based marketing is simply the process by which you attract and convert highly-qualified clients by giving them what they want &ndash valuable information and advice that solves their problems - and removing what they don’t want, a sales pitch.

Education-based marketing is generally undertaken by delivering Credibility Marketing techniques such as public speaking, information based teleclasses, publications, networking, hotlines, free educational give aways (such as reports, assessments, tools, ecourses), etc.

As opposed to sales-based marketing, education-based marketing means…

- You give your prospect what they really want &ndash highly valuable information. And you take away what they don’t want &ndash a sales pitch.

- You maintain your dignity and feel good about yourself as you never make an effort to sell.

- Your brand recognition and respect will skyrocket! Education-based marketing is the ultimate brand builder. By positioning yourself as the ‘expert’ or ‘specialist’ by solving, through your education products, the most pressing issues your niche confronts. You become the only logical choice in your market.

- You can establish yourself as a credible authority as prospects depend on you as a reliable source of valuable advice.

- You significantly reduce your marketing costs &ndash and can in fact get paid to market yourself. This vastly compounds the net worth of every client you attract &ndash you can actually earn double the net profit with only half the clients!

- You don’t have to seek out new prospects &ndash prospects come to you (to have their problems solved).

- You can maintain (mutually beneficial) contact with your prospects through the sales process because they don’t feel pressured by a sales pitch and value your information and advice.

- You reach prospects early during the first stages of their decision making process.

- You attract ‘moderately interested’ prospects that may otherwise be afraid to call you but are not afraid to request your information.

- Due to the high level of trust and rapport built early on you’ll be perceived as an adviser, not a salesperson, making added-value sales dramatically easier.

- You dramatically increase your referrals from prospects as they feel loyal to you &ndash due to a relationship built on trust and reciprocal obligation and your efforts to help them &ndash even if they don’t hire you! And your referrals will come much earlier in your relationship.

- You gain compounded advantage as your information is passed freely between prospects within your niche.

- You gain a competitive advantage because not many competitors are using education-based marketing.

- You achieve a highly leveraged advantage as you can put forward your marketing even when you are not present.

- You save valuable time as you often are delivering your message directly to your most highly qualified target audience.

As you can see, education-based marketing is the exact opposite to sales-based marketing, and can make an extraordinary difference to your business, and your enjoyment of ‘doing’ business. So, ask yourself, “How much education-based marketing am I currently doing?” and “How can I develop a marketing plan significantly comprised of education-based marketing methodologies?”

Your first clue to the truth about advertising was written more than 100 years ago.

Let me tell you the story of a young, confident copywriter by the name of John E. Kennedy. Early one May evening in 1904, Kennedy, a former Canadian Mountie, sat in a New York barroom.

He sent a note upstairs to the office of A.L. Thomas, the head of the Lord and Thomas advertising agency. “I’m in the saloon downstairs,” the note began, “and I can tell you

what advertising is.

Restaurant owners don’t run a cash machine 24/7. They face the reality of being observed by thieves undercover and this alone is a serious threat not only to the business but to the safety of the management, staff and customers. The most difficult part about this harm is there is no certain point one realizes that there is a thief lurking around the corner waiting for the right time to attack. And the sad part about it is there are a big percentage of theft casualties done by employees.

Yes, that’s right. Employee theft is one of the serious threats that a restaurant owner has to accept. Each year, there is an estimate of over $52 billion loss because of this reason. The percentage is up to 95% and the numbers already indicates a high risk of getting robbed by one of your employees anytime.

The fact is, there is no actual way of stopping this sad reality but it’s best to still think one step ahead of the culprit. You need to start to work on your very own backyard to prevent employee theft. Make sure that you’re aware with your employees’ behavior physically, mentally and professionally. Analyze your employees’ habits such as the borrowing property of others without permission or borrowing money from co-workers regularly.

Also, what your employees do outside work is one of the possible factors of employee theft. Does this employee drink a lot or does she have a habit of buying items more than what she earns? Family and previous employment background also gives useful clues in learning more about your employees’ behavior. Of course, you don’t need to do this to every employee since it will take much time and it’s even incorrect to meddle with the personal lives of others. Just do extra investigation to certain individuals who give off clues unconsciously during work hours.

Don’t accuse anyone without proper evidence. If something has been stolen, be sure that you report it the police and let them do rest. The one responsible for the crime may not admit it and even lie to you directly but don’t take justice on your own hands.