Answer to My Prayers

You've Got the Lead! Do You Know How to Turn it Into a Paying Coaching Client?

Kendall Summerhawk must have a "sixth" sense!

She e-mailed me about something I've personally been looking for my clients for the last 18 months!

I honestly thought a person like this just DIDN'T EXIST!

I am talking about a copywriting coach for coaches. Sure, there are plenty of copywriters and marketers out there who'll charge "an arm and a leg" to train you, but most coaches find this writing too much of a "hard sell" and sometimes "offensive."

Kendall is a PCC (Professional Certified Coach), so her approach is completely different.

Listen to my 10-minute interview with her, where she'll reveal why coaches are SO RESISTANT to writing a "sales" copy for their web site, and what they can do to overcome that barrier to create a compelling client-capturing web site:



Kendall's 8-Week Website Wisdom Program for Coaches

Milana Published on CoachVille

Last week, CoachVille published my 29 Hot Coaching Business Tips in their weekly newsletter, and I wanted to share it with you.

I made a special offer for CoachVille readers, but if you're reading this, you're on my list, so you can get the same FREE CD from the tele-summit! :-)

Since I sent my photo to the CoachVille folks, I had new pictures taken - had my hair straightened out, lost a few pounds... plus, professional photography really made a difference! (I made that poor guy look for a any blank CD so I could hold it up and point to it - LOL! :-)

Yep, that's me on the right, holding the CD up!

By the way, here is the link to the article CoachVille published.

Have a coaching workshop ready-to-deliver? Send it to Donna and Anita of TurnkeyWorkshopsForCoaches.com

I came across a great passive income idea for coaches, and wanted to share it with you. Listen to my interview with Donna Gunter and Anita Pizycki, who have just launched http://www.turnkeyworkshopsforcoaches.com (still in development)




Have a workshop? Send it to Donna and Anita!

Ethical dilemma of "forcing" people to get on your mailing list

A question I received from a coach who uses AssessmentGenerator:

"Just read your newsletter and it's giving me an ethical headache. As you know I use your product on my site. The question is how do you use your quizzes to get the lead generation? Although some were giving me their email address they were not giving me permission to market to them - and I believe strongly in permission marketing, hence I currently run a double opt-in system for my newsletter sign-up.

I've ended up including a link to sign up to the newsletter in the email they receive, but that requires them to take action. I do offer a free workbook-based ecourse that I use up as a sign up temptation...So I'm trying to think how to get the visitors to take the test and enter their email and know that that means their signing up either for a newsletter or for some further marketing of some type.

Have you get any ideas how I can get around this without going against my ethical beliefs?"

I sure do! First, I want to say "Snap out of it!" I am sorry if this sounds harsh, but most coaches who think of marketing as an unethical activity lose a lot of business, even from people who could REALLY use your help and are willing to PAY.

Second, I want to emphasize the importance of how you word your writing. If it's mellow and calm, people will "sense" your reservations! Make it sound very exciting, enticing, bold, powerful, confident, and mainly NOT BORING.

And third, here are my 3 specific suggestions:


1. Make them WANT to sign up for your newsletter. Make them see the value, because if they don't, they're not your target audience, and this was just a "run-by-quizzing" :-) Tell them exactly what they'll be missing out on, if they don't sign up. What would make them absolutely thrilled and excited to find? What piece of information or support have they been wanting, but couldn't find until NOW??

2. After the take the assessment, instead of simply asking them to sign up for a newsletter, offer them a mini-course - a very enticing highly targeted mini-course, maybe even an audio one. Get them hooked!

3. After the mini-course is complete, they either stay on your list or go. At the end of your mini-course, simply state that you'll be sending them more powerful and action-oriented tips, or inspirational thoughts, or whatever it is you think they'll not want to miss....If they leave your list, they would have never bought from you anyway...

Working Out of Your Home? Sick of Wearing Pajamas? I am!

Just wanted to share my new "cool" find!

Home Business Wear - http://www.homebizwear.com

Here is what the owner of the shop told me:

"As I approached my 10th year working at home, I wanted to celebrate and went online looking for some work at home pride – but I couldn’t find any good merchandise. I saw an opportunity – and made my own, using Café Press. So now, HomeBizWear.com is the place to find fun work at home attire and merchandise celebrating the humor, rewards, and hidden benefits of working at home!"

Don't know about you, but I just got a kick out of this t-shirt - I can work at home and still look sexy! HA!

The Worst Thing Anyone Can Say to a (Home) Business Owner...

Last year when I hired my 16-year old assistant for administrative work, she was impressed by my home office, and the products I sell.

For the next few weeks, she would come to my home and do the work, filing, data entry, labeling and packaging, and other misc. tasks to help me with my business.

After about a month, I gave her the first paycheck, printed out from QuickBooks, very officially looking, in a windowed envelope.

She looked at me and said, "Wow! Milana, it's like you have a REAL business!"

My heart sank...

Just a little thing said by a 16-year old girl, who has never been in business of any kind, just working at her first job...But for some reason, my stomach felt like I was about to enter a dental office.

Did she "hit" my weak spot? Was I already questionning whether I had a *real* business, since I was working from home, wearing my pajamas, my office window overseeing my backyard, and my neighbors probably thought I was just slacking off all day (while my husband was at work)?

Probably a little bit of both...

A funny year-old anecdote just came to mind tonight :-)

View from my office window - LOVE it!

Getting Clients is Still the BIGGEST Concern of Coaches

As a result of my survey (which I incorporated into the audio mini-course web site), I confirmed my thinking that getting clients would be the biggest coaching business challenge.

Why is that?

For many reasons.

Allow me to paraphrase Ramon Williamson and list here some of the most common reasons why coaches struggle with getting clients...and what you can do TODAY to change that!

- Refuse to pick a niche

If you just want to coach, ok. But when you're ready to build a business (i.e. make money), pick a niche and penetrate it! You can penetrate it by speaking at the industry conventions, creating niche-specific products (and by that I mean, a 60-90 minute audio CD - will take you what...an afternoon?), and write articles for this particular niche!

I am so tired of coaches not choosing a niche, that I decided NOT to work with those who resist it so much. I just don't know how to help someone who won't select a target audience, I am sorry!

- Forgetting that coaching is a business, not a "form of personal therapy"

Duh....I pay my taxes, I have an office, I have a $500-phone bill...I have a business! Do you?

- Resisting marketing

This is a big one. In fact, many highly skilled coaches DON'T have enough clients, because they won't go out and market. And by "going out" I don't mean networking and speaking - although these are great - you can market right out of your home office with a phone line and an Internet connection.

More on this later...

The "Spontaneous" Web Site Project!

It's funny how things work out when you're an entrepreneur.

What started out as a newsletter article, turned into a new web site.

A great article idea, a tutorial, a demo for the tutorial...One thing led to another, and AudioMinicourse.com web site was born - literally in 24 hours!

The strangest thing was that I was creating an audio mini-course about how to create an audio mini-course. I knew what has to be done, and simply documented my actions every step of the way.

Voila!