If You Could Go Back

BuildYourFollowing.
com
If I Could Go Back:
Successful Speakers, Authors & Coaches Reflect on What They'd Do Differently
Scott Stratten http://www.BuildYourFollowing.com
Scott Stratten
Dear Speaker/Coach/Author, Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isnt it? Its the collection of experiences that we can look back on and then move forward. But what if you could go back to the start of your speaking/coaching/book writing part of your business? A decade ago, I emailed over 100 successful speakers and asked them this very question: If you could go back, what three things would you do differently? The answers I received greatly helped and reduced my learning curve towards success in the industry as well as business in general. That brings us to this ebook. I am blessed with a truckload of incredible and brilliant friends in the business world and so I asked them that question and you get to consume the answers in the following 100+ pages. I decided to combine Speakers/Coaches/Authors in one ebook because we are usually a combination of two, if not all three at once. ****If you received this ebook from someone, please make sure you go to http://www.BuildYourFollowing.com and sign-up using the form. This ebook will be updated regularly with new content and signing up ensures you will receive those updates plus my newsletter, which is sometimes witty, sometimes grumpy, but always contains value Enjoy the tips, and if you have any questions or tips of your own to add, please email me at scott@Un-Marketing.com or reach me on Twitter: http://www.Twitter.com/UnMarketing Sincerely, Scott Stratten www.BuildYourFollowing.com PS - This is a free ebook. If you paid for it, please let me know. Ill get your money back one way or another, then we can buy ice cream with it. PPS If you need an editor for your project, Traci Feit Love, President, Love Communications LLC is a machine! She did it for this ebook, and has created a lifelong fan out of me and my team.e-mail: traci@tracifeitlove.com http://tracifeitlove.com
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Contents
Mary Allen .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Nancy Arroyo-Perez ........................................................................................................................... 8 Leesa Barnes ......................................................................................................................................12 Melanie Benson-Strick ....................................................................................................................17 Lissa Boles ...........................................................................................................................................22 Michael Bungay Stainer..................................................................................................................25 Shannon Cherry, APR, MA.............................................................................................................27 Candita Clayton .................................................................................................................................29 Kim Duke .............................................................................................................................................31 Kristen Eckstein .................................................................................................................................33 Paulette Ensign ..................................................................................................................................35 Ann Evanston .....................................................................................................................................37 Marie Forleo ........................................................................................................................................40 Jennifer Groover................................................................................................................................43 Josh Hinds ...........................................................................................................................................52 Susan Kildahl ......................................................................................................................................56 Mike Litman.........................................................................................................................................58 Elizabeth Marshall.............................................................................................................................60 Mollie Marti ..........................................................................................................................................63 Stacey Mayo .......................................................................................................................................65 Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero.....................................................................................................................68 Alexis Martin Neely ..........................................................................................................................73 Michel Neray .......................................................................................................................................75 Liz Pabon ..............................................................................................................................................78 Maritza Parra ......................................................................................................................................81 Elizabeth Potts Weinstein ..............................................................................................................84 Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson ................................................................................................86 Monica Ricci ........................................................................................................................................88
Scott Stratten
Sarah Robinson .................................................................................................................................91 Patricia Rossi ......................................................................................................................................94 Lisa Sasevich ......................................................................................................................................96 Jackie Silver ......................................................................................................................................101 Felicia J. Slattery.............................................................................................................................103 Mari Smith .........................................................................................................................................105 Scott Stratten...................................................................................................................................107 Rob Toth .............................................................................................................................................109 Adam Urbanski ................................................................................................................................110 Denise Wakeman ............................................................................................................................117 Andrea Waltz ....................................................................................................................................119 Andy Wibbels ....................................................................................................................................121 ABOUT THE AUTHOR .........................................................................................................................123 Scott Stratten...................................................................................................................................124
Build Your Following
Mary Allen
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? Id have a clearer focus so I could go really deep on a subject, offering more specific tips and strategies to people while speaking to the hearts and minds of my audience. I have to admit, I was afraid of going too deep on a subject because I didnt want to lose anyone. And, to be humbly honest, I feared if I specialized in one topic, maybe I wouldnt be good enough in that topic. I now know the opposite is true. The clearer the focus, the greater the impact.
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I wouldve taken advantage of more opportunities to speak, so I could refine language patterns and get super comfortable in front of audiences. Practice makes perfect. Again, I let fear get in my way. Silly. If I could do it over again, I wouldve gotten coaching support around speaking from masterful speakers who have been there, and done it, instead of trying to figure it out on my own. Id have gone to speaker camp sooner, so I could understand the speaker formula. Its essential to learn what elements to include and not to include. And its important to know what audiences really want from a great speech. In the end, I was making it way more complicated and I was having less impact. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently?
The first thing is all about the title. I actually wrote my book first and then came up with a title second. My book was written in a backwards way. Trying to get a title to fit with content youve already written is a big mistake. At the time, I modeled my title somewhat after Wayne Dyer and his book, The Power of Intention. The way he talks about intention is different than what most people think of it. I modeled this somewhat vague title, thinking it was a good idea, and came up with The Power of Inner Choice. I dont think it is as clear as what it couldve been. So the biggest thing is having a very, very clear title that clearly tells readers what your book is about. You dont want a title that is even a little confusing to the reader. The title is so, so, so important.
Scott Stratten
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The second thing Id do differently is about branding. Be clear that your book is directly tied to your brand. Back then, my personal brand was more as a generalist, and my book followed suit. Fuzzy personal brand equals fuzzy book brand. Not a great idea. It doesnt go directly to the heart of an issue, problem or challenge that somebody has and wants solved. Build the buzz early. There wasnt much I could do about building buzz early because I was so caught up in details with the book and getting it off to final print. And honestly, I had no clue how to build buzz. If I could go back, especially now that social media exists, Id build the buzz by talking enthusiastically about my book on Twitter and Facebook. Thats another piece to book creation: having so much belief in your book and the impact that its going to make. Make sure youre communicating this conviction because humility does not sell books. You are the number one biggest fan of what youre talking about when it comes to the content of your book. I wouldve waved my own flag more confidently. I wouldve come out of the gates much stronger than I did. If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently?
Owning my value as a coach. For a lot of years, even though I was delivering great coaching, I wasnt owning my value as a coach at the deepest level. It took me until the seven, eight year mark, to embrace the feeling and say, Hey, Im really finally a coach. Own your value NOW.
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Be really clear on your target audience. Thats very important. When you know you target audience, you can go deeper on a subject. If youre more of a generalist youre just not able to go as deep on a topic. Once you decide on a niche, that one area will open up completely. And, when youre clear of your target audience, it is easier to attract them into your practice.
I would have offered multiple products sooner. For the longest time, I only offered coaching and free stuff. Eventually I offered a group coaching program, and that was great, but there still needed to be something that was a smaller price point for people. Bio:
Americas Inner Peace Coach Mary Allen, CPCC, MCC is an authority on empowering the conscious achiever to realize their goals, while deepening their sense of inner well-being and emotional fulfillment. Mary works with coaches, entrepreneurs and high net worth individuals, including a couple billionaires. Mary also hosts Conversations with the Masters, interviewing best-selling authors including Wayne Dyer, Byron Katie, Caroline Myss, Dr. David Hawkins and others. Mary is a graduate of both CTI and Coach U, and holds a degree in Psychology from University of Wisconsin (Madison). Holding the Master Certified Coach, the highest credential offered through the International Coach Federation, she is among the top 1% of coaches worldwide. Mary is a speaker and author of the popular book The Power of Inner Choice, a comprehensive and personalized success and inner peace
coaching program empowering readers to make conscious choices and direct their untapped potential. http://www.lifecoachmary.com
Scott Stratten
Nancy Arroyo-Perez
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking/Coaching career, what 3 things would you do differently? Value. Believing that Value equaled to FREE. I thought Free was the best way to help people. It may have hindered their progress and mine because if someone is not held to a commitment (by paying for it), they have no real and solid motivation to stick with it.
I de-valued valued myself because I was someone who wanted to give it all away because I didnt t think there was enough value to charge for it. But that was OK because that was my intention. I wanted to help people for Free. At the time, that was my purpose. And I was afraid to ask for money. I thought that if I asked people for money that they would uld see my intentions as self self-serving serving and I would therefore not be perceived as a giver from the heart, which was and still is my primary emotion for marketing and coaching in Social Networking and Social Media.
Perception. I had the perception that my u uniqueness niqueness and authenticity might not be acceptable to the masses. I wanted to be loved by everyone (still do ).
I didnt want people to dislike me at all. I was afraid of rubbing people the wrong way because of the way I spoke, the way I expressed my tho thoughts ughts and because I had more of a laid back semi semi-professional professional attitude. Boy was I wrong! Uniqueness, Authenticity and a Great Persona is KEY and with it, you have no competitionever!! I wish I knew then that being a coach should be viewed as just being a business person that likes to tell people how to do something well. Coaching may be something you fall into, (like it did for me) but it shouldnt be the how or why you start. Recognize that you like to share information and have a passion for helping ot others first. Your rewards will come later. Things become easier after that realization.
Focus. I needed a clearer focus on what I wanted to teach. I thought that I had to be all things to all people. That was understandable to me because I became consumed by all the information that I was learning and I just wanted to share it with everybody. I wanted to offer so much information because I thought people needed to know it all now. Now I know thats untrue. People need information in manageable bits and pieces. There is way too much digital information overload and so now I focus on creating content to alleviate the headaches and reduce the workload. Identifying the proper target audience is crucial early on. I thought I had to appeal and attract all users on Facebook and I assumed that everyone wanted to learn about Social Networking and Social Media. But the first thing I realized was that most people just wanted to be my friend for no other reason but then to just be sociable. Thats when I started thinking about Focusing on my target market and figuring out what true purpose I had in wanting to reach out to these people. Now I know that if I had focused more on attracting a smaller, more qualified audience, I would have had better results. Its important to do research on what people need and then figure out what problems you can solve. People buy when they NEED something. I think you should start with creating solutions for the audience asking for it and then create a coaching program with that in mind first. If I could go back, I would Focus on only a few streams of income instead of trying to tackle them all just because I knew about them and because I knew that I could do them all. The best way would have been to offer my coaching clients other smaller information products like e-books, audio and video training so that I could have more digital products to add to my inventory. With a little editing here and there, you can transform multiple information products that you can then use to build a list or to offer more content with just a bit more effort.
Confidence. I wish I could have felt more confidence in the information I was providing and in my ability to offer it correctly.
Scott Stratten
But that was un-avoidable, social networking was new to me and I just wanted to help people, so that was how I was able to overcome the fear and lack of confidence. I believed that people wanted to know this stuff so it propelled me to conquer the fear of failure and inadequacy. Thats why its so important to believe in what you know and want to share with others. Believe that they need it and want it and it will help you be a better coach and speaker. I dont yet consider myself a speaker. I prefer to think of myself as a helpful motivational person who just speaks to people as a real person. That makes it less scary for me. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently?
I would have gotten my audio recordings to someone to edit and transcribe sooner. Luckily my first book will be created with audio that Ive been recording for the past two years. I have been audio blogging (before I knew what it was) about my experiences and the journey of being an entrepreneur. My first book will be published in the Fall so I am just now beginning to work on it and thanks to this e-book, I have a much better insight about writing, marketing and publishing it. But I already know that I will not go down that road of writing it or transcribing it myself. Way too time consuming. Ill let the transcribers & editors handle the biggest tasks of getting the book done. Ive been working on it a long time and Ive already mentally written it, so to speak. I recommend speaking your thoughts into a recorder. When I speak into a recorder, I am able to write from my thoughts. Its easier to speak freely and stay in a flow. When I try to force myself to write in free flow, I get blocked.
Have a clearer understanding of what it is that I really wanted to say and why someone would want to read it.
Once I became more focused on the why, the what became more manageable and I was able to speak my thoughts with the book reader in mind.
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I intend to build a buzz about my book by building a blog around it and marketing it heavily before the book is published. If able, I will start releasing blog posts (small sections of a chapter) and offer audio clips of my recorded conversations with self. I also plan to include video as part of my marketing. Plan for a Social Media campaign with all roads leading back to your blog. Then have multiple ways to build an email list and continually connect with your target reader early on. Create a community of people who are interested in the information the book will provide. Social Media is about building communities of like-minded people. Readers will follow. Bio: Named in the Top 50 Powerful & Influential Women in Social Media, Nancy Arroyo-Perez (@NancyPerez on Twitter) has a passion for empowering and leading individuals to succeed in business, social networking and social media marketing online. She believes in living a life on purpose and has a passion for learning and teaching business professionals and entrepreneurs the fundamental secrets to social success using online networks, social media, internet marketing and mixing it with business and success building principles and motivational strategies. Nancy exploded as a Social Networking Superstar when she gained a network of 5,000 friends on Facebook in 30 days and then proceeded to teach others how to: Make Friends, Create Connections, Brand Yourself and Build Your Business on Facebook. As a self-proclaimed entrepreneurial junkie, she has invested in real estate, renovated homes and had multiple businesses online. More importantly though, Nancy believes that everyone has the power to choose to succeed and thrive in all areas of life but her primary focus is on Empowering Entrepreneurs to get though all the roadblocks and achieve what theyve predefined as success.
http://www.nancyarroyo-perez.com http://www.socialmediax.com/successblueprint Connect with me on Facebook: http://www.inancy.info/facebook Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nancyperez
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Scott Stratten
Leesa Barnes
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have been a little bit smarter and strategic about the events that I attended and spoke at. In 2006 2006-2007 I attended a lot of events that w were meant to elevate the industry that I was in (podcasting). I went to all these events because at the time podcasting was very unknown and really the only people I had to network with were other podcasters. But in that 12-month month period I was in the US at least once a month going to all these freebie events and speaking king at the them. After I was finished speaking, I was dismayed because no one would follow up with me. You know, I was used to speaking at an event and then having a crowd of people but no one would come up to me. When the event was over I was back home in To Toronto, ronto, no one would call me and I would think, What the heck? I sound pretty smart, I think Im pretty smart so why isnt anyone following up with me? me?
It wasnt until I went to this even event in the fall of 2007. It t was an event for coaches put on by Milana Leshinski. . I went to that event and I wasnt even speaking at the event. I went to support Milana. She asked me to be there and I went. I led a very small breakout session but let me tell you, I became the star. I felt like a star because here I was talking g about podcasting and blogging to an audience of people who had no real clue how to use it to boost their business. And thats when the light bulb went on. But by then I was almost broke because I had been going to all these events over the past 12 months where I was as networking with the converted and I finally went to an event where nobo nobody knew and finally it clicked. Be very strategic in the events that you go to. It seems so obvious now. When I am sitting down and looking at my returns, looking at my f financial inancial reports for my business and seeing so much money going into attending events to speak speak. No o one was picking up the tab on my flight or my hotel and I wasnt getting a speaking fee and I went to at least 12 of them in a 12 month period. And looking and nd seeing that Im almost broke yeah theres a problem.
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As for my speaking material, I have both carried them with me and shipped them after the event was over over. . Ive been fortunate; the first thing I would advise speakers to do is work with a fulfillment house so that you arent lugging it about. Because Im in Canada I use US fulfillment houses, either my VA or
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someone else. However, when Im in the US, I can ship things right from there and not have to pay additional customs fees or anything like that. There is one event that I remember. I was there and my publisher shipped in about 10 copies of my book and if I was facing the audience, I placed it on the left side of the stage. I piled up the books and placed one right in front of the pile so people could see it. I never referenced the books at all but I just had them there. I was speaking for about an hour and a half. After it was done there was a rush towards them; I didnt even mention the book. I just had the visual display to the left of me. They said, I dont know how much the book is Leesa but here is some cash. I said well Im selling it for this much and I was able to sell out. So I would strongly advise that as a speaker you have something physically there with you so that people can take that piece of you away with them. And people love that. Ive tried to sell coaching packages from the stage but people dont like that; they want something tangible to take home with them. Thats something that depending on the time of year will happen to me. It is worth the trouble schlepping and dragging around your stuff with you. It is even more beneficial if you can work with a fulfillment house that can ship it for you. But you have to have it at an event. You must.
In regards to picking which events to speak at, one of the things that I do is I actually speak to the event organizer. So if there are five offers on the table I speak to each event organizer because I need to know; theres a certain segment of the population that responds really well to Leesa Barnes, very well and I know who they are. I can walk into a room and pinpoint exactly who will approach me after I finish speaking or exactly who is going to buy and then they will. You can call that law of attraction or knowing my niche market. So its very important that I speak to event organizers if I have the time or my VA can help. And its very specific questions whats the age bracket, whats the gender, what is their motivation, why are they a member of your organization or why are they going to attend? The answers will determine whether I speak at that event or not. It could be Tony Robbins who says, Leesa Ive heard about you come out to my event, but if my target market isnt sitting in that audience I will not go. Its very important. So thats my question to speakers who are reading this, How well do you know who your target market is? Who are they? What do they look like? And not just what do they look like but describe them. Like my target market is women between the ages of 45 and 60 who have their own businesses and are earning a six to seven figure income. They tend to be women with older children who are now ready to use this stuff online to make their businesses grow and explode.
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Scott Stratten
Everything I do I picture the three or four individuals in my business who are my clients and I speak directly to them. These are four individuals who represent my target market. I know their names, I know where they live, I know which products theyve taken from me. So whenever I write my sales pages or put together my presentations I see the four of them in front of me. I dont have a shrine or anything. I just picture them and speak to them. Everything is directed to them. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? In terms of my book, I celebrate that book because it helped to put me in a different stratosphere compared to a lot of other people in my niche, in my target market because there are only 13 books written on the topic of podcasting that are out there. And one of them is mine! Its all about making money with a podcast. For someone who doesnt like to write, this became one of the most excruciating projects Ive ever done. And I made two critical mistakes with the book.
I should have spoken out all my ideas and had someone transcribe it. Im really good at speaking, speaking is my gift, its something I enjoy and love doing so what I should have done is I should have just said all my ideas and had it transcribed. Instead I would have these unnatural sleep patterns as I would anticipate the writing of this book. And with a publisher who was always calling me and saying Leesa where we at where we at that helped. That helped having a publisher otherwise if I self-published it would have never gotten done. So having a publisher on my butt every week calling and saying where we at where we at Leesa was really great. Accountability. But it became excruciating because of the fact that I didnt like to write, because writing to me you have to get so detail oriented and you have to really pinpoint those ideas and make sure it flows. I find the whole exercise to be just draining.
I got the contract for the book in February, I started writing in earnest beginning in March, and I wrote and I wrote and I wrote until June. It became a full-time job during that four month period. The book was edited in July, went to publisher in August and hit the bookstores in September. Now the mistake I made is that during that March to June time frame I focused on nothing but the book. And it had to be done because I was under contract and it needed to get out the door, but the problem is that I ignored every other aspect of my business. I didnt do any speaking gigs; I did some phone stuff but I didnt do any speaking gigs. I pretty much got rid of my consulting clients and only focused on the book. And the problem is that whatever you do 90 days ago for your business reflects today. It takes about 90 days or so. So when I sat down in July and the book was done, because I was only focusing on the book I had nothing in the pipeline, nothing at all.
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Looking back I should have had a better balance between writing the manuscript for my book and business development and marketing. For authors out there, if you are under contract with a publisher or if you are selfpublishing just remember you can not focus on writing the book alone. You have to make sure you balance that with business development and marketing.
You know the best advice Ive ever gotten about putting together a book because even myself I was really overwhelmed. The publisher had gone to, which is funny, another Canadian and that guy kind of bombed the whole project and so then time was running out and then he was looking for someone else so he actually approached three or four other people before he came to me. And by the time he got to me he had an outline that was developed by the very first person he approached and when I looked at it I was like, oh my goodness. I was so overwhelmed. First the outline wasnt logical but secondly I was just like, whoa this is so much content. The best advice Ive ever gotten came from one of my coaches, who said that in order to come up with a really interesting outline you should mind map your thoughts. And he was asking me, ok when people come to you and ask you about podcasting where do you usually start them from, whats the first step? And I said, oh the first step is I want them to assess themselves and assess their business and whether or not they are ready. So he said, ok put that as a circle on a page, assess and start thinking about all the different things you help them with and then that becomes circles around the big circle in the middle. Thats mind mapping. And so every step of the way he was asking me; its more or less whatever your signature process is concerning that very specific topic, thats what should become the outline for your book. So when it comes to podcasting the first step was to assess, so they take a 20 point survey. Then after they take that survey it tells them whether or not they are ready for podcasting. And so my coach asked me, so whats the next step Leesa? I said that usually I want them to plan their episodes, plan who is going to host it, plan whether its going to be audio or video. So he said, ok you want them to plan a strategy. And so that became the circle in another mind map and I surrounded that with all the components people need to plan. Because Im a visual learner, these circles and this mind map really helped me to understand how Im going to write this book. So instead of looking at the book as a 300 page project (which it eventually became), it became just seven steps in the podcasting for profit strategy. And each step I broke down and wrote the copy for that step and each step became a chapter in the book.
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Scott Stratten
Manageable chunks. If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently?
I was so focused on getting certified and following the one to one coaching model. The one to one coaching model really works for certain people and they love it. But for someone like me who derives my energy from a group of people (I love to speak), the one to one model became very draining. So one of the things I wish I knew early on as a coach is about a model that I could use to still do coaching but do it in groups or teleclasses. For some people I know saying this is going to sound so obvious, but when I was sitting in 2004 after being laid off and decided I was going to go into coaching, the only thing that really mattered (or the only thing I could find) was about certification and the one to one coaching model.
I wish I knew about the multiple streams aspect, creating courses and workshops and passive income. I wish I knew all of that before and I want to urge any coach reading who still doesnt know about the multiple streams approach to do anything you can to just study that and find out how you can apply that to your coaching business. Bio:
Named as one of the Top 10 Influential Women in Social Media, Leesa Barnes is an award winning blogger, social media expert and author of Podcasting for Profit. She is the President of Caprica Interactive Marketing, a training and development company that teaches businesses how to get active with social media in 3 easy steps using the Marketing Fit system. http://www.leesabarnes.com
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Melanie Benson-Strick
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I had very poor strategies for how to get people to take my content. It was like a fire hose delivery. Tons and tons of information and it really didnt make any sense. And I also had no clear awareness of the difference between pitching people and getting people to be excited about saying yes to doing additional work with you.
I spent a lot of time speaking without great results. One of the most important things I would do differently is get proper training. I would find somebody whose energy and the way they present themselves on stage was really in alignment with who I was, and I would follow a system. Just like the system youre putting together here to teach people how to do that better. Without training its like youre a loose cannon. Having the right training I think is absolutely essential and made such a huge difference for me. And helped me be more confident, too. And got people to call me Ninja. (Scotts note: I met Melanie at an event in Calgary in 2008 and the only word that I could think of to describe her on stage was a presentation ninja! Simply awesome) Understand the correlation between the audiences that I really want to speak with and the types of programs that would get them to be extraordinarily excited about saying yes and investing in my events. A lot of people say, I need back of the room product, or I need passive revenue products, and they create a bunch of stuff and then they get invited to speak and they sell that stuff at an event. But that doesnt necessarily mean that its designed to elicit a powerful response from your audience. You can have stuff thats great but its just for the wrong audience. Or you can have the right audience and really the wrong offers. So if I could do it all over again, I would start with the end in mind and say whos really my target audience and what are the kinds of things they are going to leap to purchase and to invest in at an event of this nature, and I would design programs with the end in mind.
Built systems so that every single time Im invited to speak we can get things to the conference producers quickly so that we can have my team not need me to customize every step of the way to get what we need to the event. So that we have ways of making sure every single deliverable we have for an event is met on time. And every once in a while something goes off (because thats just what
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Scott Stratten
happens in businesses), but 98% of the time we are the ones that are on time with our delivery, getting people what they need. Conference producers love to work with people who are organized, so they dont have to chase them down to get what they need and want.
Whether you lug product around to speaker events depends on your audience. So if you have an audience that is traveling within a country of residence, this is the answer I would give: I believe that everything you frame on the stage positions you to be powerful. So if you can frame it that the big win is that they are going to be able to have it shipped right to their home because you want to save them all the hassle trying to pack a bunch of boxes into their suitcases, youre a winner and a hero. I bring a sample, and actually, weve just changed this ourselves, I have my team ship everything directly to the event. We used to just pack an extra suitcase, but now its way too cumbersome; there are all kinds of traveling restrictions, basically you spend as much and its more to deal with to take two suitcases. I bring the samples and then we let them know that were doing them a huge favor by shipping it to them and paying their shipping. If you have an audience thats driving in and theyre all going to drive home, you may consider shipping in the product because theyre going to want it right then and there. It really pays to get to know who your audience is and where theyre coming from. The third scenario is that youre flying out of the country. There are so many things to talk through with the conference producer, because if that country puts taxes on the shipments your people may want to have things in the room versus having it shipped because it could be more expensive for the people receiving the product. That is something that you really need to ask a lot of questions about and really understand the considerations involved. You also have to remember that all your stuff could have gotten stopped at the border. You really need to work closely with the conference producer and understand whats the lesser of the evils. And you may need to know how to ship it in a way that doesnt make it really a hardship on the people receiving it. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently?
I would have spoken the whole thing into a recorder and handed it off to someone else to edit and put into a document. Im lucky; my very first endeavor was working with a partner of mine at the time. And that was more his expertise than mine so we did some of that. But I had no idea how to be an effective writer at that time. I had so much writers block and I took forever to get it out. It was just such an arduous process for me. Now I actually get on the phone with somebody, whether
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its a client or one of my partners, and I talk through what the concept is. And I just turn on the coach in me and then I get off the phone and then I just dump it out. And thats really effective for me because Im not a writer. Im just a really good coach. And I can get in the moment with somebody and be brilliant but trying to reconstruct it in my head doesnt work. So really getting my best process is doing what I do best and then creating a capture mechanism so that somebody can take that and package it in a way thats consumable by somebody else.
Start with the end in mind. The first time I wrote I didnt really understand what we were writing for. I was just getting something out of me. So I created something that was a really big animal and it was difficult for many people to want to take on. So I had to restructure it later so that it was easier for people to want to move through the material. Because if you create something too big you scare people so theyre not really going to use it anyway. You need to get really clear about what it is, the action you want someone to take from this book, youre going to get a much better result overall. And what kills me is that people just write a book to get it out of them versus writing a book with the end in mind, recognizing that this is a glorified marketing tease but all you really want people to do is go to your website and sign up for something and get involved. So thinking that through, what ends up happening is you can layer in tools and resources that they can go get off your website. By doing that you engage them in a new relationship whereas just reading a book how do you know that theyre going to go anywhere to take the next step with you. If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently?
I would get really clear about three things. Who are the people that I enjoy the most on a day-to-day basis who also have the financial bandwidth to invest in the kind of work were going to do together. And what are the things that theyre going to want from me that will move them along this path the fastest and how could I package them so that Im basically leveraging my time best. Now the reason why I said it that way is because when I started I had one thing I offered; I charged $350 a month for it, I was going to have to do it one hundred times a month to make decent money, and I had absolutely no awareness of the target audience and what problems they really wanted solved. And it took me 2-1/2 years to really figure any of that out. And then once I figured it out, I decided to refine it because I wanted to do it a little bit differently once I got there.
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Scott Stratten
So Ive been through a couple of rebranding processes now. Im really glad I did it but it was definitely a very expensive way to do it. I think the most important awareness we can have when starting our coaching practices is that its not just about what makes you feel good and whats your passion and your mission in life. It has to be balanced with how its going to be received and consumed and basically what are people going to pay to learn from you.
I probably would have mapped things out; if I had really had the right coaching in the very beginning and I didnt, I had a great coach but not necessarily a business coach. I would have hired a really savvy business coach who was already making six figures or more and I would have had them sit down with me and I would have had them map out the different ways in which I could offer my services at different price points for my target audience. So I would have been very clear in the very beginning that I needed like a $300 program, I needed a $1,000 program, and I needed a $5,000 program, even if I couldnt have launched it right away. At least knowing very clearly that this was what my audience wanted and designing it in a way that really met my needs and the needs of my clients would have saved me a lot of time to profitability. Because I did a lot of testing, I did a lot of designing of what I wanted to do and then realizing that nobody else wanted it and you burn a lot of traction and sometimes even your reputation in the process because its hard. Or, like some people, you build an entire business with a very end offering and then by the time you realize you have to work your butt off and youre pretty much locked into that one offering and you dont have different levels, the different streams. The minute the marketplace changes youre stuck with that one offering that nobody wants because theyre not willing to pay for it. Its a lot of work to go back and re-design or retool your offering when you need revenue in the door. I would have done my marketing very differently. I started with such a huge hole around marketing. I thought marketing was going to networking events, and having lunch or dinner or coffee and telling them all the reasons why you could be the greatest coach in the world. And not only is that a slow, arduous process but its extraordinarily ineffective because nobody wants to be sold to and thats a way in which people end up feeling that pressure. And then I thought, okay, its about creating strategic partners and I have this coach who is super hoity-toity, Mr. Im the best coach on the planet and Im going to tell you how to build your business. He had me running around putting joint ventures together with people who didnt even have access to my target audience. So I dont think any of those strategies are really effective in the beginning. I think whats really effective in the beginning is having a way in which you can create an education piece that is so tantalizing and so alluring that people
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absolutely must have it. And whether youre physically giving it to them or youre delivering it over the Internet you have a really tight process that moves people from that tantalizing freebie to a smaller step that gets them involved and engaged and invites them into other pieces and all the while having very specific types of strategies as automated as possible to build a relationship with them. And I love the ezine thats actually posted on the blog strategy now where youre posting blog entries, but your newsletter is really just a referral to that blog entry. Thats brilliant! I wish I had known that five years ago. Bio: Melanie Benson Strick founded Success Connections in 2001 when she left behind a lucrative corporate job to pursue her passion in life transforming the lives of overwhelmed, burned out entrepreneurs. Having learned first hand the difference between a struggling solo-practice and a thriving six+ figure business, Melanie works exclusively with entrepreneurs who want to skyrocket their profits so they can experience more time off. With over 12 years experience in corporate project management, advanced results coaching and leadership development, Melanie turns her clients into profitable, high-payoff success stories. Melanies clients enjoy an average growth rate of 172% within the first year. Melanie is co-creator of the ULTIMATE Success Generator, Virtual Team Building Secrets, co-author of Visionary Women Inspiring the World: 12 Paths to Personal Power and contributing author to Entrepreneurial Spirits. She is past-president of the International Coach Federation Los Angeles chapter and founding past-director of the Shared Vision Network Los Angeles. In addition to leading the company, Melanie Strick speaks at many small business seminars and conferences, is a guest expert on many teleclasses and radio shows, and has been featured on Entrepreneur.com along with hundreds of other on- and offline publications. Today Melanie coaches a limited group of private and group clients all in the six to seven figure range who want to streamline their business and experience more of a freedom-based lifestyle. A complete list of all her programs and ways that Melanie and the coaching team can transform your business are available at her web site. http://www.successconnections.com/
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Lissa Boles
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I remember hearing Cheryl Richardson say in an interview that for the longest time she didnt know what her thing was. She knew that she was supposed to talk but she really didnt know what her thing was. And then when someone approached her about writing a book she was like again, what am I going to say, I dont know. I dont know what my thing is.
And after a while, she said, What I started to notice in the various things that I wrote in tiny little pieces of each of the little talks that I gave I saw that I knew more than I thought that I knew. I saw a scene show up and I saw all the backup pieces to that scene, everything that wove into it and gave it texture, just kind of showed up but I had to just talk for a couple of years to be able to see it and to be able to put my finger on it. Because my head couldnt figure it out but my life knew. And so when I think back in terms of speaking, it kind of comes back to the things I said earlier, I wish that I had heard that story first. Because if I had I probably would have put less pressure on myself. I probably would have reached less to know what my thing is and I probably would have let myself just talk about what fascinated me more instead of trying to make it be something. Listen to experts with just one ear. Take what they have to say if they do have some valuable points to make. Sometimes you can take in what the experts say so much it causes you to cramp up completely. And strive for perfectionism or end up trying to model yourself after somebody to a degree that you just model yourself out of yourself. And so I would listen to the experts with just one ear and listen to myself more.
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Ask people more questions. Find out what they want to hear about. That was what fascinated me. Again,if I was in open-ended conversations more Id have a better sense of what my audience wanted to hear relative to what fascinated me. So there would be a meeting some place and in the early days I didnt know that. I was so focused on how to say it right instead of finding out what they wanted to hear and what I wanted to say and where that met in the middle. I just couldnt be part of the dance because again I was just so. Woooo.
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What that did for me as the by-product was that I was so much more able to just instead of speaking we have conversations now. When I speak its more conversational and what I found out is that everybody has more fun and theres a larger impact. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? Stay true to my own right way. It was such a revelation for me that completely blew the doors off. I, like many, assumed that I had to write. And what I found out is that I dont. Im a talker. If Im just given free rein to speak, what needs to be said just naturally comes out. If I try and put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, my head gets in the way far too much. And the work and effort required to redress the cramp took up ten times more time. Ten times more effort so what I finally ended up doing and it really meant that I had to go, you know what, thats just not right. I dont care what anybody else says. And I learned to record and have it transcribed from transcription. You dont have to write to write.
What a difference that made.
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Do it in a piece at a time. Not to try and write a book but just to write a piece. Not even try and write a chapter but to just write a piece. And let the connections show themselves to you.
Dont try and write a book by yourself. Dont even try. No one ever does, although it doesnt appear that way. And very often youll need help finding the structure and flow and that may not be your strength but it sure will be somebody elses. If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? Im big on the school of no regrets, but having said that I think probably the first thing I would do is relax. If I could go back and start again, I would relax. I really would. I think that the pressure I put on myself to perform or to achieve, and I see it all the time in anybody whos in business for themselves, anybody whos a starting coach. Just the mad manic pace we try to set for ourselves becomes the really tough thing to get past. And the truth is I think a lot of people dont and thats one of the reasons they often end up working with a coach. But as a coach if you havent stopped crawling your way out of a hole you really cant help somebody else recognize that thats what theyre doing and help them not do it. I would ask more questions of people I hoped to serve. I would ask a lot more questions, I would be in more open ended conversations with people. With people I intended to serve, with people in general. It took me a good couple of years to really understand the power and the value of open ended conversations and just asking questions. I remember once meeting a woman when I was at a little bed and breakfast probably six months before I actually started coaching. And
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one of the things that just fascinated me about her was that she was in journalism school and she just had this wide-eyed love of hearing peoples stories and asking them questions. I remember thinking to myself at the time, Boy I wish I had that. And it really didnt come back to me, I really didnt remember it again until I found myself on the radio, oddly enough it was a full-circle moment. Having a conversation with somebody I always wanted to talk to and that was Jack Canfield. And suddenly it occurred to me that I had assigned more value to a conversation with him than I had ever assigned to a conversation with anybody, period. And at that moment, I went, What if I talked with everybody like this? And then I remembered the lady I had met at that bed and breakfast, and how I entered into conversations changed from that point on. And everybodys a Jack Canfield. They dont necessarily know that and the rest of us dont either but if I cant talk to them that way, then Ill never know.
I think the third thing I would do is listen to myself more and it could be in a different kind of conversation with myself. You can tell conversations a big thing, cant you? I think that would have helped me relax. I was so busy listening to my coaching instructors and the general precepts of the day in terms of coaching and small business that I wasnt listening to myself an awful lot. Because I was so green, I really didnt think (and this ones a big one for pretty much everybody else too) that I had much in me to know. Of all the ones who walked a number of miles down the road knew more than I did and I know today that thats not as true as I thought it was. Bio: Known as the True Callings Coach, Lissa Boles helps non-conforming self-starters, solopreneurs, and high-impact service professionals find, follow and fulfill their lifes True Callings and Life Purpose. The revolutionary True Callings Compass Process coaches both the personality and the soul, integrating what the soul wants with what the personality needs to create an optimally rich and fulfilling life that benefits the world.
Lissa and her husband/fellow coach Randy also publish the serial e-newsletter True Callings Essential: Cracking The Callings Code, and a blogging podcast, The View From The Deck. Graduates of the Institute of Integrative Coaching at JFK University, theyve both obtained the advanced professional designation of Master Life Coach. To learn more, youll find them both at http://www.TrueCallings.net
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Michael Bungay Stainer

If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently?
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I'd pick one or two topics, figure out what I have to say that's different and then really master them.
I'd know clearly whether I'm an entertainer with some education, or an educator with some entertainment (I'm the later). I'd attend Michael Grinder's workshop on non-verbal facilitation - that is, how to have impact when you're not speaking and how to increase your impact when you are speaking. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? Realize that writing a book is not a money maker. Really, you're creating a better-than-average business card, which you should use to open doors, build credibility, build relationships and invite people into a series of products and services which can earn you money. Think about the marketing before and while I write the book, not after it's already written. Figure out how my book will be different from other books. There are millions of the things published every year, and (to use Seth Godin's words) if you're not different you're nothing.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? Stop giving away free sample sessions. That just removes the immediate need the person has for coaching. Learn that I'm not a coach, I'm an entrepreneur who coaches. Being a good business person is more critical to success than being a good coach. If you can combine the two, brilliant! Build products and product funnels faster. Andrea J. Lee's work is a great guide for this.
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Bio: Michael Bungay Stanier is the founder and Senior Partner of Box of Crayons (www.BoxOfCrayons.biz), a company that helps organizations do less Good Work and more Great Work. His latest book is Find Your Great Work: napkin-size solutions to stop the busywork and start the work that matters (www.FindYourGreatWork.com). He has created a number of viral movies, the best known being The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun (www.eightprinciples.com). He speaks to audiences around the world and at trade conferences such as the International Coach Federation, the OD Network and SHRM. He was the Canadian Coach of the year in 2006, and was a Rhodes Scholar. Michael is Australian and lives in Toronto, Canada. http://www.FindYourGreatWork.com
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Shannon Cherry, APR, MA

If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? Create a complete marketing plan that ties in my offer with my presentation. I found that I created separate plans, but not anything cohesive. Once I got clear that it all should piggyback on each other, my success rate on speaking gigs - and upsells - tripled.
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Use Search Engine Marketing to find gigs, vs. trying to find gigs the old way and sending out blind letters. Luckily, I had a SEM guru hold my hand to show me how she got tons of paid speaking gigs. If I only knew sooner! Create relationships with a like-network and ask for their help. I tried to do it all on my own, and was jealous when I saw others with less experience, less knowledge getting on big stages. I soon learned their secret: it's all in who you know and network with. Now I am no longer a lone ranger.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? Create coaching programs (both group & individual) that mirrored my other marketing efforts. I created coaching programs not realizing that they should completely mirror what else I was doing. I put too much effort in creating something unique, not realizing people wanted to coach with me for what I was already educating them about! Build my list. No reason to offer coaching if you don't have anyone to market to. I pushed my coaching program to a small list. The result? Few takers. Once I focused on building my list, I could fill every group coaching session and get some individuals as well! Gotten clear on (and tested) my target market and offers FIRST. I made the initial mistake of focusing on the wrong market. It was close to who I needed to target, but I found out (the hard $$ way) that they wouldn't buy coaching, ever, unless it was cheap. In addition, once I focused on who I needed to market to, I tested offers to find out what was successful. For me, it's the personal stories that work.
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Bio: Shannon Cherry, APR, MA, is the Power Publicist. She helps business owners and entrepreneurs attract more customers through publicity and marketing. She is the founder and president of Cherry Communications (http://www.cherrycommunications.com) and its subsidiaries: Be Heard Solutions and Penny Pinching Publicity (http://www.beheardsolutions.com) (www.pennypinchingpublicity.com). A former TV and newspaper journalist, Shannon has developed hundreds of innovative public relations strategies. Her clients have appeared on the pages of USA Today, the New York Times, Money Magazine, Associated Press, and Parenting and have been featured on the Today Show, CNN, The History Channel, Good Morning America, and Oprah. An award-winning publicist and published author of two books, Shannon is a professional blogger and offers free tips and tactics at her blog: http://www.thepowerpublicist.com. Shannon publishes the popular and highly-recommended ezine, Be Heard!, delivered to more than 6200 subscribers each month. Get your free publicity power package by signing up for Be Heard! http://www.beheardsolutions.com.
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Candita Clayton
If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have chosen a different title for my book. The book is really about creating a healthy green home environment. I think because the title is Clean Your Home Healthy, it may have limited my audience.
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I would have spent more time and money on the premarketing of the book. As a newbie author I really did not have a clue about how much time and energy it takes to market a book. Your publisher (at least mine) really does very little marketing and publicity for you unless you are already a big name. Establishing a budget for presale marketing, well appointed PR and social media is money well spent. I would have worked on building my speaking business at the same time that I was writing my book. I have just started the speaking part of my business and it didn't take long for me to realize that you can sell a lot of books as well as your other products in the back of the room.
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If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have taken it more seriously as a revenue stream. I really jumped into it because I felt I had something to offer other organizers in bringing their businesses to the next level. I just did it without really having a plan and it took off. It has been very lucrative and really fun. I would have spent more time in the development of additional products for my market. I am working on that now but I could have sold lots of information products to my current customers.
I would have hired someone to help me in my business sooner. Like many entrepreneurs I have always felt that I have the energy and know how to do everything myself. Once I finally let that go it was very freeing. Hiring an assistant has allowed me to delegate the things that I really don't need to be doing.
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Bio: Candita Clayton is the President and CEO of Your Life Organized. She is an Author, Speaker, Green Expert, Organizer's Business Coach and Entrepreneur. She has helped hundreds improve their daily lives through the power of organization. She has a passion for helping others in the organizing profession bring their businesses to the next level. Candita has contributed expert advice to dozens of national publications including HGTV.com, Women's Day, The Chicago Tribune, Quick & Simple Magazine and many others. Candita will be featured weekly as a green living expert in The Green House Project TV show, due out this August, 2009. http://www.YourLifeOrganized.com http://www.CleanYourHomeHealthy.com http://www.CanditaClayton.com
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Kim Duke
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? Biggest mistake: Not building a list quick enough. I was getting a lot of publicity, but wasn't getting emails to have a list. I must have lost 1000's upon 1000's of people that I talked to at conferences, etc. Right out of the gate, your first step should be building a list of qualified people. But people are too concerned about quantity instead of quality. Focus on the RIGHT leads.
I would have made products earlier instead of just being a speaker. I had lines of women lined up wanting to take the next step with me and my business, and I had nothing to offer them. Having multiple steams of income, from products to public seminars, etc. New speakers are so busy doing everything themselves that they don't have the time to create product and leverage their knowledge, even if it's recording your sessions and turning into product.
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Strategic alliances should have been started much earlier. I would have aligned myself with the powerful people in the industry much earlier, even your competition is helpful, and help each other out.
Regarding selling products from stage, do you bring all the product? I ship everything ahead of time, and have a combo of some product and an order form sheet, with a sample from the high-end stuff and give away a copy. It also builds your database with people who want to enter the contest. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently?
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Write the book! We got so busy working in the business instead of "on" our business. Just write it, it doesn't have to be perfect!
Getting into the media much faster. Youre hottest in the first six months; I would have jumped on this. The media loves new books, and I would have invested in a publicist to help the process. An article in a paper is 10 times more effective than an ad on the same page. Develop an affiliate program/strategic alliances right of the gate. Have other
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people sell it, your unpaid sales force (they don't get $ until they sell).
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You have to have a brand and a voice. You cannot be vanilla. You have to be willing to both attract AND repel people. You should be pissing people off, otherwise you're not evoking emotion. People will filter themselves.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? List building - Start building your list very early on, using places like social media, etc.
Creating multiple products. I focused too much on one-to-one coaching. I would start with group coaching right out of the gate. The only people that should get you 1-on-1 is a platinum level, and have the group coaching for a lower price level. There is a huge middle-ground that would go for the group coaching level. I gave away way too much for far too little $.
Bio: Kim Duke is CEO and Founder of The Sales Divas. Shes an international sales expert who provides savvy, sassy sales training for women entrepreneurs (with a twist!) Her extensive sales background was based in the media 15 years working with 2 of Canadas largest national television networks in sales and management. She is a national award winning salesperson and was the second youngest sales manager in Canada for CBC Television (Canadas oldest network). Now Kim is a successful entrepreneur providing training for companies internationally. Kims first love is working with women entrepreneurs and women in sales - she loves helping women succeed! And she doesnt want you to break a nail dialing for dollars!! Shes an author and speaker whos had numerous interviews for national television, radio and print across North America. Kim also writes hundreds of articles for newsletters and websites internationally. Thousands of women entrepreneurs from 54 countries around the world eagerly await her sales tips each week. http://www.salesdivas.com
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Kristen Eckstein
If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? My book, Financial Survival: Practical Ways to Save Money Money, was released in September of 2008. If I could go back, I would hire a marketing representative earlier to start pre premarketing for the book. She could have scheduled interviews, seminars and other marketing opportuni opportunities even before the book's release, which would have created more potential buyers faster.
I also should ould have asked normal people, the book's specific target audience, to review it instead of "professional" reviewers. Unfortunately, many "professional" reviewers made assumptions about the book based on its title (e.g., thinking that the book would be abo about investments, savings, retirement, etc.) etc and failed to realize that the book is strictly about practical ways to save money. money
Because of this misconception, a few of them gave the book ook incredibly negative reviews; some even attempt attempted to discredit me personally nally as its author. Normal, Normal everyday people have overwhelmingly loved the book. The good thing is, this process has helped me determine my target audience! I should have started earlier with some sort of pre pre-marketing marketing questionnaire to try and determine my target audience more in in-depth depth before publication. Although most people can relate to the subject matter, the book is still not for everyone. Now that its out and has been gaining attention for a little while, the markets response has led me to write a an n article for other authors about their target audience. I hope others can learn from what Ive learned!
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have taken a course in hosting seminars and being a coach first. I was asked by a client to start it "on the fly" and have been learning some things the hard way - such as how to charge (or rather, how not to charge), how to explain things in a way my clients understand, how they think, etc. I have since found a course I love and am currently applying it to my Book Coaching Program.
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For the past four years, I've been coaching on a local level, never thinking to grow beyond where I currently am. If I could go back, I would have allowed myself to dream big so everything I did in the process led up to the big dream. Now I am dreaming big (really big) and finding I have to restructure just about all I've already built in the program to fit the larger dream. It's pretty much like starting over from scratch! I would not have allowed myself to put my ideas in a box to make them fit where I was at the beginning. It took a business coach friend of mine (who I met on Twitter) to kick me into gear and let me know I really could grow the program to include products, multiple options and more. I thought the method of Book Coaching I did could only be done one way. Now that I see I was wrong, I'm changing that, but it would have been easier to do from the start!
Bio: Kristen Eckstein is a graphic designer (book design specialty) and book coach who's always looking for the next good deal and has an eye for finding quality things at discounted rates or even free. She has had personal experience with each point in her book, Financial Survival, and has been actively sharing them with others for several years. The feedback she received while sharing the insights in this book with others was so good she decided to put them all together in one place for easy reference. In her book, Kristen Eckstein shares insights that changed her lifestyle when her family lived for several years with little to no income. To this day, she uses the principles she discovered to save money and actively shares them with others. She hopes your financial life is changed for the better by the content within this book. As a Book Coach, Kristen's passion is to help authors see their dreams become reality through the I am Published Program (for authors who desire to have two or more titles published). The program is designed to assist authors one-on-one in self-publishing their work without the use of a "subsidy press" for under $2900. She offers a free audio workshop and quiz, Which Publishing Option is Right for You? available on the website www.iampublished.com. http://www.artsimagine.com http://www.financialsurvivalbook.com
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Paulette Ensign
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More joint venturing with colleagues for referrals to speaking gigs, and for co-presenting. An expanded line of products various formats from the get-go. in
Accept my unique style for what it is rather than seeking to duplicate someone else.
If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? Learn about technology to understand what can be done, not to do it myself.
Develop more product formats from the outset, besides booklets and manuals.
Communicate with clients and prospects continuously.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? Charge higher rates from the beginning.
Study about what coaching is and how/if it can blend with consulting.
Have products immediately available.
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Bio: Paulette Ensign is founder and Chief Visionary of San Diego-based Tips Products International. She has personally sold well over a million copies (so far!) in four languages and various formats of her 16-page booklet, 110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life, without spending a penny on advertising. She teaches people worldwide how to surpass her results. Her direct, no-nonsense approach means any contact you have with her products, rent-a-brain consulting, or speaking presentation will be full of great marketing ideas, just ONE of which could significantly increase YOUR BOTTOM LINE, using booklets and other forms of information products online and offline to sell more of your products and services. http://www.tipsbooklets.com http://www.PublishingProsperity.com http://www.CollectionOfExperts.com
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Ann Evanston
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? Were speakers because we have egos, we like ourselves, we like to present, we think were funny, were good storytellers. All that makes us dynamic on-stage, but we also tend to be rebels and want to do it our way. So my first suggestion would be to get in and play where the big boys play, whether thats NSA or the Canadian Speakers Bureau. Show up at those networking events. Be a part of a group like that, and get active there. You might think, I dont need to be a speaker there. Who in that group is going to give me work? But ultimately, speaking before groups like that is really where you learn how to grow at a high level.
This absolutely has to do with marketing. What I find with most speakers is that they just want to present, and they dont necessarily enjoy marketing (and closing sales!), they just want to be on-stage. If you dont like to market yourself, you need to hire a professional to do it. Whether thats online through building your website, or creating tangible marketing material, you have to have a marketing presence. People have to be able to find you, and lets face it, as a speaker, you want them to go online, type in your name on Google, and wow, you come up right away! We are our brand. And if you dont have that kind of marketability and presence as a speaker, it hurts you.
I think that to be really smart about growing your business, speakers have to be willing to do pro bono work. I know that seems scary to some people, but even if its a 20-minute presentation in front of a group, you can offer some great motivational content. Heres the catch. When I coach speakers one-on-one, they learn that this is really not pro bono work, because you are actually trading for something, just not for dollars. When you do that pro bono engagement you need a fabulous hand-out, not necessarily flashy. It could be black-and-white, thats fine. But it needs to have all of your contact information and a call to action. Although Im 12 years now into the speaking business, about once a quarter I still do a pro bono engagement. But Im very strategic about when and where I do it. I find when I am in front of new audiences, that gives me opportunities to try new material and see how well it does. Trying out new material pro bono is a good thing, there isnt as much pressure as for a group that paid me to speak.
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If youre really smart about your pro bono opportunities, you could even do a call to action at the front of the room. Either promote your next workshop or your next teleseminar, or if you have products, close by talking about your books or your CDs or your audios. Say to the audience, Im giving you a discount today just because youre here. And youll make money that way. Most organizations that ask you to speak pro bono are fine with letting you do that type of self-promotion. If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently?
The world is so different for coaching now. When I started coaching, there wasnt a Coaches University or formal certificates in coaching. Coaches had Masters degrees or higher, and were usually psychologists. So its a different world in terms of that whole coaching dynamic. If you are a speaker who wants to crossover and do both speaking and coaching, you have to be willing to openly and honestly say that you are a coach. So whenever I present, I always talk about a coaching client I have right now and one of the things were working on. And that gets people to come up to me and say I would love to do coaching with you. This strategy helps speakers crossover if youre wanting to do more coaching and be on the road less! Coaches have to have a clear plan, in terms of: What are you helping somebody work on? How are your assignments coming? What will people do to be a value-add to you, and to themselves, today? How are you tracking all this, so you know what your clients are doing and can be of value to them on each call or at each session? I think that most people who get into coaching dont really have that system in place, and then their work starts to feel like counseling, not coaching. Also, have a way to record coaching classes and send them to your client they will LOVE you for it!
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Coaching does not need to be on a rigid weekly schedule or monthly schedule. It should be based on an individuals needs to be effective. Some coaches say, You must get this work done before we meet again. I find that my clients are happiest when they say to me, I really need to talk to you in the next two weeks, or, give me a month; I need time to work on this stuff. So the willingness on your part to let people work at their own pace and set their own timetables is valuable, because then theyll come back to you of their own free will. Bio: Ann M. Evanston, M.A., has developed clients worldwide for over a decade. She teaches techniques of the warrior to her clients, who learn to create pull to attract customer loyalty, channel intrinsic motivators, create buy-in, and ultimately obtain the results they desire. Ann is certified by Development Dimensions International, Behavioral Technology Interviewing, Leadership Pipeline and is a faculty member of the American Management Association. To learn more about her innovative warrior programs that turn survivors into thrivers, email ann@zenaenterprises.com.
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Ann has over 20 years of speaking and consulting experience. With an extensive background in developing new leaders, from those in corporate America to those starting their own businesses, she has developed programs and presented seminars to diverse populations and workforces. Anns speaking career began in seventh grade, where she participated in Toastmasters and competed in Oratory. She has always wanted to be a speaker and coach. Ann has spoken in front of audiences as small as ten people. By contrast, she had the honor of speaking in front of 10,000 people in 1985 when she was MC for the Push for Excellence Program at the Tacoma Dome. Ann Evanston holds a Masters degree in Psychology/Training and Organizational Development from Antioch University Seattle, and a B.A. in Sociology from Whitman College. Her social psychology degrees have made her an expert in the on-line social networking arena, and she teaches others how to connect and attract what they need, whether in person or online. Reviews of Ann as a speaker and seminar leader include highly entertaining, insightful, knowledgeable, and thought-provoking. Ann is an energetic, fun-loving, wise professional speaker and trainer who will make your audience laugh, challenge them to think, push them to excel, and motivate them to achieve more in their lives. http://Warrior-Preneur.com
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Marie Forleo
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I would always have an amazingly valuable FREE offer to share with people that would drive them back to the website to build the list. That could be a video/audio or ebook. Anything that gets them coming to my site to sign-up.
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I would have all my talks video recorded and someone taking photographs of me on stage so I have that footage for my marketing. I would record video testimonials from promoters and audience members after my talk. If someone thought your talk was amazing and they got so much value out of it, in those 5 minutes or 10 minutes after you get off stage people are usually glowing if you shared great stuff. And if you can use those testimonials to either market to other speaking places so you can get more gigs or you can use them ethically on your website to promote your products and services. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? NOTE: I actually LOVED the way I did my book :) advice of MANY coaches - turned out fabulous! I self-published against the
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Would have done RTIR sooner (radio interviews rock ;)
I would have launched follow-up programs/products sooner.
If you are going to self-publish you need to do everything you can to make it the most professionally self-published book possible. Im not a big fan of POD (print on demand). I dont think the quality is that great and I would spend the extra whatever, couple of thousand dollars or couple hundred dollars, to get like the best layout designer you could get, to really take your time with the copy and the design. When I walked my book into McGraw Hill they said it was the best selfpublished book theyd ever seen.
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Three words: video, video, video :) testimonials, YouTube, etc.
Use on home page of book website,
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? I would batch all my clients on 2 days per week. Spend other days marketing and creating content/products. I would have created products MUCH faster.
I would have raised my prices a lot sooner, at least double or tripled them.
Bio: Marie Forleo is one of the most diversely successful female entrepreneurs today. As a best-selling author, speaker, online entrepreneur, Nike Athlete & Master Trainer, and dancer/choreographer, Marie has defied conventional wisdom and achieved phenomenal success across multiple industries. Shes the CEO of Marie Forleo International, Inc., a company dedicated to empowering women to change the world through entrepreneurship, creativity and spiritual transformation. She believes pro-active, entrepreneurial-minded and spiritually awake women are unstoppable catalysts for global change. Every womans wellbeing and success has a profound and immediate impact on her family, community and the world at large. Through her dynamic training products and coaching programs, Marie educates and inspires with a rare mix of humor, wisdom, and razor-sharp insight. She is well known for her down to earth, tell-it-like-it-is style. Marie is the Fox News online relationship expert as well as the author of Make Every Man Want You: How To Be So Irresistible Youll Barely Keep From Dating Yourself! published by McGraw-Hill and currently selling in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Korea, India, Poland, France and Portugal. Shes appeared in The New York Times, Shape Magazine, on The Rachel Ray Show, ABCs 20/20, CNN.com, Forbes.com, HSN and has done countless interviews on radio and TV. Marie works with legendary companies like MTV and VH1, and partners with leading womens magazines like Self, Womens Health and Prevention Magazine.
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She has four top selling fitness DVDs and is a Master Trainer and Elite Athlete for the Nike Rockstar Workout. She recently helped bring dance to the Middle East by leading events in Dubai to launch Nike Women Arabia. Her newest programs, under the brand Rich, Happy & Hot are designed to give women the tools, inspiration and kick-in the pants needed to turn their passions into profit and use their creativity to change the world...all while enhancing their relationships and personal well-being. As a self-proclaimed multi-passionate entrepreneur, Marie encourages us to expand our creative possibilities rather than get stuck in old paradigms. After graduating as Valedictorian of Seton Hall University with a bachelors degree in business finance, she worked as trading assistant on the floor of the NYSE and for several years at Cond Nast Publications before starting her own business. A born and raised Jersey girl, Marie now happily splits her time living in the West Village, NYC and her beach house in the Hamptons with her favorite actor (and fianc) Josh and her favorite new young actor (and step-son) Zane. http://www.marieforleo.com
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Jennifer Groover
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? Making product and understanding the purpose of product. Whether it be a hard product or an online servicetype product that you could have driven people to and coming up with a strategy in order to get them there. And when I first started speaking, I was actually in the fitness world. And it was more about motivational speaking for people and I thought it was more of my duty to just be there and really motivating people and I didnt understand the value of the extended relationship with me. And how to approach that and how to sell it without feeling like I was not being genuine in what my message was.
And so I really learned that people wanted to take me with them somehow and extend the emotion of which they engaged in with me. So I would definitely say understanding what product is, how to build it so that it is in alignment with your brand. Not somebody elses brand, not do what somebody else is doing just because its working for them. It has to be in alignment with what your brand is, what your message is, what your genuine purpose is and if you can think about the emotion and feeling that you want your listeners to be engaged with while youre there and then after your need that can help you define what your product is. Whether its a book, whether its an online service that they can sign up for while theyre there with you, the secret really is though and one of my biggest misconceptions is at the end if I try and sell them on it or try to get them to take action theyre going to see me as not being genuine. But the reality is thats when they are going to buy because theyre in that emotional state where they want to continue the feeling after you leave and after they leave. So you want to create some sort of opportunity in which you can get them to purchase something or sign up for some service that youre offering as just an extension of what youre doing, not selling them on. And the way you sell is that exact intention. If you can envision yourself beforehand and the strategy how youre going to communicate it and what products youre going to lead with and how youre going to get them to understand that youre offering it to them for a certain sense of value, if you can put yourself in that state of Im giving them the opportunity to take this experience home with them or keep them in this mental state longer by giving it to them, you dont feel like youre
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selling it and if you approach that from the stage that way, youre not selling it. Youre giving them you for a longer period of time.
Not asking for help soon enough from other people who have done it. I think a large part of once you are capable of booking yourself to speak you now are establishing yourself or positioning yourself as an expert of something. Often you feel like you cant ask for help because youll seem like youre not an expert or youll seem like you dont know enough to be an expert to somebody you look up to or you might just feel silly altogether for asking for help, or you might feel bad because you feel like youre imposing upon somebody else and just like we all like to help other people, we want to help others, there are other people who want to help us, too. And theres always somebody higher up in the rankings or more established or who has perfected this sense of engaging from the stage more than you have so its not bad to look to that person who has mastered is more than you have. And say, can you give me some checks? What would you advice be? Even if youre too intimidated at the moment to ask for help or you cant afford to hire them for help, sit on the other side of the stage and watch them as much as you possibly can. Watch them and model what theyre doing. Learn that theres a formula for everything theyre doing.
Thoughts on product for sale from stage or send later: I believe in bringing samples; visual, aesthetics of the product. But have some sort of form or something that people can purchase and have mailed to them, because the same way you dont want to lug it, they dont want to lug it. Remember, youre giving them something; theyve got to take it home, too. So I think all around you definitely want a visual aesthetic of what youre selling but you dont want to carry 2,000 with you and its not cost-effective for you as a business owner. It also can be cost-prohibitive to the person purchasing it not to be able to fit it into their suitcase or its just going to cause an inconvenience. Ive got to tell you there have been times when I have not purchased things.
I also think were moving into more of a digital age. I know a lot of people still make their audio, DVDs and CDs for people to feel in terms of something tangible, but I firmly believe that people are moving to a downloadable world and if you can just talk to them, have the exchange of commitment on their part of what theyre purchasing and send it to them in terms of a downloadable form, theyre going to be just as happy with it. As a matter of fact, they might be happier with it because its one last thing they have to have. Going back to product, part of speaking, especially if youre doing it in the beginning and youre not getting paid a ton of money for it, in the beginning its about your experience and creating credibility and creating momentum and creating a fan base. One thing that I didnt do in the beginning well enough and wish I had was a system of collecting business cards. And a reason. So when youre a new speaker and youre not a keynote possibly, and people arent coming there to see you but maybe for somebody else, you might have to create something a little bit
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more strategic as a reason for you to collect business cards from people. Whether its a giveaway or something, whether its at the end for hand-outs, for example, or whether it be for a raffle or for someone to win a handbag at the end of the day. Whatever it is, you have to come up with a way to get people to want to give you their business cards because everyone is on a million mailing lists and people are becoming more and more reserved at just giving out their email addresses because theyre digging through thousands of emails each week. So you really have to come up with a way, strategically plan it ahead of time, of how youre going to get people to hand over their business cards to you. And then come up with a system once you come home to immediately get them into your contact management system. If you dont do it immediately youre going to lose the cards, and if you dont reach out to them shortly after, theyre going to forget who you are and theyre going to delete you or theyre going to unsubscribe from you and your mailing list because theyre going to forget who you are. So its not just about how you get them once youre there, its about how you maintain your relationship with them immediately when you get home. And I highly, highly recommend when you talk to them for the first time once youve put them into your contact management system and youve sent them a newsletter of some sort I highly recommend you dont try to sell them anything at that moment. ITS ABOUT RE-ENGAGING IN THE EMOTION THAT THEY HAD WHEN THEY WERE WITH YOU. Its about building a relationship and about building trust and building respect for what youre doing and not turning around and selling. I will also follow that with thats the quickest way to get yourself unsubscribed. People are looking for ways to unsubscribe and you dont want it to be you so youre looking for ways to offer value and emotion and thats really what it is. I mean value is part of what youre giving, but its really what emotion did I engage them in and do I get it back to them. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently?
Truly identify what is your ultimate goal. If your ultimate goal is to make this another arm of revenue generation for your company, and fame and ideology of expertise on television is not your goal and money is your goal, and connection and relationships are your goal, but you really dont care about the pedestal that might come along with it, you would take one path. If your ideology is to really get onto television shows and garner some sort of media attention out of it, you might take another path. If you want longevity as a well-known author, you might take a different path. So the first step you have to do is identify what is your goal in writing these books, in becoming an author. What do you want to gain from the world? What opportunities do you want to come from it. If you selected the top three things that
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you want to gain, you have to see what falls first. And that really can tell what your strategy is. Whats your point? What platform is this for you?
Understand the industry, not just the publishing industry but the media industry and understand what the ramifications are. Everybody now, especially in the publishing world, is literally almost shut down and frozen in taking on any new authors unless you are above us. You need to understand what traditional publishing is, how it works and what the upside of it is. The relationships that you garner from the media in getting out there. One of the downsides is the amount of revenue that can be pulled from each book thats purchased. Also, sense of loss of control of certain things. Sometimes thats good because people in the publishing world got a better formula out of it. But then one of my good friends who is a vice president and producer and media personnel at Fox had this amazing book deal, and he feels like the creative control and the direction they took nearly killed his book. It was different than he wanted and he feels like it killed his track record in terms of the publishing world as an author and now hes going to have to start all over again. So theres an upside and a downside to it. Some people should lose creative control and others shouldnt. But you have to really evaluate is that your strength or not. Are you a marketing guru, a marketing genius, do you feel marketing savvy or is somebody better than you? And Im not going to say thats a con; it could be a pro or con, but its something to think about. The biggest thing to evaluate that takes the choice out of it is do you have a platform. And if you dont have a platform and you havent written a book and you dont have a database of a million people, you could have a database of a million people and no TV experience and be okay. Or you could have a ton of experience and a limited database but you have to have something of a platform that you can get your distribution through. Or you can just kind of forget going that route. Or not going that route you might get a lot of turn-downs, especially at this time in this economy. I think that right now publishing is tricky because if you want to really genuinely make a ton of money I mean lets evaluate the online marketing world. There are a lot of people in this online marketing circle, like Joe Koff (unclear on name), for example, who have tremendous rapport and relationships with their database. And try and push through the numbers that can turn a book into a best seller without the push of the media in traditional manners. Then thats a very good thing. And could it turn then into bigger publishing deals with bigger publishing houses? Yes. But I just heard of a story the other day where a man went the self-publishing route first and he sold 60,000 units in the past eight months, I think it is, or nine months. Really amazing. He proved that there was value and that people wanted it and for some reason I think more from the media side he wanted a traditional book deal and hes been turned down so far by just about every publisher hes gone to.
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I think thats partly brave but its partly also a scary thing in traditional media for actual television and publishing media that a lot of times thats how publishers get poo-pooed once they self-publish. Or especially if they self-publish and dont sell enough. If you self-publish and you dont sell enough copies, then youre never going to get a traditional media deal. So youve really got to analyze again what your ultimate goal is and I tell people, honestly, if you want to become an author for the next two years focus on your platform. Build your platform. Dont even worry about your book right now. Just build your platform. Whenever someone says to me, How do I find an agent? I say, Build your platform so an agent finds you. I have to say if someone is writing a novel of some sort its a little bit different than the approach of someone who is writing a self-help book or a business book. It is a lot different actually but for the most part I say most people arent writing novels, they want to write books about their expertise or their stories of their life and the coaching, speaking, author platform tripod that youve created here Im definitely assuming that theyre coming from some sort of message that they want from their personal experience.
Platform is everything. Most people dont want to believe it, most people wish it wasnt true but it is and its kind of the truth that hurts for some people if they dont have the platform. And thats why I said then build a platform. Go out and speak for free. Make sure youre speaking two times a month and youre putting yourself out there. And doing something for free if you cant get paid. Obviously, if you can get paid, get paid. But make sure that youre out there, constantly building a platform and building a speaking base and getting those emails into your database, and getting articles written about you. First local and then move up to national. Hire a publicist if you can afford to hire a publicist, to get yourself out there because it was just an amazing experience for me. And heres somebody even going into and I entered the publishing world as the economy was starting to get a little bit shaky and people were getting a little nervous. But I have recount distribution at over 1,000 boutiques across the world, in the United States and six other countries and I have deals with mass retailers like K-Mart and Wal-Mart. I have Barnes and Noble. Im doing an exclusive learning product line for them; I have books in their stores. I have all of these distribution channels, Im on TV I dont know how many times a week or a month. I have all these things that you think youre walking in here, yes maybe a six figure deal, seven figure deal and they still want to challenge you. They still want to question your ability to not just have that platform but to motivate and make people act from that platform. People often dont want to hear it, but I know this, they dont care how smart you are. Youre going through publishing or youre going through distribution channels as actual sales at retailers. And all they care about is your platform. Even experts now, media is getting savvier now in that they want experts that they know have
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pushed with their platform. QVC is the greatest example in the world. This is a profound example. It used to be that as an entrepreneur you were the luckiest person in the world to get your product on QVC. And it created an opportunity for distribution and awareness and other deals with other retailers. QVC now not only looks to you as the entrepreneur with a good product but what your distribution channel is. What your platform is. How many new customers can they get from you to QVC who have never been to QVC before? Are you capable of not just a good product but a brand, do you have a platform strong enough to get us new customers when youre on television. Thats the state of the world today, and thats television as well. Thats like when youre going on the Today Show, when youre going on the Morning Show, or youre going on the news shows they dont just look at you as an expert anymore. People are looking at an expert with a push. Can you make your database take action to watch your show tonight? So now I have to say its not just about a better platform. Its about demonstrating action from your platform. For me to say as part of the demonstration that I have all these retail distributions, all these people distributing accessories for me, its my handbag company became X amount of dollars within two years faster than any other handbag brand. It was a demonstration of push, a demonstration of purchase from consumers. And its new. Its new that theyre doing this but its genius that they are, its brilliant, and I go on air bringing them new clients because I have a relationship. Its Constant Motion Of Emotion within your relationships. Its exactly what it is. Its constantly having that relationship and utilizing it across the board in all of your different segments. All the different things. Its about having a relationship with my database to say, Were on QVC, were offering a new style and saying something that motivates them to go there and buy even though they already have five handbags. What I see in many ways in terms of experts is that theres a media world of experts that I circle with and then theres this online world of experts that I circle with. Theyre not separate circles and theres a lot of crossover over, obviously, with them. But theres definitely within the methods there are two different methods and theyre crossing over more now than in the last few years, of course. But theyre still two different worlds in many ways. Often experts that I see in the media world evaluate their value by the different news outlets that theyre on. And how many times theyre on. And the magazines that theyre in and if theyve ever had a feature story. Where the online world experts more evaluate their value in their database and how many people they have in their database. And those are really irrelevant. In many ways if you cant take action and if you have a million people but none of them are taking action, and somebody else has 2000 people but all of them are taking action, that 2000 person as an expert is much more valuable.
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So the million doesnt matter. Its the conversion of whatever the number is that really matters. It can totally change your business. Ill add that motion of emotion constantly to my Principles of Success. I do the speaking all the time at a little lunch caf and the principles of success that Ive kind of come up with in my own journeys of life and my own experience of life and I will add that to it. Id have to say that to sum all those three things up is being effective versus just being there. Being an effective voice and not just a voice. If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently?
Underestimating your value and being afraid to ask for money are the two top ones. Underestimating your value is, I think, the largest. And I also think at the same exact time I want to say overestimating your value. And I dont know if you want to put that as two separate ones or the same ones. Most people when theyre getting started underestimate their value and therefore they often probably lose clients because clients dont have as much confidence in them. If everybody else is trying to charge them $250/hr and you come in at $50/hr that reeks of desperation. So you really need to know who is charging for what in that industry. And how theyre charging and why theyre charging and what their credibility factor is and why theyre charging it. If they have 25 years experience and theyre teaching at Columbia and theyre on the news every week, yes they are going to be charging more. So you want to fall into a realistic line of expectation underneath that. If the Columbia person is charging $250/hr, you probably want to be at $150/hr. I think people are afraid to ask. But I think also on the flip side of these is overcharging people. And I find that grossly just as much of a fault often as undercharging. And Ive seen people charging $5,000/hr for their time and I dont even know if they have ever even charged $5,000/hr for their time. Who knows, maybe he did. Youve got to be realistic and bring down your ego and I know that there are people out there who are teaching people, charge it, people want to pay it and if you ask for it, theyre going to pay for it. In this economy more than ever, theyre not going to pay for it because they dont have it to spend. Right now, especially in this economy, while keeping this content relevant and timeless I feel a responsibility also to say that you might have to come up with a different formula of how youre getting paid, and possibly even monthly payments or weekly payments for people if youre doing ongoing coaching. You might have to come up with a different structure of how youre getting paid. A lot of people also are bartering, too, at a higher rate than they would ever think about it three years ago so you might want to charge a fee and barter at the same time.
Careful not to over-offer. Want to be realistic in what youre offering people. Especially in the beginning we are so excited to give everything we know away and to say yes I can do this, and yes I can do that. Be very focused on what your goals are in achieving in your career and who you are as a coach. And be clear on what the customers expectation is of you. You might be offering things that
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they dont even care about. And its causing you more work than you need to be doing. And you also might be committing to something you cant come through with, and thats even worse. Because that ruins your credibility instantly. So dont offer something that youre not capable of doing. Expert police over here speaking; one of my pet peeves and I think one of the biggest issues in the world of coaching and mentoring is there are so many people that do exactly what you just said and theyve never done it before. And to potential customers, I say to people, if you want to be mentored to achieve a goal, never hire somebody that hasnt achieved that goal already. If you want to take an idea and turn it into a multi-million dollar company, the person thats teaching you better have done the same thing first. And as the coach, your responsibility is to stay within the confinement of credibility and stay true to it and ethical within it and not offer something you really dont know. If you dont know how to tell somebody to get Twitter to make you more money in business, not just build more friends, but really how to make money and conversion from utilizing Twitter, if youve never done it, if youve never made a dollar that could be truly identified, then dont say that you can do that. Say that you know how to acquire friends on Twitter. Dont promise something that youve never done yourself. Bio: Tagged by Success Magazine as a "One Woman Brand" and Creativity and Innovation Guru, a leading "Serial Entrepreneur" by Entrepreneur Magazine and having drawn comparisons to Walt Disney and Benjamin Franklin, Jen Groover's name has quickly become synonymous with innovation, entrepreneurship, and evolution. This concept and product development expert has not only masterminded and built her own companies but she also has assisted in the launch of over fifty other companies and, in the process, taken on more roles than a Shakespeare theatre. She has gone from guest-hosting spots on QVC to inking deals with some of the industrys biggest heavyweights and has been singled out as a preeminent entrepreneurial leader by such business celebs/best-selling authors as Donny Deutsch and Dr. Larina Kase. Jens diverse experience, unique perspective, and knowledge enables her to identify with, motivate, and inspire people of varying backgrounds and demographics and has led her to become a highly sought after speaker and author contributing editorial pieces to several prominent business magazines and booking speaking engagements that include political conferences (most recently the Texas and Pennsylvania Governors Conferences), charity fundraisers, Learning Annex seminars, and womens leadership conferences. She is also the National Spokesperson and a Board of Directors member for Girls Take Charge, a leadership organization for girls 9-18 years of age. As a serial entrepreneur and advocate for business owners, Jens guidance and support has impacted thousands of businesses in all phases of the cycle. She has recently created and hosts Launchers Caf - a cutting-edge entrepreneurial, multi-
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media, and interactive brand with tens-of-thousands of members that is changing the way entrepreneurs/launchers learn, share information, do business, and accelerate business growth. Jen Groover is simply a successful and balanced businesswoman who refuses to pick one box to fit into and instead thrives in all of them. Her religion is that of inspiration, creativity, and perseverance and it is reflected in her mantras Have more fear or regret than failure and What if? and Why not?. Jen will further these messages in the near future with such anticipated offerings as the release of her aptly titled first book, What if? and Why not? (for which she has already created and launched a blog of the same name www.whatifandwhynot.com) and various television productions that are guaranteed to push the envelope in terms of thought and format. http://www.jengroover.com
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Josh Hinds
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have started accepting more speaking gigs from the beginning. For example, unlike a lot of people that are starting out wanting to be a speaker, looking for gigs, what was happening with me because I had already built this side and had already developed my network to a pretty good point, I was getting a lot of people asking me to do it. But for whatever reason I really wasnt living as big as perhaps I should have been so perhaps I was just going to say, No, no, Im really just a connector of other people. I bring the resources and I run Web sites but I dont really try and teach myself, even though in my mind that was something that I wanted to do.
Be big on networking, on building relationships, that kind of thing. Try to always lead off with rather than asking something for myself, how can I help the other person, trying to build a network and build connections that way.
I was always focusing on the other person; I almost did it to a fault in that I would never ask for anything. Almost to the point that people would ask me as to how they could return the favor. And I was in this mindset, Id just no, no, no, dont worry about me. When you let me help you, youre helping me. Which I believed. Youre really doing people a disservice when you dont allow them to return the favor, so to speak. And I thought that was unique to me until I actually read The Go Giver by a guy that we both know, Bob Burg, who was speaking at this event. And he actually in his book gave that a title and it was a relief. I thought I was the only one that suffered from that problem. And the crazy thing about it is we all do. Its not the kind of thing theyre asking us for help and we have to say, Why yes, Id like your first born. We all have little things. And its one of those things that were really honoring them. Were sort of doing a disservice to ourselves and to them if we dont accept. And the funny thing about that with my speaking business in particular, once I sort of grasped that and dont get me wrong, its not like Ive completely twisted this thing around and Im looking at it like I helped this person so I expect this. Not that at all. But I am aware that if people ask, there is a way and sometimes theres not and so I dont really get stuck on that.
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I noticed that I might end up having more people ask me to be a part of events simply by saying, Hey, Im doing this. If you hear of anybody that I might be a good fit for. Ill do this; Ill do the same for you. And just talking that part of my business up instead of assuming that people are going to read my mind, so to speak. Along the same lines, when somebody asks me for a favor, Im happy to do that, I dont put strings on it. But at the same time its okay to say, Hey, I dont want you to feel like you have to do this, but if you could help me in this way. Its okay to do that, too. Thats the way the world works.
Being aware. I would definitely spend more time not necessarily verbally puking out there on Twitter that Im looking for speaking deals but definitely using the underused tool of Twitter search. Im putting in something as simple as looking for a speaker and youll just see people looking for speakers. And make it an automated part of your business. And youre not going to be a perfect fit for everything. I found a woman on Twitter looking for a speaker and I just cross-referenced her by email by where her website was at. How easy was that? Its one of those things where if nothing else theres something where you get to connect. Who knows, maybe itll work, maybe it wont. But it took so little to do it. Set it up in TweetDeck (www.TweetDeck.com)
I actually speak on motivational topics, but in particular overcoming adversity. I just plug in the questions of adversity. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? There are different ways to write a book. The way I learned to write was almost out of necessity from my own personal story. I actually have a neurological disorder, called Tourettes Syndrome, and sort of the way that this played in what ended up happening was I was dealing with a tic which is something like a massive stutter. It was blocking me and I couldnt spit out what I wanted to say. So I had these articulate thoughts in my head I couldnt spit them out so I was dealing with anxiety. So it became a necessity, how do I find this work-around to do it. And so by necessity, I just started writing. Didnt have any training. I have people all the time tell me Im a terrible writer. Fortunately, not everybody does. A lot of people do like what I have to say.
But I think it really, really plays to the fact that your message is what matters. Because there are editors that will take care of it. I really believe this. All kinds of forces will come to your aid if youll just kind of put it out there. So if you want to write a book, instead of looking and saying nobodys given me permission to say that Im a journalist or that I have an English degree or whatever. The point is get it out there and whats your work-around. You can do what I did and just write like youd speak in your mind and let somebody else worry about the other stuff.
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Scott Stratten
Or, you could do what a lot of people are having a lot of success with and thats look into one of these programs that dictates. Write your thoughts down. Have somebody transcribe it. Its actually amazing how you can put together books with transcription. Its all about the work-around. Theres always a work-around and then just getting over the fact that theres a specific way to do it. Ive had so many conversations with people that just get things done in ways you couldnt even comprehend.
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Id also add certainly do the research if youre going to be creating products to be a market for your specific topic. But dont get caught up in it saying that theres not. It plays back to what we said about putting it out there.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? I created eBooks and products and different things like that and rather than really try to look at them to sell necessarily, which I think initially was a good thing, but rather than try to create a whole bunch of products I was basically looking at it from the standpoint of bringing traffic. Which was good but at the same time I also should have been looking at creating products from a revenue point of view. You dont really realize some of the best products Ive ever been part of have also been created, in some instances, been as simple as me sitting in front of a simple web cam recording because its content that matters. And in the future we may get to this point where, yeah, the quality has to be just HD and crisp but right now were not there. And so my point would be you want to project a good image but I see a lot of people that get stuck with this idea that they have to have all this and time and time again the person never gets anything done because they wait for it to be perfect. While there are just countless examples of people that for lack of making the prettiest web page or the prettiest sales page or doing all the bells and whistles with their video. That stuffs hugely important but those details you can plug into but get out there and make it happen instead of getting caught up in a lot of the specifics.
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Bio: Josh Hinds is the founder of GetMotivation.com and publishes a free newsletter called Let's Talk Motivation! Since the site began millions of visitors have taken advantage of the community, articles, advice and resources that are available there. He also runs a network of personal and professional development sites including: BusinessNetworkingAdvice.com, SalesTrainingAdvice.com, GoalsSuccess.com and BusinessLeadershipAdvice.com. Josh is a firm believer that if one has the desire or dream strong enough, no matter what obstacles may be in the way, there's almost always a work-around to achieve success in that given area. The idea that there's always a work-around even if the solution doesn't always appear obvious is something that Josh put into practice in his own life to get to where he is now. Josh practices the simple belief that opportunities open themselves up when you lead with a sincere willingness to help others. www.GetMotivation.com
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Scott Stratten
Susan Kildahl
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have an actual working plan mapped out with timelines, goals, income projections, marketing plan, business plan, exit strategy and backup savings.
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I would have hired a different type of coach that understood better where I wanted to be in the next 5 years.
I would have done a lot of research on what it takes to make 6 figures from a home-based coaching business. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? I am working on my first book...the idea is there, the size, the format....the content is on the way but is not projected to start until 4th quarter of this year. I plan to work smarter and more effectively to do the book...I am hiring experts to help me get it done correctly.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have liked to have had a lot more structure for my planning and implementation for all things mentioned above, i.e. product, pricing, methods, etc.
Bio: Susan Kildahls career has been a classic story of high-powered business woman turned entrepreneur. And through her own success she has been driven to not only help herself but other business owners as well. Susan does this through her career as a Business Strategist, her leadership of L.E.A.D. Networking (Leadership, Education and Development) and communications to business owners over the radio airwaves with The Susan Kildahl Show: Business Strategies radio show on www.realcoachingradio.com each Wednesday at 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM Mountain time.
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Susan has been providing consulting services to business owners for over seven years. Through her consulting business, Susan Kildahl, Inc., she is devoted to supporting and leading business owners to succeed. Business strategies are truly her gift! Susan can be reached via her website or by calling 303-948-0945. http://www.susankildahl.com
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Scott Stratten
Mike Litman
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently?
The first thing I would do is invest more aggressively and more consistently in building my database.
Most people focus completely on free traffic, which is excellent. But what I would do is because later on in my business I accelerated the growth and if I knew what I knew then, I would have earlier started with low-cost email marketing, specifically sold ads to niche lists and I would have built my newsletter faster because the bigger my list becomes over time the more money it generates. So that would be the first thing I would do. One of the biggest reasons for someone starting, who has started, or is starting is that very few people talk about getting the skill-set of understanding how to advertise. So while social media is very important and the free things are really great, most big businesses have grown their size through having a component of their growth through advertising. So the skill-set of understanding how to spend money to make money, how to spend $10 and be patient enough to get that back whether its in a week or six months, is really the part of mix of any coachs marketing plan. I would take much, much, much better care of my customers. Early on in most, many businesses, its an infatuation of an obsession with making money, which is understandable because its important, but you have to realize the inherent value in that person, in that customer, long-term. So instead of just selling products, more of the TLC approach would have been a greater way to help them achieve their goals and solve their problems better and also be a greater opportunity for revenue. So you realize that a smaller, good customer is treated well, especially this day, are your greatest assets and if I would start again I would really take better care of the customers and what I would probably also do is create more and live touch points. Like more seminars, and even, I would have even looked to bring the Tribe together more often for a greater attraction, greater loyalty, and all that kind of good stuff.
If I could start all over again, early on we were fortunate enough to get a lot of great testimonials, back then video wasnt as prevalent, we had a lot of great
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testimonials and people liked my products, especially my CD series, we got hundreds of great testimonials, loved the info, loved the products but we were delinquent in capturing them, organizing them and using them intelligently to sell our products. We kind of took a maybe lazy route, maybe we didnt see the value or social proof of testimonials, you read about contents a thousand times but really didnt take advantage enough so basically if you watch Tony Robbins infomercial testimonials today from 30 years ago. So its never too early to capture testimonials, to leverage testimonials and to use them, and now with video theyre even more powerful. So that would be the third one I would do all over again. I would better organize my testimonials and I would better leverage them to help grow the business. The thing I have always said I would love would be if someone emails me something nice I say, Well, thats very nice. Im always looking to help and inspire other people and introduce them to this product or service. Can I use what you wrote here as a testimonial, would you be kind enough to put a few sentences together that I can use? You can always add an incentive. Send me over something. Even before I get a testimonial I have this digital product here Im going to send to you in advance as a thank you for doing it. So you always try to make everything benefit-oriented to the person, so I would say I would try to help more people. Or if you want to add an incentive like giving them something free as a way to say thank you. I dont know, I cant remember in 10 years too many people saying no to testimonials that enjoyed the product and got value from it. Bio: Mike Litman is the #1 best-selling author of 'Conversations with Millionaires'. Over the last 8 years, Mike has helped over 250,000 people unleash their greatness. Mike has shared the stage with many top industry experts including Mark Victor Hansen, Jim Rohn, T. Harv Eker, Stephen Pierce, Bob Proctor, and others. http://www.mikelitman.com
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Scott Stratten
Elizabeth Marshall
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I resonated with teleseminars so I should have started with teleseminars since thats a significant part of what I do. Theres a preconceived notion that you have to have all the technical equipment and its more difficult that it is. And its really pretty simple. You have to get a phone, a headset and you dont even have to have any recording equipment. You just get audio acrobat and there you go. And its much more cost efficient and saleable.
For in-person speaking, I would say having even a $20 CD, having some back-of-the-room products.
Free talks or talks that were lower budget would not have objected to me bringing products. But I didnt have it. It goes back to that sales cycle. They may sign up for your newsletter but they may be wanting a little bit more but they dont want to hire you as a coach or they dont want to pay for your top dollar online program but they do want a souvenir of your message and they will very easily pay for a paper or a CD or a recording and I think to that point theres another perception that creating products has to be horribly difficult, complicated and expensive. Now you can have teleseminars that youve done online and put them on a CD and call them a live event and people will forget. Sell them for decent quality and they wont expect to have a professional studio edited product, especially if its a live recording and they understand that it comes that way.
Early on in speaking, if you just pick one topic and just exhaust it. Be determined and relentless in reaching as many groups as possible with that relevant message. Or maybe having a main talk and then one version of that, rather than, say four or five different talks. Its time consuming, to really make sure you research and youre prepared for all that but I think you really, its hard to come into your own as a speaker if you havent mastered the content of it at a deep level and Ill give the music analogy for that. So like as a musician, as a pianist or oboist, I would memorize all my pieces and it wasnt until youd memorized the piece that youre performing or the entire recital that you could really get beyond the material and express yourself as an artist. And I think that separates good or average speakers from great speakers. Is getting beyond that content and being able to feel free to just be a rock star.
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If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently?
I would spend a lot more time spreading the idea of the book and getting some sort of ebook or some sort of prelease to really garner some interest in the topic itself because I think on the one hand you have a list, you have a subscriber base so theyre going to be fans and support but really giving people time to ingest and consume the idea and get really interested in it so that when the book comes out theyre not only buying it because they are in support of you and they generally like your message but they have been waiting for that book. And that message. And so I think that would make a difference.
Ill give an example. Like what Seth Godin did for Tribes, starting that community early on and really giving people a chance to interact and communicate and discuss the idea of Tribes and what it meant, I mean how successful was that. Writing is like exercise, and you can be in shape and out of shape. So I would say if you know youre going to start writing a book in April, make sure you have a habit even three months beforehand that youre writing a little bit every day. Even if youre just free forming or using say Julie Camerons book, The Art of Perseverance and doing her morning pages. Whatever will really get your creativity flowing and unencumbered so that you can, theres not so much pressure and so much of the now Im going to go write a book. You have the false pretense of pressure that come when youre writing a book.
And I got into the daily writing classes pretty quickly, but I think the creativity piece that I have been offering that in an intentional everyday would have made a difference. For the book creation process, I would go in with different expectations and let your customers shape the type of book that youre going to create. Ask for more input. We certainly had an R&D team and we got some feedback, but I think we could have done more surveying. And more Q&A and more discussion. I dont think it would have changed the main theme of the book but it might have changed some of the nuances and it would have tied back into that creativity. It becomes a collective effort rather than experts sitting in the glass castle and writing a book.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? Doing a product first. Not even a high-level. What would be a valuable homestudy kit or ebook that would be, doesnt have to be a huge price point but something for sale that gives you more credibility and it gives you more leverage and gives people more options in the way that they can engage with you. So they dont just have any either/or option or you get my free thing or you have to hire me at how much ever amount. Its too big of a trust gap and without it you dont have a sales platform.
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Scott Stratten
Target market. Much more of a niche. Especially for coaches, theres always this fear like but Im trained to help anyone. And I can help them with all these things. But the bottom line is that your clients dont, if you have an attorney he doesnt see himself the same way that the real estate agent does. Or a young mompreneur or female executive like in the last 10 years of their career. They view themselves differently and theyre going to self-identify with their peer group. And aside from that I just think its less, you can really engage in meaningful conversation with your potential clients in a way that you couldnt when you dont have a target market. Thinking differently about how you can deliver coaching and that coaching doesnt have to be this rigid formula of oh you hire me for a month of coaching and at least three sessions. It ties into products like looking at how you can deliver hybrid programs where you have say a teleseminar with open group coaching calls. Really just exploring all the different ways you can deliver to get some skills you have that you call coaching. So they see them differently and there are a lot more opportunities. Bio:
Elizabeth Marshall is co-author of The Contrarian Effect: Why It Pays (Big) to Take the Typical Sales Advice and Do the Opposite (Wiley, Sept 08). Shes also the founder and Chief Connection Officer for Marketing Marshall, a coaching and consulting firm dedicated to helping business experts and entrepreneurs attract clients, spread their message and sell their books. In 2007, she founded AuthorTeleseminars.com, the place where the best and brightest business authors come to spread their message and sell their books. Through Author Teleseminars, she has launched virtual book tours for clients such as Seth Godin, Michael Port and Howard Behar (former Starbucks President) and hosted business experts, such as Keith Ferrazzi, Tim Ferriss, David Allen and Tim Sanders. http://www.marketingmarshall.com
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Mollie Marti
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? Speakers can't be all things to all people. Develop 3 key speeches, based on the top 10 questions you are asked (or can provide really unique answers for!), and market those.
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Attend a high profile speakers training with an established reputation for delivering substance and connecting you to promoters and supporters. Network both in person and online and keep up with promising new connections. Videotape every speech (be thinking about products from the beginning!) and always have a camera handy to record post-speech testimonials.
If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? Get it into your head (really "get" this!) that writing the book is the easy part. Smart pre-launch marketing strategizing (both short-term and long-term) pays off big time. If you want a publisher, attend marketing and publicity training while writing your book. Choose one that brings in agents and provides an opportunity to pitch your book in person.
Your book is an expensive business card (that will pay for itself many times over when appropriately leveraged). Your real money comes from increased credibility, higher paid speaking, new clients, and follow-up products. Your book isn't a magic money maker - its simply a unique calling card that you can leverage (read: action needed!) to take your career to a higher level.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? Move beyond 1-on-1 coaching to group coaching and virtual training as soon as possible - definitely before you're "ready"! It's going to feel uncomfortable and you'll have to learn a few new things. Do it.
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Selectively choose a mastermind group to join. This is where you will leverage support and connections, as well as learn how to run your own mastermind group. Offer different types of coaching, delivery and pricing. When you start feeling time crunched, raise your prices and/or develop your own team of coaches.
Film and record everything you do (making sure you get appropriate permissions along the way) and learn how to repackage "you" into all different types of information products. Experience the freedom of delivering value and making money...while you're hanging out with your kids or doing whatever else you love to do. Bio:
Her mission is crystal clear: to use every drop of her own potential and to help as many others as possible live their best life. Dr. Mollie Marti is a sports and performance psychologist, business success author and speaker. As an elite performance coach, her prestigious list of coaching clients includes Olympians and multi-millionaire entrepreneurs. This woman is passionate about helping others get the most out of their lives and she walks her talk. She is founder of BestLifeDesign.com, a free e-magazine and support community for people ready to live bigger and better lives. This premier life design resource provides tools, advice, inspiration and support in all areas of life design, including health, fitness, relationships, finances, career, spirituality, and success. Mollie is a successful entrepreneur, lawyer and adjunct professor at the University of Iowa Department of Psychology and is widely published in academic journals. Her books include The 12 Factors of Business Success: Discover, Develop and Leverage Your Strengths and Selling: Powerful New Strategies for Sales Success. She trains in the areas of value-based living and selling, success rituals, performance strategies, transitions and leveraging, and managing time and energy for peak performance. As the top graduate of both her college and graduate school, Mollie has a unique ability to combine the science of success with the art of living well. She is a frequent resource for local and national media. Members of Mollie's Best Life Design team have served as advisors to Oprah's Live Your Best Life Challenge. Mollie lives with her husband, 3 children, 2 yellow labs and family of cats on their apple orchard in scenic northeast Iowa. Now this is a woman who really knows how to take a bite out of life! http://www.BestLifeDesign.com http://www.MollieMarti.com
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Stacey Mayo
I remember when I was first starting out as a coach; I rented space in a holistic center with a group of practitioners. In their weekly meetings they would talk about supporting each other and working on each other. I remember thinking that I did not have time for all of this. That I needed to get my business up and running. I laugh about that to this day. I have learned that the most important thing you can do to grow your business is work on yourself. And every time you want to take your business to the next level, it makes sense to work with someone to help you go past your own subconscious limits and old patterns that dont serve you at the next level. If I could do it all over again, I would have found a coach who was a good match sooner. The first coach I hired was not a great fit for me and I did not get tons of value from our sessions. So I waited a while until I hired another coach. When I did find a coach that was a great match, I really got the power of coaching. I learned more from observing how my coach worked with me than I did from my formal coach training. And then the next coach I worked with helped me to break my own glass ceiling and really skyrocket my business to over six figures.. Now I help other coaches and solo-preneurs break their glass ceilings. I would have hired a good virtual assistant sooner and delegated more to that person. It took me a while to find a good virtual assistant. At first I only used that person to do things that would have a direct return on investment. Then I realized that I could have her do a lot of the things I did not like, and could spend my time on things that would have a direct return on investment. Oh, I also would not hire family to work on my business with me. I hired my mom to be my bookkeeper after having a bad experience with a bookkeeper. Mom was a bookkeeper before she retired and she was certainly trustworthy and she refused to charge her own daughter so free was good. But she did things on her own timeline and wasnt too computer savvy and it became a hassle. It is worth it to pay someone who will do things during working hours and is up to date with current technology and depends on your for a living. I love being able to turn things over to my bookkeeper and not worry about anything.
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Scott Stratten
I would have owned my authentic self sooner. I am known as the Dream Queen because I support people in living their dreams.
For a while, I was reluctant to use the word dream because some people considered it too flaky. But it is what I am passionate about, and in using it I attract the kind of clients that are a good match for me. Once I started owning it, people began reflecting that back and tell me they love that my moniker is The Dream Queen. Clients often tell me that is who I am for them. Along the same lines, I have used energy work along with coaching for many years. But I used to be much more discreet about it with some clients who were more traditional and whom I thought might not be open to it. Now I am very open about it and encourage people to use it when the situation warrants. I use energy work a lot with my clients because it helps them get past their blocks and get more results sooner. Recently I owned my own ability to help people heal and have even developed my own healing modality, Transformative Healing Technique, which is incredibly powerful. So bottom line is I would have owned my power and authentic self sooner and I love helping my clients own their own power now. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have lightened up on my client load or allowed myself to work on the book, I Cant Believe I Get Paid To Do This during the weekend. I did the interviews and wrote this book while working with a full practice of clients. It took much longer to write that way. I wrote my next book, The One Minute Meditation, on the weekends and got it done very quickly. It is now at the editors office. I am working on my third book, The Peaceful Entrepreneur during the weekends and as ideas come to me during the week.
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I would have sent a pre-publication copy of the book out to reviewers before it was published. Some major publications wont even look at a book after it is published. I also would have sent it to more than 3 agents before deciding to self-publish, although I dont regret self-publishing. It more than paid for itself both in terms of book sales (3 printing runs) and because I re-purposed the book. I created a popular coaching program from it, which is now available as the Living Your Dreams home study course. I would have claimed myself as an author sooner. That was an inner battle. I also would have submitted my book to book contests sooner. Winning contests like Best Book by USA Book News and Georgia Author of the Year were a boon to my credibility and confidence and brought more speaking engagements as well. People started viewing me in an entirely different light. I had no idea I would win. You have nothing to lose except a small application fee by entering.
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Bio: A well-known coach with a wide following, Stacey Mayo, a.k.a. The Dream Queen, was a pioneer in the now-booming coaching industry. Stacey established the Center for Balanced Living in 1995 as a vehicle to carry out her lifes work. As director of the Center, she and a team of powerful coaches have assisted thousands of people across the nation in living out their dreams with amazing results. Stacey was profiled on television in the CBS Evening News segment, Confident Women. She has appeared in Forbes, Newsday, the Wall St. Journal, Atlanta Sports & Fitness, Atlanta Woman and Womans Day. She has been featured a number of times in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, including the piece, Midlife, which engages women in considering how they can stop deferring their dreams. A leader in the coaching community and former program chair for the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Stacey has developed and led hundreds of successful training and coaching programs to rave reviews including Life Transformation Tools & More which provides a monthly tool that you can use with yourself and your clients to transform lives. She is a popular public speaker and author of I Cant Believe I Get PAID to Do This! and Is Your Ladder Leaning Against The Wrong Wall? She was named 2005 Georgia Author of the Year, Best Self-Help Book, for I Cant Believe I Get Paid To Do This! This book was also named Best Book by USA Book News. She is the creator of these free inspirational tools: The Dream Movie, The Attraction Movie and The Stillness Experiment. Stacey is a Master Certified Coach, a member of the International Coaching Federation, a graduate of Coach University, and is certified as a career coach through Rockport Institute. She received a B.S. in Business from Tulane University. Stacey loves to help people live out their dreams and expand their success by getting out of their own way, balancing their personal and business lives, creating wealth while doing something they love and shouting from the rooftop, I Cant Believe I Get PAID To Do This! She enjoys working with conscious entrepreneurs to become Peaceful Entrepreneurs and helps them lead and succeed from a place of stillness. She is an intuitive coach and combines this with her own powerful technique, Transformational Healing Technique, to help people get at the root of what is in their way, clear it and replace it with positive beliefs and action. Stacey lives with her husband and golden retriever, LB (Lover Boy), in a suburb of Atlanta. http://www.BalancedLiving.com http://www.LifeTransformationTools.com http://www.TheDreamMovie.com http://www.IGetPaidToDoThis.com
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Scott Stratten
Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have made my information product earlier in my career. I didnt make it until I think it was 2003 and thats when I started making money. But when youre speaking, at least in my model, you get revenue sharing. So if you dont have a product, you dont speak, and the higher priced your product is the more confidence you have in it. Obviously. Then the more likely it is youre going to speak on an information marketing stage, which is basically my industry, so I would have gotten that earlier in the game. And I probably would have bundled it because of my workbook. I sold a coaching workbook for like $497 at an event. So you split that with a promoter, you get like $250 per, plus your hard costs. So I probably would have built that package up earlier. Maybe add more coaching because honestly a lot of people never even used that aspect of it.
So you throw it in and it ramps up the value and the people who do use it know its great, you get a one-on-one relationship that can also parlay into future books that work, for me as a copywriter, you get to know people better. When I was first getting started speaking, I worked with Tom Antion. And he used one of those guides and he sent like boxes and boxes of materials and then if you dont sell it all you have to lug it back home and so its kind of embarrassing. And you start doing the bargain basement sale and please take this one so I dont have to take it home. So I really believe that having something people can touch and page through, maybe a couple demo copies, is a good idea, but with the regulations now a lot of people dont want to carry it home. They prefer that you ship it anyway. So theres something to the excitement of having it there and getting to hold it and touch it and carry it but the reality is for both the speaker and the people listening its just a lot easier to send it later.
Ill tell you something else, as a speaker I generally throw the shipping in; I leave the cost as part of the full price. Because its because of me that Im shipping it, its not their fault. And if I had it in hand they would have the choice. They dont have the choice so I dont charge anything.
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The tough part is people like to have something in their hands. And one of the things that some people do and some dont do is theyll have like handouts and I know some people are very anti-handout because they feel like theyre giving their stuff away. But I think you can give some free tips and handouts so people can follow along with you and then it jogs their memory later when they see you; they see your Web site name or they keep it. A lot of times Ive given out copywriting sheets people will keep them in front of them all the time, which is great.
And then I also used to doright now Im holding one of my promotional pens. I used to give out promotional pens a lot and I think that was the only thing that I would give, like sort of on a regular basis. But something useful, I think thats a good thing to do is give a little give-away like that. I think you have to do the duty speaking youve got to do it everywhere before you get into demand, and you also need the practice. And your name gets out there and its just a necessary path and it does get over the limit like at some point for people. And so we have a checklist now because people would ask me to speak and I would say yes and I would say, You have 20 people and I have to go travel across the country? So we have a checklist now. We have to know how many people youre willing to speak for and whats your minimum. We have some stuff like what are their marketing strategies because a lot of time you can have an event and completely blow it in not knowing how to market. I was asked to speak in Australia, and I wanted to go so bad but they didnt have their act together. So I wasnt going to go all the way to Australia to speak for she says like 500 people. And she hasnt even started promoting it. So youve got to ask how many people are going to be there. Ask them their demographics, especially if they approach you. You can always tell them they need to cover your air fare and your hotel at a speaking deal. We just started doing that a couple years ago because its easier to say than no. You could ask, How many people did you have last year? Is this the first time youve done this? Because if they get a track record people start looking for it again and it makes a big difference if its the first one. So, ask them how many times have they done it? How many other events have they done? How many people were there? Whats the price point? Is there an Affiliate Program? That about covers it. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently?
I tell everybody, I coach copywriters, sometimes more, sometimes less, but what I always tell people is I dont care what business youre in, you have to have an info product so you have passive revenue. When you have an info
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product, it doesnt stand on its own. With every info product is attached a sales letter and a whole sales system. Auto-responders to keep them in your funnel so you can follow-up with them afterwards, and then maybe you have surveys that you take about what theyve done, or you teach them how to use the product. And all of this requires writing. If you have like a whole system around just the product itself, and once you have a sales letter on line, thats what Im an expert at recently, is online sales letters. But they dont get written on their own.
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Instead of having somebody who writes an eBook or a report and thats their first authoring of something that shouldnt be the end. There should always be something for people in there that helps them take the next step. You want to give them a free sample, like a free report, even though theyre kind of overdone, if the hook isnt there like it used to be--but people still want to test you out before they sleep with you, you know?
Its a common thing when people think they have to write 40,000 words. Im so close to finishing my book and I think, Oh what else can I do instead. Its ridiculous. We really as humans tend to get in our own way about stuff like that. The way to get out of it is to put yourself on like very small deadlines, chunks of time. Where you use a timer and you dont do anything else except write. Ive done that for 15 minutes at a time. You write for 15 minutes and then when the timer goes off, you stop. And you get up and you stretch and no matter where you are, you completely stop. And then I read a book, actually info product, by this guy named Steve Manning, called, you know who he is, Write Your Book In 14 Days Or Less and oh, my God. Hes brilliant. Its like you write your book in five minute increments. And I'm telling you. In five minutes you can write 300-400 words, which is a whole page, thats about whats on a typewritten page. Right? So you can go back and edit later but people start editing themselves before they get it out. And you cant do that; youve just got to get it out. What youre going to say. And you can finesse it later. But when you self-edit before then you train yourself to get writers block. Thats why having that forced time helps a lot because youre like, you cant think of anything else because the timer went off. People do tend to work better under pressure when you have to get it done. So Im a complete culprit of that but youve got to do whatever it takes.
Dont be afraid to have a friggin personality. Were so afraid of offending somebody. Take a stand and be yourself, whatever that is. Or create a persona of whatever that is and go for it. And dont worry about what people think. In
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your life but also in your writing. If youre afraid to put stuff out there you become a scared little person. And youre boring. And theres too much out there to read. Boring! Have personality. People really like writing; they really like stories. I say this because I focus now on writing to women but the truth is women have a lot of things in common when it comes to our behaviors, and we really respond to stories. Not long, drawn out like novels about yourself or whatever because its all about me. People want to know about whats in it for them. And how they relate. But they do tend to relate to you more when theres some kind of a connection and stories do that very well. So if you can get good at storytelling, and I recommend Robert McKees course, or his book called Story is very, very good and so make yourself a student of paying attention to how to do storytelling. Interesting, but there is definitely a gift to it. And it takes a little practice but it really brings your content to life. Lots of people perk up their ears when theres something besides factual data. Stories really unlock the emotions that people have, and thats when you seek action. Thats what makes the connection. And thats what you want to do in your writing. Bio: Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero founded Red Hot Copy in 1999 in an effort to work anywhere, raise her family, and still make a good living. Her background in journalism and acting prepared her for the competitive nature of copywriting. Lorries words have sold products in a variety of industries including mompreneurs, professional speaking, the seminar business, hypnosis, health & fitness, nutritional supplements, biz opp, and entrepreneurial services. After working closely with clients like motivational speaker Les Brown, Alexandria Brown, David Neagle, Loral Langemeier, MaryPat Kavanagh, Alex Mandossian, and Mark Victor Hansen, among many others, Lorrie now focuses her passion on educating entrepreneurs and copywriters how to get the job done the RIGHT way. She is a frequent guest speaker (both on stage and in teleseminars). Lorrie has written two award-winning home study courses, conducts a world-famous virtual copywriting training on how to sell to women called the She Factor Copywriting Bootcamp, holds live workshops, and is authoring the original book, The She Factor based on her own The She Factor Marketing System. She is a direct descendent of Ralph Waldo Emerson but swears their writing styles are completely different. Lorrie is dedicated to teaching the world it is possible to shift from the hype-filled sales copy to a more modern versioncopy written with authenticity, trust, and rapport.
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http://www.redhotcopy.com
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Alexis Martin Neely

If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I would never lose the name of someone who heard me speak at an event and wasn't ready to buy yet, but wanted more information.
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I would communicate with the people who weren't ready to buy yet, but wanted more information at least weekly via email and monthly via direct mail. I would learn how to inspire and motivate during my presentations and not get stuck in thinking I had to teach so much. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? I would begin the campaign to market my book into a bestseller 6-9 months out, instead of the 6 weeks that I had. I would get it done much more quickly. My book was three years in the making because I didn't realize how easy it could be once I had a clear vision of the purpose of the book and that writing the book would turn me into an expert. I would have a single website promoted throughout the book with all of my book resources available on that one website.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? I would be clear about my sales funnel right from the beginning and charge much higher fees for getting into the bottom of my funnel (one on one time with me). I would get very clear about my ideal client and never compromise by agreeing to work with someone who did not fit my ideal client description. I would immediately set up my database to capture the names of everyone who came to my website in exchange for a valuable gift and then I would do a great job of communicating with my list on a regular basis.
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Bio: From the outside looking in, it looked as if Alexis Martin Neely had it all by the time she was 30 years old. Married with two children and running her own successful, busy law firm, what more could she ask for? Yet, despite the outward appearances, Alexis felt a pull towards something bigger. Not willing to settle for less than she knew was possible, Alexis went on to build a million dollar law firm that revolutionized the old, outdated way that law has been practiced for years. Knowing that her life purpose was to inspire, motivate and educate, she leveraged her core business into a best-selling book, numerous television appearances and multiple streams of revenue that within 12 months she grew into her second million dollar business. Today, Alexis is a millionaire mom entrepreneur who will inspire you to think bigger than you ever thought possible, be afraid and do it anyway. http://www.AlexisMartinNeely.com
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Michel Neray
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career & Coaching career, what 3 things would you do differently? If you are reading this hoping to get the inside trick or shortcut that will rocket you to speaking stardom, you might be a little disappointed with my entry. It's true that some speakers manage to amass a large list (back in the day when it wasn't illegal to harvest email addresses) and credit their success to that. Other speakers write a book and credit their success to that. Still other speakers, like me, develop a new highly specific niche in the market and see that as the reason for their success. But I also know many speakers who have done none of these things and yet somehow find great success. In fact, for every success formula I hear or read about, I personally know countless exceptions to the so-called 'rule'. And that leads me to what I believe is the inevitable conclusion that there really is no such thing as a success formula -- at least there isn't one based on tactic, mechanics or business model. What can work extremely well for one person can be a total waste of time for someone else. That's why the marketplace is full of contradictions from equally smart and successful people. And that's why the only formula that has been proven to me time and again is the one that each speaker has to find for him or herself. When I started on my professionally speaking path, I knew that building a speaking career could take a long time. The established speakers who came before me had been quite candid about how long it took them to 'make it', and all indications in the current market pointed to an even longer time frame. After all, I've always been smart and hard working; I always got great feedback after stepping down from the platform; I took risks and tried new things; I make my audiences laugh; I had developed the kind of discipline you'd expect from a black belt martial artist; I developed a unique and targeted brand position. I was prepared to fall down 19 times and get up 20; I was, (and I am still) an unabashed Type 'A' overachiever. That's why I was convinced that I could get there in half the time. But I was wrong - and that was my biggest mistake. So if I could go back to the start of my speaking career, the three things I would do differently today are:
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Be kinder to myself. Today I make a point of measuring myself against myself, and I celebrate my successes more often.
Acknowledge the role of dumb luck -- being heard by the right person in the audience at the right time. Yes, it's true that the harder you work, the more luck you create for yourself. It's also true that you can't win unless you're in the game. But no matter what you do, it's also true that luck -- both good and bad -- plays a part. Do less, and worry less about what I don't get to do. And the truth is I'm still not there yet. Will I ever be? I hope not...
If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? I've co-authored several books and I've written dozens of articles, ebooks and eWorkbooks -- but now, faced with the objective of writing a full length book, I am finding that my old strategies and habits aren't working. So instead of answering what I would have done differently, I need to answer what I need to start doing differently, and that can be summarized simply with, 'just do it'. Bio: Do you know what your authentic competitive advantage is? Michel Neray is the founder and Chief Differentiation Officer of The Essential Message (www.EssentialMessage.com). Since 2003, Michel has helped thousands of independent professionals and growing corporations discover and communicate their authentic competitive advantage. That's how Michel has helped thousands of independent professionals, entrepreneurs and growing corporations double, triple and even quadruple results, (without manipulative sales techniques.) Michel has a science undergraduate degree from the University of Waterloo and an MBA from McGill University. He also has over 25 years of experience as an awardwinning copywriter, an Internet pioneer, a tradeshow pitchman and a senior sales and marketing executive. He's married with three children, two dogs, a sport motorcycle, a whitewater canoe and a second-degree black belt in Karate. Michel co-authored The Great Crossover: Personal Confidence in the Age of the Microchip, which made it to Jack Canfield's Achiever's Recommended Reading List. In 2005, his chapter, "Everything Starts With A Conversation" was selected as the lead for the book, Sales Gurus Speak Out and re-published in 2008 for 'Awakening The Workplace Volume 3'. He is also a co-author of In the Company of Leaders (2008) with 40 top North American leadership experts and authors. For information about Michel's workshops, keynote speeches or eWorkbooks, or to sign up for his free newsletter, please go to www.neray.com
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Connect with Michel on FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Michel_Neray/642122819 Follow Michel on Twitter: @EssentialMichel Connect with Michel on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/michelneray If you are interested in the work Michel does, then please add this page to your profile: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michel-NerayThe-EssentialMessage/26510249814
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Liz Pabon
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? Although I do so now, in the beginning of my speaking career I didn't have a product. In fact, I had NOTHING to sell from the platform (and I didn't know how to sell my service from the platform). My sole focus was on delivering a great talk. What I missed was the opportunity to fill my pipeline with qualified prospective clients!
And I also never streamlined my list building efforts. I used to simply invite folks to give me their information but I quickly realized that I could get every person in the room to agree to stay connected with me in the future. I learned a great deal about the best ways to capture virtually every attendee name and do so while abiding by the double opt-in requirement of my email delivery service provider. If I knew this 'then,' I would have built my list much quicker.
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There are many organizations that have specific boundaries about selling from the platform. Even after I had a product to sell, I didn't know how to use those speaking engagements as business building opportunities. If I knew then how to honor and respect organizational boundaries but still sell and grow my list from the platform - as I know now, I would have maximized every opportunity. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? Like so many authors, I waited until my book was in my hands before I began marketing and promotion. In retrospect, I could have created an avalanche of sales and leveraged the book for growth in a more efficient way leveraging video, blog tours, virtual round tables, and a host of other pre-marketing that would have made the actual launch of my book stellar. There's a lot of waiting that goes on between the time a manuscript is submitted and when the book is actually printed. That time could be used to create a buzz and seed sales. About 80% into writing my first solo book, I scrapped it all to start over. I realized with each chapter I wrote, my direction would change as I was in the throes of writing. The direction of my book was quickly changing and I hadn't
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planned for it. Interestingly, this direction is what the book was to be about. Had I known then to go with the flow the book wanted **me** to take, I would have saved a great deal of time and effort.
Looking back, I realize I never leveraged one of the beauties of a book and that is to create a sense of community around the topic. If I could do it over, I would have created a community around my book by starting a blog that covered the process of writing the book, asking for women to share their stories, thereby including my readers in the process, and having them share their own MavHERick moments with one another. By the time the book launched, they would have felt a part of the process, a kinship towards one another and desire to own the book and stay connected with me. If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently?
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I would have used my ezine as a marketing and business building tool. In the beginning, I filled my ezine with a couple of articles and quotes and never understood I could make my ezine more efficient, teach a principle to my subscribers AND do so while building interest for my services. When I learned the secret formula, I noticed a significant change in my business. I was no longer only providing insightful reading material, I was piquing interest for my services. After the first two years as a coach, I became disillusioned and frustrated. I was working harder than I ever did in my corporate job and making less money! I wondered if entrepreneurship was really worth it - that is, until I learned the magic of creating multiple streams of income. Not only did I stop trading time for money, I coached with more passion and began enjoying the creativity and freedom that come from begin an entrepreneur - my dream came to fruition but it took some difficult years for me to finally 'get there.'
Surprisingly, something about creating multiple streams of income caused me to look at my business and how I ran my business differently. I realized the value of my service, and the knowledge I poured into my products and charged accordingly. Had it not been for the expansion of my business, I may not have recognized the possibilities that lay ahead for me. If I could start over, I would have priced myself in a way that honors what I do and what I give. Bio: For years, Liz Pabon has developed solutions and implemented strategies that make things happen! As the CEO and Branding Maven for Liz P. Communications, Liz helps female entrepreneurs design profitable businesses - fueled by spirit, smarts and strategy - by integrating inner and outer branding strategies. Its Liz belief that women are poised to create a massive shift in how business is conducted on a global level. A bona fide MavHERick, Liz challenges conventional thinking and motivates women to use their natural talents and abilities (their best)
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to rock the business landscape by developing and introducing brands that transform the status quo. Liz branding and success insights have been featured in the books Inspiration to Realization Volume II, Power & Soul, publications such as Comstocks Business, Personal Success and Personal Branding magazines and her advice has been spotlighted on Entrepreneur Magazine Radio. Her recently published book, The MavHERick Mind (a National Indie Award 2008 finalist) continues to inspire and empower women in business across the globe. A former Media Executive, Liz established her background in marketing communication as a VP of Sales & Marketing at some of the worlds leading multimedia publishers. Having a passion for entrepreneurship, Liz P. Communications was born. http://www.LizPabon.com
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Maritza Parra
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking/Coaching career, what 3 things would you do differently? I would definitely offer to coach people a lot sooner. My meetings started growing a lot, people could tell that I was really trying to help them get it, how to get over anxiety and fear and follow their dreams using spiritual principles. And there was this one lady who started asking me for meditations because Id talk about meditation a lot, how much it really centered me and helped me get over specifically this panic attack. And this lady would just not stop, she wanted to buy them and she wanted to be coached by me and Im like Im not a coach. Im just doing these meetings for free because I really want to, I didnt want to become one of the living dead with the panic attacks and all that. So I had to like totally get out of my comfort zone. A few times I would have panic attacks in the beginning when I was doing it but I was like I really just know that I have to get through with this. And so I would offer something to buy a lot sooner and when this lady would not give up. I had started studying with Barbara DeAngelus and she says that Im like her spiritual daughter, and I feel that she is my spiritual mother. Ive been studying with her now for a few years.
So I called her and I was like, Barbara what do I do? This lady will not let up, she wants to buy meditations. Im not a meditation teacher. She wants to be coached personally by me, Im not a coach. Im not qualified to do this. And she said, Sometimes when were called to do things, its not our choice, its passed to us from beyond and just go with it. And I did and it was one of the best things I ever did. I just took on a few clients and seeing the changes that they had because of my mental accountability and cheerleading and stuff justit was great. So I would offer something to buy sooner. And you dont have to have a product. You can do coaching. Its not like you have to make it up. I would build a list. My group started growing a lot, like I said the first time it was like five people. I have the little picture that I took. And its like really sad. I didnt know if anyone would show up the next week but I just kept doing them every single week. And they started growing and then my group had like a couple hundred people in it and then so I started building a list. So I started saying,
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Okay, Im going to start doing a podcast, and that whole thing happened actually because my meet-ups group grew so much Oprahs company called me. And, yeah, I got a call. And I looked at my Caller ID. It said Harpo Inc., and I actually have a picture of it. The executive producer called me. I said, I cant believe this just happened, so I took a photo of the Caller ID to prove it to myself. And so they ended up, I did an interview with her and at the end of the interview we just had so much fun and I told her about my idea to do a podcast because these 200 people couldnt show up every week because things get in the way and you have to drive over there and everything and then they wanted to invite family and friends from out of town and stuff like that so I was like thinking of doing something virtual. And she said, Whats the name of the podcast? She kind of misunderstood. She thought it already existed and I was talking about like in the future. And she said, whats the name of the Web site, whats the name of the podcast? Thank goodness I had bought a couple of domain names, thinking about it and one flew out of my mouth and then I said, Oh my gosh, I have six weeks to put up this Web site and start this whole thing. And its like a huge opportunity so that made me start building a list in my meetups. I said, Okay, guys; Ive got to do a podcast. Sign up. And a lot of people started signing up with the Oprah thing and its like everyone wanted to be a part of it. Then the third thing that I did that I would do much sooner was I did one of my events, it was, all of my events were always free, but I made one that had so much like an amazing value, I did like a curriculum and everything and I had people sign releases because I videotaped the whole thing and I had people do video testimonials. That was the thing that they had to give me in return for attending for free. Video testimonials.
And so this event was like an all-day event and I was teaching. I videotaped the whole thing. I was able to make a product out of it. It helped me do market research since at the end I said, Okay, what do you like, what do you not like? I got video testimonials. I got to study myself on video. If I could do it over again, I would set up a video every single time I speak. Because those are so easy. And I would never use anything but a flip video. Because I fought with videos so much until I decided to make it easy. Bio: Maritza Parra trains and coaches entrepreneurs to use empowerment combined with easy and powerful tools of financial freedom and abundance. After being featured on Soul Series, Maritza became an expert at creating the principles of selfthe Internet to create Oprah & Friends: The products quickly via
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TeleSeminars, eBooks, Video and other Easy Product Creation Strategies. Known as the Product Creation Queen, Maritza now teaches her students how to create products from their gifts, knowledge and talents. One of her gifts is the ability to show you how to quickly get your ideas out of your head and into your bank account. Maritza teaches from her membership site and the Hacienda, her Retreat Center in San Antonio, TX. http://www.EasyOnlineMarketingTraining.com
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Elizabeth Potts Weinstein

If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? You should realize that a book is not about making money; it is about spreading the word. View it as lead generation for your services, with a call to action in the book.
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I would not look for someone else to tell me how to write/publish/ distribute. I would retain control of all aspects of publication. Even a selfpublisher can take some control of things youd rather keep. I would have given myself more time to write it. There are only so many things that you can set deadlines for. Sometimes a book simply is not ready to come out. Have time to get the word out with people and get feedback. If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? I did not realize that the coaching itself was the valuable thing, not products, because we frequently undervalue ourselves and our knowledge. Undercharging - I was so scared of charging. I feel that charging by the hour creates clock watchers. So now I do not worry about what other people charge, since everyone offers unique services.
I recommend creating packaged services versus by the hour services. You could still have an introductory 30-minute session and then offer your packages as an adjunct to the introductory session. As a lawyer, I know how much both sides dislike hourly billing. Have a high ticket package. You would be amazed how many people want to be a V.I.P.
Bio: Elizabeth Potts Weinstein is an attorney, CFP, and founder of The Wealth Spa Online Magazine and Radio Show. Elizabeth created The Wealth Spa to teach women entrepreneurs and business owners how to experience holistic wealth in their business and lives. Elizabeth has created numerous successful programs such as The Money Tree System, The Money Meeting System, and 8 Weeks to Wealth &
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Prosperity, and is the author of Grow Up! Strategies: The 7 Legal & Financial Strategies You Need to Up-Level Your Small Business (2008). She regularly speaks and is quoted by the media, including NBC11, CRN Talk Radio, WPCV Radio, Efficio Radio Network, Kiplingers Personal Finance, the Chicago Tribune, Copley News Service, San Jose Mercury News, San Jose Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, and Readers Digest. Elizabeth lives in San Jose, California, with her husband Mark, their young daughter Grace, and Adia the cat. Get free tips and strategies for small business owners and entrepreneurs in law, finance, life balance, and marketing, by joining as an Insider on her website. http://TheWealthSpa.com
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Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson

If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? View Speakers Bureaus as playing a very minor role in generating opportunities. No matter how much they make their services sound good, most of it is fluff.
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We would have recognized much more quickly how much power social networking tools have. Utilizing tools like Twitter and Facebook would have been high on our list. We would have worked much more diligently on cultivating and growing our list, and fostering relationships. As everything spins around you, it can be hard to lose sight of the very simple fact that people want to feel like they really know you. Making a commitment to those relationships was something we would have done much earlier. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? We would have recognized much more quickly how much power social networking tools have. Utilizing tools like Twitter and Facebook would have been high on our list. We would have utilized social networking tools for premarketing. We wouldnt have relied at all on mainstream PR placements/opportunities as a pre-marketing tool that would drive sales. Traditional PR can help, but certainly should not be looked at as the main channel that will make sales happen.
We would have worked much more diligently on cultivating and growing our list, and fostering relationships. As everything spins around you, it can be easy to lose sight of the very simple fact that people want to feel like they really know you. Making a commitment to those relationships was something we would have done much earlier. If we would have recognized how important our list would be in word-in-mouth sales, we would have committed to growing that list and fostering the relationships well before our book ever launched.
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Bio: Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson revolutionized the workplace of a fortune 100 company, Best Buy, through the creation of Results-Only Work Environment, or ROWE. Driven by an intuitive notion that results-focused work environments foster productive employees and have a positive effect on overall performance, they are now taking their idea outside of the Best Buy workplace to help you find new ways to energize your workforce. Over the last five years, over 3,000 employees have migrated into a Results-Only Work Environment and the outcome has been mind-boggling. Productivity increased by 41.4%, voluntary turnover has reduced by as much as 65%, and the health and happiness of thousands of people has been dramatically augmented. Cali and Jody have often been featured in the press. Most recently, they can be found on the cover of BusinessWeek and HR Magazine, as well as in New York Times, TIME Magazine, Entrepreneur, and on-the-air in segments on 60 Minutes, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News, and National Public Radio. They are also the founders of CultureRx, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Best Buy, which offers customized consulting services and products tailored to the needs of their clients companies and organizations committed to challenging the status quo for the benefit of a healthy workforce and ultimately, a healthy bottom line. A Results-Only Work Environment is one where your talent will show up energized, disciplined, fluid, flexible, and focused - always ready to deliver the results necessary to drive your business. It is a bold, cultural transformation that permeates the attitudes and operating style of an entire workplace, leveling the playing field and giving people the ability to do whatever they want whenever they want as long as the work gets done. In the park, in a coffee shop, in the shower. At midnight or 3am or on Sunday. Whenever and wherever. Their book: Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It, published by Portfolio, a Penguin Imprint, was released in June 2008. http://www.caliandjody.com http://www.culturerx.com
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Monica Ricci
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I would not try to get every presentation perfect before making it available. That was one of the things that really sort of stymied me in the beginning. I felt pressured to have everything exactly right before doing a presentation. Early on, I didnt have the confidence in myself as an expert to maybe have to wing it a little bit. And I think that was a mistake for me because it took me a lot longer to produce programs than it should have. The truth is that youll always improve, and youre never going to be as ready as you want to be, EVER. So you could wait forever, if you let yourself. Dont do that.
I would hire someone to professionally videotape my presentations so that I could turn them into products. I have had people videotape my presentations but the results have never quite been good enough for my liking, and certainly not good enough to use as a saleable product. Thats definitely something I would do differently.
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Also, relating to video, Id focus more on getting high quality video for demo materials. I still dont have much that I like in that regard, and its embarrassing. Ive done a lot of speaking, and I have a lot of video, but it never seems to be just right. Theres either some audio problem or the background isnt right, and its frustrating. As for the format of them, theyre in DVD right now, but electronic demo is the way to go because people can just go to my website and download it. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? Im going to preface this by telling you that my story about writing a book is not the average or typical story, so it may or may not be as helpful as some of the others because my book deal literally fell in my lap. Its very difficult for me to articulate some of the challenges that other authors have had because I havent had any of those. In many ways Im handicapped by that. Right now, I want to write a second book and Im having trouble with it because I didnt have the struggles that other authors do. I didnt chase a publisher, and I
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didnt have to write a query letter. I didnt have to do all that, so I dont know how. I can, however, talk to the topic of writing the book itself. I would work outside my house more often. I would leave my house every day and write. One of the biggest challenges I have found was just being in the same environment everyday by myself is very isolating, with nothing to console me but Girl Scout cookies. And I would also find that because I would get to a part in the book that I was stumped by or I was just really hitting a wall it was very easy for me to walk away from it when I was at home. As opposed to when I am out, getting up taking a break, going to talk to somebody whos in the coffee shop or wherever I am I would definitely work outside the house more often on a project.
I would pre-market the book a lot more. Now that I have a blog, I would premarket to my blog and my newsletter readers and be a shameless promoter, which Im now learning how to do. I would have had post cards designed that are the cover of the book, and have several hundred or thousand printed. Then, Id send them out to all my past clients, contact list, networking contacts, and friends. It would just be an old-school direct mail piece that said, Watch for my new book, coming in August! with information about how to pre-order a copy. That would have been a great way to premarket, and people you know are a great place to start.
And I would also pre-market and post-market to corporate departments as a give-away to new employees. For example, in new hire packets or to companies, which is something Im thinking about right now. Id approach companies that are related -- tangentially or otherwise -- to my industry, and offer it to them at a reduced price as a customer give-away for their customers. So youre selling it wholesale and you make money on volume as well as get your book in the hands of thousands of people.
Self-published authors have an advantage in that regard because they have complete control over where they sell their books and their price point. Selfpublished authors can often produce their books for just a few dollars apiece. Being with a publisher I pay $10 apiece for my books, so it makes it tough to give bulk discounts. You hear experts say Sell your book to Proctor and Gamble for $3 each, and if you sell a thousand of them you make three grand, and thats great. But I have to pay $10 for my book from the publisher, so I have to be more creative when I sell. Thats just one of the differences between self-publishing and not. There are pros and cons to both avenues. You just have to decide which cons you can live with. For a first book, I think its great to have a publisher because they lay the ground work that youd have to do yourself. I sent my publisher several chapters at a time on a deadline, then my editor would edit them and send them back to me for revisions. I learned a lot from that about what to do and what not to do, and how to format a book consistently. My publisher wanted to work with first-time authors because they wanted people that had no pre-conceived notion of how you write a
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book. They wanted me to just fit into their format. So for me writing my first book, I think that avoiding self-publishing was the better option, because one of the parts of self-publishing is that you have to put up all the money to produce the book yourself and at that time, I didnt have thousands of dollars to invest in a book. In response to Scotts comment: Having a book validates you as an expert. You can be an expert in your field for 15 years, but until you have a book, nobody in the media wants to talk to you. But the day after your book comes out, poof, youre an expert in their eyes, when just yesterday you couldnt get invited on TV to save your life. Writing a book is hard work but overall its worth the added credibility and doors that it opens for you. Bio: Atlanta-based organizing expert Monica Ricci is author of Organize Your Office In No Time, a busy person's reference to tackle clutter and disorganization at work. As an industry expert and motivational speaker, Monica presents seminars, workshops and keynotes on time management, overcoming procrastination, maximizing personal productivity, getting organized, and living a simpler, more fulfilling life. Monica holds the core belief that when people clarify their priorities, learn new skills, new habits, and new attitudes, they can dramatically transform their lives. Monica has been committed to helping people simplify their lives and manage their chaotic environments since 1998. She teaches people how to de-clutter their homes, streamline their offices, create effective filing systems, and evaluate business processes so they can be more effective, productive and successful. Her mission is to help people remove the roadblocks that prevent them from being who they are and creating a life they love. http://www.catalystorganizing.com
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Sarah Robinson
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? Im a mompreneur because I have a little one at home so speaking has been on the back-burner for a while because of travel time and that kind of thing. But I probably in retrospect wish I had gotten my speaker game together sooner even though I wasnt going to go out and wasnt going to be speaking 52 weekends out of the year year. I wish I had gotten my speaker packet together, just enough information so that when people would say to me, gosh youd make a great speaker, Id love to put you in front of the decisionmakers in my organization, I wouldnt go uhh, uhh, Ill get back to you on that becaus because I dont have anything to send them.
You start with what you have. A brand new speakers packet isnt going to look like Scott Strattens, , and to try to pull something together and compare it like that, well youd never send anything out. So you pull to together, gether, you highlight what you do have. If youre doing teleseminars, thats what I would have to lean really heavily on, are group teleseminars. That would be one of my speaking samples. Heres something of me speaking.
The other thing you can very easil easily y do is get five of your friends in a room for ten minutes, get a video camera, get a podium and teach whatever it is you teach and have somebody video tape it. The people who are looking at that dont know that the five heads they see are the only five he heads ads in the room. But it gives you again a chance to showcase what you can do. And use individual testimonials. You can pull something, even if its your best friend. You can just say, Sally Sue was just awesome. I learned so much, before I heard you speak eak I thought such and such, and now I know such and such. The power of what you can verbally deliver. And you put together what you do have instead of getting yourself trapped in that catch catch-22. 22. I dont like getting caught in that catch-22 22 because Im a solution girl, Im like how do I solve this, how do I solve this! I would not wait to build a list and start putting myself out there as a speaker. A lot of people think I have to have a list of 25 billion people before I can start marketing myself as a speaker. I would actually start marketing myself as a speaker first because marketing yourself as a speaker is one of the best ways to
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build your list. So I would encourage people not to feel like they have to have some sort of monumental list before they start speaking to community groups. I use this with my coaching clients all the time. You can position yourself as an expert in your community as a speaker. Organizations are desperate. Just in your immediate environment. You may have to do it for free but thats okay. Youre building your resume. Youre getting experience and there is the real value. Again, take your video camera. One of the greatest things I saw, although I cant remember where I read it, but it was, You can do a pro bono, but you still send them a contract and you mark through the amount you would charge and put pro bono. So you still have a contract. They know that you could charge. So youre still presenting a very professional image, youre not saying, okay, let me speak for free. Perceived value. Youre choosing to do this gig pro bono. Its a very different power position than, Oh, please let me do this for free. When youre the speaker going in, the power of position that youre in when youve made the choice to donate it versus you begged to do it for free. Completely different energy. If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently?
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I went through coachs training on how to be a coach and I waited entirely too long to learn the other skill set, how to run a coaching business. Which are two completely different things. And I delayed doing that way too long. Mainly out of ignorance, but I struggled longer than I should have. If I had had the business training it would have streamlined my processes and I would have gotten up and running much, much faster if I had had that knowledge.
I wish Andrea Lee had published her Multiple Streams of Coaching Income book sooner. So I could have gotten it sooner. I always tell her its the Rosetta Stone of running a coaching practice because it really unlocked so many mysteries for me about how do you do this and possibly, I was working off the one client at a time model because thats what everybody else seemed to be doing. And it was not sustainable for me. And learning how to create multiple streams of revenue; some requiring my active participation, some requiring my passive participation, was a real eye opener for me and a real course changer for me.
And the last thing I would say is I would go out and pursue, I would choose my target market more narrowly out of the box. I was pretty clear that I didnt want to coach everybody but what I chose was women because that only cut out 50% of the world population. And even that made me nervous. What if a guy calls, do I coach him? You cant go to the backdoor and say, hey, anybody want coaching? which is pretty much what youre doing if youre trying to coach everybody. You cant differentiate yourself in a really crowded market place, trying to address the challenges of everyone. You cant even do that in trying to address the challenges of women. So I would first more tightly narrow my target market and then I would pursue them where they are. And of course social media makes that so much easier now because its easier to locate pockets, even if you choose a micro-niche. You can find
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pockets of those people already gathered and I would identify them faster, and I would pursue them in a meaningful way. Not in a selling kind of way, but I would pursue developing relationships with those people much faster and draw into their world as it already exists. And join the discussions they are already having. Dont try to change the discussion, join the discussion theyre already having and try to add meaning to what theyre already talking about rather than just dropping in and say, hey, buy my new widget, one that youll like better. Its like being around the know it all, the one that shows up and wants to make sure everybody knows theyre a know it all. Get in on the discussion theyre already having, thats how you develop a relationship. Twitter is a good example of that. And you can show up so authentically. I got into a Twitter conversation with somebody about our favorite Thai dishes and she wanted my Thai recipe and instead of emailing it to her, I just did a whole block post out of it and then Tweeted her and said, In your honor I just posted the thing to my blog. And she went and told all her friends and said youve got to see this recipe. Which has nothing to do with what either of us does for a living but it was fine. So I got to know somebody that I would not have gotten to know at all and it doesnt matter if we ever do official business. I dont care. It was fun. We had a good time. Bio: Sarah Robinson, aka The Maverick Mom, is a seasoned coach and business strategist who helps mompreneurs walk the tightrope of being extraordinary moms and extraordinary businesswomen. A mompreneur herself for more than 6 years (and an entrepreneur for even longer), she has her finger on the pulse of the challenges, questions and concerns faced by both new and seasoned mompreneurs. Her expertise in personal and business change was developed through many years of working with and providing coaching to other entrepreneurs and start-up nonprofits, where she honed her ability to turn around thousands of struggling individuals and organizations. www.themaverickmom.com
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Patricia Rossi
I would try to speak somewhere at least once a week. Don't be picky. Civic and community clubs, business associations, expos and trade shows are always in search of topical, engaging, and interesting speakers Once you've completed the engagement, call the person that booked you for feedback. Thank them for having you and then ask for honest feedback. What they liked best, what they didn't care for, etc. I would then ask for their recommendations for other places that are in need of speakers. Speaking at dozens of these events for free will build experience, your resume & website and credibility.
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I would have gotten my website up and running sooner. List all the places you've spoken with a contact name for references. Have a product available, classes, videos, newsletter, webinar etc. ready to sell as well as booking and contact information. I would call paying organizations that book speakers and ask for their advice: (A) What do you look for in a speaker; (B) Who have been a few of your favorite speakers; and (C) What is the fee range and structure for your events?
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have bartered/traded out my services sooner. Once I started bartering I got radio spots, web design, and my closets re-designed for free. I basically traded my services for others. It's a great way to build experience, contacts, website referrals and references. I would write for community newspapers, talk on local radio, and guest on cable access shows. Don't be discouraged because youre not on The Today Show your first year. I did guest segments on a local T.V. morning show for six months when a syndicator picked up the show and now it airs daily in 14 states! Work hard, because hard work always finds a good home. I would have created an interactive, fun, and professional web-site sooner. I could have showcased classes, products, webinars, videos etc. long before I did. Don't wait for the perfect time. The perfect time is now. Do something on
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your website every day. Create contests with your product or service as the prize, post new photos, testimonials from recent classes or client functions, videos, etc. are all essential for your business. Bio: Patricia Rossis Manners Minute TV segments air weekly on NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC and other affiliates throughout the U.S. Patricia is a sought after etiquette coach, consultant, public speaker, columnist, television and radio personality. Her focus is on kindness as opposed to formality, Relationship - not rules. Her seminars on social and professional protocol are engaging and shed new light on modern manners from business leaders, professional athletes, children and young adults in real life situations. http://www.patriciarossi.com
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Lisa Sasevich
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have mastered the art of speaking a lot sooner. I think I actually was doing it very naturally without realizing it. But when I was able to step back and distinguish what were the things I was doing when I spoke that would seed or like implant knowledge, information, stories, testimonials, things that create hunger to the listener about my products and services I would have distinguished what I was doing sooner, so that I could do it more intentionally.
For people reading this that do not know what seeding is, it is really planting seeds in a garden. You put these little seeds in and then they grow. And when youre making presentations, seeding is really the art of creating hunger in your audience, creating desire for your offerings through planting seeds about the success people have had or the outcomes that people have or the elements of the program in a really natural way throughout the presentation and a key to seeding is its not about trying to get a product plug in anywhere you can. Its really more about giving people value and showing them where they can get more of that. I would have started using packaged offers a lot sooner in my speaking. It took me a few years after people just begging, I want everything, could I get a package deal? To actually put offers together for people so that people really who knew in that moment, the decisionmakers that knew that what were offering is right for them had a way to get into immediate action so definitely would have packaged offers to be available that day, limited offers to give people who are ready to take action, the opportunity to do that and the benefits for doing that today.
I think you can certainly show the thud factor from the front of the room, but Im very much not into schlepping so Ive been, well to actually tell you a little secret here is I sold The Invisible Close as an eBook from the stage for three years. People thought I was crazy, and certainly maybe I did lose some sales because I was so not into schlepping and managing a physical product. Now Im shipping it. I would say that if you have a really big, comprehensive package like that, definitely have some take- home elements. They could be a bag with some tissue in it and a CD and a getting started kit and a quiz. And the reason is that when somebody makes a purchase theyre either going to be questioning their decision or
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theyre going to be getting started on your material. And if you give them nothing then the brain is obviously thinking, did I do the right thing and what the heck did I buy anyway? But if they open up and listen to the CD right away and fill out the questionnaire and return it to me, then theyre engaged in it and it kind of redirects the mind in a more productive place. Quite a few people have appreciated having things shipped.
One thing I would have done a lot sooner is launched my ezine. My embarrassing story is that I spoke on this particular topic, The Invisible Close and closing sales from the podium for about three years before I launched my ezine. In fact I only launched my ezine in 08. And by the time I did, I had 4,000 names just stuffed in shoe boxes, people who had filled out forms saying theyd like to stay in touch with me, I had 4,000 names and I had to have a VA get it all kosher to go out in an ezine and the first week I launched it I got an invitation to be the top story on ABC. And then I was interviewed on a talk radio show here in Tucson, just from the first issue. And I was just thinking, wow, look at all the opportunities from waiting so long. When youre out there speaking, one of the reasons to show up is to get qualified leads of people and a lot of people speak for free and thats the main thing they want. And thats a very valid reason to show up. So if you dont have a system to utilize those leads once you get them youre really, really leaving thousands of dollars on the meeting room floor. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently?
The very first product that I came out with is still my flagship about the Invisible Close and the way that I actually finally got that out of my head and onto the paper was I presold it at the first talk that I did. And it wasnt even called The Invisible Close, it was called Designing and Presenting Your Irresistible Offers and the promoter asked whether I had anything to sell, and like most people I just had my coaching. And she said, Well, arent you writing a book? And I said, Well, yeah, like the rest of the world. I dont know when it will ever come out. She said, Why dont you presell it? So I asked her what the magic number of presales for that group and she said probably under $50 and so on my little form, I actually show this exact form in The Invisible Close, my very first order form for this. What I sold was a presale of Designing and Presenting Your Irresistible Offers that was going to be the title at the time, it was going to be $197 in 60 days but right now the presale was $47 and then I had a second package which was an hour of coaching and you get the book free and then the third package which was maybe like six hours of coaching and you get the book free.
And there were 50 women in the room and over 60% bought something and I didnt even take credit cards at the time. I was collecting cash and checks and made them out to my personal name and I was really like fresh off the farm. So to answer the question, I would have presold more had I known what I know I would have presold more and the beauty was I walked home with over $1800 and used
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that money to get help in getting the book done. And get it to them in that 60 day period that I promised. Sell your book and then you box yourself in.
Riding on the tales of that, hire help to get it done. So I boxed myself in and I had tried all these different techniques like recording chapters and having them transcribed and making more changes to that and that was more work than when I started. And so I used a gal at bookendyou.com, Christine Benton, and shes a real boutique shop, she only takes a few clients at a time, and they have to be a real fitting project for her, and shes very purpose driven but what I love, and I would recommend to anyone who is going to get help is to find someone who can keep your voice because its still my book. Its still totally me, I give her a mess every week and she returns with an organized document. And corrected and grammar and all that stuff updated that I dont pay a lot of attention to when Im writing. So I would say hire help and get it done. Put your skin in the game and get it done. I would have gotten better pictures. When I first started, I was pregnant with my daughter and I ran down to Sears and got a quick headshot before I blew up like a balloon and I used that for like three years and it wasnt until my first really big joint visible venture with Ali Brown when my picture got put up next to hers on our web page that I went holy (expletive). So the funny thing is that after all that resistance it was like a couple hundred dollars I used a gal named Stacy Canfield in San Diego, she did a fabulous job, I love my pictures and Id say to get two or three poses so its not always the same. I have a black-and-white I use for that little feature on Facebook and stuff. And then I have color that I use more for other things. And its nice to have like the waist up and then to have the head shot because if youre doing joint ventures with different people you kind of want to have a picture that matches theirs. If theyre both black-and-white or if youre both sort of leaning forward and just have your face or if theyre more like a waist up portrait so I think get a couple different things so that you have some options and I would have definitely done that sooner. If I could do it again. If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently?
I would have started doing joint ventures a lot sooner. One of the things that Ive found is that the specialty with what I do is an area of sales podium techniques, there are so many people, or for example I work with a branding expert where I do a lot of joint ventures together and we coach people in tandem. For example, with the particular branding and platform expert I work with once people have their cookie talk title (not certain that was said) and their niche established then its really, really great for them to be introduced to me so that the signature talk and all the offers can be put together.
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So theres just so many different ways that has been supported between myself and other people with complementary services and its so profitable, such a great way to expand my reach, their reach, and its fun. You know, you get out there and youre not working in a vacuum and you learn their techniques, they learn yours, there are so many benefits to it. Ill give you an example. If you go to getstartedspeaking.com youll see Suzanne Falter-Barnes and myself doing a 5-week series where people are able to listen to our material first and then come on the line live for coaching and hot speech tips. And theyre benefitting from each other, its just a beautiful program, the reviews are amazing and I consider that part of the coaching aspect of the business.
In my coaching practice I definitely would have started using teleseminars a lot sooner also and I mean that in the sense of either putting together a 5- or 7week coaching series and recording that. So again, group coaching, and then using that as a basis for future products and services. Or to enhance individual coaching or VIP coaching. I definitely and Im transforming all the time, but right now Im really hot on the prepaid model where you have as many people as you can from your list or other peoples lists wave their hand and opt in for a free call that previews a series that youre doing. And what I appreciate most about that message is that in essence youre likely to get thousands of people raising their hands for these preview calls and that establishes what I call the bucket. You know, a bucket of people thats distinct from my big list that have said, Hey, I do have some kind of interest in getting started speaking. You know, I may not be paying for your series but Im raising my hand that I at least want to hear what youre offering. And theres a lot of value in that.
This is a little bit of an overlap from what I shared about my speaking career. One of the things that a lot of coaches love about the Invisible Close is it gives them ideas for how to use invisible offers one-on-one on the phone to move coaching clients either from free starter calls into paid coaching packages or if youve already got someone engaged in a package youre able to move them on the spot on the phone into bigger commitments that support where theyre headed. So using limited time only type offers and having them prepared for beginning or continuing on till the end of coaching agreement. Bio: Heralded as The Queen of Sales Conversion, Lisa Sasevich has x-ray vision for seeing sales conversion opportunities and the creativity to convert them into gold! Lisa teaches her clients how to exponentially grow their speaking sales using Irresistible Offers, get massive results without being salesy and maximize profits with little to no marketing budget!
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For over 15 years she honed her skills with Fortune 500 companies like Hewlett Packard, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and North American Title. After years of winning Top Sales Awards, she left corporate America and put her skills to the test for a small but promising seminar company. In just 3 short years, Lisas creative marketing ideas tripled their revenues from $300,000 a year to well over $1 million. And she did it all with no marketing budget! Lisa and www.theinvisibleclose.com were recently featured as the Top Story on NBCs Inside Arizona Business where she offered solutions to help small business owners close a larger percent of the prospects they see, without being pushy or offensive. The Invisible Close is proving to be the perfect solution for those who love what they do, but hate the sales part. If youre a speaker, trainer, entrepreneur, coach, small business owner, service professional or an expert looking to get your message out in a BIG way, listen up because Lisa has some gold nuggets to share with YOU! Lisa is the author of The Invisible Close Ebook and Simple, Quick and Easy Ways to Boost Sales Without Spending a Dime. http://www.theinvisibleclose.com http://www.lisasasevich.com
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Jackie Silver
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? Get it videotaped from day one! I could use it for self-evaluation and potential promotion and speaker bureaus. You need to prepare yourself for the speaking "business".
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I would have tried to get more help, as in a personal team. I was always trying to do it on my own, instead of finding people to help me in the business, like a personal board of directors. Having a book has added to the speaking. It gives a lot of credibility, the ability for a "take-home" for the audience member. You have to be confident in your topic from the stage or it comes across as wishy-washy. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? Write the book MUCH sooner. I had all the PR and brand, etc., and no book, and that's what I needed first! I was so busy, I didn't think I had time to write the book. That being said, the book was better because of it.
In regards to writing a new book: Carve out some time dedicated to writing, once a day or once a week. Use some of your already written articles for starter material. The hardest thing is to get started. It is easier to continue writing than to get started. I was in a mastermind group and seeing everyone else with their book made me realize that it was a fear of success that was holding me back. After overcoming that fear I finished the book within one week.
Bio: Jackie Silver is Aging Backwards and she shares her secrets, tips and shortcuts in her book, Aging Backwards: Secrets to Staying Young, on her Web site AgingBackwards.com, on TV, on radio, in print and in person. She is the Aging Backwards expert on the syndicated television show, Daytime, the beauty editor for Clear Channel's Mix 100.7 FM Nancy & Chris Mornings in Tampa Bay, Florida and a weekly columnist with The Tampa Tribune. In addition, she's an expert contributor to Total Health Breakthroughs and BestLifeDesign.com, as well as a regular contributor to LifeTwo.com and HealthNewsDigest.com. Silver is a sought-after
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speaker and coach who combines her natural reporter's curiosity with her desire to help others look and feel young. http://www.agingbackwards.com
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Felicia J. Slattery
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? Id have a speaker-only website. Im developing that now with the sole purpose of getting bookings from the site. I have multiple sites for my consulting and coaching business, but never one dedicated to speaking only.
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Id write my book sooner as a way to open doors and have something to offer event planners, such as a book signing with bulk purchase of my book for all attendees. My first book is coming out soon, Cash in on Communication. I would have gone to more events to meet people in person. Since my first event (and including it!) Ive been on stage at every one. If I only knew that was all it took - meeting event planners and working with them directly. When people know you have something valuable to offer their audiences, you get booked.
If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? Im still creating book #1. I am happy with the process I used, but would have started it sooner.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? I might have spent some time learning a bit of the how to with regard to the simpler technology things. Nah. I would have definitely started doing teleseminars to build my list and meet new clients sooner. I would have picked up a PayPal Virtual Terminal account that I now have for $30 per month to take credit cards & run them on scheduled, agreed upon due dates.
Bio: Felicia J. Slattery lives her life with energy, passion and enthusiasm because she realizes each moment is precious. After nearly losing her life during childbirth in 2004, she began to put her communication and public speaking talents to use to
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create a positive impact on the world. She is a teacher, trainer, speaker, writer, consultant and coach and specializes in training busy professionals to succeed through effective communication and by delivering results-driven presentations. She holds two Masters Degrees: one in Adult Education and Training and another in Communication. Her enthusiastic passion for communication is contagious because she knows that one important message delivered with power can transform a life. http://www.CommunicationTransformation.com
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Mari Smith
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Enlist the support of a super successful mentor with proven results selling high volume from the stage. Turn all my virtual products and programs into physical product earlier in my career.
Focus on one powerful niche - which I have done since 2007, but prior to then I had split my focus which I know diluted my impact. Focus is key! If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? Hire a book expert(s) skilled in all areas from initial concept to organically getting to best-selling author status. Start a group/social network study group to glean ideas, input, case studies, content, etc. Keep the writing and publishing cycle going! Write a whole series.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? Launch a group coaching and membership site right away.
Charge *much* higher fees.
Focus on high-end clients only.
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Bio: Dubbed "the Pied Piper of the Facebook" by FastCompany.com, Mari Smith is a Relationship Marketing Specialist and Social Media Business Coach. She helps entrepreneurs accelerate their business profits using an integrated social marketing strategy, with particular focus on Facebook and Twitter. Mari is passionate about showing fellow professionals how to develop powerful profitable relationships. http://www.SocialMarketingMethod.com http://www.PartnerWithMari.com
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Scott Stratten
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, , what 3 things would you do differently? I would have realized that organizations and associations hire experts who speak, not speakers. Speaking is simply one of the vehicles that experts use to get their message out there. I was so focused on being a speaker that I missed the point about positioning myself as an authority uthority in a field. And being a Twitter addict, I obviously would have positioned myself as an expert using social media channels. People work with people they like, trust and know. Its a no brainer, if youve uve learned from me on Twitter and you like me, to book me to speak at your event. Social media allows you to talk to the world without having to travel the world.
I would have created product and a top top-notch notch speakers kit much earlier on. One of the best pieces of advice I received starting out was look the part. Regardless if youre a new speaker or been in the game for a while, you need to look the part. This means your speaker kit has to sit on a table with 5 5-10 other kits and not stand out in a horrible way. I learned from being on the booking end of the table for the biggest Human Resources conference in Canada how much a poor speakers kit can get you tossed out of consideration even before they look at your demo video.
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I would have written my book a long time ago as something that could be prepre sold at an event. I estimate that Ive lost at least six figures worth of revenue JUST from places that asked about buying a book for each member of the audience and thats without me even asking (Im g gonna go cry now). If you could go back to the start of your Coaching career, , what 3 things would you do differently? I would have charged 2 2-5 times more than I did initially. I priced myself extremely low focusing on volume rather than price point. That being said, my first set of clients were incredible pe people ople and I may not have had the chance to work with them as clients if my fee had been exponentially higher. I would create a group coaching program instead of relying solely on one one-onone clients. I love the ability to directly connect with someone, but it is
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incredibly draining and the expectation to hit a home run every single call, every week puts a lot of pressure on you as a coach. In groups, it not only takes the pressure off, but allows people to grow sometimes in ways you wouldnt be able to bring out in a one-to-one setting.
I would have sold coaching hours in packages instead of monthly fees with weekly calls. Sometimes clients dont have much to talk about every single week, and other times they need to talk more during their allotted time. I realized the monthly fee was created out of my want for consistent income, not what would be most valuable for my client base.
Bio: Scott Stratten is the President of Un-Marketing.com. He is an expert in Viral, Social, and Authentic Marketing which he calls Un-Marketing. It's all about positioning yourself as a trusted expert in front of target market, so when they have the need, they choose you, That's UN-Marketing. His online viral movies have been seen over 60 million times and has generated massive profits and lists for himself and his clients. Its this viral marketing that allowed him to climb the ranks of motivational speakers, going from no-fee to keynote speaker in a matter of weeks instead of years. He spends way too much of his time online, and was recently named one of the "Most Influential People on Twitter" (http://www.twitter.com/unmarketing) a social networking site with an estimated 7 million people. That plus $5 gets him a coffee anywhere in the world. He has recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Mashable.com, USA Today, CNN.com and Fast Company. He was selected as one of the Top Ten Canadian Men on Twitter by Woman.ca. He also has a lot of cool friends that gave their expertise for this little ebook, and for that he is forever grateful to them.
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Rob Toth
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? Focused on branding from day 1 (an image, niche or specialization vs. general coaching). This adds faster recognition and more professionalism to my services which allows me to command higher prices.
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I also would have lined up service provider partners from day 1. As a coach / consultant, the needs of my clients often call upon an expert such as PPC management company, an SEO expert, ghostwriters, a PR team, etc. By having partnerships set up with carefully selected leaders in these areas, AND by setting up pre-agreed upon referral swap strategies with these individuals, I would have enjoyed more free leads to my own services and/or referral commissions. My client would have benefited at the same time by not having to search around for a qualified expert.
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Finally, I would have started the communication funnel on day 1. This includes a newsletter with content that drives them to a blog. The blog houses articles, video and audios (to prove expertise, establish front-of-mind brand and most importantly, build rapport). Tying into this, I certainly also would have setup active profiles on key social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Linked-In for more reach, more referrals and even more rapport building. I would have started surveying and asking questions of my leads list more regularly. By asking them where their problems lie, I can better find out which service providers I need to align myself with or what possible info products I can also offer them for added revenue. Bio: Canadian internet-marketing strategist, Rob The Genie Toth runs his company right from the heart of downtown Vancouver, B.C. Rob has built a name as a preferred marketing strategy partner to a quickly growing list of clients, specializing in online sales system design and showing business owners how to generate leads and profits from their "web properties." Rob has marketed a host of products through the internet including physical books, specialized fitness equipment, seminars, a wide range of information products, wellness programs and more.
http://www.robtoth.com
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Adam Urbanski
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? I dont think I would change anything. I had a pretty good story. I think three points I would teach on that is I never really wanted to get into this speaking. To this day, I dont consider myself a professional speaker. And I speak a good number of times a year and Im not a fee paid speaker. I speak; I make my money by selling from the back of the room. So Im considered a product speaker or a selling speaker or whatever the heck they want to call me. I dont care.
And I think the biggest lesson that I learned all those years is, number one, youve got to be yourself. And you know when I first got started, I thought that youve got to have this image of success so I had gold watches and gold rings and all sorts of things and just decked to the T with gold cufflinks and fancy ties and stuff and that was kind of my persona. I love dressing up, I love looking good. But that was way over the top and it wasnt me. It felt uncomfortable but what did work was from the very get-go I simply wanted to be me in my presentations. And my only goal was to show up and deliver value. And I continued to learn and I continued to pick up tips and strategies from people how to deliver, how to impact people more effectively. How to be a more effective trainer, how to get people to engage, how to keep them riveted, to listen to me. But ultimately theres so much mumbo jumbo, you can forget what your goal is. And the goal is to impact another person in the audience. And its one person at a time in the audience. If you just simply be yourself and you care you could do it a lot more effectively than trying to remember all sorts of tricks and tactics and strategies and start with the way you walk on the stage, certain ways to make gestures of the fact that you can deliver a certain type of contact because you want sales or you will turn people off. I truly believe youve got to be you. And from what Ive observed based on my own experience and now some clients is, if they just relax and just be themselves, amazingly they get better results than with any type of massive training. Instead of trying to brainwash them into, hey this is how youve got to do it. So that would be my tip #1.
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The second thing I would say is do at least one presentation in your life, depending on someones personal speaking style, at least one presentation in their life; I would suggest that they script it word for word. I actually did it only once and that was enough to discover some fundamental flaws in how I communicated. And a friend of mine, actually one of my mentors, made a suggestion that I look at all of the statements I make in my presentations and convert them into questions. For example, instead of saying something like You should be finding this type of information in your local newspaper. A much more effective way to deliver information would be, Where you live is there a local newspaper? If you open the newspaper, could you find this type of information in there? And that not only engages people but allows them to buy into the information rather than have me kind of forcing the information down their throats. So it allows me to deliver a much more engaging presentation. And have the audience actually buy into what I talk about. Actually, its their idea. I just coax the ideas out of them. And Ive found some other things structurally that I could have moved things around and when you write them down you realize youre cutting off sentences and youre not finished in certain parts. So at least once I would suggest you transcribe or script your entire talk. You dont have to read it later on but as you write it you kind of realize that a lot of things can be shifted and without any trainers, without any expense and long training, just taking the effort of taking two or three hours writing down your presentation and reading through it will be one of the most valuable trainings you can get, self-inflicted so to speak. And it will be very, very practical.
And the final thing I will share is very, very personal. I think it might appeal to people like me who really love teaching the nitty-gritty how-to stuff. And because I like teaching it so much and I personally feel if I dont deliver a lot of nitty-gritty tools I feel like I have failed. Like I didnt deliver enough value and I somehow didnt live up to the expectations of my audience.
But what I discovered with time is that the more I tried to cram into the presentation, the more the actual tips and how-to strategies I like to give people, the less practical my presentations became. And when I learned to actually do two things, one is to tell more stories and two is to relate those stories to what peoples problems are where they are right now, so I tailored my presentations to be more problem-oriented, just relating and showing people, Listen, I understand where you are, I understand what its like to be there. I understand where youre trying to get. And only briefly touch upon ways to get where they wanted to get. Amazingly, I had audiences clambering after me after each presentation. Theyre like, Oh my God, this is such good stuff. Where I hadnt particularly told them anything new. So what it taught me is that what may be considered value to us is not necessarily value to your audience. And people more than anything else dont necessarily want to understand you. Not necessarily want to understand what it is that you do, they just want to know that you understand them. They just want to feel understood.
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And that is probably the biggest lesson, the tip that I would share with anybody else. Just relate to your audience. Relate, relate, relate. Tell stories and your audiences will love you. And youll be brought back as a speaker time and time again because the audience loves you, the audience raves about you to the promoter, the audience buys from you and thats exactly what you want. If your audience buys from you, the audience is happy, the promoter is happy and the bank teller is happy to see you again. I dont think carrying products or having them shipped has one advantage over the other. Ive done both. And I can tell you that as of the last couple years I only bring in either one or two sets of products with me. And the reason I do it this way is because, number one, I want to have a set with me on stage to show people. And typically I may either give it to the first person that invests with me, or I may raffle off the set to participants in the audience.
And the second set I typically bring with me to either display in the back of the room and usually what I do with that is someone who is in charge of the event may not necessarily be the promoter but someone who like puts in a lot of hours to make things work and I just want to give it to them as a gift because they simply deserve it. Its just my way of saying thank you for being there and for making it possible and for supporting me as a speaker and making this all run smoothly. But I have found no impact as a product speaker and I have found no impact in returns or in conversions. I actually think now that I am relaxed and dont have to worry about do I have enough product with me or will I run out, whos going to have to have it shipped, who doesnt have to have it shipped, if I just totally relax and I have one set I think that my conversion actually went better and I simply had to develop a system on the backend where immediately upon receiving all the information they need to have about all the transactions that took place we take the next step, whatever it is, and make sure that the customer is immediately taken care of so like in our case I have an 8-hour mentoring module thats delivered digitally, so while theyre waiting for their shipment they immediately have something to kind of sink their teeth into. So I think you just have to be creative. But if I were to start today, I would not carry a product with me. Look at all the shipping costs and everything else. You never know whats going to happen. If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? All three points that I want to do have nothing to do with tools. The first point would be dont let anything hold you back because if youre waiting for crutches to appear and youre waiting to take the first step and the crutch could be I dont have a Web site; a crutch could be I dont know how to create an ezine, or
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the crutch could be I dont know technology. I dont know how to do follow-up or auto-responders and all of this. Or a crutch could be Im not a good speaker so all of this stuff is just kind of trash and garbage we put in our head and we say we cant do x because we dont have y and thats like total BS. So if I could start totally from scratch once again, the first thing I would do I would start teaching a lot more and a lot sooner and build a community around my teaching. When I first got into this, I think whenever anybody gets into any business, even though we might be experts at the time were ready, we still think we need to learn more. And thats exactly where I started, built one very successful business but I still thought I didnt know enough so I started learning more and as I kept learning I should have immediately passed my learning and experiences on to other people. It sure would have been where I was learning from and what I was learning, what I thought was good and what I thought was bad. Im still learning and I can teach you what Im learning. Is still creating a position of authority and a center of influence and leadership. And I missed out on that for probably a good two years because I refused to teach. I was just learning, learning, learning and not sharing enough with my followers and so obviously I missed out on a lot of visibility because of that, I missed out on building a huge connection with a tighter circle and larger circle of potential clients who I could have influenced because I just wasnt doing it. So to start with, I would just immediately start teaching. Do teleseminars. Send tips, even if its from your basic email, I dont care. Send tips. And now-a-days with social media, put out the audio recording, put out the video recording, then simply make posts on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, wherever the heck you are. Just share information that you have learned that you find exciting and amazingly people will self-select themselves and say, hey, I like that kind of stuff, teach me more. The second would be to charge more sooner. I always share the story with my students then when I first was getting started I was charging $500 a month for two hours of coaching. And I thought was the pretty high end. And I remember meeting with somebody like Tuesday or Wednesday and there was this electricity so to speak, and I had a hot guy and this guy was like a prime prospect for my coaching services and after kind of a long time arm wrestling he said, Well, Im sorry but I cant afford it. Well, I meet the guy on Friday afternoon and he says, I just signed up for so and sos sales training, its like a nation-wide franchise type of sales training company and I know the training is $10,000. And Im going like cool the crap, you didnt have $500 bucks to give me on Wednesday but on Friday you have 10 grand.
So Ive learned a couple of things. Number one is I needed to learn how to present my programs differently because obviously I didnt present something properly because he didnt see the value in it. But really the bigger lesson that I learned
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much later was the fact that the value is equated with the price. The price created the value. And heres another thing that I think many coaches dont get. High price is not a result of your success. Charging higher prices is a prerequisite of your success. Because at lower price points people dont, if you want to have better results with clients, if you want to have better clients and leaders of the industry coming to you for training they expect and they want to be charged a premium because thats what allows them to feel enough pain to feel motivated to go forward. Sometimes they will pay you the money to feel the pain, to feel the pressure that they feel obligated to get something done finally. And if you are not charging them enough you are doing them and yourself a disservice. So if I could go back from the very first client, I would like quadruple my prices. Part of it is what you want to charge and kind of whats the market going to carry. It depends upon how you package things. I think the biggest thing is the selfconfidence. So youve got to develop a level of confidence that allows you to state certain prices and shut up and dont burst out in laughter. I dont know if you ever heard a story of Alan Weiss of the Million Dollar Consultant. When he was working with one of his first mentors they would go on appointments. And the guy had a habit of stating the price and the minute he set the price he stuck a big old fat cigar in his mouth and would start chewing it. And finally after one of those sessions, Alan just couldnt take it anymore and said, Why the hell do you do it; you know its rude. You talk to people and the minute you finish a sentence you stuck this fricken cigar in your mouth. Why do you do this? And he said, Ive got to tell you this, its because I quote the price thats so ridiculously high Ive got to stick a cigar in my mouth otherwise Im going to burst out in laughter. And like such an idiot, they pay me. So there is your answer to whats the price. And it should be whatever the market can bear comfortably. And heres I think another kind of psychological factor that people dont see, we always think that people cant afford it. Thats exactly who should invest in our program. Because investing in yourself at the higher level is not an outcome of success, its a prerequisite to success. And many people need to have, you see if you dont invest in yourself, how can you charge other people more money? Its kind of a weird psychological, you know, I call it mental masturbation.
This is actually, if I could get it into my thick Polish head to work faster I think its cost me millions, and that is I havent built my support team fast enough. And I think Ive actually heard your interview with somebody on how you first stumbled upon this viral movie thing and how you were just running back and forth duplicating five copies at the time. Well, Ive got to tell you I wasnt quite that bad but maybe I was worse. Actually, I dont know.
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I mean, I refused to bring in people to help me which was weird because in my previous business I had over 100 employees so I certainly understood the value of having people work on my business, other people work on my business. But when I got into this consulting, coaching, consulting training its so easy to spread tasks over time, over certain time space that its easy to buy into this, Well, Ill just do it myself, its going to take a little longer. Whats the rush? Well, the rush is you know every day that goes by that youre not giving somebody something to do to move your business forward, youre actually stalling your business. So I think I could have broken through the seven-figure barrier and had a large profit two or three years sooner had I just gotten into this mode of everything needs to be systemized, everything needs to be delegated and build a fricken team and even when you think you cant afford it thats exactly the time you need to bring somebody to build a team and to value the time. There are so many different methods to calculate whats the value of your time. But even the simplest like what do you want to make in a year. How many hours do you want to work per year, month, week, and day and break that down into hourly value. Most anybody that sells any type of consulting, teaching, training service probably if youre charging a hundred bucks youre just really surviving so mostly you should be charging $200, $250 per hour and possibly even more. And most every task thats related to your business, thats daily minutiae will be keeping appointment setting, anything else can be done anywhere from $10-$50, maybe 60 bucks an hour max. Thats still only half to one-fourth, to one-fifth, sometimes even only one-tenth of what you charge hourly. And you have no business doing this, but you know being the smart Polish man that I am I refused to do my own administrative work. Bio: Adam Urbanski, president of Marketing Mentors, is a results-driven marketing strategist teaching business owners and professionals how to attract all the new customers and clients they can handle. Originally from Poland, Adam immigrated to United States in 1989 with only $194 and limited ability to speak English. Within ten years hed build several businesses with his largest success of co-owning and owning a small chain of fast-food restaurants. Today, Mr. Urbanski works with entrepreneurs and professionals who want to attract new sales, increase profits and make owning a business or professional practice more rewarding and fun.
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Adam is an author of several marketing programs, including Attract Clients Like Crazy, From Contacts to Contracts, Info Profit Success and Secrets of Master Networkers. Hes taught his strategies to tens of thousands of people through training programs ranging from short presentations to sold out workshops and 90-day in-depth courses. Once a year Mr. Urbanski hosts a unique program called Attract Clients Like Crazy. This three day intensive training faciliated by Adam attracts an international audience eager to learn new online and off-line strategies to build a more successful business. For access to free marketing guides, promotional ideas, how-to articles, and information about up-coming events visit his website. http://www.TheMarketingMentors.com
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Denise Wakeman
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Hire a platform speaking coach to help me with presentation skills as well as how to sell from the platform.
Invest in having product packaging professionally designed and packaged to make a big impact. Keep the product for back of room sales manageable not too much stuff which can overwhelm the audience. Learn how to do (or outsource) really awesome PowerPoint presentations, not boring ones. Learn how to tell a story with metaphorical images vs. too many words and bullet points (See Presentation Zen). If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? Start a blog when I start the book. Use the blog to work out ideas and begin attracting fans of the content and get feedback. This will make marketing so much easier when the book is launched. Make sure I can (if working with a publisher) and do repurpose the content from the book: free reports for generating leads; blog posts, videos, podcast (read chapters), teleseminars, give away chapters. Start a fan club on Facebook to begin spreading the word and keep fans up to date on publishing schedule, book signings, teleseminars.
If you could go back to the start of your Coaching practice, what 3 things would you do differently? Create a lead generating report right at the start. Dont wait and dont try to be perfect. Start blogging now. Best way to establish a web presence for tiny investment to begin attracting ideal client. Build a body of content fast and distribute online everywhere: blog, articles, video, podcast, in order to create high online visibility.
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Bio: Business blogging expert Denise Wakeman is an online social marketing advisor and co-founder of The Blog Squad. With nearly two decades of business and online marketing experience, she helps authors, speakers, service professionals, and small business owners set up and optimize great blogs as well as strategically use social media tools to gain visibility, build credibility and make more money selling their books, products and services. Denise has been using the Internet as a marketing tool since 1996; she writes regularly on 4 blogs and has co-authored many blogging programs including "Build a Better Blog," Better Business Blogging and The Blog to Book Project. She frequently speaks at conferences and workshops about business blogging and how to create massive online visibility and gain expert status through social marketing. http://www.BizTipsBlog.com http://www.DeniseonTwitter.com http://www.DeniseonFacebook.com
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Andrea Waltz
We would have begun creating product earlier. Our book Go for No and subsequent audio training programs have become huge revenue generators for us. And then you layer on that we have created enormous value for our customers. They were wanting more in depth information on our topic. By creating the product it has been a real win-win. There are some things that we would not invest in; most of it is hard materials like letterhead and things like that. Would invest most heavily in electronic marketing materials and a good looking website that helps people who want a speaker to make a decision. And specifically, as early on as possible, getting a great demo video. Also, as an aside because we are mostly "topic" driven our speaking on the topic gets lost among the website we have created. It is all about the topic, ideas and products. So, I would actually develop a separate speaking-only web site. We're just finally getting to that now! We would do a much better job of getting testimonial letters and also referrals. Speaking clients, like everyone, are busy people and we did not follow up to maximize the value of the program from our side. Asking for referrals are a great way to build your speaking business. If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently?
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For us, we did not invest appropriately in getting a really good looking book cover. We weren't sure at that time how much we'd really do with the book and so didn't do a great job in a cover design and actually did it ourselves to begin. That probably hurt us and hindered our getting faster traction. Luckily the word of mouth was so good, and sales increased every year. Now of course we finally redesigned the cover! At the very first printing in 2000 we put a bio and a fax back order form in the back pages but we weren't doing anything early on to create a "following" like we do now. In other words, there was no way for readers to connect with us or learn more. We were just selling books, which is not really growing the business. It's like every year you are starting over. Now, of course, we have a website and
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membership club and ways to take people who love our book to the next level. Starting over, we'd have all that in place from the beginning.
Definitely have a plan of how you will sell the book. Article writing, selling through others, social media are all great ways to reach an audience who can buy. But to start off, we'd have a detailed plan of exactly which ways we'd start with and some objectives to measure our success. We did not start with a great plan. Then not measuring what worked and what didn't took us longer to make adjustments and to decide which way to go with marketing the book. Bio: Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz are owners and Chief Courage Officers of their company, Courage Crafters, Inc. They are the creators of Go for No! which reprograms the way people deal with failure, rejection, and how they respond to the word NO. Over a decade ago, Rich and Andrea left the corporate world after spending time in sales, management and training positions and started their own business delivering keynotes and workshops across the country. In 2000, they wrote Go for No! and have made it their mission to spread the power of no.
http://www.goforno.com
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Andy Wibbels
If you could go back to the start of your Speaking career, what 3 things would you do differently? Really developing one particular talk in depth that I can clip and distill down depending on the length of the talk and the size of the audience. I did several veral ad ad-hoc presentations and got busy with those and didn't really carefully craft the message and presentation.
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Focusing on impressing extroverts. It isn't who you know. It isn't what you know. It is who knows what you can do. Impress extroverts and they'll hey'll talk you into wonderful opportunities. Developing a media room on my site to build credibility and attract journalists. I now include sample interview questions, recordings of a previous radio appearance and bullet points about who the hell I am.
If you could go back to the start of your book creation process, what 3 things would you do differently? I would have had a line of services and programs for readers to access throughout their experience with the book. I had a 'get updates at' type page but I should have had something much more comprehensive and integrated to bring the readers into my orbit. I think it is crucial to see your book as really the beginning eginning of your relationship with your readers. Devoting more of my book advance and resourc resources es to building a newsletter that would be completely nuts for my book once it finally came out. This is the one thing new writers don't always understand - that if they don't have a list of people hungry for what they are writing then they might as well pa pack ck it up and go home. This also makes you much more attractive to publishers. Courting a high-profile profile author to write the foreword for my book. I sat on this so long until it was too late. I also depended on the publisher's illustrators to create images and ended up not getting any images in my book. That was sorta tacky.
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Focusing on tangible problems I think would have greatly benefitted my coaching work. I started studying coaching relatively young so I had less 'life experience' to draw on. Instead of fluffy gossamer wishes of joy and abundance I think getting people to envision tangible results is much more immediate and motivating. Picking a niche and sticking with it. I think an immature coach's first instinct is that a niche means rejecting people that don't fit it (which isn't at all true). Orienting your marketing, products and brand towards one specific. Being timid about my talents. If you know something SAY IT. If you can do something DO IT.
Staying away from the carnivorous, incestuous, cannibalizing effects of coach training schools and trade associations. It skeeves me out to watch the 'New to coaching? Well of course you should hire ME as a coach!'
Bio: Andy Wibbels is an award-winning blogger and author of Blogwild! A Guide for Small Business Blogging. He has helped thousands of businesses all over the world use blogging and social media to achieve instant global impact. He works at Six Apart, makers of TypePad and Movable type and blogs. http://www.andywibbels.com
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Scott Stratten
Scott Stratten
Scott Stratten is the President of Un UnMarketing.com. He is an expert in Viral, Social, and Authentic Marketing Marketing, which he calls Un-Marketing, , and speaks about it at conferences all over the world world. It's all about positioning yourself as a trusted expert in front of your target market, so when they have the need, they choose you. That's UN-Marketing. His online viral movies have been seen over 60 million times and has generated massive profits and lists ts for himself and his clients (read more here). ). Its through this viral marketing that at he was able to climb the ranks of motivational speakers, going from no-fee fee to keynote speaker in a matter of weeks instead of years. He was recently named one of the "Most Influential People on Twitter" (http://www.twitter.com/unmarketing http://www.twitter.com/unmarketing) a social networking site with an estimated 7 million people. That plus $5 gets him a coffee anywhere in the world. He has recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Mashable.com, USA Today, CNN.com and Fast ast Company. He also has a lot of cool friends that gave their expertise for this little ebook, and for that, he is forever grateful to them. He can be reached at 1-888-580-9969 or Scott@Un-Marketing.com. Visit his main site at http://www.Un http://www.Un-Marketing.com.
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If You Could Go Back

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http://www.nancyarroyo-perez.com http://www.socialmediax.com/successblueprint Connect with me on Facebook: http://www.inancy.info/facebook Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nancyperez

What a difference that made.

Michael Bungay Stainer

Shannon Cherry, APR, MA

Communicate with clients and prospects continuously.

Have products immediately available.

Would have done RTIR sooner (radio interviews rock ;)

I would have launched follow-up programs/products sooner.

Three words: video, video, video :) testimonials, YouTube, etc.

Use on home page of book website,

Alexis Martin Neely

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein

Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson

Charge much higher fees.

Focus on high-end clients only.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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