The first-ever Multiple Streams List-Building Workgroup was a great success - In addition to some lists that grew by hundreds, dozens of short and long-term commitments were fulfilled, including website overhauls, new product launches and the beginning of what I'm sure will be some lifelong partnerships.
If you were unable to join us for the first round, we are pleased to open a new set of dates by popular request.
So if you're sick of talking about doing things, getting trained in this and that, and not getting anything done...
the Bold, Outrageous and Provocative (BOP) Stance he's taking in his niche
For those of you who've been reading this blog awhile, you know one of my favorite questions is
"What is the boldest, most outrageous, most provocative statement or position you can take, in and for your target market?"
Today's 'Faces of Multiple Streams' is one person's highly creative and out-of-the-box answer to this question. A Pink Spoon Blog focused on shoes, celebrity and fashion, written by a fictional character called the Manolo.
Today's we'll cover the topic of word-of-mouth marketing.
Although much has been written on the topic, we have recently had the pleasure of working with a group of 30 or so coaches who have been creating great results using some of these strategies.
So if you're in a business that could benefit from additional clients; if you would like to sell more ebooks/CDs/teleclasses...or, if you would like to expand your reach with your important message...have a review of these simple and organic tactics that you can implement today.
Could this be Your Window of Opportunity for a New Stream of Income?
Position(s): Executive Coaching Contracts for a bursting-at-the-seams, six-to-seven figure Coaching Business.
In Brief: Coaching Positions will require travel in order to co-facilitate live workshops and deliver follow-on 6-month coaching programs by phone. Applicants can be based anywhere in the world with a preference given to North American candidates due to time zone efficiencies. These are retainer-based contracts with room for growth.
Would you enjoy having informal help for some of your Multiple Streams projects, and even for some of the routine work of running your coaching business?
It's possible to mentor volunteers if you understand the value you have to offer by way of an education.
How about figuring out exactly how this would work, by way of a 77-minute long Multiple Streams Audio recording on this very topic?
Hiring online brings with it some unique challenges, not least of which is the fact that you cannot see or even talk to some of your potential candidates...
...but the benefits of hiring online are so many, I'm usually hard pressed to think of a reason NOT to hire online (unless it's for a hairdresser or something!) So how can a body successfully hire online assistance, and do so quickly, covering your bases in just a couple hours? Start here.
After years of consulting experience, I firmly believe there is money to be made *now* (today, or this week) in every business. Asking yourself the question "What's Closest to the Money?" and focussing your activity on following through on the answer, is a proven way to get cash flowing and more importantly, shift the way you look at your business, forever.
In the Advanced Coaching Group Theme for November, we will take these ideas from Chapter Four of 'Money, Meaning & Beyond' and expand and concretize them so you can begin to internalize this way of operating in your business.
Do you know the answer to the question "How Can I Earn $1000 Today?" If you don't, or would like help taking action on what you think may be the answer, this Advanced Coaching Group Theme for you. Please come prepared to act!
We've all heard the wisdom of Michael Gerber as he brings home the point: The only reason to build your business is to sell it. But, is there more than one way to 'sell' it and reap the rewards of passive income?
Especially in the coaching profession, there is a lot of talk about the industry being in its 'infancy.' So why are some coaches quietly but confidently, without fanfare, doing one or more of the following, again and again, increasing their wealth as they do so?
I'm talking about not just straight selling, but a concept I call 'Outheriting' as well as Licensing, Creating Associates & Investing. With respect to Gerber, there is more than one way to skin a cat - exit your business at the right time, that is!
If you haven't yet thought about your exit strategy, you are not alone. But by being willing to do so now, you will:
(1) give new purpose to your daily 'work,' making the work less a present-burden and more a future-investment
(2) make the day to day work lighter as a result
(3) make it easier to prioritize the many, many things that seem to cling to your to do list
(4) let you see your life in a bigger perspective, a good thing because too many business owners have their noses so far into their businesses they can't even reach the top of their heads to scratch an itch! ;-)
As business owners who value Money AND Meaning, many of us are selling a so-called 'soft-service.' Whether that be 'Life Purpose,' 'More Energy,' 'Confidence,' or even 'Happiness' there are many examples of it, especially in the personal development industry.
And what about a service like consulting? Or a book with the word 'meaning' in the title?? ;-)
Hint: The solution to these challenges involves a concept called 'vises and needles'. (Thank you, Seth Godin!) And yes, that's vises with a letter 's!' We also refer to this as 'earning the right,' but more on that in the class.
If you're at all frustrated at the special challenges you face trying to sell something intangible, the April Advanced Coaching Group theme will be of interest to you, and as far as we know, this is a topic not addressed in many other places quite like this. If you must know, it's because we were determined to find a formula that would work.
On behalf of consulting clients and our own services, we now sell tens of thousands of dollars in intangibles each month. Let us share the hows and whys in this series of calls.
Obviously the best place to put your hot dog stand is in front of a hungry crowd. But what if hungry as they seem to be, no one is buying hot dogs? What is wrong and what can you do about it?
There are two fundamental parts to the answer to this conundrum. The first concerns whether the 'right' people are in front of the hot dog stand. (Maybe they are Jewish and they don't eat Pork Hot Dogs!) The second is, having ascertained they are the right people, what precise actions can be taken to increase the number of people who buy, rather than just look?
The Advanced Coaching Group Theme for March will address both these issues, with an emphasis on the second. You will hear the major things you can do to increase conversion, and be supported to prioritize what to implement in your business. This applies to online and offline businesses. (Think - what if more people bought something from you when you spoke in front of them?)
Do you always seem to do things the hard way in your business? When you walk on the beach, do you walk on the nice smooth sandy part or the rocky, uneven, ankle-twisting part? Believe it or not, there seems to be a correlation!
A great many entrepreneurs have an ingrained belief that success takes hard work. That what comes easily isn't worth it. And that we earn people's admiration if we are screamingly busy and filled-to-the-brim.
The funny thing is, there is an easy way. In fact, in the Advanced Coaching Group for January, we'll cover 20 easy ways to approach things in your business so you can kick off your year with new internal messages.
What if you could read a novel, and return to your desk to discover you've earned money while reading?
How about if you went to a nice meal and show, getting reacquainted with your spouse, and return the next morning to see you have a new joint venture agreement and several sales?
The 20 Ways we'll introduce in this series of classes are just the beginning; they are examples of an 'alternate path' from the difficult one you may have become used to taking. Let's break that habit together, shall we? We'll have ample time to shine a light on areas you struggle with specifically and find real 'easy routes' that are in front of you (but for now, can't seem to see.)
Does it the following statement make intuitive sense to you?
In order to double your income, you first have to learn how to do half of what you are currently doing.
If you are too busy doing detailed things, you won't have time or energy to think strategically.
If your every minute is taken up in a 'busy busy' frenzy, there is no room for new business.
If your files are jam packed with papers, where would there be room for a new agreement with that great joint venture partner you have in your sights?
Whatever way you want to look at it, if you want to double your income you first have to make room. That's what we'll be covering in the Advanced Coaching Group for December. How to halve (yes halve!) your current workload or 'full-ness' and in so doing, make room for the income you say you want.
Are you ready to deepen and anchor your understanding of some of the major concepts in 'Money, Meaning & Beyond,' 'Multiple Streams of Coaching Income' or 'Pink Spoon Marketing?'
Perhaps you've read the books, even participated in the Multiple Streams membership but yearn for a deeper treatment of certain topics that helps you integrate the material more fully into practice, rather than just 'information' floating in your head? (Who needs more of THAT??!)
The Advanced Coaching Group Series - or what we're affectionately calling the Group of Seven - is your chance to do just that - create sustainable change in the format of a small group that meets 3 times a month by phone. From October to May 2007 (seven months) each month has been assigned a specific business-building theme.
You have the option of joining in for selected months, based on which themes most resonate with you, or, if you find many of them of interest, I strongly encourage you to make a commitment to the entire series (7 months with a small financial incentive) for maximum continuity and concrete results.
This series is designed as (1) an alternative to the limited number of 1-1 coaching and consulting timeslots I can make available in the rest of 2006 and 2007, and (2) as an antidote to 'information only' programs that don't leave you room to adjust and shift. (Many of the themes call for underlying personal development to support your professional growth.)
All call dates will be Tuesdays and all call times are 100 to 200 PM Eastern time. Specific dates available at each link.
Cutting to the chase, the themes for the first go-round of the Advanced Coaching Group Series are:
Theme #1 for October: 5 Strategic Ways to Reduce Expenses (Up to $2500 before the end of the year) in Your Business"
Theme #2 for November: How Can I Earn $1000 Today | Implementing the Question "What's Closest to the Money?" Into Your Routine
Theme #3 for December: Doubling Your Income Hinges On Learning to Halve Your Current Workload - But How?"
Theme #4 for January: "20 Ways to Do Things the Easy Way (versus the Hard) in Your Business & Life in 60 minutes | With Case Studies"
Theme #5 for March (no official calls in February): "Honing in On Conversion | "People are kicking tires, but they're not buying...What Do I Do Now?"
Theme #6 for April: A Formula to Effectively Sell Something Intangible, Service-Oriented or in Any Way Big Picture?
Theme #7 for May: Exit Strategies and the Life Cycle of Your Business
And....as a BONUS for the month of October, this additional topic is available at no additional charge when you register for any two or more of the above by September 29, 2006:
Topic #0, also for October : "How to You Get So Much Done, Andrea? | The 'One-Thing' Rule and the 'Two-Second' Rule with Thanks to Thomas Leonard"
Click to register for all 7 months (21 one-hour calls) and save 10%: $945
Individual months: $150 each, non-recurring, you must choose to sign up each month or purchase in advance to secure a seat. To register for individual months now, click the appropriate call theme above.
In Summary: Each month you are paying for three calls in a small-group format that will include role plays, hot seat coaching, examples and resources. The three calls will break down much like this, except where the material warrants a departure:
Call #1: Ideas, new paradigms, case studies, resources, information
Call #2 and 3: Integration exercises, anchoring, real-life scenarios, coaching, consulting, Q&A, challenges, stuck-points, implementation and leadership in each theme area.
From marketing through operations, the 2006 Advanced Coaching Group Series is designed to provide an ongoing coaching-based dialogue with me and like-minded collagues about acclerating your way to a meaningful business that makes money sustainably.
For coaches and business owners who may feel they've 'been there, done that' this is the highest quality business and personal development available in this economical format, and can be seen as a proverbial way to keep a 'kick in your pants' outside a 1-1 coaching environment.
Note: The Advanced Coaching Group Series is NOT a free-falling open call or brainstorming-centric environment. Each call has been assigned specific goals for you to choose from, and concrete results are expected based on our track-record of covering these topics.
Of course, much, if not all, depends on you, so come intending to play full out please. I am terribly (yes, I said terribly) energized by what I believe we can achieve together and look forward to welcoming you to the series. A personal note and details for your calls will be sent to you via email within a few minutes after you register.
To do so now, click below OR browse further by clicking the title for each Advanced Coaching Group Theme above. There, you'll find specific details for the month including dates, times and further description of the theme.
Click to register for all 7 months and save 10%: $945, or $45 each for 23 full-bodied 60-minute calls, $135 per month. (Best Value.)
Click to register for October only: "5 Strategic Ways to Reduce Expenses (Up to $2500 in as quickly as 3 months) in Your Business"
Click to register for November only: "How Can I Earn $1000 Today | Implementing the Question "What's Closest to the Money?" Into Your Weekly Regime
Click to register for December only: "Doubling Your Income Hinges On Learning to Halve Your Current Workload - But How?"
Click to register for January only: "20 Ways to Choose the Easy Route (versus the Hard Route) in Your Business (and Your Life) in 60 minutes
Click to register for March only: "Honing in On Conversion | "People are kicking tires, but they're not buying...What Do I Do Now?"
Click to register for April only: "A Formula to Effectively Sell Something Intangible, Service-Oriented or in Any Way Big Picture
Click to register for May only: "Exit Strategies and the Life Cycle of Your Business"
By activating your registration by September 29, 2006, you will also be invited to a BONUS kick-off call.
Scheduled for October 12, 2006, your bonus for taking early action is sixty minutes devoted to the topic of "How Do You Get So Much Done, Andrea? | The 'One-Thing' Rule and the 'Two-Second' Rule with Thanks to Thomas Leonard."
Two final administration details:
If you can't attend on a specific date, recordings will be made available by via MP3. You will miss any interactive elements but can continue to keep your energy up and hold yourself accountable.
Members of Multiple Streams of Coaching Income will have a credit of one month's membership (equivalent to $27) applied for each theme purchased, whether singly or in a group of 3, 4 or 7. Register at the full rate and then send an email to support@msoci.com and we will extend your membership by the appropriate number of months.
Posted to Advanced Coaching Group | For Coaches | General | Meaning... | Money... | Offerings/Activities
Date: Three Thursdays, September 22, 29, October 6 from 200 to 300 PM Eastern (60 minutes each)
Led by: Andrea J. Lee
Fee: None
Coaching Paycheck R&D: If You Could Work for Your Ideal Coaching Company, What Would That Be Like? This is the theme question for this fall's R&D topic at 'Creating What Matters.'
By joining this call you will become part of the first-ever known exercise of this kind: to clarify, expand and project a vision for how coaches can earn paychecks of this kind.
Although to a certain degree the calls are an experiment in manifestation, Multiple Streams of Coaching Income has recently found itself in a position to be able to influence the unfolding of new coaching positions with various small and large companies considering wholesale hiring and grooming of coaches.
Enough so that we are palpably excited, cautiously optimistic and eager to lubricate the process with collaborative conversation with you.
So hop aboard to help us help coaches make this a reality based on your thoughts. Here are some of the questions we will pull apart and breathe into:
Jeff Jarvis' calls all tech and no-so-tech 'heads' out on the carpet.
"Recovery 2.0: A call to convene
September 5th, 2005
Let’s be honest: The web, too, was not fully prepared for the disaster of Katrina. If we’d truly learned the lessons of the tsunami and even 9/11, there was more we could have done to be ready to help.
I would like to see us convene a meeting to bring together the best of the web — software, hardware, infrastructure, media, money — to start to gather around needs and solutions. Maybe these should be a series of Meetups. Or why not convene a session around Web 2.0?
Call this Recovery 2.0.
The goal is to be ready — God help us — for the next disaster so people can better use the internet — via any device — to better:
1. share information,
2. report and act on calls for help,
3. coordinate relief,
4. connect the missing,
5. provide connections for such necessities as housing and jobs,
6. match charitable assets to needs,
7. get people connected to this and the world sooner."
The full post, which I support 100%, is here:
http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2005/09/05/recovery-20-a-call-to-convene/
"All across the Internet, blogs and websites such as Craigslist are assisting with mobilizing relief -- and trying to make sense of the catastrophe unfolding in the Crescent City and along the entire Gulf Coast.
For instance, popular sites such as BoingBoing.net (which bills itself as "a directory of wonderful things") have become sounding boards for tech-savvy people who are looking to donate cell phones, expertise, and cash for the Katrina relief effort."
To read the full article, go here:
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/09/wo/wo_0901hellweg.asp
Things You Can Do Now to Help, A Powerful Expanding Wiki...
http://thinknola.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
Whether we have family, friends, clients or colleagues there or not, I know each of us has a piece of our hearts at the Hurricane Katrina site right now.
This Ebook plus audio is for anyone who'd like to make (more) money from leading no-fee TeleSeminars. Designed for Coaches, Consultants and other service professionals whose primary business building strategy is education, it's exactly what you would expect from the title:
A Minute-By-Minute Template: Exactly What to Say, and When, To Effortlessly Cultivate New Clients Using TeleSeminars
With specific verbiage to help you along, you can try it 'by the letter' at first, and then add your own fluorishes, all the while protecting the essence of the timing of each call, which is what is most influential upon sales.
Click here to purchase, or read on for more detail.
Thanks for this chuckle go to Wendy Keilin and Debra Russell of Artists-Edge (click on the image to open full-size)
Indeed!
One of the yummiest things about our work as coaches is hearing about the success of those around us. That in mind, I'm not surprised this section of the 'Creating What Matters' Newsletter is so popular.
Today we're pleased to feature a very raw and uncut audio - 20 minutes in length - with Feng Shui Coach Vicky White.
Are you one of many coaches who lead teleseminars, but can't seem to get paying business from them?
Perhaps you're starting to wonder whether you should just stop giving away all your great information for free; give up on the teleseminar medium?
If so, you're not alone. This was the most frequently discussed topic in 1-1 Lightning Round Coaching Sessions in August 2005.
And while the notes I created to do internal training were very rough, I finally decided I'd better make it more widely available as a stand-alone product, even though - yes, my mind boggles too - there really are so many 'things' available for the coach trying to lead teleseminars.
In other words, if you've undergone TeleSeminar Leader Training and lead a pretty darn good call - but... you can't make them pay...this product will be for you.
If you are just starting, this product will be for you, BUT, you will not get a lot of basic 'what is a TeleSeminar' stuff.