Archive for the ‘Business Plans’ Category

Creating a high-end coaching program doesn't require special training. It's something that anyone can do, with enough expertise and the right approach. How do you know what a high-end coaching program should look like? Consider joining a similar group to get an idea of how it operates from the inside, and take away valuable information about how you can structure and format your offering.

Find a Similar Group and Join It
Once you've really decided to expand your offerings and create bigger programs where you'll get more actively involved with clients, it's time to think about what to offer and how you can offer it. What is a top-level coaching program supposed to include? One of the best techniques for starting a high-end coaching program is to find a similar group – and join it.

The idea is not to join a group and steal all of its techniques and resources. You might want a group that relates to a totally different industry than you'll be covering, or even a group that works with how to create and market high-end coaching programs. The point is to find a group and join it so you'll experience how a group like this operates, and get take-away points for your own planning.

Get an Insider View of What You're Offering
Joining a high-end coaching program gives you an insider view of what you're offering. This provides an opportunity for you to watch an expert in action, and look at how someone established is offering their programs to participants. This gives you an insider perspective of the types of things that need to be included in a program like this. It might also give you tips and techniques that improve your business overall, or as related to the program you intend to create.

Joining a high-end coaching program can give you valuable take-away points to implement in your own program. You may find that you really like something the mentor offers, or you may decide that something lacked information or you'd rather see something presented in a different way. Look at both the good things and the things you didn't like about the program, and find ways to integrate that knowledge into the program you're developing for your own clients. This can help you evaluate your potential offering with an insider's perspective, and better gauge what clients might like or want and what might not provide value to your clients.

Think of a High-End Coaching Program as an Investment
If you join a high-end coaching program to get a better idea of what to offer in your own program, think of it as an investment. Having this inside knowledge can help you better craft your own program to appeal to your clients, which can create better testimonials and generate interest and buzz among your potential prospects. By having your own experience with a top-level program, you know what clients expect and you can create a program that provides real value for your clients. This benefits everyone involved, and you might just find other aspects of your business improving as a result of the program!

Bernadette Doyle specializes in helping entrepreneurs attract a steady stream of ideal clients. If you want to get clients calling you instead of you calling them, sign up for her free weekly e-zine at http://www.clientmagnets.com

One of the biggest things that most often holds us back from achieving our full potential is permission to succeed, or the feeling that we're somehow not fully qualified to offer our advice and expertise to others. Have you ever felt that way?

Whether you're thinking of starting a high-end coaching program, marketing a new product or putting together a conference, the most valuable thing you can do for yourself is to give yourself permission to succeed. The people who achieve the most in life aren't stronger than you, or smarter than you; they succeed because they give themselves permission to try.

Self-Doubt is Common, and Deadly To Your Success
Self-doubt isn't an unusual problem to face when we begin new projects, or undertake new endeavors. When we try something for the first time, there's always the question of failure. Sometimes people even wonder if they have a right to try what they're trying, as though only other people can undertake massive projects.

One of the best things you can do for yourself is give yourself permission to try the big things you want to try. Most people know a lot more than they think they know, and have a great position from which to strike forth and begin a new endeavor.

For example, if you've been in your business for ten years and have built your business from the ground up, you're absolutely qualified to talk to people about how to build a business like yours, or how to operate in your niche. The accumulated experience of those years is your qualification. You don't have to be a coach or a guru to offer something valuable; in many cases, your personal experience is the most valuable thing you can share.

Successful People are Ordinary People Too
It's important to understand that successful people aren't magical, or special in some way that you're not. Successful people are ordinary people, too. Successful people typically have talent and know-how, but the key factor that sets them apart is a willingness to actually do the things they do; not a unique qualification or special asset that other people don't possess.

For me, joining Yanik Silver's mastermind group was extremely valuable, because it quickly became clear that Yanik, one of the most successful people in his field, is just an ordinary person. He's got a lot of talent and know-how, but he's still a flesh-and-blood human like the rest of us. Getting to know Yanik was the key to realizing that an ordinary person can do wildly successful things, such as starting a high-end coaching program or organizing huge events.

Don't make excuses to avoid starting your new projects. Don't wait until tomorrow, or next week; don't wait until you've taken that class or landed that big client.

These are all excuses that self-doubt uses to prevent you from succeeding. Do yourself the biggest favor of all: give yourself permission to try the important things. It doesn't matter if you're just an €˜ordinary person.' We're all ordinary people. It's time for you to really start creating your own success!

How does it make you feel when you receive a thank-you note, penned in your friend's own hand?   Or how revealing is it for you to study someone's signature, or to appreciate the time that they invested in writing a unique, personalized message with good, old-fashioned ink?

Handwriting has become a bit of a novelty.   We communicate with texts, IMs, emails, and spoken words.   The handwritten, post-marked letter has virtually gone the way of handlebar mustaches and hoop skirts.   So when you see your name and address in script on the front of an envelope, your curiosity is piqued, right?

In marketing, it can be helpful to put yourself in the shoes of your prospects.   If you'd like to receive a handwritten note, most of them probably would, too.

The handwritten note theory has been tested by direct mail experts and copyrighters, and the results have been overwhelming:   it works.

Here are some arguments for hand-lettered script on envelopes and in correspondence:

• Since the early 1990s, even before email was the overwhelming choice for correspondence, handwritten notes were endorsed by professional marketers.   If hand-crafted script was a welcome addition to mailboxes back them, imagine how novel it will seem now that we're fully immersed in the Information Age.

• "Pen and ink" catches a mail sorter's eye.   Think of how you sort your own mail.   If you're like most, you separate it into two piles:   the "I need to read that later" pile and the "ditch it, it's junk" pile.   Handwriting gives your correspondence a better chance of landing in the more favorable stack.

• A note, card, or letter with a personalized feel will always feel more valuable.   It flatters its recipient, and makes him or her curious to know who would spend so much time on the thought of them.

• If you use handwriting to communicate, at least a portion of the time, your communication will be among the minority, making it unique and worthy of a second glance.   Many marketers have heard of the advantages of handwritten notes, but few will make the effort to do it.   This gives your effort a "noted" advantage.

Now maybe you're thinking, "Geez.   I'm already buried under a mountain of work.   Where in the world am I going to find the time to sit down and write out notes to prospects?"   Here's the beauty of this approach:   it's so simple, anyone can do it.

Your niece or nephew can do it.   The neighbor kid can do it.   Your grandma can do it.   A student or intern can do it.   The handwriting doesn't have to be yours, it simply has to be handcrafted.

Actually, adding one more demand to your growing business isn't advisable.   Instead, think "automated."   A good idea or good fortune shouldn't equate to more work.   But it should call for a system to handle it.   Even if you're only writing 30 cards per month, and you have no problem fitting that task into your schedule, you must have a plan on the back burner…for when a big idea, or a big success, hits.

There will always be marketing trends to follow.   There will always be the next big thing, onto which you'll want to pounce before your competition gets the chance.   But, putting all of that aside, some things simply never go out of style, and handwriting is one of them.

In marketing, your handwriting grade isn't earned with sweeping curves, crossed Ts, and dotted Is, but rather, it's earned with the regular use of this versatile tool that simply never seems to go out of style.

Bernadette Doyle created Client Magnets Ltd to help self-employed people solve one of their biggest business problems: attract a steady stream of clients. If you’d like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com