Sometimes building a business can feel akin to trying to open a lock using the wrong key. Nothing fits, everything's hard and you just feel stuck. The challenge comes from the fact that your business is uniquely yours, and no one has ever built one like you yet!

This episode will walk you through a few signs that will tell you how to know if you're cutting the right business "key" and if not, how to tweak the things that aren't working. I'll also teach you how to know when you DO have the right "key" but you just need to turn up the volume and do more of what's working.

Come join me for Office Hours, most Thursday afternoons for free business coaching and Q&A.

Download my free guide to getting your coaching business up and running in ONE weekend.

00:28 Welcome to Burning Brightly

00:52 The Perfect Key Analogy

02:19 Trial and Error in Business

04:22 Identifying a Broken Key

08:57 Signs of a Working Key

09:23 Identifying the Right Audience and Offer

10:10 Crafting Clear and Concise Messaging

10:33 Building a Detailed Coaching Program

11:07 Passion and Free Content

12:03 The Role of a Business Coach

12:32 Scaling Your Business

13:07 Attracting and Nurturing Leads

15:37 Conversion Strategies

16:53 Perfecting Your Business Key

17:47 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Building a business is like cutting a key

that opens the door to your dream future.

2

My dream future is just on the

other side of this door and I'm

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going to go through this door, but

first I have to build a business.

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That's going to get me into it.

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But here's the main problem.

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We actually don't know

what this key looks like.

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Nobody has built your business before.

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Nobody knows what that key looks like.

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And the only way to cut the right key

to get us through that door to our

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dream future is by trying a million.

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Wrong ones.

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This is Burning Brightly, a podcast

for Christian moms who are feeling

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called to build a business and

share their light with the world.

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I'm Bonnie Wiscombe, a life coach,

mom, and entrepreneur, and I'm honored

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to be your guide as you face this

business building adventure full of

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highs, lows, and everything in between.

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This is where we help each

other find the courage to shine.

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Welcome to burning brightly.

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My friends today, we're going to talk

about cutting the right key for your

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business, and I'm going to explain what

I mean by that, but I love analogies.

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I love metaphors.

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I love finding real life examples

of something that I'm trying to

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understand a little bit better.

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In my business or in

some metaphorical way.

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First, let me start off by asking you.

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Have you ever used a key in a lock,

like an actual key to open a door?

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That has not been cut

correctly or maybe it's old.

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Key is like these can drive you crazy.

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They will get stuck in the lock or they

will scrape make a really terrible noise.

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Maybe they won't turn it all or they

won't come out and it just won't work.

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Right.

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And it can be maddening.

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You'll stick it in the door

and twist and turn and.

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Try to do all the things, to get the

dang door to open and it won't work.

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Conversely, when you use a perfect

key, you don't even think about it.

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How many times do you open the door

to your car or turn on the ignition or

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open your house door, your office door.

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And you don't even recognize that

you're sticking a key in a lock and

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turning it because it's so seamless,

rarely even thinking about it.

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Building a business is like cutting a key

that opens the door to your dream future.

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Is that a beautiful analogy?

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My dream future is just on the

other side of this door and I'm

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going to go through this door, but

first I have to build a business.

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That's going to get me into it.

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But here's the main problem.

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We actually don't know

what this key looks like.

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So recently my teenager lost the key to.

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The kid's car that we have.

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So we had to go to the dealership

and we had to get a new key cut.

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Now, the reason they can do that

is because they store the shape

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of the key in their system.

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And you have to show proof

that you own the car, right?

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So nobody shady comes and gets the key

and steals your car, but you just go in

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and you give them the VIN number and you

show that you're your proof of ownership.

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And then they cut you a custom

key that will fit your car.

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The problem with your businesses.

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Nobody has that key.

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Nobody has built your business before.

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Nobody knows what that key looks like.

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So we get to cut it

through trial and error.

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There's no master locksmith

that knows how well, except God

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we've talked about that before.

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Right?

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We can check in with him and ask him

about decisions, but by and large, it is

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our choice on how to build this business.

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And the only way to cut the right key

to get us through that door to our

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dream future is by trying a million.

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Wrong ones.

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I hope that doesn't sound discouraging.

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It's not, it's a lot of fun,

but it is important that we

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acknowledge that this is part of

the process because too many of us.

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Rush into business and we create this

quick little key, so to speak and we

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shove it in the lock and it doesn't work.

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And we're like, oh, business isn't for me.

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I give up.

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No.

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If you had a key that didn't work in your

door, you wouldn't just kick your door in.

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You would find a solution.

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You would go find the right key.

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So today we're going to talk about.

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How to build that perfect key.

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And most importantly, how

to know if the key is wrong.

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So if there's something structurally wrong

with your business, or if maybe you're

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just not turning it enough, maybe you just

need to give it a little bit more effort.

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And this is a tricky thing to figure

out, because like I said, nobody really

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knows how to build a business, but

you are building in your time with

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your audience, with your talents,

your expertise, your wording.

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It is all brand new, which is so

exciting and also so maddening because

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you just wish someone would give you

an instruction manual, like parenting.

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Why do I have to figure this kid out?

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Can't someone just tell me.

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How to discipline this child

or what consequences to give

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them or how to cheer them on.

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It's just like building this business.

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Cause it's the first time in all of

history that it's ever been done.

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So first, let's talk about how to know

if you have the wrong key, so to speak.

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So what that looks like is something

is broken in your business.

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There is some piece that needs

to be changed, just like a key

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has all those grooves in it.

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Some little mountainous ridges

and some little valleys, you have

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to know the right order of those

and the right thickness of each in

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order to get it to turn in the lock.

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So that's what we're trying to

figure out for our business.

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What is the right combination

of factors that is going to

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get us where we want to go.

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Now, this can be tricky knowing

if it's the wrong key, so to

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speak because in the early days of

business, everything feels hard.

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It feels like you're shoving the

wrong key in the lock every day.

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You're like, ah, nobody's

listening, nobody's responding.

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Nobody's buying.

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That's totally normal.

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Now that I've been building

businesses for many years.

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I know the difference between

the good and the bad resistance.

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And I'll try to explain

it to you the best.

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I know how, but this just takes

time to discover in your business.

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Eventually you will figure it

out and you will acknowledge, oh.

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When I tried this thing, it

actually feels way easier.

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I still remember when I had this first

analogy of the key, because I remember

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whatever I was doing that day, that

month felt like just putting a key

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in a lock and turning it so simply.

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And I thought, wow,

business can be this easy.

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I had no idea.

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Because it just felt like using

the wrong key for so long.

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So that being said, here are a

list of things that generally mean

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something is broken or not quite

working right in our business.

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It feels like crickets all the time.

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Everything you say is met with silence.

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Again, this is a hard thing to

figure out , in the early days.

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Because you don't have an audience yet.

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Nobody's following you on social media.

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Nobody's on your email list.

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That's okay.

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But if you've been at it for a

few months and it still feels like

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nobody's responding or nobody.

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Raises their hand.

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When you offer something, there

might be something to tweak there.

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Another sign that there's

something not quite right.

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Is that even if you talk to

people, one-on-one, they don't

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resonate with your messaging.

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So sometimes it can be hard to

get responses in mass, right?

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When we put a social media post out

there, or we send out an email blast.

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Because it's just more noise to

people, but if you talk to someone,

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one-on-one, you get them on a call

or you talk to them in person.

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Or wherever, if nobody ever resonates

with what you're saying, there might be

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something wrong with your niche or your

messaging or the way you're coming across.

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There also might be a problem if

you've never gotten anyone results.

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Now, most of us get into the type

of coaching we get into because

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we've had results ourselves.

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We've built a successful business

where we've lost the weight healthily,

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or we have great parenting skills ourself.

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But if you haven't gotten

anyone else results again, there

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might be some tweaking to do.

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Within your messaging within

your offer so that you can start

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getting other people results.

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And this is why I always recommend

that people do at least a little bit

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of coaching for free at the beginning,

because you can change your messaging

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and your niche as many times as you need

to, without any money on the line, right.

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You're just giving away your

expertise for free until you really

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nailed down what you want to do.

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Similarly, if you talk about your

niche or your offer and you just

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consistently get blank stares, that

might mean you need to tweak something.

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I always teach people that when you

tell someone your names, you tell

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them your elevator pitch, you should

at least get some people lighting up.

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You should get reactions.

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If people's faces, don't light up at least

occasionally and say, oh, I need that.

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Or I know someone who needs that, then

it might not be worded quite correctly,

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or it might not be hitting the mark.

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Exactly.

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If you've had consult calls

and they never end in sales.

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Now, again, as people go

through our funnel, we start

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off with a whole bunch of leads.

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And as they trickle down into that

conversion step at the bottom of our

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funnel, we're going to have much fewer

people actually say yes to our offer.

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But if you do call after call

after call and no one's saying

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yes, There might be one part of

your key that is not cut correctly.

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You also might seem to not be

able to find the right audience.

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You've changed your messaging.

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A couple of times you've explained

yourself in different ways and you

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just can't seem to find a following.

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That might mean something is broken.

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And then finally, even if you had a

room full of your ideal clients, You

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don't know if you could get them to buy.

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This is a big one.

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If you've identified who your ideal

client is, what their problems

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are, what their frustrations are,

what their experience and their

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hesitations are, their objections.

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If you had a room full of those

people, could you sell anybody?

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Again, if you're new to selling, this

might be just because you don't have the

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skill of talking someone through their

objections teaching them the before and

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after of how to get this transformation.

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But surely, even if you're a bad

salesman, if you had 50 people

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in a room, do you think you could

get someone to buy your coaching?

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If not, we might need to look at that.

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Okay.

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So those are a handful of things

that might be a clue that something

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is not quite right in our business.

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Now.

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On the other side, let's talk

about some signs that might mean.

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Everything is right in our business.

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We just need to turn up the volume.

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We just need more people, or we need to do

more of something that is working right.

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If you've had success with yourself

and at least one or two other people.

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So you've had a few free coaching

clients who really liked your services.

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Maybe you've.

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Had some friends and family

you've coached and they've

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loved what you've done for them.

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And they've raved and wanted to

share your expertise with people.

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That is a great sign.

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It means something is working.

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Because of course, if we can get

one or two people results, we can

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get 50 or a hundred people results.

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We need to find the right people

and give them the right offer.

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You also might have the right key if,

like I mentioned before, people hear your

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pitch and they get so excited and they

either want to coach with you themselves

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because they desperately need that.

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Or they know someone who does

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that's a big green flag right there.

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Also, if you know where to find a large

segment of your audience, if you've done

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a good job of identifying who you're

marketing to, then you probably know

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where these people hang out with the

Hampton, certain Facebook groups, do

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they hang out in certain Reddit threads?

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Some places.

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In person, would you know

where to find these people?

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Again, you might not have all the

confidence or the skills to do these

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things yet, but you do know that there's

a market for you out there somewhere.

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You might be on the right

track if your messaging seems

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clear, concise, and needed.

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So you want it to be very simple,

very clear, very easy to understand,

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and calling out a specific

segment of the population that

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needs what you have to give them.

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Even if your coaching program

isn't perfectly laid out yet, you

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also want to know where you will

start getting people results.

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And again, if you've gotten some

people results, you probably already

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have an idea of this, but all of

us want to have a really detailed

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coaching program that we know

step-by-step how to take people through.

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But even if you don't have

that, where would you start?

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Do you have the first three

steps you could give them?

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Yeah, probably because you know how

your transformation goes, right?

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So that is an important sign

that you're on the right track.

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You also would love to get in front of

a room of your ideal clients, even if

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you're still nervous, even if you're

still not super confident in yourself,

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you know that with a room full of the

right people, you could get people

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to sign up for your coaching because

you have exactly what they need.

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And then finally you have the right key.

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If you want to give away your

content and time for free, because

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you love seeing people change.

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We don't have to do this forever.

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Please don't misunderstand me.

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We should be charging for our services.

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We show up better when we do our

clients show up better when we do.

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But if you feel like you could

do this all day long for free.

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Then, you know, you're on the right track.

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It's something you're passionate about.

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Something that people want people need

and you know how to get them results.

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So that's a handful of ways of

knowing that you're on the right path.

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Remember just because you maybe

lack confidence or belief, or you're

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still struggling with your mindset

side note, we all are always.

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It can seem like the wrong key, like

you're beating your head against the wall,

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but only time will tell

if it is the right one.

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So just keep going and

watch for these signs.

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Most people in my experience, working

with newer coaches, most people.

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Start off with having a few pieces

in their business that work.

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Really well and look great.

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And other ones that need some tweaking.

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And this is why business coach is

so useful because yes, of course you

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can figure all this out on your own.

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It just takes more time.

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If you have someone experienced

looking over the different

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pieces of your business.

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Your coach can say, this looks great.

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This looks like this looks great.

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This is a little confusing to me.

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Or why are you saying it like this?

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Or where is the conversion

piece in your business?

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Right.

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They can find the holes in that customer

journey and they can set you up for

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success so that you don't have to waste

as much time with trial and error.

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All right.

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So once we get that key in place and

it is perfectly cut and it turns so

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smoothly for the first one client

or two clients or three clients.

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Then it's time to turn up the volume.

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And what this looks like is just

increasing what you're doing within

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those three main phases of business.

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So if you've heard me explain them before

they look like attracting new leads,

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attracting people who are interested.

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Nurturing those leads, giving them

lots of value, encouragement, tips,

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helping them along their path.

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And ascend that relationship to

where they are clients, and you

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can help them find real success.

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So we'll talk briefly for just a second,

about these three different segments.

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The attracting portion of your

business is absolutely the number one

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place we want to turn up the volume.

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It seems in my experience that

everybody wants to stay in the middle.

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They just want to talk

about the nurturing.

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Let's just write blog posts all

day and do videos and talk to the

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people that already like us because

that's comfortable and safe and fun.

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But if we're not constantly attracting

new leads, getting strangers in front

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of our content, we are never going

to have enough people to sell to.

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Any online business owner who's been

in business for a while will tell

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you if you don't have thousands of

people coming in, you will never

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get the volume of sales you want.

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Now that being said, the better quality

leads, the fewer people you need.

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Right.

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If you're getting.

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Thousands and thousands of

people coming into your funnel,

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but they are not the right.

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Demographic or they don't have the

same problems that they don't need.

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The transformation you're selling.

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Then obviously your sales

are going to be down as well.

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So you want high quality leads, ones

that are your perfect ideal client.

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And you want a lots of them because

they always fall off as they go

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through that customer journey.

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you have a thousand people

coming in, maybe only one or

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two will sign up as clients.

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So you want as many as possible.

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Then that's number two,

step that nurturing step.

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We have to make sure we're doing

a phenomenal job of nurturing.

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Are you talking to your

audience every single week?

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Could you do it more?

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Could you do it twice a

week or three times a week?

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What is realistic for you?

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Now, of course, we don't

want to burn ourselves out,

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especially at the beginning.

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So start with a plan you can be consistent

with, but as soon as you can turn it

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up, Add more, as soon as you can talk

more to them and encourage them more

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and give them more tips and tricks do

more because that is so helpful to them.

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And we'll get them closer

to becoming clients for you.

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So, what does this look like?

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What looks like maybe

creating a community.

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Could you build a Facebook

group or a group on school?

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Could you do an in-person

event with potential clients?

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How could you get them to know

and trust you better quicker?

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, how do you get to connect with them?

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Ask yourself.

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How have I gotten to a place where

I was ready and willing to hire?

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Uh, coach myself or an expert in the past.

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Well, maybe it's because I saw

her emails every week for a year.

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Maybe it's because I went to

one of her in-person events

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and I really liked her energy.

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Maybe I saw her.

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Teach a video on somebody else's event.

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And I really connected with

her, so you want people to get

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as close to you as possible.

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And in my experience that looks like video

video or in-person, I don't think I've

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ever spent a significant amount of money

on someone that I haven't seen talking.

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I, that that was just words on a page.

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Video is key and, or in person,

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and then finally that third step,

that conversion step, we need more

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calls, more consult calls, more

one-on-one touch points, more offers.

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If you're not offering people

something to buy, no one is buying.

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No one can buy from you.

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If you don't give them the

opportunity to do that.

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So what does that look like for

those of us who are coaches?

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Usually it looks like some

sort of a consultation call.

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Let me hear what your problem is, and I

will show you how I can help you fix it.

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And we can decide if we want to

work together for content creators.

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That usually looks like some sort of a

promotion or you going to run something

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for black Friday or for quarter four.

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Are you going to run something every

couple of months so that people have an

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incentive to finally purchase from you?

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Side note if your sales tactic

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is via one-on-one calls.

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And people aren't coming to these calls.

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You might need to bring the

calls to them in different ways.

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For example, people tend to be a lot.

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Quicker to sign up for group webinars

where they can kind of hide in the

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background, not turn on their camera.

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Instead of coming to a one-on-one

call because that's a lot of pressure.

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So could you offer webinars,

could you offer office hours?

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Could you offer live trainings

where nothing is required of them,

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but you can still pitch to them.

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You can still tell them.

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This is the transformation I give.

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This is how I give it.

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This is how my program works.

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Getting that offer in front of them

without asking for too much in return.

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That can be so helpful.

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So, this is how we cut the

perfect key for our business.

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And I promise you that once you

find it and you slip it into the.

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LOC and you turn it seamlessly.

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You're going to want to just cry.

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It's going to feel so good, but don't

give up until you get there little by

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little tweak, things that aren't working.

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And when you find things that work

do more of it, so I see a lot of

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coaches going well, I just work

nonstop and I don't have any clients.

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Okay.

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But clients come out the bottom end.

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There are so many steps throughout

your customer journey that you could be

389

tweaking to make sure they're moving.

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Are you actually getting new leads?

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If so, are they actually feeling nurtured?

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Like, are they falling off

somewhere on this path?

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Where could we plug the holes

on this journey to get more

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people out the other end?

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Remember, it's not just

a one-step process.

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There's multiple steps, multiple ridges

and valleys in your key at you need to

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tweak it just perfectly to get it going.

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But again, it's not impossible.

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It is totally possible.

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You just have to keep trying new things

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and if you feel like you've been

trying these for a long time

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and it's still not working, come

talk to me during office hours.

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I would love to help you.

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We do them for free every

Thursday at 1:00 PM.

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Pacific time.

406

I hope you'll join us.

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One of these times have

a great week friends.

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Are you ready to start or

grow your dream business?

409

Click the link in the show notes to

download the free starter guide to

410

building a business or to schedule

a free coaching call And if you

411

loved this episode, Don't forget

to leave a review and share it with

412

a friend who might be feeling the

call to burn a little brighter.