After six years in business as a coach, entrepreneur, and marketer, I have tried practically every marketing strategy there is. I’ve spent over $300K in mentors, programs, trainings, workshops, conferences, and the like. I have created business plans, marketing plans, implemented, taken action, worked on my mindset, created systems, hired team members, hosted live events, and helped hundreds of clients attract more of their ideal clients and increase their revenue quickly.
I have followed all the rules in building an international multi-six figure coaching business, and I have broken many of the rules too. Recently, I’ve realized that I had it ALL wrong. Although I had created a mutli-six figure business, I was looking at things in the wrong way. What I mean by that is that there is always a cause and effect relationship for any result whether it’s positive or negative.
Here is an example of what I’m referring to, fill in these blanks:
I can prove that my business is growing because:
1._____________________________________
2._____________________________________
3. _____________________________________
Until recently, my answers would have looked like this:
1. My revenue has quadrupled
2. My list of subscribers has doubled
3. I have increased my pricing.
But, I was completely wrong. I was way off base. My big wake-up moment is that none of those things prove that my business is growing! They are effects of something else, not the cause. The true cause was right in front of me, and I knew it was there but I didn’t give it enough credit. And now that I’m so much more clear, everything looks differently.
Have you ever had one of those moments? I’ve had a few in my life, like when my mom died. Life seemed more precious, small things seemed smaller and big things were bigger. My big wake-up call is that the reason my business has grown exponentially in the past couple of years, is NOT because of my marketing, or hard work, or even my sales skills, although they have played a part. The bottom line is that companies only grow if they have satisfied clients and customers.
And when your satisfied clients and customers are happy, they become raving fans and loyal advocates to you and your business, and that is what changes everything for the better. Marketing becomes more effective, and also easier because you can get away with less when referrals are rolling in. Your list grows organically, your open rates depend less on your subject lines and more on “from”, your testimonial pages fill up, your social media pages get more likes, comments and shares, and these are just some of the benefits.
I’ve followed the rules of marketing and building a coaching business, and I’ve also broken some rules when they didn’t seem to be a fit for my personality and nature. And recently, the more rules I break, the better things are. The happier my clients are, they more they promote me, and the happier I and my team are. What I’ve found is that following my heart is always a better journey than following the money trail. Following our instincts is always better than following along.
One of my business mentors asked me to do an exercise where I asked my clients why they’ve stayed with me for years and continued in invest in my services. When I started looking at my treasured clients responses in preparing for my event where I’ll be teaching ethical relationship marketing strategies and how to create lifetime clients, a light bulb went on that could have lit the entire Great Lakes. “Eureka! My clients are my mirror,” I realized almost instantly. I’ll share more about this soon.
Home is where your blog posts are, and this website is home for me. I tried a different path for awhile, but it ultimately was just part of the journey rather than a new destination. I’m getting ready for my event next week, and those of you attending will get a close up view of my new business model and preview of my new services and programs, which I’m really excited about and I’m 100% sure you will as well because I’ll be delivering what you’ve been asking for for years.
Next week I’ll share with you the four big marketing rules I chose to ignore and how breaking the rules was one of the best things I’ve ever done. What rules have you broken, and which ones do you need to break?