Archive for November, 2008
Resource for Building Your Coaching Website
Posted by: | CommentsEvery coaching business needs to have an internet presence. The days of finding clients through word of mouth or from local efforts only seem to be over. Your website is the face that you present to the world of the work that you do. It is the place that prospects find information, start a relationship with you, begin to establish trust in you and much more. I recently met Kenn Schroder who has a complete program to help coaches develop an effective website called Coaching Sites that Work.
Kenn’s program is the total package if you want assistance from the beginning to the end of the process. This is an eight week program that guides you to develop and write your copy and work with Kenn who gets the site online and handles all the technical aspects. The program includes a great deal of information including sample copy, questionnaires to help you crystallize your core message, how to’s and tutorials on using audio, testimonials, and more. Kenn has thought of many of the important elements of success including having analytics for tracking and the ability to update your website yourself.
A tremendous advantage to this program is that it is targeted to coaches. Kenn specializes in coaching businesses and understands what coaches need to be successful entrepreneurs. If you are looking for the complete package of assistance to get a successful website up and going, you will want to check out Coaching Sites that Work. Even if you have your website in place, you will want to go to Kenn’s site and look at the many articles for website success and subscribe to the “Website Ahas” newsletter.
Tag – Now I'm "It"
Posted by: | CommentsHave you seen the blog game of Tag that is going around? I have just been “tagged” by Linda Dessau of the Idea Generator blog in the game called 7 Things about Me. Here’s how it works – if you are tagged, you write 7 wacky, offbeat, random or unknown things about yourself on your blog, link back to the person that tagged you and link forward to 7 other bloggers who you are tagging. Make sure to include these rules in your post and notify the people you are tagging either with a comment on their blog or a Twitter post. That’s it. A great way to generate some traffic to your blog and help out some fellow bloggers at the same time.
On to playing the game with 7 Weird and Wonderful Things about me.
1. I am still in touch with many childhood friends and was visited today by a friend I had not seen in 25 years and we both live more than a thousand miles from our childhood homes.
2. I love photography and have thousands of photos I have taken stored on my computer. If only I could find a good way to share them without tons of trouble.
3. I am a huge football fan. My daughter is teaching me to love Clemson where she went to school in addition to Tennessee where I went. And my father taught me to love the New England Patriots on his knee as a child.
4. My college degree was in botany and I worked for years as a chemist for a water department.
5. I can speak about 10 words of five different languages, but 20 words or more only in English. Not counting Pig Latin, in which I am fluent.
6. I hate shopping.
7. My motto is “If it is not chocolate, it is not worth the calories.” This helps a lot at this time of year when pumpkin and pecan pie are everywhere.
Now, my turn to say -”you’re it!”. Here are my choices for seven bloggers who I think you will find interesting and who I would like to hear unusual things about -
Sophfronia Scott – Business by the Book
Bea Fields – Biz Tools Blog
Maia Berens – All About Life Coaching
Becki Noles – The Coach Virtual Assistant
Suzanne Falter Barnes - Get Known Now Blog
Michael Bungay Stanier – Great Work Blog
Michelle Ulrich – The Virtual Nation
Have fun with this – networking and business building can really be just that!
Another Goodie from Google
Posted by: | CommentsHere’s a little tidbit to help save you some coin in your coaching business. Google has come out with a totally free directory assistance service called Goog 411 that helps you find businesses nationwide. All you need to remember is the phone number 1-800-GOOG-411. This will save you both money – totally free – and time – connects you automatically. This is a great application of speech recognition technology that allows you to conduct the search.
Because we are in the info age, there are also a few other little features. You can get a text message about the business of your choice automatically sent to your phone or you can get a map of the business’ neighborhood sent to you if your phone is internet enabled. More than you may ever need! Click here to see a cute little video about the service and don’t forget the number 1-800-GOOG-411.
Great Tool Whether You Tweet or Not
Posted by: | CommentsI have recently discovered Tweet Scan and think you should know about it whether or not you are using Twitter these days. If you are an entrepreneur in today’s world, you can learn some valuable information with this tool. Tweet Scan is intended to be a search engine that helps you find topics and people on Twitter and it is fabulous for that. It allows you to find people with similar interests to yours or find those people who are in your target market.
If you don’t use Twitter, think of Tweet Scan as a place for research. You can find out what others are currently saying about a particular subject, person or event. You will need to be able to spend some time poking around because you will find LOTS of posts on most topics. It is truly a search engine for comments that are being posted on Twitter and thus a valuable tool for learning about your niche. One reason that you will need to plan on spending some time on this research is because of the nature of Twitter. Posts on Twitter, called Tweets, are limited to 140 characters so the writers very often just post links to longer articles and blog posts. A list of references on Tweet Scan can give you reading material for hours. Enjoy the learning!
Filling Your Coaching Business
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the sessions I went to at the recent ICF conference in Montreal was called “Insider Secrets to a Full Coaching Practice” presented by Leni Chauvin. Leni started by telling people the truth – most people are not succeeding in creating a thriving coaching business – so be careful. The path to success is to have help, to have systems and to do things a little differently than the crowd. In this regard, she gave us seven steps to success. Here are some of her comments -
1. Notice, Niche and Name – I actually consider this at least two steps, but that’s just me. Notice people who ARE succeeding, notice trends, notice needs of your audience. Have your antenna in action! Niche is, of course, deciding who the people are that you serve. Name refers to the process of describing these people in detail including lifestyle, interests and more.
2. Empower Yourself – The person that you are is the one that the world needs. Know yourself well and understand that the combination of all your experiences and traits are unique and valuable. Find what you are passionate about and bring that to what you do.
3. Team Up – No company can operate successfully alone. Find some of the other businesses that are providing services to your niche and find ways to work together. Use the wisdom of others and learn to be reciprocal in business relationships.
4. Work the Room – This is more than just a reference to networking. This step is about being visible to your target market and to start to form relationships with them. Make sure to focus on the places that your niche gathers or you will not be building your business.
5. Organize Everything – There is nothing that makes you look more professional and capable than being organized. Develop or buy systems that keep you on top of what you are doing. Plan, schedule, use a virtual assistant or a professional organizer if you need to. Leni especially recommended systems that help you network and those that help you stay in touch.
6. Raise Your Referability – This refers to the idea that you can make an impression on others by offering testimonials for good products and services. Tell others what they are doing right and you will raise your own visibility. If you write a testimonial for someone else, they will use your contact info and you get the exposure.
7. Know Everything – This one scared me when I first heard it, but what Leni meant was know everything about your business and about your clients. Ask, talk, listen. I think of this as activating your coaching curiosity at all times and then be able to verbalize what you know.
Leni did a great job of giving us the basics of how to build a business through the use of networking and relationships.
