When I research many ideas each week about improving business, being more efficient, or finding ideas to grow your business, the options I read on others’ blogs just blows my mind. This week while I was researching ideas for this week’s theme, I found most of the ideas to improve your business came down to three major things:
1. How to use social media right in your business.
2. Apps for your smart phone or tablet computer (both Apple products and non-Apple).
3. Cut your expenses. (Yes, one person had an entire year of blogs on cutting, getting rid of, and minimizing your life to get ahead.)
No one seems to have ideas out there anymore that give you information to take home and use to make changes to help your business. Well, maybe the “Cut Your Expenses So You Have Money Coming In and Live In a Cardboard Box” guy. Business is not all social media; it’s not all getting apps to make it work. If you are an entrepreneur you should be looking for real solutions, not just some person claiming to be a social media expert telling you to invest in their solution.
I know many great thinkers on expanding your business. They teach solutions; they put on events to introduce people to potential customers who are in need of their services. I’m like them: I want to provide you with real solutions to real problems.
So this week we are going to cover five things I feel are needed to improve any business – improvements you can make now. They revolve around that person you face in the mirror each morning. These solutions are mainly directed at coaches, but they can be applied to other businesses.
Today, let’s talk about how to stop giving away those things you paid to learn. A few weeks ago, I came back from a great conference in LA. Several people here in Dallas sent me emails asking me to meet with them so they could hear what I learned at that event.
I am a coach and I’m always looking to provide solutions to problems, but I just invested thousands of dollars to build my business. When I came back, I found people wanting me to give away that very information to those who chose not to invest in themselves.
As a coach, you have certain information that you can provide to give someone that start they are looking for, giving them a chance to invest to get more training.
I liken it to this: if you had a friend who could not get a loan due to bad credit, would you walk into a bank, borrow the money yourself and lend it to them? Let me take it another step. Would you lend it but only ask your friend to pay the principle back while you were paying the interest on that loan?
This very idea is happening; too many people are not able or are unwilling to get that information on their own by investing in themselves. They have spent a lifetime taking short-cuts while others are paying the price to get the training, get the information.
Here is a solution:
1. Provide a free offer that helps. You can do this by giving them something of value in return for something else. Ask them to sign up for your newsletter or buy one of your books then give a little extra.
2. Create a book or other program. If you have many people asking you for the same information, put together a book, self-help program, or video series that will help them. Take it another step and use this as a sellable product.
3. Teach investment. Always tell people, “That is a great question. Solving that problem is exactly why my clients hire me to mentor them though that tough problem.” This naturally leads to them investing in you to improve their own business.
This is an area where so many entrepreneurs and coaches loose so much money. They are giving away those things that could be providing small amounts of income and that could amount to larger and larger amounts over time.
Remember, experience is a great way to learn; but you made the financial investment to gain your experience. Others will learn those lessons more effectively if they also make an investment.
I’m Tim Gillette the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, to love what you do and those you share life with. Are you ready to do what it takes to become the RockStar in your world?
