Information Products: The Second Key to Business Success as a Coach or Therapist (Part 2: Selling the Product)

In the last post we discussed how to easily create a simple information product. Once you have produced it, you need to get it online, so that you can sell it.

In this blog I am going to talk about how to sell it as a download rather than physical product, as it is my belief that a downloadable product is cheaper (and therefore more profitable) and easier to do as a first time product.

By all means get a physical product made if you want (do some research, see what your clients would prefer), but it will be more expensive and higher risk (I have loads of old CD’s and DVD’s etc kicking around that I wasted money producing, just to never sell!).

Getting a product online can be a bit complex if you are a total technophobe. So, if this is the case you will most probably need to employ the services of a web designer to help you. This can be expensive, but it will be worth it in the long run.

The good news is, if you want to give this a go yourself, there are plenty of ways to do it, easily and straightforwardly (gone are the bad old days of having to code everything!).

Lets look at the basic steps:

1) Get the product online
2) Promote the product
2) Receive Payment
3) Deliver the product

That sounds very straightforward doesn’t it? And it is. I am not going to take the time in this blog entry to go through each step for you. Why? Well, it is not a cop out I promise, it is that the people you choose to deliver your products will be able to explain the process in much more detail than I can, and it is a different process for each provider your choose.

So, what I am going to do is point you in the direction of some of, in my experience, the best people to provide you with a solution.

Please note, before we begin, that you will need your own website to sell the product/s on. I will assume you already have a website (if not, why not?!)

1) www.1shoppingcart.com

1shoppingcart.com do everything for you (other than the website) they will host your product, collect payment, and also gather email address for your mailing list. They are a great “one stop shop”, however, they are expensive ($59 a month for a basic package and $99 a month for the professional package), so if you don’t expect to sell many products to begin with they may be a bit pricey for you. I know a lot of people who use them and are very happy with their service, so I would check here first.

2) www.clickbank.com

Clickbank are one of the oldest providers on the web. They have a fantastic network of affiliates (who will promote your product on their site for a cut of the profits), and are very easy to use. However, they only provide a payment process and their setup is a bit fiddly (you need to be a bit technologically minded), they won’t host your product (you need to do that) and they can take a very long time to pay you. But, they only charge a one time $59.95 set up fee for your account and then a small commission on each sale, so, if you are going to sell a small number of products they may be worth it.

I use clickbank to sell “The Professional Practice Builders Handbook“, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to everyone.

3) Do It Yourself

You can also “do it yourself” using a something like PayPal (www.paypal.com) or Google Checkout (checkout.google.com) to collect payment and another provider to deliver your products, such as www.payloadz.com, who will link easily with your PayPal or Google account and securely host and deliver your product.

Some webhosts offer an eCommerce “bolt on” as part of their hosting services, which will integrate directly into your site, so it is worth seeing what they offer.

I hope I have pointed you in the right direction to get started selling your products online. Have a look around the three options and see which one feels right for you. You can always experiment with one and see if you get on with it, if not switch to another option.

I wish you all the very best of luck producing and selling your products!

Matt

Information Products: The Second Key to Business Success as a Coach or Therapist (Part 1: Creating the Product)

Once you have all the clients you want or can fit in your time scale and have a waiting list as long as your arm, how can you expand your business? Well, you could put your prices up, that may work, but put them too high and you run the risk of losing clients (of course, this is a good strategy to cut the number of clients and keep revenues high).

And relying on private clients to earn your money means if you decide to go away, or take a week off, or (even worse) get ill or injure yourself and can’t work, you income stream dries up immediately.

So what can you do to continue to generate additional income or make some money whilst you take some time off?

The answer is to produce a series of information products. You can produce CD’s (or mp3 downloads), DVD’s (or video downloads) or books (or ebooks).

You could even get all carried away with yourself and design an online eCourse or other multimedia products (although, I would argue, that, this may be a bit complicated – and expensive – as a first time product, no matter what some other “guru’s” out there may try and sell, sorry, tell you. Start with something simple before doing a full-blown multimedia products).

To begin with I would suggest you start with either ebooks or audio downloads. These are simple, easy and low cost to produce and sell. As you get the hang of it you can create more complex products. Video products and DVD’s are a little more complex, as you have a lot more production to do and it is very easy to create a DVD that looks cheap and amateurish (and will do your reputation no good at all).

Creating Your Product/s

As long as you do the following three simple steps in the order listed, you should easily produce your first information product in a week or so.

1) Brainstorm and Research Ideas
There really is very little point in producing your own version of a product that is already out there and made by someone more well known than you. The amount of people I have seen who have produced some sort of “weight loss” product similar to Paul McKenna’s is almost unbelievable.

Brainstorm some products you think would be a good idea; that you know about; and most importantly, that you are interested in (if you are not interested or excited about it, you will soon run out interest and probably end up with half a dozen unfinished product ideas).

Then do your research and see what is out there already. What can you do that is a different to them? Add to? Offer an alternative to? If you can afford it, buy a couple of the similar products, see what they are doing and see what is missing. You need to find the need that is not being fulfilled.

2) Script It Out
Once you have decided on an idea (or idea’s – you can develop a few simultaneously). Do you want to do an ebook, audio product (CD or mp3 download) or video product (you could film a seminar, or produce a specific video programme)? What will suit your idea best?

Unless you know what you are doing I wouldn’t recommend a video product on a first outing, it can be expensive and easy to mess up.

If you are writing an ebook, then scripting it out will be part of the writing process and really just involves figuring out what content you are going to put into the book and in what order. When it comes to producing audio or video products you need to script it out in detail. Don’t think you can “wing it” during the recording process, unless you are an accomplished commentator, presenter or actor you won’t manage it (as an idea of length, I found that 4 A4 sheets of paper with Arial 12 type on it will take around 15 minutes to read).

3) Produce It
Now you have an outline and/or detailed script you can get on with creating the product.

Ebooks are most probably the easiest of all to produce, you can write it in a word processing software such as Microsoft Word or Apple’s Pages.

Once you have written it, I highly recommend that you convert it into “pdf” format, this is the “standard format” for ebooks online. If you are using a Mac, you can easily convert the document to a pdf by “printing it” into pdf format. If you are using a PC, you can either purchase a copy of Adobe Acrobat (although this can be expensive) or use a free online conversion tool such as www.pdfonline.com or www.freepdfconvert.com.

If you are producing an audio programme, you will need audio recording software. If you use a Mac, you will have the built in recording software Garage Band, which is a versatile and easy to use recording programme. If you are not using a Mac (and if not, why not? Mac’s really are much, much better than PC’s when it comes to running a creative business), you can purchase all sorts of recording software, from the simple to the professional (and expensive), I suggest, to begin with, to use Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net), it is free and simple to use.

You will need to buy a good quality USB microphone (such as the Samson C01U microphone, which is around £60), don’t try and use the built in microphone on your computer, the quality will not be good enough.

You will then need to save the file in an mp3 format, if it is spoken word, I would recommend a low quality version of around 92kbps. Don’t worry if you don’t understand that, it just means it is slightly lower quality and therefore a smaller file size, which is important if you are offering the product as a download.

If the audio product is quite long, break it into tracks to download separately, this, again will make the audio programme easier and quicker to download.

And there we are, you have just created your first information product! Easy wasn’t it?

In the next post I will talk you through how to get your product/s online and get selling.

Matt

Private Clients: The First Key to Business Success as a Coach or Therapist

This will be the shortest of the posts on the “four keys” to success as a therapist or coach because it is the one I speak about on the most regular of basis. So, in this article I am just going to run through a very simple checklist of everything you want to be doing to get private clients.

As I said in a previous entry (read it here), you need to do two things to be successful:
1) Define your niche.
2) Dominate your niche, so you are the first (and preferably only) person people think of when they are looking for someone in that niche.

1. Decide on a Niche

It doesn’t need to be totally original, but it needs to be something specific that sets you apart from the rest of the coaches and therapists out there. Think of a niche as a “need”, what need in people can you fulfil?

2. Define what you do in 90 seconds or less

If you cannot explain your niche enough to get the person so interested they ask for more information in 90 seconds or less (preferably less), you niche is not defined enough.

3. Shrink that 90-second sales pitch to one sentence, this is your strapline

It should be striking and memorable and explain a bit about what you do.
I like Joe Vitale’s “I can make you famous in 90 seconds or less – GUARANTEED!”

4. Get your marketing “literature” sorted

I put “literature” in inverted comments as I also include websites in this category.

Firstly, get yourself a website. It doesn’t need to be fancy (in fact I would recommend simplicity), but needs to explain what you do and how people can book you. Don’t worry with any fancy nonsense like video yet.

Then get yourself some well-designed business cards (not rubbish free ones!). Your business card is still your number 1 marketing tool.

Recently I have been advocating more “old school” methods such as A6 flyers.

5. Develop a presence and reputation

a) Online

Social networking is brilliant for this. Get yourself a blog, a twitter account, a facebook account, a linked in account, etc and start putting relevant, interesting and informative content on there (using social networking to overtly sell is a big “no, no” and won’t do you any favours, although people appreciate you are running a business, so asking for clients, etc, whilst giving  good quality content is OK).

Also, add yourself to as many free directory sites as possible, like DMOZ, Gumtree, Googlemaps, Selfgrowth.com and any other relevant directories for what you do, and work on your Search Engine Rank (suggestions on this will be in a future entry).

b) Offline

Deliver your leaflets (or get them delivered), they are no use in the box in your office!

Give out your business card to everyone you meet, go to (free) networking events (your local chamber of commerce will have details).

Get yourself in the media. Write a press release (it has to be interesting, newsworthy and relevant, don’t just send out a release telling everyone about who you are, that is just selling and will get binned) and send it to local TV, radio and newspapers. National media may be a good ego boost, but local media is what will get you clients.

It is deceptively simple (in principle) to become successful in this key area, but it does take a lot of hard work, perseverance and consistency. The secret to being successful in this key (and in all the other areas) is to develop an effective niche. Once you have that everything else will drop into place.

Matt

PS If you liked this post, please bookmark it on Digg, Stumbled Upon, Twitter, etc. I would really appreciate it

The 4 Keys to Business Success as a Coach or Therapist

The 4 Key areas you MUST be working on in your business are:

1) Private Clients

This is probably the first thing you thought of when setting up your business, if you are a one to one therapist or coach it is the most common way of making money for your business. Although it can be the largest income stream, it shouldn’t be the only income stream.

If you are a teacher (such as Yoga for example) you still need to consider doing one to one sessions for people who want them. Just teaching classes is only part of the mix of being a successful coach, therapist or teacher.

2) Products

Products are an essential stream of income for your business. They are low cost to produce and once you have made them you will be able to “make money in your sleep”. Not only are they an excellent way of making residual income, they are useful to use as promotional aids, free gifts and “bonuses”.

It is easier than you think to create and sell products, and can be done at home on most modern PC’s or (especially) Mac’s, I will talk you through the process in a later entry.

3) Seminars or Workshops

Maybe you are already a teacher or trainer (such as a Yoga or martial arts instructor, business or personal development trainer), if not you should still consider running short talks and workshops on the subject that you do.

The bare minimum you should be doing in this area is offering free introductory talks to groups or organisation you think would be a good potential client base.

Unhappy with your teaching or training ability? You can invest in “presentation skills training” to help you brush up and build your confidence. They are worth every penny.

Learn more about the presentation skills training here.

4) The Corporate Market

The corporate market is not just for executive coaches or business trainers. More and more companies are employing the services of alternative therapists and coaches to work with their staff.

I know of several therapists who make the majority of their income through corporate clients.

They may employ you directly through the company or offer your services at an “employee benefit scheme” where they pay a percentage of the cost for the staff member.

It is very easy to contact local businesses and offer your services, you can collect information and do a mail-shot yourself (using things like the Yellow Pages) or use the services of a professional mailing company (you can find one with a quick internet search).

The secret to succeeding in the corporate market is to show the benefits to the company (such as higher productivity, less sick days, etc) as well as benefits to the staff members. It is a good idea to be able to quote some studies showing the benefits of what you do to business (again, a very simple internet search will reveal a wealth of information.
In my next few posts I will break down what you must be doing in each of the areas to make sure your therapy or coaching business succeeds.

Matt

Back To The Old School

I was having a very interesting conversation the other day with an NLP trainer. He said he was going back to “old school” marketing methods like flyer drops, mail shots and calling people up, as the internet was too crowded and it is too hard to be heard above the din of everyone else (also, he had some mean things to say about “online marketing techniques”, but I won’t go into that…)

Does he have a point? Is the internet too crowded with everyone else trying to sell you something?

You see, the great thing about the internet if you are setting up your first business is that it is cheap. Very cheap, compared to the traditional costs and it is much easier to find customers (or it should be, more on that in a minute).

However, the fact that the internet has made setting up your own business cheap and easy is a blessing and a curse.

Because it is easy and cheap, you can set up your coaching or therapy practice at a fraction of the cost it would have been 10 or 15 years ago, but because it is so cheap and easy, much more people are doing it, therefore the competition has increased.

The recession hasn’t help, as people, in desperation to make some extra cash (and understandably so) have turned to the internet, lured in by the promise of creating an internets business you can run in your bedroom in as little as 1 hour a week (not possible by the way…).

It is getting more and more complicated to get heard, with ever more subtle and expensive methods cropping up (how successful these are I am not sure). Marketing on the internet and staying ahead of the curve is turning into a full time job. You could easily spend all your time marketing on the internet and leave no time to do the work you are marketing (if you are solely selling products, this isn’t necessarily an issue, but it is dull!).

In light of these changes, I have been thinking about how to incorporate more offline methods into my marketing strategy. I have recently been experimenting with A6 flyer drops around my local area to promote my coaching practice, it is too early yet to report on the success, I will let you know how I get on when I have something to report.

My advice, at the moment is, actually, what it has always been. You cannot rely on one avenue of marketing. The internet is important (you are no one nowadays without a website!), but it shouldn’t be your only means of reaching out to clients. You need to balance your online and offline marketing strategy and test, test, test and test some more to see what works for you.

To get 10 simple and free strategies to help promote your business have a look at the “Professional Practice Builder Handbook“.

So, what do you think? Are you abandoning the internet to return to more traditional marketing methods? Is the internet still working for you as marketing medium? What are you doing that works? Post any thoughts in the comment box below, I look forward to hearing them.

Matt

With the internet becoming more and more saturated with people trying to sell you something, is it worth going back to “old school” marketing methods?

Do Something New In 2010!

I was watching the news on New Years day and, as with every year at this time, they were talking about New Years Resolutions.

One of the guests they had on the show was a “personal development expert” who had written a new book about, yes, you guessed it, getting what you want!

Yes! Another one. Just like all the rest.

I may be sounding sarcastic and cynical at this point. And that is because I am.

I hate to sound blunt, but that is just another self-help book to clutter the shelves in your local bookshop.

I was listening to the guy being interviewed and he had nothing original or new to say he was just regurgitating all the usual self-help clichés and truisms.

Not that what he was saying wasn’t good. It was all useful stuff. It’s just that is was the same stuff that every other self-styled “personal development expert” is saying.

I see it time and time again, people setting themselves up as coaches or therapists or trainers (or “motivational speakers”) and doing, saying and acting the same way as everyone else who are doing exactly the same thing!

You will be very, very lucky to be successful if that is your business strategy. You will throw good money after bad and probably end up out of business in 18 months and there is a good chance you may even take someone else’s business with you when you go bust (by stealing clients from them whilst your were in business).

The self-help field is crowded and competitive and entering into the marketplace without an effective business and marketing strategy is just commercial suicide.

But I am not trying to put you off. Honestly. I am just giving a stark warning. It is still possible to be very successful in this field. You just have to start out with the right strategy.

The starting point of a successful strategy.

If you boil down all my advice to one word, it would be “NICHE”.

You need to specialise, do something unique and original or something no one else is doing. It doesn’t have to be amazing, but it has to be different. Sometimes something as simple as aiming at a specific geographical location, gender or social group can be enough to differentiate you from everyone else. But you need to do define you niche and (this is essential) stick to it.

How do you develp a successful niche??

There are 3 simple steps to getting a successful niche:

1. Gather Ideas
Firstly, brainstorm things you are interested in or know a lot about (there is no point developing a niche you hate just because it is a niche, you will end up not enjoying what you are doing and there is nothing worse that being self employed doing something you can’t stand!).

Now see which of those ideas yo can turn into a viable business. The best way to think about it is what problems are not being fulfilled in that niche?

2. Research
Then research, research, research (you get a set of research questionares as a bonuses with the “Professional Practice Builder Handbook“), is there anyone else doing it? Is there a real and tangible need for it (you could have the best niche in the world, but if no one needs or wants it, you will fail. I have seen this many, many times…).

3. Set Up and Test
Once you have done your research set up what you think will be the most successful niche for you, you don’t just blindly stumble in. You set up the niche and continue to test. Is it as good a niche as you thought? Do you need to tweet and alter your approach?

Was there more than one niche you thought would be successful. Set up both and test, see which one is best and drop the other one.

You get the idea?

Learn a step by step approach on how to do this and much, much more in the “Professional Practice Builder Handbook”. Click here for more details.

Matt

PS, I apologise for not posting as regularly as I would have liked towards the end of 2009, a few things ran away with me. My New Years Resolution is to start posting at least once a week, to get my head round twitter and get some more  web classes recorded (I can’t believe the first – and so far only – one was way back in March last year!).

SEO Part 2: Reputation

Firstly, my apologies for not being as frequent as usual with my entries on this blog, normal service will resume very soon.

In this entry I wanted to carry on with the idea of SEO (see my last blog) and the need to build a reputation first.

In any business, but more so in the self help field, you stand and fall on your reputation (or “brand”). In any crowded field (and boy, is the self help field getting crowded!), it is often that a handful of people or businesses will be getting the lions share of the business, work and money and the majority are left fighting for the scraps.

So how do you become one of those that has the lions share?

Well you need to build a bulletproof reputation and become the “go to expert” in your field.

It’s that simple really.

To be a successful therapist or coach you need to become the RECOGNISED EXPERT in your chosen field.

To do this you need to 2 (surprisingly simple) things:

1) To join (or better still create!) a field or niche where you can stand out as the recognised expert.

I know I keep banging on about it, but this is down to creative thinking and research. Find out what NEED is not being fulfilled (or not being fulfilled very well) for your potential customers and create a SOLUTION for that need.

You could have the best niche in the world, but if there is a limited (or no) NEED for that niche you will fail. Always ask yourself (and research, research, research) why someone has not filled this niche yet??

2) Create a Reputation that sets you apart in that Niche.

Position yourself as the ONLY (yes, only!) person who is capable of fulfilling that need in your CLIENTS minds (remember, when developing your therapy or coaching practice, to be a success you have always ask “what does the client really want?”). You don’t need to be only person doing it, but you need to be the only person your prospective clients thinks of.

This means you have to do 3 essential tasks:

1. Dominate the search engines for your chose keywords (because most people will turn to the internet first nowadays when searching for answers). What keywords or phrases would your potential clients use to look for the solution you offer (see my previous post on this)? How can you make sure you appear on the front page of all the major search engines for these phrases, in the most cost effective way possible this will be covered in my next post)?
2. Creating a massive word of mouth reputation within your potential client base, so that you are the first thing on their minds when asked about the NEED you offer a SOLUTION to.
3. Creating a media profile that stands you out as the “expert” in your field. Why is it do you think Paul McKenna is so successful? Is he the best hypnotist in the world? Probably not. Is he the best known hypnotist though? Probably.

These things will cost you nothing (or very, very little). All it requires is a bit of time and effort to find the answers you need.

Matt

PS, if you have found this post useful, please bookmark it on twitter, facebook, digg, stumbledupon, etc. I would really appreciate it

SEO Part 1: Web Optimisation or Reputation?

One of the biggest questions I am asked by people starting out is “How do I optimise my website (ie, improve it’s rankings on search engines)”, or “Should I pay to optimise my site”.

Which is understandable, the self-help field is incredibly competitive and everyone is fighting to be found. And you need to be found to be successful.

But to be found do you need to be on the front page of Google (Google is still the number search engine, with over 85% of the searches being done through Google) for you to be found?

The first page of Google seems to have become the holy grail of small businesses. If you are on the first page of Google you are guaranteed business, right?

Wrong.

I have met people who are obsessed with getting on the front page of Google, who don’t even have a website yet! Often they haven’t even decided what they want to do, and they are already stressing about getting a good Google rank.

This strange belief has created a whole industry of people promising to get your website to the hallowed ground of the first page of Google (for the right price of course). Some are more reputable than others, but more on that in a little while…

The first question is…

…is investing in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) worth it?

Well, yes it is.

But not yet, you need to do some pre-work first.

Firstly, lets just talk very briefly about what the search engines do (I am sure you know this already, but it is worth reiterating). When someone searches for something, say “Life Coaching, UK”, the search engines use a (very complex) algorithm to decide which of the websites it has listed are most RELEVANT to this search. It them ranks them in the order it decides is most appropriate, with the most relevant at the top.

This relevance is decided on a series of (ever changing – and becoming constantly more refined) criteria, but to even be in with a chance you need have the right keywords to begin with. So if you are a life coaching living in the UK, you need to at least mention on your site the terms “life coach” and “UK” (obvious really!).

However, I am sure you can imagine there are lot of life coaches in the UK all trying to be found and fighting for the hallowed front page.

This is where the importance of niches and specialty comes in. You need to decide on your niche, your “unique selling point” and research it. It will be much easier to appear on the first page of Google for “smoking cessation, Leicester”, for example (not that I have checked that search term. I have no idea if smoking cessation in Leicester is a viable niche or not!).

Once you have found your niche, you need to find relevant and related keywords or terms.

I use a mixture of Google Keyword tool:
https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal

and Good Keywords:
http://www.goodkeywords.com/

to find relevant terms (including common misspellings, which can be very useful).

If you don’t want to do this yourself, this is part of what your SEO company will do (if you decide to employ one).

But, I don’t want to jump too far ahead in this blog entry about how to do SEO, I wanted to discuss what else you need to do to be successful.

Say you have managed to get on the front page of Google for the keywords that you have chosen and therefore are well placed to take the most advantage and pick up the most business in your niche. Right?

Wrong.

Before you even need to consider going about getting yourself on the front page of Google (either by taking the time and effort to do it yourself or employ an SEO company), you need to consider some key points, otherwise your arrival at the hallowed first page will be wasted (and most probably short lived).

Landing on the front page of Google means you are more likely to found, it does not make it more likely that you will get work.

Think about that for a moment.

Then consider the 2 following points:

1) You need to spend a long time planning and designing your website.

Which should be obvious really, but needs reiterating (so many people I work with who moan about lack of clients have the most appallingly bad websites). If your website is unclear, untidy, messy, badly designed, badly written, and cheap looking, you will immediately lose any advantage you have from your placement on Google.

But  most importantly (the crux of this post in fact, it has just taken awhile to get here):

2) You need to build your reputation.

In fact, I would argue that a good reputation is easier, cheaper and more powerful (and more reliable) than a good Google rank, and if you are starting out, it is better to spend your time money and effort building your reputation than improving your Google rank.

I know some very, very, very (you get the idea) successful coaches, consultants and therapists who never turn up on Google for the keywords you would think they would (and a lot of them have rubbish websites too!).

Because, they have decided to take the time and effort to build a reputation, rather than build an online presence.

In the next few posts I intend to cover a mini-theme. Firstly I am going to go into a little more detail on how to do SEO or how to choose an SEO company (if you still want to go down that route) and how to build an excellent reputation (I would suggest, if you have time, to do both, obviously!).

Matt

BREAKING NEWS!! The Professional Practice Builder Handbook v2.0 is now available!

BREAKING NEWS!! The Professional Practice Builder Handbook v2.0 is now available! Now With OVER 100 PAGES of information on how to set up your highly successful  therapy or coaching practice! Still at the same affordable price…

What is new?

There are more than 20 pages of additional information, including:

• A simple to follow, but detailed business plan outline.
• A press release template, to avoid worries about how to contact the press.
• Additional information about online marketing, including directories, social networking and google maps.
• New links for webhosting, self publishing and networking sites

It also has minor corrections to grammar and spelling that were missed in the first version as well as fixing the hyperlink issue, so you should now be able to click through if you read the book as pdf rather than printing it out.

Because I appreciate that setting up your therapy or coaching business can be costly and seem risky (although if you follow what I say in the ebook it won’t be) all this is available at the same low price of $39.99. With the same 60-day money back guarantee if you do not find the information in this ebook helpful.

You really have nothing to lose and everything to gain, NOW is the best time to invest in “The Practice Builder Handbook” and your future!

Click here for more information or to buy NOW!

NOW is the Best Time!

I am not saying that in some fancy personal development language that now is the best time to start just because it is now (although that is true), but I really believe NOW is the best time to set up a therapy or coaching practice or training business.

Yes, I know  it is all doom and gloom on the news about business going bust left right and centre, I am not saying now is EASIEST time to start, but upheaval creates opportunities as much as threats and right now there are lots of opportunities. The recent reports of us starting to emerge (I say “us” as in a global sense, Britain is still lagging behind somewhat) from recession and the global economy is looking to recover in 2010.It ie worth getting a jump on the recovery and position yourself to take full advantage of the recovery by acting now…

There is still work out there and I know a lot of coaches and trainers who are doing very well (some, better than ever!). The people who are being successful are not doing what everyone else is doing. That won’t work any more; you have to be a bit cunning and a bit daring.

The self-help field has grown bloated and stagnant, riding the waves of the boom years. Back then any idiot (and there were – and still are – a lot of idiots) could set up a therapy or coaching practice and get a decent level of success. But now the game has changed and it is a very different playing field. The self-help field is overcrowded and I expect a massive cull in the next 18 months. NOW is the time to get in and take the opportunity to sneak into the gaps this shake up is creating.

Let me give a quick example:

McKenna Breen, once the worlds largest NLP training company began in the last recession in the early 90’s, but they recognised exactly what I have just told you: Change and upheaval creates opportunities as well as threats, they saw that they could shake up the NLP training market and create massive success for themselves.

To be successful now you have to different, creative and challenge the status quo.  Remember the old rules no longer apply, you can no longer enter the market place and expect to set up a generic therapy or coaching practice, you need to do something very different.

Don’t look at what everyone else is doing and just copy them (how many websites have you seen with almost identical content? All spouting the same old “success” or “inspirational” rhetoric), it is easy to think when you are starting out that everyone out there is really successful and when you are not sure what you are doing it is comforting to follow the crowd with the “It must be working for them…” attitude.

That may have worked back then, but now you have to be different to everyone else Study the field you want to enter. What is it like? How many companies are there? What is missing? What can you do that is different? What can you do better?

Fortune favours the brave and all that.

Matt

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