George Kao's Blog, page 22

Is the market for online offerings now saturated?

A client asked:

Im feeling overwhelmed by all the online offerings that are popping up everywhere, now that people are in self-isolation. This is putting me off wanting to offer online stuff too. Isnt the market saturated? Any advice or encouragement?

My thoughts:Truthfully, for years there has been much more online content than people can consume, and more online offerings than people can attend. You could say that the market has already been saturated, well before this pandemic lockdown.

And...

How *not* to reconnect with your network (and what we can do instead)

photo from @rocknrollmonkey on unsplash.com(originally written in 2018, updated for 2020.)

One of the best ways to gain new clients and opportunities is to reconnect with your network: your colleagues, past clients, those friends youve been out of touch with, or people who have inquired about your services.

Your friends and family probably dont remember what your business is really about. Even if they understand what you do and who your ideal clients are, they dont think about it often enough...

Every Small Business Needs an Offer Rhythm…

Ive written a lot about the importance of creating and distributing content its a great foundation for an authentic business.

What I havent emphasized as much is the importance of having an offer rhythm, and thats what this post is about. I encourage every client of mine  and you, if you are a small business and wish for consistent income  to have a consistent rhythm of offerings.

Even if you have no audience yet, you can and should begin testing offerings, as soon as possible, starting with...

Masterclass: How To Create & Successfully Launch Your Online Courses

I'm starting an online course and support group for those of you who want to create and launch your own online courses! I've been launching courses for 10 years and I invite you to learn from my experience and shorten your own learning curve.

Watch the video above, or click here for more: Create and Launch Online Courses

How To Get Clients Quickly & Authentically

You would love to do marketing authentically rather than succumb to short-term pressure, deceptive tactics, or hype.

Yet you need to quickly fill your next course, program, or get some clients now.
How can you get clients ASAP without resorting to conventional marketing strategies that dont feel right to you?

The key is to care more for your audience than they usually experience.

Here are 5 strategies to consider:1. Personal Invitation

A client of mine successfully fills her womans group every...

Q&A: Sustaining Your Small Business in These Times

I hosted 2 free public Q&A's to support small business owners during these difficult times.   In this first video, I discussed:

How to survive as a solopreneur in this climate of social distancing?How do we offer our work online? Suggested tools?Paypal buttons: any advice on using them? What about pay-what-you-can?FB Ads: tips for how to know whether its working or not?Any tips for just getting started with business? Who is our ideal audience?
Here are the topics of the 2nd video:
...

Instantly Impressive vs. Consistently Authentic

Be impressive instantly
Be consistently authentic
Both methods get you clients. You can imagine which one I endorse.

Lets start with the method most people think marketing is about...Instant Impressiveness

This is when you work hard to make a great first impression: awesome logo, amazing website, undeniable testimonials, polished videos, perfect products.Unfortunately, trying to be instantly impressive will reinforce a fixed mindset.

In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like...

Prevent carpal tunnel and repetitive stress injury with frequent check-ins

Since we work at the computer so much, its important to know how to prevent repetitive stress injury or carpal tunnel. Im not a medical professional and you should consult yours, but heres my personal experience of healing and prevention.

A year into my online business I began to feel tingling and pain in my wrists. I knew it could get worse if I didnt do something about it.

So I started doing the following 3 actions... The symptoms decreased, and were gone after a few months!

Last year, I had...

Resources for Solopreneurs during Coronavirus

Some thoughtful resources for business owners who are feeling the impact of this pandemic (all of us). Click here and check out the comments. We will get through this together

The Uniqueness of Your Content: How to Stand Out in a Crowded Marketplace

You dont have to be a great writer.

You dont have to make amazing videos.

To stand out in a saturated online space, what is most needed is to care more than others are willing to care.

Care enough to show up consistently.

Care enough to risk embarrassment or criticism.This is what most people do: stay quiet, produce little to no content, be invisible online, give into their fear more than their love. This is the bottom line:

Love more, and you will stand out.

Love the people you wish to help.

Love...