Mike Michalowicz's Blog, page 58

11 Tips for Health Coaches to be more Profitable in 2017 by Amber Dugger

11 Tips for Health Coaches to be more Profitable in 2017,  written by Amber Dugger

It is a very exciting time to be a health coach. Thousands of motivated, determined and knowledgeable health coaches are graduating each year from health coach training and are paving their own path to a career of gratifying and fulfilling work. One area that is so often overlooked in health coach training is how to run a profitable health coaching business. I am on a mission to change that. I have spent the last month interviewing some pretty incredible thought leaders, business coaches and mentors of health coaches. I’m excited to share their wisdom on how you can build a profitable health coaching business. Grab yourself a cup of tea, throw a blanket over your shoulders and grab your favorite moleskine notebook. This is truly a goldmine!

Tip 1: If all you are offering is a 6 month program, you are leaving money on the table. ~Kathleen LeGrys

Having an entry level program at a lower price point and lower time commitment will allow your client to test you out. They are skeptical and need to be eased into your work. Your prospective clients don’t think that they need a 6 month program so having a free offer that leads into a 30- 60 day program that can then go into a 90-120 day program is ideal.

Secondly, having a compelling name that is descriptive and conveys what your client is going to get out of it is key to bringing in more revenue (and therefore, more profits) into your health coaching business.

It is also quite helpful to offer more than one way that they can work with you. Having an online program with support, for example, allows clients who may shy away from 1:1 work to still benefit from your services.

Kathleen LeGrys offers an incredible (I’m talking pure gold) discovery call template. This template has helped me convert dozens of clients and I still use it to this day. To get your free copy, and hear more from the amazing Kathleen, please visit http://www.healthcoachsolutions.net/hcs_discovery_guide/

Tip 2: Put yourself out there and give more talks. ~Amy Lippman

This will attract new clients, build your list, and will position you as the go-to expert in your community. You can also establish yourself with referral relationships and social media. Knowing how many clients you want and pricing them to reach your income goal is critical.

A high end offering is key to being able to increase your profitability as a health coach. This can be especially good for health coaches still working a full time job as they can block out 1-2 Saturdays a month for VIP Days. This can be offered as a stand alone or an upgrade. A day retreat with up to 4 people together can also be a great upgrade and jumping off point for a class.

Own the number. In the beginning, consider demand and know that you may want to keep your number low enough that you get an easy yes but high enough that your client values your services. As you get more experience, you will start to get testimonials and referrals. You can then start to raise your price to keep up with demand.

Amy Lippman, Marketing Strategist for Health Coaches. Check out her awesome Speaking Kit for Health Coaches at http://speakingkitforhealthcoaches.com/

Tip 3: Know how much you want to make and make sure it is realistic. ~Lori Kennedy

Create a realistic financial target and grow from there. Most health coaches should not expect to make much money in his or her first year. Having a clear financial plan with realistic targets is the number one thing any health coach should do to be able to strategize her client goals, pricing and packages. Without this number, health coaches easily become overwhelmed by not knowing how many clients they need to make their goals and have difficulty sticking with their prices.

Bonus tip: One of the best ways to grow a list is to spend 3 days telling everyone you know about what you do and a link to your opt-in. Show up everyday. The only limitation is the one that you set for yourself. Set your own limits.

Lori Kennedy, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Strategic Business Coach and Founder, THE WELLNESS BUSINESS HUB Learn more about Lori and the Wellness Business Hub here: http://thewellnessbusinesshub.com/.

Tip 4: Develop a daily mantra at the beginning of each month. ~Amanda Daley

What you focus on grows. By getting clear on the exact amount of money you desire and why, your intended action plan to create this money and a time frame on which you intend to receive this money, you will set yourself up for more profits as a health coach. Before starting work, read your desire statement out loud 10 times, and from that space create your daily action plan. Amanda also recommends combining this with The Golden Hour – 20 minutes of journaling, 20 minutes of meditation and 20 minutes of listening or reading a wealth consciousness book.

Amanda Daley, Founder and Creator of the Upswing Mastermind for Health Coaches, To learn more about Amanda, please visit www.amandajdaley.com.

Tip 5: Calculate your ROI (return on investment) before spending money on Facebook Ads. ~Claire Pelletreau

Determine how much money you want to spend on your Facebook ads and calculate your ROI to ensure that you are not draining your cash unnecessarily. As a small business owner and health coach, you know the benefit of growing your list and a great way to do that is by using Facebook Ads.

]Most people don’t breakeven on their first launch. Clair’s philosophy is spend what you can afford to lose. Look at your first few ads as paying for a lot of data. Learn what age groups, messaging and images convert and know that you are spending the money to learn and dial in to increase your ROI for future launches.

How to run your numbers for a Facebook Campaign:

Goal: you want 1000 signups in 2 weeks.

Your course price: $99

Your sales conversion rate: 3%

Facts: A good conversion rate on leads is an average of $2.50/lead (this is debatable and can be lower but if you are starting out, it can also be a lot higher). This will be cold traffic to your list.

Calculation of ROI:

● Cost = $2500 for the Facebook Ads

● Leads = 1000

● 3% convert = 33 people

● 33 x $99 = $3267

● ROI: $3267 – $2500 = $767.

And don’t forget to account for your other costs!

Claire Pelletreau , a confessed conversion junkie and Facebook ads consultant To determine how much you should spend on Facebook ads, check out Claire’s valuable free spreadsheet and process at www.clairepells.com/howmuch.

Tip 6: Treat everything as a fun experiment! ~Natasha Corbin

Tenacity is an entrepreneurial mindset. Rejection is part of the process. To be more profitable as a health coach in 2017, making an offer is KEY. Let’s quickly talk about active vs. passive marketing. Many health coaches spend loads of time perfecting her SEO and her website’s look and feel. This is a good example of passive marketing. To truly get your name and offer out there, you need to actually get in front of your audience and let them know what they can purchase from you. How will they find you? What do you specialize in? Get your offer in front of your people as quickly as possible and be very clear on how you can work with them. Actively offer your services with heart.

It is CRITICAL to treat this as a fun experiment. Your offer is most likely brilliant – it is not the photo, the offer or the price. It is YOU that is going to get your potential client to stop scrolling. What does this mean, exactly? Experts say that someone needs to see an offer 6 times to feel comfortable enough to consider purchasing. Generally, on Facebook, people will see 1 out of 24 posts that are there. 6 times 24 is 144 times that you need to post to even start to build your know, like and trust factor.

144 times? Yes. Post at least 144 times to gain traction. And have FUN and be persistent and consistent with your message. All of those posts should not be about your offer. They should be about YOU. Your dog, your kids, your LIFE! Blog posts with a lot of free and valuable content. Don’t worry about the crickets. They are just dancing away because you are dusting all of your posts with party pixie dust and this is just a fun experiment. Do this and your health coaching business will start rolling in the profits in no time (144 posts away time).

11 Tips for Health Coaches to be more Profitable in 2017 by Amber Dugger

11 Tips for Health Coaches to be more Profitable in 2017,  written by Amber Dugger

It is a very exciting time to be a health coach. Thousands of motivated, determined and knowledgeable health coaches are graduating each year from health coach training and are paving their own path to a career of gratifying and fulfilling work. One area that is so often overlooked in health coach training is how to run a profitable health coaching business. I am on a mission to change that. I have spent the last month interviewing some pretty incredible thought leaders, business coaches and mentors of health coaches. I’m excited to share their wisdom on how you can build a profitable health coaching business. Grab yourself a cup of tea, throw a blanket over your shoulders and grab your favorite moleskine notebook. This is truly a goldmine!

Tip 1: If all you are offering is a 6 month program, you are leaving money on the table. ~Kathleen LeGrys

Having an entry level program at a lower price point and lower time commitment will allow your client to test you out. They are skeptical and need to be eased into your work. Your prospective clients don’t think that they need a 6 month program so having a free offer that leads into a 30- 60 day program that can then go into a 90-120 day program is ideal.

Secondly, having a compelling name that is descriptive and conveys what your client is going to get out of it is key to bringing in more revenue (and therefore, more profits) into your health coaching business.

It is also quite helpful to offer more than one way that they can work with you. Having an online program with support, for example, allows clients who may shy away from 1:1 work to still benefit from your services.

Kathleen LeGrys offers an incredible (I’m talking pure gold) discovery call template. This template has helped me convert dozens of clients and I still use it to this day. To get your free copy, and hear more from the amazing Kathleen, please visit http://www.healthcoachsolutions.net/hcs_discovery_guide/

Tip 2: Put yourself out there and give more talks. ~Amy Lippman

This will attract new clients, build your list, and will position you as the go-to expert in your community. You can also establish yourself with referral relationships and social media. Knowing how many clients you want and pricing them to reach your income goal is critical.

A high end offering is key to being able to increase your profitability as a health coach. This can be especially good for health coaches still working a full time job as they can block out 1-2 Saturdays a month for VIP Days. This can be offered as a stand alone or an upgrade. A day retreat with up to 4 people together can also be a great upgrade and jumping off point for a class.

Own the number. In the beginning, consider demand and know that you may want to keep your number low enough that you get an easy yes but high enough that your client values your services. As you get more experience, you will start to get testimonials and referrals. You can then start to raise your price to keep up with demand.

Amy Lippman, Marketing Strategist for Health Coaches. Check out her awesome Speaking Kit for Health Coaches at http://speakingkitforhealthcoaches.com/

Tip 3: Know how much you want to make and make sure it is realistic. ~Lori Kennedy

Create a realistic financial target and grow from there. Most health coaches should not expect to make much money in his or her first year. Having a clear financial plan with realistic targets is the number one thing any health coach should do to be able to strategize her client goals, pricing and packages. Without this number, health coaches easily become overwhelmed by not knowing how many clients they need to make their goals and have difficulty sticking with their prices.

Bonus tip: One of the best ways to grow a list is to spend 3 days telling everyone you know about what you do and a link to your opt-in. Show up everyday. The only limitation is the one that you set for yourself. Set your own limits.

Lori Kennedy, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Strategic Business Coach and Founder, THE WELLNESS BUSINESS HUB Learn more about Lori and the Wellness Business Hub here: http://thewellnessbusinesshub.com/.

Tip 4: Develop a daily mantra at the beginning of each month. ~Amanda Daley

What you focus on grows. By getting clear on the exact amount of money you desire and why, your intended action plan to create this money and a time frame on which you intend to receive this money, you will set yourself up for more profits as a health coach. Before starting work, read your desire statement out loud 10 times, and from that space create your daily action plan. Amanda also recommends combining this with The Golden Hour – 20 minutes of journaling, 20 minutes of meditation and 20 minutes of listening or reading a wealth consciousness book.

Amanda Daley, Founder and Creator of the Upswing Mastermind for Health Coaches, To learn more about Amanda, please visit www.amandajdaley.com.

Tip 5: Calculate your ROI (return on investment) before spending money on Facebook Ads. ~Claire Pelletreau

Determine how much money you want to spend on your Facebook ads and calculate your ROI to ensure that you are not draining your cash unnecessarily. As a small business owner and health coach, you know the benefit of growing your list and a great way to do that is by using Facebook Ads.

]Most people don’t breakeven on their first launch. Clair’s philosophy is spend what you can afford to lose. Look at your first few ads as paying for a lot of data. Learn what age groups, messaging and images convert and know that you are spending the money to learn and dial in to increase your ROI for future launches.

How to run your numbers for a Facebook Campaign:

Goal: you want 1000 signups in 2 weeks.

Your course price: $99

Your sales conversion rate: 3%

Facts: A good conversion rate on leads is an average of $2.50/lead (this is debatable and can be lower but if you are starting out, it can also be a lot higher). This will be cold traffic to your list.

Calculation of ROI:

● Cost = $2500 for the Facebook Ads

● Leads = 1000

● 3% convert = 33 people

● 33 x $99 = $3267

● ROI: $3267 – $2500 = $767.

And don’t forget to account for your other costs!

Claire Pelletreau , a confessed conversion junkie and Facebook ads consultant To determine how much you should spend on Facebook ads, check out Claire’s valuable free spreadsheet and process at www.clairepells.com/howmuch.

Tip 6: Treat everything as a fun experiment! ~Natasha Corbin

Tenacity is an entrepreneurial mindset. Rejection is part of the process. To be more profitable as a health coach in 2017, making an offer is KEY. Let’s quickly talk about active vs. passive marketing. Many health coaches spend loads of time perfecting her SEO and her website’s look and feel. This is a good example of passive marketing. To truly get your name and offer out there, you need to actually get in front of your audience and let them know what they can purchase from you. How will they find you? What do you specialize in? Get your offer in front of your people as quickly as possible and be very clear on how you can work with them. Actively offer your services with heart.

It is CRITICAL to treat this as a fun experiment. Your offer is most likely brilliant – it is not the photo, the offer or the price. It is YOU that is going to get your potential client to stop scrolling. What does this mean, exactly? Experts say that someone needs to see an offer 6 times to feel comfortable enough to consider purchasing. Generally, on Facebook, people will see 1 out of 24 posts that are there. 6 times 24 is 144 times that you need to post to even start to build your know, like and trust factor.

144 times? Yes. Post at least 144 times to gain traction. And have FUN and be persistent and consistent with your message. All of those posts should not be about your offer. They should be about YOU. Your dog, your kids, your LIFE! Blog posts with a lot of free and valuable content. Don’t worry about the crickets. They are just dancing away because you are dusting all of your posts with party pixie dust and this is just a fun experiment. Do this and your health coaching business will start rolling in the profits in no time (144 posts away time).

Episode 130: The Profitability of Top-Performing Employees with Dr. Sabrina Starling

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Show Summary

On this episode we talk with Dr. Sabrina Starling and she talks about how you can quickly double your profitability by hiring top-performing employees. At First blush, the strategy doesn’t seem like it would work until you realize that a top-performing employee can perform, according to Dr. Sabrina Starling, 900-1200% better than a warm body and as a result you need fewer employees, you need to offer fewer benefits, reducing your overall payroll costs substantially and you have fewer mistakes so you have greater efficiency. Higher the best employees and you have the best profitability you’ll ever experience.  Dr. Sabrina Starling shares the step-by-step in this episode. Welcome to Episode 130 of the Profit First Podcast!

Our Guest

Dr. Sabrina Starling, The Business Psychologist™ and author of How to Hire the Best specializes in transforming time-, energy- and cash-sucking rural businesses into highly profitable, Great Places to Work!

Employee  problems can be one of the biggest stumbling  blocks for any business owner.  With her background in psychology, and years of driving profit in small business, Dr. Starling knows what it takes to find, keep and get exceptional performance out of your biggest investment-your employees.

Catch her next Masterclass, Quickly Double Your Profit with Top Performing Employees and access her comprehensive video training 5 Secrets to Exceptional Employee Performance (her gifts to you!) by texting EMPLOYEES to 44222.

Guest Links

Website: www.tapthepotential.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tapthepotential

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrSabrina @drsabrina

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsabrina/

Corporate Partners

Receipt-Bank – Software and service to make the gathering, storage & processing of bills, receipts and invoices as easy and as cost effective as possible for businesses.

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

Fundbox –  The simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.

Xero– Accounting software with all the time-saving tools you need to grow your business. Xero is always secure and reliable and our experts are here to support you 24/7.

Episode 129: Get Paid to Market your Business with Stanley Genadek

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Show Summary

On this episode with Stanley Genadek and he argues that there is one marketing platform that actually pays you to market your business. The platform is YouTube.  Stanley outlines the basics to building your YouTube platform for subscribers, for exposure and even to the level that you will make money while advertising for your business. Welcome to Episode 129 of the Profit First Podcast!

Our Guest

Stan Genadek grew up doing the only thing he knew- working hard in the family Construction business. When he was just 13 he was demolishing buildings, and buildings Dam for the DNR.  32 years of experience teaches you a few things.  Last year he built DirtMonkey University to share that knowledge. Now his youtube channel gets over 1.7 million views per month or 61,000 downloads daily. Contractors from around the world are sharing their knowledge with him- and he is sharing that with you! He has written a book called “The Jack of All Trades and Master of 2”. He also has his own podcast at Dirt monkey university along with his Youtube channel where the purpose is to help people start and grow their business.  Building a Business is like solving the Rubiks cube- really tough UNLESS you have done it before.

Guest Links

Website: https://dirtmonkey.net/

Genadek Landscaping and Excavating Inc. Website: http://genadek.com/index.php

DirtMonkey University Website: http://dirtmonkeyu.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/preview?locale=en_US&trk=prof-0-sb-preview-primary-button

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LBPpodcast

Corporate Partners

Receipt-Bank – Software and service to make the gathering, storage & processing of bills, receipts and invoices as easy and as cost effective as possible for businesses.

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

Fundbox –  The simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.

Xero– Accounting software with all the time-saving tools you need to grow your business. Xero is always secure and reliable and our experts are here to support you 24/7.

Maximize Your Impact

It’s about passion. It is having a love for what you do. It is about giving a shit.

I met a woman who is a dolphin trainer. She couldn’t stop gushing about how amazing her work is. Communicating with dolphins. Learning their personalities. Connecting. The stories she shared were nothing short of remarkable. And by the time we were done talking, I wanted to experience, even just for a moment, what she does. She has an absolute love for her work, and the energy conveyed to me.

Conversely, there is probably someone in the dolphin training industry, that really doesn’t care for their work. They do it because they have to. The cold water. The squeaky squeak dolphin talk. And the constant, awful smell of buckets full of rotting dead fish. They would struggle to “sell me” on the values of being a dolphin trainer.

Forget all the closing techniques and persuasion tricks. Nothing will ever match the persuasive power of loving what you do.

Episode 128: Drive your Profit with Storytelling with Elizabeth Barry

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Show Summary

On this episode with Elizabeth Barry, she talks about the power of personal brand development through storytelling.  Stories about your business can and should evolve over time to keep your audience always engaged.  As Elizabeth says, if you can’t tell it you can’t sell it. That’s how important storytelling is and there is no question that storytelling is a main driver of profit. Welcome to Episode 128 of the Profit First Podcast!

Our Guest

Elizabeth Barry is a seasoned brand marketer and a sought-after marketing coach and consultant. She’s run a successful marketing agency for the past 10 years, has written a book on Vulnerability, curates exceptional TEDx events in NYC and is on the move looking for new clients for her leadership programs. With her ability to communicate clearly and candidly and deliver projects on time and budget with stellar relationship building skills, she looks forward to becoming a key resource for your team long term. You can find her colorful articles on LinkedIn and share in her latest success by visiting www.elizabethbarryconsulting.com.

Guest Links

Website: http://www.elizabethbarryconsulting.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethannbarry

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabethbarryconsulting/

Website for Elizabeth’s Book: http://www.ownyourvulnerabilitybook.com/

Website for Tedx that Elizabeth Curates: http://www.tedxupperwestsidewomen.com/

Corporate Partners

Receipt-Bank – Software and service to make the gathering, storage & processing of bills, receipts and invoices as easy and as cost effective as possible for businesses.

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

Fundbox –  The simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.

Xero– Accounting software with all the time-saving tools you need to grow your business. Xero is always secure and reliable and our experts are here to support you 24/7.

Episode 127: Make Your Brand Fascinating with Sally Hogshead

Also Available On











Show Summary

On this episode with Sally Hogshead we talk about how to make your personal brand fascinating, so fascinating that it will drive the highest level of profits to your business. You are about to find out why people pay for not what you do, but for who you are. Plus hundreds of other tips shared by the fascinating author, Sally Hogshead. Welcome to Episode 127 of the Profit First Podcast!

Our Guest

Sally skyrocketed to the top of the advertising profession in her early 20s. By age 24, she was the most award-winning advertising copywriter in the U.S. Her campaigns for brands such as MINI Cooper, Nike, Godiva and Coca-Cola have fascinated millions of consumers. At the age of 27, she opened her first ad agency and her work still hangs in the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

Drawing upon this remarkable branding legacy, Sally developed The Fascination Advantage— the first algorithm to measure personal brands. Unlike traditional personality assessments such as Myers-Briggs or StrengthsFinder, Sally’s test doesn’t measure how you see the world – but how the world sees YOU.

She frequently appears in national media, including NBC’s “Today” show and the New York Times. Named as the No.1 Brand Guru in the World, her practical marketing system now lives inside organizations such as IBM, Twitter, and the YMCA, as well as thousands of small businesses. The science of fascination is based on Sally’s decade of research with dozens of Fortune 500 teams, hundreds of small businesses, and over a thousand C-level executives.

Her newest book, FASCINATE: How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist is a New York Times bestseller. Sally is one of only 172 living members of the Speaker Hall of Fame®, the global speaking industry’s highest award for professional excellence.

Guest Links

Website:

—-> 1. Go to  HowToFascinate.com/YOU



—-> 2. For the access code, enter ProfitFirst


Corporate Partners

Receipt-Bank – Software and service to make the gathering, storage & processing of bills, receipts and invoices as easy and as cost effective as possible for businesses.

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

Fundbox –  The simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.

Xero– Accounting software with all the time-saving tools you need to grow your business. Xero is always secure and reliable and our experts are here to support you 24/7.

“Passion” is a Buzz, but is Yours Misguided?

I have met entrepreneur after entrepreneur who started a business with tons of inspiration, excitement and energy only to lose their mojo months or years later. Their passion faded. At least that is what they thought.

In reality, they were never passionate about what they did. They were just excited. And those are two very different things.

Too many entrepreneurs mix passion with excitement. For example, when a new movie comes out it is exciting to watch. But do you have the desire to watch it 100 times? 10,000 times? Does it get better every time you watch it? Does it give you energy. Is the 5,000th time even better than the 4,999th? If that is the case, there is passion there. But if it becomes routine, you never had passion, you just had excitement in the beginning.

If you are not sure what you are passionate about, I can promise you this. It is never in what you do. Whatever you make, whatever service you deliver, the passion is not there. It is in the reason why you do what you do. It is in the purpose.

What experience are you trying to give to others? What experience do you constantly thirst? What lesson are you trying to teach and learn. That is where your passion lies… even if it is in watching movies.

Episode 126: Navigate the Storms with Constance Moonzwe

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Show Summary

On this episode with Constance Moonzwe we talk about that moment where everything in your life changes and your life’s future and your business’ future changes in a second, how do you navigate that. Constance shares that her husband passed away in a car accident in 2014 and the next morning she was the owner of a business and had to deliver services to her clients.  She was able to do that and turn her business from a struggling business to a $6 million+ success and is still growing.  She shares her secrets to growing a profitable business even when your life changes on a dime. Welcome to Episode 126 of the Profit First Podcast!

Our Guest

Constance is the President and CEO of ITH Staffing, Inc., a premier healthcare and information technology staffing company serving organizations across the country. Constance’s entrepreneurship has built a multi-million dollar staffing company within a few years. Her community work includes being a co-founder of ITH Charities, which seeks to promote sustainable healthcare and educational development primarily in Africa. Constance is the recipient of the 2016  Women of Color Achievement Award.

Guest Links

Website: http://www.meetconstance.com/bookclub/

If you are Healthcare IT professional looking for a new opportunity or  career change email your resume to: staffing@ithstaffing.com

Have a heart for giving? Make a donation to cause you believe in by visiting: http://ithcharities.org/

Corporate Partners

Receipt-Bank – Software and service to make the gathering, storage & processing of bills, receipts and invoices as easy and as cost effective as possible for businesses.

Nextiva – VOIP phone providers for small businesses.

Fundera – Single source online funding for entrepreneurs. Also offers an adviser program for CPAs, bookkeepers and business coaches.

Fundbox –  The simplest and fastest way to fix your cash flow by advancing payments for your outstanding invoices.

Xero– Accounting software with all the time-saving tools you need to grow your business. Xero is always secure and reliable and our experts are here to support you 24/7.

The Misnomer of Failure

So you think you are a failure, huh? Let me get one thing off of my virtual chest right now: You’re not. I realize you may be experiencing failure. You may have had a string of failures. You may have been told you are a failure. But it doesn’t mean that is who you are. You are not a failure, except for one caveat. You are a failure if that is who you decided to be.

But before I prove you are not a failure, I want to share a personal story. Oh, and by the way, when I said “my virtual chest” I didn’t say that because you are reading my blog post. I say it because my muscle definition is equivalent to Tweety bird’s. If that little yellow feathered turd and I got into a fight, he would own me.

I Am A Failure

My little story. I am an entrepreneur. In years past, I was an entrepreneur in the traditional sense, starting businesses and growing them. Today I am an author, which not-so-interestingly, is just like any other form of business, you need to sell what do and do what you do, really well. The only difference is instead of having thirty employees reporting to you, you have one part time assistant. . . who is either in India or is a family member or both.

I have failed a lot. I have lost all my money. I have crashed more start-ups than I have grown. I have offended probably everyone (including myself a couple times). And now I am failing at my fastest rate ever. Why?

I have set an absurdly massive perception (AMP) for myself: I am the most prolific business author of this century. (Note: There is a reason I use “I am“, instead of “I will be,” and you need to, too.)

Talk about failure. If you asked anyone on the street. I mean, anyone, including my mother how “prolific” I am. They would say, who’s this asshole you’re talking about. (Note: My mom wouldn’t call me an asshole, she would call me a douche.) But here’s the deal, failure is the ONLY way to success. Every day I take a shot at achieving my vision, and fail. And regardless of what your vision is, the only way you will get there is by failing your way to it.

Good Failure vs. Bad Failure

Failure is failure. It is neither good nor bad. It is how you interpret it that determines its value. People who see failure as good, know the “it.”

Someone once told me that when you fail once, you are given a chance to learn. If you fail a second time, your ignorant. You know what? They lied. Failure isn’t just about learning, its really about testing your commitment and finding clarity. Failure simply asks, “How bad do you want it?” Once you know the “it” failure becomes a ladder that you climb. But when you experience bad failure, the kind that keeps you in the muck of depression, you haven’t defined “it” yet.

The Turning Point

Henry David Thoreau is credited with variations of this saying: “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and die with their song still inside them.” Quiet desperation happens when you haven’t hit rock bottom yet. Quiet desperation is a never ending free-fall with no bottom. You don’t hit the bottom that you can bounce off.

If you are experiencing quiet desperation, it’s time to hit the floor. It is actually easy to do. You simply need to admit that you are living a life of quiet desperation. And, I suspect since you already are saying “I am a failure,” you are at the floor. That’s good news, its the turning point.

It is like an alcoholic saying I “don’t have a drinking problem.” Until you accept your reality, you can’t change it. So, as ironic as it is, congratulations on making your “I am a failure” decree. You have put yourself much closer to recovery.

The next step? Seek out your “it.”

What’s The It

I have studied the difference between people who see failure as yet further proof of who they are, and others who see failure as another step up the ladder. The difference? People who use failure to climb, have absolute clarity on their life’s purpose. People buried by failure, lack purpose.

You would think there was other differences, right? How about the difference of their upbringing (or lack thereof)? What about financial circumstances? Abuse? Relationships? Luck? Bad luck? All irrelevant. No matter how tragic their story or how wonderful their luck, it had no influence on if people felt they were a failure or not. The only difference was if the person, regardless of their circumstances, was living life with purpose or not.

Find Purpose

If you want to stop being buried by failure, you need to define your life’s purpose. And, if you don’t know what your life’s purpose is. . . you life’s purpose (at least for now) is to find your life’s purpose. Constantly ask yourself, why am I here? What do I need to do? And be willing to listen to the answers that you present yourself. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to discover the answer, since every time you fail to find it, you get closer to finding it. See, you are already using failure as a ladder.

When you find your purpose, you will get into the groove – where you hidden talents reveal themselves and you lose the sense of time. You are living your purpose when you build energy as you do it. You’re living your purpose, when you experience failure and you see it as another step up the ladder.

My Virtual Chest

And regards to my virtual chest situation.  I am done with that bad failure, and am now a weight room loyalist. Interestingly I am now experiencing good failure constantly (those damn weights are heavy).

Tweety bird can go suck it.

And if you are ready to finally have your failure suck it, read this little story about flying lawn chairs.