Kimanzi Constable's Blog, page 42

7 Ways to Get Better Results From Your Online Business

In case you haven’t noticed, there are a TON of people online talking about the same things. Building an online business isn’t easy, and there are some hard realities you need to realize CopyBlogger tells us.

I know I’m not telling you anything new. Having said that, I LOVE the freedom an online business can provide. Look at the picture. I’m writing this post from a Starbucks that’s one block away from the ocean.

While I’m writing this, people are buying my books and other products on my website. I’m making money passively while enjoying the amazingness of Maui. If this is your dream, there are seven things you can do that will help your online business get better results.

1. Stop copying other people

I have written a lot about this topic so I won’t bore you. What I will say is that people buy from someone they know, like, and trust. They don’t buy from strangers.

If you are the clone of someone else, they’ll never get to know the real you. When they want to buy, they will buy from the person you are copying. Use frameworks that work, but don’t be a clone. Let your voice come through, and build a business that’s yours.

 2.  Be very clear about who you serve

If you try to reach the whole world, you’ll end up reaching no one because your efforts to reach them will be too scattered. You won’t be able to dig deeper, and help people where they are if you’re not speaking to a specific target audience.

The more specific you can get with your target audience, the easier time you’ll have marketing, which is what ultimately grows your business. When you do, all the strategy stuff like guest posting for example, you’ll know exactly where you should be focused.

There are specific issues going on with specific people. Men have their own issues and women have their’s. There are many issues, which we all deal with in life, but in different ways. To really reach your audience, you have to deal with those issues in a way that affects them.

 3.  Keep it simple  

Keep your website simple and clean. Even though WordPress has a ton of options for widgets and plugins, you don’t need ALL of them. When someone visits your website it shouldn’t confuse them.

When it comes to your business, keep it simple too. Build traffic to your website. Learn the biggest struggles your target audience is facing. Create products and services that help solve those problems. Rinse and repeat. Yes it can be that simple.

 4.  Don’t rely too heavily on social media

While you can’t ignore social media, you can’t make it your number one strategy for traffic and leads. New York Times best-selling author, Crystal Paine, clearly illustrates this.

I wrote about how social media marketing is overrated for Entrepreneur magazine. We need it to a point, but there’s better ways to build your online business. The bottom line is you want to build your business on your platform, not someone else’s. You want people to be sign up to your email list and interact with you personally.

 5.  Focus on what’s important to where you are

There’s a ton of things you CAN learn online. Most of these things aren’t important to where you are in the process. If you’re building, you probably shouldn’t be learning about SEO.

If you guest post, and build your audience in other ways, the SEO will naturally come, so your time is better spent writing guest posts. Sit down, and evaluate where you’re at in YOUR journey, and stick to what will help you where you are.

Don’t fall victim to information overload because it can easily keep you from making progress. Speed of implementation is what makes you successful in this business.

 6.  Don’t be afraid to charge a fair price  

It would be great to help as many people as possible for free, but you have a family and bills to pay. If you create something that adds value and helps people, you should have no shame charging a fair price.

Remember, you’re building a business; it can’t be a business if it doesn’t make money. If what you’re doing is a non-profit, that’s something completely different. If you’re building something that supports your family, treat this as a business.

There are people online that should be ashamed at what they’re doing and charging, but you’ll find that in any industry. As long as you focus on serving, and adding value to people’s lives, your prices will be justified.

 7.  Keep hustling

At the end of the day, if you want this to work and build, you have to determine right now that you’ll keep going no matter what. Perseverance is what makes your dream a reality.

Even if you haven’t made the process you wanted to make at this point, you can’t give up. Build this business one relationship, and one sell at a time. Keep guest posting, keep doing the things it takes to create freedom.

Have patience. This takes time to build. With focused effort you can build an online business that supports your family in one year as long as you keep hustling.

Use these seven things to optimize your building efforts. Have patience, and build something that helps your target audience. Focus and you will do this. Think about what you can do this week that helps build your online business.

Which one of these do you need to work on?

This week’s articles:

Listen and Learn From These 9 Emerging Entrepreneurial Podcasts (I’m really proud of this one)

Entrepreneur Magazine

5 Ways Negative People Are Keeping You From Your Dream Life

Mind Body Green

5 Ways Social Media Marketing Is Overrated

The Huffington Post

7 Lessons Quitting a Job I Hated Taught Me About Life

The Good Men Project

5 Major Problems With Internet Marketing Today

You’ve seen it. Right? The courses from the big Internet marketers telling you about their seven-figure system. You see countless testimonials from people who have used their course, and are now millionaires.

The websites look good; the copy on the sales page is very convincing. You’re frustrated that you haven’t seen results, so you start working out ways to afford the course.

You think about it, you may even talk it over with your spouse. You go back to the sales page, but something in your gut is gnawing at you.

Don’t get me wrong. There are many great courses, and products out there from some amazing entrepreneurs. However, there are just as many that promise results, but deliver disappointment.

In my online business journey I’ve spent over $5,000 on courses that promised big results. In the end, the courses didn’t help my business, daily hustle, and basic marketing principles did.

There are five problems in the Internet marketing world today that unfortunately many people are falling victim to. Before you buy a product or service I want you to think about these.

 1.  A lot of the advice only works if you have a huge audience

This is the biggest problem in Internet marketing today. There’s a ton of great advice, and systems that will only work once your online presence gets to a certain point. The reason big Internet marketers do so well is because of their affiliates.

A big online presence means they have a lot of affiliates willing to promote their products, and services when they launch them. When I attended Brendan Burchard’s Experts Academy. He told us that he gives his top affiliates Super Bowl tickets!

A lot of the information gives you a great plan, but it neglects the most important part of building an online business: building your audience. They don’t let you know how to get more traffic and email subscribers. That’s probably because they weren’t building their online businesses in a time like ours, where there’s a ton of competition.

My advice is to save your money, and focus on building traffic and your email subscribers. That’s what builds your business to the point where it can support your family.

2. The courses are designed to keep getting you to buy more

A lot of the courses from big Internet marketers are designed to up sell you on something more expensive. Remember, I went to two Brendan Burchard events, I’ve seen the backend of all of this.

You buy the $97 program, and before you can check out you’re taken to a page offering you 50% off the $2,000 program, and it’s 10 times better than the one you’re thinking about buying.

Impulse kicks in, and you don’t want to miss out on the “deal,” so you upgrade. Even if you don’t, you take the $97 program, and are left missing the valuable information you need to grow your business.

That’s how these big courses are designed. When you’re creating your own courses, and programs, run away from this model. If you give your customers unbelievable value, you won’t have to trick them into buying something else.

 3.  The results are often inflated

When you look at the sales pages for these courses, you see these kind of claims: “This is the system I used to generate seven-figure cash flow in the last 60 days.” Every business owner would love to make seven-figures, so you’re tempted to buy.

In the online world it’s easy to lie and a lot of people do it. They lie to impress you, and convince you that buying their stuff is a good investment. If you want to know the truth, you have to talk to current and past customers.

Do your research before you think about buying anything. Take note of these practices. For your business, go out of your way to let people see the real you and the real results your clients are getting.

 4.  You can’t get the personal help you need

A lot of the time these courses are all video based. You watch six videos, maybe get a PDF, and that’s it. Those videos could be the six greatest videos you’ve ever watched in your life, but as you implement, I guarantee you’ll have questions.

Those questions won’t be answered because all they offer is the videos. If you’re going to buy a program or course make sure there’s live office hours so you can get your specific questions answered.

 5.  The person that’s building can’t afford it

At the end of the day most of us can’t afford those expensive programs and courses. We have families, mortgages, cars, and the normal expenses of life. While I highly advocate spending money to improve yourself, and business, you have to be realistic where those dollars are spent.

A lot of time this money is spent in the frustration of our current progress. What happens is you end up hating your dream because you still don’t make progress, and now you’re in debt.

You have to be realistic about what you can afford, but more than that, what will actually help you WHERE you are. You don’t have a bunch of affiliates, you aren’t building a niche site, and you aren’t creating a membership program.

Most of us are just trying to make our first $1,000. I’ve talked to many who have made a $100, but haven’t crossed that $1,000 mark yet. If that’s you, these big courses won’t help you.

Look, I’ve been there. I was frustrated, and wanted to make progress so badly, to quit a job that sucked the life out of me. I’ve tried a lot of things, but the thing that helped me the most was the daily hustle.

That hustle involves consistently posting great content on your blog. Guest posting on sites that have a larger audience than you. Going after interviews on podcasts where you can share your story. Building your email list, connecting with your audience and creating products, and services, that help your target audience.

It just takes time. Once you hustle, your eyes are opened to the opportunities around you, and you start to go for them. That’s how I started writing for the Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, Mind Body Green, and the Good Men Project.

I hustled hard enough to create these opportunities, and that’s what you have to do too.

P.S. Thank you for all those that signed up for my mini launch team. If you’re still thinking about joining, I’m closing the call for the team and the FREE four week class Friday. Sign up here

Have you ever bought a product or course that you regretted?

A version of this article was originally posted on Entrepreneur Magazine.

Photo: Flickr/ SEOPlanter

 

5 Ways to Become an Online Entrepreneur

If you’re looking to start a business, or grow your existing business, there’s never been a better market place than the Internet. It’s estimated that 2.4 Billion people are logging on everyday, and in five years that number will triple according to the Cultureist. In 2013 3.6 Billion people had email accounts according to Jeff Bullas.

Having your business online is great for a number of reasons. The fact that you can be completely location independent is appealing to many entrepreneurs. No longer do you have to have a brick and mortar business, you can run a business with the same income, and less overhead from the comfort of your home.

The opportunity is there, but there are also a lot of businesses doing the very same things. There are over 900 million websites, 250 million blogs and 175,000 being added everyday.

The question then becomes: how can you stand out? How can you become an online entrepreneur in today’s crowded market? Here are five ways.

1. Focus on a specific target audience

When you’re starting an online business, or any business, it’s easy to be too general. You feel like you don’t want to alienate anyone, so you try to speak to everyone. A great entrepreneur, Seth Godin, said, “If you try to reach the whole world, you’ll reach no one.”

The more you can narrow in on that target audience, the better your marketing efforts will be, which can directly affect your bottom line. To narrow in, ask yourself who is your ideal customer?

Once you can “see” them, you can speak clearly to them. You can identify where they’re at online, and the best way to reach them. This is also how you will differentiate yourself from other businesses that are talking about the same things as you.

2. Create great content

At the end of the day, content is still king. You can have the best looking website in the world, but if the content isn’t good, people aren’t coming back. Your visitors and potential customers come to your website to learn. They want to know how you can help them improve their business, and life. They want content that solves their biggest struggles.

Great content doesn’t mean more content, it means better content. Great content has clear takeaways, it’s not just about you. Great content is well researched, and has articles, and information, to back up what you’re saying. Trying to overwhelm your target audience with more content will only chase them away.

3. Take advantage of social media

Social media has exploded. It’s where people are at these days, and if you’re going to become an online entrepreneur, you can’t ignore social media. Your time is limited so you have to be wise where you spend it on social media.

You should have a profile set up on every portal that your target audience is involved in. Now don’t panic! With automation apps like Buffer or Hootsuite, you can batch your social media posts, and schedule them at one time.

Social media is also great for the ads feature. For as low as $5, you can run a highly targeted Facebook ad, and reach thousands of potential new customers. The information social media networks have on their users is thorough, you can reach who you want to reach.

4. Build your email list

When you’re selling something online, the people on your email list are the ones most likely to buy it. People buy from someone they know, like, and trust. A causal social media fan or visitor to your website doesn’t really know you.

It’s a leap for someone to come to your website, and buy something right away. It does happen, but most of the time those visitors want to get to know you first. Instead of buying, they sign up for your email list.

Once they sign up, they’re giving you permission to talk to them about what’s going on in your business, and that will include what you’re selling. Seth Godin calls it “permission marketing.”

Social media followers come and go, but people on your email list will always see your emails every time you send them out. Let’s not forget that the organic reach of social media is on the decline.

With today’s email service providers the ability to send auto-responder messages 24/7 means you can literally make sales while you sleep. You can also batch your emails, which will save you precious time to work on your business, not in your business.

5. Build your network

Sometimes we can’t do it all by ourselves. The online community can be great because of the networking opportunities. There are those with similar businesses to yours that you can team up with.

Large Internet marketers make significant income through their affiliates. You can build affiliates for the products or services you offer. There’s also a tremendous opportunity to do joint ventures.

Having a larger network online will put your business in front new audiences, that could lead to potential new customers. If you’re not building your network, start today.

As Entrepreneurs, there’s a tremendous opportunity to start or grow an existing business online. We have the advantage of being on the “ground floor” to an incredible opportunity. Take advantage of that opportunity and start today!

How are you using the Internet to start or grow your business?

 

Before you go, check out this weeks’ articles:

9 Things Nobody Told Me About Getting Married Young

Mind Body Green (shared over 7 thousand times)

Stop Listening to These 5 Self-Limiting Beliefs Stunting Your Business

Entrepreneur Magazine

5 Reasons Why I Won’t Apologize to My Wife For Quitting My Job

Good Men Project

5 Things You Need to Stop Telling Yourself if You Want to Be Happy

Huffington Post

4 Ways To Beat the Constant Pressure to Be Great

It’s an amazing feeling when you work hard to achieve a goal, and after incredible struggle, you achieve success.

For 12 years I didn’t care about success, I was comfortable living a good enough life. In April of 2012, my father died suddenly at 54 shattering what I thought a comfortable life meant.

My last conversations with my father were a wake up call. I realized that life is too short to live with regret. I immediately took action on chasing my dreams, and changing my life.

It took three years, and a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, but I found my success. I lost 170 pounds, I quit a job I hated to write, speak, and coach full-time. Our family moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to our dream designation of Maui, Hawaii.

After finding my success, I kept thinking, “what’s next?” I have met people who are where I was, as they’re chasing their dreams. They look to me for inspiration, and I don’t want to let them down. I felt the pressure that everything I did needed to be great.

If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you’re a leader. As a leader, you want to lead by example, you don’t want to let anyone down. If you’re dealing with the pressure to always be great, here are four tips to help you deal with that pressure.

1. Don’t focus on yourself

Success comes from a place of service, which means helping others. It’s natural to think about our selves, and our need to always be great, but with leadership comes a responsibility to lead.

We have to think about the struggles that those following us are going through, and the solution to help them during those struggles. We don’t have time to worry about our emotions; we have to focus on leading. This isn’t about us. This is about helping others.

2. Always strive for excellence

Your goal shouldn’t be perfection, but it should be excellence. This means that you don’t produce fluff. It means you consistently produce your best work. You may have deadlines, and pressure, but you take the time needed to make sure what you put out to the world is something you gave your 100% effort into.

Excellence leads to success in every area of your life. You don’t need to always be great to produce excellent work, you just have to be committed to the success of those you serve.

3. Remember your why

You’re doing this for a reason, and most likely a person, so that’s where your focus should be. Again, this isn’t about you. Why you do what you do is the fuel in your success engine.

Your why will out weigh your need to constantly feel great. It will help you focus on what’s important, and what you need to be doing right now. It will help you realize that you’re not perfect, but you’ll keep moving forward anyway because you have a higher calling.

4.  Realize that success is a marathon

If you’re in this for quick results, you’re in the wrong business. Success doesn’t happen over night. It takes time to create a plan, research, and take action on whatever success will look like for you.

In some cases, success means changing your entire life. It means creating new habits that will continue to fuel success. All of this takes time, and you will deal with failure along the way.

Realize that everyone fails. The people who achieve success have determined that no matter how many times they fail, they’re going to keep pushing forward anyways.

We all want greatness in our life, and this is amplified after you achieve success and have people who look up to you. Use these four principles to continue success and grow. Don’t let the pressure knock you off the success journey!

Do you feel the pressure to constantly be great? 

Help the World Stop Existing and Start Living

Man, it’s been a crazy journey to get to my dream lifestyle. I had to fail a TON of times, get back up, and chase dreams that I was convinced were impossible.

In the last three years, I quit a job that negatively affected my life. Ok, that was politically correct, I hated that job with every fiber of my being. I now write, speak, coach, and consult full-time.

I lost 170 pounds through a ton of running, and portion-controlled meals. I moved our family from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to our dream designation of Maui, Hawaii. It still feels surreal that we live here!

These are the things I wrote about in my first published book, Are You Living or Existing? 9 Steps to Change Your Life. That book was published in May of 2013. Everything that I wrote about has now come true!!

The book has done well and now something cool is happening November 5-8th. My publisher is going to be dropping the price down to $1.99 on the digital version of the book for those three days, as a part of a promotion.

The reason for this ties into one of my six-month goals: becoming a New York Times best-selling author. If the book has a big enough push for those three days, it can make the New York Times digital best-sellers list. It sounds crazy, but I fully believe it can be accomplished!

I need your help!

I’m forming a launch team to push the book during those three days. For anyone willing to help, I want to offer some over the top goodies that will help you build your dream business.

Here’s what I’m offering:

A digital copy of the book (duh Kimanzi).
A shout out in my newsletter that now has over 16,000 people,
Access to a four-week group master class on building your dream online business. This is what the class will cover:


Your foundation- we will cover the basics like what your website needs to look like, where everything needs to go, the best way to set up your email list and autoresponders, your social media presence, the best content to produce to draw people in.
How to grow- once your foundation is set, I’ll show you the best way to build traffic, email subscribers, and your social media presence.
How to make money- it’s not all about the money, but this is a business. We will cover the best ways to make money, the kinds of products to create, and how to package this all together.
The transition how to transition from your day job to dream job. The practical steps you have to take to do this smart.

The class will be on Thursday nights. I’ll get back to you as whether it will be recorded.

What I’m asking:

I want to give you a lot because I’m going to ask for a lot. Here’s what I ask your help with. To be a part of the team, and get the class, I’m going to have to ask that you commit to:

1. Read and write a review for the book on Amazon. If you’ve already left a review on Amazon in the past, then Barnes and Nobles, if you have done both, then GoodReads.
2. Write a review for the book on your blog. If you don’t have a blog, then I ask that you write a “note” on your Facebook page.
3. Share on social media all three days; get the word out where ever you can.

That’s my pitch. If you’re interested, sign up. The promo will be November 5th-8th. I’ll be sending out instructions through email.

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The Number One Reason You’re Not Living Out a Big Dream

Wow! It’s been an interesting month. I wrote about booking contracts with companies, and landing articles on large websites like the Huffington Post. I shared a lot of information you can use to grow your online business to where it can support your family.

Here’s the thing though, there are people who read all those posts, and won’t do anything about it because of fear. Fear is the number reason many people don’t chase or make big dreams their reality.

I can completely relate because for 12 years I let fear hold me back. I was afraid of change, I was afraid of taking action. I let that fear talk me out of a lot of big decisions.

Even when this business supported my family, I still gave into fear. I was afraid I wasn’t a good enough writer, so I only sent guest posts to smaller websites. I was afraid I didn’t have any “credentials” so I didn’t coach.

I was afraid I didn’t have anything to teach or that people wouldn’t take me seriously so I didn’t approach any companies. I was afraid of my own shadow. AAAHHH!!! I was afraid that my content wasn’t as good as the A-Listers. I figured since they had so many fans and followers, why bother.

I know there are some reading this that can relate. We let our fear keep us back for going after big opportunities that we can totally get! For two years I ignored the Huffington Post even though it was always a dream.

Fear is holding you back from incredible opportunities to grow your business. If you can’t get over those fears, you’ll never make your dream your reality.

Fear is usually stupid

Most of the time we’re afraid of things we don’t really need to be afraid of. If you try to do something, and it doesn’t work out, so what? Life still continues on, and more than likely that isn’t going to be the only opportunity that you have.

Most fears are usually over dumb things that can be quickly dismissed if we step back from the situation. Yes, there are some valid concerns, but not really anything you need to be afraid of.

Stop letting fear win. Realize that everyone fails, even the “greats.” The people who are successful in life have determined that no matter how many times they’ve fall, they’re going to get back up! Be that person.

Nothing is impossible

It may be scary, and it may be outside of your comfort zone to chase these big dreams, but realize all of your dreams are possible. They may not happen overnight, and it’s going to take some hard work, but you can do it.

We live in an incredible time with amazing opportunities all around us. Everything you need to make your dream a reality is right in front of you. We have amazing technology that makes this all possible, especially if you have an online dream.

The message that I want you to take away from this month’s posts is that if you want to build a business that supports your family, you can. More than that, it’s not going to take as long as you think.

You may realize it, but fear may be buried deep inside, you have to get real with yourself. Verbalize that fear and start working on getting over it.

One of the best things I did to deal with my fear was connect with an amazing group of friends. They were there for me as I chased huge life changes, and are the main reason my fear didn’t win.

If you don’t have a group like that, you need to create one or join an existing group. That support will push you past your fear and help you realize your true potential.

My prayer is that many of you make your dreams a reality by the end of this year. I want you to land those big articles, and book company contracts. I want you to do everything that you think isn’t possible.

P.S. I wrote a little rant on Facebook after I wrote this post. I thought it would be fitting to add it here:

I wrote an article the other day for the Huffington Post. As expected there were many comments. The one comment that you see and one that we here a lot from people in general is “it’s only been four months, I hope it works out for them.”

My first response is ME TOO! However, what if it doesn’t? What if we crash, and burn, and have to move back to Wisconsin? My answer is SO WHAT! If it doesn’t work out at least I’ll come to the end of my life with NO regrets. Years later we’ll tell our grand children about the time grandma and grandpa moved to Hawaii and we’ll all have a good laugh.

Too often we let the fear of failure hold us back from living an amazing life, and most of the time it’s not justified. If your dream is to be a bull fighter, that’s one thing, but if your dream is a better job, moving to a new place, losing weight and so on, what’s the worse that could happen?

So what if you fall flat on your face, get back up and keep pushing forward. The worse thing you can do is let fear or the negative voices of others keep you from your dreams. My father died suddenly with regret in his heart and he begged me not to do the same. If Hawaii doesn’t work out we’ll do what we have to do, but we won’t have the regret of an unfilled dream in our heart. Don’t let the people who say “I hope it works out” keep you from living the life that they will only dream about living. Chase that dream and die empty.

I’ve given you what I know this month. The ball is now in your court. What are you going to do with it? Name one place you’re sending or sent an article to? Name one company you’re going to book consulting at? 

P.S. Monday registration closes for Dixie and my new four-week class. We have a great group already, but would love to see you there. Details here 

P.P.S. Every week I have four articles for other large websites, here’s this weeks articles:

Women aren’t the only ones who get insecure about their bodies

Mind Body Green

5 reasons not to waste your money on Internet marketing courses (This caused a stir)

Entrepreneur Magazine

7 lessons quitting a job I hated taught me about life

Huffington Post

10 lies guys need to stop telling themselves

Good Men Project

How to Book Consulting at Companies (Part 2)

If your dream has ever been to get paid for speaking, consulting for companies can be a very profitable introduction into that market. In 2013 companies spent $39.3 billon paying consultants according to Business Week.

That’s a lot of money, and some of that could be yours if you can approach the right company. In the last post I told you that the first training I did at a company paid me $500.

It was low but I didn’t have to do much. My job was to keep up their social media platforms and grow their presence. The result ended being their social media platforms grew by 26% and customer complaints on social media decreased by 68%.

I didn’t make a ton of money on that contract, but the owner did connect me with several others business owners that lead to some serious money. Flash forward to 2014.

Our family just moved here to Maui April 8th.  I had plenty of coaching business, but with the exposure I was getting from all the interviews, I got contacted by a company here.

They had heard some interviews and seen my work. I was asked to come in and talk about an opportunity. I can’t give you all the details (legal reasons) but I walked out of that meeting with a pretty sweet offer.

I sent the offer to my attorney and we were able to negotiate a sweet contract! My job is to build this company’s overall online presence. For every 1% I grow their overall presence, I get $1,000. I have been working on it for the last two months and have grown their presence 16%. Business is good!

I don’t tell you this to brag about Kimanzi because he’s really not any more special than anyone reading this. I tell you this to demonstrate that ordinary people like you and me can make serious money teaching topics we love teaching.

I hope you’re excited because the sky’s seriously the limit! Let’s finish up.3. Create a compelling presentation

Once you’ve identified a problem that you want to help a company solve, it’s time to lay it out in a presentation. It can be a Power Point or Keynote (For Mac users).  The goal is to lay out the problem and the solution on the slides.

I’ll teach you what I was taught about slides. You should have no more than 10 slides and each slide should have about six to ten words. It’s better to have pictures and charts to illustrate what you’re talking about.

The key to a good presentation is to get people to pay attention to you. If you have a bunch of words and bullet points on a slide, they’ll be reading those instead of paying attention to you.

The slides are only meant to compliment what you’re saying. They should give a visual to your words. Put together a compelling presentation that outlines the problem, and the opportunity for fixing that problem.

You’ll be giving this presentation to one person at first. Depending on how much authority that person has you might have to give it to a group of people in that company. Be prepared either way.

A great presentation is well-practiced, but doesn’t sound rehearsed. If you want some guidance on good presentations here are a few resources:

Ted Talks
One of the best books I’ve read on presentations is Resonate by Nancy Duarte
If you want to create good slides her other book is killer, Slide:Ology 
If you want to learn the ins and outs of the speaking business in general my friend Kent Julian is my go to source

This is everything you need to put your presentation together and rock it. After that, you lock in that contract! Presenting the problem clearly is the key to booking consulting. They’re not going to hire you if they can’t see how hiring you will benefit them.

Don’t come to a company with something superficial. Dig deeper, hit them with something they’re not even thinking about, something they can’t see. My client landed contracts to do copy writing. Those companies spent thousands of dollars on advertising when they could have just written better copy, they didn’t “see it” until he showed them.

Whatever your skill set is, you can train on it. It can be copy writing or mindset training for employees. Think about what you’re good at, what you like to talk about, what you have experience with. Somewhere in there is something you can book a consulting contract with. I met a guy that trains companies on things in their office that affect people’s allergies. No, I’m not kidding and he does very well.

4. Get in front of the right person

This is what it all comes down to. This is the make it or break it moment. If you’re going to land a contract with a company, you have to find the right person to pitch to. This is going to require some good old fashion research.

You can start online with that company’s website. There’s usually a list of the top management. Find the senior person that’s a step lower than the CEO. An even better way is through word of mouth.

If you know someone who knows someone at the company that can make an introduction, the better your chances are. If you can see the owner somewhere else where you live, you will have success.

The goal is to figure out whom the person is you need to pitch. For me it was meeting that owner. For my client it was the same thing. Research and find that person.

When you figure it out, be brief. I would suggest trying to get them on the phone or to meet in person. That’s a better option than a cold email. You’ll have a better chance of closing if they can see you or hear your voice.

Outline the problem that you’ve seen and tell them about the opportunity. Your whole pitch should be no more than 15 minutes unless you’re sitting down to lunch or in their office.

Your main goal is to get a meeting. When you do get that meeting, rock your presentation and lock in that contract. If they say no, move on, don’t view it as a rejection.

Expect to get some no’s. Expect for some people to blow you off. That’s just the nature of the thing. Get back up and figure out what other companies you can pitch. It’s a numbers game. For every one yes there will be a ton of no’s. Focus on the yeses because that’s what makes this thing support you.

I hope you got value out of this little series but more than that, I hope you use the information to book a bunch of contracts. There is money to be made if you’re willing to put in the hard work.

If you do book a contract with a company email at kconstable29@gmail.com I would love to feature you!

Side note

When you do book a contract, I would strongly advise having an attorney look at it. My attorney took my deal here in Maui and tripled what I would have gotten, and protected me legally. Yes, this will cost some money, but it’s worth it in the long run.

How much income would you need to make for this to support you? Are you going to approach any companies? 

3 Ways to Become a Better Writer

In 2011 I finally got fed up with a job I hated for 12 years. I had always loved to write, but didn’t think I could make any money with it. That August I said, “Screw it” and self-published my first book.

That book flopped; it sold five copies in the first six months. I only had ten people a day visiting my website. I was frustrated so I turned to the Internet for help, I quickly got information overload.

I followed all the advice out there and created niche websites, worked on SEO, created a membership site, created a private mastermind, spent hundred of dollars on social media advertising, and a bunch of other stuff. I tried everything they told me.

I even tried the strategy of connecting with those at the top, the A-Listers. I tried hard, but never got past the friendly “way to go” and “I’m so happy for you” emails.

I quickly realized that strategy was pointless. The only way I was going to connect with an A-Listers was by buying one of their courses or programs. Since I couldn’t afford them, I had to move on.

In the end the thing that helped this business support my family was my writing. Once I stopped following all the advice, and focused on my writing, people responded.

As they responded, I got the confidence to approach large blogs, and now large websites. I stopped listening to the haters, and just focused on those I was trying to help.

Now I’m living my dream, and many of you have asked about a course that lays out how I got here, and how I write for the places you see on the side bar. I’ve resisted creating a course because I didn’t want to create something that produced a bunch of people that looked the same.

If you look at a lot of the programs out there, you’ll notice that the content may be wonderful, but a lot of the people taking the courses end up looking the same. It’s the same themes, the same style; it may even be the same words on their websites pages. I didn’t want to create a bunch of the same.

There are over 900 million websites and a lot of people talking about the same things. The way you stand out isn’t to look like everyone else, it’s to be completely different, to be YOU!

After taking some time to think about this, I’m happy to report I have a solution. I have teamed up with one of the managing editors at the Good Men Project, my friend Dixie Gillaspie. We have created a course that’s unique.

Before I tell you about it, let me give you three writings tips that she taught me. These tips have helped me land articles on these really large websites.

1. Don’t edit while you write

I used to spend hours on an article because I would keep going back and editing every sentence as I wrote. Writing is not editing. Your job is to get the thoughts out of your head, and onto the page, after you do that, you can go back and edit. This is a HUGE time saver and will help you write more, faster.

2. Write your own truth

For too long I tried to write what was popular, or current events, or what was working for the A-Listers. Once I stopped, and embraced the message I had in my heart, I wrote something worth reading. Embrace YOU, and the message you have to share, not what you think people want to hear or what’s worked for someone else. Your truth will speak volumes for those that are meant to hear it.

3. Write a lot, I mean a whole lot! 

If you want to be a good writer, it’s not going to come from constantly studying writing, it’s going to come from writing, and developing your style and voice. The best teacher in life isn’t books, it’s experience.

I now write two blog posts a week for my blog, once a week for the Huffington Post, the Good Men Project, Mind Body Green, and Entrepreneur Magazine, I’m also co-writing a book with Jared Easley. To write this much content means I’m writing 3,000 words a day.

As I’ve written this much, I’ve learned more about writing than any book could have taught me. I’m learning how to get straight to the point in an effective way. You learn how to be a better writer from writing more. So get writing!

The course

The course that Dixie and I created is for writers. It teaches you how to embrace your voice. Once you find that, we give you tips on how to craft your voice in a way that gets people to respond.

As an editor, Dixie is a master at this. Her editing skills help her cut through the fluff, she’s also an expert at headlines and decks. Once you craft your message, I come in with where to write, I.E. the large websites and blogs. I teach you where to pitch, how to pitch, and then how to leverage the traffic and email subscribers, and turn it into income.

This is a group class that meets every Tuesday for the next four weeks, starting September 30th. If you can’t make the live class, don’t worry, they’re recorded. You can ask questions, and get specific strategies to leverage your writing. There is also a private Facebook group to share progress, and bounce ideas around.

Coaching can be expensive so we wanted to make this affordable for everyone. The cost for these four one-hour classes, the private group, homework each week, and an evaluation on your writing and pitches is only $97. This is our beta class, which is why you can get a steal on the price. Details are here.

We hope to see you in the course, but if you’re not, be YOU. Stop chasing influencers, and focus on building your audience under your unique message. Registration for the class closes Monday, September 29th! Sign up here

What have you learned chasing your online dream?? 

 

How to Book Consulting at Companies (Part 1)

You may not realize it, but the most profitable part of the speaking industry can be training at companies. Every day companies all over the world hire people just like you to train their employees or independent contractors on a wide range of topics. Business Week says it’s a 39.3 BILLION dollar industry, that’s a lot of opportunity!

I started speaking in 2012 and spoke at 36 events that year. That year I made $16,233 from speaking. In 2013 I spoke at 12 events and made $22,000 from speaking.

In 2013 I spoke at less events, but more of those events were private training at companies. I did training at various companies where I lived in Milwaukee as well as companies in London and Paris.

Yes, you read that right. I was able to do training for companies internationally, and they paid all of my wife’s and my travel experiences. Speaking isn’t my passion, but traveling is so I went. My wife and I had an amazing experience!

I know many people who read my blog want speaking to be a part of their business. If you look at most ‘call for speakers’ you’ll see that most events don’t pay speakers. You can find paying events in specific industries, but you’re going to have to do some work to get booked.

For those of you who want to generate some speaking income a little quicker, training at companies can be your thing. I’m writing this on a very exciting day! A coaching client of mine just landed his first contract to do training at a large car dealership. The cool thing is if he does well. he has a chance to train for 20 other dealerships!

In the next couple of posts I want to teach you how to get contracts to speak at companies. I’ve already told you about the why, so now I will teach you the how. My goal is for anyone who reads this to get their first contract within the next month! 

Training at companies can add some nice side income, and if you do it well, it can be your full-time income. I have a friend who trains at companies 360 days a year and brings in some nice income.

1. Start local

I realize you want to travel the world, and see cool new places, but it always starts local. The first time I did any training at a company, it was at a local McDonald’s chain.

There was a man who owned three McDonald’s restaurants in Milwaukee. I would see him all over the city. This was in 2012 when social media was really starting to take off.

I went to his office and presented him with my offer. I didn’t know anything about pricing back then so I signed a contract for $500. It was the first money I ever made from speaking.

You want to start local because that’s where you know people. Local is where you can form a real relationship and have a chance to talk to someone who will listen. You can try to approach a company somewhere else, but it will be a very cold approach.

Local means you know someone who knows someone, and they can get you in front of the right person. You know what’s going on where you live so when you make your proposal, you can make it relevant to what’s going on locally.

Start by opening your eyes a little. What companies are around you that you can get in front of the president or owner? Look for smaller companies at first. It can be a local McDonald’s franchise or a car dealership.  Your aim is to find a place where you can talk to a decision maker.

Homework. Your homework is to make a list of three smaller companies that you can approach to train on your topic in the next two weeks. Email me your list kconstable29@gmail.com

2. Identify a problem

Once you’ve identified a local company that you can approach, what problem are you going to help them with? For me it was social media. I saw that the local McDonald’s franchise had a horrible social media presence.

Their updates were inconsistent and most of their engagement was complaints from customers. I put a presentation together showing the owner where they were missing out. I showed him the problem and offered a solution.

You can identify a problem with a local company in your area. The problem is probably something related to what you teach. If you teach Real Estate, you can train a local company on better ways to do certain Real Estate processes.

I have a client that writes killer copy. He identified three companies where he lived in Georgia. He saw that the companies were spending thousands of dollars on ads with bad copy. He wrote them a campaign, give it to them, and offered to help train their staff.

The campaign generated over $20,000 in new business for the company. They offered him a $5,000 contract for 15 days of training. They told him this is just the beginning! He saw a need, offered a solution, and got the contract. You can use this formula with companies where you live.

This is going to require some thought, but I’m guessing you can identify a problem with a company where you live. Figure out what that problem is and the best way to fix it.

Sadly this is the end of part one. In part two we’ll talk about putting together that presentation, and who to present it too. I hope you use this information to lock in some lucrative contracts that help your dream become a reality. There is so much opportunity waiting for you if you’ll take it.

Do you want speaking to be part of your business? Can you think of a local company to approach? 

P.S. Every week I have four articles featured on large websites. Here is this weeks articles:

8 Unrealistic Expectations Parents Have for Their Kids

Huffington Post (This went viral)

6 Tried-and-True Email Marketing Tactics

Entrepreneur Magazine

3 Ways My Weight Hurt My Sex Life

Mind Body Green

One Mans Quest to Travel to Every Country In the World

(This is my second interview with Chris Guiilebeau)

The Good Men Project

How To Convert New Visitors From Guest Posting (Part 2)

The first time a new visitor comes to your website can be the difference between a quick visit or a future customer. You have a short window to make a good impression so you have to make it count.

I’ve learned from my past mistakes, and going forward I want people visiting this website to get nothing but value. If they do have that great experience, they will sign up for my email list, and start the process of getting to know me.

In the last three years this website has had over one million visitors. The most people who I’ve ever had on my email list, at any one time, is 15,000 people. I have NOT done a good job at converting new visitors in the past. Only in the last year have I learned how to convert.

The goal is not income. Yes, this is a business that I support my family with, but I don’t view new visitors as potential new customers, that’s the wrong approach. I view new visitors as people who are here to get help creating freedom in their life. I want to help them anyway I can.

My first goal is to help them. I do inform everyone what I offer, as far as premium offerings, but I’m not trying to push. If what I offer is what someone’s interested in, they will reach out, no need to be the pushy Internet marketer guy.

There are all kinds of programs, and courses that tell you to do this and that to get the sale. It may even work, but it’s not the best way to build your business. If what you’re selling has value, people will see that and buy it. That is, of course, after you build an audience.

I think we fail to realize that you can have a profitable online business with only 100 people on your email list. You don’t need 10,000 people, just 100. If you have 100 engaged fans, all you need is one of them to buy what you’re selling.

If you get that first one you can get the second and so on. The possibilities are amazing! The goal is then to get those first 100 people. If you’re giving those 100 people value, they will buy what you’re selling. Let’s continue in our series.

Make your website really personal

I had an entire post about this, which you can see here. The goal is to get people to start to get to know you. The way you do that is by being personal. You don’t want someone to visit your website and feel like you’re on a pedestal.

Your website should be in the first person (unless you’re famous or well-known) because most people will know that you wrote it. When it’s written in the first person they can better relate to you.

Every page on your website should have a snippet of your story as it relates to that page. If it’s your services page, tell the story that lead you to offer the services you now offer. Put a human face behind the website. Do that for all the pages of your website.

Have pictures of you and/or your family, which will put a very personal spin on things. If possible, and if you feel comfortable, add video. If you’re a speaker there should definitely be videos of you speaking. The picture is from a website I stumbled across. It does a funny job proving what I’m talking about.

Have strong calls to action

If you have a simple website that functions well, you’re all set to start converting. In order for you to do that, you have to tell people what you want them to do. Are your calls to action very clear?

You have to be honest and up front about telling people to sign up for your email list. You can get them to sign up by showing the value they get. A strong call to action can be hard because it’s like selling.

Many people, myself included, feel weird about selling. We even feel weird about asking people to do stuff on our website. If you’re going to convert visitors you have to get over that.

Remind yourself that you’re adding value to people’s life. In exchange for their name, and email address, you’re going to give them actionable content they can use to help them with whatever your topic is.

This brings us to the end of our mini series. I hope you get the importance of converting new visitors. I look at 2012 on this website and I cringe. A lot of new visitors that could have been converted.

No use crying over spilled milk. Right? If you’re in a similar situation don’t let past mistakes ruin future progress. All you can focus on is right now and going forward. Take this week to examine your website and see if there’s any room for improvement.

How are you converting new website visitors? Any changes need to be made?