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New here- I am one of "those" coaches... long intro

Jpeveryday

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Hello! I want to preface by saying I'm so thrilled this forum exists.

I read Fastlane last year and just finished Unscripted . There's only two other books on the planet that made my heart race while reading it-- they felt so "spot on" and so g*d damn "truthy" and basically validated what I've been experiencing my whole life. (And I read roughly 28/books per year, says my Kindle order history.)

I started my business as a personal finance coach about 8 years ago. (Don't hold it against me!)

Took it from side hustle teaching classes, and doing it on the side to quitting my job to pursue it full time. Before leaving corporate I learned about marketing/copywriting first, then how to sell (I used to be sick to my stomach before calls), then how to prospect, cold email, cold call and develop new business, all while making sure my eye was firmly on client results. Slick marketing will only get you so far...

I was (and still am) obsessed with "moving the needle" in my client's lives. Not all got great results. I was green and took on a few basket-case clients that probably needed like, electroshock therapy or something to get their sh*t together.

My methods align (mostly) with the Unscripted /Fast lane philosophy despite being in the personal finance space. (As the Investor Junkie recently said in the comments, "how to get out of debt" is a big source of pain for people.)

Personal finance teachers get a bad rap around these parts, but some people truly have no financial literacy and need to learn the basics (how to limit spending, grow savings habits, stop taking pay day loans, don't borrow money to enroll at Capella University etc.) Because it doesn't matter how much money they make they have a "consume more than you produce" mentality.

FIRST YEAR IN BUSINESS
In my first year doing it full time after I quit my job, I made some money. Not FU money, 60K but was profitable from day 1 and was only working part time hours. Maybe 25 hours a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but I didn't work weekends and was usually able to leave my home office at like 2 or 3 and be free for the rest of the day. Was happy with that. I was making about the same in corporate.

Then I gave birth to my first child and she was a nightmare baby. Dropped the business like a hot potato. When it was time to go back to work, I started from scratch, re-entered the marketplace with a strategy to use FB ads. (I figured, I'm good copywriting & analytics, this should work out great!)

Got shut down by FB ads almost immediately. Learned quickly not to make your main lead generation strategy contingent on the whims of Zuccc, the boy-king. :)

Had to go back to the basics. Cold-calling, relationship building, renting a room personally inviting people and speaking. Pitching media to write articles. Referrals, updating old blog posts for fresh traffic.

Current Process
Right now, I have a daily ritual of prospecting/new business development for 1 hour a day. Every day. Some days more time. And I track all my activities in a spreadsheet and that's based on a points system. So sales calls count more than cold emails, etc. That way, I can see how many "outreach" points I need to hit before I can expect a certain number of consultations.

And I do this basically while my kids watch a little TV. That's the best I can do -- but the results so far have been positive. Business is picking up once again. It's slow, but I'm making progress. I don't have the same time I had before children (and that's by design... I love spending time with them) but I'm determined to maximize the time I do have. Eventually they will be in school and I'll have more time again.

I work nights after they go to bed to write and take calls from prospective clients and also on weekends so I can continue to build momentum.

MJ (and the other legendary/gold/bronze contributors!) -this forum is amazing, I've been looking to find out where the "real" business owners hang out for some time.

Maybe I wasn't looking in the right places on Reddit or Facebook. (Lots of fakery on FB, and don't get me started on the ads) but you seem to have attracted a great community where we can "finally" have some real honest discourse about business.

Even when I go to events for women entrepreneurs it's a lot of nonsense and seems like everyone has drank the FB ad guru koolaid. This forum seems to skew male, but the ladies' version of drop-ship/affilliate marketing/internet marketing stuff is the life coaching/online business consulting/branding strategists stuff. But no one seems to be making much. Lot of beautiful photo shoots though.

Yes, I'm one of "those" female coaches and I'm still a bit ambivalent about what that means in an age where the coaching/consulting industry looks more and more like a pyramid scheme every day. (Def got sucked in there for a year, learned some things most was 'woo woo' crap.) Love the post on here about Tier 1-4 gurus. Know of few of them personally. Post was spot on.

I'm here to learn, to contribute and grow. Thank you MJ for your amazing books. I share them with every aspiring and established entrepreneur I come in contact with.

Thanks for reading. YIKES this turned out to be a novel. (I'm a bit sensitive, happy to answer questions, just if it's possible - be gentle in the comments? I'm not entitled to coddling, just a bit of kindness.)
 
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MTEE1985

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Welcome!

Don’t shy away from what you want to do and who you are. There is no blanket disrespect on this forum for coaches. There are coaches here that are terrific people and very highly respected. The issue many take is with the “do as I say and not as I do” types.

I have a ton of respect for what you’re juggling having a 3 1/2 year old and 9 month old myself. My wife is doing her best to work on her business as well as being super mom, it is not easy.

What are your future plans, goals etc?
 

lowtek

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Got a 6 week old newborn myself. The struggle is real. Wife and I are doing our best and dreading when she has to go back to her corporate job.

Welcome aboard. Hope you stay a while.
 

Jpeveryday

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Welcome!

Don’t shy away from what you want to do and who you are. There is no blanket disrespect on this forum for coaches. There are coaches here that are terrific people and very highly respected. The issue many take is with the “do as I say and not as I do” types.

I have a ton of respect for what you’re juggling having a 3 1/2 year old and 9 month old myself. My wife is doing her best to work on her business as well as being super mom, it is not easy.

What are your future plans, goals etc?


WOW! Thanks so much for the kindness. Yes, one of my former colleagues (also a financial coach) just told that she's 6 months behind on her mortgage and her credit cards have gone to collections. And she's still spending to to go spiritual retreats. And she has clients seeking financial advice. Do as I say indeed.

Yes, after finding out my first was a colicky nightmare, I figured, have the second one quickly and get that whole stage of my life over with. I love them dearly, of course, but baby jail is real. It's definitely tough with a 3 1/2 year old and a 9 month old!

Respect to you and your wife! The Script takes hold much more strongly with children, I think, and I've questioned myself often.

Thank you for asking!

Future plans is to grow this thing and eventually train other financial coaches in the methodology to handle the workload while writing and speaking. Have you ever read Built to Sell? Something like that...

I'm also open to pivoting entirely if I'm in motion and spot a better opportunity. Loved the story in Unscripted about the guy who spotted doing Crowdfeeding to the self-publishing marketing and abandoned his own self-publishing business.

Of course, I'm lightyears away from all this. Right now, sales and delighted clients are the main focus.

THANK you for taking the time to write/respond. (Kids are napping right now..)
 
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Jpeveryday

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Got a 6 week old newborn myself. The struggle is real. Wife and I are doing our best and dreading when she has to go back to her corporate job.

Welcome aboard. Hope you stay a while.

Thank you!

SO REAL, right? No one told me how challenging it would be. I totally understand what you and your wife are experiencing. I intend to add a FLF power 15 min block to my business activities so I can stick around.
 

Tiago

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Hello and welcome to the forum.

I'm a coach myself and lately have been going completely away from the cold-call and marketing approach. That's when my business started picking up.

If you want some help, I have some audios that I can share with you.

Loving you,
Tiago
 

Jpeveryday

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Hello and welcome to the forum.

I'm a coach myself and lately have been going completely away from the cold-call and marketing approach. That's when my business started picking up.

If you want some help, I have some audios that I can share with you.

Loving you,
Tiago

Thank you!!! Yes!

Open to anything! Is this like Reddit, where you can PM me?

I don't cold-call, or email potential clients directly ("hey, heard you got money problems") -- not my style, but I do cold email people who gather large groups and other financial professionals that have access to potential clients with a help-first attitude. (To clarify!)
 
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Tiago

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Thank you!!! Yes!

Open to anything! Is this like Reddit, where you can PM me?

I don't cold-call, or email potential clients directly ("hey, heard you got money problems") -- not my style, but I do cold email people who gather large groups and other financial professionals that have access to potential clients with a help-first attitude. (To clarify!)

Yes, PMs work here. That sounds like an awesome strategy, love the mentality that you're going in with this.
 

Neville Medhora

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Hey @Jpeveryday !

I made fun of the "aspirational focused" coaches here:
https://kopywritingkourse.com/how-to-become-a-life-coach/

.....but the point of the post was to help. The quick tl;dr takeway was:

Poor coaches tend to sell a "dream lifestyle."
Rich coaches teach (or do) a marketable skill.​

It's totally ok to teach people to have a spiritual side, but it has to be connected to some ACTUAL SKILL people can sell.

Best of luck!
Neville
 

Jpeveryday

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Sep 5, 2018
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Hey @Jpeveryday !

I made fun of the "aspirational focused" coaches here:
https://kopywritingkourse.com/how-to-become-a-life-coach/

.....but the point of the post was to help. The quick tl;dr takeway was:

Poor coaches tend to sell a "dream lifestyle."

Rich coaches teach (or do) a marketable skill.

It's totally ok to teach people to have a spiritual side, but it has to be connected to some ACTUAL SKILL people can sell.

Best of luck!
Neville


Duuude!!! This post!!!! I'm shooketh.

This is some amazing satire right here.

Can't stop laughing !!!

I like to think I teach a marketable skill..how to manage your damn money.

Spiritual life coaches give me the hives.

You're my spirit animal.
 
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