Author Archive

Did you know there are at least 6 very different business models through which coaching is offered? In every case, when someone asks you what you do, coaching is not really the answer…but rather you will tell them the problem you solve. But you can use any of the models summarized below to deliver your services.

What is most important is that everything you do fits within your business model, sends prospects through your business model, and helps them move from a lower level of investment and services into the next higher level of investment and services. Most people, by contrast, do a teleclass here, a blog post there, an article next, and there is no clear relationship between them – nor do they tap into the power of leverage so that you are providing increasing value to the same customers, rather than always seeking out new customers.

Model #1: One-on-One Coaching Model

This is the model that most coaches have been taught: marketing to fill your practice with individual clients with whom you talk/work once a week, 3 or 4 weeks per month. You determine the number of clients you will serve based on how much time you want to be working each month.

Model #2: Coaching Gym

Either used as a standalone or in combination with some of the other models below, this is a model similar to a health club, believe it or not! You set coaching hours each week – e.g., 2-5 pm Eastern each Thursday. And your clients pay a monthly fee in order to get the call-in information and access you during those hours. If they call, great; if they don’t, they don’t – but they still pay. Some people are beginning to return calls if not everyone gets through, just to be sure all of them get their promised access.

Model #3: Membership Model

In this model, you create an online community for your target audience, with a membership platform, and invite them to become a member (at one or more levels) for a monthly fee. They can access downloadable pdf’s and audio mp3′s, perhaps a monthly group call with you, and whatever other benefits you wish to offer. This becomes a group of clients to whom you can provide special pricing for your higher-end programs.

Model #4: Mastermind/Group Coaching Model

Increasingly, people want to connect face to face with others that have similar concerns and interests to theirs. And the Mastermind group is the perfect way to do this. You invite people who attend an event or teleclass preview of the program, have a start date and end date, and request applications for the number of positions you have open in the group (typically 10 to 15 people). The coaching can include one or more two-day retreats with you and the group as well as monthly phone calls and, if you wish, individual coaching of 1, 2 or 3 sessions each. (Price point for this is significantly higher than the typical one-on-one coaching model above.)

Model #5: Training/Certification Model

This has been my primary coaching delivery model with Career Coach Institute and my other coaching companies. People register for a paid teleseries, a live event, e-learning, or other means of obtaining knowledge toward becoming certified in a specific area (e.g., Certified Career Coach or Certified Purposeful Marketing Coach). Either as an add-on or as part of the program, depending on your price point, you offer coaching with you directly or with another coach you have personally trained.

Model #6: Product-Based Coaching Model

 The final model is one where your first sale to a customer – and the way they primarily find out about you – is a book, an info product (workbook and audios or DVD and workbook), etc. You then offer up to three levels of coaching that help people implement the content of your product – so they already have some familiarity with your content and welcome the opportunity to have implementation support.

Want to learn which business model is best for you? Join Marcia for her brand new Marketing, Mindset and Manifesting Intensive Sept. 17-19, 2010! For full details and to reserve your space, just visit www.marketingmindsetandmanifesting.com.

You’ve heard of karma, right? The dictionary defines it as “the total effect of one’s conduct, believed to determine one’s destiny in a future life.” But have you ever stopped to wonder whether it might be a factor behind both your business successes and your “failures”?

Understanding these more subtle dimensions of why I get the results I do – whether desirable or less-than-desirable – has helped me tremendously over the past few years. So if you have not explored the “invisible resources” or worked with anyone that can help you explore past lives, your chakras, the Akashic Records, or other deep causes of your current life experiences, it’s worth doing!

Here are three ways these issues can affect your tangible business results and experience:

1. Your level of confidence in delivering your message: Do you find yourself unable to speak your truth, even though from your heart you know you want to build a successful business? In many cases your past life history will literally show that you were persecuted severely for speaking your beliefs…and that you paid a huge price (perhaps even gave your life) for them. If that imprint is still active in your subconscious, it may be holding you back from putting yourself in a similar situation again.

2. Your ability to generate income: Do you feel like you are committed – at a deep soul level – to serving and helping others, but don’t seem to be able to collect money for it? This can reflect a vow of poverty taken in a prior life that is still affecting you today. Oh, you are not aware of it – but your subconscious will continue to do everything in its power to keep you from attracting excess cash since that would be a violation of this vow.

3. Your level of harmony or conflict with certain people: Do you notice that you instantly connect with some people (husband, client, colleague) as though you have known them for decades…but that with others you have ongoing conflict? Sometimes this reflects the playing out of issues set up in a prior life that are now ripe for resolution.

This may seem a bit “woo-woo” or “out-there” for you, but let’s face it: if studying marketing, business basics and mindset haven’t resolved your challenges, what could it hurt to look deeper? Contact me for practitioners I recommend – and join me at our fall Marketing, Mindset and Manifesting Intensive to ponder these issues further too!

Wow, I feel so honored – I have just today been named #39 on Milana Leshinsky’s Top 100 Multiple Income Streams Women!!!  Here’s the post with the whole list: http://tinyurl.com/23435gy 

Milana is a friend and colleague I highly respect, and to have her acknowledgement among all the great women listed there is a deep honor.

And YOU are part of it too – here are the criteria:

**Content-rich blog
**High quality web site
**Clear strong personal brand
**Prominent free giveaway
**Book or signature product
**Information products
**Coaching programs
**Live events
**Membership programs
**Use of audio and video
**Active community (that’s YOU!)

I will be sharing soooo many of my secrets on how I have grown my businesses to this status in my upcoming Marketing, Mindset and Manifesting Intensive – if you haven’t yet reviewed the details, it’s at www.marketingmindsetandmanifesting.com

Enjoy your week!

Have you visited Youtube yet? No, it’s not just for high school and college kids any more…it’s for coaches and entrepreneurs too!

Increasingly, coaches, authors, speakers and consultants are using video (on Youtube or on their own site) to promote their services and products. Video gives the viewer a real-life, three-dimensional experience of you. And for coaches and other information professionals that do much of their work virtually, it can be the bridge to credibility – and therefore help the prospect build the confidence he/she needs to buy – in ways no other medium can.

Here are 5 ways you can easily and effortlessly start using video to improve your business and marketing results.

1. Put a short introductory video on your home page.

Whether you use an opt-in format like we do at www.careercoachinstitute.com or just sandwich the video in among other content, putting video on your home page has been shown to improve conversion and opt-in rates by as much as 50 percent! That’s nothing to sneeze at! The video we are using was filmed in a professional studio, but as you will see below, that is not necessary to get great results – even a webcam can produce the quality you need!

2. Use video to introduce yourself before an in-person appearance.

Frequently, part of an exhibitor package for a conference is obtaining the pre-conference list of attendees and having a one-time opportunity to introduce yourself to them and invite them to visit your booth. This has typically been done in an email or a pre-conference postcard mailing. But as I prepared to go to a recent conference this year, I thought, “why not use video as an introduction?” So I hooked up my $50 camcorder (a Logitech, if you’re curious about the brand), wrote out a script, and did an introduction! In just a few minutes, it was uploaded to Youtube and the link ready for the recipients of my email to view.

3. Create your own keyword-optimized YouTube channel.

If your clients typically find you online, as our students do, then you want to be accessible through a variety of means and channels. (Have you Googled yourself lately? See where you can be found that you may not have even known about!) You should be using LinkedIn, Facebook, your own name as a web site (e.g., www.marciabench.com) – and Youtube too! Rather than just having random access to your videos if people happen to put in the right keywords, you can customize your own “channel” in 10-15 minutes and have them all available in one place. (Check out mine here.)

4. Also place the Youtube videos you make on your own site or blog.

While it is great to upload videos to Youtube, taking people there doesn’t get them to your web site – and that’s where you can sell to them! So we like to also upload videos that are previewing an upcoming event onto our site for search engine optimization purposes.

(You might also consider the low-priced software Oovoo, which we are using for our ongoing series of Purposeful Entrepreneur Models Interviews – you can view 2, 3 or more people all at once on screen!)

5. Burn your video to DVD and send it out to prospects.

Recording a video of you talking about what you do best, and sending the physical DVD out to your prospects, can be one of the best ways to introduce yourself to them. Just as mailing a physical copy of your newsletter will be read more than an electronic version, video works the same way!

These are just 5 simple ideas, which you can implement with a webcam or an inexpensive camcorder almost immediately. What else can you do with video? The sky’s the limit! If you hit a “home run” with one of your video campaigns, be sure and let us know so that we can acknowledge you. Happy filming!

Copyright © 2010 Marcia Bench; All Rights Reserved

Did you catch the compelling article in this month’s Inc magazine entitled “Revitalizing the American Dream?”

Their premise is that business start-ups can revitalize not only our dreams but create thousands of new companies and millions of new jobs.  I have been saying for months now that the job market we used to have is NOT coming back…the entire foundation of how we make a living is changing with the Entrepreneurial Renaissance. That is why we need to focus on creating our own businesses – even those who are “temporarily” unemployed – rather than waiting passively by for another j.o.b.

The report points out that we need capital, interface with graduates, tax breaks for angel funding, and other legislative support from the Obama administration for the economy to be more financially friendly to entrepreneurs…and also suggests such radical measures as ceasing the enforcement of  noncompete agreements too.  I HIGHLY recommend that you buy this issue and read it – or go to the main article here:   http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100701/revitalizing-the-american-dream.html

What do you think of the authors’ ideas?  Submit your comments below and let’s start a discussion!

Why did you start your business?

Chances are that you were tired of being boxed in by your corporate job, or you wanted to travel more, have more time for yourself or your family, or just remove the cap on your income.

Are you experiencing more of these things – or less? The entrepreneurs I talk to every day are frustrated because it seems like they have LESS spare time now than they did before they became business owners.

There are 3 key principles that you MUST embrace if you are to experience TRUE freedom from your business:

1. Be clear on what you want to create, and calibrate your daily activities and results to that end.

You truly do have creative freedom in deciding what you will create in your business. So define it! What do you want your business to look like: by year’s end? by 2012? by 2020? Dream big!

Then, as you set your daily priorities and transition from one task to the next – as well as review your results at regular intervals – you will see definite progress toward your desired outcome. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself in the trap of doing a lot – but feeling like your dreams get further and further away.

2. Be sure technology serves you, not the other way around!

Have you ever tracked how much time you spend on email? It can consume you if you let it!

Successful entrepreneurs set specific times to handle their correspondence – whether snail mail, email or phone – and focus on revenue-generating activities the majority of the time.

If you spend too much time on email, ask yourself “why” do I do that? Is it a reflection of my insecurity, fear I will miss something, or just being a bit of a “control freak”? Left unresolved, these deeper issues can put you on an auto-pilot mode that keeps you from accomplishing your life’s work.

3. Establish clear boundaries between work and play – including time to replenish your creative stores!

Remember that ideal life you wanted when you started out? Chances are it didn’t involve working weekends or evenings, giving up vacations, or missing your kids’ school plays or camp, did it?

Yet it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking you are “indispensible” – that if you just get that one more client, that one new project, THEN you will take time off.

But it doesn’t work that way. You need to plan your work around your life, not the other way around. I first learned this from authors and speakers Ken and Marjorie Blanchard, who plan their annual calendar – and a full one it is – around their leisure time, travel and time with each other. The work commitments get scheduled around that.

If you don’t take care of yourself, no one else will – especially as an entrepreneur. Take a spa day every week or two, plan your vacations for the rest of 2010 now so you make sure to take them. This will renew you in ways no amount of work can – so you can be prepared for the new directions your work is taking you.

Want to learn more about how your beliefs and mental outlook affect your business? Join our Summer Training Series today.

It’s easy to be excited about your business when you start it – it’s like getting engaged: you have unlimited energy, you are full of anticipation for the future, and you feel unstoppable!

Then reality sets in (sometimes) and “the thrill is gone,” to quote the old country song.

If you were employed in a j.o.b., you would just slough off for a while and hope your motivation returns. But as a business owner, your business doesn’t move forward (or not very quickly) unless you do!

So here are some keys to reviving your motivation when it lags due to setbacks – of whatever kind:

1. Revisit your vision statement. (You have one, don’t you?)

When you “can’t see the forest for the trees,” it’s time to get some distance from the daily flow of emails, phone calls and tasks to do – and remember why you are in business in the first place. If you don’t already have a vision statement to use at such times, it’s time to write one! Tom Watson, Founder of IBM, talks frequently about how they used their vision of what the company would be like “when it was complete” to gauge their daily results. And it is also a great tool to bring your groove (or motivation) back too!

2. Take a break.

Seriously! We are human beings, not human doings…and as such we are designed to move in and out of concentrated work through the day. If you’re feeling stale – or that computer screen is getting out of focus (and it isn’t your glasses!) then it may be time to take a walk, pet the cat or dog, enjoy a cup of tea on the patio, or call a friend. Stand up, breathe, stretch, and change your environment. (Oh, and don’t forget to eat lunch too!) You’ll be amazed what a difference it will make.

3. Do a 3-minute brainstorming session.

Take out a clean piece of paper (NOT the computer screen – your creativity works best with pen to paper), set your timer, and “go!” Write down all the ideas you can think of that could possibly solve the problem you feel stuck on – or all the new ways you could approach your marketing – or all the possible new product or program ideas you could implement in the next 6 months.

Cash flow a problem? Brainstorm 25 ways you could raise money in the next 30 days. Then DO as many of the items on the list as you can – and STAY in action. This will create energetic momentum toward your desired goal. (And you’ll feel better too!)

For more tips on motivation, mindset and more, join us for our FREE teleseminar July 15.

As a homeowner, no doubt you consider your home an investment, right? And (despite the recent downturn in the cycle), you expect it to appreciate in value over time. So you are willing to invest in upgrading it, beautifying it, landscaping, new roof, etc. because it is an investment.

What about your business? Do you have a similar attitude about it?

Too many entrepreneurs take a “bargain hunting” approach to their business. They try to learn all the critical strategies they need to know through fr_ee teleseminars alone, reading a handbook, or copying what someone else has done. And if this is you, you will continue to struggle in your business!

One of my clients has experienced a HUGE breakthrough recently, and has her practice booked out several weeks after struggling in the past. When I asked her what made the difference, she said, “I stopped bargain hunting and started quality hunting. I became willing to pay for what I wanted instead of getting ‘a deal.’”

In The Millionaire Maker, Loral Langemeier describes this as the difference between the “lifestyle cycle” – in which as money comes in you pay expenses and incur liabilities, and never get ahead – and the “wealth cycle,” in which you apply your income to create assets – which will generate cash flow and create wealth.

Throughout my business life, I have invested in mentoring programs, live workshops, and the legal, financial and business advice I needed to learn quickly instead of slowly – and to experience quantum leaps on a regular basis.

If you are not getting the results you want in your business, it may because you are continuing to look for a bargain on the advice you need – instead of identifying the person, program or event that has the content and quality you know will serve you – and taking a leap of faith to make the investment.

As Price Pritchett says in You2, “Quantum leaps are merely the process of using yourself and your world differently, thus allowing other possibilities that exist to actually materialize. Your willingness to make a quantum leap is the enabler.”

Which will you choose?

Copyright © 2010 Marcia Bench; All Rights Reserved

If I were to ask you whether you wanted your business to grow and thrive, you would say yes, right? But far too often I find that though you may have the right strategies for growth, there are other factors blocking you from achieving your goals.

The problem is, they are invisible! So how the heck do you clear them when you can’t see them? The answer lies in becoming aware of them and using proven ancient principles to lead you to freedom.

Here are the three traps I most commonly see and how to overcome them:

Trap 1: I don’t really believe I deserve success – or that I can really achieve it.

Despite the best external statements and affirmations that “I deserve success,” no one else in my family (or immediate circle) has achieved what I want. Can I really do it?

First, comparing yourself to others is not a productive exercise – with one exception. If seeing someone else demonstrating success helps you create a picture of it, then it’s a great inspiration! A mentor can be exactly that: someone who is a few steps ahead of you on your path, that can help guide you along toward your goal.

Trap 2: I am afraid that success might require too much of me.

Will you have to change some habits – and maybe even some of your friends – if you reach a new level of success? Yes, you might!

There is a spiritual principle that you must let go of the lesser to make room for the greater. And if you are not prepared to do that – one step at a time, as you are led to do so – then you will continue to experience more of the lesser in your life.

Successful entrepreneurs invest in themselves through mentoring, learning, coaching, and personal growth so that they can uplevel by quantum leaps instead of incremental steps. If you are ready to “go for it” – and really feeeeel that within your body and emotions – then it will be easier to let go of what no longer serves you.

Trap 3: I might upset someone important to me if I really got successful.

Less than 6 percent of the U.S. population is making $100,000 or more in in_come. So if you aspire to that goal or more, you will need to do the exact opposite of what most of those around you do. (And there may be a person or two in your life that is secretly jealous of your success, who will be upset if you are more successful than they are!)

One of the best ways to surround yourself with support when faced with this dilemma – when you’re about to have “that conversation” with a spouse, friend or other person close to you – is to have a mastermind group or mentor to whom you can go and tell them how it went. They will understand and support you!

To get support in YOUR ongoing entrepreneur’s journey, visit our web site today at www.purposefulentrepreneur.com

Copyright © 2010 Marcia Bench; All Rights Reserved

I have always loved to learn…haven’t you?  Whether I was perfecting my piano skills as a child, discovering personal growth programs as a young adult, or learning – and constantly updating – my expertise as a trainer, thought leader and career coach now, there’s no substitute for the “high” I get from learning something new!

But something has changed in the past few years: my goals have gotten higher – and so has my investment in learning!

I took a deep breath and committed to a 2-week educational cruise to Hawaii and back in January 2007, a high-level book marketing workshop in March, and a $2000 self-study kit from a leading marketing expert – all within the first quarter of 2007! And I’ve continued to invest in myself…close to 6 figures each year – and it pays off every month as my results improve!

Why? Because I need to stay ahead of all of you – but also, because I want to be the best coach, leader, writer, marketer and speaker that I can…and there’s nothing like live learning to help.

Here are 6 reasons I recommend that you seek out live events to enhance YOUR learning and develop yourself professionally too:

1. To stimulate new ideas. Sure, the speakers say things that are insightful — “aha’s” in how they do things. But raw creativity somehow emerges — and breakthroughs happen — when you leave your day-to-day environment.I can’t explain it…but something happens once I leave the office and get in the limo or other airport transportation…fly to the event, and set my mind free to create and absorb. The speaker will be speaking, but another track will be going in my mind that is free-flowing – and it’s those ideas that I often bring back and put into action. I believe they wouldn’t have happened unless I was in the live learning environment!

2. To immerse yourself in the content. For the past 8-plus years, I have taught virtually 90 percent of the time. And it was a huge relief after being a “road warrior” and speaking only live prior to that. (Don’t worry, I’ll continue to do teleseminars too!) But in the live learning environment, you are completely enveloped, surrounded, and immersed in the subject matter you came to learn…it’s a multi-dimensional experience and – if you have a process to capture your insights and follow through on them – can be an absolutely pivotal event.

3. To make critical in-person, high-level contacts for your business. If there is someone whose work, business or life you admire, get face-to-face with them! By having the full experience of the person – on and off the stage – you will get even more value from what you have read, heard, or seen of them prior to the live learning. Those who present or sponsor live events are “gurus” in their area…and getting to learn from them in person – and hopefully also getting your photo taken with them to use in your marketing! – is an invaluable opportunity.

I’m still so glad that I went to see the late Thomas Leonard speak at one of the early Coachville conferences – even though I was going through chemotherapy and very weak at the time – because he died an untimely death later that year. I would have missed out on the opportunity altogether if I hadn’t made the effort to go to Las Vegas to see him!

Not only do you get to meet the speakers, but you also get to meet prospective strategic partners, customers, and vendors/resources for your business by attending these events. You can search on Google or make a referral-based phone call, but there’s nothing that parallels the energy of a live connection with someone that could turn into a mutually beneficial business partner for you. You might even make some on-the-spot sales of your products, programs or services!

4. To prove that you can leave your business and not have it fall apart! If you can’t leave your business for 2, 3, or 4 days without being on your cell phone at every break and the internet until midnight, you need a new business model! Successful coaches have systems and staff in place that do client care, administration, bookkeeping, marketing, web site update, blog posting and more.

So if you feel like you can’t leave…just that knowledge is a good reason to seek out a seminar or workshop on creating more freedom in your business! Not being able to leave for continuing education probably also means you can’t leave for vacation or to exhibit or speak at a trade show…so you’re in the trap of owning a job, not a business…and something must change.

5. To update and improve your knowledge and skills – and increase your income. Of course, one of the big reasons to pay big bucks for learning is to bring your expertise up to date. There are few fields today that don’t change quickly…and coaching and career development (not to mention marketing and business building, also areas you need to know) are some of the quickest changing there are!

Likely you know that the more specialized your knowledge is, the higher fees you can charge – for products AND for services. So as you add to your knowledge base, and create your own success stories with what you learn, you will be able to raise your fees, create more high-end products, and increase your income indefinitely!

Yes, it costs to travel to a venue, stay in a hotel, pay the workshop fee, etc. But if you think like a business person, you’ll be analyzing ROI (return on investment) – how much will the ideas and principles you learn yield to you in long-term, lifetime income? It’s not always easy to quantify, but I can share that I am teaching and modeling principles now that I have ONLY learned through ongoing continuing education…not through my advanced degrees or just through reading books.

6. To visit new places – on Uncle Sam – and sample the new lifestyle you are creating. Finally, as a savvy purposeful entrepreneur you should be taking full advantage of every legal tax benefit of being self-employed that you can…so why not choose the events that teach what you want to learn AND are held in places you’d love to visit! In most cases, both your workshop fee and your travel will be tax deductible…so you can learn in the Caribbean or Arizona in the winter, the Northwest in the summer, and even see what it would be like to live there…or own a second home there. Inevitably this is what my husband and I do when we visit a new place, whether on business or for pleasure.

In short, my goal with this article is to challenge your thinking…and to expand your paradigm about learning. “What was old is new” is a phenomenon now…print newsletters are coming back (watch for mine later this year!), live learning and Mastermind groups are back…and all of these simply augment the virtual learning and marketing methods to connect you with the people that you wish to serve. I hope to see you at a live event soon!

Copyright © 2010 Marcia Bench; All Rights Reserved