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.

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!

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

One of the keys to the phenomenal growth in both my businesses and my life over the past 18 months has been being part of a mastermind group, with a paid leader and a limited number of like-minded peers. So why would I invest a significant portion of my education budget on a mentoring experience like this – not once but twice?

1. Individualized Focus on MY Business Needs and Goals

I am an avid learner – always have been. But you can only go so far learning from someone, whether it is through books, teleclasses, or their live events. To really apply what they teach, you need to have the leader’s personal eye on your business, get their input on your ideas (and how to improve them or avoid mistakes) and to support you through the ups and downs of creating something big. Just one piece of advice or insight has saved me thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours I would have spent going down the “wrong” road.

2. Connection with Like-Minded, Big-Thinking Peers

When I go to the first live meeting of the mastermind, I know there will be other people there, and I know that I will have stretched to be there. But to share our goals and dreams with our peers – who have also stretched to be there – and have them accept and applaud you, that’s magical. And we also end up doing business with each other, partnering, and being friends for long past the length of the mastermind itself.

3. To Expand My Already-Big Vision Even More

Another benefit of the Mastermind is that my partners and the leader add more dimensions and resources to the vision that I could not see, making the ultimate result even better! We are each only as perceptive as our experiences allow us to be – and inevitably there is more to be achieved, an easier way to do it, or another way to leverage that the Mastermind experience can provide.

4. For Perspective and Insights to Remove Roadblocks and Self-Sabotaging Beliefs

Whether I think I am “stuck” or not, we all have areas in which we unconsciously limit our success. They may stem from childhood, or they may just be incomplete knowledge about something. But being in front of a group of colleagues and a mentor coach is one place you can’t hide your “stuff”! It can be identified, processed and transformed in the blink of an eye in this focused setting. This too has shaved years off my business growth – not to mention made me a happier person!

I highly recommend that you invest in a mastermind experience if you have not done so to date. My mastermind groups are filled ONLY through our intensives and live events – so to be among the first to be invited to participate in the first 2010 mentoring group, join Purposeful Branding Secrets June 3-5 www.purposefulbrandingsecrets.com and we’ll get you more information during the event!

Copyright © 2009-10 Marcia Bench; All Rights Reserved

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include the following with it: “Marketing and success strategist Marcia Bench publishes the widely circulated ‘Transform!’ ezine weekly to over 5,500 subscribers. If you’re ready to start or grow a profitable business based on your life purpose and passion, get your F_REE tips now at www.purposefulentrepreneur.com”

7. Story: Taking a Stand, Refining Your Purpose

As a business grows, its purpose must be revisited regularly to be sure the expanding market and growing line of products and services still express that purpose. In addition, the business’ position in the marketplace may need to be honed and narrowed even further to remain relevant – which means taking a stand to polarize the audience. Once you do this, those who love you really love you – and those who don’t resonate with your business will leave. This is a distilling process that greatly increases the impact and staying power of the business. Gathering success stories of happy customers and sharing them with prospects is also key here.

This factor answers the question “Who are we/what do we stand for?” for the established business.

8. Simplification: Getting Back to the Basics of Purpose and Vision

Growth inevitably means chaos – sometimes a lot of chaos. This factor examines how you have simplified – or could simplify – all aspects of your business. Often this means letting go of things that no longer serve the purpose of the business, whether that be staff, products, or ways of doing things. The Pareto Principle is useful here: 20 percent of your business will be generating 80 percent of your results. So what comprises the 20 percent, and how can you let go of the rest?

This factor answers the question, “How do we feel about what we do?” for the established business owner.

Evaluate all 12 factors of Purposeful Entrepreneurship in YOUR business with our Purposeful Entrepreneur Compass today: http://www.purposefulentrepreneur.com/assessment.html

Both of these factors deal with attraction: drawing to you the people and resources that form the “meat on the bones” for your Purposeful Business.

5. Profits: Attracting Money

The Purposeful Entrepreneur’s beliefs about money are often challenged in this factor. Old programming that “you can’t be spiritual and be rich”, as well as what amount of money is acceptable to charge and to make, must be revisited for the business to prosper. If revenues are lacking, or if money is not managed well, this factor will score low. More people become wealthy through self-employment than nearly any other avenue…but it is always a path of discovery, facing and overcoming old beliefs, and upleveling one’s awareness and consciousness when it comes to money – not to mention learning the tax benefits and wise money management strategies to be used in running a business.

This factor answers the question, “How do we manage our resources (especially money)?” for the new business.

6. Promotion: Attracting Your Tribe

A business is only viable when its message reaches its market…and promotion is about all the ways you do that in your business. Whether it is online or offline, working with energy, magnetizing, and Law of Attraction or marketing techniques like email broadcasts, speaking or article writing, all of those components comprise the essence of the Promotion factor. How clearly you communicate, the overall vibration you send to your prospects and customers, and how effectively you draw your ideal customer or clients to you – including your sales process – all are measured here.

This factor answers the question, “How do we communicate what we do?” for the new business.

Watch for more of this dynamic series next week!

3. People: Finding Your Tribe  

The “tribe” or target market served by the business must be identified very specifically, even as the business is forming. The success of the business will be directly related to how clearly the market is defined. Many entrepreneurs struggle to define their niche even without considering their purpose and how it may relate to the niche. A business must have both a horizontal and a vertical niche in order to stand out as unique. For the Purposeful Entrepreneur, defining the ideal people to be served by the business takes on yet a third dimension: will these people benefit as the target of the purpose we have identified as the foundation of the business? Do these people share the problem, challenge or issue around which the owner’s purpose is based? If so, they are the right market. If not, they probably are not (but further inquiry will be needed).

This factor answers the question, “Whom do we serve and what do they tell us?” for the new business.

 4. Presentation: Allowing the Vision to Take Form

Once the purpose, passion and people are clear, the business is ready to “present” itself to the world! Presentation involves all of the logistical steps to start-up (business name selection and filing, legal entity, contracts, internal bookkeeping and phone systems, product creation, and the like). But it also includes the shifts in mindset required to become a self-employed entrepreneur instead of an employee. For the Purposeful Entrepreneur, this step is about action…and the challenge is that not all steps will become clear at once – the plan for the business unfolds in stages. It is only possible to see the second step once the first one – the one in front of you – is taken.

This factor answers the question, “How do we organize what we do?” for the new business.

To assess your business on all 12 factors, take the Purposeful Entrepreneur Compass assessment here.

I will assume, since you are working in the coaching field or another information business (or want to be), that you are doing work you love and want to share that with others in one way or another.  Whether you are a coach, consultant, author, speaker or other infopreneur, your business provides a service to others.  And unlike many fields, your service to clients fails to ring true unless you, too, are passionate about what you do.  Not making enough money can zap any passion you had when you started your business, fast!

So here are 3 of my proven ways to increase (by at least 100%) your income – while  actually working less time than you do now! 

 1. Choose to challenge any aspect of your life or business that is not what you want.  Even those of us who enjoy our work may have areas that we would like to change.  The best way to find these areas for yourself is to reflect on what you repeatedly feel frustrated or upset by (or ask your spouse what you complain about the most!).  While we can’t usually change our lives overnight, we can change one thing at a time.  How?  By choosing to do so!  If you don’t feel successful, what would have to happen to change that?  Consider this quote from Spiritual Economics:

“Success is the most natural thing in the world.  The person who does not succeed has placed himself in opposition to the laws of the Universe.”

When we feel that urge to make change, to improve, to get better (which is what New Years’ resolutions are all about, right?), author Eric Butterworth tells us that “your desire to get ahead, your urge to succeed, is your intuitive awareness of something within you that wants to succeed through you.”  And the factor that distinguishes someone who feels successful from someone similarly situated who does not is on the inside of the person.  It’s like the person who says “My job is not imaginative; there is no future in it.”  In fact, “there is no job with a future in it – the future is in the one who does the job!”

Question to Ponder: What one thing in your life or business, if you changed either the activity itself or your attitude about it, would make a significant difference in your coming year?

2. Give yourself the benefit of “recycling.”  No, I’m not talking about what you do with your newspapers and plastic containers!  In studies of more than 60,000 people over the past 15 years, psychologist Dr. James Prochaska and his associates have found that only 77 percent of New Year’s resolutions survive the first week. A month later, it’s 55 percent.  This may not surprise you…but the term we use for this experience of not fulfilling our resolutions can make a big difference in whether we “get back on the horse” after a fall and try to ride again. 

Prochaska has analyzed how people successfully make change, initially studying people trying to quit smoking to see what led to some people’s successful efforts. His resulting model of change doesn’t blame unsuccessful attempts at change on lack of willpower or motivation. Instead, it outlines six stages and contends that by identifying and understanding where we are in the process, we can gain control over the cycle of change and move through it more quickly, efficiently and with less pain.

His six stages are:  pre-contemplation (denial), contemplation (thinking about change), preparation (ready to change within 30 days), action (here we go!), maintenance (holding onto the new behavior despite challenges) and termination (when the old behavior or situation no longer beckons to us).  What’s interesting to note is that, although many of us expect to go from A to Z in a straightforward path, that is a rare feat!  He says that although it is possible to progress linearly from one stage to the next, only 5 percent of people have no setbacks.  Most successful self-changers go through the stages three or four times before they complete the cycle – and he calls these repeated cycles “recycling” rather than “relapsing,” maintaining the sense that a process is still in motion.

Question to Ponder:  How can you be kind to yourself as you begin to change what isn’t working, allowing more than one try at the new behavior before you throw up your hands in despair?

3. Leverage your “synchronous” time.  What is the most common response people give when you ask them how they are these days?  “Wow, I’m really busy!”  Right?  The fact is, each of us has 1440 minutes each day – and we also have many choices as to how we spend it!  People who seem to be on top of things don’t have more time than we do; they have simply learned how to honor their synchronous (or clock) time, and leverage it to create asynchronous systems that continue to work when they’re not!

 Here’s an example:  for years now, I have been teaching coaching, how to launch and build a coaching or consulting practice, and similar topics.  Most recently, many of my classes have been done via teleclass.  Those required that I be physically present, on the phone, in real time.  But in the past few months, I have consolidated this course content into a textbook and workbook format, recorded lectures and coaching demonstrations on CD’s, and radically altered my business model founded on this asynchronous, self-paced model.  What has that done for me as the developer of the materials?  Freed me to develop new products, do the marketing, and otherwise manage the business – while all the time students are signing up and learning the content “asynchronously,” i.e., without my real-time presence being required.  And students gain the benefits of greater flexibility and significantly lower costs for the training.  It’s a win-win proposition!

Questions to Ponder:  Think about the services you offer to clients, and the projects that you’ve spent inordinate amounts of time on (e.g., a narrative executive bio, a web portfolio, etc.).  How many other ways can you think of to use that same content or format with other clients?  In other media?  Spending just 30 minutes each day developing a system that will run asynchronously will free dozens of hours of your time over the course of a year.

 Here’s wishing you a prosperous and successful 2010!

It’s not a time to play small or shrink from the challenges we are facing – it is a time to step UP, to go WITHIN, and to bring all of who we are to what we do.  I am soooo excited about leading this 3-day intensive – and if it is calling to you, there is still ONE spot left before we sell out!  Here are the details: www.evolveevent.com/intensive.html

Can’t join us live?  Attend the 5-day virtual Evolve Telesummit Nov. 30-Dec. 4 – www.evolveevent.com/telesummit.html – featuring such speakers as Andrea Lee, David Neagle, myself, Michelle PW, Laura Berman Fortgang, Lynne Klippel and more.  You’ll be inspired!

“Be who you truly are – in business and in life!”

Individually and globally, we are going through a clearing-out phase of the economic and energetic cycle.  This is one of the most challenging parts of the cycle of abundance and success, because there is nothing to “do” but to “be” with the experience. 

So how are we to respond when we are weary of putting so much energy out through marketing and client outreach, when the money is ebbing (diminishing), and when the flow of customers through our “tried and true” channels drops?  In some cases, this can be a time of profound confusion, knowing we are ready to let go of what no longer excites or interests us…but we are not yet clear what we are moving toward to replace it.

Our most important action at such times is to spend more time alone, being thankful for all of the experiences that have brought us to this moment…and paying attention to the inklings of the new direction that is beginning to come forth. 

There are at least three benefits to the ebb cycle of manifesting:

1)    We become more objective – and gratitude naturally follows.  By taking the “big picture” view of our experiences – in both the recent and distant past – we can see connections and themes that we did not see when going through the experience.  It is like staring at one pearl on a necklace, and then zooming out to a view of the whole strand: we can see how beautiful and connected the whole is!  What lessons have come from your recent experiences, whether you have labeled them positive or negative?

2)    We can release what is no longer working for/serving us.  Nowhere in nature do we see a constant growth cycle without the dropping of leaves, shedding of an old skin, or breaking loose from a cocoon. The old proverb is of the monk pouring tea into a cup and continuing to pour when the cup is full – it cannot hold any more tea until it is emptied out!  This is a time of collective emptying out, of the old systems that no longer work in banking, real estate, and business as a whole – as well as in our individual lives.  What clothes, furniture, relationships, beliefs or attitudes to you need to shed and release now?

3)    We can recreate our business and life in alignment with the new, larger “us” that is emerging now.  It is like getting a “clean slate” in mid-life!  Once the old is gone, we can evaluate what we really want – and go for it!  This is the exciting time of rebirth, whether it be a new business, a new market, a new product, or even taking a sabbatical or picking up a new avocation that feeds our spirit.  What new experience or activity is beckoning to you now? 

In the Western culture, we are taught not to linger in the ebb…but to get through it as quickly as possible.  If we do, we miss its gifts.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, bored, or even angry about how your life and business is right now, consider that this is the gateway through which a brand new expression of you is wanting to emerge.  Cherish it, embrace it – and it will lead you into your new life. 

 And if you would like some support in doing this, we have just 5 spots left in our upcoming Purposeful Branding Retreat May 1-2 in Phoenix – see www.purposefulbrandingretreat.com for details!