More proof that corporate success won’t help you make it as a solo consultant
This poor fellow calls into Dave Ramsey’s radio show yesterday. He was making $175,000 as a corporate executive. Three years ago he quit to start his own business. It’s very common. You figure, “I’m successful, I’m smart. I should be able to make it on my own. And then I’ll have the money and the…
When you can no longer ignore the feeling that it’s time for a change…
Some call it the seven year itch. Others call it a mid-life crisis. Still others call it getting “mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Whatever you call it, it’s going to come. And the question will be: Will the uncertainty fuel you – or beat you into submission? Several weeks…
The Rube Goldberg school of client acquisition.
Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist famous for designing elaborate, comical processes for getting simple things done. Rube’s ‘inventions’ are the epitome of looking at what something can do and getting very excited about it. In your excitement, you forget that what you really want is the shortest path to your goal. Not the most exciting.…
This is how you raise your fees.
When I DECIDED that I would not accept less than $x for coaching or consulting, a funny thing happened: I started getting clients at $x. And when I DECIDED that I wouldn’t accept less than $xx, a funny thing happened: I started enrolling clients at $xx. But before I DECIDED, I was in a kind…
The #1 error in thinking I see in my strategy sessions with my subscribers…
Would you aim for “Target B” if what you really wanted was “Target A?” Probably not, right? But what if you could clearly see “Target B.” And “Target A” was out of view? Most people will then aim for “Target B.” A dogged few insist that they will find and hit “Target A” one way…
What to do if your desire to help scuttles your sales
I got the following email from a customer of my Elegant Sales Conversation training program yesterday. Hi Dov, I’d like to book a consulting session with you. Please could you let me know what you charge? As I’ve continued to apply your training, I’m doing pretty well on the first parts. But I’m finding I…
The struggle breaks many. A few emerge stronger…
The struggle breaks many. We all start with a dream. With confidence that we’ll make it. Knowing we are smart, talented and have something valuable to offer. Surely the market will notice and buy. Ah, if only it turned out that easy, right? The clients I’ve seen make the greatest progress, fastest are usually the…
Why good advice falls on deaf ears: Grandma, sushi and exercise…
I’m at the local coffee shop where I do most of my writing. A grandma is treating her granddaughter, probably 10 years old, to breakfast at the table behind me. But Granddaughter is paying a price for this ‘free’ breakfast. She’s got to listen to Grandma. “Your biggest meal should be your breakfast. Then you…
The gentleman I felt wasn’t a match writes back…
Last week I sent out an email saying that to attract better clients, you need to stop trying to sell to those who are not a good match. I had written that recently someone reached out to me and we exchanged half a dozen emails. “…It quickly became clear to me that this gentleman had…
To attract better clients, stop trying to sell to the inferior ones.
We live in a world where slick marketers like to promise us overnight millions. There are two problems with overnight millions: 1. Only one in a thousand (probably less, really) can do it. 2. Even the few who do manage it tend to crash as fast as they rose. I’ve taken the approach that even…