When I started my first online business in 2006, it was focused on helping health & wellness professionals improve and better market their businesses (offline and on) to continue to spread the message of optimal health & wellness that was (is) so important to me and my world view – having retired from that side of coaching myself in 2005.
During that time, I identified a few core components which seemed to be missing from most of the businesses and clients I worked with.
It seems that 6 years later the same three core components are still missing from many online health & wellness businesses. In fact, they’re missing from many other businesses too.
These three things are the real basics – they’re not groundbreaking, they’re not fancy nor are they as exciting as the shiny, new tools which tempt your gaze on an almost weekly basis – but they are the reasons why some businesses fly and some don’t.
In fact, you can usually tell when these 3 core foundations are missing because:
- For the client: Are they right for me?
- For you, the business owner: You don’t really know who your ideal clients are & so you’re happy to try and help everyone.
- For the client: I’m not really sure if they’re any better than that other lady I spoke to the other day.
- For you, the business owner: You haven’t worked out what sets you apart from your peers, colleagues & competitors, other than you being you, that is.
- For the client: Hmmm, which of these options is right for me?
- For you, the business owner: You can’t decide what to offer, struggle to describe it well enough & seem to change what you offer on a frequent basis.
- For the client: I think I’ll wait to buy – they’ll probably run another sale, special offer or freebie soon.
- For you, the business owner: Why can’t I seem to attract new business without running a sale or launching something new?
If any of these sound familiar, perhaps one or more of these foundations are missing in your business…
What You (Say You) Do
I haven’t exactly kept it a secret that it has taken me a fair while to come up with the right tagline for, or description of, what I do around here – and it seems to be a common problem, not just amongst health & wellness coaches.
Part of the problem lies in figuring out how and why you’re different from everyone else; why should clients come to you and not someone else? The answer is easy and difficult all at the same time…
- People come to you because you’re “you” – but what does that mean? Why does it matter? How can you make it matter? (Hint: It’s a lot to do with your values, your world view and how they can help determine who you attract).
- People come to you because what you do isn’t necessarily different from many other colleagues, you’ve just figured out how to talk about it in a way that sounds more relevant/more attractive/better to them.
Those two things are the answers you need to find and figure out. Why are they so important?
Because once you’ve found them, gone are the days of sending out mixed, hard to compute messages and receiving back blank looks or glazed eyes. Instead you’ll find yourself knowing exactly what sets you apart and being able to attract the right people because of it.
What You Offer
This past week, I have been working a lot to craft the offers I make on this site. If you head on over to the new “Work With Me” page, you’ll notice that the puzzle is almost complete (there’s one final piece which I’ll be launching later this year).
Alongside the pretty buttons (aren’t they pretty? Love, love, love the pink and I’m *so* not a pink girl despite having a pink-crazy daughter), there’s been a very specific approach and rationale behind offering what you see here, which I talked about in last week’s Path Finding for This Pioneer post.
This – in all my experience from the past 7+ years of running my own business and the 4-5 years before that working with global brands – is a crucial task…here’s what I want you to do:
- Take a look at your favourite brands’ products and services.
- Take a look at the offerings from your online heroes and heroines.
There are likely no 5, 10 or 15 session packages on offer, nor is there a random mish-mash of confusing options to choose from. They make it very simple for you to choose the best option for you.
You’ll notice that what they offer is crafted. It’s honed. It’s sculpted. And dare I say it? It’s strategic.
This is the difference between a planned and strategic portfolio and one that is randomly created because you didn’t know any better. Well now you do, what are you waiting for? ;)
How To Get Your First (Second & Third) Set of Clients
Do you remember the elation you felt when you signed your very first client? …”Wow, you mean people will actually pay me to do what I love?”. And then reality sets in…
One, two or three clients don’t make a business (in most cases) – you need more than that and on an ongoing basis too.
The problem is that too few businesses – wellness or otherwise – build a process which helps them get new clients on an ongoing basis. Too few businesses focus on creating a pipeline of interested, ready-to-buy customers for themselves .
When you do this, you can let go of one of the biggest causes of stress and frustrations for most small business owners. So why do so few of us do this?
These are three of the cornerstones needed for any business to be successful – online or off. These are the three things your business can’t do without – online or off. Do you have them in place yet?
These are the three things (surprise!) I address in my new course – Path Finding for Wellness Pioneers – in which I return to my entrepreneurial roots to continue to spread the message of optimal and balanced health & wellness by empowering wellness professionals to do what they do best.
If you’re a subscriber, there’s a special offer going out with this post on Friday night at 9pm (UK time) | 4pm (NYC time) for the first three clients who will be “beta” testers of the material and format in return for a generous discount.