Of business and butterflies
Is the "message" of your business clear and ready to take flight?
There's something I see many business owners, coaches, and entrepreneurs going through, and it's time to give it a name.
As a business owner and entrepreneur, your livelihood bubbles up from the cold water spring of your core. You're a manifesting engine (even if you don't *like* the word "manifesting"). You're a factory of ideas, messages, and happenings.
You are the recipe, the cook, and the kitchen.
What all this means is that you are much more likely to stop dead in your tracks and say "HEY! This isn't the right direction anymore!" than people who are called Employees. This is called being in alignment with your work, and as an entrepreneur, you sometimes find that what you've been doing for awhile isn't awesome anymore.
And when that happens, it's often kind of scratchy. Uncomfortable. Inconvenient.
So I'd like to remind you of another shape-shifter, in the hopes that its life might offer insight into your own.
Enter the butterfly... or really, the caterpillar. This is a different sort of butterfly effect from the "a butterfly beats her wings in South America and there's a dust storm in Tehran" thing. It's about what phase of business and creating you're in.
Caterpillar Phase- You're out of the egg and crawling, life is good, you're moving along just fine, feeling the sun on your back. In this phase in your business, you have harvested an earlier idea, direction shift, or strategy and have "grounded" it into your habits & way you do business.
Cocoon Phase- The day comes when it's time to build a little chrysalis around you, and withdraw from the outside world. In this phase in your business, you see or learn something that triggers you, or calls you deeper into your practice, service, or business. You may notice that what you used to love doing isn't "doing" it for you any more.
"Liquid Goo" Phase - Did you know that a caterpillar actually melts down inside the cocoon? It's neither caterpillar nor butterfly... it's just ooey-gooey goo. In this phase in your business, you may feel lost and utterly out-to-sea. You know that your heart isn't in what you used to do, sell, or offer, and you may also have a sense of where you'd like to go. But there's also an "oh, brother" irritation with all the change on the horizon. Do you *really* have to go back and redo your message and all the stuff you've already created?
Butterfly Phase - Time passes, the sun rises and sets, and lo-and-behold, the goo has congealed into a majestic, beautiful butterfly, with bright, vivid colors... and the ability to fly. In this phase of your business, you are ready for an audience--and ideal clients! You are clear on your message, you know how to package your products and services, and you have a vision for the support team and budget you need to emerge in your shimmery-winged splendor. People see this, and feel the energy behind what you are doing. As a result, they are drawn to your marketing, programs, and products (it almost looks like magic).
Can you recognize which phase your business is currently in? If you've been having trouble marketing your products and services lately, there's a good chance that you are in Liquid Goo Phase. And your difficulty attracting clients and closing sales is because you are trying to pilot a cocoon. Your message isn't fully developed, you're not totally clear or comfortable with what you're up to, and so you're putting mixed signals out into the world.
No matter the phase your business is in, knowing where you are can only help. It keeps you from spending on projects that you're not ready for. It prevents you from being hard on yourself. It gives you insight into how to best spend your time, or whose help you need to move your business along to the next phase. And, perhaps best of all, it reminds you that eventually, once you have gone through each phase completely, you are bound to fly.
Photo courtesy of me, and my trip to the Miami MetroZoo, one of the coolest zoos I've ever visited.
The 25 Cent Marketing MBA
A funny thing happened that showed me the power of asking.
And not only that: HOW we ask.
I was driving home from taking myself out for sushi and a beer on Sunday night, and stopped at a red light. A man who was standing at the bus stop walked up to my car, and said to the window of my car: "Can I have 25 cents?"
Now, whatever your feelings and opinions about asking for money are, put them aside. This isn't about asking for money. It's about strategy.
Now, when I was in grad school, I worked at a soup kitchen feeding 150 homeless people in Seattle's University District. Once a month, I spent the night in a gym at a Methodist Church, on a mat with recycled hotel sheets so that homeless kids could have showers, a healthy snack, and a safe place to sleep.
I woke up with a crick in my neck, sure, but it seemed like the least I could do. All that said, I tend NOT to give money to people who are asking -- unless they really move me. (Now that I think about it, the fellow didn't really even do that, but more on this in just a moment.)
Back to asking. I'm not even sure this fellow was actually homeless. But that, again, is beside the point. My point is, his request was three things:
- Direct
- Confident
- Specific
These things didn't register until the light turned green and I was underway. But here's what fascinates me the most. I actually had to roll down my window to hear him, and not only that...
I ended up giving him a dollar.
What's going on here? It's not that I'm a big softy. It's not that I'm limp-willed. It's not even that I'm all that generous.
He used a sales technique on me.
We should all be so effective! By walking right up to my car window, he showed confidence. He didn't hesitate. He wasn't embarrassed or shy in the slightest. And he made the very specific, very doable request of one small thing for me: a quarter.
Now, when I say "sales," what I really mean in convincing people of something. That man, bless him, managed to convince me in the space of 5 seconds that my life would be better if I gave him 25 cents, than it would be if I kept it to myself.
Know what? He was right. I know this sounds far-fetched, but stick with me here. What he gave me was worth a whole dollar--and then some. I felt the giver's rush of fulfilling someone's request of me... AND I got the topic for this post.
25 cent strategy #1: Forget about asking for "change" or that "any help is appreciated." Be specific. Especially when you reach out to potential clients and colleagues. Yes, this means you need to do some thinking, but it will make your life so much easier and more systematic (which means less "flying by the seat of your pants").
For example, have one thing that you ask anyone who gives you their business card to do. It doesn't need to be buy or register. Tea? A phone call? subscribe to your newsletter? Connect with you on Linked In or Facebook? Then move with confidence and be specific about what you would love for them to do next with you.
It's way easier for someone to agree to your request if you are very clear about what you are asking.
25 cent strategy #2: Forget about giving your "two cents." Give a whole dollar. There are little things you can do to help people who are new to you and your business. Share an article. Offer a free subscription to your value-riffic newsletter (and make sure it's really value-riffic). Connect two people who would benefit from knowing one another. When you act, share, and give with confidence, you are building that relationship. You will be known as a giver, resource, and someone who solves problems and knows how to help.
What else do you do to connect with people and move them to action? I'd love to hear about it here in comments.
Oh! And if you are looking for even MORE ways to move people to action, I'll be teaching on this next week at my new teleclass: "Crack the Code: 5 Simple + Smart Ways to Move People to Opt-In, Register, and Buy Direct From Your Website." Theres no cost, and I'm going to be giving lots of great information you can use right away to improve your conversion rates and sales. Save your spot here.
Does your marketing need a time machine?
Miami, Florida
Wednesday, 12:15pm
Sure, “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” is a ridiculous movie… but it got me thinking about time machines. In the movie, two high school students about to flunk history get their hands on a special phone booth that takes them through history. They pluck famous figures like Napoleon, Freud, Joan of Arc and Abe Lincoln from their own time, and transport them back to their modern-day final history presentation as guest speakers.
...and the crowd goes wild!
Of course it's a silly idea, but we watched this at my house on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and it was so entertaining! (Ah, Keanu...)
It also inspired one of my 5 Simple + Smart Ways to Move People To Action On Your Website.
You can check out all 5 ways in my new teleclass at 8pm ET on February 22nd: “Crack the Code: 5 Simple + Smart Ways to Move People to Opt-in, Sign-Up, and Buy More… Direct From Your Website.”
Sign up for the Class here (it's free):
https://stellaorange.com/crack-the-code/
So here’s Simple + Smart Way #5: Use a time machine to plan your campaign.
Okay, so this is for you if you are allergic to words like “plan” and “systems.” This is you if you still write your newsletter articles and solo email broadcasts one-by-one. You finally park your butt at your computer to WRITE…but first, you have to THINK: what should I write about? What am I promoting again?
You’ve got that flier from a couple years ago around here somewhere…
This is you if you’re trying to fill two workshops, a retreat, and a group program all at the same time. So you’re on the phone, sending emails, and talking it up like there’s no tomorrow… and you keep going into edit your flier as you think of ANOTHER word to describe what you help people do, before you hit “send”…
Or if you think you need to redo your whole website (or make one for the first time from scratch) before you are legit, credible, or can start signing more clients and helping more people.
And if you could just get people to sign up, register with, or buy from you without having to do so much darn teeth-pulling, phone-calling, and crazy-monkey-business… you could finally just RELAX and do the work (instead of burning your candle at both ends serving people AND marketing your work! Phew!)
Here's the mirage: You need a full-blown website makeover (or geez, a full website) to attract more clients and bring more money in the door. Your “content”—that is, your newsletter, any emails you send to your peeps, your social media, your put-it-in-their-hand fliers—are all of these little, disconnected blips with different ideas and different messages.
Here's the reality: Let’s start with the first one. You don’t need to go back to the drawing board for your WHOLE website (or create it all at once). What if you focus on creating a really good promotion for ONE of your programs, events or products, first, and get that up and running… and bringing you clients and sales in the next 60 days?
Here's the solution: Let go of doing everything at once. Pick ONE of your programs or products to start promoting better, and start there. Two things will happen. One, you’ll get more people interested in that one thing. And two, you’ll learn the system for marketing one thing really well. And can use that on your SECOND thing.
You see, one of the biggest mistakes business owners make is that they think they need to move people to action on EVERYTHING they have to offer. But the reality is that you can’t just put your whole bag of goodies on the table—PLUNK!—and think that’s enough to get people to buy. If you DON’T have a marketing plan that’s more than “well, it’s on my website,” there is no way it’s going to work.
And the BEST way to understand how this planning thing works is to just pick ONE thing to promote. Get in your time machine, and zoom ahead 2-3 months. See all the ways you can talk about, share, and inform about the problem your program or product helps people solve. Then return to the present, and start planning all that related content so that it all ties-in and supports that one thing. By the time you get around to making an offer, more people will be educated about what’s on the table, and ready to buy.
Make sense? Good. Want more ways to move people to take action on your website?
Then I’ll see you on the call on Tuesday, February 22 at 8pm ET.
Register here: https://stellaorange.com/crack-the-code/
To your sweet success,
Stella
Your Juicy Marketing Mentor
