E24 I got thrown under a bus. Here’s what I did

Hello, hello, hello! Welcome to this week’s episode of The Audacious OBM. I’m Leanne Woff, your host, and today I am going to tell you about that time when I got thrown under a bus and what I did about it. Now, I sound chirpy and I say this with smiles on my face, but it was just really not nice, if I’m being honest.

So something about me. I’m very direct and I’m kind And I’m honest. And that being my person, I’ve always run my business with that at the baseline, is be kind, be honest, be clear even if it’s a little bit uncomfortable. And human politics drive me nuts. I hate games. And I don’t play people off against each other.

I think it’s yucky. I think it’s petty. I don’t like the saying one thing behind someone’s back and another to their face. And I do my very best not to be involved in anything like that because I know how easy it is to get sucked in. But it just very much grinds me the wrong way. And then when I’m pulled into situations where games are a thing, I get very frustrated because it just is like, why this is a colossal waste of everyone’s time.

So let me tell you the story. Recently, I had a client. And they asked me to do a quote. Hey team, can you please create a quote for a new initiative I’m looking at doing? Here’s some things I’m thinking. I need someone to pull it together. And it’s like, okay, there’s pretty much zero detail here. Not a lot for me to go with.

But, that’s the way this particular client tends to work. It’s like, you come to me for the information that you need. [00:03:00] You pull it out of me. Show me what it could look like, and then I’ll help you shape it. We’ll go from there. So knowing that and knowing next to nothing about where we were actually headed or what the outcome we were looking for was I said, yeah, cool.

And I’m based my quote on the notion that I’d put what I knew and what I could extrapolate from that, of what might be an option. And we would go from there. So what I ended up with was a plan to get that clarity. So to get crystal clear on what it is that we wanted to create why we wanted to create it, how we would measure it, what the purpose of the business would be.

And then to be able to map pathways and different options available to do it. So I did this in a way that was very [00:04:00] start to finish. Okay, if this is what creating a concept or a new thing looks like, these are all the things someone would have to do. And I put it all together. And then when you add that all up, it’s huge, right?

It’s a big, big plan. And so it ends up being a lot of money. Now, I knew that when my client saw this, that they wouldn’t say yes. They’d see that this big thing, this big dollar figure and go, what? No, but getting them to say yes was actually never my goal. So my goal was to go to this visionary and show them what it was that they were actually talking about and see how committed to this initiative they were.

Because sometimes with visionaries, there are so many ideas. And until somebody can show them, hey, this is [00:05:00] what’s actually involved in this, is this is what you were really wanting. Makes them step back and think about things from another perspective. And gives them that level of insight that they might not have gotten to on their own.

Which is okay. I wanted to see how committed this client was once they saw the level of work and the cost and the effort that would be behind it. So my goal was to give them a starting point so that then they could come back to me and say, okay, I didn’t really want this. I wanted one, two, three, four.

X, Y, Z. Can we do that? And then I would revise and review.

In the process of sending this off, my client’s business advisor contacted me, had a call, said that my client was never going to say yes to this big list. It’s too many things. Can we just break it down to the first bit? And so I explained to the advisor why I had done it the way that I did it and explaining that the level of planning that was needed for something like this was actually going to be quite large, which the advisor agreed with and said, okay, so what are the things that we have to do that would get this off on the right foot, give us the best chance for success. and we mapped that out together.

So we went through the whole strategy, broke that first piece down. This is what we need to identify. This is what needs to look like, this is how we’ll do it, did all of that and then I resent it to the client and to the advisor, a revised version, smaller price tag, because it was just a piece of it to get us started.

And then we had a call. So myself, my client, their advisor, the advisor did a complete 180 in front of the client. And I’m sitting there, absolutely stunned, keeping my full composure, but like, what the heck is going on here? , and so, you know, the advisor is going, oh yeah, this is really strange, I don’t understand why they would have done it this way.

And  but I didn’t. And I didn’t because, what’s the point? If I was already sitting there stunned and going, okay, I need to pivot and that’s okay. Like I need to manage this situation. There is no point in me turning it into a big gossipy, he said, she said kind of thing.

And it’s not the way I operate anyway. So I had to take a different approach.

And so in this call with my client and the advisor, [00:08:00] I said, okay, so if this isn’t, you know, what you wanted, that’s totally fine. What is it that you wanted? Like, give me some more information to go off them. And then what my client ended up delving into was actually something that we don’t offer. So far from what we offer.

And it was very different to what they requested in the first place. And so I said, okay, thanks for sharing it with me. I will go back, rethink and come back to you. Then off the back of that call, I thought about it. And when this actually isn’t something we do, like we would come in at the next point.

It’s not at this point. So I contacted the advisor and then I said, Hey, I’m actually not going to re-quote because this isn’t something that we do. and so, he brought up a lot of different things, but talking it through and [00:09:00] wanting to know, okay, what, what did I think? And I just reiterated that I found it really strange because we had discussed a lot of things, one of them being this quote that we created together.

Like we had both decided this was a great strategy and it was very odd that then it was, it wasn’t what we ended up needing, uh, which is cool. And I’m happy if that’s not what we need, but I wouldn’t be spending more time creating another thing, another plan, when 1. I’m not going to get backed up and 2.

Like, it’s not our ballgame. So, sorry, can’t do it. Then I was on a call with my client and they asked me, what happened? I thought, you’re going to do this quote, you’re going to do this with me, and [00:10:00] then all of a sudden it was just hard, no, we got stonewalled, like, what’s the go? And so, which is not what happened.

But the client didn’t know that. So then I explained the issue around clarity and the difference between what I was originally asked and now what the request was and how that had changed. I also explained that I didn’t believe it was in the client’s best interest to get us to do this, to get anyone on the current team to do it.

It was out of the skill set of the different people that the client currently has working in that business. And, um, it actually needed some external knowledge, and I never want to take on work that I can’t guarantee kind of the delivery of the outcome. I already know that’s not our wheelhouse. I’m not going to take your money and just try.

Like, that’s not great. So it was best, it was in the best interest to get somebody else. And I explained that, you know. The advisor and myself, like the people on this team, we’re very clever. We’re a bunch of very clever people. And if this approach and this quote that the advisor and me had put together wasn’t quite right, then the likelihood is that we just need an external person.

We need an external skillset. And then that helped me determine what that skill set was. If I don’t have it and they don’t have it, what is it that we’re looking for? And so on this call with the client, I then went through, okay, you kind of need someone like this. Here’s what to look for. Here, here’s how you can start trying to find this person.

and I was helpful and I didn’t speak badly of anybody. I [00:12:00] just explained. The whole thing could have gotten very ugly. Very fast, if I had wanted to play games, but I didn’t. So instead I was clear and practical. And even though it was incredibly uncomfortable and upsetting, I didn’t destroy my relationship with the business advisor.

We’re still a team and people make mistakes, particularly when life is happening, if they feel backed into a corner, or if they’re stressed, or they’re not processing information properly, or they feel like they’re being weighed and measured, there’s all different reasons why people act the way they act.

And that’s okay. But what I did do was reiterate the situation both to the advisor and to the client that the advisor and I had done this together. That’s where my reputation comes in and protecting that reputation. This wasn’t just me not listening to you. Because it’s important, and I don’t ever want my clients to think that I’ve just gone rogue.

That’s never my intent, and although that’s not something that, you know, they would necessarily think, it’s still important to me to reset that standard. So I was honest with my client, without saying nasty things about anybody else. I was kind, I was clear, I was factual, and I saved face for myself.

And the outcome was that I ended up helping my client find what it was that they really needed, which in my opinion is my job 100 percent of the time. Now, I just want to reiterate that I could have kept going. I could have blown this up. I could have stood [00:14:00] my ground. I could have said, Hey, I’m being really disrespected here.

But what I know is if I had have done that, the friction and the emotion in it would have been really hard for me. I don’t like that. And I don’t like arguing with people or having all of this unsaid stuff drive different decisions. And so to have this dealt with and done… in a day feels so much better to have everybody still working together and harmoniously.

So much better. Even if it means I had to like shirk my pride a little bit to go, no, this wasn’t me. This was someone else. And I’m getting the blame. The end of the day, it didn’t matter. My client didn’t think any less of me. My relationship with everybody else is all still good. We’re still going in the right direction.

And so I just want to say to you that even if you’re stumped, and something very strange is happening in a call or in a conversation you’re having. Take a breath. It’ll be okay. Think about how you can handle it and how you can all get what you want out of this situation, even if somebody else has done the wrong thing.

And what you might find is that you resolve it in a way that’s quite calm and peaceful and you’re content rather than getting really stressed, worked up and not sleeping at night. So I hope that helps, and although I hope you are never placed in a situation like that, if you are, you are not alone and there are ways to manage it with less friction.

Thanks everyone. 

E22 Going back to basics: Messaging made easy

Hello, hello, hello everybody. Welcome to this week’s episode of The [00:01:00] Audacious OBM. I’m your host Leanne Woff and today we are talking going back to basics. Messaging made easy. Today I want to talk to you about marketing. If you’re running a business, part of that is sales and marketing and alot of the time we go into business because we’re good at what we do and then we get to all of the marketing, the sales, the mechanics of business and we fall over a little bit because in our heads when we start, it’s great to be able to do what we do and we’re super skilled and we know that, but then to have to learn all this other stuff really quickly so that people can actually find out about us and work with us, it’s a whole different ballgame.

Marketing and sales. It’s one of those things. And it’s one of the most important things in your business. And a big component of marketing and sales is [00:02:00] your messaging. I think that messaging has the power to make or break any sale. So your messaging is that, who are you? Who are you here to help? How do you help them?

And tell me why I should pick you and not somebody else. In a nutshell, that’s what messaging is. And it can be really creative, and it can also be really intricate. When you’re crafting messaging, it’s all about coming up with something to start with, investigating, releasing that kind of messaging, seeing how it lands, adapting it, and then repeating that whole process again.

Ongoing. Because people change. The things that resonate with people change. The people that you work with might change, you might change, [00:03:00] and with all those things your messaging changes too. The impact of that is, that it can feel really big and overwhelming. It can feel like a big deal. Especially if we start overanalyzing and we start thinking too much.

Because then it feels like we’re on a hamster wheel. Now, because this is a known fact, there are so many people out there who want to help you with this. As is with a lot of things, and every man and his dog has an opinion about how to market and how you can market right now better. It’s always, Don’t do all these things.

Do this. Do this one thing. And, I’ve tried doing that. I’ve tried doing this and it never works. And no, no, no. If you’re not doing this, you’re wrong. Or if you’re not doing this, you’re wrong. Or, skip all the hurdles and do this instead. And then we’re in this overwhelmed, [00:04:00] trying to do everything, overthinking spiral.

And you know what? We end up doing nothing. Let me tell you something, doing one thing, just one, even if it’s not the best thing, even if it takes you too long, is better than what you’re doing now. Why? Because at least you’re doing it. You’re doing it and you’re trying something. And it’s the truth.

It’s something that I have to remind myself about all the time. And just, Do one thing, just get started. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be the thing. And when it’s not me reminding me, it’s my coach reminding me. I am the queen of wanting to [00:05:00] find the very best way to do something. And it makes me fantastic at my work.

It makes me really skilled. And it also holds me back a lot because I want everything, I wanna find the best way for everything. And it’s just not practical. You can’t do that in life. So I’ll give you an example. My coach was asking me about the clients that I wanna work with and why it is that clients choose me.

And I was sitting there and I’m looking at her going, I don’t know. No, Leanne, you do know. Pick this client. Tell me why they picked you. Okay. So I started to talk and, she said to me, what are the things they actually asked you? Like, when you first had an intro call, what was it? And so I said, oh no, they picked me because they really wanted a team [00:06:00] who knew what they were doing.

So they saw my expertise and they didn’t want someone whose hand they would have to hold. They just wanted someone who could run with it and who was capable. And I kept talking and she paused and she goes, And that’s what you say. And I stopped. I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me. I’m trying to think about how to market better and get my messaging better and, had been swirling around with all these different ideas trying to find the right words.

And she was just sitting there going, you already know why. You’ve, they’ve told you. They’re your words. Just take them and put it over here. It was obvious. But for me, in my, but I want the best way. I couldn’t even see the obvious thing. Another example. So I have this podcast. Thank you for listening. And I’ve done lots of [00:07:00] presentations in different people’s communities.

Like I’ve done training and I’ve done guest podcasts and I’ve spoken at events. So I’ve done, a lot of things where I’ve been featured in those groups. And I want to be able to put all those as featured in things on my website. And so I said to my coach. I haven’t done it because I don’t know where on my website these things should go.

And it’s really silly. And she’s like, oh, you just put it on your speaker page. And I was like, yeah, I know, but I don’t have a speaker page. And she’s like, why? I said, because then it’s a whole thing. And then I have to work out what to write and what to say and what topics and call to actions and all the messaging.

And she just starts laughing and she’s like, No, you’re making it too hard. You just need three things. [00:08:00] Who it is you’re speaking to, what you speak about, and some testimonials. And then look, here’s some places that you’ve already spoken at. Job done. So stop making it a big thing. It doesn’t have to be this full blown, page.

And I found it hilarious. So in my head, I had made it this really big thing, and now it’s on my list of things that I have to do to get this page up. But. In thinking of it in just three sections, three things, say it like it is, fill the page, get it up, and then you can add to it as you go. And again, it’s me trying to find the right words in the right way, the best way of doing it, so that for whatever reason, before I do anything.

And because sometimes I get so entwined in messaging, and I can go down many rabbit holes because I want it to be amazing messaging, it can hold me back. So I [00:09:00] just wanted to say sometimes in business, in marketing, with messaging, we just need to go back to basics. And so if you want a really great way to get better messaging or just to start somewhere, think about reality.

Think about the literal conversations you’ve had with clients or people you’ve worked for and think about the questions that they’ve asked you, the objections that they had or look back at the testimonials. That you’ve been given and see what they say, see what words they use. And I actually find this one really good.

It’s when I look through random chit chat conversations with my clients. That’s where I find the gold. Because there’s no shiny parameter put around it. Just people organically saying what they really believe. Especially if you have a good relationship with your clients. And that’s [00:10:00] where your good messaging comes from.

And so it doesn’t have to be perfect. And if you’re trying to craft messaging, go back to those conversations, just like I did, and then add an, ‘Are you looking for a….?’ at the beginning. So from my example before, it would be, ‘Hey, are you looking for a super capable team whose hand you don’t have to hold to keep your business running like clockwork now?

Come talk to me. I’m for you.’ It doesn’t have to be lots and lots of fancy words if you’ve got something someone else has already said. And I really hope that this has made it a bit easier for you and that you can jump on the bandwagon with me of trying to make things more basic to get the outcome that we want instead of going into this overthinking spiral.[00:11:00] 

So with your messaging, I want you to think about who are you, who are you here to help, how is it that you help them, and tell me why you are not the person next to you. Bye guys, have a great day.

E23 You just lost a client, now what? The steps to take to get back on track, fast.

Leanne Woff: ​[00:00:00] Hello, hello, hello! Welcome to another episode of The Audacious OBM. [00:01:00] I’m your host, Leanne Woff, and today we are talking all things, you’ve just got that call, you’ve just got that email, you’ve lost a client. Doh, doh, doh! These are the steps. That you can take to get back on track fast. So this episode came about after a conversation I was having with somebody, one of my students in OBM Academy, and they’d just gotten an email that out of the blue, they were losing one of their clients.

No wait list, no pipeline. And now they’re down a client and everything that comes with that. Cue panic. We’ve all been there. We all know what that’s like, and we all know how stressful it can be. Especially if it’s unexpected. And this is something I’m actually seeing a lot right now, because some people are pulling [00:02:00] the purse strings tighter.

It’s not as easy to secure a lead as it used to be. People aren’t buying as quickly. So, in their panic state, I started talking to my student, and I said, okay, so let’s look at the things that you can do. The first thing was to review the facts. And I’m talking about the emotional impact.

Okay, so this is stressful. I feel uncomfortable. I feel sad. I feel upset. I feel angry. Whatever it is. This is unexpected. Maybe it was unjust. There’s an emotional impact. The financial impact. Okay, so now I’m down money. That’s the reality. Lose a client, revenue goes down, unless you replace the revenue.

It’s going to have an impact. This is what that impact is. This is [00:03:00] what it’s worth. Mindset impact. Okay, so I’ve lost this client. Is it me? Did I do the wrong thing? Could I have done something differently? Maybe I can’t work with anybody else now. Maybe I’m not good enough. And we go into this spiral. So I want you to analyse all those bits.

And then… I want you to set this aside for a minute. Let’s just park it. You’ll work it out. You always do. And even if, financial impact, you can’t get a new client tomorrow, you will work it out. That doesn’t mean you need to work it out this minute. And it might not look the way you think. It might be, okay, this week I’m going to buy home brand bread instead of brand bread.

You know, there’s all different ways you can do it. Doesn’t necessarily have to be business at the end of the day. You need to make sure [00:04:00] that you can cover all your bases. But we’re going to park that for a sec, because stress and overwhelm is not going to help. Then, once we’ve decided that we’re going to put that over there just for a second, we will get back to it.

We need to get logical. Nothing that you do today or even tomorrow will, bam, get you that new client. It doesn’t matter how stressed you are, how frantic you are, or how many panicked emails and phone calls you send and make, it’s not the way business generally works. You need to remain calm and clear.

It’s the only way you’ll be able to think properly and make better decisions. It’s your only way, so I want you to remember that. Calm and clear. We want to be logical as much as we can, remove the emotion. Number [00:05:00] three, we want to look back. Now, this is where we go, What caused this? Why am I in this position?

Why do I feel this way? Why did I lose the client? Now, the panic behind it, so regardless of whatever the reason is that you lost that client, the panic that you feel Is because you don’t have somebody knocking on your door saying, Oh, I want this spot. I want this spot. Or you wouldn’t be panicking.

So that panic is because you don’t have a lead pipeline. Maybe it’s cause you’ve not really been marketing. Maybe you felt you didn’t really need to. People have always just come to you, or it’s word of mouth. Or you’ve had the same clients for a really long time, and that’s great. So that’s what’s looking back.

What caused this? What marketing have I been doing? What’s my leads like? Where do they usually come from? [00:06:00] Then, I want you to look forward. Now, remembering we’ve parked your current situation to the side. Look forward. Look to a year from now. You don’t have this problem anymore. It’s resolved. It’s done.

You’ve got new inquiries coming in all the time. You’ve got a waitlist of hungry clients waiting till you have a spot. That’s your situation. Now I want you to think about why. Why might that be? What does your business look like at that point? And what’s it doing and what’s it doing well?

So once you’ve looked at that, felt it, thought about it, I want you to make a list. Make a list of all those things, the things that your business might be doing. We’re consistently building our email list. We’ve got a sales strategy. We’re connecting in [00:07:00] conversation with all different people we’re speaking or we’re, proactively asking for referrals.

Whatever it is. I want you to start thinking about what is building that pipeline for your business in a year. Once you’ve got that list of all different things, you then need to think about what’s the first, just one logical step you can take towards that. If you’ve got a list of all the things that your business would be doing to be in that situation, and you know what currently is happening in your business, we want to get here.

So we want to look at that first. That’s your new focus. The panic is not your focus. The find a new client is not your whole, all consuming focus. Your focus is let’s get some systemization, let’s get some new leads in. And this is what’s going to lead us there.[00:08:00] Number six, big warning. Do not get stuck in, I’ll just do more for my other clients, trap.

 Let’s remember, we’ve lost a client, we’re panicked, we’ve still got other clients. And by autopilot, we might just go, Oh, I’ll just work harder in here. Whether we really need to or not, I’ll just do more. I’ll just do more. And we do this because it’s our safe place. We know what we’re doing. We can execute the way we always have.

And we don’t have to stretch ourselves. This space is comfortable. And it’s also your one way ticket to going nowhere. We need to venture out outside our comfort zone. And we need to get uncomfortable, even a little bit. If you want to prevent this from happening again, if you do want to find that new client, you got to get comfy with trying new things, because if you do the [00:09:00] same thing and expect a different result, it’s just not going to happen.

I wish, but it won’t. Number seven, I want you to review the opportunity. So we’ve switched gears a little bit here. We’re no longer running away from the panic and the stress. We’re reviewing the opportunity. We’re looking forward. So I’ve lost a client. What does that mean for my day-to-day? What does that mean for my time?

What does it mean for my schedule? I still have the other client work. I know how much of my time that takes up. I know how much of my time my last client that’s gone took up. So technically… I’ve got more capacity now. I want you to measure it. I want you to actually realize how much time that is because I don’t want you to [00:10:00] unconsciously waste it.

What we want to do is prioritize that time. We want to use it wisely and we want to stay focused on the things we listed above. Let’s get this business back on track and let’s do it fast. You won’t do that if you keep wondering what to do next, what to do next. You’ll do it by doing the actions that you’ve already listed.

Then, the last thing that I want you to do is systemize whatever it is you put in place. What we don’t want is for this to be a start and stop activity. Once the panic has resided, we want to keep doing the things we’ve built in. So, if that is- Okay, I’ve now… got a plan to build my email list or I’ve now got a way to network better, whatever it is that you’ve put in place, create a system around it, because what [00:11:00] the worst thing that you can do is wait till you get a new client and then stop because you’re too busy.

But that’s how we got here in the first place. So if it is, upgrading your lead onboarding process, upgrading your sales calls, making it easier for people to buy from you. When you’re coming up with solutions for these things, think about it from a whole system perspective. What does this look like on a day-to-day?

What does, what needs to be done to keep this going indefinitely? Okay, because then you really won’t be in this position again. Each time you add one of these things to get to that future point of got a lead pipeline, it’s okay. Got a wait list of hungry clients, it’s okay. It’s because you’re doing these things and you’re doing them consistently.

And it doesn’t mean there has to be a whole lot of manual work. It might be manual at the start and then you automate it. Because we always do the [00:12:00] process, try the process, then improve it, automate it. So we want to make this as easy as possible, but still getting the traction that we need. And Before I said to you, we’ll come back to our panic.

Now you can come back to your panic and I want you to create a space where that panic has the time of day where you can step aside and go, this is really stressful, even if it’s talking to a friend, talking to your coach, talking to another OBM, whoever it is, and going, Hey, this happened. And it’s a lot of pressure, let that out, but don’t stay there.

And then also look at other solutions to your problems because just getting a new client might not be the thing that you need. It’s not the thing that’s the quickest to fix, like the quickest way to get more money might be to [00:13:00] cancel your email subscription. That’s going to get you more money than trying to reel, quicker than reeling in a new client.

So there’s different things you can do, so just be open. So I hope that this has helped you. I’m going to leave you with one final note. And that is, this happens to us all. You’re not alone. And the more practical we can be about it, and try not to get bogged down with the emotion, the easier it will be and the faster you will get traction again.

Because you’re staying in business growth mode. And that’s what you want. Bye guys. Have a great week.

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E21 How to find your first OBM client

 [00:00:00] hello! Welcome to another episode of The Audacious [00:01:00] OBM. I am Leanne Woff, your host, and today we are talking all things how to find your first OBM client. I know this is something that a lot of people struggle with. I get messages on Instagram about it, I get students in OBM Academy asking me about it, but how do you find those clients?

And then the second phase is how do you find the really good clients? So I thought it would be good to talk about it on the podcast and hopefully give you some things to try. I’ve got 12 things. They’re not exhaustive, but they’re all things you can do right now. I hope that they help you. The first thing is Clarity Is King.

What I mean by that is OBM is still a bit of an elusive term. People don’t fully get it. Yeah, a lot of OBMs don’t get it. And then there are a lot of people who are OBMs that don’t even realize they’re OBMs. [00:02:00] What it means is, in any kind of marketing, we need to be clear about what it is we do and who it is we do it for.

Two things. Learn how to say it. And I don’t care if you say it in two sentences or five or ten. As long as you’re clear and you’re confident when you’re talking about it, that’s all that matters. But that piece is really crucial. If you’re trying to find clients, they want someone who’s confident. They want someone that they know can solve their problem.

And if you want to get referrals from anyone else, they need to know what it is that you do and what you do well to be able to go, Oh yeah, that’s Leanne. So get super clear. That’s number one. Number two is to make friends. And talk a lot. What I mean by that is I [00:03:00] literally built Audacious Empires by networking.

I built it from the ground up and a lot of it was peopling because I like people. Now you might think, oh that’s easy for her because she’s an extrovert. What you don’t know is that I’m an extrovert who very much cares about what people think of her. And also, used to find it very stressful going to events with lots of people there, especially if I didn’t know anybody.

And I would go, I’d be nervous, I wouldn’t really talk to that many people because I wouldn’t know what the rules were, and I wouldn’t know what to do, and I wouldn’t know what to say. And then, one time I was talking to somebody, and they were relieved. Because I just went up and I started talking to them because I felt awkward and felt like I needed to talk to someone, otherwise I’d just be standing there like a wallflower.

And they were just chatting and somehow, [00:04:00] they came across and they were like, I’m so glad you came and spoke to me because these things make me so nervous. And I thought, really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This has made it so much easier, from then on, I changed the way I saw it. Because… Now, I could do something that would be helpful, and another thing about me is that I’m a very helpful human.

I genuinely, naturally help people in all different ways. And the second that it became not about me, it became easy. So too, I can push my comfort zone if it’s for someone else. And so I decided that when I went into these networking events, I would pretend that all of these people, A, already liked me and were just happy to have a chat, and B, just needed someone to [00:05:00] take the edge off so they could be who they were.

And it made it so different. I walked in with the attitude of these are already my friends. And so I didn’t have to do the formal introduction. See you later. They already know who I am. I could just have a genuine conversation with a human being. And ask them how they were, and ask them how their day was.

And find out little bits of information, and ask a lot of questions. Here is a key for networking. Ask questions. Because when you ask someone a question, it’s heaps easier for them to give you an answer than if it’s just open ended and everybody’s trying to work out what you’re talking about. And then you start a conversation.

They’ll ask you a question, you ask them a question, and you let the conversation naturally just be a conversation. It does not have to be a push, push, push style. Because people will remember you if you acknowledge them, [00:06:00] if you really see them. And I was always really helpful, because in conversations, if I found out, Oh, this person has been struggling with blah, and I knew how to fix that thing, I was gonna give them suggestions and say, Have you tried this?

Have you tried that? And they were always so happy just to have somebody to throw ideas around with, and also a little bit blown away because people don’t usually do that. They’re not thinking about another person and helping another person. They’re standing there thinking about them. So it made it easy for me to do and it made other people feel good.

So make friends and talk a lot. Number three, don’t be shy. Make sure people know you’re looking for opportunities. So people will not know that you have capacity or that you’ve even opened an OBM business. [00:07:00] Unless you talk about it all the time. Hey guys, I’m looking for someone who needs help with ActiveCampaign because I really love automations and I’m wanting to push my skills further.

Or, it’s been a while since I’ve played with this tool and I’m super keen. Or there’s a new, there’s a new tool out and I want to see how I can get the best output out of it. Does anyone know someone that’s using this? Start saying, hey, I have capacity, I’m looking for new clients, or I’ve got you know those social posts that you see that then have hey, we have an opening.

Sometimes you see them, and if you go and look at the brand, they’ve got that every second week. But, unless you go that far, all people see is, oh yeah, they’ve got a spot, and it registers. So we just want to be making sure that people know [00:08:00] we’ve got room and that the people next to us who could potentially refer us, Hey guys, just want to let you know, I’ve got a few gaps now.

I need some clients. So just think of me if you find people that need one, two, three. It is about keeping the message going because it’s, one of those things where unless we hear it 30 times in the last five minutes, then we forget it two minutes later. Be, don’t be shy. Number four, be clear about what you do.

And how people can work with you. So we started with clarity being king and being able to communicate what it is we do and who it is we work for. Now we need to be clear about how people can work with us. Hey, I’ve got four different ways that people can work with me. I can come in and I can do the job for them.

They can book a power hour call and they can ask me anything they want. I can do an audit. , or I can just have a free chat. [00:09:00] Make it very clear on this is how you can book in with me in all different ways. Unless there is just one way that you work, in that case, that’s the one way. Be clear about how people take that action.

Hey guys, just click the link. It’ll take you to the call booking page and then at the scheduled time, I’ll see you then. Be clear. People need easy and specific instructions. Bye. Network online and offline and answer questions. There’s lots of different ways to network. And I know that I spoke about making friends before, but this is about networking with the sense of expanding your business on purpose.

So when you go to business events, even if it is, if it’s a conference, it doesn’t have to be a specific networking situation, but making [00:10:00] friends and connections and explaining your business and saying what you’re looking for and actually building business connections. So other people that have businesses and remembering them and what you can do for them.

So if you refer other people, they’re going to remember you. So when you’re going and you’re networking, see the person and the opportunity that there is. And advocate for them too. And a lot of that time, if you’re looking through, Facebook, and you’re in a whole bunch of Facebook groups, there are people there that are asking questions all the time.

And there’s two ways you can go, well, three ways you can go about it. You can ignore them, you can answer the question and put yourself forward for things that you’re interested in, or you can answer questions that you actually don’t have the answer to, [00:11:00] but recommend someone else who does. And that is all about networking.

You bring yourself this ability and you’re giving someone that you’ve met an opportunity. That’s what it’s all about. It doesn’t have to be this big complex thing, but recognize the people and give them opportunities. Make it a conscious thing to be networking. Six is join industry groups and job boards.

 One thing that I did when I started my business was… I remember the day that I worked out there has to be other people that do the same thing as me and there has to be somewhere where they go or someone who can teach them and I discovered, um, VA memberships and joined them. It was the best thing ever.

There’s people who got me, they had job boards, they had job leads and one thing I do know is people go for the [00:12:00] They go for the job leads, they stay for the community every time. And so if you can be in these groups, you will learn and accelerate, you will build more connections, you will get better at sales and marketing, plus they’ll have job leads that you can apply for.

And what you’ll notice is as you go through your business life, like you’ll rely less on things like job leads. At the start, you’ll probably apply for a lot, even if they’re not ideal because you just need some money in your pocket. But after a while, you won’t need them once your brand is established, but you’ll still want the community.

 That’s something else that I did. I joined those groups. Number seven is join partner programs and certification training. So a lot of different tools or methods have partner programs that you can join. And usually it’s free and you can get an affiliate link. And I always did it with. Mainly, that I really loved.[00:13:00]

And so if I was using a tool and I liked it, I would see if they had a partner program. They did. I would sign up. I do all the training to become a partner. Usually it’s free training on how to use the tool and different capabilities, which I liked anyway, which would then help me use it with clients. And I would be certified in that.

Then I would get an affiliate link. So anytime I was talking to a client and that tool was something I thought they need or a lead, I would say, I have a link that can get you this discount because usually they come with some kind of perk if you use your affiliate link. And. That would then give you a tiny piece of revenue.

But beyond that, most of these places have directories. And you’ll find that being certified in something and being in those directories gets you inquiries and leads too. And there is never one where you just get inundated [00:14:00] with hundreds of leads and you can’t possibly handle them all from one day to the next.

But the idea here is that we create opportunities in all different areas in our business so that we can have consistent leads coming from different places. So that’s another one that you can do is join those partner programs, get in those directories, learn those tools and that will help you. The next one, number eight, get on socials and make connections.

So when, what I mean by this is I could have given you a social media marketing strategy on here. Yes, I know how to do that, but. I don’t want you to do that. I don’t want you to put all of your time and your energy into socials. Especially if what you need is a client. Because socials is a long game. It really is, especially just posting.

And socials change all the time. It can be really, really hard and it’s that constant up and down of the algorithm likes me today, it doesn’t.[00:15:00] Get on socials, but make connections. Use them specifically for specific things. Learn who it is that you need to connect with or following up from networking events.

Have DM conversations. Start tagging people in different things. Look at other people’s posts and feeds and comment on them. Use socials, but just be really clever about how you’re going to use it. Don’t waste all your time trying to come up with amazing posts all the time. Number nine, track what you’re doing and follow up.

Keep the conversations going. In everything that you do, you’re investing time. And what you don’t want to do is invest all this time up front and then just let things die off. And the world is fast paced. We want to be checking back in with people. We want to be having that conversation. Hey, how are you going?

It does not have to be a sales pitch. It can be a conversation. And it’s reaffirming your brand. And it’s [00:16:00] reminding them that you’re a person they had a conversation with, a real human. And oh yeah, she’s that OBM. And I tell you what, the more that that happens and the more that they connect the two things, when someone’s looking for an OBM, it’s you that they’re going to remember.

 Make sure you’re tracking it and you’re keeping up with people, especially so you can see what works and what actually turns into a job because you’ll want to do more of those things. Number 10. Create mutually beneficial collaborations. If you know… Hey! I am an OBM who works with marketing agencies and there’s my friend over here who’s a branding coach who also works with marketing agencies.

Maybe we can do something together and we can then create something for marketing agencies. It gives those agencies two things for one, and then we can leverage each other’s [00:17:00] audiences because maybe some of the clients of the branding person needs an OBM. And maybe some of the OBM, some of the clients of the OBM need a branding coach.

And you start creating things that can be fun, and they don’t have to be big. They can be little. You can do joint lives. It can be whatever you want it to be. But it’s another way to start helping people in an outside the box manner. Number 11. If you need quick cash, subcontract. So, subcontracting, you’re working at a lower rate, but you’re not paying for the marketing and the sales and the business running and all of those things.

, if you’re in these groups, find other OBMs and say, Hey, I’m new, or hey, all my clients quit, or whatever it is. I’m available for some subby work and it will get you money on the [00:18:00] table for now. It’ll also teach you a lot, like I’ve subbed for other people at the beginning and I always learnt so much.

It’s great. , I don’t want it to be seen as something that’s not going to make me big money, so I’m not going to even try it. It’s like for right now, if you need food and cash in your pocket, put that hand up because you’ll learn so much, you’ll make more friends, you’ll get support and connections. And it doesn’t matter if the rate is a little bit lower than what your external client rate is because it’s meeting a need right now.

And then number 12 is don’t be spammy. There is nothing worse than people who just sell, sell, sell, sell, sell and they keep all the good bits to themselves. Like I’m a big advocate for be a person first and I want people who want to work with me. And people who are ready to trust me, not just anyone on the face of the planet.

And [00:19:00] I don’t want to be even working with someone that only decided to work with me to shut me up because I emailed them 27 times. Like we don’t want that. We want to build relationships. We want to build connections. We want to solve real problems and we want people to see who we really are. That’s how you’re going to find clients.

Be being you in the right places at the right time. And the only way to do it is to start and try some things. The final thing that I want to leave you with is it will happen. It can feel like when you start any business that it’s going to take forever. And every day feels like a year, and every minute feels like an hour, until it finally does happen.

And I remember the day when I thought, hang on a second, surely if I just stick around long enough, this has to work because more people will know about me. And they’ll know about me and they’ll know [00:20:00] about me and I’ll be around and they’ll be like, Oh, this chick’s been here forever. She must know what she’s doing just because she’s been here so long.

And then that gave me such relief because it meant that all I had to do was be patient. I can do that. And then it was easier. I wasn’t so stressed about when that first client was coming, if it was going to work ever. It became a, yeah, it’s going to work. I just have to wait and do what I can until it does.

So I just wanted to give you that little bit of hope, reassurance. Just do one thing at a time and expand your opportunities and it’ll be okay. There you go. There are 12 things that will help you get your first OBM client. Have a great day everybody. Thanks for joining me.

Leanne Woff: And I’ll see you next week. Bye!

 [00:21:00]

E20 How to manage creative visionaries with lots of ideas

Leanne Woff: [00:00:00] hello, hello, hello! Welcome to this week’s episode of The Audacious [00:01:00] OBM. I’m your host, Leanne Woff. And today we are talking about how to manage creative visionaries with lots of ideas. So I don’t know about you, but a lot of people that I work with are ideas people. I’m an online business manager, a business integrator, and naturally those roles complement someone who is very creative.

Who has ambitions, who, popcorns ideas, who wants a sounding board, who wants a strong personality that can help run with their vision. And somebody who is that kind of person has usually has certain personality traits. So today I want to talk through some things that might help you help them manage all of these ideas.

Because as online business managers, we’re quite practical and logical [00:02:00] and we like order and structure. And we can see that you can’t do everything at once. There has to be some measure and some priority piece. All right, so the first thing that I’m going to talk to you about is understanding visionaries.

These people have started a business and usually there’s a big reason they’ve started it. And that just grows. Whatever impact it is that they want, that grows. And usually it’s founded in something for the greater good. They want to help people. They want to make a change. They, want to see the world differently.

They want to solve a problem or open an opportunity. And it is like a fire in their belly. Now, when you’re faced with a desire that is that deep, there is no, let’s just go slow; because [00:03:00] it’s just pure this has to happen. They need to see this change in the world. And so they will run at a hundred miles an hour. And what we need to recognize is that’s who they are.

Like doing that and coming up with innovative ways and new new paths to take to help people or to make that vision their reality, it’s all part of their zone of genius. That’s them doing exactly what they should be doing and what comes naturally to them doing. And so when we’re looking at working with clients like this, it can go two ways.

One way? is we can, as online business managers, get really frustrated because we feel like the expectations are too high. There’s too much going on. How can they possibly expect that we’re going to be able to do all of this or achieve all of that? It’s [00:04:00] just never going to happen. Or we can put our frustration to the side.

And recognize that they’re doing their job. Their job is to bring the vision and the constant evolving vision. And it is our job to bring that to life in the best way possible. And it is not meaning we can do everything all at once. Yeah, we can plan it all. Yes, we can have conversations and dig more into what outcome we are wanting to see and what the best way is to get there and to have that kind of relationship and to actually achieve some of these goals, you cannot do it from a place of frustration because somebody else is super excited. It actually has nothing to do with you. It has to do with how deep their desire is for change.

That was the first thing. You need to understand the visionaries. The second [00:05:00] thing to managing people with lots and lots of ideas is that you need to be a smooth talker and a straight talker. So we know that when we’re very excited about something, a lot of the time our mouth moves before our brain. And so we start saying things out of this excitement.

And these are the kinds of things that you say in the next day. You’re like, that’s a terrible idea. Like parsley and what, why, where did that even come from? That’s silly. And that’s just part and parcel. And in normal everyday life, we accept that. But when we’re looking in business land, it’s like little decisions in the spur of moment can like twist things very quickly.

And so we have to recognize when the time is for smooth talking and when the time is for straight talking. Smooth [00:06:00] talking is when something is, something that is genuine and could be a nice idea. And it it’s valid, but maybe not right now. And so if you notice that your client is in this position of super excitement and, chucks out some random idea, and then wants you to be excited about it and wants to do it right now, this is when we do smooth talking.

This is when we say, that’s a fantastic idea. I really love it. Let’s just, let’s talk about it next week and have a look at what that looks like. Knowing that the likelihood is in two days they will have forgotten that thing. If it is purely from a burst of excitement, that idea isn’t going to stick.

Especially if it’s not a strategic one that’s going to get them closer to the impact they want to make. And honestly, there is no [00:07:00] point in arguing about it. Be on the Yes Team, but know when to push back and when to agree. Or when to go, you know what, I need to find opportunities for this. So we want to be in their corner and constantly saying, I’m not doing any new things is not going to get you there.

Then straight talking. Straight talking is when there is lots of ideas and, it’s the week later and they still want to do it. When it gets to that point and you know that everything is everything’s already full, there is no capacity to do this. And potentially the capacity to do that. , if you went to do it, it would detract from something else. And that’s where you have to share a straight up, more direct opinion of, Hey, this seems like a really good idea and it might be an amazing idea. [00:08:00] But if we do that now, this is what’s going to happen. And you’re potentially risking something else falling over.

Is that okay with you? And then a conversation that I have had with my clients quite a few times is. I get really invested in my clients businesses and I tell them that and I say, I’m really invested in what I’m doing with you and I’m really big on not just charging people money and good money for nothing or to not bring value.

And so when I see them making decisions that potentially could actually make them go backwards, I feel like it’s my responsibility to at least share my perspective. And I’m not saying they can’t do anything, but I am saying, if you’re going to make us do this, this is the impact we’re already at capacity.

We’re not going to be able to do these other five things. [00:09:00] And at the end of the day, it’s going to end up costing you 10 grand to do that now, instead of just waiting two months. Is that really what you want to do? Because you’ve already invested all this money in me to get this thing to 90%. Let’s do the last 10.

Let’s get the ROI. A lot of the time, my clients hear that because I’m not coming from a place of I just want to tell you what to do, it makes sense and it’s coming from a place of I want the best for you. We’ve got to navigate the timing, the conversations, when to smooth talk and when to straight talk.

Number three in managing creative idea visionaries is… Be yes and people. So I remember sitting in a conversation with a client and there was me and there was a couple other contractors in there all doing different roles, we’re [00:10:00] all coordinating a project together and the client said something and one of the other suppliers just said no we can’t do that and I heard it and I was so shocked, literally shocked.

I could not believe that came out of someone’s mouth. And what shocked me was that it wasn’t something that couldn’t be done, and I knew that. So to have that, no, we’re not doing that, and then to just keep going, I just thought that’s not going to get you very far because you haven’t validated the thought.

And it might be it’s not practical to do that. It might be it will cost more if we’re going to do that. All of those things are okay. But to just do the hard no from the idea point, it really rattled me because that’s never been my approach. My approach has always been, if someone is saying this, there’s a reason they’re saying [00:11:00] it.

There’s some want or need in there that’s making them go, how about this? And I don’t want to be a no for the sake of no person. I want to be a yes person, and sometimes it’s a yes and… okay, great. You want to do that? Cool. Alright, if we do that, we’re also going to need to get more revenue in to pay for it, or it means that the invoice is going to go up, it’s going to cost us more, and we need more people.

Or, yes, we can absolutely do it, and we’re going to do it in two months time. So it’s how can we make all of those No’s from impracticality, Yes’s. And it’s not saying to do unrealistic things. It’s just giving people the choices and the opportunities of where they want to take things and how they want to go about it and not being cranky about it.

Number four is create a dumping ground. The ideas won’t stop. Even [00:12:00] if we’re overwhelmed, even if we’re really busy, even if our client is catering on burnout, they’re not going to stop coming up with ideas. You need a dumping ground. And so a lot of the time when I know clients are in this space and we don’t even have time to think about planning something, I say, that’s cool, I’ll put it in this spot in Asana.

Got a big long list of all the ideas, of all the things we want to do, of all the innovations. And then, when we come to planning what’s next, they’re all there. They haven’t gone missing, and we can pick one. And gives us the ability to validate that something is a good idea and is there and that it’s kept safe.

It hasn’t been discounted as bad and it won’t be forgotten. But right now, the practicality for it isn’t there. Number five. Now, this one is big, and it’s create parallels between goals, actions, [00:13:00] and outcomes. The need and the want. To do the shiny things is big here. Creative visionaries. Oh, this person’s doing that, maybe I could do that.

Or how could I do this, but use it for my business and do it this way? Or, oh, this got a really big response, how can we do that more? And it builds and it builds. So how do we keep these people on track? The way that we do it, Is get really clear on why we’re doing what we’re doing. So we need to build the bridges between, okay, we’ve said that we’re here to do this thing, to do this thing, these are the actions that we need to take.

And this is what we can expect the outcome to be. And so the way that they’re linked is then when we change that action piece, when we go, Ooh, there’s this thing. And can’t we just do [00:14:00] that? It’s well. It doesn’t really fit anymore because we’ve got this nice thread here where we’ve got goals, options, outcomes, and you’ve just plunked a random action here that doesn’t really fit into the goal or the outcome.

So what is that? And does it really make sense? And if we can build that channel through everything, where are we going? How are we going to get there? What do we expect it to look like? Then when random ideas come through, even if they’re great, We can go back to, okay, that means we might not be able to achieve our outcome.

Is that okay with you? It gives us that basis.

The number six is be the business advocate and rely on logic. So your visionary has [00:15:00] got the excitement and the creativity of it. They do not need another person with ultra enthusiasm and, running around, coming up with all fun, fun, fun ideas. They nailed that. And yes, they need a supporter and they need a cheerleader and they need someone who’s doing it with them, but they need somebody who can look after their business because that’s what you’re there for.

And so if they’re sitting in the place of their creative space, which is where they should be. They need you to be in your space and they need to be able to trust that you will protect their business sometimes from them. And so what I mean by that is if your visionary is coming up with more ideas and it’s going to impact the traction that you’re getting or it’s going to delay [00:16:00] something, or, even potentially it’s going to make explosive growth, it’s your job to look at these ideas from a business perspective, and then to go back to them.

Hey, that’s going to be really great, but it’s actually going to cost us more than it’s going to make us. How badly do you want to do this thing? If we’re relying on logic, we’re still giving them the power to make their decisions. But, from a business perspective, we’re putting up guardrails to say, Are you actually okay with this?

And this is the impact it could have here, or here, because likely they haven’t thought about it from that way, because that’s not their zone, that’s yours. And so you need to advocate for ways that are going to be the best for the business while still giving these visionaries the life they need.

And the final thing is to be conscious of risk. Some [00:17:00] people are very risk averse. Some people are, not faced at all with risk. A lot of the people fall somewhere in the middle of all of that. And it’s a scale. It’s not one or the other. And sometimes people with lots of ideas, risk doesn’t really factor in.

They just see an idea and run with the excitement and they haven’t thought of the flip side of it. And so then it becomes our job to think of the flip side and try and minimize the risk. And then some people have lots of ideas, but they’re very risk of it. And sometimes what that does is. Stops them from growing because they’re too scared to make a move in case it’s the wrong one.

They have all the ideas. They can change the world, but it might feel a bit uncomfortable or a little bit risky to [00:18:00] push the envelope too much. And so then it’s our job to really reflect what that risk is back to them and ask them if it’s worth it, because what the impact for them in their head, it might be massive.

Whereas in reality, it’s like, no, your whole business won’t fall apart if you try this. And if it doesn’t work, The whole world’s not going to think you’re an idiot. It’ll be okay. So then we’re equipping them to make the best decisions they can make in the space that they’re in. And so I really hope that this has been helpful.

I know that it can be challenging when you’re doing the tug of war with people, especially when we’re blending creative and logic. But both are so crucial for business growth and so it’s really important that we understand how to make them connect easier and to understand it’s not a war. It, we are not against each other.

You want things to work well so at the end of the day everybody wins. Yeah, so I hope that [00:19:00] helps. If it resonates, let me know. Leave me a fast five star? A five star? A 5 star review. If you enjoyed this, tell me what your favourite bit was. And I’ll see you next week. Bye!

 [00:20:00]

E19 How to help clients who don’t know what they should do

Leanne Woff: [00:00:00] Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to our next episode of the Audacious OBM. I’m Leanne [00:01:00] Woff and today we are talking about how to help clients who don’t know what they should do. I’m sure that there has been a time for you where you have been chatting with a client and they feel like they’re pulled in lots of different directions or they’re trying to achieve goals and they don’t know how to get there.

 In this episode, we are going to talk about how we can get them to get clear on where they need to go and how you can support them to actually get there instead of them going on lots of different tangents and then being in the same position a year later. All right. So the first thing that I want to talk to you about is.

The current status versus the destination. When we’re working with people and they feel stuck or they feel like they don’t quite know where they’re headed, there are two things that we need to look at first. The first one is where they are [00:02:00] now. So getting a really solid idea of what’s happening in their business, what’s happening in their life and where they have gone so far.

 What has led them to this place? That gives us something concrete we can work with. And then the second thing that we need to look at is the destination. How can you create a pathway to an end goal if you don’t know where you’re going? And it can be fun to have no destination and to go on a wild adventure.

But often, if your clients don’t know what to do, they want someone to help them work out what to do. And to do that, we need to work out where we’re going. And once we have a really solid idea of, okay, this is where we’re starting now, this is our current status, this is what led us here this is what feels good, this is what doesn’t feel good.

And this is where we want to go. What is that big destination? And it can be [00:03:00] as specific or as broad as you want, because then once you have a destination, you can break that down. And no one has ever, ever run a business with just one plan. There’s a plan and then there’s plans inside those plans. So what we’re trying to do with our clients in this first piece, is get them to solidify on something.

Something that is true and feels good about what they’re wanting. Now once they know, okay, this is where we want to go, then what do we do? I want to explain the role of overwhelm. Usually, if people know where they want to go but they don’t know how to get there, or they can’t see clearly, or they’re doing too many things, or they just can’t choose, It’s because they’re overwhelmed.

And when someone is overwhelmed, you [00:04:00] actually can’t process any new information. You could be working with a client and finding that you’re having the same conversations over and over again, and they’re not retaining what you’re saying. And there’s two things. One, you can get frustrated and feel like you’re not being heard.

Or two, it’s because they’re actually very overwhelmed and they’re not They don’t remember what you’ve said. They can’t fully grasp it and they might be able to grasp it kind of on the edges as you’re talking to them, but they won’t be able to hold on to that idea.  When we’re trying to help clients navigate through decisions and knowing what to do. We have to recognize when overwhelm is at play and deal with that, because if we can’t deal with that, you’re not going to get anywhere and they’re not going to be able to choose. They can’t decide and they can’t see clearly. So it is then working out the root of that [00:05:00] overwhelm and helping them transition to a place where they can think clearly.

Alright, now, if we have a few different ideas of where we want to go. And, some things we need to decide on, how do we help them decide? The thing that I have always done with my clients, is dug deep enough until I know why we’re doing something. So a lot of the time in business, we do a lot of things because we think that’s what we have to do.

And we do it, we do it, we do it, we do it. We’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that, we’ve got to do this, got to do that. But we don’t step back enough, frequently enough, to think about what the purpose is. And so often, that is the reason we end up pulling in different directions, and we can’t make solid decisions.

[00:06:00] It’s because we’re doing what we think we should do, or we’re just spiraling in the day-to-day of keeping everything running, that that foundation has become loose. And so when we talk to our clients and they say, I really want to grow my list, I ask them why. Now there could be a hundred different reasons someone wants to grow an email list, but, and I can assume I know which one, but I wanna know from them, why is it that you wanna do that specific thing?

Because I want to make more money. It’s like, no, growing your email list isn’t a direct line to making more money. So is it that you want to grow your email list or is it that you want to make more money? Because, let’s look at the thing you actually want and need, and then let’s come up with a plan that gets you [00:07:00] there the fastest, that is tailored to that one objective.

Whereas clients often will tell you the tactic that they’ve tried, or so and so said, I need to do this, so that I can do this, this, this, this and this.

Without that why behind it are we doing this so that you can make more money? Because if you need money and you need money fast, slowly building an email list ain’t going to get you there. If you need to be able to take a holiday from your business, that’s another thing. If you want to increase the number of speaking opportunities that you’re getting, all of these different things have different vehicles to get us there.

And so, really digging in and pushing back with clients to find out what it is we’re doing and why we’re doing it. What is it underneath that we want this to give us? That’s where we can get some solid [00:08:00] data that will help make decisions. And so what we want to do from that is we want to create a plan. So once we know, okay, no, we don’t actually want to create, we don’t actually want to grow an email list, that’s not our goal, we need to make more money and we need to make more money fast, we want to create a plan that supports that and say to our clients, have you thought about doing it this way or this way?

Have you thought about going back to past clients and offering them, you know, and to work with you again, have you thought about checking in with all the leads that you currently have? Have you thought about having a small upsell somewhere? There’s so many different ways that you can make money quickly, that where it is a direct if this works, I get money in my pocket, not if this works, I get people on my list, then I nurture them, then I have to sell them something, then I have to convert them.

So we [00:09:00] want to create a plan that gets to our objective, but that feels good. And what you’ll notice is as you’re talking to clients and giving them different options and spitballing different ideas, you, they will naturally gravitate towards one of them. And even if it is a case of quite often, we don’t know what we want, but we know what we don’t want.

Every time you come up with an idea that is not what your client wants, it’s one step closer. And we want to keep going until we’ve got something where your client goes, Oh, yes. Okay. That makes so much sense. I can’t believe I didn’t see that. And when people say that to me, I’m sitting on the other side of the screen or the table going I know why you didn’t see that.

Like you’ve been over here, overwhelmed and just trying to get through each day to get to where you need to be. Like, of course, you’re not going to be able to see everything. And [00:10:00] so it’s about keeping on going based on what we’re trying to achieve, what’s that why under there, until we’ve got a plan that they feel good about, because if they feel good about it, it means when we’re implementing it, and they wobble a little bit, because we’re humans, so we all wobble, it’s going to be easier to get them back on track and focused.

Once we know what our plan is, we want to develop a really clear reasoning behind why this is the plan we chose. And this is a conversation with your client and it is about, okay, if there are three different ways we can go about this and then you and your client and decide on option two, what you need to do is really dig around to ascertain why option two is the one you’re going with. Why do they think option two is the best? Why do you think option two is the best? [00:11:00] What is not as great about option one and three? And get that really solid, logical reasoning. Because then, you need to put in a system to remind them. This is why we chose this.

You don’t know what to do. We know that you want to get here. We then discovered that this would be the best way to get there and here’s why. So if right now you’re worried or you’re thinking maybe I should do something different, let’s look at these pieces again because the likelihood is you’re going to come to the exact same conclusion.

Oh no, I shouldn’t change the plan right now because the plan actually makes a lot of sense. And then they feel calmer. But if you haven’t got that solid reasoning, you’re going to still have this wobble and that foundation will still be rocky. And that’s not what we want. We want confident clients. [00:12:00] And then the final plea, the final piece to helping clients who don’t know what they should do is to then rely on that system and to not get exasperated.

So the more that we are attached to something, the more our emotions go up and down, and we want to see success. And so we are worried about the outcome we’re attached to it. And so if you have this system of no, no, it’s okay. And hey, this is what we’re doing. And it’s fantastic. And this is actually going to get you what you need.

And you have this on repeat. So every time you notice there’s a wobble or there’s a concern or they go back into that. Oh, should I be doing this? Or should I be doing this now? I can’t see clearly again. You’ve already built in that system to go hang on. That’s okay. This is just this. We’ve done this before and we re explain why we’re doing what we’re doing and [00:13:00] how we’re going and how they’re feeling.

And it will get them back on track and it will help them feel secure and they’ll be confident in their decision because if they’re wobbling in the decisions, then you never get as much traction. You never get as much success because they haven’t bought into it. So that is my opinion on how you can really help your clients when they’re stuck and they need to make decisions or they want to progress and they don’t really know how.

This is how you can do it and it’s systematic and for me, every time I’ve done it this way, it has worked and then all of the opportunities for my clients business is open because we have a clear direction that makes sense to them and they feel good again and they have energy again. So I hope that that helps you let me know what you think.

If you are listening to this podcast, please leave me a raving review [00:14:00] because that’s how other people find the podcast. And that’s how I know that I’m on the right track and giving you what you need. Thanks so much guys. Have a great day.