Yes to Me

(Photo by tanja de Bie)

My fellow small business owners: How many people don’t know what you do?

Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz threw this question in her article Let’s Play A Game – What’s Your Small Business? because she found out not all her blog readers know what she does for a living. She says,

I got to thinking… how many of your readers don’t know about your IttyBiz? How many knew one time 8 months ago when they read your About page but have promptly forgotten? How many of them have room on their credit cards? How many of them know people who could use your products or services? How many of them would fall over their own feet to recommend you but don’t have a damn clue what you really do?

Hmm. If it can happen even to an A-list blogger like her, it can happen to me, I guess. This blog is still so young and I don’t always write about my services in blog posts. So I started writing my answers to her questions . . .

Do I know what I am doing? Do I at least know what I don’t know?

Writing I did. Definitely the worst writing I ever did. I slept over it, and finally admitted to myself: This is no good.

Not that I don’t know what I do. Not that I never thought about how to present my services to new people. It’s that her questions are the kind of pointed questions that really ask about my marketing plan of my business. Like the USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Also, I have so much to say about my services (I love what I do, you know) that it’s hard for me to put it in short neat sentences.

So I did what I preach: I asked for help.

I call it Team Building in my e-workbook 7 Check Points For Aspiring Entrepreneurs. We don’t need to be everything and do everything. Seek the right help. It’s faster and easier to get things done. (By “Team” I mean everyone who can help an entrepreneur take her business off the ground and moving – CPA’s, attorneys, strategic partners, coaches, employees. . . and marketing specialists.)

So far, I have exchanged several emails with her and talked with her once. She is wonderful. Just bouncing ideas with her gets my creative juices flow. So here is my response to her “game” for now — I’m thinking of following up on this when she gets back to me with more great ideas.

What’s your game? What do you do?

I help people who is stuck and find it hard to get out of the rut. These are smart people who have high aspirations and know how to live better, but somehow can’t help doing things the old way. . . I just think it is such a shame that these good people try and try so hard without realizing a few critical points. As a professionally trained coach, I can often see what they are missing.

It’s one thing to have a generic understanding of how to live better – you can learn this by reading good self-help books and blogs. However, it’s quite another to implement the changes in your own life. I help my clients make their own action plans that are best for their own situations and personalities.

Logistically, I usually schedule one phone session per week. The length of time clients work with a coach varies, but typically two to six months.

Additionally, I will be offering soul reading and clearing soon. I’m very excited about this new service because I think it will give a new dimension of understanding to our life’s struggles.

Why do you do it? Do you love it, or do you just have one of those creepy knacks?

I love it. Also, I’d like to think I’m good at it. Just for fun, I recently took Gallup’s StrengthFinder test and the result confirms my talents to find the best qualities in people and help them utilize the strengths to the max.

Moreover, I’m very intuitive. I’ve always known this, and I’m glad I’ve found a way to train it systematically so that I can put it into practical use.

It’s like my whole life has been preparing me to do these services. I’ve re-invented myself and my life a few times. The major ones are when I came to this country and when I quit my nice corporate job. I know how to put ideas to action.

Who are your customers? What kind of people would need or want what you offer?

If you feel you can do so much better but somehow find it hard to actually do what you intend to do, talk to me. (That doesn’t make you a loser – real losers don’t have dreams nor goals. Or don’t see the benefits of getting assistance.)

This is where Naomi gave me an insight. In her email, she said my target clients were “anyone who read Oprah magazine.” What a brilliant way to put it! While I think men would also benefit from my services a great deal, it does describe my main client group.

I also work with aspiring entrepreneurs and new entrepreneurs. I guess people who take themselves serious enough to start their own businesses are open and willing to have coaches.

What’s your marketing USP (Unique Selling Proposition)? Why should I buy from you instead of the other losers?

This is the hardest question. For one thing, I don’t think other coaches are “losers” at all. I think if a business owner has to put down her competitors, she has a problem, not her competitors. I certainly would like to think of myself better than that. There are plenty of people who would benefit from having a coach, so all quality coaches can thrive.

However, I do understand the need to differentiate myself in the market. Again, this is a tough question because it’s hard to see myself in others’ eyes. So, until she gets back to me with more professional advise, here is my answer:

I can bring out the courage within you that you may not know you have. I’ve been through challenging times when my faith was pretty much all I could rely on. And I know how hard it is to take courage at face value especially for intelligent people – we tend to get analysis paralysis.

Also, when I say “faith” or when I talk about soul and spirituality, I am talking about open spirituality, not necessarily religious affiliations. So don’t worry about being recruited or lectured when you talk to me – I’m not that kind of a person. I guess this makes me uniquely attractive to certain clients.

Finally – well, not many coaches have cross-cultural perspectives, right? And not many know how to read soul records upon request. . .

What’s next for you? What’s the big plan?

As mentioned above, soul reading service is coming very soon. I’m creating a Squidoo lens for this. It is an optional service, but I think a lot of people who are interested in my coaching service would find it helpful.

Long term, I want to do inspirational speeches and publish books. Coaching is great for the clients because they get ongoing personal attention – I like it, too, and consider it as privilege. However, it does limit the number of people I can reach. By speaking publicly, I can reach out a lot more people.

If you have a small business, try this writing exercise. It’s very helpful to make sure you have an effective marketing plan, the kind of plan that helps people find you. And your readers get to know you better!

Coming up:

I interviewed Naomi for my Interview With Successful Entrepreneurs series. Will post it soon, so stay tuned!

Would you like insights and accountability to bring real changes to your life? Please check this page

I am on the wave, I guess. Jen at Millionaire Mommy Next Door gave me the honor to guest blog. Please read My post Do You Have What It Takes To Build A Successful Coaching Business? there. Millionaire Mommy Next Door is an exciting blog about personal finance, investments, and now she has a series for self-employment. I love her down-to-earth no non-sense attitude.

And welcome, Jen’s readers! Please look around and let me know what you think by leaving your comment. May I recommend the following posts as a starter:
How To Improve Customer Service By Spending Far Less Time
Are You Afraid To Express Yourself In Business?

Thank you.

Would you like insights and accountability to bring real changes to your life? Please check this page

(Photo by Leefotos)

So you want to become an entrepreneur. Question: How many successful entrepreneurs do you know?

Not someone you know in the news, not someone you just know as customer, someone who can tell you what it really is to be an entrepreneur – friends or family members who are successful entrepreneurs.

Aaron at Today is that Day has a thought-provoking article titled Are You Building a Winning Team or Running a Daycare Center? He points out how our environment, including the people we associate with, affects our mind and feeling, and to some extent determines the course of our life. He says:

You need to ask yourself if your surroundings are conductive to actually attaining those goals. Do you work, live, or play in an environment or with a group of people who are constantly building you up and believing in your greatness, or do your surroundings serve instead to remind you of what you don’t want to have in your life?

He goes on to check if your circle of friends are aligned to such goals as fitness, relationship, and financial success. Now let me add to it that becoming a successful entrepreneur is no exception to this rule.

This is a requirement of becoming an entrepreneur: Be with successful entrepreneurs.

Surround yourself with successful entrepreneurs who can tell you what it is like to be an entrepreneur and who will trust your potential as they have trusted theirs themselves. Spend as much time as possible with them. Learn how to think as an entrepreneur.

I know this is difficult. You are probably employed as professional now, so you spend majority of your time with other employees. And let me remind you – no matter how high up someone is in the corporate ladder, an employee is an employee. They have employee mindset. I used to work for a president of a sizable company (who managed three locations in the US). He was very knowledgeable of the business, he had strong leadership, and yet he was an employee. He made a great president, working for the parent company, but he is not an entrepreneur. (In some companies, president may be working for the board – same thing, he is a high-end employee, not entrepreneur.) Your challenge is how to associate with real entrepreneurs and learn the mindset of entrepreneur while you may be working as employee.

You are very lucky if someone in your family is an entrepreneur. In my case, my father was an entrepreneur. He started his business when I was six, so I grew up watching what it is like. In a sense, I started working at age six. It was time before the answering machine, so I took calls when he was out making sales calls. He never paid me, but I earned some tips. . . (Wouldn’t you be impressed with a six-year-old girl speaking with highest degree of politeness answering calls and taking their name and number? Or doing the basic shipping and receiving, counting the number of packages before signing off the paperwork? Oh, this was back in Japan. I know, in the US, kids are not even allowed to be themselves without adults. . .) I also watched how he deals with his customers and venders. He didn’t teach me anything (because I was a girl, not a boy – I know, I wish he had better attitude), but still I learned. I also figured why he has more time and money, and more flexibility of spending his time and money, than other kids’ fathers. . .

What are your options if nobody in your close circle of friends and family are entrepreneurs?

You need to seek them out. Seek them in social clubs and professional associations. Hire a mentor or coach. (There is a difference between a mentor and a coach. A mentor is someone who has been successful in specific area of your interest. The strength of a mentor is their specific knowledge and experiences. The potential drawback is they would tend to draw you to the direction they believe to be right, which may or may not fit your personal aspirations and personality. On the other hand, a coach is your detached thinking partner. Most coaches have a niche, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they are the big shot in that field. The strength of a coach is their professional communication skills supported by the ability to remain caring yet detached and objective. Coaches are trained to be client-centered.)

I also encourage you to check this blog often because – in addition to me, myself, who is an entrepreneur – I will be writing about and interviewing successful entrepreneurs I know.

You need to change the way you think, feel, and act to become a successful entrepreneur.

It is a fundamental shift from that of employee. And you can’t just learn it intellectually like your learn how to write business plans. You need to learn experientially.

And please introduce yourself by leaving comment!

Whether you are just dreaming of having your business, or quite serious about going independent, or maybe already launched your business, please introduce yourself. Let’s build an online community of aspiring entrepreneurs.

If you like this post, please check the Interview with Successful Entrepreneurs.

Thanks to Aaron for including this post in Doing It Differently Carnival.

Would you like insights and accountability to bring real changes to your life? Please check this page