MM Newsletter - Inner Firewalking

Event Fee Negotiation

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

When asked to speak at a corporation, there’s no harm in trying for a fee.

Rule of thumb: whoever mentions money first loses. When asked how much one charges, ask what the budget is. This gives you an opportunity to see what they are charging and if you are willing to speak for that. When calling a service group or organization one can always ask what the budget is for speakers. Many have honorariums that they provide to speakers.

If they are not forthcoming, and you have to mention an amount, something like $150 or $200 is reasonable to start with, moving up to $500 when you’re well known and have a killer speech. And it’s up to $10,000 when you really get up there, and are doing keynotes at national conferences.

But initially, if you just want the gigs for clients, experience, a testimonial, and a chance at some paid work, then still ask for a fee — but negotiate down as far as zero if you have to. “Well, because I’m going to get A, B, C out of it — I’d be willing to do a freebie.”

Sometimes you can ramp the fee up a little by offering a coaching session or package to senior staff.

Preparing Handouts For Public Speaking Events

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

The actual speech is important. However, they will rarely hire you for your services on the spot!

Therefore, it’s important to give them something they can take away, that has your contact information on it. Give them something of value that they might want to keep. It can be a simple ‘Top Ten’ list, or even a Fridge Magnet.

Also — I highly recommend you find a way to get THEIR information. I like to use a feedback sheet that allows them to make suggestions to my speech. On the same form, I ask what they might be interested in (free coaching session, free newsletter, more information, products, speaking at their company), I ask for a testimonial (optional), and their contact information (optional). At the end of the talk, you’ll have a few handy leads to follow up.

What You Do

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

We asked the question: “What do you do?” and “If you did specialize in a target group, what might that be?” Here we look at the issue in much more depth.

It’s important to get clear on what it is you’re out to make happen for people. You’ll start with the intellectual stuff: “er… I help people set and achieve goals, which inspire…”. Balderdash! You want to get right down to it, in clear English that everyone can understand.

Here are some examples:

“I help people do whatever it is they need to do so they have zero regrets at the age of 80.”

“I ask people ‘What do you want?’ and ‘What are you doing about it?’”

“I help people get off the fence, and start living their life.”

“I help people get clear on what’s really important to them, and then keep them in action!”

“I insist people live the life they were born for.”

“I have my clients stop waiting.”

“I work with women who are not ecstatic in their relationship, to help them get exactly what they want and deserve from the relationship.”

Does that help? You want to get clear on WHY you are a coach and what you want for people.

Training and Certification For Coaches

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

You do not need to be accredited to begin coaching. At the time of this writing I know of no country which requires certification. However, long term, I believe it’s important for your career and for the profession of coaching.

A good reason to get certified is because you believe in the philosophy of the training school you choose. And, because you want to continually improve your coaching skills.

A bad reason to get certified is because you think that will get you more clients or in some way make you ‘worthy’ as a coach. My experience has been that it does neither. It might look good on the wall and it feels good to be able to say it – but in coaching two hundred clients, I think ONE asked me if I was certified. Don’t try and use it as a crutch – you don’t need it.

Ironically, the International Coach Federation requires at least 250 paid coaching hours under your belt before you get to their first certification level (ACC). So you’ll need to become confident coaching without the crutch of certification – which I think is a good thing. Use it to support your coaching; don’t rely on it.

Ten Reasons To Become a Coach

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

Here are ten great reasons to become a coach:

1. Continual personal growth

2. Your personal development is tax deductible!

3. Contribute to people/the world and see concrete results

4. Work from home (no travel!)

5. Flexible hours (you choose them)

6. Earn a good income – good coaches get paid well

7. VERY low overhead

8. Options to expand into many fields including speaking, seminars, and book writing

9. Excitement of running your own business: choosing your own niches and marketing channels (e.g. radio interviews), creating your own web site etc.

10. Can work while overseas, on the ski slopes, or at the beach (seriously, I’ve done it).

MentorMonthly #123: How to Create a Product in Seven Days

1. Announcements/Offers

What People are Saying About ’10 Super Coaches’

To find out how 10 ordinary coaches are earning $30,000 to $1.4 million per year, and how you can do it too, click here: http://www.10SuperCoaches.com

“I have enjoyed and most of all gotten inspired by reading “10 Super Coaches Share their Secrets”. This is a tool for every coach to have when they require inspiration and/or different ideas to explore, when building our practices.”

Martha Tellez
Australia

“David, the product is awesome! I cannot express it any other way. I’m still digesting the nuggets on every page and relishing every interview. Thank you for the your brilliance in its development.”

Heather Fraser
USA

Visit http://www.10SuperCoaches.com

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FEATURE: How to Create a Product in Seven Days

Taken from my book ‘Get Paid For Who You Are‘

In our last newsletter we discussed why you need a product. This time, we are reviewing how to create a product in 7 days.

How to Create a Product in Seven Days

While I call this section: “How to create a product in seven days,” you can really do this in 7 hours! It’s that hot.

Here are the magic six steps:

1. Record a Teleclass

Do 4-5 versions of the same teleclass. Each time you will refine and improve it. Then choose the best recording and that’s your product.

2. Edit Your Audio Files

Create an edited version of your audio file. You can find someone on www.elance.com to add music at the beginning and end and take out any irrelevant sections like the 5 minutes where you are waiting for people to join the call. This should cost you under $100.

3. Create a Transcript

Create a transcript. Again, go to www.elance.com and find someone to turn one hour of audio into a polished transcript for $50 to $150. For bonus points, have them do a little editing to take out the ummms and errrrs and have it read a little smoother.

4. Generate a Special Report

Create a special report. Take that transcript and turn it into a report. Hire an editor to pull out the top seven points, create headlines and sections and format it nicely. You’ve now got a two to four page report.

5. Create a Product

Create a product. Have you noticed how even when you’re buying a digital download, the sales page shows a nice 3D box with a big headline and a smiling person on it? That’s because it looks more tangible, like something you could hold in your hands, and sells better. Ask a graphic designer on www.elance.com for a 3D box to represent your product for under $100.

6. Create a Physical CD

Create a physical CD. Have your new graphic designer tweak the 3D box cover into a flat 2D CD cover. You can sell your CDs from the website, or at your speaking events if you decide to speak to promote your business.

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Down the track when you want to get fancier, you might create a membership site which people will pay you a monthly fee to access. You might add worksheets, special reports, audio, video, and a discussion forum so your members can support each other. One example is www.GetPaidForWhoYouAre.com/access which I created to support readers of my book. For inexpensive software to run this, try www.Wordpress.com combined with a program called Wishlist.

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Take Action

1) What topic would you LOVE for your teleclass? Would you tell me at the blog?

2) Schedule in time to create your product.

Cheers,

David Wood

P.S. If you have any comments on this newsletter, we’d love you to share them here.

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3. About the ‘Mentor Monthly’ Newsletter

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