Is there a thought leader you would love to get on a call with? You listen to their podcast, you follow them on social media, you read everything they put out. You see them as an expert in your field and would be honored to spend some time learning from them one-to-one.
That’s how you should be making people feel about you. Here’s why professional coaching needs to be part of your personal brand monetization strategy and how to get started.
Your expertise is valuable
Building a strong personal brand business means showcasing your expertise and that knowledge is valuable. Your target audience will pay to know what you know. They don’t have a lifetime to go and learn, do and see all the things that you have. But they can pay you to tell them what they need to know and how it applies to their specific situation.
I’m going to bet that you are happily paying people to do that for you with subjects you don’t know about, unless you’re outsourcing them. Either way, you’re paying for other people’s experience and expertise. The same is true for you.
When you coach someone, you are giving them a personalized masterclass. That’s an extremely valuable service to be able to offer to your community. It’s even more valuable because there is only one of you. Your knowledge is unique.
And because you only have so many coaching sessions available, there is scarcity. Only a few people are going to get this opportunity each week or each month or each year, however often you are prepared to sit down one-to-one with people.
When you coach someone, you are giving them a personalized masterclass. That’s an extremely valuable service to be able to offer to your community. It’s even more valuable because there is only one of you. #Youpreneur Click To TweetWhat is the one big question you are solving for your customer?
The easiest way to think about coaching is to come up with one big problem that you know the people you want to serve will be going through on a regular basis and solve it for them. It really is that simple.
Put up a coaching page, choose what you’re going to charge, and start to promote it.
How to position yourself as a coach or consultant
If you’re going to position yourself as an expert coach or consultant then you need to be sharing value all day every day. It doesn’t matter how you get your message out there. It could be a podcast, it could be a blog, live video, your social media platforms, or Youtube. Whatever it is that you’re creating, you need to be putting content out consistently and sharing what you know.
If you want a quick rundown on how to do this, then I have blogged about the 3 things every personal brand entrepreneur must do daily. There’s a useful checklist in there of what to put out each day so go take a look.
Create a qualifying product
Now you need to move people from your free content to becoming paying customers in order to generate a revenue stream. It is very important that you do this. You need to put a price tag on your knowledge early on or you’re going to find it much harder to get people to spend money with you.
A simple way to convert people into paying customers for your expertise is to create a qualifying product. This is where your email list comes in. If you haven’t got one yet, then check out my guide on how to get started with email marketing. It’s one of the must-haves to grow a successful business.
A qualifying product is one which gives people knowledge and a taste of your coaching style. It usually involves some kind of rich media. I really like video. Look at your list and ask yourself what they would like to learn about. This all ties back to the question you are solving for your customer. Then create a short series where you deep-dive into a subject. Show people the impact you can have on their life.
Once people have had a taste of what you have to offer they will be eager to know more.
Learn from your clients
Coaching and consulting should be part of every Youpreneur’s business. You want to help your ideal customer and there is nothing wrong with doing that by selling your knowledge and advice to them. It is all part of becoming somebody’s favorite.
Not only do you benefit from sharing what you know with people who are grateful to learn about it but you also get to spend time with your clients. This gives you a really good insight into what your target market wants from you and what you can provide them as a service. So coaching benefits both you and your clients.
Here’s the best part: you get to serve your clients again because as you are listening to them and helping them, you can see other ways you can be of value. Remember to always give value and serve and you can’t go wrong.
Chris founded Youpreneur® in 2015. He is a serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker and author of the bestselling books “Virtual Freedom” and “Rise of the Youpreneur”. He hosts our podcast, live events and coaches our clients inside the Youpreneur Incubator. Chris is based in Cambridge, UK.
