Posted on August 26, 2010 by Renegade Success Coach
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When you are launching your own coaching business, writing your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) can be challenging. Many coaches don’t take the time to effectively position themselves with a USP or they quickly and haphazardly throw together something because they know they need one.
The best way to test your USP is to consult friends, clients, and other business owners. Take several of them to lunch or your favorite coffee shop and solicit their input. Ask them how do they perceive your business and its identity.
Here are 3 mistakes coaches should avoid:
1. They don’t demonstrate an overt benefit
You must demonstrate “what’s in it for the customer.” You must always focus on the benefits rather than the features your customers will derive from your services. But you must be direct. If you expect customers to read your mind, you are mistaken. They don’t read between the lines. You must sell them on exactly what they will get when they hire you.
2. There’s no reason to believe you
What kind of credibility do you have? What can you offer them that will show you are more than qualified to help them? You’d be surprised to note, they aren’t looking for a bunch of letters after your name. They want to know you have solved the problems of others. Trust me, your competitors are telling them how they will benefit. You must do the same.
3. You haven’t demonstrated you are different
How are you dramatically different then the next person? You service must be dramatically different than that of your competitor. In other words, what makes your service or product so different that I should buy it?
When you a have a USP, it will allow you to come up with creative ways to market yourself. I have know many UPS’s to lead to creating a slogan, then a mission statement, then on to a marketing campaign. The list goes on and on.
“When it absolutely, positively must be there overnight”- who is it? How about this one: “30 minutes or less, or it’s free” – guess who?
These are prime examples of USP that first took on a slogan, then a mission statement, then a complete marketing campaign.
Tags: become a life coach, become life coach, ertification coach life, how to become a coach, how to become a life coach, life coach schools, life coach training, life coaching certification, life coaching certifications, life coaching schools, life coaching training, Mark E Sumpter, Mark Sumpter
Filed Under: Entrepreneur Mindset
Posted on August 25, 2010 by Renegade Success Coach
The fastest way to becoming a coach and increase your coaching business is to get people to recognize you as the expert in your field or niche. Most people think by hanging a sign out front or throwing up a website that show’s you are now in the coaching business will simply do the trick.
It’s not enough to be an expert. And it surely isn’t enough if you want to build a six-figure business doing it.
You must know YOU are the expert
Several years ago, when I began my investing career, I quickly learned a specific type of investing. Once I mastered my skill (it only took a few transactions), l immediately began sharing with others my proven formula for success. All I did was show them exactly what I did to achieve results. These were the very results they wanted to achieve.
Here’s a free resource for learning more about building your own coaching business from home with no experience required. For a limited time you can watch these videos online, for free ($97 value). Simply Click Here and you be given access to the series.
This video series will show you the specific steps needed to organize and build a 6 figure coaching business in any field. Take a look: Grab Your Free CD
Tags: become a life coach, become life coach, certification coach life, how to become a coach, how to become a life coach, life coach schools, life coach training, life coaching certification, life coaching certifications, life coaching schools, life coaching training
Filed Under: Entrepreneur Mindset
Posted on August 3, 2010 by Renegade Success Coach
As an entrepreneur who works from home, I found the environment quite pleasant considering the alternative, which was working with my employees, the phone ringing constantly, questions coming faster than a 97 mph fast ball.
But when I made the switch to work from home, while I was alone, it was still enjoyable because I had speaking engagements and mastermind meetings that made most days fly by. There were coaching sessions with my students and humans to interact with. Then the unthinkable happen.
I suffered a severe ankle break playing recreational soccer. My injury required surgery. Nine weeks on the couch left me virtually stranded in my own home! It was a year of no speaking engagements, no mastermind meetings, and short visits from friends, led to being a very lonely entrepreneur.
So I decided to chronicle the things I did to avoid being the lonely entrepreneur.
Below are 8 ways to kill loneliness once and for all:
1. Call up friends and relatives often
Don’t violate the rules of time management with this one. If you want to set aside specific times, either daily or weekly to talk to key people in your life, this is a great first step. Now that my mother is widowed, I use this time to talk to her daily, at 9am, without fail. Although she’s 1700 miles away, it’s how I keep in touch with her.
2. Become a “Skyper”
If you have ever used Yahoo Instant Messenger, then you will love Skype. It has many of the features as Yahoo Messenger. But, it has a video feature that I believe is more stable. You can literally call up someone else’s computer, for FREE, talk and see each other in real time. It’s great for personal use and for business.
I have contractors that I use around the world and it’s a great way to see them and communicate with them for free. My daughter Peyton loves this tool and often will use it when I’m traveling so she can see her ol’ dad.
3. Coffee shops
I will often go to my local coffee house and work from there. It’s a way to be around others (humans), without the interruptions of staff or kids if they are home on summer break. If you chose to interact with some of the patrons, you can. If not, keep your head buried and get your work done while you sip on your favorite beverage.
4. Eating out
Call up your colleagues and meet them for lunch. Most entrepreneurs know other entrepreneurs, so it’s a way to catch up, bounce ideas about one’s business off each other, fill your belly and just enjoy their company for an hour.
5. Get outdoors
I just recently rescued a Boston terrier. His name is Dexter. He and I go on walks several times a day. It’s our chance to get outside, get some fresh air and say hi to the neighbors that might be out.
6. Music breaks
I love music. For me, it can be an instant attitude change. Take a break and listen to a couple of your favorite songs. Maybe you like something inspiring or something that will pump you up. Whatever your take, it can help get rid of the lonesome feeling.
7. Masterminds (local)
I belong to several mastermind groups where we meet in any given part of the United States for usually two days of business building activities.
Create your own local mastermind group where you meet once a week. There’s nothing better than being with like minded people, sharing ideas, strategies and tactics to grow a business.
8. Have an accountability partner
An accountability partner is someone (entrepreneur), which you talk to every couple of days. The intent is to help you be more productive and keep the fire lit under your ass.
Here is how it works:
First call (Monday), you each take 10 minutes to outline what you plan to accomplish this week. Second call (Friday), you lay out the results…what you were able to complete, what you didn’t get completed and why (By the way, during my accountability sessions, the bull**it rule is in affect).
There you have it! If you really think about my 8 ways, you will discover there are many other benefits you derive from implementing them.
Comment below on the other hidden benefits you would get from doing this and what you think the bull**it rule might be.
To You Success,
Mark
Posted on July 11, 2010 by Renegade Success Coach
by Mark Sumpter
Since self discipline requires that you take small steps towards making improvements, you must also nurture and respect the achievements you have made regardless of how small the tasks are. Discipline takes time to develop, but you have to be determined. The more you try to take deliberate and disciplined steps, the stronger you become.
Many times, we become overwhelmed with our daily tasks and if you are an entrepreneur, this is something you struggle with daily. How many times have you been doing something else like spending time with your family or friends, yet you are focused on what you could be doing at work?
Lack of self discipline causes this very thing to happen. While you should be spending good quality time enjoying yourself, your focus is on work. When you are working, you are often scatter brained trying to do ten things at once.
Here are the three tips to improve your self discipline:
1. Try not to Procrastinate:
Make a list of what you hope to achieve and be determined to take action immediately. Set deadlines and make a promise to yourself that you will stick to your plans until you achieve them. Try not to procrastinate. Procrastination weakens your resolve to be disciplined. When you attain small objectives, it reinforces you inner decision to add more objectives and attain them. The cumulative effect is that you increase your mind power which enables you to set bigger goals and achieve them too.
2. Every Day Counts:
Strive to practice discipline in little things daily. It could be waking up early at 5am to study for at least 15 minutes before doing calisthenics for another 20 minutes. Remember if you skip a day, your discipline level will decline and this would further weaken your resolve to continue.
3. Visualize your final achievement:
Take some time to visualize what it would look like when you achieve your goals and aspirations as a result of taking disciplined steps daily. Outline what it would take to achieve your goals and take action immediately. This helps you even when you are unfocused or get sidetracked.
Simply follow these basic tips and you will surely gain and develop more self discipline within yourself which will bring you one step closer to attaining your dreams.
Posted on June 16, 2010 by Renegade Success Coach
I remember my very first official networking event like it was yesterday. My good from of 20 years Tiauna invited me. To be frank, I had no idea what to expect.
Everyone likes to talk about themselves. So you should ask questions designed to pull them away from their elevator speech.
Here a 5 questions I have found to be useful in connecting with people, who on the surface, appear to have nothing in common at all. I used these very questions while helping a friend who is a photographer at a recent art festival.
1. How did end up in your line of work? In many cases, people land their jobs or start their own businesses through chance encounters or some stroke of luck.
Think about how you ended up in your profession or how a friend started their own business. My story alone was pure chance and luck. You will find their stories interesting and the person often breaks out of their shell (elevator speech) quickly and easily.
2. What does your dream customer look like? This question will allow their true motivation to rise to the surface as well as the goals they have. Caveat: You must listen carefully to what is being said.
3. What is your greatest achievement in business to date? This is another great way to get to know the person better. Again, this allows them to tell you a story about how it all came to be. Remember, stories are engaging for everyone involved.
4. What do you love most about profession or your business? This is where the person’s business will come alive as you listen to what really excites them.
5. Are there things you wish you could change? Here is where you may be able to help them. Either make the progression to becoming a client or you could point them in the direction of someone you already met who could help them improve their lives.
While these questions tend to help you get the conversation rolling, they aren’t intended to be used as interviews questions. Relax and let the conversation flow.
Based on my experience, you never know where they could take you at your next networking event.
Posted on May 11, 2010 by Renegade Success Coach
There are two rules to being happy. I am sure there are more. I just want to talk about two for now. Remember…baby steps.
Now we all have our own ideas of what happiness is. While Webster’s definition is the “official” one, we all describe happiness in our own little way.
My hope is that this post, while it doesn’t focus on defining happiness, will help get you closer to being happy.
How will I achieve this? By getting you to eliminate things two things that prevent YOU from being happy.
Rule 1:
Free your heart from hatred. Loathing is the core of all immorality. It serves no purpose to hate another human being and will only cause internal feelings that will destroy your spirit. Think about the last time you claimed, “I hate so & so!”
Did it do anything for you to hate them? No.
Did it do anything to you? Yes.
When you said it, you allowed yourself to live in the lowest of low vibrations. Nothing good can come from it.
On occasion, I will receive an email from a subscriber laced with the “N” word. And I don’t mean “N” for nice! For whatever reason, the author of the email “hates” me or what I stand for. Does it hurt me? No. I never see them. My staff simply deletes the email and the author from our database before I ever review them. Does it hurt them? Yes.
Until they change, they will never know happiness.
Eliminate the hatred and you are on your way to happiness.
Rule 2:
Free your mind from worries. In talking with clients and friends, this rule seems to be the biggest challenge for many people. I hear people talk about worrying that they don’t have enough money, they worry of losing their jobs, they worry about not finding someone to love them, they worry about being obese. They worry, worry, worry.
But let’s take a step back from all this worrying and ask, does it do any of us good to worry?
Simply put, NO!
When we focus our lives on what we don’t want, we simply cause the universe to bring the very thing we repel.
Now let’s flip our thoughts around and focus on what we want.
Take action as if you are already getting what you want. Act as if….
How does that feel? Learn to live worry free and you will definitely be at an advantage in your life.
Posted on May 6, 2010 by Renegade Success Coach
Life itself is a competition. A kind of contest everyone must be a part of for them to survive. Some may play better than others while there are some who do not actually play right and even fair. But whatever your part is, you need to know how to deal with life’s competition.
Here are some simple tips you need to remember in order to survive and always get the success you seek in life.
Keep your goal in sight
This is your main target. If you set your goals right, it will make your action steps that much easier to implement. YOur goals will be your guide and your coach as you tackle the competition that life will throw in your way.
Concentrate on doing the right thing
Though it may be impossible to apply this tip at all times, make sure you at least try to focus your efforts on doing the right thing. By paying attention to all your tasks, you will surely watch where you should go and even stop. This way you will avoid mistakes that might cause you to quit or rethink if your efforts are working.
Repeat success
Success is not impossible and it it also not impossible to attain it repeatedly. In order to have this experience, you must always try to apply effective techniques that got you the success in the first place.
Learn from others
To help yourself improve, you must learn from others. It doesn’t matter if you study their methods or their way of life. You see, people who play fairly are the one who are most willing to share their experiences and knowledge. They share a mindset of abundance and not scarcity. So make sure you stick to these people at all times.
Posted on May 6, 2010 by Renegade Success Coach
First, I make no apologies for the long post. I told myselfif I was going to cover the subject, I better cover everything. So here goes:
There are too many times in our lives when we focus on what we are not good at rather than focus on what we are good at. We can, at an early age be pushed into things that we have no interest in and don’t have the talents to accomplish anyway.
Take for instance, kids sports. There are tons of parents who force their kids to play a specific sport because they either sucked themselces or they want to live through vicariously through their kids.
One you one of those kids? Are you one of “those” parents?
Just think of how much our early development would thrive, if we were to be given some direction. Instead, we seem to be boxed in with everyone else. So instead of squeling about what we are not, we should embrace the talents we do have.
I would love for my 10 year old son to play football. Instead, he likes soccer and electronics. He can read a set of schematics better then most adults. So we encourage him to grow and thrieve in the areas that make him happy.
Everybody is special and we carry to the table different abilities and style. By finding what we are good at, and only then can we sense confidence in our own capacity.
There will always be people around to stifle our aspirations. Shove them to the side like a linebacker headed for the end zone and never look back.
It is never easy to hone our abilities or develop them, but this is something that we must strive to do. Even though we seem to always come up against a wall of negativity. The true character of the person can and will shine through.
The most imperative thing to bear in mind is this is open to each and every perosn on the planet. You can’t buy it, borrow it, or rent it.
Posted on May 6, 2010 by Renegade Success Coach
If you are dreaming of changing yourself for the better but do not have any idea how to do it right then this blog pose about self improvement will surely lead you on the right path.
The first thing you need to do is to have motivation. This motivation will be your night light as you tackle the road of life. Bear in mind that there are lots of obstacles lurking the ing darkness that will surely jump at you as you start walking towards the finish line. But as long as you stay motivated, these obstacles are merely bumps in the road.
Second thing you need in order to improve yourself is to set your target goals. The most important thing you need to remember when setting goals is to be as precise and accurate as you can. Never set unrealistic goals as you only leave yourself feeling miserable and not making any progress. Set real goals and take small steps every day towards it.
Never, ever waste time. Life passes by so quick and before you know it, you’ve wasted a lot of time doing nothing. Think about the last time you were working on a project and you ended up surfing the web? Before you realized it, you have wasted at least an hour.
It is important to tasks one at a time every day than to sit around doing nothing. Remember that you must do even small things each day to reach your goal. Remember, baby steps. There’s an old saying…”Don’t put off tomorrow what you can do today.” At least I think that’s how it was said. In other words, don’t wait til tomorrow. It never comes!
The last thing you need to do in order to fully improve yourself is to think and be positive no matter what. Obstacles and trials will surely come along the way but if you have a pocket full of positive things, nothing will stop you. Your positive attitude will take you a long way down the road to good health, wealth and prosperity.
Posted on May 3, 2010 by Renegade Success Coach
Most people never get the success they want from the goal they set no matter how big and grand their dreams and plans are. Most of the time, these people have no idea how and where to start when it comes to goal setting. Instead of looking for effective ways to help them reach their goals, they simply give up thinking such task is overwhelming and daunting.
It is actually a real pity to give up even without trying in the first place. In this article you will learn some of the important things you need to cover when getting started. With this article, you will be assured that you are on the right path and that you will surely reach the finish line of your goals.
Here is your checklist:
- Make sure that you fully understand that you have to change your mindset and beliefs in order to start getting different things life has to offer.
- It is important that you understand that you need to change your expectations. Bear in mind that you can not have the same expectations all through your life.
- Make up your mind that you will no longer accept anything other than first rate attitude from yourself and from the people around you.
- Befriend people who are more focus on reaching their goals and attaining success. These people will help you stay focus and motivated as well.
- Understand that the only thing that will get you closer to your goals is to take actions. Bear in mind that there are no such thing as shortcuts. Strive and work hard to attain the success you want.
- Bear in mind at all times that whatever goals you have set, you must reach it no matter what it takes.
By doing these simple tips, you will surely have no hard time starting and achieving your goals.
