Posts Tagged "clients"

Firing Clients, Friends and Colleagues

Posted by LisaYoung in Big Ideas, Faith | 0 comments

It’s been a whirlwind week for me.

I’m in the throes of the Small Biz Super Summit, along with a new client project, and preparing for the launch of a new division of my business.

And I get an email from a client, angry with me for “violating her privacy”.

The claim was unfounded, and after resolving the misunderstanding, I finally decided to let her go.

Yes, I fired my client.

You are FIRED!

See, there comes a time in your business life where enduring the stress and strain of some clients isn’t worth ANY sum of money. Some of you have heard me say this before, but I wanted to let you know that I still face this issue from time to time – despite my well-crafted Perfect-Fit Customer Profiles.

Not only did this client email me with false accusations, she also launched into a tirade in a group forum of her company, where other people could hear her rant (and later report back to me), but I could not offer the slightest commentary on the situation.

Instead of coming directly to the source of the issue (presumably me), she chose to make a spectacle of herself in front of other potential clients.

Let’s be clear: I have a loyalty to my clients. I also have a loyalty to my family. If you try to prevent me from earning a living to feed my family, my loyalty dries up like so much old paint.

There are a number of lessons from this event, which I’ll save for another post. But then, I had to fire a colleague.

At one time, this person and I traveled in relatively similar circles. I shared my book with her, and invited her into my community to share her wisdom. Over time, our paths diverged in the wilderness, but I still kept some contact with her and thought of her as a colleague I would refer business to.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

She “wrote” a post on her blog, and tweeted out the link. Because the title was a direct quote of something I say ALL the time, I thought it was worth checking out, and possibly sharing with my own audience.  It was a great post. She had pulled much of the content straight out of my book – with a few additions (presumably of her own) to make it her own.

I was shocked. Firstly because I knew this thief. Secondly, because I really didn’t think that much of myself that someone would want to steal my stuff (that’s another post all unto itself).

There are stories like this all over the place. The first one that comes to mind is Jeff Slutsky’s story about Office Depot using his “six dollar haircut” story in an ad that ran last year. Slutsky, however, had a happier ending than I believe I will.

Not only did this “colleague” plagiarize my work, but when I commented on her blog with a “great post” kind of remark, it was deleted.

So not only did she steal my stuff, she KNEW she was stealing it and, frankly, didn’t seem to care.

At first, I tried to relax and ignore it. But this nagging feeling wouldn’t go away. Especially since this same person had publicly remarked at an earlier point in our business lives that she felt that at some point everything she ever learned became “hers” to teach as her own.

I consulted my amazingly grounded and insightful coach, @SarahRobinson, who indicated that while she was not surprised at the person in question, that it was mostly sapping my energy in a way that wouldn’t give me resolution.

So I fired my “colleague”. Putting more distance between us, and spending as little energy as possible on the situation.

Tip: Nobody “just knows” everything. We all learn from someone. Give credit where credit is due, folks.

Thinking I was finished with all the firing for a single week, I then had to fire a friend.

This person was fairly close to me, and sadly, known to be a bit out of control emotionally. Their behavior could get pretty outrageous at times, and if alcohol was involved, well, let’s just say only the sober people in the room would remember what happened.

This person is an incredibly smart, insightful, enjoyable person, with an enormous heart and fiercely loyal – until their emotional issues rear their ugly head(s). It gets so bad that they start to believe their own lies as truths. It’s been going on for years – longer than I’ve even known them.

Well, the lies finally caught up this week. And I couldn’t be there to help fix the problem. The problem was really beyond fixing. All enabling had to stop, and the truth had to be revealed.

I had entrusted this friend with a special task, and that task remains undone. The good news is that I wasn’t counting on them to complete the task, and had a back-up plan in place. The bad news is that I wasn’t counting on this friend to complete the task, and had a back-up plan in place.

So when word got around that they were playing around doing other things instead of focusing on the task they committed to, I fired the friend.

Well, a temporary lay-off, anyway.

We can be as well-meaning as we want to be, but when you make a commitment, in my mind, you stick to it. Come Hell or high water.

And lest you see this as an incredibly downer post, I want to assure you that I firmly believe that God is nudging me to create space to accommodate newer, better, more constructive relationships in my life and work.

I can already see it happening. With the awesome help of my coach (did you see her Relationships project?), and the internal journey I’m travelling, there are new friends on the horizon, new clients on the books, and better colleagues to forge ahead with (ending a sentence with a preposition, ACK!).

Bring. It. On.

Achieving The Impossible Has a Cost

Posted by LisaYoung in Big Ideas, Faith | 17 comments

Note: I wanted to say doing the impossible ain’t cheap, but cheap is a relative term.

There’s a definite value to being able to do something other people say you can’t. Being able to recognize both the cost and the value, however, is where the rubber meets the road.

Today, my first real day “back to work” since Creating Irresistible Presence (#CIP) in Atlanta, I had to do both.

A potential client set up a pre-screening call to discuss her goals and for me to get to know her business better. This is something I regularly do before developing an online strategy for a new client. It helps us hit the ground running when the actual strategy session takes place.

I called at the appointed time. No answer. I left a message and sat down to fill my time with another project until she called back.

Here’s where I waffled: I called her again 10 minutes later to see if maybe we missed each other. We connected and I spent the next 20 minutes discussing her business, her goals, and what she’d like to accomplish.

Since this was a barter arrangement, I explained my fee, how the barter program works, and what she could expect when we scheduled an hour of time to work on her project.

She balked. BIG time. And I could feel the terror of “losing a client” rising inside me.

While she went on about how she couldn’t see the value in working with me for only an hour, justifying in her mind that she really didn’t want to work with me at my current rate, something transcendent happened. Her voice seemed to fade as other voices rushed in:

My assistant warned me yesterday: “She seemed to have a bit of an attitude, and didn’t sound excited.”

My #CIP friends: “You are a-ma-zing!”

Past clients: “I can’t believe how much we accomplished in an hour!”

And on.. and on.. I almost feel bad for the woman on the other end of the phone. I really wasn’t listening to her.

I was listening to ME. To my gut, to my God-voice telling me that this woman will be more headache than she’s worth and that I shouldn’t be trying to work with her.

So while she was trying to find reasons to not work with me, I was trying to justify not working with HER!

Finally, I politely said, “Well, I can understand that if you don’t see the value in working with me, or that you’re not able to afford it at this time, that’s no problem. I have to let you go now, I have another appointment in a few minutes. If you change your mind, you’ll know how to reach me. Have a great day!”

And I said it with confidence, clarity, and courage. Without desperation oozing from my voice.

Frankly, I hope she never calls back, but if she does, she’ll know that working with me provides great value, AND there’s a cost.

Opportunity costs are the things we give up in order to get the things we have. Sometimes the costs are small: a few dollars to have lunch with a friend instead of a new blouse. A new toy for our child instead of a new book for our learning library.

Opportunity cost means sacrificing one choice in favor of another.

Before I went to #CIP, I was presented with three incredible opportunities:

• The #CIP, 3-day intensive, where I could mix, mingle and learn in a live environment
• An 8 week virtual course, that literally helped me make $5000 without even registering for it.
• A trip to Vegas to hob-knob and rub elbows with some movers and shakers at a private party for a friend of mine.

I chose #CIP. And as Robert Frost said, “That has made all the difference.”

Before Atlanta, I struggled with the voice of The Renaissance Mom. Who was she? What was she really about? How do I connect to her and through her to my audience?

This was the reason I chose to come to Atlanta. At first, I was afraid it wasn’t happening. I wasn’t going to be able to find that voice. I had to let go of what I thought I knew.

I thought my “audience” was mompreneurs/working moms. That’s part of it, but not every mompreneur resonates with me – and a lot of my followers aren’t moms at all (you guys know who you are!).

Finally, I had to recognize that The Renaissance Mom… is me.

That was incredibly hard for me to swallow. Because I didn’t want to believe it was about me. I wouldn’t even put my face on the cover of my albums because even my music wasn’t about me.

And that, too, has a cost. Becoming a superhero means creating (and living up to) an identity. An identity I didn’t want to embrace.

Because I’ve never thought that my business was about me. It’s always been about helping other people achieve their heart’s desire – in life, in business, whatever. That’s been my passion.

But the opportunity cost has been too great:

• Lost income opportunities
• Lost relationship opportunities
• Lost business opportunities

All that self-deprecating was getting me nowhere fast.

It’s time to give up on what I thought I knew and embrace the new truth: it is about me.

It’s not that I’m arrogant, or becoming some kind of an elitist. It’s just that it’s time to give myself proper credit, and value myself in the same way I coach my clients to value themselves.

To stop chasing clients that are wrong for me, and be confident in who I am and what I do for the clients that love me.

Inasmuch as I have a super power, I must have a super hero name. Wonder Woman was already taken.

The Renaissance Mom is about re-birth, renewal, and transformation from the old “impossible” mindset into a new way of viewing all the possibilities in life and the world around you. To STOP believing in the impossible, and instead, embrace creative ways to achieve the improbable.

I’m trying to convince my husband that he’s my trusty sidekick, but he’s not buying it yet.

The phoenix is the brand on my chest. Like Superman’s “S” or the bat on The Caped Crusader’s yellow emblem. The ultimate symbol of re-birth, renewal and transformation at the elemental level.

Gosh, everything seems so much clearer now, doesn’t it?

So strap in, my friends, because this is the beginning of a very public re-birthing process for The Renaissance Mom. My plan is to make the impossible happen, right here, where you can bear witness.

It will probably be messy. When you’re first learning how to be a superhero, it can be quite awkward and clumsy. I’ll probably dive into the phone booth a couple of times and smash my face on the glass. Les McKeown said in his book “Predictable Success” that “sometimes reality just refuses to be neat and tidy.”

You heard it here first.

So to that woman on the phone today, please understand that I’m not slighting you, I’m choosing instead, to value myself. If you’re going to stand around, hemming and hawing, you’re not ready to grow your business like a real business.

That’s an hour of our lives we’ll never get back, so why waste it in the first place?

Chip Conley: Measuring What Makes Life Worthwhile

Posted by LisaYoung in Big Ideas, videos | 0 comments

Exploding Websites for Fun and Profit

Posted by LisaYoung in Big Ideas | 0 comments

I am jealous – a little.

Okay, a lot. But it will pass soon enough.

My pal @elizabethpw remodeled her website. I’m sharing some of the pertinent insights to my audience on my direct sales blog, but today, I wanted to share the discoveries that are pertinent to you.

See I created that site eons ago, when I was just a fledgling online person. I shunned WordPress (not one of my better decisions, I’ll admit). I was creating pages by hand (still do sometimes). I thought I was doing well.

Then the other day, I got an email from Liz Pabon, where she wrote this:

Our inner knowing is like an attic filled with great treasures made up of our knowledge, experiences and wisdom.  And sometimes those treasures are blocked or hidden by the cobwebs of self-neglect.

And I got to thinking about all the “stuff” that’s crammed into that site. 2 years of teleclasses (yes, 2 freakin’ years worth). Classes, courses, downloads and handouts. All of it muddled, mixed around, and hard to navigate.

I was making it difficult for people to buy from me.

Now don’t get me wrong, I like earning my keep. I enjoy getting paid for the contribution I make. I think I do a pretty good job of sharing what works, and it’s important to my family that I’m compensated appropriately for my “genius work” as my coach calls it.

But buried within layers of links, pages and other subterfuge, it wasn’t easy to do business with me. And the irony is, I tell people time and again to make it easy for customers to do business with you.

I’m accessible. I’m probably too accessible. If someone sends an email, a tweet or a facebook post, I usually respond – and pretty quickly when I’m able. And I answer questions, provide tons of advice and strategies to help my clients and strangers who may never be my clients.

But on more than one occasion, I’ve had people say the very same thing that I read at the top of Elizabeth’s blog post (except that my name’s Lisa and not Elizabeth).

But in my own head, I thought I was being really clear. I was following all the “rules” about building an opt-in list, creating info products, doing launches, and sharing “free content” with my followers (you know, “the what” but not “the how” stuff we’ve been fed).

So I’m blowing it up – for fun AND profit.

I’ve had this vision for an entire training program much like a college curricula for direct sales pros that want to run their business like a real business. But it’s built around small group coaching – classroom style – and that violates “the rules” of online marketing.

See, according to “the rules”, I’m supposed to create content once, get paid to do it, and then re-package it into an info-product I can sell over and over. It’s a great way to produce “passive” income, but if you follow “the rules”, the bulk of that revenue comes during the product launch, and then trickles in over the lifetime of the product. The more affiliates you have promoting the launch, the more money you stand to make when it launches. Which is why you hear a LOT about people that have multi-million dollar launches, but then you never hear how the product does on the back end.

Things that make me go hmmm…

I’ve been doing this “info marketing thang” for a couple of years now, and when I was green, I was following “the rules” religiously. Step-by-step, cranking out teleclasses, setting up continuity programs, etc. And in the last three weeks it hit me that I wasn’t being authentic in my business.

For as much as I enjoy “passive” income. I had become a slave to “the rules” – and they really didn’t fit me or the way I wanted to do business.

Here’s the truth I’ve learned in the past two years in my online business:

• People will buy info products, but they’ll pay more to work directly with you.
• Info products by themselves are mostly worthless. They sit on shelves and collect dust. I think it was Dan Kennedy that said 20% of your customers will never even open the product. And to get USED to that. Um, sorry. That does not compute for me.
• My business is seeing a shift towards hands-on help that guides people through the info products. And that’s because…
• People get better results with hands-on help.
• Small groups rock. The synergy, the energy and the masterminding that goes on is exponentially better than self-study, and bridges the gap between info products and live events.
• The biggest payday happens at product launch. BUT…
• Big launches leave big gaps in your cash flow.

There’s nothing wrong with helping people and getting paid to do it, folks. That’s what teachers and mentors have been doing for centuries. The catch is to price yourself accordingly for the services you perform. There’s always someone who thinks you’re too expensive, and someone that sees you as the bargain basement extra meal deal. The key is to find your own value in that mix and be fair with your pricing. There’s NO disputing the fact that hands-on help is worth more than info-products all day long.

That’s why you’re seeing a surge in live events, big ticket “masterminds” and ultra pricey one-on-one coaching programs – complete with swarming, affiliate-driven promotional launches.

But you can’t feasibly launch a big ticket item every month to keep cash flow consistent.

Even the “guru’s” are filling those gaps with smaller ticket product launches, generally joint ventures in a teleclass (small group) format. They can launch them every couple of months, and both partners benefit. In fact, one multi-million dollar guru has already launched 6 products in the first 3 months of the year. Talk about bombarding their audience!

But between affiliate and JV promotions, the cash flow keeps coming in.

Take a look at who’s doing what this year. You’ll see most of them moving away from continuity-based models (especially in light of the new California legislation), and towards more mid-price ($300-500), “one-time-only” tele-series and product launches. It serves the same purpose, but at a higher price point, and with fewer customer service issues.

My own business is taking a similar stance – albeit at a much lower price point in most instances. We’re blowing up HomePartySolution.com – and the entire online community that goes with it – to create a more streamlined user interface, and a more lucrative business platform for the direct sales portion of our coaching business.

In short, I’m going to make it so easy for people to do business with me that my clients will wonder what happened.

It’s not an easy process, by any means, and we’re considering documenting the process to help YOU shorten the learning curve if you ever want to do this in your own business. I estimate the entire site will be down about a month to test everything and make it all operational again – with all the new content we’re adding to boot.

The only thing that will still be live on that site is the home page opt-in for new ezine subscribers. I still plan on sending out the weekly ezine, and generating content behind the scenes. But we won’t be selling anything for about a month over there.

So how am I going to keep the employees paid and the family fed?

With a GI-NORMOUS product launch over here.

Tickets for The Renaissance Mom Experience are slated to go on sale April 15. You can sign up for the advance notification list on that page. You have been warned.

The cool thing is that I’m able to continue to do what I love in a way that I truly enjoy. I am able to connect with the very people I enjoy helping and they are seeing better results because of it. I’m able to leverage myself as well (more on that in another post), and continue to grow both segments of my business (both here and on the direct sales side of things). I can’t wait for you all to see what new things we have in store this quarter.

What about you? I’d love your thoughts and feedback on this. Share your comments below, or send me a note on twitter.

Confessions of Self-Worth, Part 1

Posted by LisaYoung in Big Ideas, Faith | 12 comments

What was supposed to be one of my shortest posts ever, has become sort of a manifesto that feels best presented in “parts”

And so it begins.

I’ve been ruminating about a lot of stuff related to being a coach, developing this new business, the LIVE event we’re planning this fall, and a bunch of other seemingly disconnected ideas. Like ElizabethPW‘s post on the many reasons why she sucks (she doesn’t really, at least not IMHO, but I digress), and overpriced “gurus” and my kid at camp, and how my hubby’s such a baby when he’s sick, deadbeats that don’t pay their child support (thanks, @unmarketing), and a host of other, um, stuff.

Then I found a connection: Self Worth

This funky little thread that ties it all together.

And I owe a heaping helping of gratitude to the amazing Marcia Hoeck for clicking it all together for me. See, I’m one of a handful of clients that’s working with her in the “End of the Elevator Pitch” small group coaching program she developed to help us clarify the “what do you do” question without using an elevator pitch (apologies to Barbara Lopez!).

I love my elevator pitches. They’re great. I don’t plan on ditching them anytime soon. This course, for me, was more to help me hone in on my ideal client for The Renaissance Mom as we finalize the plans for our Live event in the fall.  I wanted to have the right words to say to bring clients that resonated with the message of the event – because I want to have a packed house. I figured Marcia’s marketing experience would be a great place to start – and I might meet a few people in the group that would resonate with it.

As usual, I got WAY more than I expected – just in the first session.

In one of the exercises, Marcia walked me through a process to help me understand the value I bring to the table. The irony was that it’s something very similar to what I do in my own coaching practice. Godly enough, Marcia is quick to remind us that even the sharpest knife can’t carve it’s own handle (Thanks, Marcia!).

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve known at the core that my best work is in helping people understand their value. I’m very good at showing a person how they are LOGICALLY worth more than a few measly bucks an hour – particularly women. I’m not talking about jacking up some inflated pricing scheme, but really helping a person to see the value they have as a business owner AND as a human being. To me, that ‘human’ thing is more important, anyway.

What I didn’t get was WHY I was so good at it, or more importantly, why I was feeling called to serve people in this capacity.

I mean, I’ve got a great business working with direct sales reps, and I’ve been happy to plug along in that niche for the past 2 years. Frankly, I’ve rebelled at the idea of being some kind of mom-preneur. It felt like a stigma or some kind of slack being cut for not being a “real” entrepreneur (whatever that means). I’ve railed against the notion on countless occasions. To me, I’m a mom and a business owner, there’s no need to cloud either issue – or use one as an excuse for not succeeding with the other.

That’s my “logical” brain trying to have a say in things.

So it made no sense to me why I should be the one to launch this brand. I mean, yeah, I’ve got a special needs kid with some issues. There are times when my husband could be more supportive. There are times when cash flow could be a bit more on the upside of the wave. But isn’t that what life is? Everyones got issues, everyones got obstacles. The success comes in finding ways to overcome it.

What made my story any different than the clients I already worked with? The moms of multiples who have to cart their kids to special therapy sessions and still juggle their business meetings. The single mom that moved across country to make a better life for her kid – only to find out the job she went there for dried up while she was en route. Why was I the one that was being singled out to “lead a revolution” as one person pointed out?

Because I’ve got the big mouth, that’s why.

I’m still not comfortable with being called ‘fearless’ – though I get that a lot. I am VERY comfortable with saying that I’m direct, kind of blunt, and not willing to put up with a lot of crap – most of the time. I can pretty much call it as I see it. I may not always see it correctly, but I have no problem with saying “my bad” if I screw up, either – most of the time.

So I’m working through this process with Marcia, and all these threads start coming together. The deadbeats, the sick hubby, the kid at camp, the women I work with, etc, and I made a statement something like this:

We get so caught up in not letting people know who we are. We think we’re a bad mom if we spend time working on our business and a bad business owner if we have to take our kid to the doctor. And worst of all, we feel like we’re alone… isolated on some kind of island where we can’t – or we’re not allowed to share this pain, this struggle, this experience. We think we’re the only people going through this, and the truth is, we’re not alone . We just need a connection, wind my key and point me in a direction so I can fix the issue… My clients don’t want hand holding. They want to know they’re not alone in this fight and that they can be successful. They’ll do just about anything. They get stuff done. They just need a connection, a support, and to know they’re not alone. But it’s this dirty little secret we harbor because we look at these millionaire mentors we’re supposed to be ‘modeling’ and we tell ourselves, ‘well SHE doesn’t have to put up with the stuff in MY life’ or ‘if I had HER life, I’d be successful, too’ and that’s crap. We’ve all got issues, and there are women out there with the same story telling themselves these lies because they think they’re the only ones. I’ve got six and seven figure income earners calling ME and asking me how I do it, and I’m like – ‘are you kidding me? I didn’t think there was any other option. You either succeed or you fail. And I’m not a big fan of failure, so you figure out a way.’ And that just blows me away, because people don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes… it’s this ‘dirty little secret’ that no one wants to talk about, but there are SO many mom entrepreneurs going through this right now. And they are HARD working moms – dads too!

And that’s when it hit me. The clouds just kind of rolled away.

It’s all about our own self worth. And when I say that, I mean how we truly value ourselves – not as business owners, but as human beings.

One of the things I tell my clients is that if YOU don’t believe you’re worth $500 an hour, no one else will either – including your family, friends and clients. Why should they, if yo can’t see your own value?

The other thing I recount time and again is the firm belief I have that YOU (as a business owner) are the single most important product your company has to offer. Period.

The problem (and the solution) comes in the belief. When a client believes (in their core) those two statements, I’ve seen incomes double or triple overnight. Literally. It’s kind of freaky, really. But when a client struggles to believe in their own value as a person, it echoes through every other piece of their being: business, family, life in general.

And THAT was the ‘ah-ha’ that brought it all together. I’ve been wanting my live event to be something remarkable. Not another “rah-rah” kind of thing, and certainly not a giant up-sell or pitchfest for some awkwardly presented ‘mastermind group’.

In short, I want it to be an event I would shell out my hard earned money to attend – no matter where it was. Something that made me feel like I was a better PERSON for being a part of it. Not to learn sales tactics, or new marketing trends, but ways to give my business and life more significance by recognizing my own value and what I brought to the world.

And I realized in that moment that the person I was trying to reach was more like me than I had ever care to admit.

Then I understood ‘why me.’