General Feedback
We welcome any general feedback here.
If it’s about a product or promotion, please mention the product or promotion you are referring to.
Thanks!
David
We welcome any general feedback here.
If it’s about a product or promotion, please mention the product or promotion you are referring to.
Thanks!
David
What People are Saying About ‘First Fifty Clients’?
Simply Brilliant!!!!!
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I listened to the disc for the first time on Monday and have already booked 45 people for exploratory sessions. I may have to extend my goal to 100 people in 100 days. I never knew I could inspire people to take advantage of a free session. You have motivated me into action and I wish to thank you for this. ” – Loretta Digger, UK
Visit http://www.FirstFiftyClients.com
Proudly reprinted from issue #50 of the Mentor Monthly
Suppose you got 1,000 visitors to your web site today.
How many would give you their email address so you can stay in touch?
5? 200?
And will they be engaged? Inspired to do a coaching session with you?
In this article I’ll tell you a very simple, yet clever strategy, which will engage your visitors in an interactive way, AND get their email address.
Start a relationship
People don’t tend to plunk down money the first time they visit a site. And they don’t want to become a client until they feel they know you a little better. So to get them interested in you and your site, try free downloads, articles and other freebies. These are excellent ways to bring people to the top of your marketing funnel.
Once you start a relationship by giving them something, it will be easier to convert your visitors to clients or sell your products.
Assessments as freebies
Assessments are a fantastic way to attract visitors. Assessments are quizzes and questionnaires that create an interactive experience for your prospects. “How Successful Are You?” “Are You Ready for a Relationship?” “Are You Stressed?”
People love to fill them out and better yet, they like to pass them on to their friends. And assessments can be powerful tools to help people learn more about themselves. In other words, they are already being coached!
Lyle Johnson, a client in my Coachstart™ Mentoring Program took this idea and turbo charged it. He created 38 assessments in one week!
I’m serious – 38 assessments, 30 questions each, and SIX EMAILS in an autoresponder series to follow up every assessment individually!
http://www.coachforoutcomes.com/assessments.htm
He used the Assessment Generator to get his assessments up that quickly (it does the programming for you).
Now I don’t expect you to be as prolific as Lyle, but you could definitely whack one up there in the next few days, and send the link to your colleagues and friends.
Get their email address
Once you have a visitor’s email, you can contact them more to build the relationship you started with the give away. And you get a chance to show them what else you can offer them (i.e. coaching, an information product, a teleclass, etc.).
Lyle has a great system for following up with potential clients who take the quizzes. He asks for their name and email address before they hit the score button. He tells them where they are based on their score, and then follows up 6 times via an autoresponder specific to that quiz! The autoresponder messages are to upsell to his coaching.
How do you set up the autoresponders? Well – that’s a topic for another article. To save you from overwhelm, I’d suggest you just start with the quiz. But for those of you ready to go to the next step – you can check out the system I recommend here.
Can you see the potential? Set up this system once and then you don’t have to email each prospect, each time. Just some tweaks here and there every so often.
What’s your freebie?
Now that you know how important having something to give away is to attracting potential clients and customers to your site, what are you going to do?
***
This was drawn from The CoachStart™ Manual, found together with hundreds of dollars in free bonuses, here.
Enjoy!
P.S. Got a comment on this article? Please add it to the blog.
Announcements/Offers
100 Day Challenge
September 22nd is an important date as it marks the 100 day countdown of 2008. With that in mind, I wanted to share with you a unique opportunity called the 100 Day Finish Strong Challenge.
Gary Ryan Blair, otherwise known as The Goals Guy has put together what I believe to be the most comprehensive approach to goal setting and performance enhancement.
The 100 Day Finish Strong Challenge is a structured performance improvement program where challengers
compete against themselves to achieve a number of challenging goals and finish the year strong.
Visit: The 100 Day Challenge
What are they Saying about ‘Explode Your Practice’?
“David, thanks so much for creating Explode Your Practice™. I’ve listened to all the libraries, and my coaching practice is booming as a result!I have:
Daniel Midson-Short |
“I have already listened to at least 6 hours and my ability to open my practice has been accelerated by at least 3-6 months. Hearing David’s real life advice to coaches has made a huge difference for me.
Get your ‘Explode Your Practice’ CD set at:
2. FEATURE: Power Beyond Belief
*NOTE: This is a long one and worth it… So feel free to print it out for a time when you have 10 minutes.
When was the last time you gave thanks for being top of the food chain?
Seriously – have you ever felt grateful that you’re not something that gets chomped up by other species without notice? (pretty much).
More than that – we live on average for about 75 years – pretty good. Would you trade with a random species?
So I’ve only been talking for 30 seconds, and we’re already clear that we’ve got it pretty good. Wouldn’t you agree?
Have you considered life as a video game? If this was a video game, we got a pretty good species, or race, or role, or avatar.
You’re actually playing one now…did you know? It’s true, you’re playing one huge video game right now.
Some programmers got together, and decided to do something different.
A kick ass video game.
Brad said “Well – first let’s give them motion. 3 dimensions.”
“What’s a dimension?”
“I’ll show you when I’m finished.”
“Let’s let them move upwards too.”
“No way – there’s air. People are too heavy.”
“But I’ve got this idea for something called technology. Let’s allow them to move matter, and combine it, and use something called chemical reactions and laws of physics. If they want it enough, they can even move upwards through air.”
“Oh sure – then you’ll want them to escape the planet.”
“Don’t be stupid – I’m not that crazy.”
“But with technology, they’ll be able to make light themselves. And heat, and cold. And to move faster, or slower.”
“Alright Bill – I don’t get it but mock it up and I’ll take a look.”
“I’m making Sight!” says Jim. He goes off and smokes a doobie and returns. “And I want it in colour.”
“What’s that?”
“I just made it up.” “OK whatever.”
“And touch – sensation. Let’s have things FEEL good to this ‘skin’ Brad made.”
“Oh I know! Let’s make living easy. That thing Jenny made….a heart….let’s have it beat automatically. And all they need is a tiny bit of fuel…..oh yeah, food….to keep living. So that almost everyone will have survival handled. The rest can all be entertainment. And this is a little crazy, but we’ll even make air and water free…..dead easy.”
This way if they want to just live, just exist, they can do it easily…..the rest might take a little effort.”
“Wait,” Jenny says. You’ve got everything as positive. No negative emotions. No negative touch experience. What kind of video game will this be? Who will play it? We have to have penalties. Pain. Sadness, etc. So friends watching can go ‘Oh no, sadness dude. Ouch.’ Or ‘Dude – happiness points, alright!’ How will they celebrate if everything is good?”
“And – let’s add significance. Seriousness. Of course there will have to be unpredictable events – like dying early.”
“Oh, I have that handled. Plague, buses….and I’m working on something called tobacco. Sometimes they’ll have to pay attention.”
“Hey, wait guys – let’s REALLY add value. Instead of just a 1 hour game, or even 24 hours like we gave the butterflies, let’s get a little freaky? You wanna? Let’s give them 75 x 365 x 24 = 657,000 hours if they play really well, and options to extend.”
“Woah….”
One of the guys is smoking some Jamaican Monkey hash in a huge bong and starts laughing…..”What?” they say. “Smell,” he says through fits of laughter. That adds another couple of weeks to the programming project.
Some guy gets creative and throws in cultures, trees and rivers, poetry, astronomy and an entire universe for bonus contemplation.
The hippy programmer shows up and says, “What about consciousness?” “Huh?” “Well….what point of view will you give them? That everything happens to them? They are at the mercy of events? Nothing is within their control? Some will even call it fate?”
“No way – let’s make them see themselves as God. Let’s have them realize that because the game doesn’t actually ‘exist’, that they can only experience everything through their perceptions/senses, and they control their perceptions/senses, that they really are creating their own universe! Let’s give them responsibility so they see that every action ripples out and creates the world around them, even their attitude and emotions.”
“I’ve got it,” says Jenny quietly. “Let’s create the best damn video game ever created. I mean blow the charts. Let’s let them choose! Give people the ability to choose their level of consciousness and switch between. They can play the whole game in victim mode and be at the effect of the universe, or the related but different fate mode where they still have no control but accept and enjoy it all, or they can ramp it up to God mode where they see how everything they do creates their personal world, and can feel responsible for everything. They can even switch between levels of consciousness any time they want, unlimited times, with no penalty. Using all modes to get the maximum value from the game.”
* * *
So – how’s this video game for you? How’s your appreciation for the game you’re playing right now?
BETA TESTERS
They pulled in all the beta testers that were finished testing google products. And one woman kept producing record scores. They brought her in for debriefing, and she had some interesting things to say:
1) I found out in my 70th game, that if I’m nicer to people, and get more interested in having their lives be better, that the game gets more fun. It’s easier, and I get way more stuff at the same time.
(Did anyone program that? Who’s fault? Must be some glitch.)
2) I discovered I don’t even always have to create stuff myself – or at least with my hands. Sometimes I just send electrical impulses to my vocal chords, and speak those things you created called words. And they move people around me to do things. In one game I took a lover who wanted me to be happy. When I mentioned I wanted a house, he built me one. It was amazing – I spoke, and there was a house. In a way, it was like I was using something from one of your old games called magic.
3) In one life time I wanted a whole string of buildings that would pamper the senses with fragrances and touch and sound. And I didn’t even need to cut the wood and make the buildings. Many of them I never saw. I simply used the vocal chords again, and the attitude function, and soon enough people wanted the same thing that we all jumped in together and it happened. I don’t fully understand this way of creating things without actually doing it myself, but this is how I achieved such massive scores in just one life time.
4) In many games I was able to get what I wanted through a strange exchange. I would do things for people and they gave me something called money. Then, whenever I felt like something – to move to another location, or to gain sustenance (that eating module), or have any of the 5 main sensations, I would pull out this money and it would just happen – again like magic. For example, if I wanted to go to a village in France, I didn’t have to make a boat and sail there – someone else would do it for me if I just created enough money. If I wanted to eat a delicacy that took complex machines and hundreds of hours to prepare, I simply pulled out some money and I could have it instantly. Are you sure you didn’t put magic into this game?
(Did we? Jenny? Brad? Damn….another glitch?)
So it seemed there are strategies available in the game that the makers didn’t even plan. It’s possible in this video game to actually create things. To cause matter to move within three dimensions to combine in extraordinary ways – often without moving your hands, and sometimes with no more than desiring it (a definite glitch in the program but one we can take advantage of). Even to enjoy combinations of matter you had nothing to do with (such as a fig).
(As I am writing this, someone walks up to me and offers me figs. As I delight in the sweet taste and texture, I think, ‘How did this happen? What atoms and molecules were brought together and combined, and it such an infinitely complex process that I could never replicate? And not only did I not grow it (nature did that), or even plant and harvest it, but I didn’t even climb the fig tree and move them through space. This miracle too complex to program simply appeared in my hand.
I did have to move the fig to my mouth though – perhaps that can be addresses in a future release of the game….”)
The game World of WarCraft cost $75 million to make.
Can you imagine the budget that went into the one you’re playing? With this kind of pixilation? Color? Options? Landscape data? Can you imagine how many CD Roms you would need to load this game?
So – you’re playing the best game imaginable.
BUT….we often forget it’s a game. Or is it: AND….we often forget it’s a game….which makes it more real and more exciting?
I haven’t even mentioned the function that allows us to create life! Or to feel love. Or to contribute to the planet. Or to jump hurtling out of a plane and live. Or to see a star light-years away as it existed thousands if not millions of years ago. Or to take a breath, and the millions of chemical reactions happening in the body without thought. Or Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.
So how’s this video game we’ve got? What do you think now about this game of life?
POST IT ON THE BLOG
Consider that you may just be playing the best game there is, and that in this game, you have been given power beyond belief.
(Whether you have all the power, or it happens to you, doesn’t really matter. You can still enjoy the video game. But beta testers report that their thoughts and emotions and attitudes and actions made an amazing difference in the world around them and their scores in the game. I’m just reporting the facts, you decide.)
Given that – there’s just one thing to do…
***
Work out the moves you’ll make in this game of life.
POST ON THE BLOG about the moves you’re making next, and what you could do to have a better time in the game – maybe even get a higher score.
* * * *
Enjoy!
P.S. Got a comment on this article? Add it to the blog
Life continues to move pretty fast (which is good when you’re not in the best place to start with!)
Did the Byron Katie 9 day school for The Work in Florida. Changed my life; lots of shifts and insights, but mainly happiness and peace. In the middle of 28 days with Katie – TurnAround House Sep 3-30 in Ojai. I don’t seem attached to money, business, what people think…actually a lot of things since the school.
Left on a short trip, and….um….haven’t gone back yet. 4 days has turned into 20 which is now looking like it might be 90 days. Lucky my business is mobile. LOVING Calgary – the people, the weather, the mountains, and feel tempted to move here.
Then did Harbin Hot Springs Aug 15-25, a speakers and authors conference in the NAPA valley, my 40th birthday on August 27, and then Mill Valley (SF) until Sep 1st.
When I get out of the TurnAround House I will have a week in
LA to catch up with friends (and do yet another course), and then onto Australia.
Did my first retreat with the Transformational Leadership Council, which was wonderful. Feels like I’ve found a new family. And – I’ve nailed circular breathing, and love my new collapsable didgeridoo made from a vacuum cleaner. (Stay tuned for the sound track!)
Love David
Make Your Own Coaching Career with the CoachStart™ Manual
After years of hands-on research, including personally mentoring sixty coaches, I’ve compiled everything I know about starting a successful coaching practice in one easy-to-follow manual.
Learn how to set up your business and get clientshttp://www.CoachStart.com |
And I’m so excited to hear such great feedback:
“Let me start by saying I think this manual is fantastic. It is exactly what each person thinking about starting a coaching business needs to read! The biggest thing I got from this Manual was a new sense of confidence and competence. The simple exercises and role plays you’ve provided have made me eager to try some new methods.
– Daniel Midson Short
www.lifestylerevolution.com.au
“David, I am really enjoying this Manual! It is clear, practical, comprehensive and inspirational, and it will be a great reference for me as I begin my coaching practice.”
-Carolyn Claiborne
sacredgatherings@ earthlink.net
Visit http://www.CoachStart.com
Proudly reprinted from issue #11 of the Mentor Monthly
You’ve done the networking, looked through your contacts, and now have a list of people to approach for coaching.
You’ve then decided not to be so stingy, and added another 20 people to the list – people you’re not sure of, but hey – it doesn’t hurt to ask – right? And that’s where you get stuck.
How do you approach these contacts so they will become clients?
How do you do it without pressuring them?
How do you do it so you get a ‘yes’ over 80% of the time?
I call these kinds of approaches ‘warm invitations’. You aren’t calling a stranger so it isn’t a cold call. But, it’s not necessarily a hot prospect either. They are just people you know, and you would like see if they are interested in coaching.
In this article I’m going to give you a script that is proven to work. But it’s critical to note that you are NOT trying in this phone call to get them as a client. All you are going for is an ‘introductory’ or ‘exploratory’ or ‘trial’ session. Use the label that feels best for you.
The following is an excerpt from The CoachStart™ Manual:
The First Line
Are you stopped because you just have no idea what to say to see if someone would want to try coaching?
Here is a sample script to use:
“Hi, Jeff. How are you? I am calling about coaching. I am setting up my coaching practice and I am looking for high energy [put in your own descriptor if you don’t like ‘high energy’] people to do some trial coaching sessions with.”
[Pause/Listen]Notice this is very non-threatening, yet straight-forward. It also compliments the person, making them feel good right away.
Check Interest
“But first, if you have a couple minutes, I’d like to check and see if us doing a session together even makes sense, because I don’t want to waste your time with this.”
Note no hard selling here. You are trying to gauge interest. This part shows that you value the client’s time.
Question
“O.k. great. So Let’s find out if there is something worth working on. What’s one thing you’d like to alter in your life?”
Or you can do other questions like, “What’s the biggest pain in your life?” or “What would you like more of in your life?” You can insert your own question and experiment with different questions. This gets them into coaching mode and helps you discover what they need.
[Pause/Listen].Note: Discover what they want, but don’t try to work it out or solve it yet.
Set it Up
“OK, if we could find some great strategies to help you do that, would that be worth spending half an hour on?”
“Great-I won’t be charging for this. If we find a great goal that coaching could help make a big impact on, we can look at setting up a coaching structure for you. If not, then I appreciate your time in helping me with my training and development. Do you prefer Wednesday or Thursday? Phone or face to face?”
Here you are showing the value of coaching. You are asking them if they think coaching is worth their time. You are also honestly saying you are looking to gain them as a client, but at the same time allowing them not to feel pressured by thanking them for helping in your training.
Set the time and date now if possible, so there won’t be any phone tag later. Give them two date options to start them thinking of when, instead of second-guessing whether or not to do this coaching trial session.
Remember you are helping them. You are going to work with them to create an action plan for something they would love to change. It’s wonderful if they decide they would like to become a client, but don’t worry about that so much. Just get out there and do 50 trial sessions – to help the people you know! The rest will take care of itself.
So be confident and give them a call!
[Excerpted from The CoachStart™ Manual]***
This was drawn from The CoachStart™ Manual, found together with hundreds of dollars in free bonuses, here.
Enjoy!
P.S. Got a comment on this article? Please add it to the blog.
It’s like I have ADD
I sit down to do a CRITICAL task, and end up doing 10 other things.
Like……writing this damn blog entry!
Here’s my new, fun technique:
1) Declare Hail Mary mode until a fixed time (I’m declaring it now until 10:30am – one hour from now), to focus on a SPECIFIC task.
2) If you do the slightest thing that isn’t directly related to that task, you go out into the street, fall to your knees, and do 10 Hail Mary’s.
3) Come back to task.
Ok – I’m off – I have a date with the street….
Hi guys,
There’s no expectation to read this. I wrote it to list all the pieces that are ‘coming in’, being worked on as I travel the globe indefinitely. Inner and outer journey. If you’re interested, I suggest scanning the bold headings, or printing off with a leisurely cup of coffee.
Love,
D
STATE OF THE ONION
David is summarizing his current life journey – at 6am after a strong dream. (He’s also playing with talking in the third person – a technique to help him see that who he is, is not what he always thought he was: a body, thoughts, feelings, another etc…..It feels pretty weird and he still sees people who do this as pretentious wankers, but let’s see how it goes)
He left NY for a 10 day trip – July 10 – and he hasn’t been back. He now doesn’t plan to return.
Here are the pieces he’s working on, seeing:
THE PROCESS…AND SLEEP
Who needs sleep? Letting go the concept of 8 hours uninterrupted sleep. He’s waking up 1 (thank God) to 4 times a night, and using the energy that’s there. He writes down his dreams as best he can, listens to them. Sometimes he picks up a book, or writes, like now. Opened to the possibility that waking at night is a GOOD thing! So he can write down his dreams, and listen to his subconscious.
Welcoming tears Sometimes he goes for a walk, and emotion pours out…..old, old feelings….problem-less, without distress, healing. The mind doesn’t need to label or explain it! It knows it’s OK, it’s old, and it’s being released. There’s compassion. Amidst the soft crying and shaking, there is no problem, no distress. He’s really ready to listen to his psyche, in a very new way of being.
Hurting heart Sometimes his heart hurts. He used to think the wracking sobs were sadness, like something was wrong. But now it seems it’s just a lot of love for the heart to bear, and it occurs as a pain that’s worth feeling, as the heart opens, and something whispers: “it’s OK to let this in. It’s OK”.
The man behind the curtain Realized his sub-conscious (including limbic system) has been running the show for 40 years, and that his conscious mind/cortex has no control over it. Problem 😉 So now fascinated with anything that will help the two speak to each other – that will help release and heal any fears and wounds stored in the subconscious. (And without years of therapy or psycho-analysis!)
Dreaming In particular, studying and practicing dream remembering, dream analysis, intentional dreaming, and soon lucid dreaming.
THE OTHER
The magical other Clear-ifying his search for the magical other to fulfill him, probably based on some kind of mother separation, and loss of his sister. And a ‘seeking’ hungry energy, like a dog wanting to play fetch, with every attractive woman who passes. Fortunately God and David have different plans for his sex life, and he’s getting to be celibate against his will. And enjoy humor around it.
Unavailable? Let’s date Clear-ifying his pattern of choosing unavailable women – either those with another partner, or young women who are working themselves out, and have yet to go through an independent phase to prove they can handle things on their own and find out who they are.
Moving on Letting go the myth and illusion of Kristina he’s made up, and feels sometimes deep in his cells, seemingly as real as breathing. Opening his heart, loving her and her choices, blessing her and her choices. Grieving. Respecting and honoring. And setting boundaries. Right now no contact for 6 months feels right to truly free himself energetically from his self-hypnosis around this ‘other’. (Besides – God sent him 2 more Kristina’s anyway 😉
A real woman Seeing new possibility of partnering with a real ~woman~; a woman of experience; a woman who knows who she is; a woman who feels whole and complete in herself, and ready for partnership. A woman who is not my student.
Choice and intention Perhaps he’s at a place to choose more carefully his next relationship, instead of based on initial chemicals and hormones (see What the Bleep), and a need to complete himself. Feedback from his men friends will be critical in this, and perhaps not having sex for 6 months with a potential long-term partner. (As opposed to short-term recreational relationships).
Childish joy A little girl – 3 and 11/12ths she informs me – has borrowed his heart. And he can taste the fear of loving, the old story that you just CAN’T love because it’s too risky. Seems time for kids to come back into his life in some way.
THE SELF
Self-partnered Right now, partnering with himself seems key. Self-nurturing, time alone, creating a life not revolved around women, or ‘the other’, David appreciating David.
Service For months this keeps popping up. Now doing anonymous good is a fulfilling, private game.
Enjoying himself. Feeling a huge amount of energy online – like a million volts; an alertness, a humming vibrating presence. Seeing how all of who he is, is contributing to the lovely people around him, and it is good.
Who we really are Getting glimpses of who he is. He’s not his body; not his thoughts; not his feelings; not his situation or habits or doings or preferences or attractions; not his judgments; not THE OTHER. Glimpsing the illusion he’s been swimming in – Samsara, Maya….Ahhh, the lovely ego….
Continuing TheWork.com, to see through the illusion of thought.
GOOD MEN
Oh wow…this is as fresh as 24 hours…
Where it all started Will ‘fix it’ with his father, and have “the conversations we might have had”…..now. Find out who this guy really is.
Real male friend Will learn how to get his emotional needs met from men, and to truly bond deeply with men.
Freeing the wild spirit Deepen his bond with nature; opening to the idea of complete solitude for days at a time.
THE BODY
Drug-free! He’s exercising, feeling good in his body. Stopped sleeping pills 2 weeks ago, and Zoloft (an anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drug) 10 days ago. Taking loads of vitamins and natural supplements, including the amino acids 5HTP and GABA, a little L-tyrosine, and melatonin.
Very low sugar, caffeine, alcohol. His sacrum is making itself known (funny, I didn’t know it was there before), so he’s looking for a network chiropractor in San Francisco.
FUN AND TRAVEL
After Calgary, Colorado, Calgary, Harbin Hot Springs….he’s now off to the NAPA Valley to schmooze and deal and network and actually generate some cash for the year, then Mill Valley to (if you know of someone in Marin County near SF with an awesome house they’d like house-sat for 7 days during burning man, let me, uhhhh….him, know.)
Then it’s a month at Turn Around House, 8 days in LA with friends, apparently Australia (just found out) with David Frey on business (and great chance to open up things with Dad), and then perhaps a communal living experiment in Marin County or Costa Rica for the month of November. Another conference in Hawaii in January, and other than that he’s wide open (send him invites! If you can get past the third person thing 😉 It’s about being with nature, quiet, and open hearted people right now.
Making the transition to a Mac, to have a stable operating system. (Now isn’t that interesting?) He’s done with the crashes.
Oh – and his 40th birthday is August 27 – Wednesday!
BOOKS READ/READING
The Eden Project – In Search of the Magical Other – James Hollis
Return to Love – Marianne Williamson
Age of Miracles – Marianne Williamson
Warrior of the Light – Paulo Coelho
Wild Nights – David Deida
Manhood – Stephen Biddulf
Codependent no More – Melody Beattie
Siddartha – Hermann Hess
Spiritual Enlightenment, the Damndest Thing – Jed McKenna
Loving What Is – Byron Katie
I Need Your Love – Is That True? – Byron Katie
Core Transformation
Seeing Who You Really Are – Douglas E. Harding
Photo Reading – Paul Scheele
MY GOALS AND GAMES
David
PS I seem to be posting regular updates at www.solutionboxblog.com and www.davidsfacebook.com – text, pics, video….so you can track things there.
Copyright 2018 David Wood.