BOOK to BUSINESS: For Coaches Who Are Tired of NOT Making Money
BOOK to BUSINESS is both a proven system and a step-by-step strategy for how to make money as a coach.
The ‘system‘ part is how all the various pieces of your business are connected… your website, your freebie, your paid offer, your email marketing content, your sales process, and everything else in between. As in, everything.
The ‘strategy‘ part is how to go about connecting those pieces, what to do first, what to do next, and what to do after that, so that step-by-step you have a coaching business that generates revenue.
As a result – and this is what’s unique about the BOOK to BUSINESS approach to attracting paying clients – you don’t experience the much-dreaded fear of embarrassment and/or failure that comes with putting yourself “out there” because that’s what the so-called marketing “experts” have been saying, over and over and over again, for the past decade.
As if the mere act of posting on social media or appearing live on Facebook or making a video for YouTube, or creating a webinar, or launching a podcast is all it takes to attract paying clients.
Truth is, “put yourself out there” is plain ol’ bad advice.
It’s backwards.
And it keeps coaches stuck in the Land of WTF, for months and sometimes, even years.
Before you put yourself out there, you have to be certain that what you’re going to say is what your audience wants to hear – not what you think they need to hear – or they will tune you out and treat you as if you’re invisible.
And no matter how hard you may try not to take it personally, it stings – because we don’t understand what went wrong.
When putting ourselves out there doesn’t work, we are often left thinking (mistakenly) that it’s because of who we are; that we’re “not cut out for this,” or that “she can do it but I can’t.”
My friend, the only reason she’s doing it is because she’s following proven marketing principles that are steeped in the psychology of what makes people buy. The book to business system is steeped in those principles.
People buy when they feel connected to a product or service. If you don’t know how to establish that connection, then putting out a video – even one that has the best advice, or posting a pretty graphic on Facebook – even if it’s an inspirational quote people like, like, like, or building a fancy website that’s got “everything you need to know” on it – none of those will ever work (may I repeat, NONE) if they don’t captivate the attention of your most sought-after clients in a way that establishes a connection.
What’s the easiest and fastest way to establish that connection? Write a tiny book that becomes the backbone of your business.
NOTHING WILL WORK IF YOU DON’T LEARN HOW TO CAPTIVATE THE ATTENTION OF YOUR MOST SOUGHT-AFTER CLIENTS IN A WAY THAT MAKES THEM FEEL CONNECTED TO YOU
The thing is, most of us were never taught any of the proven principles of marketing, but nonetheless, we assume to know what we’re doing. I had to be hit over the head several times before I realized that my marketing efforts were only successful at making me SWEAT, along with making me feel like a FAILURE. And, invariably, making me want to QUIT.
Like it or not, if you’re determined to be and stay in business, you’ve simply got to understand how your audience thinks, so that you can TALK to them in a way that makes the LISTEN and BUY.
The only way to know if you’ve learned how to do that is by looking at your bank account: Is money going in, or not?
The “No-Sweat” Approach to Marketing and Selling
Ok, so we’ve established that putting yourself out there is backwards business advice if, whenever doing so, causes you to break into a sweat. And especially when putting yourself out there doesn’t attract new clients.
In other words, when your marketing efforts don’t make people actually WANT to LISTEN and BUY from you, continuing to put yourself out there is utterly pointless.
Instead, it’s time to go back to the drawing board, and I don’t mean you need to start changing things.
Like… the content and design of your website, or figuring out what to sell, or creating another freebie you hope will work.
Unless and until you KNOW the language of your audience, which means you know how to TALK to them, you can be sure they will not want to LISTEN, let alone BUY.
As a result, you’ll be spinning your wheels ’til the cows come home for your birthday.
Here’s what makes this hard for coaches – especially new ones – to understand: What makes sense to us – what we talk about, what we want to put out into the world – doesn’t always make sense to the people we’re trying to attract. MESSAGING – which is how we put ourselves “out there” with content of any kind, is highly nuanced.
The only way to learn how to TALK to your audience is to take time to learn and understand the language they speak. To do otherwise is to come off sounding like a RoboCoach.
I cannot tell you how many coaches have said these words: “I’ve figured out my messaging.”
Messaging isn’t something you “figure out.” It’s something only your audience can teach you.
If you were cornered at a party, where someone was talking to you about what they needed you to hear, and you had absolutely no interest in hearing it, who’s right?
That’s the thing! This isn’t about right or wrong, it’s about what works.
If you don’t do what actually works (as opposed to what you think ought to work), your business won’t work.
That can be a hard pill to swallow for many coaches, especially because they really do know what their clients need. Problem is, they put that information in their marketing content.
That’s like putting a plate of plain broccoli in front of a kid and telling them it’s good for them.
The kid doesn’t care.
The kid will only care if you put something they want on top of that broccoli, like, say, chocolate! Argue all you want, but if keep trying to make a child eat broccoli, you’ll chip away at the connection you have with them.
How can you maintain the connection AND get what YOU want?
Remember, good marketing is marketing that understands the psychology of getting people to buy.
Go From Invisible to Seen and Heard
BOOK to BUSINESS isn’t merely about writing a tiny book for your business; most importantly it’s about the psychology of getting people to pay attention to you long enough so that they ultimately buy from you.
When you learn to write a book that is written specifically to turn a reader into a paying client, you learn how to run a revenue-generating business.
You learn to TALK…
So that the reader will want to LISTEN…
And be so captivated by what you’re saying in your book, that the next (and only) logical step is to BUY from you.
You talk. They listen. Then buy.
Once you figure out how to talk so that people will listen and buy, you’ll know…
What to put on you website.
What to talk about in a Facebook Live.
How to create videos your audience would find relevant.
What kind of freebie would make them give you their email.
How take a quote right out of your book and turn it into a social media post and graphic.
What to write about in your emails so that they actually get read.
What topics to cover on your podcast.
How to create webinars that “sell without selling.”
What to say when you make an offer and not feel awkward and embarrassed (because people will actually be interested in what you’re saying).
In other words, no more scrambling to come up with content.
Or throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks.
No longer will you find yourself watching your bank account go down instead of up.
You can stop worrying that no one will pay attention to you.
In other words, the work you do on your BOOK becomes a blueprint for how you run your BUSINESS. And if something doesn’t feel right, the process requires you to find out why; is it really a limiting belief? Or is it more likely that you don’t feel confident that what you’re being told to do makes any sense.
Make it your goal to build a business in a way that makes sense.
Why the BOOK to BUSINESS Model Makes Sense: 3 (Crucial) Fundamentals of Doing Business
Considering that the most challenging part of building a coaching business is learning how to attract paying clients, we need something to make ourselves stand out… something that will take us from unseen and unheard to “holy smokes, I have to hire her!”
Let’s face it, when we feel invisible, we end up also feeling unfulfilled.
This is the exact opposite of badass.
The reason for this: most coaches never learn the 3 CRUCIAL FUNDAMENTALS of a successful online business:
#1: A MESSAGE that is relevant to your audience (i.e., it makes them LISTEN and BUY).
#2: A MARKETING STRATEGY that reflects an understanding of the psychology behind why people buy.
#3: A monthly MONEY GOAL that keeps you accountable to #1 and #2.
Without ALL 3, it’s sad to say there’s a pretty good chance your ship is going down.
But it doesn’t have to!
The reason 80% of coaching businesses fail within the first two years is because those coaches never had a relevant MESSAGE and a MARKETING strategy designed to make them MONEY.
What happens when you try to build a website, create a freebie, develop a signature coaching package, do webinars, start a podcast, invite people to your free Facebook group, run 5-day challenges, and generally put yourself out there without a MESSAGE-MARKETING-MONEY plan?
Not much.
What Kind of Coach Needs a BOOK for Her Coaching Business?
The reason coaches aren’t making money is NOT that there aren’t enough clients. On the contrary, the coaching industry has experienced colossal growth since 2020 alone, as more and more people are discovering the positive effects of having a coach in their corner.
The market is growing. You can make money at this. You can go from book to business with a tiny book that’s written specifically to turn readers into paying clients.
Truth is, there has never been a better time to turn your expertise into a service-based coaching business. This includes consultants, teachers, therapists, psychologists, health and wellness professionals, doctors, lawyers, graphic designers, spiritual teachers, marketing experts — anyone who seeks the freedom that entrepreneurship promises. (I use the word “coach” generically to refer to anyone who’s got the guts to turn their expertise into a business.)
The key to being successful in business is to distinguish yourself from all the other coaches who do what you do.
And the hands-down best, most effective, and highly efficient way to do that is to write a book that becomes the backbone of your business. And not just any kind of book but a very specific kind of book, a 25-50 page tiny book that readers can devour in an hour.
Why Write A (Tiny) Book To Market Your Business?
When someone has a problem or they’re in pain, they’re not interested in reading hundreds of pages. They want you to get to the point. They don’t want you to waste their time. They’re looking for a solution, and they want it fast.
The reason why so many coaches who have written books don’t get clients as a direct result of their books is that they wrote the wrong book.
The right book is a book that establishes you as the only logical option when it comes to all the coaches they may have to choose from.
Besides, people pay extra attention to a coach who writes a book because it’s a sign of authority. It tells the world she means business!
After all, let’s face it, people are understandably skeptical when it comes to hiring a coach they don’t know, especially if they’ve never worked with one before. Buying your book is a micro-investment that allows the reader to get to know you and understand how and why your approach to solving their problem works.
It’s certainly a lot more intimate than sending someone to read your website’s About Page. Think about it, you have the chance to hold your ideal client’s attention for an entire hour.
Compare that to the average amount of time people spend on a website: 45 seconds!
How To Sell Without Selling
If you tend to shrink away from the mere idea of having to “sell” your services, get ready to do a happy dance.
You don’t have to become a cliché of that smooth-talking pushy salesperson that comes to mind whenever we think of selling. You can let your tiny book loose and let it do the talking and selling for you.
This is why the BOOK to BUSINESS model works.
To all the introverts in the crowd: You do NOT have to learn how to “think positive” and be “a little more” enthusiastic, fun, interesting, witty, and a completely different person(!) in order to have a successful business.
The BOOK to BUSINESS process doesn’t involve becoming a master of persuasion. Neither does it require that you make false promises so that you can “get the sale.” It certainly doesn’t mean you have to step so far outside your comfort zone that you start to feel like a creepy (unrecognizable) version of yourself.
In other words, you don’t have to learn how to become a smooth talker.
A book does the heavy lifting of talking and selling for you.
While there are many reasons why writing a book is good for business, perhaps the best is more personal: You had the GUTS to write it. Don’t you just love a woman with guts?
