Ultimately, we are looking to create something within our own lives, through our work as a coach. Connecting what we do to the actual creation of this ultimate outcome, is key. Cause and effect.

Getting started is often the difficult part. There are three great questions we can use - to get started with 'online marketing'.

What, Why, and How.

Building your business, achieving the lifestyle you want – is ultimately dependent on one simple point:

It requires another person to take a specific action.

Let’s give a name to this person – let’s make it personal. I’ll call my person Bob – you choose your own name.

Question 1: What action do you want Bob to actually take?

Again - what specifically do you want Bob to do?

There might be a big list of actions – but which action is the most critical – for you to build your own coaching practice, and live the life you want to live?

Warning: with this question – it’s tempting to think about the ‘how’ – don’t – not yet. Focus on defining with precision, the exact action you want Bob to take. You might not even like it, or agree with it. It might make you feel uncomfortable, bringing up some resistance.

This is ok – we simply need to acknowledge ‘what’ we want Bob to do. We’ll focus on the ‘how’ later.

Use the worksheet if you can - make a list of all the specific actions that will contribute to the creation of your ultimate outcome.

I’m guessing, that after some thought, you’ll end up with the conclusion, that what you really want Bob to do – is to give you some money?

Note: money is simply a tool. It enables us to do two things: first - to be comfortable, and second - to extend our influence beyond our physical presence. Bob will give you money in exchange for the value you give to Bob. The more value you give, the more money Bob will give.

Ok – onto the second question.

Bob will only take action, when he is motivated to. Motivation and drive are all about feelings.

Bob will take action because of what he is feeling – in the moment. Even after reflection, and maybe some rationalisation, Bob will still only act based on what he is feeling right now.

You may have noticed that the standard 'internet marketing sales letters' appeal to your emotions. Over-coming your pain, frustration, confusion. Connecting with your passions, your dream and aspirations. And then offering immediate gratification through the 'buy-now' button.  :-)

Question 2: Why is Bob motivated to act?

Bob could be motivated by any sort of feeling: fear, desperation, exhilaration, inspiration, passion, yearning, love. You need to know what will motivate Bob to act.

What keeps Bob awake at night. What does Bob dream about and yearn for? Where is Bob’s passion?

Use the worksheet, list what will motivate Bob to act.

Note: Different types of people are motivated in different ways, by different things. Some people are more re-active and tend to be motivated more externally to move away from what they don’t want. Some people are more pro-active and tend to be motivated internally to move towards what they do want. We all have aspects of both.

Ok - once we have those two questions answered; what do we want Bob to do, and why will Bob do that, we can focus on the ‘how’.

Question 3: How do we want this action to happen?

Do we want to meet Bob personally, talk with him, understand his need, establish the coaching commitment, shake his hand (and take payment!) and welcome him into the coaching relationship?

Perhaps we want Bob to download a product, pay for it online, and learn how to use it – all without ever talking to us in real-time?

Do we want it to be a real time activity with Bob, where we are present and giving our ‘time’ to Bob, which leads to him taking the action?

Or do we want it to happen without any ‘time’ requirement from us – where Bob takes action on his own – without us being personally involved in the moment - completely on auto-pilot?

In reality – different stages of the relationship will require different approaches. So how do we make a distinction, about when the best time is to be present with Bob, and when we can help Bob on auto-pilot?

Understanding the value of your time is critical. Second to your own unique strengths and talents – ‘time’ is your most valuable resource. Limit the spending of your time to doing things that can’t be done any other way, by anyone else. High value activities.

A proven model, is to create an automated marketing funnel. Where we attract people to our website, offer them something of real value in exchange for their contact details, and then nurture the relationship.

At some point, the relationship reaches the point where they see and want to experience the value in our products/services, and they purchase. We continue to nurture, over-deliver, creating more value – still on auto pilot.

At some point, they want to meet us – and see the high value in giving time to working with us personally, where we bring our ‘real-time’ to the experience. Our time is valuable – we charge a lot more for that value.

Once you've answered these three questions - you have something to work towards, that will make a measurable difference and move you closer to your outcome.

If you would like a worksheet for these questions, you can download it here:

http://TheCoachHub.com/media/what-why-how-plan.pdf

Keep it simple, move quickly and efficiently, value your time and your unique gifts most highly. Take care of Bob.

To your success,

Paul

p.s. To take this further - download and go through the 'Perfect Customer Lifecycle' workbook and videos here (all free).

A great and all-too-common question came up today, in a coaching session.

HELP! - there is so much great information out there - who should I listen to? - I am suffering from entrepreneurial overload..

The fact that we are asking the question should ring alarm bells. Whenever we want to make progress, we need to first know what we want to achieve. Once we know what our goal is - we need to fairly quickly decide how we are going to get there. And then we need to start moving - and stay on track.

Without the clear goal, we will have nothing to point our compass towards. We run the risk of being diverted, meandering, and losing our focus.

Focus is critical.

Focus is often confused with discipline. Sure, discipline has it's place. However there's something even more powerful than discipline, which can keep us on track.

It's connection.

Connection to something which is important to us. Something which enables us to make a difference through our work and our life. Some call it purpose, or passion.

Whatever we call it - when we connect to it - we become motivated to move forward, in a committed and focussed way. That motivating force of achieving the meaningful goal fuels us. We can channel that energy into focussed action. Action that will lead to the achievement of the goal.

It has to be a goal that comes from the heart - not from the head. The heart is where we tap into desire and passion.

When we have a meaningful goal to achieve, we have a powerful 'why' to our actions.

We focus on the activities that will lead us to the goal. That focus - is energy. What we focus on, grows.

Before you choose to spend time on any activity - pause and ask yourself:

Of all the ways I could spend this time - what would be the thing that will move me in the direction of my goal?

Your choice - will determine your results.

Sideline

Have you ever tried to give up eating chocolate, when there's chocolate in the house? Just about impossible isn't it?

Information is a bit like chocolate these days. If it's there, we have a hard time not consuming it. Even if we resist, the temptation eventually get's to us. It starts with a little nibble..

Focus also applies to what information we allow ourselves to be exposed to. With no chocolate, we are not tempted.

The easy way is to ditch the chocolate from the house - at least during work time!

Take some time to make a fairly quick decision, ask around from people who's judgement you respect - about who to listen to, and what approach to focus on.

Then commit to that person, and that approach. Unsubscribe from all the other lists, videos, free courses. Get rid of all the background noise.

Clear and de-clutter your information store - it will also clear your mind.

And then focus. Focus one that one meaningful goal, using that one approach. Don't bring chocolate into your house!

Choosing a meaningful goal is much easier when you have a purpose, and a plan to achieve that purpose.

Happy information de-cluttering!

to your success,

Paul

The ground-breaking Genius Project*, showed us the two key differences between the top performers and the rest. It showed us what the top performers have, what they do, and most importantly, how they think for success.

What they have: is a high degree of self-awareness; they know what they’re good at, and perhaps more importantly, they know what they suck at.

What they do: they stay true to their talents; making sure that succeeding in their roles only requires them to do what they are naturally very good at.

How they think: they ignore the conventional (ineffective) approach, and turn left instead of turning right. They adapt the role to fit their strengths.

Organisational roles are often defined positions of responsibility – the role is often the ‘job’. Roles have role requirements, and they also provide rewards. People fill these organisational roles. Historically, organisational roles are created and defined based on organisational needs. And then we look for a suitable person to fill the role.

In the new economy, roles become more balanced. Yes they are created in response to organisational needs, and we find people who are a great fit. But once the person is in the role, we then need to open up and be willing to adapt and refine the role to better fit the individual. This is what the top performers do; they fine-tune their roles to create a ‘best fit’. The role then not only serves the organisation more effectively, but also serves the individual more effectively, and importantly – enables the individual to serve more effectively – a win-win-win.

Roles need to be S.M.A.R.T. Roles

Specific – clearly defined in terms of specific competencies, skills and outcomes.

Measurable – to be manageable, it has to be measurable. Key performance indicators.

Aligned – the role has to be aligned with the organisations AND the individuals’ needs.

Rewarding – the role has to recognise the individual in the way that matters to them.

Talented – the role must only depend on the individuals talents, and not their non-talents.

Specific: Have a very clear understanding of the key role competencies

The best roles are those that are defined clearly, in terms of outcomes, and also in terms of competencies needed to achieve those outcomes easily. If you can define your role in terms of relevant competencies and skills, then your chances of finding the best person for the role are dramatically increased.

Measurable: Ensure there is a method for measuring performance

Once you have defined the role in terms of outcomes, and key competencies, you need to be able to measure a person’s performance within those key competencies. As we know, at least 78% of the value within a company comes from hidden assets, soft-skills; what we traditionally called the ‘intangibles’. Such things as empathy, attention to detail and big-picture ‘strategic thinking’. Thankfully we can now accurately measure these intangibles, and therefore manage them. Key Performance Indicators are critical – to be most effective they also need to be individualised and role/person specific.

Aligned: Ensure the role and the person are aligned

When building smart roles, we have two elements: the role and the person. The high performance outcome is where both the role and the person are aligned. The position of ‘best-fit’. The organisational and role requirements are being met, and the person feels both valued and highly competent. The benefits of alignment are vast and varied; less stress, less time off sick, a more vibrant, positive and highly engaged culture to name a few.

Rewarding: Ensure the role and rewards engage the person’s drivers and motivators

Knowing what drives and motivates a person best, enables you to both reward and recognise the person in a meaningful way. This fuels engagement too. It is the engaged and valued people who go the extra mile, who talk about what a great company this is, and who enjoy coming to work.

Talent-based: Ensure the person’s success is only dependent on their talents

The focus point of all SMART Roles, is the emphasis on natural talents. As we have seen with the Genius Project; when a role is oriented around a person’s natural talents and strengths - performance and engagement increases dramatically. This absolutely will – have a measurable and positive impact on your bottom-line.

The Problem

Are your people fully engaged? Are they able to performance at their highest level?  If not – they’re likely suffering from poor role alignment, or simply poor self-awareness of how to align themselves.

Summary

When organisational roles are SMART roles – there is a viral effect. The positivity spreads, inspires, and reinforces the idea of people being valued not just for what they know and do, but also for who they are. Leaders lead better, managers manage better, and the work force works better. The organisation as a whole performs better.

With technology and social-connectivity driving change, as the emphasis shifts from an industrial economy, through a knowledge worker economy, and towards a value based economy - SMART Roles are no longer an option. As more organisations expand their focus beyond bottom-line ‘profit’ and incorporate ‘people and planet’ – the options for savvy individuals increase.

If the individuals within your organisation do not feel valued, if they do not see their work as an opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way, if you do not make it as easy as possible for them to do their very best – it’s getting easier for them to simply find and go somewhere that does.

The Genius Project *
The Genius Project was a study conducted by Innermetrix Inc. and spanned 7 years, with 190,000 individuals from 23 countries. It measured over 80 key competencies and cross referenced these with 5 levels of individual performance.

The Genius Project - a 7 year study of nearly 200,000 individuals - revealed the two defining skills that differentiated the top performers from the rest.

Originally, Jay Niblick's psychometric profiling company 'Innermetrix' were looking for a correlation between certain competencies and high performance. Thankfully, there wasn't a strong link between any natural talent and high performance. This means that high performance is within everyone's reach.

What the study did find however, were two acquired skills. The top performers had a high level of these two skills, and the lower the level of performance, the less these skills were present.

Those two skills were self-awareness an authenticity.

1. Self-awareness: this is an accurate understanding of what you are good at, and perhaps more importantly, what you are not good at. The average level of self-awareness was 57% across the study. The 5th level performers (what we called the Genius level), typically had around a 90% level of self-awareness.
2. Authenticity: this is a measure of how true you are to your self-awareness. A high level of of authenticity means that you do what you are good at, and don't do what you're not good at. The top performers had around a 90% level of authenticity.

The good news, is that these two skills are acquired skills. With some work on self-awareness, and some focus on authenticity, we all have the potential for Genius performance.

To find out more about the Genius Project, visit http://www.whatsyourgenius.com/

~ to your Genius!

Paul.

In my coaching practice, the value of a Life Plan is becoming more and more obvious. With that in mind, here's a post devoted to just that - the steps I've come to recommend for creating your own Life Plan.

Most of this wisdom comes from two great 'virtual' mentors - Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy - see the resources box at the bottom.

As coaches, before we can help a client succeed, we first must help them to clearly and succinctly define what success looks like for them. As we progress through this process of defining success, the clearer it becomes that what we're really defining, is a well-balanced and fulfilling life. And of course, as soon as we've gotten clear about what that looks like - we can create a plan to achieve and experience it.

If you're thinking that you don't need a life plan, and want to get straight into a business issue, or financial goals, or health improvements - take a moment and reflect.

What you actually spend your time on - your daily priorities and commitments - are ideally driven by your short term goals. Your short term goals come from your business plan. Your business plan comes from your business strategy and vision. Your business vision is part of your life plan. Your life plan outlines how you will achieve your 'ideal life'. And your ideal life, is driven by your values and beliefs, where you derive your meaning and purpose from..

This dependency is so important, that Daniel Harkavy calls it the Core Four:

1. Life Plan
2. Business Vision
3. Business Plan
4. Priority Management

You can see that once the life plan is in place, it feeds order and priority down through the levels, all the way to how you decide what to do on a daily basis.

So the first step - is to download Michael Hyatt's free adaptation of the process outlined by Daniel,in the form of an ebook.

You can get Michael's ebook here: http://michaelhyatt.com/life-plan

Next, listen to Daniel's brief audio commentary on the life planning process here: http://www.buildingchampions.com/resources/tools/

After reading the ebook, and listening to the audio, you'll realise that this is an important event, and worth preparing for as well as taking time out to complete.

At the top of the list of four - is the life plan. This is really about two things:

1. Getting really clear about where you are.
2. Getting really clear about where you want to be.

The way we achieve this is by dividing our life into specific areas - or 'accounts' as Daniel calls them. Theses areas signify what is important to us - that might be a relationship with someone close to us such as our partner, it might be money, it could be health etc.

Once we divide our life into these areas, we can start to work on them more easily. It's very hard to define 'a happy life', but much easier to define how much money we want to make, or how much we want to weigh, or how we will create space for self-development, or time with our spouse/children.

For each of these areas of our life, or 'accounts', we again apply this same process; of first defining what we want it to be like, and then defining actions that will create that.

This process of chunking down is what enables us to be very effective and specific, to make distinctions between the different areas of our life, and how important each of them are.

The Life Plan Experience

As both Michael and Daniel point out - the life plan is crucial, and so it's worth setting aside a whole day for the process. Yes, a whole day. Most people spend more time planning their annual holiday than their life! For the life planning exercise, go somewhere awesome, where the environment puts you in a creative and reflective mood. Aim to complete the exercises within one day. This is a full immersion experience, not just an exercise to complete. Make it a special day.

Importantly - do not take your laptop, your pager or your phone - stay offline for the day! You can do it, and it will enable you to focus without tempting distractions.

One of the keys to making this day a really successful day, is to take the time to move the ideas from your head - down into your heart. Get emotional about the life you want to create!

As you reflect on the individual areas of your life, pick three or four key activities that will enable you to accumulate net worth in that area or 'account'.

Once you have your life plan, the next step is to follow through with the goals and action steps you identified for each area/account. Book time with yourself to complete those activities - actually set appointments with yourself to do those things, whether it's going to the gym, spending time with your partner.

In Michael's free ebook, he also provides links to a free spreadsheet, which he uses to plan his year out.

On Daniel's site, there are some additional materials, for planning out daily activities also.

In closing - the life plan can quite possibly be the most important day of your life - where you give serious time and reflection, to what really matters, not just to you, but to those closest to you.

~ to your 'life planning' success for 2012

Paul.

Resources:

Michael Hyatt's free Life Plan ebook: http://michaelhyatt.com/life-plan

Daniel Harkavy's Life Plan audio and resources: http://www.buildingchampions.com/resources/tools/

Daniel's book which outlines the whole Core Four Process: Becoming A Coaching Leader

Check out Michael's free Life Plan ebook at http://michaelhyatt.com/life-plan

Entrepreneurs are a special case..

If we examine success, we always find that at some level, there is an integration of order and movement.

Order is represented by structure, boundaries, control.

Movement is represented by creation, results, actions.

When we have all order and no movement, we have absolute stillness - more commonly referred to as death.

When we have all movement and no order we have chaos.

Life is neither death, nor chaos, life is the dynamic and moment-to-moment integration of both order and movement.

For most people, the job provides the structure, the rules, the boundaries, and us working within that order as an employee is the 'guided' movement. We are free to act, within the constraints of some defined structure. Note - the structure is external to us. We are 'bound' by it - hence the word boundary.

We move creatively and through the use of free will, but within the boundaries of some type of definition of success. Role requirements, job description, goals, deliverables.

As an entrepreneur, we are the employer as well as the employee.

We can certainly create the definition of order and structure - by choosing goals, objectives, to-do lists etc. But that structure is not external to us, and so we are not bound by it.

Truth is, we need an external structure, something bigger than us, that we are a willing participant in, and a part of.

This is where the life plan comes in. Importantly - it has to be a particular type of life plan. One that incorporates all the important elements of our life, and also places us within a context which is bigger than we are.

A good life plan, addresses issues of life purpose and legacy. And this transpersonal element then provides the external aspect of order which we need.

A good life plan then also connects us to our talents, our passions and our drive - so that we are motivated to stay true to the plan, and the plan is true to who we are and what matters to us.

And finally, a good life plan goes down to the detail of daily activity - so that it forms our 'job description, and role requirements'.

A good life plan, almost becomes our employer, providing accountability, reward and recognition, and the opportunity to shine as a unique individual.

If you would like coaching through the process of creating your own life plan, please contact me.

~ to the success of your plan!

Paul

The visual design part of a website, is probably the part which has the greatest risk of unravelling a good marketing strategy.

Google are a great company to learn from, about what works on the web. There is a page on which their User Experience Team share their good website design aspirations. Let's look at what they say..

1. Focus on people - their lives, their work, their dreams.
2. Every millisecond counts.
3. Simplicity is powerful.
4. Engage beginners and attract experts.
5. Dare to innovate.
6. Design for the world.
7. Plan for today's and tomorrow's business.
8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.
9. Be worthy of people's trust.
10. Add a human touch.

If we apply those in a way which is about us building our online identity, establishing those three core elements of Authenticity, Credibility and Trust, we can expand in a way which guides us as to what to focus on.

1. Focus on people - their lives, their work, their dreams.

Understand what really matters to your audience, what is truly important to them. Find a way to express your own natural talents and passions, in a way which helps them realise their dreams and aspirations. Ultimately, it is an experience which users want. The experience of feeling a level of certainty about life, themselves, and their ability to fulfil a purpose. The experience of significance in their work and relationships, their roles and through they way they contribute. And ultimately the experience of connection with those they are closest to, connection to and being part of, something bigger than they are. Help people create and live their own life of meaning and purpose.

2. Every millisecond counts.

Google say that speed is a boon to users, and it is also a competitive advantage. Time is one thing we have no control over. We can't manage time, only our attention and our priorities. Don't waste what is most valuable to your users: their time. Get clear about the purpose of your website, and make it lean, fast and responsive. Make it intuitive, easy and therefore fast for them to find what they want. Get straight to the point, stay focussed. Constantly improve your effectiveness.

In technical terms, keep it light on graphics and scripts. Test your site over on http://tools.pingdom.com - see what is slowing your site down and optimise it. Use caching, and a fast hosting company.

3. Simplicity is powerful.

Simple is good, fast, focussed, clear and effective. You should have very clear goals for each page on your site. Keep in mind what matters to the client, and provide that in the way you do best. Confucius says "man who chases two rabbits catches neither.." Aspire to clean, lean and focussed. The less distraction, the more effective the message.

4. Engage beginners and attract experts.

Build a site that is an experience and not just a destination. Don't end the conversation by providing information or opinion. Start the conversation by creating questions that engage your customer's passion and creativity. Help them grow. Help them achieve what they want to achieve,but more subtly, provide the opportunity for them to become who they aspire to be.

Understand the range and diversity of your visitors, and speak their language, at their level. Keep it simple, and keep it open. Have links to more information where people can go deeper if they choose. Make it very easy to interact - and if you're clear about the powerful role of social media in marketing - make sure you participate in the conversations.

5. Dare to innovate.

Innovation is one of the most valuable assets within an organisation or an individual. Closely related to creativity. Caveat: make a distinction between the 'what' and the 'how'. Hold the 'what' (the goal and purpose) firmly in your mind, and innovate with the 'how' (the ways to achieve the goal or purpose). If innovation and creativity creep over the fence and affect the 'what', you will lose focus and become less effective.

6. Design for the world.

Again, when you really connect with your users, you have an understanding of what is going n in their lives, where they hang out, their habits, dreams and typical technology tools. Design so that wherever they are, they can get what they want. Are they mobile and using their phone, iPad, tablet? Are they away from their own desktop computer, on a public cybercafe. Are they looking at your website or are they reading your RSS feed? Are they following other's shared links.

7. Plan for today's and tomorrow's business.

Today's business is often about immediacy and the transaction, whereas tomorrows business will rely mostly on relationship. The big picture for your website is about creating a connection, and building a relationship. At the same time, your visitors are usually here for a specific reason, based on a need or a want - and it's important to meet that up front.

8. Delight the eye without distracting the mind.

Tricky one this.. Delight the eye, yes, simplicity and form, the look and feel, are often a very large part of the first impression. And again, simplicity is key. We also want to attract and focus the mind - with a glaringly obvious headline that cause the following thought in the user's mind: "Ahh I'm in the right place - this person understands what I want." So the general approach is to not distract the user with the design, not to attract their attention to the design. Instead, provide a supportive and yet directive framework to channel the users attention onto what matters most to them - the content, and what the content will bring them in terms of an experience. It warrants a separate post of it's own, but the key in education based marketing. No sales.

9. Be worthy of people's trust.

The three elements are Authority, Credibility and Trust. Important ways to establish these are through clarity and focus of your own values. Transparency. Demonstrate and give examples of what you offer. Also, be prepared to give before you expect to receive. As part of the education based marketing approach mentioned in the previous point - be willing to give away the 'what' - i.e. provide the answer in it's entirety. Treat your visitors as if they are already your customers. For the ones who you are in a position to work with as clients, they will ask you to help them achieve the 'what'. We can establish authority with our knowledge, experience and past achievements. We can establish credibility with genuine testimonials, case studies, social ratings, likes and recommendations. But we have to earn trust. The quickest way is to 'give', to connect personally and build a relationship fast.

10. Add the human touch.

Ultimately it's always about putting people first. There's a wonderful science called axiology, the science of value. In essence, it establishes that the very fabric of reality is hard-wired with a hierarchy of value: people are more important than things. Things are more important than ideas of things. People are the most valuable of all, their feelings, their dreams, their passions - all stuff of the heart, not the head.

Thanks to Google.

~ to your awesomely effective website design..