Why I give away free services to success coaches

[Linkedin-Entrepreneurs.com Victory Darwin]

It was a success coach that changed my life and brought me to this place here, today.

A friend of mine and fellow protege of Dan Kennedy (the grandfather to the web marketing gurus), Corey Rudl, died in a car crash some time ago. We were the same age, had young families, in the same profession... EXCEPT, he was hugely successful, loved his work, and had transformed the lives of thousands by helping them get into business on the internet. I hadn't done much for the few years previous, and was far from happy.

That same day Corey died, I went looking for some help online. I don't remember exactly what I was searching for, or if I even knew, but I googled some keywords like success, life, plan, entrepreneur, and landed at MikeLitman.com. I downloaded his free mp3 called Greatness Held Hostage. It was amazing. I decided I needed to have Mike Litman as a coach. I inquired and discovered it was a minimum $5,000 investment for a once a month phone session, with only email contact otherwise, for the year... and it wasn't Mike who did the coaching, but one of his apprentices. At $400/hour I expected more.

I discovered a forum where coaches hung out to discuss their work, and posted on there "looking for a Mike Litman style coach to transform washed up, depressed entrepreneur (former self made millionaire), want guaranteed results, must THINK BIG!"

Well, Eric P. Landry was one of the first to reply and he offered me a free intro session. When more coaches jumped in with their offers, he upped it to two, and said "he'd love to be the one to create an all new millionaire entrepreneur out of me, with a new purpose and passion and solid success plan". Well, after hearing that, I was sold.

Over a year I created several internet businesses, www.UniversityOfVictory.com then a new startup www.WorldVisionEntrepreneurs.org and helped a client create www.LinkedinBuilder.org and was invited to do the marketing and promotion for The Opus Movie (a followup to The Secret).

All that was great, but then I read Rich Schefren's "Attention Age Doctrine" which was a warning to all the old school marketers, that there was no love for them anymore in this new Web 2.0 world. It is now the era of MAVENS. I had read about mavens in Malcom Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point". A maven is a recognized expert or authority in his/her niche. From a marketing perspective, a maven is the client's #1 choice if price was not an issue. They are the thought leaders and the ones capable of creating a buzz, and the ones who would always lead their industries niche with new products, services, standards, and ways of doing business.

That all suited me just fine! So I claimed the title of Marketing Maven for struggling Success Coaches, and then I came up with an action plan to secure my throne.

#1 I followed Schefren's advice to give my best stuff away for free. I realized the first thing a coach needs is a website, and static html sites just don't cut it anymore. They need a Web 2.0 social network just like this one. Done!

#2 I needed to create a complete marketing success plan, one that was tested, proven, and easy enough that someone could truly put it into action. Done! And it had to be free too! Done!

#3 I needed to ensure my new flock's success, and the best way to do that I decided is a monthly mastermind webinar where I could teach about the latest marketing techniques and answer the group's questions.

But with all that, was I truly a Maven? No.

I had succeeded with the action plan where most would fail, but the very first test of a Maven is "would you do this work even if you weren't paid to do it?" Is this really your passion?

Well, that was the easiest question to answer. Absolutely. I had recently begun helping my coach Eric to brand himself as the "think big" success coach, and then met a very impressive lady from the U.K., Debbii McKoy, who had written a book called "We The New Me" and was putting on a major week long seminar with motivational speaker Les Brown. I loved working with these two. I always came away after a discussion feeling recharged. I felt much more respect and gratitude from them than I did from the rest of the business world I had done my marketing work for. It was a natural synergy.

I relate success coaches to be like artists and musicians. Their very nature that allows them to be such amazing life coaches, precludes them from being great at marketing. The two skillsets just don't jive. So to achieve their maximum potential in their profession, they needed someone at the top of their game to do their marketing. Well, that's me!

Would you like to spend 100% of your time coaching instead of half your time marketing to get new clients?

Would you like to save thousands of dollars spent on marketing software and 'how to' programs?

Would you like to follow the plan of top coaches who have a top of their class marketing team handle their promotion?

Would you like help to define your niche and target market and create a personal brand?

Would you like to be able to double or triple your rates, appeal to a clearly defined clientele, and get the respect you have are worthy of?

Would you like to be a recognized expert in your niche, and be invited to speak at seminars and special events?

I can help you achieve all of that and more!

It's going to be an incredible 2008! Take that first action step and contact me today! Please use the form in the right column and I will phone you back within 48 hours. If it is urgent, please specify.

I'm looking forward to meeting you by phone soon.

~Victory

[Stanlee Panelle]

I do so appreciate you Victory! I need to ask though (surely I am not the only one needing an answer to this!!): How can older women who are starting over from scratch with essentially no back-up or capital avail themselves of such services? Do you have any specials for such?