Today I’m covering finding perfect clients, testing business ideas, contending with AI-generated content, and so much more. 

Want me to answer your questions? Subscribe to my emails, and you’ll get the link to do so.

Now, let’s dive in. You asked …

I only have 10 hours/week to grow my business.

Q: I work full time and have 10 hours a week for my business. How do I market effectively, sign my first client, do non-sleazy DM outreach, and choose the right free gift to grow my email list?

You’re wise to consider the most effective ways to start building your business while working a full-time job.

The first thing I’d suggest is to review My Seven-step Plan for Growing a Successful Online Business. This will give you the overview of how I recommend folks start out selling their services, regardless of how much or how little time they have.

There, you’ll see a lot of useful links, including how to create an initial offer, how to market your services, and how to sign your first client. (I personally don’t recommend DM outreach, though I know it’s a strategy others teach.)

In terms of marketing, pick two or three strategies that feel manageable, and stay consistent with them. Steady, intentional action will help you gain momentum over time. Here are 21 ways to get clients.

For a more comprehensive, step-by-step guide, including exactly how to spend the 10 hours you have available to build your business, I recommend my course, Starting and Growing an Online, Service-Based Business to Six Figures and Beyond.

As far as list-building, here are a bunch of list-building resources to get you started:

• Steal This! My Proven Plan to Hit 1000 Subscribers
• Email List-Building Secrets 
• Build Your List Blog Archive
• Steal This! 44 irresistible ideas for your opt-in lead magnet freebie
• The Top 3 Freebie Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make

I don’t know how to find my ideal client or grow my email list.

Q: I’m leaving my job soon to become an instructional design consultant. I want to help health and wellness professionals teach others but struggle with finding my ICA and growing an email list. What do you recommend I do?

It sounds like you’re stepping into something new and exciting. When defining your target customer, one thing that folks often worry about is getting it perfect from the get-go. In truth, that rarely happens. Start with the best guess you can make for now, then adjust as you work with clients, learn more about them, and learn more about yourself.

Here are some steps you can take to define or refine your niche.

Once you have a good-enough idea of who your target client is, the next step is to start investigating where they are online. There’s an exercise I’ve used with clients for years called “the circle exercise,” and it walks you through how to start figuring out how to reach your target clients online.

Once you have an idea of where they are, your next step is to start doing “client getting activities,” or things that get you in front of your target clients. Here are 21 ways to find clients. Choose a few approaches that you will commit to learning to do well and do consistently.

As far as list-building, refer to the previous question for list-building resources to support you.

The post Ask Jenny Anything: November 2024 Q&A appeared first on Jenny Shih.

But what happens when things slow down? When a client project wraps up and isn’t immediately replaced, or life throws an unexpected curveball—like a health issue or a personal emergency? Or what if you simply need a vacation or want time off?

A drop in income, planned or unplanned, can put significant stress on both your business and household finances.

The good news? You can prepare for it. And when you do, those income gaps won’t throw your entire business (or personal finances) off track. You’ll feel steady even when life happens, whether it’s a short dip in income or a significant life event.

Today I’m going to walk you through how to create a strategic financial plan that accounts for those kinds of ups and downs and ensures your business and personal finances can weather the business income fluctuations or unexpected life upheavals.

Assessing Your Current Financial Situation

Let’s start by recognizing that building a financial plan isn’t just about managing today’s income—it’s about creating a stable foundation that supports your business for the long term.

By approaching your financials with a long-term view, you’re not just reacting to immediate situations; you’re proactively ensuring that income remains steady even when revenue fluctuates. This can help you maintain peace of mind despite any ups and downs.

Let’s review the key areas to consider when creating your financial plan.

Understand Your Financial Baseline and Patterns

Start by reviewing your revenue and expense trends over the past year or two (or more).

Ask yourself questions like these:

• What’s my average monthly revenue? Yearly?
• What are my average monthly expenses? Yearly?
• What’s my average monthly profit? Yearly?
• Are there times when revenue drops or higher expenses pop up?
• Are there regular, big investments I like to make in my business?

The goal of this review is to see where things really stand financially and what your expected highs and lows are over time.

Assess Your Risk Tolerance

Consider your comfort with financial risk.

If stability and consistency are important to you, you’ll likely want to create a plan that ensures you get paid the same amount every month, with a low chance of surprises.

If you’re more comfortable with uncertainty or don’t mind reacting to shifting circumstances, you may choose to pay yourself a higher monthly salary and be willing to spring into action if revenue drops or expenses arise unexpectedly.

This is a personal choice. Consider what works best for you, your personal financial situation, and your own nervous system.

Determine the Buffers You Want to Have

Just like in your personal life, your business can benefit from having a financial safety net—or a financial buffer.

There are two different buffers to consider: a monthly buffer and emergency savings.

Making these a part of your business’s financial plan will ensure that even if there’s a lull in revenue or you need to step away from work for a period of time, you’re still able to pay yourself.

First, consider a monthly financial buffer—how much monthly profit you want, on average, beyond your planned salary and expenses. This is an amount of money that easily weathers expected month-to-month fluctuations over the course of a year or two.

Second, there’s how much money you want available in emergency funds for your business. This is what you’d use to cover business expenses and your salary if there’s a significant business issue (like a massively failed launch) or a big personal emergency (like a medical or family issue requiring you to step away from work for some time). These are situations that require funds beyond the monthly financial buffer you’ve already made available.

(Depending on your circumstances, you could possibly create a third savings category, setting aside money for things like vacations or a maternity leave, though I personally chose to plan those things into the previously listed buffers. It’s a personal choice.)

You may not yet be at the place where you can set aside buffers; we’ll talk more about how to get there in a moment. For now, though, just consider your risk tolerance and what buffers would increase ease in your financial life.

Create Your Financial Plan

It’s possible that as you’ve reviewed the details listed above, you’re realizing you’re paying yourself at a rate that leaves no wiggle room for dips in income or personal emergencies—and you’re okay with that.

Or you could be realizing that this explains perfectly why you’re a little stressed every month about finances. Or something else.

The good news is that you now have a better picture of what’s going on, and you can make a new plan going forward.

Here’s what you’ll take into consideration as you make your financial plan. This will likely be an iterative process.

Set Your Monthly and Emergency Buffers

With a clear view of your revenue, profit, and risk tolerance, start by putting a stake in the ground for your buffers.

How much buffer do you want, on average, every month?

Is this something you want to have available starting next month, or is it something you want to work toward by a specific date?

How many months of emergency funds do you want to create in your business?

When would you like to have these funds available?

If you’re also wanting to create a separate savings fund for vacations or maternity leave, factor that in here as well.

Determine Your Monthly Pay

Taking into account everything we’ve discussed so far, consider how much to pay yourself. This may be a number lower than what you’re paying yourself now.

As with most advanced business strategies, there isn’t a set formula for choosing this number. It’s about taking you, your business, and your values into consideration.

And yes, there can often be a difference between what you want to get paid and what makes financial sense given the factors above. Know that you can make a plan to get paid what you want and create the buffers you’re looking for; it just might take time to get there.

Create Your Buffer-Building Plan

Now that you have a clear picture of your financial situation and financial goals, consider what steps you’d like to take to get there.

Do you want to use higher-profit months to build savings? Do you want to increase your revenue? Do you want to scrutinize your expenses?

Next, let’s cover what that could look like in your business.

Building Business Savings (Buffer) for Long-Term Stability

There are three obvious ways to create financial buffers in your business, and I’ve outlined them here. Though feel free to get creative and consider other options that might be unique to your business.

Use Higher-Profit Months

One way to start building your buffers is by using higher-profit months to save. During busy periods, it’s tempting to either increase your salary or put extra revenue toward new, additional expenses. But if you set aside a portion of those profits, you can build a cushion that will support you when business slows down.

Increase Your Revenue

You can look at increasing revenue—whether through offering additional services, holding special promotions, or raising your prices. This may allow you to keep your current salary the same, and use new revenue to build your buffers.

Decrease Your Expenses

Another way to build your business buffers is by reviewing your expenses. This isn’t about eliminating the expenses that support your business or help you generate revenue. Nor is it about holding back on critical investments that will help you grow your business. Instead, think of it as simple housekeeping—a way to make sure you’re not spending money where you don’t need to.

Look for the low-hanging fruit. Are there subscriptions or tools you no longer use? Could you renegotiate certain contracts or find more affordable options for routine expenses?

By making small adjustments here and there, you can free up funds to put into savings, without sacrificing the essentials that keep your business running smoothly and growing.

How a Financial Plan with Buffers Saved My Bacon (Twice)

Back in 2013, I had the idea to start treating certain streams of income—like affiliate income—as “bonus income.” Instead of using it for regular business expenses or to increase my salary, I set it aside as savings.

First, I rebuilt my personal emergency fund, which had been depleted when I quit my corporate job to start my business in 2009. Once my personal savings was where I wanted it, I shifted my focus to a business savings plan.

As my business and team grew, I worried that a failed launch would leave me unable to pay my employees. So I began funneling profits into a business emergency fund, aiming to cover expenses and payroll for quite some time—perchance revenue dropped to zero.

I confess that my actions were mostly driven by anxious and worried caretaking and codependent parts. But as it turns out, it was a smart call for me.

In 2020, my business suffered an unexpected, six-figure financial loss when I took a maternity leave. Then in 2021, I was struck with serious health issues and had to stop working for three years (without a secondary household income to support us). I was able to get by because I had both business and personal savings, and I’m deeply grateful to past Jenny for saving like she did.

Plan for Stability, Peace of Mind, and Long-Term Success

Running a business comes with its ups and downs, but by proactively planning for financial hiccups, you can smooth out those rough patches and maintain stability in both your personal and business finances. Whether you’re preparing for slower client periods, unexpected time off, or simply wanting to take a well-deserved vacation, a strategic financial plan allows you to continue paying yourself no matter what.

The best part? Planning ahead is an investment in your future self. You’ll thank yourself if or when life throws you a curveball and you’re ready for it.

The post Future-Proof Your Business: Strategic Financial Planning to Manage Income Fluctuations and Achieve Long-Term Stability appeared first on Jenny Shih.

Today I’m covering navigating a pause in your business, building your list, getting clients, paid ads, and so much more. 

Want me to answer your questions? Subscribe to my emails, and you’ll get the link to do so.

Now, let’s dive in. You asked …

Things got rough. Should I take a break?

Q: I feel lost and exhausted. My business peaked five years ago, before my chronic illness, and now my audience is shrinking. After getting deplatformed on Facebook, I’m losing confidence and feeling doubt about my work. Should I let my old business model go, take a break, and rethink my next steps?

It sounds like you’re navigating a particularly tough time in your business, and I’m sorry to hear all you’ve been through. It’s understandable that you feel lost and exhausted, and the loss of engagement and the impact of being deplatformed could take a toll on anyone’s confidence.

Does the current direction of your business still align with your values and passions? Are there any aspects of your work that excite you now?

I’m wondering, based on the phrasing of your question, if you already know what you want and are looking for permission to let your old model go, take a break, and rethink your next steps. (In which case, permission granted.)

How does it feel to consider taking a break? Know there’s not one way to go about it; you can get creative with how you proceed.

I often need to remind myself that I started my business, and I get to decide if/how/when I proceed. You started your business, and you get to decide the same.

The circumstances are unfortunate, and I’m sorry this happened to you. There is no formula on what to do next, only what’s feels like the most right move for you. You certainly wouldn’t be the only business owner to take a break to step back and reevaluate everything.

I know what to do to market my business, but I’m not doing it.

Q: I have a marketing background but struggle to market my business. Despite having a strategy and tools, I procrastinate on execution. I want to gain at least one client before the year ends but feel unsure where to start. Why is it easier to guide others than myself?

It sounds like you know what to do and have the tools to do it but aren’t following through. It makes me wonder if there might be something else that’s going on. What I mean is, it doesn’t seem like a skill or knowledge gap but maybe an inner challenge.

You wouldn’t be the first business owner to experience a disconnect between your expertise and the application of it to your business.

Do you think something might be going on internally that could be getting in your way or holding you back? Any guess what it might be?

In terms of addressing it, that’s a very personal preference. In the last few years, I’ve found somatic and IFS therapies to be incredibly helpful for both personal and work issues. In the past, I got a lot of benefit from mindset coaching and The Work of Byron Katie, though there are countless modalities for addressing things that might be keeping us from our goals.

Of course, if those don’t feel resonant, other things to consider could be working with an accountability partner, hiring a coach to help you take the steps, or dangling some carrots for yourself for making progress.

Another thing some of my past clients found helpful was to investigate their Tendency (as described by Gretchen Rubin); they found it offered a clue for how to work with themselves to achieve goals.

The post Ask Jenny Anything: October 2024 Q&A appeared first on Jenny Shih.

The good news is, it is a skill, and you can learn it.

Sure, it can feel like daunting—whether you’re hiring your first part-time assistant, your first real employee, or a key contractor for your team. But when you find the right person, it can make all the difference to you and your business’s success.

So if you’ve tried before without success, been hesitant to start, or are looking to fill a significant role with higher stakes, I’ve got you covered.

Below you’ll find the steps to finding the right person for the job you need filled.

Get Clear on Who You’re Looking For

One of the biggest mistakes I see business owners making when it comes to hiring—especially if they’ve churned through assistants without ever finding the right person—is not taking the time to define exactly what they need. This isn’t about creating a job description to post online; it’s about getting clear for themselves.

So the first step to hiring—before asking your friends and colleagues for recommendations—is to get really clear on the person you need for your business.

Here’s how to do that:

1. List the specific tasks this new team member will need to do and the “hard” skills they need to have.

What tasks will they need to do right away? What will they need to do down the line?

What might be potential growth tasks or “would be nice” things you’d like them to handle in the future?

What hard skills are required to do these tasks? And—this is really important—do they need to come to the job knowing these skills, or will you train them?

A quick story about training

Many business owners assume they need to hire someone who is fully trained. They expect candidates to hit the ground running on day one.

But let’s be real: Even the most skilled individual needs to learn your business. Some amount of training is always required; you simply have to decide how much you’re willing and able to do.

My first assistant, hired in 2011, knew nothing about online business, websites, or email marketing. I trained her to do everything. I valued her soft skills, ability to learn, and willingness to ask questions over technical experience, which resulted in a fantastic fit for my business. She worked with me for five years, only stopping because she wanted to be a full-time mom when her daughter was born.

My second assistant, who also had no online business experience, was similarly chosen for her soft skills and growth potential. My first assistant trained her, then she worked for me until I was forced to take a personal leave. Both were excellent fits for the work but came to the job with none of the technical skills required of the position.

I mention this because it’s uncommon in online business to work with the same assistant for 5 years, let alone two assistants for 5 years each, both only leaving because of external circumstances, not for reasons for poor fit or individual frustrations. But this is possible when you hire the right person for the right position in your business.

Okay, moving onto the most overlooked part of the job description …

2. List the required soft skills.

Think about what kind of person would work well with your style and in your business.

Do you need someone detail-oriented? Someone who asks questions when they’re not sure about something, instead of guessing and proceeding? Or do you want someone to take initiative, asking for forgiveness instead of permission?

Do you need someone who is quick to complete tasks? Or more thorough and focused on each item?

Someone who thinks about the bigger picture of your business? Or flies through a to-do list because they love checking things off a list?

This list requires careful thought on your part. Who are you as a business owner, and what do you need from the person in this role so both of you are successful in your work together? Having similar qualities to one another in some situations can be helpful but not so helpful in others.

3. List your requirements and expectations.

Next, consider other things that are requirements and expectations for this position.

Do you have specific working hours they need to be available? Do you have an expected response time? Are there meetings they need to attend, and when are those meetings?

Will you be communicating with them daily, weekly, or at some other frequency? How will that work exactly (email, Voxer, Slack, etc.)? What response time do you expect?

Business owners often have expectations in their heads but don’t always realize they have them or think to communicate them to the person they hope to hire. Clarifying these specifics upfront will streamline your process and prevent hiring mismatches.

4. Think through compensation.

Next, consider compensation. This can be simple or complicated depending on if you’re hiring a very part-time assistant or a full-time employee. There are also legal considerations depending on where you live.

Do some research on what the typical compensation is for this position. It can be pretty straightforward, for example, if you’re looking to hire an assistant who is local to you. It can be more complex if you’re wanting to hire someone who will be fully virtual and may or may not even be in the same country as you.

In terms of bigger picture questions:

• Have you done the budgeting for this position?
• Do you know what the employee ROI is? You want to know that the right person for this position will benefit your business beyond their own salary and benefits.
• Do you know what you can afford to pay them before they create an ROI? And how long that window of time is?

When it comes to the job description, you can post the compensation, but you don’t have to. I’ve seen it done both ways.

5. Do a reality check.

Before you proceed, check that you’re not making the same mistake I see many folks making when they come to work with me: Looking for a unicorn.

A business owner might see several bottlenecks in their business, and they try to put all of the bottlenecks into one position (such as an assistant, a sales person, and a social media content creator). But filling that kind of role is unlikely.

So when you look at your list, the one you created based on the steps above, ask yourself if that’s one position or several. Do a reality check before you proceed (and get an outside perspective if needed).

The Hiring Process

Now that you’re clear on who you’re looking for, it’s time to prepare for hiring.

The first step is to think through your hiring process.

Yes, you need a job description. Yes, you need to interview a candidate.

But there are a few other steps in between that folks often don’t consider. For example, how will they apply? How will you evaluate their hard skills? How will you evaluate their soft skills? Do you have a critical timeline for hiring this person?

The second step is to write your job description.

The good news? You have most of what you need from the work you completed above.

Generally speaking, the more detailed your job description, the more likely you are to find the right fit for your specific job.

Here are things to include in your job description:

• Required hard skills
• Desired hard skills
• Information about the training you will (and will not) provide
• Required soft skills
• Desired soft skills
• Expectations of the position
• The kind of business you run, including things like culture, attitude, values
• Compensation (optional)
• Call to action (Do they submit a resume? Fill out an application?)

You can look online for example job descriptions. How lengthy and detailed you get will depend on the position. For example, a very part-time assistant doesn’t need as nearly a lengthy job description as a full-time employee for your team.

The third step is to get the word out.

Once your job description is ready, it’s time to get the word out about the opening.

A great way to start is by reaching out to your network. You can often find great candidates from referrals. You might also reach out to your email list or even past or current customers; sometimes the people who already know and love your business are the perfect fit.

If you’re in online communities with fellow business owners (such as a Facebook group), you may be able to post your job description there.

Assuming you’re looking for a remote position, you could post your job on LinkedIn, Indeed, or a niche industry job board. Some of these options are paid and some are free; what you do would likely depend on the type of job you’re hiring for.

Again, depending on the position, you could look on sites like UpWork for a qualified candidate, or other similar sites.

The fourth step is to vet candidates.

Once you’ve received applications, it’s time to start vetting candidates. This isn’t just about an interview (which I’ll discuss in a moment). It’s about sorting through the folks who have expressed interest to see who might be a good fit, whether that’s reviewing resumes or applications or both.

In your review, yes, you want to look at their qualifications. But also pay attention to the things that matter to you.

For example, if you want a detail-oriented person for the job and someone submitted their resume in a Word file but you asked for a PDF, that might be a flag that they’re not a good fit. Or if you want someone with stellar customer service skills and their email to you felt warm and kind, that might be a good sign.

All of the steps an applicant takes before they interview you is a pre-interview, helping you determine who you’d like to actually interview.

Once you vet the candidates, it’s time to invite your top candidates to an interview.

The Interview Process

Just like the vetting process above, pay attention to the other ways candidates tell you about themselves, from scheduling the interview to how they show up and conduct themselves during the interview. Notice the things that matter as it relates to them doing a good job for you.

The goal of the interview is not only to determine if the candidate fits your team but also to help them assess if the position and your business are a fit for them. Approach this as a two-way opportunity, and you’ll both get closer to the answer you’re looking for.

Set the stage

Begin the interview with a warm welcome. Thank them for taking the time to meet with you. Then set the expectations for duration and anything else they might want to know about the process.

Ask good questions

You’ll want to prepare different types of questions, and the exact questions will vary depending on the type of role you’re hiring for.

Start with some warm-up questions like “What drew you to this position?” and “What do you enjoy about this kind of work?”

Ask some work style questions. Here’s one that I used when I hired a full-time copywriter back in 2019: “This is a remote job with flexible hours, but we’re still a team of Type A action-takers who meet deadlines. How do you manage your time and workload in an environment like this?”

You’ll want to ask technical questions if they’re applicable to the position.

And be sure to ask questions that help you assess the soft skills that are crucial to this person’s success in the position.

Let them ask you questions

After you’ve asked all of your questions, let your candidate ask you theirs. Not only will their questions tell you a lot about them, but they will also help you meet the objectives I stated above: making this a two way conversation so you both see if working together is a match.

Wrap up with clear next steps

Before you end the interview, let the candidate know the next steps. Whether that’s a test project or simply that you need to interview other candidates this week or next, it’s important that they are clear on your process and the timeline.

A key tip from my former mentor

I was working with a mentor when I was hiring a full-time copywriter in 2019, and she gave me some incredibly valuable advice:

Don’t be afraid to ask awkward or otherwise socially inappropriate questions. If there’s something on a candidate’s resume that raises a flag—a gap in their work history, for example—directly ask them about it. If there’s something they say in the interview that has you curious, ask them about it.

Trust that you have that question for a reason, so get an answer to it. Beyond just getting the answer to the niggling question and easing your mind, how they handle that question will tell you a lot about them and their potential as a fit for your company.

Test Projects

Depending on the position, and often critical for higher-level roles or full-time positions, you may want to include a test project for candidates who did well in the interview process. This is a good thing to do where someone’s hard skills are a requirement of the job.

For the full-time copywriter position I was looking to fill in 2019, I needed the person to come into the job with strong copywriting skills that worked well with the brand and style. Yes, we’d provide them with our SOPs and brand guidelines, but we weren’t going to teach copywriting skills.

We designed two small test projects to help us get a better idea of how the candidates would use their skills for our projects.

For full-time positions like this (copywriters, designers, developers), it’s not uncommon for candidates to have to do projects, so the good candidates won’t be surprised by this request.

The project doesn’t have to be complex, but it should give you a sense of how they handle the actual work they’ll be doing for your business.

Choosing the Right Person

After you’ve gone through the interview process, it’s time to choose the best candidate. Sometimes this is obvious, and you make the offer, hope they accept, and take any legal steps required to hire them. Then, of course, you begin the onboarding process.

Other times, you may wrap up interviews without a perfect candidate. It happens more often than you might think, and you have a few options.

You can hire someone temporarily and see how they perform, letting them know it’s a test period of a certain duration. This can give you the flexibility to test the waters without fully committing. If it doesn’t work out, you can start the search again.

You can find more places to post the job description and look for more potential candidates.

If you were wanting to hire a full-time employee, you could close the gap temporarily with a contractor or freelancer while you keep searching.

You can also take a risk and hire the best candidate available, knowing there may be areas where they’ll need to grow into the role or you won’t fully get your needs met.

There isn’t a single best way to proceed, just whatever works for you and your business and the circumstances you’re in.

Finding Your Perfect Fit

When you hire the right person for your business, it’s more than just filling a role. You’re creating the potential for business growth, more freedom for yourself, more expertise within your business, fresh perspectives, better execution, enhanced customer experience, or increased flexibility, to just name a handful—ultimately positioning your business for long-term success and sustainability.

In my experience, the right hire also makes business way more fun.

Whether you’re new to hiring or looking for your first full-time employee (and the stakes feel high), remember that hiring is a skill you can learn.

If you’re unsure about any part of the hiring process, from defining your needs to conducting interviews to making offers, getting feedback or guidance from someone with experience can make all the difference. Getting another perspective from someone who has done it many times before can help you feel more confident and make the process smoother.

In the end, hiring should feel like a win-win. You get a great person to fill a needed position in your business; they get a great work opportunity that fits them.

The post How to Hire the Right Person for Your Business: A Step-by-Step Guide appeared first on Jenny Shih.

But that’s what happened in 2021. My health took a steep decline, and I no longer had the capacity to maintain the incredible business I created (let alone get through the day without a nap; more on this in a moment).

Thankfully, the story seems to be headed toward a happier ending. I’m writing this in late 2024 as I’m slowly returning to work after a three-year hiatus. Things definitely aren’t “back to business as usual,” but as with all things in life, I know nothing remains the same forever.

Below I’m sharing what happened in the last three years, the steps I’ve taken to navigate my way back to work, and my vision of where I’m headed next.

Why I Had to Stop Working

In 2009, I quit my corporate engineering career to work for myself, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m fortunate that my business grew far beyond a hobby; it became a support-my-household-as-the-sole-breadwinner kind of business, and I’ve always been grateful for that.

But after a long period of things going well, something almost unimaginable happened.

In early 2020, business was humming along. I loved my team (me + three employees + a crew of coaches + a handful of contractors). And I was expecting a baby.

That spring, early in the pandemic, my son was born, happy and healthy. As planned, the team ran the business while I took a five-month maternity leave.

I returned to work in the fall of 2020, and everything was going along just as we had hoped …

Until, inexplicably, it wasn’t.

Less than a year after returning to work, I became literally unable to do my job.

I was overcome by a deep exhaustion that wasn’t remedied with 2-hour daily naps and 10+ hours in bed each night. My brain was so foggy that I couldn’t think critically, make strategic plans, or learn new businessy things.

It was confusing, exhausting, and overwhelming. I had no idea what was happening or why.

The most logical guess was burnout from being an older, new mom in a pandemic without any support, managing a sizable business, and dealing with pre-pregnancy health issues.

As I later learned, I was very wrong.

(It was nearly two years into my leave before I discovered the real reason I couldn’t work. It was far from a case of burnout. The specifics are still unraveling and aren’t at a share-worthy place right now; maybe someday.)

Given that I couldn’t do the work required to sustain my business, I had only one option: pause my business, lay off my team, and figure out what was going on.

And that pause took three years longer than I expected.

The good news is that with the right diagnosis comes the right course of treatment. In August 2024, I found myself with some capacity to work again, and that was a huge relief.

My next step? Figuring out how to return to working without regressing in symptoms.

Unfortunately, “getting back to it” was far more complicated than I imagined it would be.

First, I Had to Face My Fears

I knew that I wanted to start my return to work by simply emailing my list. I wanted to share what happened in the last three years, why I had to step away from work, and take readers along for the journey as I restarted my business.

But before I could even write (let alone send) a single email, I had to contend with an onslaught of fears—many of which I thought I’d dealt with years ago when I first started my business.

On top of that, I felt massive overwhelm about technology, logistics, and finances.

It was like I was back in 2009 again, starting my business for the first time with no website and no clue … but a heart full of hope.

After 15 years of being fruitfully self-employed, I was surprised to watch the fears, technology overwhelm, and financial concerns return with a vengeance. Hadn’t I dealt with these already?

I started questioning if what I had to say even mattered anymore. After more than three years away, would anyone want to listen? Did I have something valuable to offer? And if so, what was it?

Even more challenging, I was frozen at the thought of updating my business systems. My backend was set up for a business running a million in revenue, but because of my inability to work these last three years, I never had the energy or mental capacity to downsize any of it.

And then there’s the websites (yes, plural) …

Custom built, expensive to maintain, and perfect for the business I had been running. But now, not so much. All in need of a massive tech overhaul—plus a new design and new photos (a pandemic + four years of motherhood + some massive health issues have aged me a bit).

But without knowing where I was heading with my business, I had no idea what I’d do for the overhaul if I even had the capacity to do it (which I didn’t and still don’t).

And of course, there are the financial fears. I’ve learned a lot about how to manage them since I started working for myself. But as the sole breadwinner, I eventually need to get back to a household-supporting income after operating at a sizable loss for more than three years.

So yeah, as I was inching closer to writing that first “I’m back” email, I was feeling terror, overwhelm, and confusion.

In an earlier incarnation of my business, I had a few drops of extra energy to plow ahead when I had a problem to solve. But since my body put up its big protest in 2021, it simply won’t permit any oppressive tactics.

That said, even though I’m taking a gentler approach to life and work, I haven’t yet found my new formula for meeting my physical and mental health needs while also bringing in the necessary income.

All I can do is trust that I’ll get there, take one small step at a time, and move forward in partnership with my body.

Which brings me to how it’s been unfolding so far.

It Took 5 Months to Send One Email

In March 2024, I had a spark of energy and inspiration—both of which had been absent for nearly three years.

Over the course of two weeks, I sketched out some emails to my list. When I was done, I felt excited to finalize and send the first one, declaring I’m officially working again.

Except my body gave me a clear NO.

With all that’s gone sideways these last several years, I won’t bypass a NO. I was confused and a bit annoyed, but I trusted.

A week later, the reasoning was clear: Things took a nosedive for about six weeks, and I wouldn’t’ve had capacity to respond to folks and engage like I wanted to after the first email went out.

But once I stabilized, I still didn’t get an all-clear signal for sending. I continued to focus on my physical and mental health and the daily tasks of being a human and a mom to a 4-year-old.

Fast forward to late July. Still no signal to start emailing. I remained trusting and curious.

And then one day, it clicked.

“Ohhhhhh,” I thought to myself as the light bulb came on. “I can send one email at a time and take one action at a time. Just because I start doesn’t mean I need to follow a preset schedule like I used to.”

Game changer.

I’d been unknowingly assuming that once I hit the restart button, I had to hum along at my consistent, pre-leave pace.

As a seasoned business owner, I’m versed in many business and marketing best practices. In a lot of ways, this is beneficial. But in others, it’s a hindrance.

Thank goodness I remembered that I’m restarting my business on my terms.

That’s when I got a green light to start emailing my list.

I Finally Hit Send

It was exciting to get a yes to emailing my list, but that’s all I had a yes to. No clients, no revenue-generation. Just emails.

So in August 2024, I began cautiously-optimistically-nervously sending emails, reintroducing myself to subscribers, and dipping my toes back into work again.

My first email explained why I hadn’t emailed for more than three years and what happened during that time. I offered an reintroduction to who I am, how subscribers likely found me, and what I had been writing about before my disappearance.

I also included a very prominent UNSUBSCRIBE button right near the top and offered folks a chance to unsubscribe at multiple points in the email.

It felt really good to send the email, but I had no idea what kind of response to expect from it.

Would lots of folks mark me as spam? Would I get large numbers of unsubscribes? Would I read scathing replies in my inbox? Would MailerLite shut down my account?

I took a deep breath, hit send, and waited.

The Surprising Response to My First Email

What happened after I sent that first email shocked me: I received hundreds of personal replies from subscribers.

The emails were full of kindness, curiosity, encouragement, and enthusiasm for my return. Readers shared stories of what they’ve learned from me over the years and how it’s supported them and their businesses.

What was even more surprising was that of all of the emails I received, every single message was supportive and kind. Every single one.

Here’s a snippet of the heartfelt messages I received that week. It was an inbox full of love.

I had no idea how much I needed that. Because in the back of my mind lingered the thought, “No one cares that you’ve been gone, and no one cares that you’re back.” (That’s certainly true for some people.)

But for a shocking number of folks, that wasn’t the case.

Having not maintained a connection with readers, I forgot how much I enjoy showing up to serve. But they reminded me how much I used to be filled up by work and how I’d undoubtedly feel the same again, as I find my way back to work.

I let folks know that I was taking my return super slowly, one email at a time. I didn’t promise that I’d send emails on a set schedule. Just that I intended to keep writing and hoped to find a way to do it sustainably.

I eventually replied to every single personal message I received, soaking in the encouragement, kindness, and reminders of how I served folks in the past.

I felt bolstered to keep going and began to share more of my journey.

That’s what I did next.

How I Proceeded, One Micro Step at a Time

Over the course of two months, I sent six emails sharing the journey from having to quit working to slowly finding my way back. I shared some of the challenges I faced and the folks who helped me heal and get back to work.

But the whole story didn’t come out all at once, just like I’m not restarting my business all at once. I’m taking things in a micro step by step fashion.

Here’s what it’s looked like in action so far:

• I knew I wanted to start my reemergence by sharing why I disappeared for so long. I outlined a series of emails.
• I waited for more than 5 months after outlining email ideas before I got an inner yes to finalizing and sending the first one.
• I sent the first email, and slowly, over the course of 2 weeks, replied to the hundreds of folks who wrote back.
• Then, I took a break. An inner exhale to make sure I had the capacity to write, send, and reply to another email.
• I waited for inspiration to write my second email, then I wrote it. I waited for the inner yes to send it, then I sent it and replied to each person who wrote back.
• Then I took a breather.
• I got the idea for and wrote my third email, waited for the inner yes to send it, sent it, replied to each person who wrote back, then I took a breather.

This was when I could start to feel that writing weekly might be sustainable again. My body was adjusting to the rhythm and trusting that it could pause at any time if my capacity changed.

• I took the same approach for the fourth email …
• Then the fifth email …

Finally, there was momentum. There was a flow. (Having my son back in preschool at this point helped, too.)

• Then the sixth email …

The thing about this approach is, it’s been slowwwwww. I started drafting that first email back in early March, and it wasn’t until mid-September that I sent my sixth email.

But by this point, it felt maintainable. I felt like I could keep going without needing a big break. (Though I’ll take one if I need to.)

I felt like I could keep going AND add more to my work plate. This was almost unbelievable (and quite relieving).

Where I’m Going from Here

I did not—and still do not—have a grand plan for my business. I don’t know how I’ll get back to a household-supporting income … while also supporting my physical and mental health and being a hands-on mom to my 4-year-old.

I’m clear on some things, like I don’t have the capacity for a big team and don’t want to recreate the programs and business structure I had before I stopped working.

I’m clear that I need a flexible schedule to care for my health and be very present for my son.

But exactly how it all looks and how I’ll make the income I need to earn … I have no idea.

What I know is this:

I created success on my terms before (based on my terms back then), and I’m committed to creating success on my terms again, based on my new terms.

I plan to get there by taking things slowly, experimenting, and learning along the way. In fact, it seems like the only possible way forward, and I’m curious to see where it takes me.

The post My Three-Year Hiatus from Working: Why I Was Forced to Step Away from My Business and How I’m Finding My Way Back appeared first on Jenny Shih.

But how do you find them? Where do you find them? And how do you get them to say YES to working with you, especially if they live on the opposite side of the globe?

These are questions I get all the time from folks trying to build their businesses. So that’s why I compiled this for you: The Ultimate Guide to Getting Clients for Your Online, Service-Based Business.

Here you’ll find the most popular, informative posts and downloadable resources that I’ve written on how to get clients for your online, service-based business.

I’ve also addressed some common questions I’ve received from readers just like you trying to build their businesses online.

7 Steps to Building Your Online, Service-Based Business

If you haven’t downloaded it already, the overview plan you need to build an online, service-based business is called 7 Steps to Make It Work Online.

It will give you the big-picture view (and some detailed steps) that will help you make a clear plan of action for your business—including getting clients.

Grab it here:
Click to Download7 Steps to Make It Work Online

Where and How to Find Clients

Once you have that 7-step overview in hand, your next job isn’t a small one.

You see, most people want a quick, easy answer to “how do I get clients?”

They want the magic pill or the silver bullet that will effortless fill their client roster and ensure they reach six figures in revenue.

But let’s be honest, if it were that easy, everyone would be doing it.

The truth is, building a profitable business takes work. Hard brain work, trial and error work, experimentation, and a lot of BS-calling on yourself!

So if you’re serious about getting clients, don’t just skim through the list of posts below. Really USE THEM.

Go through each of the items below, from niche all the way down to mindset, and really ask yourself:

Do I really have this item dialed in, or is there more work I need to do?

There are over 350 blog posts on this website (and dozens of videos on my Facebook page), many of which dive into the details of where and how to find clients. Below are the ones that are the best of the best and cut to the chase the most quickly, so you can get from learning to implementation as quickly as possible.

Also, know that comments you leave on my blog are personally reviewed and answered by me, so ask me anything.

Remember: If you’re not getting clients, something hasn’t clicked into place. Get curious what that is for you, and use the resources below to make the necessary adjustments.

Your Niche

The first step to getting clients is to make sure you’re in the right niche. Do you love the work you do? Love the clients you work with? Love the problems you help them solve and the results you help them achieve?

Check these articles to make sure your niche is dialed in.

• Are you TOO niched (or not niched enough)?
• How Narrowing Your Niche Makes Marketing And Selling Easier
• Are You Making Any of These 6 Mistakes in Narrowing Your Niche?
• The Key to Building a Business You Love? Start with the Right Niche
• How do I hone in on my target audience? (Part 1)
• Narrowing in on my target audience (Part 2)

Your Marketing Language

One of the most common reasons folks can’t get clients for their business is because they’re using the wrong language. These articles are must-reads.

• My Step-by-Step Method for Quickly Explaining What You Do
• What to Do When Your Ideal Clients Aren’t Hiring You (or don’t even know they need to hire you)
• The Reason Prospects Aren’t Turning into Paying Clients & How to Change It Fast (aka The Jargon Trap)

Your Offers

If you’re in the right niche and using the right language, the next thing to check is your offers. Are you selling the right things to the right people and positioning it in the most effective way?

Read these articles to make sure you have your offers dialed in.

• Why You Shouldn’t Sell Coaching and What to Sell Instead
• The Only Thing You Need to Bring in a Steady Flow of New Clients
• 3 Steps to Craft Your Very First Irresistible Service Offer
• 3-Min Fix for Your Work with Me Page (for Service Providers)
• How to Create the Perfect Bite-Sized Offer for Your Business
• Offers That Convert

Where to Find Clients (don’t skip this!)

You can have the right offer and are speaking the right language, the next step is to make sure you know where to find your clients (before you figure out how to find them).

My Famous Circle Exercise to Find Clients Online

Don’t skip this one, especially if you really don’t know where to find your people. Like everything here, it takes effort, but it’s also really worth it.

How to Find Clients

When you read the following articles, you’re likely to say, “But Jenny, I know this already, and it’s not working.”

If that’s the case then look at every other section in this Ultimate Guide because something is off.

Filling your roster is not just about how to find clients, but about the entire business-building system. Meaning almost everything I’m talking about in this post has to click into place to get those clients finding and hiring you.

This means, read the entire guide and really do the work to build the whole business to get the results you’re looking for.

• 21 Winning Ways to Book Yourself Fast
• 5 Email Scripts to Get Clients
• Steal This! My No-Fail Approach for Getting Clients Even if You Have Don’t Have an Email List
• 5 Feel-Good Ways to Effortlessly and Authentically Get More Clients By Being of Service
• The Reason You’re Not Getting Clients on Social Media & How to Change It Immediately
• Steal This! My #1 Strategy for Selling More Without Actually Selling

Sales

When you get folks coming to your site to learn more about working with you, you need to take them from curious prospect to paying client. Here are some sales tips to help you do just that.

• Steal This! My Proven Process for Getting More Yeses from Perfect Prospects
• 3 Key Sales Concepts that Helped Me Earn More Money
• How Learning About Sales Boosted My Bottom Line – Part 1
• How Learning About Sales Boosted My Bottom Line – Part 2
• Consults That Convert
• Follow-ups That Convert

Consistency

Full client rosters are built on consistency from the very beginning. No business-building article would be complete without a reference to this. To keep clients coming in the door, you have to keep doing the things that keep them coming to you, over and over again.

• How to Take Consistent Action and Achieve the Success You Want Most (even when you don’t feel like it)
• My Rock-Solid System for Getting It All Done (and Having a Life!)

Mindset

It’s not possible to do something you’ve never done before without having a shift in mindset. Here are some articles to help analyze and shift your mindset to help you achieve your goals.

• 5 Mindsets that Could Be Holding You Back
• Afraid of Failure? The New Approach You Desperately Need
• Easily discouraged when you don’t see immediate results?
• How to Take Back Control When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed in Your Business
• What to Do When You Have to Make a Leap But You’re Scared Sh*tless
• 9 Surprising Things I Had to Give up to Grow a Successful Business

I know, that’s a lot to review. But again, building a profitable business takes time, effort, and brainpower. It’s very doable, as my clients can attest to, but it takes time.

Use the resources listed here to help you move towards your goals.

Other Questions You’ve Asked Me About Getting Clients

In a recent survey I sent out to my email list, folks asked a few additional questions about getting clients, so I’m summarizing those questions and my answers here.

Do I need to use paid advertising to get clients?

You can get plenty of clients without using paid advertising. In fact, one of my high-level mentorship clients has built her business into the mid-six-figures with an email list of under 5000 and doesn’t use paid ads to fill her programs.

Here’s an article I’ve written on what I think about paid ads and why you probably don’t want to use them (despite what other people are teaching you).

What’s the most effective and easiest way to get clients?

The most effective and easiest ways to get clients are the client-getting activities you actually DO, put in the time and effort to get good at, and do consistently.

When Make It Work Online clients ask me to tell them which of the 21 Ways to Get Clients is best, that’s the answer I give them. They all work equally well, so it’s all about what you enjoy and are willing to actually do.

How do I find high-paying clients?

You find high-paying clients the same way you find non-high-paying clients. There is no difference in the client-getting activities.

My clients are employees in a corporation. How do I reach them?

Even if the corporation is paying for their work with you, both your clients and the person writing the proverbial check are people.

All client-getting activities are about connecting with people, so ask yourself if the person you’er working with is the one who wants to work with you (but just needs their boss to pay for it), or is it the boss paying for the employee to work with you? That will tell you who to reach out to in your marketing (client-getting) efforts.

Yes, it might be a bit longer of a sales cycle, but instead of thinking about a cooperation as something inanimate and impossible to reach, remember that you’re a person reaching out to and selling to another person.

How do I keep my client/prospect funnel full and consistent revenue?

Keep doing client-getting activities and you set a schedule based on what stage of business you’re in.

I dive into my Flex Schedule System for building your business in this post and in my class, Starting and Growing an Online Business to Six Figures and Beyond. This system tells you how to allocate your time based on the phase of business you’re in.

You Can Achieve Your Goals

An online, service-based business is my favorite kind of business to build online. I’ve said this since the beginning, and I’m still saying it today. The flexibility, the deep impact, and the income are great reasons to build this business.

It’s easier than building a course-based or product-based business. It’s easier than building a brick-and-mortar business. But it still takes work. After all, it’s still a business.

But with the right step-by-step guide and some hard brain work, it is possible. And my hope is that this Ultimate Guide gives you ample resources to get started and grow your business like you want to.

Have questions about any of this? Post them in the comments, and I’ll personally respond.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Getting Clients for Your Online, Service-Based Business appeared first on Jenny Shih.

Today I’m covering why I quit social media, who to follow to learn about Instagram (if you enjoy social media), “the restaurant analogy,” niches, prioritizing to-do lists, and so much more.

Now, let’s dive in. You asked …

How to take extended time off, like if there’s a baby on the way, for example?

I wrote this article on how to plan for extended time off and how I managed a 5.5 month maternity leave including what I would have done differently if I’d gotten pregnant before I had a big team.

I need help being clear and speaking with confidence about what I do, to people who will become clients.

First, make sure you’re using the right language. Read this.

Then practice. Out loud. Often. It doesn’t happen without effort. But with effort (and practice), you’ll get there.

As I often say, “Clarity and confidence come from taking action.”

Help with social media marketing.

Follow Shanté Cofield on Instagram and consider taking her Instagram intensive. (Not an affiliate link. I’m just a fan.) I loved her program, and it helped me see how to do social media marketing “the right way.”

Of course, I quit social 6 months later (more on this in a moment), but I learning from Shanté helped me make this decision fully-informed. Plus, she’s just awesome.

(I know that’s like the third reference to Shanté today, so I hope you get the gist of how awesome she is and follow her on Insta, if that’s your thing. She’s smart, funny, personable, and really great at authentic Instagram. Plus, we actually know each other IRL, and that’s kind of fun.)

The post Ask Jenny Anything: August 2021 Q&A appeared first on Jenny Shih.

For example, you want to hit your business goals and also honor how you feel on a daily (or even hourly) basis. But from where you are today, you don’t know how to make it happen.

The question is, how do you do this? How do you go after something when you aren’t sure how to achieve it?

The answers to these questions have more depth and nuance than I can share in a single blog post, yet I’m also going to do my best to point you in the right direction right now.

But before we do that, we first need to acknowledge something important.

It’s our immense privilege that allows us to even ask this question of creating success on our terms, a question that many can’t even fathom having the opportunity to ask.

This means that on one hand, we’re wildly fortunate to even have the opportunity to create success on our terms. Yet on the other hand, it feels very frustrating to not be able to see how to achieve what we want.

We must keep in mind that the capitalist system in which we are working was designed to make us want to work harder, make more money, and see ourselves as no more than machines. It wants us to ignore our bodies, our emotions, and our souls to achieve the goal of more more more.

So we’re trying to solve a problem that, although solvable to a degree, goes against the very fabric of the society we live in.

Now I’m far from an expert on capitalist systems, but this understanding will put a bigger frame around a lot of what I’ll discuss below.

A huge thank you to Adrianne Munkacsy for talking about this with me last week when I was struggling to put words to what I felt I needed to say here.

Now, let’s get into how to both achieve our goals and honor ourselves in the process.

Step 1. Start at the beginning, then back up one (or several) steps

Both the coach and engineer in me like to make sure when I’m working with clients that we’re solving the right problem. This often means backing up one (or several) steps to get to the root of the issue.

Let’s talk through how to do that with two examples so you can apply this to your business.

Example 1: Maintaining a business revenue target without working so hard

Let’s use one of the examples someone shared with me earlier this month.

She said, “How do I keep hitting the $400-500K mark without working as much as I do, but still doing it how I love to do it.”

The first question I’d ask her would be, “Why do you want to keep hitting $400-500K?”

Let me be clear, I’m not questioning the goal. I don’t care how much money she wants to make; the dollar amount is irrelevant to me. What I care about is making sure she’s focused on the right goal for herself.

I don’t know what her answer would be, so here are three possible answers based on conversations I’ve had with others:

1. If my business brings in that much, then I can pay myself $XX.
2. Because I want to know that I can keep doing it.
3. Continuing at this level means I have a real business.

Wherever the response, we then back that up another step.

For the first one, I’d ask her to investigate her logic. “It sounds like your actual goal is to pay yourself $XX, not to make $400-500K revenue. The problem to solve is creating the salary you want by doing the work you want, not hitting the revenue mark itself.”

Maybe she’d agree, or maybe the coaching conversation would go a different direction. The key is, we’re digging into what it is that she’s really trying to achieve and why she wants to hit that goal.

As for the second and third possible answers, my hunch would be that those are thoughts based on cultural, societal, family, or other conditioning—not her own pure desire. Depending on the person, she may see this to be true for her, or she may not.

If she can’t see this to be conditioning, then I’d ask her why she’s in business. (This question is relevant to everyone, always.)

Most of my clients would say they’re in business to make a good living doing work they love on a schedule they set for themselves. The specifics, of course, are all unique to each person, as that’s the idea behind success on your terms.

Then I’d ask her to get specific about her personal values. What are her life’s top two priorities, and how does she want her business to support those values?

A common response I get is, “I value freedom, and I want to spend time with my family. I’m the primary/sole breadwinner, so I need to make enough for our family, but beyond that, I want to spend my time doing something other than working.”

I’d then ask her to get specific about how much money she needs to make and how much time she wants to spend with her family. When she does that, she’s able to see that her primary reason for being in business has nothing to do with proving herself to herself or anyone else, and letting that belief take over her focus does not serve her or her business.

The first thing to do is to work backward to figure out why you want what you think you want and realign to what’s truest for you.

When you’re clear here, you move onto Step 2, which we’ll get to in a minute. Before that, however, let’s dive into another example on how to take steps backward to find the real problem.

Example 2: Hitting a new revenue target and still taking care of oneself

Let’s use a second example someone shared:

“How do I take care of myself AND have enough energy to post, write, design, speak, do FB lives, create landing pages, etc. I do it all by myself now.”

This person implied she hasn’t yet hit her revenue target and is still in the initial growth stage of her business.

Just like the previous example, the first place to go is inquiring about personal values. What are her life’s top two priorities, and how does she want her business to support those values?

Like with almost every business owner I speak to, they want to make a decent living without sacrificing family or health or wellbeing (or something similar).

That means, for this business owner in the growth stage (though this is also relevant to the business owner from the first example), get specific about what “taking care of myself” actually means. Get really, really specific.

When I was at the height of my struggle with Lyme disease—while also being the sole breadwinner—I needed to get very clear on what I could and couldn’t do. How much time and energy I had (and didn’t have) to work on my business and how much money I really needed to make to get by.

Deep honesty was important here, honoring both reality and my limited energy.

That’s the first step. Get clear on exactly what you need. Then move onto Step 2.

Step 2. Get the information you need to solve the real problem

Once you’re clear on your actual goals, now you get into solving the real problem. If you’d have jumped to tactics and ideas before you got clear on the real problem, you’d have been only wasting time and energy working on solving the wrong problem.

For the first example above, the business owner has a clear salary/time focus and may need strategic help restructuring her business to match her true goals.

At several points during my business journey, I’ve had to shift my business structure and model to accommodate my goals and match my values as they changed over time.

This included things like my original focus on one-on-one work, my shift to a launch-based model, hiring a team, and planning for an extended maternity leave, just to name a few.

For the second example, the business owner might need some practical strategies to build her business and take effective action to reach her income goals.

Early in my business journey, I found myself working a lot of hours but making little money. I got really clear on exactly what the gap was between me and my goals. It was business and marketing knowledge. So I found a business training program to invest in.

For me, back in 2011, B-School was what closed this gap.

In both of the examples shared above, the information required to solve the real problem came only after identifying the real problem and getting crystal clear on the specifics of one’s goals.

Finally, as you get the information you need to solve the problem, you might run into something you won’t be thrilled about.

Step 3. Be open to the possibility of a null set

In math and engineering, there’s a term called a “null set.” It basically means “impossible scenario.”

It’s like me wanting to live in Oregon and also live in a place that’s sunny year-round. Just not gonna happen.

Null sets will arise as we sort through life and business and goal-setting. Sometimes what we want isn’t likely to happen. And when we reach that point, we need to acknowledge the null set and then make a new plan—which might require a compromise.

For example, my husband and I found a compromise for the “Jenny needs more sun” + “Paul and Jenny like living in Oregon” null set. For the months of January and February in 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019, my husband and I rented a home in southern California to get my warm weather and sun fix during Oregon’s dreariest months.

Another example for me right now is I decided to cut my salary. As we wrapped up our final clients in Make It Work Online 2021, with some health challenges needing my time and attention, on top of a strong desire to spend more time with my son, I decided I wanted to work less and was willing to earn less to make it happen.

Would I have liked to earn more while working way less? Of course. But when faced with the reality of generating business revenue in the extremely limited hours I am willing to work, I had to make a compromise.

Here’s the thing about finding compromises to our null sets:

We can make peace with these decisions because they’re rooted in our personal values.

We’re choosing these options versus feeling like victims to life’s constraints.

Can You Have It All?

Now you might not want to hear this next thing I’m going to tell you, but I’m telling you anyway because I’m far too practical and honest to not …

Yes, I believe many of us, with the privileges we have, are able to create success on our terms. And also, I believe that the “you can have it all” cultural myth is horribly damaging. It’s simply not true.

No matter who you are or what you have, you can not have it all. Especially not all at once.

I’m not saying this to be a downer but to be a reality-checker. For too long I bought into the myth that said I could have it all. I wondered what was wrong with me that I couldn’t make it happen no matter how hard I worked or how efficient I was.

As it turns out, there wasn’t anything wrong with me, but there was something deeply wrong with this messaging I had believed for so long.

Instead, I believe you can have what matters most to you.

One Final Note

Now, as you’ve digested everything above, what questions come up for you?

How does your unique situation relate to the examples above, even if the specifics are different?

What questions arise for you and your business as you think about creating success on your terms?

What questions do you have for me about this?

Comment below. Let’s have a conversation.

The post How to Hit Your Goals and Also Honor How You Feel appeared first on Jenny Shih.

Aw, I feel you on this one.

As someone who’s been self-employed since 2009, I can assure you that the ebb and flow of love, excitement, enthusiasm, drive, motivation, you-name-it in business is real.

Whether this is something you’re experiencing now or not, it will likely show up in your business and life at some point (or many points). It impacts everyone.

Start With This First

First, know this feeling is normal and to be expected when you’re in business for any duration. Release any thoughts that say you shouldn’t feel this way.

Second, notice how often popular culture tells you to “do what you love and love what you do” (just one of many overused sentiments) and how that idea adds extra pressure to our already pressure-filled lives when we aren’t feeling the love for our businesses.

Release any mental burdens you’re feeling from culture, too.

Now, you might feel a tad lighter. Even just a little bit helps.

When you release the weight of the mental burdens, you can look more clearly at your situation and do something about it—if you want to.

That last part is important.

You see, last month I took my son to play with his cousins at a park near their house.

There were a bunch of sayings on the fence outside the park and one said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” All I could say to myself was, “…if you want to, and it’s okay not to want to.”

For a few years now, I’ve been feeling exhausted from trying to achieve everything I can dream of and am seeking (inner) permission to not do it all.

I simply don’t have the capacity for everything I want to do. Not even close.

Yet our culture has driven into us to do more and achieve more.

My sick, tired, aging, still-recovering-from-pregnancy body just can not anymore. But wow, it’s hard to unlearn this way of thinking, being, and doing.

What I’m saying is, see the mental burdens placed by culture about how you’re supposed to love your business and decide if those are helping or hurting you.

I’m not saying you can’t love your business, but notice what is true for you in this moment in your current capacity compared to what is culture telling you how you should feel … and if they align or not.

Not everything is always in perfect alignment, and that’s okay.

After You’ve Released the Mental Burdens, Do This

Once you’ve created inner separation from the mental burdens, start looking at your business.

Ask yourself:

• What aspects of your business do I no longer love?
• What about it is no longer working for me?
• What needs to change?

I talk with our clients in Make It Work Online about how to use the Serve and Learn Approach to create and scale their offers.

In a nutshell, you look at the information you have about the work you do and the clients you serve and the results you help them achieve, then you ask yourself how to help your clients get even better results.

You look at the potential adjustments, make the ones that seem best, try the new offer out, and see what happens.

You serve clients then learn from the process of doing so. Based on what you learn, you adjust, then serve and learn again. Then repeat. Forever.

In the same way, as you and your business evolve, you’ll need to look at yourself and your business and see what needs to change to make things better (for you to love your business).

Notice what could be better, make adjustments, see how you like it, and adjust again. Then repeat. Forever. (And always with a scientist’s mindset.)

It’s possible you’ve outgrown your business model, are ready to shift to new kinds of clients, or want to work in a different way.

What comes up for you when you ask yourself what needs to change?

You might get a big idea or a small one. Either way, it’s perfect.

If you have a big idea …

It might feel big and scary. It might be followed by a slew “yeah but” excuses.

If that happens, don’t stress. Remember my addendum to the fence quote: “… if you want to, and it’s okay not to want to.”

You can add on more to it: “… and when you’re ready.”

Just because you see the new idea doesn’t mean you have to take action on it or act on it immediately. Take a breath and thank yourself for being honest. That’s a great way to start.

If you see only a small idea …

It might feel too small to solve your problem, like it’s not the full answer.

If that happens, don’t stress. This is actually great.

We’ve been taught that we need to see the full plan before we can take action. It’s simply not true. I call that the smart person problem, and it’s a near-guaranteed way to never achieve the results you want.

I used to be very guilty of this in my business up until a few years ago. But I’ve learned that the tiny pieces are such a gift because, if I’m willing to trust that my intuition is guiding the bigger picture, then all I have to do is the one small thing right in front of me. And that is totally doable!

This means, whether you’re seeing the big picture of what needs to change or just one small step, you’re now charting a course toward a business you love a little bit more.

Changes My Clients and I Have Made

Here is a partial list of things I’ve personally adjusted in my business plus things my clients have adjusted as well. Maybe some will resonate with you.

• The clients you’re serving
• The way you work with clients
• What you charge
• The work you do with or for clients
• Your “why” for being in business
• Your work schedule
• Your salary
• Your team
• Your offerings
• Your business model
• Your skillset (needing to learn new things)
• The tasks you’re working on

One Final Thought

Sometimes we’ve put all the pressure of our life’s joy and excitement onto our businesses. Outside of our business, we don’t have enough je ne sais quois to fill us up. Sometimes we need to add more life to our lives, and not fix our businesses. Not always; but sometimes.

If this post raises questions for you that you’d like me to answer, or if you have input you’d like to add to the conversation, please ask me and chime in below.

The post How to Fall Back in Love with Your Business Again appeared first on Jenny Shih.

In person, online, through speaking (online or in person), through writing, over email, via phone, through old connections, by making new connections …

The awesome thing is that since it’s your business, you get to choose which ways are most fun for you to use to get clients.

In this guide, you’ll find 21 proven client-getting strategies that have worked for me and for my clients — over and over again. That means there are more than enough options for you to get you moving, get you clients, fill your roster, and start a waiting list.

I also hand-picked a few strategies that my clients and I love most and spelled them out with more detail (including a template and a how-to guide!) to help you take action and get clients.

How I Got My First 5 Clients

When I first started my online business, I didn’t know anything about online mar- keting, so I got my first five clients in four easy, “old school” ways.

Client #1: Responded to a flyer I posted in public places around town. The flyer she saw was posted in a coffee shop I frequented.

Client #2: Came as a result of a comment I posted on someone’s blog about quit- ting your job to pursue a passion-driven career.

Client #3: Contacted me after I emailed my professional network of 40+ women about my change in career path. (I call this strategy “send 100 emails.” More on this below.)

Clients #4 and #5: Were former corporate colleagues who reached out to work with me after I quit my job (because they wanted to quit theirs, too!).

Other Ways I’ve Gotten Clients Since Then—And How My Clients Have, Too

Since then, I’ve gotten clients from a variety of methods. These have all proven to be fruitful efforts for me and for my clients:

• Guest posting and getting interviewed
• Being of service (not pitching!) in Facebook groups
• Referrals from past clients
• Giving free talks in my local area
• Following up with warm leads
• Hosting free calls and webinars
• Having my business information in my email signature
• Sending quality, free content to my email list, week after week
• Adding a section in my newsletter about working with me
• Sending dedicated pitch emails to my list
• Connecting in person and via phone with colleagues to talk about business and share leads
• Setting up and sending autoresponders in my email system

My clients have had successes with other means of getting clients. Some of the approaches they love include:

• Hosting MeetUp groups
• Sending personal emails to new subscribers
• Offering free “taster” sessions
• Engaging in other social media platforms
• Creating and hosting their own Facebook group

… and more.

Keep reading, and you’ll get some insights as to how to make a few of these strategies work for you.

In Make It Work Online, I dive even further into many of them — plus offer templates, email scripts, and more — to help my clients fill their client rosters without it feeling like a chore!

The key is to focus on what sounds like fun to you — then stick to those strategies.

Consistency os key for making any client-getting approach work.

Send “100 Emails” and other client-getting emails

One of the best ways to get clients is to connect with people you already know.

Although your friends, neighbors, or former coworkers may not hire you themselves, there’s a good chance they know someone who would want to hire you.

The simplest approach here is to send 100 emails, reaching out to friends, family, neighbors, current colleagues, past colleagues, friends, acquaintances, and more. Celebrate your new business and tell them what you’re up to. The goal isn’t to make everyone a client but to start looking for warm connections.

You can read all about how to do this—plus grab a script on what to say—over on this Steal This! blog post.

Be of Service in Facebook groups (and other online forums)

One of the most fun ways (for extroverts and introverts alike) is to connect with peers and prospects on social media. I’m not talking about pitching yourself. I am talking about showing up, being your awesome self, and helping others with your knowledge and insights. I’d estimate that this strategy alone got me at least 50 clients (probably more) in the first two years of business.

I call this “being of service.” How did I do it?

First, I blocked off a half-hour every morning and every evening to go on Face- book and interact with my target clients in groups where they hung out.

During those half-hour blocks, my focus was exclusively on being as helpful as possible and answering as many questions as I could — not reading articles, watching dog videos, or connecting with personal friends.

Consistency was key!

People noticed that I was there to “give” not to “get” — and they also got to see where I had expertise to offer others. Soon after, people started tagging me when they thought I had an answer someone was looking for. My reputation quickly grew as someone who was helpful, generous, and giving — not there just to “sell them.” And THAT is exactly what does sell people… and how clients started coming in.

In fact, the more you are acting from a place of service (instead of a place of pitching), the more likely you are to create connections, build your email list, and get more clients.

Now, a lot of people say, “Jenny, this worked when you were first started out way back when, but it doesn’t work anymore.”

So let me tell you this very directly: It still works. In fact, I’m being of service right now in Facebook groups as I’m taking on a few high-end private mentorship clients. It worked then. It works now. Whether you’re new and looking for clients for your bite-sized offer or experienced and looking for clients for your premium-priced services.

Take “Be of Service” even further with free taster sessions

My first client to hit a million dollars was Kendrick Shope, and she took the “be of service” approach to the next level to help her create that million-dollar result.

When I told her to “be of service” (BOS) she started showing up online, offering helpful, free, no-strings-attached advice as much as possible, in the usual BOS fashion. And when she ran into something that was hard to explain in a Facebook conversation, she’d offer to get on the phone with that person—for free.

Here’s the key: Kendrick DID NOT pitch that person on the phone.

Instead, she’d check in with them a few days later to make sure they had all that they needed… or see if they needed further help.

If they got what they needed, she’d cheer them on and send them on their way. If they were faltering and needed more help, she’d tell them about her paid services.

The “be of service” approach only works if you embrace it fully.

Serve your target audience with no strings attached (and no immediate pitching), and you’ll quickly generate a huge fan base… and a list of hungry clients.

Note: You’ve got to give freely, without expectations, for it to work.

Give free talks—in your local area and online

My friend and fellow coach, Alison Cardy, has mastered the use of speaking to build her business.

Since her business focus is on career coaching, Alison speaks in a variety of places, including professional societies, service organizations, university student groups, and college and university alumni groups.

Like with all client-getting strategies that work, Alison went “all in” — pitching and speaking regularly (often several times a week). She quickly built a reputation as someone who delivers solid speech and always pleases her audience.

If you love to speak — or want to start speaking — all you have to do is start! No matter how big or small your town, you can create your own speaking opportuni- ties.

From hosting your own events at the local library or health food store, to pitching service organizations, alumni groups, or corporate or small business brown bag lunches, there are countless people and groups looking for speakers for their next event.

So start looking in your area for the right opportunities, and go pitch them.

Of course, in the COVID era, lots of these local organizations are now reaching their members with virtual conferences and meetings, so those options are equally valid for this approach.

Add a “Work With Me” section to your email newsletter

If you are building an online business, building an email list is a must. And emailing that list regularly (preferably weekly) is also a must!

Since you’re emailing helpful, free content to your list every week, you should also take advantage of that opportunity to tell your subscribes how they can hire you.

Make your newsletter’s “Work With Me” section a dedicated section in your newsletter, not a P.S.!

Not sure what to write? Here’s a sample template to get you started:

HEADLINE:
You’re [doing this awesome thing]. I’m here to help.

BODY COPY:
[Ask questions that your ideal clients would say, “yes” to]
Are you [this type of person] with [this positive personality trait]?
Do you have trouble [with this specific challenge that you solve]?
Could you use [this type of support]?

I help [these types of people] who [feel like this]. They’re looking to [accomplish this] and [also this] — without [doing or feeling like this].

My clients [have these positive traits] but they can’t seem to [get to this place that they’re striving for].

If you’re ready to [do this], [this], or [even this], I can help get you there.

Click here to learn about [your services or offers]. [LINK to your services or offer]

Create and host your own Facebook group

It’s a great strategy for building a highly-engaged fan base, directly connecting with and interacting with potential clients, and having your own place to pitch (without taking over someone else’s group — not cool!).

My clients love hosting their own groups because ideal clients are practically delivered to their virtual doors, plus they can engage with them, check their client language and avoid jargon, and create a community around their mission.

Curious what folks say about running their own facebook group? Here are some Make It Work Online alumni’s insights on exactly that.

Tamara Schmidt, Daily Nature Connection
“I love it because it’s a low-pressure, super positive way to build community as people share their nature connections. It’s been a fantastic and fun way to build my business.”

Aden Nepom, Change Hub
“I love that I get to communicate directly with people who can both benefit from working with me and inform the services I provide. I learn as much as I teach! I believe inspiration is a two way street.”

Suzy Rosenstein, Women in the Middle Community: Regret-Proofing 101 for Midlife Women
“I love running the group because it gives me a chance to meet podcast listeners and hear more about what they like, what they need help with, and how I can serve them better.”

Emily Otto, Systems & Structure for Magical Business Owners
“I love running it to help aspiring healing arts biz owners, and I enjoy curating content and free coaching/training to empower healing arts folks to do their own unique things in the world.”

Wendy Harbath, Ceremony of Crones
“I love staying in touch with my clients and fans. It’s also a great way to explore occasionally with a new idea for feedback from the group.”

Stacie Mitchell, The Consistent Coach: Get clear, Get consistent, Get clients
“I love hosting a Facebook group because to me it’s been the easiest way to connect and grow a community. I can ask loads of questions (which I love to do!), learn more about my potential clients, and build an engaged, interactive community – which can sometimes be hard on other social media platforms.”

Laura Donnelly, The Healing Path with Laura Donnelly
“I love hosting a group because of all the amazing people I’m meeting! The group has video conversations and discussions, and members are encouraged to start their personal healing journeys.”

Steph Lagana, Your Sacred Craft: Magical Tools for Action Ready Entrepreneurs
“My Facebook group isn’t just a place to meet potential clients and be of service, it’s also a place to make friends which makes this path so much richer on every level.”

Laura Collis, Thrive: Healthy at Midlife
“I love running a group because it’s an incredible way to grow my following, be of service, provide value and connect and engage with my potential clients. In my own community group, I know I’m speaking to my ideal client all of the time and that’s a huge plus!”

StephK, Just Wear The Lipstick
“I love hosting my Facebook group since it allows me to empower others. I also love having conversations with my audience and helping others in my community to connect!”

Which of these 21 ways is most effective?

Now here’s the question I get All The Time: Which way is most effective, the one that will bring me the most clients the fastest?

The answer: Whichever one you do consistently and strive to keep doing better.

Hear this: They All Work!

But the one you do, do well, and do consistently is the one (or ones) that will yield clients.

To get clients, you have to consistently do client-getting activities. Choose the ones above that are most interesting to you, and focus on those. If you like what you choose, you’re more likely to keep at them and see the results you want.

The post 21 Winning Ways to Book Yourself Fast appeared first on Jenny Shih.

One of my most effective client-getting moves email. My clients also have great luck with this approach, and I hope you do, too.

It’s so effective that you can fill or nearly fill your client roster with this strategy alone!

I’ve compiled five of my most successful email templates for you to steal and send — to get clients and fill your roster. Here are the five emails scripts included in this guide:

#1 – Personal emails to friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues
#2 – Emails asking for referrals from past clients
#3 – Personal emails to new subscribers
#4 – Sales emails to your list
#5 – Follow up emails to warm leads

Your Action Steps:

1. Read through all five templates.
2. Prioritize which one you want to send, first, second, third, etc.
3. Start sending them!

Remember: The faster you take action, the faster you’ll fill your client roster.

Script #1: “100 Emails”

Most of my initial coaching clients came through sending what I call “100 emails.”

I know you know more than 100 people. Now, make a list of everyone you know and email all of them about your business.

Even if they don’t hire you themselves, there’s a good chance they know someone who needs exactly what you offer. So tap into the network that’s already right at your fingertips.

Subject: I did it!

Hi Name,

After many [months, years], I’m finally ready to tell the world about something big I’ve been working on.
As someone who knows me well, you were one of the first people I thought to tell.

The big news is I’ve launched a [industry-specific] business.

This feels like a perfect fit for me because I’m able to use [these awesome skills]. Even better, I’m getting the chance to really help people.

And that’s why I’m writing to you today. I’m currently looking for new clients, and I was wondering if you’d be willing to introduce me to a couple of people that might benefit from the type of work I do.

The [specific people] I work with feel like they [are struggling in this area].

They’re tired of feeling [like this]. And they know they have [this positive thing going for them]. They’re ready to [accomplish this].

Do you know of a friend who would be a good fit? If so, please forward this email to them.

If you’re interested and want more details about how I can help, simply reply to this email. I’d love to talk with you further.

Thanks so much,
Your Name

Script #2: Emails asking for referrals from past clients

An easy way to get new clients is through former, very happy clients. The best way to get those referrals? Ask!

Subject: Could I ask a quick favor?

Hi Name,

[Start with a personal greeting.]

I wanted to ask you for a quick favor. I currently have a few openings on my client list, and I would love to fill those spots with amazing past clients like you.

I loved working with you because [a genuine, real reason they were awesome], so I was wondering if you can think of one or two people who might be a good fit for my services.

I’m looking for people like you — people who:

• Value [this type of work/collaboration]
• Are skilled in [this area of expertise]
• Get excited by the thought of [doing this]

I especially love working with people who [have these important qualities].

Do you know one or two people who fit the bill? No pressure at all, but if you’re open to making an introduction, I’d appreciate it!

Thanks so much,
Your Name

Script #3: Personal emails to new subscribers

An effective strategy to get clients and simply connect with and get to know your target audience is to send personal emails to new subscribers.

I’m not talking about autoresponders (emails automatically sent via your email system); I’m talking about emails sent to subscribers via your personal email account. The personal touch can go a long way to turning a subscriber into a fan and a fan into a client!

Subject: A personal thank you

Hi Name,

I just wanted to say thanks for signing up for my [insert your free offer here]! (This is really me, by the way, not an autoresponder!)

It’s nice getting to actually “meet” each other, right?

I find that my subscribers often have questions about [A, B, and C]. I wanted to let you know that I really love helping people when it comes to those topics.

If you have any questions about those things, or anything related, drop me an email. I’d love to help (on the house, of course)!

I look forward to getting to know you and helping you out however I can.

Your Name

Script #4: Sales emails to your list

I can’t leave out the tried-and-true sales email! That’s right, you should occasionally tell your list — very directly — how you can help them and how to hire you.

Subject: A laser-focused transformation

Hi Name,

Do you ever feel like you’re doing [these “right” things”] but you aren’t getting [these results you want]?
When you’re [trying to accomplish this], it’s easy to get stuck [feeling like this].

The good news is, you [have these positive personality traits] and you’re ready [to put this type of effort in].

I help [these types of people] who [feel like this] to finally [accomplish this].

That’s why I’m super excited to offer you the chance to work with me privately with my brand-new offer: [the name of your offer].

Maybe you’ve already tried [this]. Or maybe you’ve even [done this]. Well, this is really different.

During your [1-hour/90-minute] personal strategy session, you will [get this type of support] so you can [feel this way].

If you’re [at this stage of your journey] and know you can [get to this point] but you just need [this], I can help.

We’ll [do this] together and make big things happen for you. Get started now. [LINK to your services or offer]

I can’t wait to work with you!

Your Name

Script #5: Follow-up emails to warm leads

I learned from my friend and sales coach Kendrick Shope that 50% of all sales are closed in follow-up communication. After years of using follow-ups to sign on clients, I know for a fact that this is true!

Track everyone you connect with and regularly follow up with them. Keeping in touch — for weeks, months, or even years — is likely to turn a curious prospect into a paying client!

Subject: Thinking of you

Hi Name.

I came across this blog article today [or other resource] and thought of you, so I thought I’d send it your way and also drop you a quick note.[Link to the article or resource]

When we talked back in [month] about [whatever you discussed], you mentioned [the specific challenge they were facing].

How are you doing?

I remember when we talked before, you were looking to [reach this desired outcome]. Is that still your goal?

Fill me in on how you are and what you think of that article I’d love to help however I can.

Your Name

To get clients from these emails …

You actually have to send them.

So make a plan, start drafting your emails, then send them!

The post Steal This! 5 Email Scripts to Get Clients Fast appeared first on Jenny Shih.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this post:

• 7 simple ways to make your opt-in more magnetic—without having to completely recreate it
• The number one opt-in mistake most business owners make and how to avoid it
• The single most important opt-in page you need (if you don’t have this, it could be costing you subscribers)

Are you ready? Let’s dive in!

List-Building Is Important for All Businesses, Especially Online Ones

I can tell you’re smart and serious about building your business. How? Because you know list-building is important, and you’re ready to make it a priority.

You also know that to grow your business online, you MUST grow your email list.

Your email list offers countless benefits: You can develop loyal relationships with clients who’ve raised their hand to get to know you. You can nurture new and repeat sales. You can draw traffic to your website on a regular basis.

As beneficial as it is, list-building can feel overwhelming. What if your list is growing at a snail’s pace? How do you start and then keep up the momentum?

You know you CAN and will get to the tipping point (for most people it’s 1000 subscribers), but you want to get there sooner!

I understand because I was once there. When I quit my six-figure corporate job and launched jennyshih.com, my #1 goal was to grow my list. After making many mistakes and having some huge wins, I grew my list from zero to 1000 in just 6 months.

TIP #1: Make sure it passes the “magnet” test

If you want your list to grow faster, ask yourself the following questions about your opt-in offer. If you answer mostly “no,” implement these simple changes first. These small tweaks could have a major impact on your number of subscribers.

Is your opt-in easily visible?

Place your opt-in prominently throughout your site. See Secret #2 for more ideas.

Do you explain the benefits of your offer (rather than the features)?

It’s easy to tell your potential subscribers about your process. Instead, tell them what they’ll get as a result. Ask yourself, “What will my subscriber know after using my free offer that s/he doesn’t know now?” or “What will s/he be able to do?”

Does the reader know what steps to take to sign up?

Make sure you have a clear call to action. Be up front about what they’ll be receiving.

Does it solve an urgent problem?

Most people sign up for a free offer to solve an immediate problem—they want something that will help them now, not three months from now.

Are you making a promise you can deliver on?

Don’t “oversell” your offer. Otherwise, you could lose your subscriber’s trust—and people won’t buy from or hire people they don’t trust.

Is the offer itself easy to digest?

Don’t ask your subscribers to make a huge time commitment. Give them a bite-size offer that’s easy for them to set aside time for.

Are you asking people to provide more information than they’re comfortable with?

Studies show that the more boxes you ask people to fill out, the fewer subscribers you get. Are you asking for more information than you need?

TIP #2: Put it where they can see it

The number one mistake many small business owners make is that they only promote their free opt-in offer on their home page. It makes sense to think that your home page is the main entry point of your site. (It’s called a “home page,” after all.)

But your customers can arrive at any page on your site, so make sure your opt-in box is easy to find no matter where they enter.

Home Page

Treat your home page wisely, and keep your opt-in box high enough on the page that your potential clients don’t have to scroll down to see it.

Take Action Now

1. Add your free opt-in to your home page
2. Ask only for the information you need (usually first name & email address). The fewer boxes people have to fill out, the more likely they are to sign up.
3. Check your home page on mobile to make sure your opt-in box is easy find and fill out on a phone or tablet

Sidebar & Below Posts

With the increase in responsive websites (the kind that “shrink” and “grow” as you move from computer to tablet to phone), sidebars are slowly becoming extinct.

But for some sites, having a sidebar is still relevant—so use it to your advantage and add your opt-in box there.

In addition to the sidebar, you can add your opt-in box below each blog post.

Take Action Now

1. Check your sidebar on mobile—does your opt-in box appear? If not, find additional opportunities to highlight your offer.
2. Add an opt-in box below each blog post

About page

Your about page is typically the second most-viewed page on your site (after the home page). Include an opt-in box where it makes sense.

Take Action Now

1. Read through your About page. Is there a section that naturally leads to inviting people to opt in to your offer? You can add an opt-in box within your content itself.
2. If that doesn’t make sense in your layout, add your opt-in to the sidebar or at the bottom or top of your About page.

Take It Further

To increase the number of people who opt in, use the following chart to pick the perfect words.

TIP #3: You must have a squeeze page

A squeeze page is a stand-alone page where you highlight your free opt-in offer. And if you don’t have one, it could be costing you subscribers. That’s because it’s often the highest converting placement for your opt-in. (I’ll tell you why in a minute.)

This page comes in handy when you invite people to your opt-in from elsewhere on the internet. For example, you can link to your squeeze page from your bio below a guest blog post. You can also link to it directly from social media.

And that’s why it converts so well. The only way your potential subscribers will land on this page is if they choose to click there—so they’ve already shown interest. Now, you just have to keep up the momentum.

Because you have more room on a squeeze page, you can bulk it up with even more enticing information. There are some common guidelines to help make your squeeze page as effective as possible.

Here are three elements of a high-performing squeeze page:

• Limit distractions by removing the navigation & sidebar
• Add easy-to-scan bullets
• Add an image of the product itself
• Include a testimonial

Take Action Now

It’s one thing to learn how to improve your opt-in and conversions. It’s another thing to take action on it.

Right now, while all of this is fresh in your mind, make a list of what specific actions you’re going to take to improve your opt-in. Then get to work!

The post Amplify Your Opt-In to Help Build Your Email List Faster appeared first on Jenny Shih.

Let’s streamline your system for booking new clients and automating as much of the process as possible (without over-complicating it).

Use the checklist below to create and implement a system that works for you.

7 Steps to Your New Client Intake System

Here are seven straightforward steps for your new client intake.

Step 1. Make it easy for prospects to schedule a consultation with you

Sign up for an online scheduler and allow prospects to book their own appointments. I’ve been using Acuity Scheduling since I started my business, but there are a bunch of different options out there.

Put a link to your online calendar right on your services page and tell people to use it to schedule a consultation with you. Don’t schedule over email—always direct people to use your scheduler.

Step 2. Gather information about your prospect. Make this as automated as possible

What information do you want from your prospective client before you speak with them? Craft questions that you or your assistant can send in advance of the consultation.

Draft an email template to use for each reply. Once you or your assistant see that a consultation has been scheduled, send the prospect the preparatory questions. Make it clear that they should reply at least 24 hours before the consultation.

Step 3. Prepare for the consultation

Review the information your prospect sent you. If you have a consult checklist, script, or outline, review that or at least have it in front of you.

Step 4. Consult!

Consult with your prospect as per your normal process.

Step 5. Send your new client an invoice

Send an invoice.

Step 6. Send them their new client materials

If you don’t have them already, create a standard set of new client materials. Your materials should include the following:

• payment and refund policies
• your scheduling and cancellation policies
• what to expect from working with you
• pre-work or other materials they should complete before they begin working with you
• any other information that is relevant to your new clients

Once a prospect pays their invoice, send the preparatory materials so they can get started. Don’t send the materials until they have completed their payment.

Step 7. Get rolling! Enjoy your new client!

Email Scripts

As you implement the process above, steal and adjust the following email starter templates.

Email #1: Responding to someone who wants to work with you

Subject line: First steps to working together

Hi NAME,

Thanks for reaching out!

The first step to get started working me is to schedule a [free consultation].

This doesn’t commit us to working together. It gives you the chance to tell me more about your business, and we can determine if we’d be a good fit.

Click here to schedule your call: LINK TO YOUR BOOKING SYSTEM Let me know if you have any trouble booking!

SIGNOFF

Email #2: Requesting Payment

Subject line: Next steps for working together

Hi NAME,

It was great to talk with you today.

I’m really looking forward to the work we are going to do together. I know that you can [mention something that they hope to achieve].

Here are the next steps.

First, complete your payment of $XXX and sign and return the attached client contact by [this date].

As a refresher, your investment includes:

• X
• Y
• Z

Once you complete your payment, you’ll receive an email from me with more information, including how schedule your appointments and access your pre-work.

If you have any other questions, please let me know. I’m so excited to work with you!

SIGNOFF

The post Steal This! New Client Intake System and Email Scripts appeared first on Jenny Shih.

You can use the templates as-is or tweak them to suit your personal style. These emails tend toward the more firm tone because, in my experience, when most women realize it’s finally time to set a firm boundary, their clients have gone way overboard and firm is more effective than friendly. These will help you nip these problems in the bud ASAP.

Email #1: Client is lingering on booking sessions or has ghosted

Hi NAME!

I hope you enjoyed a nice long weekend. [Or other kind greeting.]

I wanted to email you today about some logistics around your coaching package.

I’m committed to all of my clients having the successes they desire in working with me. In order to make sure I’m delivering top-notch results to each person, I need every client to stay on track with their sessions.

We started our [XX] package back in [MONTH] with the plan of having 3 sessions per month [or whatever your logistics were]. Currently you have [X] sessions that still need to be booked.

Please go to my online scheduler and book your final [X] sessions right now. I ask that these remaining sessions be completed by [DATE]. Unfortunately, I am unable to extend your sessions beyond that date.

LINK TO SCHEDULER

Thank you so much for your understanding, and I look forward to your next session.

Talk soon,
YOUR NAME

Email #2: Client is emailing (DMing, texting, voxing) too much

Hi NAME!

I hope you enjoyed a nice long weekend. [Or other kind greeting.]

Thanks so much for your last email about [TOPIC]. It’s good to get a between-session update from you.

It looks like this last one is a big topic, something best saved for a coaching session.

If you’d like to move up your next session so we can talk sooner, feel free to reschedule your appointment. [Note: Only use this option if it works for you!] Otherwise, let’s save this for our session so we have enough time and attention to dive into it fully.

Talk soon,
YOUR NAME

Email #3: Client owes you money

Option 1: They’ve completed their work with you but haven’t completed their payments.

Hi NAME!

I hope you enjoyed a nice long weekend. [Or other kind greeting.]

I really enjoyed the work we did together over our last sessions, helping you [DETAILS]. [Add one sentence summarizing a result they got from working with you.]

I’m emailing today because my records indicate that there is an outstanding payment of [$XX] for our work together. I know it’s never fun to have lingering obligations hanging over your head, so please, go here to make your payment now.

PAYMENT LINK

Let me know if you have any questions or would like to set up other payment arrangements.

Thank you so much for your prompt follow-through on this,
YOUR NAME

Option 2: They haven’t completed all of their sessions and haven’t completed all of their payments

Hi NAME!

I hope you enjoyed a nice long weekend. [Or other kind greeting.]

I really enjoyed the work we did together over our last sessions, helping you [DETAILS]. [Add one sentence summarizing a result they got from working with you.]

I’m emailing today because my records indicate that there is an outstanding payment of [$XX] for our sessions. Please go here to make your payment now.

PAYMENT LINK

Once I receive your payment, we can proceed with booking your other sessions.

Let me know if you have any questions or would like to set up other payment arrangements.

Thank you so much for your prompt follow-through on this, and I look forward to our next session.

YOUR NAME

Email #4: Past client is emailing (DMing, texting, voxing) for support after your work together is complete

Hi NAME!

I’m so glad to hear about [whatever they mentioned in their last email to you].

At a quick glance, [an answer to their question in one short sentence!].

I genuinely care about what you’re up to and am thrilled to celebrate your successes with a virtual high-five any time.

As you know, I strive to serve my clients to the highest degree possible. Unfortunately, this means that I’m unable to continue to support you via email, as our work together has already come to an end.

If you would like continued support in this area, I currently have openings for [OFFER]. [Or, let them know when your next opening is.]

And of course, you’re always welcome to post quick questions on my Facebook page, where everyone can benefit from the answers. LINK [Only if this is something you’re open to.]

Wishing you the best,
YOUR NAME

Email #5: Non-client is emailing (DMing, texting, voxing) excessively for free advice

Hi NAME!

Thanks for your email. I always appreciate knowing what’s going on for women who I most want to help with my business.

I strive to serve my paying clients to the highest degree possible. To do this, I must focus my time and energy on serving them first and foremost.

It sounds like what you emailed about is a big issue for you right now, and I understand what that’s like. [Offer additional empathy if you like.]

If this is something you want to work through with my full attention and support, I currently have openings for [OFFER]. You can learn more here: LINK to your services page.

If that’s not the right option for you at the moment, I suggest signing up to receive my weekly newsletter for free ideas and support, if you haven’t already.

Wishing you the best,
YOUR NAME

The post Steal This! Boundary-Setting Email Scripts appeared first on Jenny Shih.

Although some of the specific wording I use today to talk about these ideas has shifted, the core concepts are still applicable to anyone wanting to build a thriving business without working to the bone. Heck, it even works great if you’re an employee who wants to work less!

You can find the full, free, recording of the 2012 audio training here.

To accompany it, below you’ll find a summary of insights shared on the call.

I cover the seven secrets to working less without making less, plus actionable tips to help you implement changes in your business and life starting today.

Secret #1: Clarity (about your values)

Before you can work less, you have to get clear on your values so you know where to focus your efforts and changes in your business and life.

Look at your business with the spotlight of clarity. Why are you in business? Why are you in THIS business? What’s your long-term vision for your business? Why do you do what you do?

In your life, what do you value? What’s important to you? Is your business enabling you to live out those values, or not? See where there are disconnects and if you can reconcile them.

Take a look at everything you do in your business. Do you know WHY you’re doing it? Is it enabling short and long-term vision and goals for your business? Notice any disconnects and reconcile them.

Secret #2: Schedule

Scheduling your time allows you to prioritize what you value in your business and life and make sure you have time to spend on what matters most to you.

Decide what type of schedule would work best for you. For example, do you need to create windows of time for batch-writing blog posts or running errands, or set aside certain days of the week for client work and others for product creation? How do you need to change your schedule so that you can get more done in less time?

Setup your schedule and experiment with it for 2 -4 weeks. See what works for you and what doesn’t, and modify accordingly. Be flexible. Create a schedule that works for you and aligns with your values.

Secret #3: Focus

Once you are clear on your values and have a schedule that supports those values, you need to employ FOCUS at each point during that schedule. Notice where and when you get distracted and eliminate those distractions wherever possible. The more you can focus on what needs to get done at that moment, the more productive you’ll be.

Notice where, when and why you lose focus. What can you do to eliminate those distractions and get back your focus?

Secret #4: Systems

Systems are simply processes that you do repeatedly, that work well. By not reinventing the wheel every single time you do a task, you save time and energy. They’re essential if you want to work less without making less.

List the things in your business that are done on a regular basis (i.e. blog posts, newsletter, client scheduling, invoicing, social media scheduling). Then implement a system for each one.

Need help with systems in general? Check out The System Flight Kit, one of my original opt-in offers!

Here are some specific systems that I already mapped out for you.

• System for getting stellar testimonials
• System for booking new clients
• System for social media posting
• System for getting it all done (and having a life)
• System for a work-free vacation checklist

Secret #5: Delegation

When you create systems in your business, you are more easily able to delegate to others, like your VA. Delegating gets you out of the details and helps you learn to be a better communicator.

Get a good VA and start delegating. Then, find three more areas in your business where you can delegate work, and delegate it!

Check out the following on the basics of delegating:

• How to know when it’s time to hire an assistant
• How to train your assistant in 5 minutes
• How to get your assistant to run your business for you

If you implement just the first five secrets, it will literally be saving you hours of time each week. Saying no will also help. When you know your values and what’s important to you, it will become easier to know whether you should say yes or no to something.

What are you currently doing or have you agreed to do that you don’t really want to? How can you get out of it? If you struggle with saying no, get help drafting a kind and loving email that helps you exit gracefully.

Notice what people tend to ask you for that doesn’t align with your values but you have a hard time saying NO to. Put whatever measures in place (i.e. a pre-drafted email) that will help you say no the next time it happens.

Need a little help saying no? Read this on how to set boundaries and say no (in general) and this on how to set boundaries with clients.

Secret #7: Dealing with Mental Garbage

I use the term “mental garbage” to encompass all of the negative thoughts, ideas, thought patterns, habits, and unproductive emotions that stop us from achieving our dreams. These can include things like “I’m not good enough”, “I suck at this”, and “Who will pay me for this?” They’re huge time-wasters!

To work less and not make less, you must be mindful of your mental garbage. Throughout the day, as you’re working (or even not working), make note of your mental landscape. What’s serving you and what’s not? Adjust accordingly. Get help if you need to.

Here are some articles and videos that might help:

• Is Your M.O. Holding You Back? Working With Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies Framework to Grow Your Business
• Are You Using “the Introvert Excuse”? (Video)
• Easily Discouraged When You Don’t See Immediate Results? (Video)
• Rough Day? How to Take Back Control When You’re Feeling Distracted, Stuck, and Overwhelmed in Your Business
• Steal This! My Step-by-Step Approach to Pushing Past Your Own Limits and Discovering What You’re Capable of

The post 7 Secrets to Working Less Without Making Less appeared first on Jenny Shih.

Selling is so much more than a script for a discovery call or template for a follow-up email. Sales is pervasive in your business—and that doesn’t mean icky, pushy, slimy, or conniving.

I like to think of sales as making a meaningful connection with your prospect so they know whether or not you’re the right person to hire or buy from. You don’t need to be even the tiniest bit pushy or manipulative about it!

When learning sales, as with learning all new skills, it’s helpful to have tools, templates, and scripts to get you started. You combine those tools with core concepts and ideas, and together, you learn how to sell authentically.

And that’s the key: Having both tools and the ideas.

Today I’m excited to share with you three powerful sales concepts that help get you in the right frame of mind to sell and more effectively use any sales tool you learn (from me or anyone else). These ideas were taught to me by sales expert Kendrick Shope.

Sales Concept #1 – Selling should feel good.

I used to think that selling was manipulative, conniving, and otherwise ingenuine. I was afraid that if I learned sales skills, it meant I would be tricking my prospects into paying me money … so of course I ran from anyone who wanted to teach me about sales!

But over time, as my consults were growing in number but not converting into paying clients as frequently as I thought they should, I realized that sales skills were something I needed to learn.

This is where Kendrick Shope entered my life and taught me the basics of consults and follow ups. My consult conversion rate skyrocketed to nearly 90% almost immediately.

More than just skyrocketing my consult conversion rates, I was also helping people make the decision to not hire me when that felt most appropriate. And wow, did that clarity feel good!

All of this made me realize that selling didn’t just put money in my pocket, it helped my prospects make smart decisions for their own lives and businesses.

This all felt so good!

And if sales consults and follow-ups could feel good, where else could I learn and implement sales concepts that felt good and helped people?

The short answer? Every single area of my business.

Sales Concept #2 – Sales is essential in every aspect of your business.

After learning to use sales skills in consults and follow-up emails, I slowly saw how sales infiltrated every part of my business. And I’m not just talking about the obvious stuff: sales pages, offer copy, sales emails, webinars, etc.

I’m talking about every area of business. For example…

Email subject lines need to “sell” people on opening them.

Teasers to my blog post in my weekly email newsletter need to “sell” people on clicking through.

Social media posts need to “sell” people on engaging.

Customer service emails need to “sell” the person on the other end of the email into a place of satisfaction, specifically if they were frustrated by something.

… just to name a few.

Once I realized that selling is pervasive in business, from managing a team to communicating with readers and prospects, I saw how to leverage what I learned from Kendrick to make everything simply work and sell better.

Business (and life!) got easier once I realized it’s all about sales!

And again, not in the manipulative kind of way but in the “help people make the best decision for themselves kind of way.”

Sales Concept #3 – The average sale takes 7 touches with a customer before they say yes.

Nothing was more discouraging to my early business self than people who would reach out and ask about my services and then disappear. It was so frustrating!

There’s where Kendrick’s insight helped my sales mindset.

She taught me that 50-80% of all sales require 7 touches with a customer before they say yes. 7! Once I realized this, I no longer saw a “disappearing prospect” as a sign that I was a doomed business owner. I learned to see this as a trigger for following up with them.

In fact, I started a simple spreadsheet where I tracked email and social media inquiries about my services, and I used it diligently. Some prospects warmed up quickly and others were nurtured on and off for a few years before saying yes. (Yes, years. And that’s still the case today.)

The cool thing was that this list was powerful for me to have and use. Because week after week, I had growing interest in my work and that meant a growing group of people who may hire me one day!

Learning to write follow-up emails and connect with these prospects (genuinely and authentically but also using some well-honed sales skills!) became a skill I was excited to cultivate and hone further.

Even better, as my packages grew in price, follow-ups became a more important part of the sales process, and by then, I had nearly mastered them. Talk about a win-win, for my clients and for my business.

All in all, sales has been one of the most important skills I’ve ever learned in my business … because, simply put, you can’t make money if you don’t know how to sell.

There’s always more to learn.

If any of the three above ideas gave you an aha about selling and you’d like to learn more, I’m excited for you.

Because when you infuse sales knowledge to everything you’ve already learned about serving your clients, marketing your business, showing up on social media, and more, that’s when you see (more) money start coming in the door.

The truth is, marketing doesn’t work without selling.

You can “spread the word” and “put yourself out there” all you want, but if you don’t know how to invite customers to work with you, you won’t reach your income goals.

That was what was happening to me back in 2012. I was marketing, blogging, emailing, social media-ing, and so much more. I had lots of interest in my work, but I wasn’t getting all the yeses I expected to.

Long story short, that’s when Kendrick Shope stepped in and started teaching me about sales.

This had a bigger impact on my business’s bottom line than any other coach I’ve worked with or program I’ve taken.

Simply put, I wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t learned from Kendrick back in 2012.

Since then, Kendrick’s served over ten thousand business owners—from newbies to those with 7-figure operations—helping them implement sales strategies that have a direct impact on their bottom line.

The best way to learn from her is in her program, Authentic Selling® University. (Yes, I’m an enthusiastic affiliate for this program.)

Authentic Selling® University is where consultants, coaches, course creators, and small business owners like you learn how to make their marketing efforts turn into paying customers.

Because she had such a huge impact on my bottom line back then—and many times since—I am also an affiliate for her top-notch program, Authentic Selling® University.

I have seen in the results clients get in her program, and it’s the best online sales training program I’ve experienced.

If you’d like to learn more about Authentic Selling® University, you can check out the program here.

You can also read my 100% honest review of the program (plus answers to the most-asked questions).

The post 3 Key Sales Concepts that Helped Me Earn More Money appeared first on Jenny Shih.

You want to shout from the rooftops: “I’m here! Hire me!”

But when you tell ideal clients about your service, their eyes glaze over.

That’s when it hits you: “My people don’t even know they need me.”

You’re in good company. This is more common than you might think.

What’s the problem here?

Let’s break it down with an example.

Imagine you’re a nutrition coach who helps mid-life professional women who feel exhausted all the time.

After years of study and research, as well as your own health journey, you’ve decided to specialize in gut health.

So you create this amazing offer to help your clients attain the healthiest gut microbiome. And you put yourself out there, offering help with “gut health.” Because you know that optimal gut health will absolutely transform your clients’ lives.

The problem is, these women don’t know they need help with their gut health.

Your message doesn’t resonate. So of course, they don’t hire you.

Now, you’re stuck.

“My service is just what they need, but they don’t know it,” you think.

What do you do in a situation like this?

My answer…

Sell the Results They Want—Not Your Expert Solution!

You need to sell something different because you’re selling the wrong thing.

Let me explain.

You may have heard me say over and over again that to get clients, it’s absolutely crucial for you to get clear on the problem your clients are facing and the language they’re using to describe that problem.

This is where you have a disconnect.

You know what they need. Based on your expert knowledge, it’s very clear that they need “gut health.”

The problem is, your target client is not using those words. She doesn’t know she needs better gut health.

So you have to put your expertise aside for a minute.

And this can be really hard at first because you’ve studied and trained and gotten certified and credentialed in your field—but it’s super important for you to put all that to the side for now.

Get out of your head and get inside your perfect client’s head.

Put yourself in the shoes of this professional woman who’s juggling a million responsibilities. She’s over-extended. She has a high-pressure job or business. She works long hours and runs countless errands.

Now, enter the conversation that’s happening in her mind:

What is she saying to herself about what she needs?
What is she thinking?
What is she worried about?
What does she think will solve her problem?

Maybe she tells you, “I’m overwhelmed, I’m exhausted, and what I really need is someone to run my little errands so I can free up more time for work and for myself.”

Now, that’s totally outside of the wheelhouse of your philosophy. And I’m not telling you to change your offer. You’re not going to try to try to sell her something you don’t believe in or don’t have expertise in.

Connect the Dots Between What They Want and What You Offer

Instead, your job is to enter the conversation she’s having that’s related to your offer, using her own words.

When you do this, you realize she’s not staying awake at night thinking, “I need to improve my gut health.”

What she’s really worried about is her declining energy. She’s lost a lot of the get-up-and-go she used to have. Lately, by mid-afternoon, all she wants to do is take a nap. And this is making her not fun to be around with at home.

And you’ll know that she’s really bothered by the brain fog she’s been experiencing recently—just when she needs to be her sharpest, most alert self at work.

And that’s causing her a lot of anxiety because at work she’s competing with all these millennials who are at the peak of their productivity and creativity.

In short, she’s worried that she’s losing her edge and that’s causing her personal and professional lives to suffer.

Those are great clues to how you’ll present your offer to her!

Because you know that gut health will absolutely help her with the exhaustion and the brain fog. It will help get back her energy and productivity. It will give her mental clarity. It will make her more effective at work and even give her an advantage over people who are 20 years younger than her. And it can only improve her home life.

So THAT’s what you lead with: her transformation from a tired, over-the-hill mid-lifer to a vibrant, unstoppable dynamo!

In short, lead with what your client wants—not what your solution is.

It’s All About How You Position Your Offer

And then, when you have her attention, the conversation will naturally lead to her asking you, “How will you help me achieve that?”

That’s when you can talk about your expertise—your unique solution—and show her how it all works to get her what she wants.

By then, she’s all ears. She’s dying to know what you have to offer. And when you prove to her that you deliver results, she’ll be chomping at the bit to hire you!

In short, you’re not selling “gut health.” You’re selling longevity. Vitality. Youthful energy. Whatever it is that’s important to her that you can deliver with your solution.

When you think your prospects don’t know they need you, that’s because you’re trying to sell them what you as an expert know.

Instead, you need to leave your head, go into their head, and enter that conversation they’re having, and sell to that conversation.

Your solution or process doesn’t matter. Your expert-speak is irrelevant. That is, until you can show your potential client that you can give her the end result she wants.

The post Help, My Ideal Clients Don’t Know They Need Me! appeared first on Jenny Shih.

I get that a lot. It’s a fair question!

And one I’m eager to answer because I love, love, LOVE the one-on-one services business model!

It’s the best way for anyone with some expertise to launch an online business.

It’s the business I created when I quit my corporate job.
And it’s how I made six figures for the first time in my biz.

I love that:

You don’t need a ton of money to get started….
You get paid right away …
You don’t need an audience, email list, or social media following …
You don’t need tons of experience to do your work …
You have minimal overhead costs, so you get to keep more of what you make!

Really, what’s not to love?

Offering one-on-one services is The Smartest and Fastest Way to get started online.

But you might be hearing something different … and that worries me.

Many folks out there are teaching that one-to-many business models—like online courses, group programs, membership sites, and digital products—are the best way to make money online.

They say one-to-many offers help you “leverage your time” and “create passive income.”

“Make money while you sleep”
“Do the work once and get paid forever”
“Stop trading hours for dollars”

I get the allure.

But although there’s some truth to that, they’re not telling you the WHOLE story.

I want to save you from making the same mistakes that brand-new online business owners make.

That’s why I’m about to shine the spotlight on the real numbers behind one-to-many business models. Stuff nobody else wants to be transparent about!

Because contrary to what others say, making one-to-many offers takes a lot of time and work.

Let me show you what I mean.

One-to-Many Businesses Are Sexy—If You’re Willing to Wait to Get Paid!

It takes much longer to get paid with one-to-many offers, because it takes a ton of work and time to get things going.

To successfully sell and profit from online courses, group programs, and digital products, you need nine things:

1. Product

You need a course or product. And not just any course or product. You have to know that it works! It must be effective at delivering the result or transformation you promise your customers.

2. Proof

Next, you need to have happy clients who will give you testimonials, case studies, and social proof that your product indeed works.

3. Solid Marketing Chops

You need to have solid marketing chops to market and sell this online course or product. This means knowing where to find leads, qualify who make the prospects for your product, and get your offer in front of them. That requires being a great storyteller, creating remarkable customer experiences, testing strategies and analyzing data to make decisions, etc., etc.

4. In-depth Knowledge of Your Customers

You need to also have in-depth knowledge of your customers. You have to know their language as well as their biggest fears and deepest desires. And you have to know the best ways to connect with them online and offline.

5. High-converting Sales Page

You can’t sell anything online without a sales page, so you need sales copy that is going to sell your course. It must use your customers’ language and leverage the testimonials, case studies, and other proof you have that your course or product works.

6. Email Sequence That Sells

Most people won’t buy from you the first time they see your sales page, so it’s a good idea to get them into your email list. Then you engage them, nurture the relationship, and warm them up to your sales message. This is where the email sequence comes in. You want to make sure this email sequence converts your customers into buying on your high converting sales page.

7. High-Value Webinar

On top of all that, you also need a high-value webinar or a free training. This should presell the course or program so that it converts people into customers. The webinar or training gets them to the email sequence, which gets them to the sales page, and so on.

8. Solid Pitch

At the end of that webinar, you must present a solid pitch or the part of your webinar where you present your product and ask for the sale. And you must execute this with clarity and confidence. That means you must be able to name your price unapologetically. Because if you’re not confident about the value of your product, then your prospects won’t be, either.

9. Combined Execution

And finally, you need to be able to pull it all off in one fell swoop! You need all this ready to go and working—before you can even make a sale.

As you can see, with one-to-many business models, it takes a lot of time and effort before you make a single penny.

And that’s not all! There’s also the matter of …

One-to-Many Business Models Don’t Make Math Sense

It’s easy to get lured by seven-figure launches that course creators brag about. But what’s really important isn’t how much money you make, but how much money you get to keep.

Let’s look at a specific example:

Say you have a course for $1,000 and you want to make $100,000 per year. This means you need to have 100 people buy your course.

In general, your email list converts at 1% to 3%. Since conversion rates have been going down, let’s use the 1% conversion rate in this example. That means one person out of every 100 subscribers will buy your course.

To make $100,000 in one year (before taxes and expenses), you need 100 buyers. And to get 100 buyers, you need to have an active, engaged list of 10,000 people.

Those people need to be active subscribers. This list can’t be some random email list you buy. And you can’t create them overnight.

Your subscribers need to be nurtured. They need to have been loved on for a while. They need to know you. They need to like you. And they need to trust you in order to be ready to buy from you.

How do you get 10,000 people in your list?

If you’re starting at zero, it takes time. But you can get many subscribers quickly through Facebook ads.

As I’m writing this, the cost of Facebook ads is $8-10 per new email subscriber. Because you’re new at this, let’s just say your cost is $10.

So, to get 10,000 subscribers, you’ll spend $100,000.

Let’s look at the numbers now:

You’re going to spend $100,000 to build your email list, to then sell $100,000 in your courses. At the end, your net is zero. Awesome, right?

This is why it’s not advisable to start with online courses and other one-to-many business models.

I’m not saying they aren’t a great way to go. I’m not saying never make one-to-many offers. In fact, they are a great way to go as you build your business and expertise.

But when you one-to-many is your first step, it’s going to cost you a whole lot of money and it’s going to take you a whole lot of time.

The Smarter Way: One-on-One Services

And that, folks, is why I teach aspiring entrepreneurs how to create and grow one-on-one, service-based businesses in my signature program, Make It Work Online.

It’s the business model that allows you to make money from the very beginning—without needing to gamble on Facebook ads or spend a whole lot of money building an email list.

Offering one-on-one services, just serving clients to do amazing work, is how I got started making multiple six figures.

At the time I thought, holy cow, what are all these people doing talking about courses as a way to get started?

Why are they thinking it’s trading dollars for hours?

Contrary to what others preach, offering one-on-one services does allow you to have a great life outside of work. You don’t have to work all the dang time!

(I couldn’t work long hours even if I wanted to: I was sick with chronic Lyme Disease in the early days of my business, so I could only work a few hours a week.)

When you do it right, a one-on-one service-based business is profitable, easy, fun, and life-changing. And you can do your work around the rest of your life.

I’m guessing you’re not here just to make gobs and gobs of money. You want to make a good living and you want to enjoy the rest of your life. You have all these other things you like to do besides just work.

Am I right?

The one-on-one service-based business model—done right—can absolutely make that happen. I’ve done it, and I’ve taught several hundred business owners how to do it.

And as a side benefit, working one-on-one with clients is the best way to set yourself up for success when you do create and sell one-to-many offers—whether they be online courses, group programs, memberships, or digital products. But there’s a right time for all that!

When you’re just starting out, and even if you’ve had a business for some time, It’s absolutely possible for you to make a full-time income working 30 hours a week or less, offering one-on-one services.

So if you’ve been buying into the common myth that you can’t make six figures from one-on-one services … or if you’re thinking of creating an online course because people say it’s the best way to leverage your expertise and earn “passive income,” think again.

The post Why I Only Teach One-on-One Service-Based Business (When I Sell Online Courses) appeared first on Jenny Shih.

Many of us say we’re overworked and need time to rest and recharge. But when we do get downtime, we’re too guilt-ridden to make the most of it.

Can you relate?

Do you feel massive guilt when you’re not working all the time?

If you answered yes, then you know what it’s like for a lot of business owners.

You’re exhausted. You’re totally burned out. You want to honor your body’s need to rest.

But when you stop to put your feet up, a voice in your head goes, “You should be working. You don’t have time for this. Don’t be a slacker.”

You feel pulled in two opposite directions.

On one hand, you know your mind and body need rest to perform at their best.

But on the other hand, you also know you still have a ton of stuff to do because your business isn’t where you want it to be yet.

And because you ARE a hard worker, you don’t give up. You keep trying to figure it out.

Maybe you download another relaxation app. Maybe you learn a new meditation technique.

Or maybe—bless your heart—you clear your calendar to give yourself even more time off. (Because maybe you need more time to warm up and get into true relaxation mode.)

But without addressing the underlying problem, none of these things will get you out of this conundrum.

So what will?

Let’s Get to the Heart of Why You’re Not Allowing Yourself to Rest

What’s the solution?

How do you get your mind to cooperate so you can take a well-deserved break?

Try this….

First, ask yourself one deep, introspective question—and promise to get honest with yourself!

This can shift the whole pattern so that you can work when you’re working and rest when you’re resting.

The question you want to ask yourself is:

What is the payoff I’m getting for continuing to think that I should always be working?

Another way to put this question is:

What am I wanting this thought to do for me?

In other words, what benefits are you getting from continuing to think this thought?

When you uncover the underlying payoff or reward you’re getting from the thought (that you should always be working), ask yourself if you need to keep believing that thought:

Do I need this thought to help me achieve my goals?
Does this make sense? Is it accurate? Is it true?

Usually, when you uncover what you’re wanting the thought to do, you realize instantly that it’s untrue. It doesn’t make sense. It could even be utterly ridiculous.

It’s definitely not serving you and therefore, you can let go of it.

Here’s How It Works

Let’s take the case of Jane.

Jane is resting because she’s tired. But she’s thinking, “I should be working instead of sitting around doing nothing.”

And so, Jane asks herself, “What is the payoff for believing this thought? What am I wanting this thought to do for me?”

Here’s her answer:

“I keep thinking that I should be working because I need to continuously apply pressure to myself. Because I’m afraid that if I don’t continuously apply pressure to myself then I will let up and slack off. And then my business will fail.”

Now that these beliefs are out in the open, Jane comes to recognize that she doesn’t need to keep thinking them to get her to keep doing the work.

“Even without putting this pressure on myself, I’m going to do the work anyway because I’m a self-motivated, hard-working person,” Jane realizes.

And now let’s take a look at Anna….

Anna’s brain is tired, so she takes a break by firing up Netflix. But as soon as she does that, she feels a lot of guilt and ends up not enjoying the movie.

She’s thinking, “I’m trying to build a business and here I am bumming around! I should switch off the TV and get back to work!”

When Anna asks herself, “What is this thought doing for me?” she comes up with this answer:

“The thought of me working all the time reassures me that I’m not lazy. Lazy people don’t get anywhere and they don’t deserve to succeed. If I work all the time, then I know I’m hard-working. That means I deserve to succeed.”

When Anna examines these underlying thoughts, she realizes that they’re plain silly.

You see, Anna has a full-time job and she’s been working on her business on the side. She’s been spending 10 hours a week to build up her biz. She often wakes up an hour early in the morning and sacrifices her weekends to get everything done.

She’s far from lazy!

Anna sees that she doesn’t need to continuously apply pressure on herself in order to get work done. She’s a diligent, smart, hardworking, conscientious, driven, and motivated woman.

Now, Anna can give herself permission to drop the thoughts that do nothing but place mental pressure on herself.

Your Turn to Give Yourself Permission to Rest—For Real!

Now you know how to uncover and drop the underlying thoughts that give you mental pressure.

Now you see that these thoughts aren’t true or accurate. Thinking those thoughts has just become an old habit. You hold on to them so you can feel that you’re doing everything you can to succeed.

The problem is, if you keep thinking these thoughts, you’d just be wasting half of your brainpower—and time—playing them over and over in your mind.

What if, instead of squandering your brainpower thinking those thoughts, you actually used it to get work done?

How much more work would you get done then?

But because you keep thinking things like “I don’t have time for this,” or “I shouldn’t loaf around,” or “I should be working more,” you create a self-fulfilling prophetic loop that’s keeping you stuck in your scenario.

So, the next time you’re laying on your couch for a break and your brain keeps spinning and ruminating, stop and ask yourself these questions.

What payoff am I getting for continuing to think that I have to always be working?
Do I still need this thought to have that benefit?

Expose the underlying thoughts that are going through your mind and are holding you back in your business. Challenge them. Question them.

And then give yourself permission to give them up.

The post How to Take a Break from Work—Guilt-Free! appeared first on Jenny Shih.

Maybe it’s to have a baby (like I did). Maybe it’s to travel. Maybe it’s to take care of a sick loved one or to recover from illness yourself.

Whatever the reason, you need to still have income, even if you’re away from your business.

The question is, how do you do that?

Short answer: With a lot of planning.
(So you don’t end up losing $100K, like I did. More on that later.)

The long answer depends on where you are in your business. Are you a one-person biz doing everything yourself? Or do you have a more mature business with a team of people supporting you?

Here’s an example: I knew I wanted to take at least four months off if and when I had a baby. My strategy for doing that looked very different in 2012 than the one I executed when I had a five-month maternity leave in 2020.

You see, I’ve been thinking about how I’d be able to take maternity leave for a long time. Something you may not know about me is that my husband and I tried for a looong time to have a baby. That’s why I started thinking about my leave way back when JennyShih.com was only me and a part-time assistant.

Back then, I was doing almost everything, from writing blog posts to posting on social media to coaching clients.

Fast forward to 2020 and my business has changed a lot. I have a coaching team to serve our clients and a backend team who keeps everything humming along without me.

Either way, I could give myself a maternity leave; they just look very different from each other, as you’ll see when we talk about logistics later.

A lot of folks say to me, “I’d love to take a maternity leave, but my business is just me, so I can’t.”

This is why I’m going to share with you my entire thought process for formulating my leave plan—from way back when my business was just mostly me, all the way through 2020 when I had a full team in play—so you can come up with your own extended leave plan, whether or not you have a team.

You’ll also see how the possibility of extended time off opens up for you in a big way. I think you’ll be really excited about it—even if you hadn’t been planning to take extended time off!

Play the Math Game

One thing you’ll hear me talk a lot about is “the math game.” It’s just my lighthearted way of saying that you need to look at your finances—both business and personal.

When I was doing nearly everything in my business, including generating the revenue and serving clients, taking time off meant my business income would drop to zero. Sure, I had some digital products that sold here and there, but it wasn’t enough to live on.

This meant I needed to do the math on what it would take to stop working for four months. And honestly, it’s easy math!

First, get clear on how much money you need to bring home to keep your life moving forward. Maybe you’re willing to make some concessions or tighten your budget to take time off. Or maybe you want to keep your salary the same. That’s up to you!

Second, look at your business expenses every month. Know what it will cost you to keep the business running while you’re not working.

Third, look at the revenue that needs to be generated to cover your salary and business expenses while you’re not working. Make a plan to save this money.

Did that last line surprise you?

Most people think they need to “generate passive income” or “create multiple streams” so they can go on leave. Sure, you could do that … but that can feel like starting a second business!

I found it easier to set aside a small amount of money every month to build this savings buffer.

Now you might be thinking, “I want to take a few months off every year or two. This seems impossible!”

To which I’d say, “Just build it into your business plan.” It can be that simple. Make a plan to generate a certain amount of money more than you currently need, and save it. Make your current “bottom line” higher to accommodate this desire.

But what if you have a team?

One of the biggest misconceptions people have about having a team that can run the business while you’re away is that “it’s easier for you to take time off.”

Yes. And no.

Yes, while I was on maternity leave, my business ran without me. Our coaching team served clients exceptionally well in our Make It Work Online (MIWO) program. Our high-value emails continued to go out to our email list, and social media posts were regularly published, along with everything else that keeps the ship running at JennyShih.com.

BUT … it cost me around $100,000 in lost revenue (considerably more than what I paid myself for those five months off)!

Because my business wasn’t set up to run completely without me, there was a cost to me taking extended time off. My absence resulted in a significant loss of revenue, and I confess, I didn’t account for this properly.

Fortunately, I’m a huge saver (in life and in business), so there was some buffer that allowed everything to keep running. (This is a great example of why it’s important to keep both business and personal savings … but that’s a topic for another time.)

Now that you know how to plan the financials for your time off—and how straightforward it is—the next step is to plan for the logistics. You’re going to have to make a lot of decisions around all the moving pieces of running your business.

For that, we’ve come up with an easy way for you to remember your options….

The 4 D’s of Managing Your Business While You’re Away

1. Do

What are you going to keep doing while you’re away from your business?

Will you be completely, 100% hands-off? Or will you be checking in for one hour per week? And if so, what do you want to be doing during that time?

In my case, during my maternity leave, I didn’t want to work at all. But, as I mentioned before, my business isn’t set up to run completely without me. This means I knew I’d have to do a few things here and there.

Here’s what that looked like:

• A month after the baby was born, the police killed George Floyd. We needed to make it clear that at our company, Black Lives Matter. I worked with the team to craft an email to our list and corresponding social media posts.
• Around six weeks after the baby was born was our scheduled live event, Make It Work Online LIVE. Due to COVID-19, we had to cancel it. (If it weren’t for the pandemic, I would have been there in person, which I had planned for.) In its place, we held a virtual event that was mostly run by the team. I presented twice during the event, but I was grateful that my team carried so much of the weight.
• I received weekly reports from our project manager, and she’d often ask me a question or two. She and I also agreed ahead of time that if I wasn’t able to answer in time for her to make a necessary decision, that I’d back her choice 100%. This kind of agreement was key to things running without me.

And that’s about it. I did nothing else (I ignored every single email)—knowing the cost—and deliberately chose to prioritize time with my son over everything else. My goal was simply to ensure there was a functioning business to return to.

What happened to all the other tasks? That’s where the other D’s come in.

2. Delegate

Some things need to get done, but not necessarily by me. Those are the tasks to delegate.

As I mentioned earlier, delegating is how I was able to take five months of maternity leave and still run Make It Work Online in 2020.

I’ve had coaches since 2016 and I’ve been completely out of coaching the program since 2018. My coaching team who knows how to deliver coaching to the standard that we uncompromisingly deliver every year.

But to make it even better, I hired one of our coaches to be the head coach and make sure every coach in the program was supported as I’ve always done. This particular coach really gets how I think and has done a lot of work to improve her own coaching skills. In the past, when I couldn’t figure out what I would say about something, I would ask her and she would tell me!

Did hiring for these positions cost me more money? Of course. Did it mean we bring home less profit in the business? Most definitely.

But it also allowed me to deliver the program with the same integrity we’re known for—something I’m not willing to compromise.

3. Delay

Other things can get done, just not right now. Those are the things you can delay.

You may have good ideas or things you want to try. If you’re taking time off, then you just have to put them on a waiting list or a “someday” list.

Here’s an example. What if I wanted to go on a four-month maternity leave back in 2016? Remember, at the time, I didn’t have a coaching team to delegate to. I was doing all the coaching.

Well, I would NOT have opened Make It Work Online that year. I would’ve put it off until after my maternity leave. Essentially, the business would’ve had to stop (other than the blog and social media, which I could’ve delegated).

I would’ve saved up enough to cover my household bills and business expenses while no income was coming in (doing the math, as I mentioned earlier). And I would’ve saved enough to pay a part-time assistant just to keep the business running in the background. She could recycle blog posts, answer emails—just do the minimum so that when I came back, I could pick things up.

Would I have lost some of my momentum? Would we have lost subscribers? Absolutely. But that was a compromise I was ready to make to safeguard my top priorities.

Finally, there are some things that you’re just going to be okay with not doing at all. Which brings us to the fourth D…

4. Drop

Some things you’re simply going to have to drop. You can’t do them within your time constraints, and they’re not worthwhile to delegate.

They’re either not important enough to delay until you get back. It doesn’t mean you’ll never get around to these things. You may consider doing them in the future, just not immediately after your time off ends.

You’ll also have to drop things that are time-sensitive and will take place while you’re on extended leave.

For me, this would have been most relevant if I had taken a maternity leave when I just had a part-time assistant. I would have not written new blog posts, passed on affiliate promotions, and not responded to social media. When things are of a time-based nature and you can’t delay, dropping them is the clear option.

Be clear on your top priorities and realistic about your time and energy constraints. That will help you decide which items to drop.

Want Extended Time Off? Go for It!

I hope this post has helped you see that, if you want or need to step away from your business for an extended amount of time, you absolutely can do it.

If taking time off means a reduced or no income, save ahead to make sure you can cover personal bills and business expenses. And, set up the logistics for how your business will keep running without you.

Yes, it takes planning. Yes, it requires taking a good look at your finances. And yes, it means making sacrifices and compromises and concessions. And that’s okay, because you’re doing it in the service of what’s most important to you.

Want some suggestions for how to make a financial plan to weather unexpected changes in income? Check this out: Future-Proof Your Business: Strategic Financial Planning to Manage Income Fluctuations and Achieve Long-Term Stability.

The post How to Take Extended Time Off—With or Without a Team appeared first on Jenny Shih.

Maybe you’ve been putting it off, because the idea of having to recruit, onboard, and train a new person can feel overwhelming. Or maybe you’ve gone as far as to actually hire someone … but they ended up being the wrong person.

So you’ve been putting it off even though you know it’s time.

The good news is, delegating doesn’t have to be this overwhelming, scary, and make-or-break thing. It’s something you can start small with and practice until you get better and better at it.

If you’ve been considering delegating for even a little while, it’s time to start now. Because doing everything yourself is one of the most common obstacles to success.

This means, even if you think you might not be ready to delegate, you most definitely should start thinking about it today.

I’ve had a lot of experience with delegating. I honed my delegation skills both from my corporate job managing dozens—sometimes hundreds—of people, and from running a business since 2009.

Given all that experience, I’m sharing my top advice on when to delegate, what tasks to delegate, and how to delegate effectively….

Delegate Before You Need To

If you arrived here because you’ve been looking for tips on how to delegate better, then you’re probably already overwhelmed and maxed out.

Nevertheless, the first thing I’m going to suggest is to hire before you need to.

The ideal best-case scenario is for you to hire somebody right before you feel the need for them.

That’s because you want to get them on board with how you work and how you delegate—while you have the time to train them.

What often happens is, people wait until they’re totally overloaded and overwhelmed … and then they expect their new assistant to instantly be able to read their mind and know how to run their whole business.

But no matter how good they are, your new assistant isn’t going to know how to do that right away.

And it does take time to bring somebody on board and to train them on your systems.

So don’t wait until you’re full to start getting help. By then, you’ll be too busy to delegate effectively.

This is exactly why you want to hire before you need to.

Now, when I give this advice, the most common reaction I get is …

“But I Can’t Afford to Delegate!”

I know it can be really scary to hire help before your schedule is maxed out because you think, “I don’t have money to hire people when I’m not full.”

Here’s the thing. You can hire people for just a couple of hours a week at the start.

It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. But you can begin to get those people integrated into your business and workflow.

For example, I hired my first virtual assistant about six months into JennyShih.com, and she just did a couple of hours a week of work for me.

But it started getting me in the groove of delegating and her in the groove of receiving and understanding how the business works so we can create a solid working relationship.

We didn’t go from 0 to 100 hours. We went from 0 to 2 hours a week … and then to 3 … and then to 4 … and then 5 … and so on, a little bit by little bit.

Slowly and surely, I would give her more and more things to work on.

You can start delegating gradually, too.

Which brings us to the next question!

What Tasks to Delegate

Okay, you’ve decided that you’re going to bring in an assistant for just a couple of hours a week or so.

The next question is, how do you decide what to delegate? Especially when you’re first starting out? Or even if you’ve already hit this breaking point of desperately needing somebody in your business?

Here’s what I recommend:

Step 1. List the tasks you perform.

Keep a piece of paper by your desk or computer, and write down everything you do during the day.
For example, your list could look like this:

• answered emails
• responded to comments on Facebook
• posted this on social media
• scheduled my newsletter
• wrote my blog post

… whatever it happens to be, write them all down.

Step 2. Identify the tasks you don’t have to do.

At the end of the week, look at the list and ask yourself, “Which of these things do I not have to do personally?”

You may be a life coach, and it would be kind of hard to delegate the actual coaching of your clients, since that’s actually on you.

But you could delegate, say, posting your blog post to WordPress and then scheduling it in your newsletter service.

Now, you may be thinking, “Oh, but that only takes me 10 minutes to do.”

That’s true.

But remember, 10 minutes here and there quickly add up to a couple of hours per week—hours you could be spending with paying clients instead!

So, you want to start delegating little easy things.

You may need to break down some of the tasks into sub-tasks. This is so you can look at the nitty-gritty details of all the things you do during the week and see which ones you don’t have to do yourself.

Here are some ideas for what to delegate:

• Manage client email communications
• Logistics
• Scheduling your blog and newsletter
• Scheduling your social media posts
• Updating your WordPress plugins and theme
• Responding to transactional emails
• Finding relevant statistics for blog posts
• Discovering content to share in your social media
• Creating images for your blog and social posts
• Editing and uploading your videos

As you can see, there are a lot of things you don’t have to do yourself.

So look at the list of things you do that you yourself don’t have to do. Those are the tasks you want to delegate first.

And gradually, you’re going to find more and more and more things to delegate.

I tell you, it’s so sweet when you have an awesome team that helps make everything happen in your business. My favorite part of running a business is operating with such a high-functioning team.

A Message to Control Freaks

This is for those of you who are a little bit of control freaks:

Give yourself some wiggle room, because you can hire somebody to do stuff a lot more than you think you can.

I promise.

And practicing little by little is going to help get you on board with delegating and the person you hire on board with receiving.

Most entrepreneurs I know stink at delegating and it’s simply because you’ve never done it before. It doesn’t mean you can’t get better at it.

So this isn’t a criticism.

It’s simply a fact that, if you haven’t done it before, you’re probably going to be terrible—at first.

Just like you’re a terrible copywriter … until you learn how to write copy.

You weren’t that great of a coach … until you practiced learning how to be a coach.

In the same way, you’re not a good delegator until you practice delegating.

And it’s always easier to practice with little things before you go into big things. Little bit by little bit, you will get better at delegating.

How to Delegate—Effectively

Hopefully, you’re not someone who’s totally maxed out and needs to start hiring help to get out from under the water.

Because here’s the challenge with delegating.

You’re not going to find somebody who can read your mind!

You’re not going to find somebody who’s going to be able to hop on board and immediately know how to serve you and your business.

You’re going to have to take time to train them.

And so, here’s what I suggest: Build that training into your day.

This is what I mean….

Make Training Videos When You’re Doing a Task

When I had my first assistant, one of the first things I trained her on was how to post my blog to WordPress. I would write it and she would upload it, format it, make sure everything was working correctly, and schedule it for publication.

So when I did the task, I switched on the screen recording software on my computer, and I talked through the task.

I pretty much just said, “Okay. I’m going to show you in this video how to upload my blog to WordPress. Here’s where you go to log in. Here is where to find the password. Once you’re logged in, this is what you click and then you click here and then you do this. And here are the things you have to watch out for. And then you do this. And here’s how you test it.”

And she had the whole training video right there. It only took me a couple of minutes more than if I were just to do it myself. I go into more detail about how to train a new assistant here.

Have Your Assistant Do the Task

Then I sent her the video and I said, “Watch this video. Check it out. See how it goes. And then you do the next one.”

And so she did the next one, but I had to go in and check her work.

For the first few times she did it, I would go in and check her work. I would say, “Oh, I forgot to tell you that when we do this thing, you’ve got to do it this way.”

If necessary, I would make addendum videos.

After a couple of weeks, she was really on board with exactly how to do it.

Then we moved on to the next task. And again, I did the same thing. I made a training video when I did the task. I gave the video to her and had her do it a couple of weeks in a row. I then gave her feedback on it.

After a while, she figured out exactly what needed to get done. And she learned the little details that were important to me, like a special line I liked to use, and the fact that if there was an extra space there, I didn’t want it. She learned these details.

The key thing is, when you make these videos, you have to make the video very thoroughly. Be as detailed as possible. Anticipate any questions, points of confusion, or any other hiccups that others may have.

And then let your assistant go and perform the task.

Give Feedback

Now, be patient, because they’re not going to get it right on the first try most times. Because you’re probably missing something you didn’t think of because you just do it naturally. And that’s okay. This is part of the training process.

You’re going to have to give them feedback. Don’t say, “You messed up!” Say something more like, “Oh hey, I forgot to tell you, I don’t like an extra space here so here’s how you want to fix it. Awesome.”

Eventually, they will figure out all of it. Eventually, you’ll run through all the scenarios and they will totally be on top of it.

So yes, it’s going to take time to bring in somebody to delegate to, especially if you’re already overloaded.

But if you look at making your training videos for them in the moment that you’re doing a task yourself, it definitely makes it faster.

Go Forth and Delegate

As you can see by now, you can get started delegating, even before you think you need to, and before you think you can afford it.

And training someone else to do the tasks you’ve been performing doesn’t have to be this major, time-consuming project.

Start slowly, build the training into your workday, give feedback, and be patient with both your new assistant and yourself.

And soon, you’ll become a pro at delegating.

What tasks are you excited to get off your plate and delegate?

The post How to Delegate Effectively (Even If You’ve Never Done It Before) appeared first on Jenny Shih.

You hear that you need a sales funnel to book yourself solid; or social media is a must-have for connecting with your audience; or scaling your offers is the way to grow your income.

(By the way, NONE of those are true. Keep reading and I’ll explain.)

So you latch onto a specific solution to solve the problem you’re facing.

And this might sound smart. You have a problem, and you’re looking for a solution.

But there’s a big problem with jumping to solutions too fast:

More than likely, you’re not choosing the optimal solution to your problem. You’re simply choosing the one you’ve heard about most recently, the one that everyone else seems to be doing. The one that’s buzzing with your online business friends.

But here’s the thing.

There are a lot of ways to achieve a particular goal. And if you begin by latching on to a solution, then the solution you have in mind may or may not be the right one to help you reach your goal.

You end up wasting a ton of time and money and energy going down a path that ends up being completely wrong for you. Do this often enough and you begin feeling like a failure. You might question your abilities. You might even question your dream of ever having a successful business.

And so, before you dive into finding answers to the problems that keep you up at night, you need to ask yourself a critical question first.

The Critical First Question when Problem Solving

That question is:

WHY?

Why do you want to hire help? What’s the ultimate goal in doing so?

Why do you want to scale? What’s the ultimate goal in doing so?

Why do you want to [FILL IN THE BLANK]? What’s the ultimate goal?

The smart people I work with have learned a lot about business from a lot of different folks. So they’re savvy to the ideas that might support them and their businesses—things like funnels, hiring help, scaling, and creating offers, just to name a few.

But the problem is, they’re often jumping to implementing a solution without making sure it’s the right one for their ultimate goal.

“Well, I want to hire help because it will mean I can work less. That’s obvious, Jenny,” you might be thinking.

But someone else might want to hire help because they don’t know how to do something and they don’t want to learn how to do it themselves.

And someone else might want help because they want to do more of the work they love and less of the stuff they don’t enjoy doing so much.

There are a lot of reasons for hiring, scaling, and changing your offers, etc.

So first, get clear on why you think you need that.

Here’s an example.

I was talking with a smart woman who runs a six-figure coaching business. “I need help figuring out how to streamline my content creation for my monthly coaching membership,” she said.

On the surface that seems like a smart thing to get help on.

But after a few questions of digging, it turns out her real goal is to work 20 hours a week—down from working more than 40 including nights and weekends!

She jumped to the solution to what she thought was her problem … when she was ignoring the real problem she was facing.

Before you try to implement any new tactic or how-to in your business, make sure it actually helps you reach the ultimate goal you’re trying to achieve!

How to Find Your Ultimate Goal

The very first thing you have to decide is what you really want! There’s no right or wrong but you do have to be clear.

And it’s not always as straightforward as it seems.

After 10 years of coaching entrepreneurs, I’ve found that most folks know what their ultimate goals are. They just need help digging to make sure it’s what they truly want—not what others say they should want.

The way to do that is simply to keep asking yourself, “Why? What’s the ultimate goal in doing so?”

Here’s an example of a recent exchange I had with a client.

Client: “I want to scale my business.”

Jenny: “Why do you want to scale? What’s the ultimate goal of scaling?”

Client: “Crap, because that’s what everyone says I’m supposed to do! … Okay, I’ve thought about it and I want to scale my business because I want to serve more clients.”

Jenny: “Why do you want more clients? What’s the ultimate goal of having more clients?”

Client: “Because I want to help more people and make more money without having to work more hours.”

Jenny: “Why do you want to help more, make more money, and not work more hours?”

Client: “Because I want to make a good living and still have time for my family and also more ‘me’ time. I need to take care of my own health and have time to be creative.”

Bingo!

This client went from thinking, “I need to scale to make a good living,” to “I need to make a good living that still makes me have time for my family and myself.” Now, she can go in search of the best solution to help her get that. It could be scaling, or it could be something else. Something better.

You can coach yourself through this process. Just keep asking yourself why: “Why do I want that? And why do I want that?”

Continue to ask why until your ultimate goals become crystal clear.

So You Know Your Ultimate Goal … Now What?

Your next step is to decide on your top priority. Then your second. Then your third.

Don’t have more than three priorities; two are better; one is best.

Everything else comes later.

In the case of the client example above, her priorities might be to meet her financial needs and have enough free time to take care of her family and her health (exercise regularly, prepare healthy food, etc.).

These priorities are important, because they set the parameters when you’re choosing the best possible solutions for reaching your goals. Any solution you choose to implement needs to work around your priorities.

With these priorities crystal clear, my client can then say, “Okay, I want to increase my income. But I must stick with the constraints of my priorities. Meaning, I can only reach more people or grow my income in ways that won’t sacrifice time for family and self-care.”

As you can see, now that you’re clear on your goals and priorities, you can begin to explore possible solutions.

Now, you’re more likely to pick solutions that actually will get you closer to your goals and work around your priorities.

As you consider your options, remember what got you in trouble in the first place: jumping to a quick solution that’s top of mind.

Instead, you might need to do some digging, brainstorming, and inventing new ways of doing business. You’ve got to break the mold of typical business execution if you want to break the mold of how you spend your time in business.

This is what it means to have success on your terms.

The word “constraints” might have a negative connotation. But in this case, they’re good, because they help eliminate the strategies, tactics, and scenarios that aren’t aligned with the things that are important to you.

Post a comment below and tell me …

• If I could solve one problem in your business, what would it be?
• What’s your ultimate goal for solving that problem?

If you aren’t sure, tell me what’s on your mind and I’ll coach you through it. We’ll find the root problem and ultimate goals together.

The post How to Solve the Problem that Keeps You Up at Night appeared first on Jenny Shih.

Illustration by Sydney Paget, 1892 (Source)

Holmes was . . . working hard over a chemical investigation. A large curved retort was boiling furiously over the bluish flame of a Bunsen burner, and the distilled drops were condensing into a two-litre measure. . . . He dipped into this bottle or that, drawing out a few drops of each with his glass pipette, and finally brought a test-tube containing a solution over to the table. In his right hand he had a slip of litmus-paper. “You come at a crisis, Watson,” said he. “If this paper remains blue, all is well. If it turns red, it means a man’s life.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Adventure of the Naval Treaty

Why am I quoting from a Sherlock Holmes novel and what does it have to do with you and your business? You’re about to find out.

In the meantime, let me ask you, has this ever happened to you:

You try something new, you’re full of excitement and ready to build your business.

Maybe you get in front of your ideal clients to be of service, or publish a guest post, or attend a networking event, and … nothing happens.

Your list doesn’t grow. You don’t get any clients. Your business doesn’t grow.

Maybe things even go backwards!

“Oh, this isn’t going to work!,” you think.

If you can relate, then you’ve had a normal entrepreneur moment.

At the beginning when you’re building your business, a lot of things don’t go right.
(Come to think of it, things can turn sideways at any point in your business.)

When you try things in your business and don’t see immediate results, it’s frustrating. It’s discouraging.

And it’s the sort of situation that causes a lot of business owners to give up.

But here’s the thing.

Being okay with things not working—and knowing what to do with that experience—is essential if you want to succeed in business.

This is so important that it’s step 4 in our Grow Your Online Biz series. (The first, second, and third are here.)

Just Don’t Even Say the “F” Word

Now, I’m not a big fan of truisms like “Fail your way to success,” or “Embrace failure.”

I don’t like that!

But the truth is, in order for us to get where we want to go, we have to do stuff that might or might not work.

That guest post might not get you new subscribers.

That Facebook live might not have any viewers.

The client might say no.

All this is a normal part of running a business.

That said, I don’t love to “embrace failure.”

I just don’t even put failure in the equation!

Let me explain.

When I try something new in my business. I sit down and think, “Given the knowledge I have right now, what’s the best way I know how to do this thing?”

I might not have all the information in the world. I might not do it better than anybody’s ever done it. But given the information I have, what’s the best way for me to do this?

And then I commit to doing my very best. I know then that, whatever results pan out, I did the best I could do at that moment.

But here’s the thing.

Whether it worked or it didn’t work, I learned something.

I learned that what I tried didn’t work. I learned that I liked it or that I didn’t like it. After doing something, I see all these things I would’ve done differently.

This is the key.

So I don’t call it a “failure.” I don’t even use the word. I don’t have to entertain the thought that I have to “fail my way to success.” Instead, I just did something and I learned from it.

How Sherlock Holmes Can Help You Succeed in Business

I call it experimentation.

You have to be like Sherlock Holmes and approach the new things you try as an experiment.

Will it turn blue or red? The outcome determines what your next steps will be. If you succeed, then you do X. If you don’t get the outcome you want, then you do Y. Or it worked a little bit, so you’ll do Z.

You may not know this, but I don’t have a business or marketing degree. I have an engineering degree. Right out of college, my first job was working as an engineer.

As an engineer, one of the things I did was to run experiments—statistically analyzed, fancy-pants experiments. I would go, “I want to achieve this result, and I don’t know how that result will work, but here are all the knobs and all the perimeters I can turn.”

And so, I would run 25 tests, and then I would look at the results of those tests. Sometimes one of those 25 was right. Sometimes none of them was right.

But I would take those results and say, “Oh, tests 17 through 20 were in the right ballpark.” Then I designed a new experiment based on those parameters. And I did that again and again.

Sometimes it took a hundred different—yup, a hundred— experiments to get where I wanted to go! But eventually, it would pay off.

Those experiments are how my employer, a high tech company, created cutting-edge new technology. Those experiments were how we discovered stuff that had never been done before.

It was absolutely clear to us that the way we were going to get there was by making mistakes. We experimented our way through mistakes. We experimented our way to patents (I have a couple of technology patents based on those experiments).

That experience drilled into me the mindset that it wasn’t a failure when an experiment didn’t work. It wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t anything personal. Experimenting was how we figured out what did work. That’s how we created the next technology.

This is what you’re going to do in your business, too.

It’s not about getting it right the first time. It’s about getting data. It’s about getting information about what works, what doesn’t work, what you like, what you’re good at, what you’re not good at, where you have questions, and so on ….

Sometimes this requires an outside perspective because you’re too immersed in what you’re doing to look at your results objectively and interpret what they mean. And when that happens, it’s easy to let emotions cloud your judgement.

(Objectivity is essential for scientists, too. Otherwise, our biases and preferences can skew our interpretation of the results. This renders our experiments invalid, which means all our efforts would’ve been wasted.)

I loved doing this for my clients (when I still worked with one-on-one clients). They’ll go out and follow through on a client getting activity like guest posting. Then they’ll come to me and say, “Jenny, I just posted my guest post and I got no new subscribers.”

I’d look at their guest post and ask them questions: “Did you check this?” “Did you do this?”

We’d go through the list of criteria of what makes a successful guest post. A lot of times I can help them pinpoint a few things they missed—which is the whole reason why they didn’t get all the subscribers they wanted.

It wasn’t about them being wrong. It was about stepping back and looking at the result they wanted versus the result they got, and troubleshooting how to do it differently next time.

In business, you can cultivate the willingness to experiment.

And so, if you’re like me and you don’t like the word “failure,” then don’t use it!

Don’t say “I have to be willing to fail.”

Instead, say “I have to be willing to experiment.”

Because when you experiment, there is no failure. There’s nothing wrong with any result you get. There’s no good or bad. There are only various degrees of what did and didn’t work. There’s only information for you to use to take your next step forward.

Get Curious

So often we feel like we either have to get it right or we’re a total failure and we’re doomed forever. And that kind of black-and-white thinking is not going to serve you in your business.

Instead, we have to learn to take action, see what happens, and learn from it. Go into it with the attitude of, “Let’s see what happens. Let’s see how this goes.”

I do this all the time in my business. My team and I have what sounds like a fun idea, and we say let’s do it. Let’s see what happens. We try something we’ve never done before.

Sure, we’ve made mistakes. Some technology breaks. Some things worked out amazing. Some things we’d do differently next time. It’s all information. We say, “Okay, good to know!,” and we move on.

We had this idea, we followed through, we made a plan. Then we look at what it did for us or didn’t do for us. We take this information and use it next time to do things differently in our business.

As you see, it’s not about failure. It’s not about getting it right. It’s about being willing to take action and experiment and see what happens.

Get curious in your business.

The scientists’ mindset is going to allow you to take action on anything. Cultivate this way of thinking about your business.

It’s what’s going to give you the perseverance to succeed.

It’s going to give you the tenacity of champions.

It’s a game-changer.

The 4-Part Series: How to build and grow an online, one-on-one, service-based business

We started this 4-part series with a post that shared why I think one-on-one services are the best way to get stated online.

In Part 2, I showed you how to come up with your first offer.

In Part 3, you learned how to go about getting clients.

And here in Part 4, you discovered the key to creating long-term success in your business.

The post Acquire the Tenacity of Champions (4 of 4 in the Grow Your Online Biz Series) appeared first on Jenny Shih.

This is one of the biggest questions people ask me.

Can you relate?

We’re going to tackle how to find clients in this, the third installment in our Grow Your Online Biz series.

Finding clients can feel like a big mystery.

“Where are they all?,” you might be thinking. “I know what I want to do. I’m excited to do it. But where are these people I’m meant to help?”

You know they’re somewhere because you see other service providers making a great living doing their work.

Finding clients can be mysterious. It can be confusing. It can be overwhelming.

A lot of experts out there tell you, “You need to do Facebook ads,” or “You need to have fancy funnels.”

Well, which ones do you do? Do you do all of them? Do you do some? The others? If you do it once and it doesn’t work, it’s enough to make you pull your hair.

“Gaaah!”

That’s how it was for me, too … until I figured out how to find my perfect clients. Let me show you how.

It’s Not About Getting More Traffic

All the advice to do ads, Instagram, sales funnels, and those other tactics have one assumption: That to get more clients you need more traffic.

Now that would be true if you were in the business of selling 99-cent apps, $27-ebooks, or even $99-online courses.

It’s not the case if your business model is one-on-one services that you’re selling for hundreds or thousand of dollars. (You might start out charging less, but you won’t be doing that for long.)

Read that again:
You don’t need more traffic to find clients.

And so, if you’re spending time messing around with trying to figure out your funnels, or Facebook ads, or SEO, stop that completely.

Completely.

Stop doing all those things because they’re NOT going to get you what you ultimately want: clients.

Instead, we’re going to cut through all that stuff.

We’re going to go right to how to find your clients.

And you don’t need paid advertising. You don’t need fancy sales funnels. You don’t need complicated technology to get there.

Here’s What You Really Need

You need to get in touch with your people and get to where they’re hanging out.

Quick story about how I did this all wrong:

When I was a new career coach, I went to a networking event every week. It was a great networking event, but there were two problems: One, I was too shy to talk about what I did.

Second, this networking event was mostly for business owners who loved the work that they did. There I was, a career coach, trying to help people get out of their soul-sucking corporate jobs and do something meaningful … and I was talking to all the wrong people!

This happens to a lot of service providers. They have this excitement for what they do. They want to serve the world with their gifts but they’re talking to the wrong people. They’re going to the wrong places. They’re not interacting where their target clients are.

Now compare this to when I tried to get clients the right way:

I went into a corporation and did a talk for 15 to 20 professionals who were trying to see if they really wanted to stick around in this corporate world. That was a great place for me to try and find clients because that’s exactly where my target clients were hanging out!

The moral of the story?

Go where your people go.

Start thinking about who your perfect clients are and then hanging out with them, going to where they are.

This means not hanging out where you typically hang out because we usually hang out in different places than where our target clients hang out.

If you’re a health coach, you probably hang out with other health coaches. Well, your target clients probably aren’t in a group of your peers.

What we need to do is put you in front of your target client. That’s it.

So the question then is, where is your target client?

The Circle Exercise: How to Find Clients by Going Outside the Circle

Do this simple Circle Exercise to figure out where your target clients are hanging out. Ready?

1. Grab a piece of paper and a pen.

It can be lined paper or blank paper, it doesn’t matter. You do want it to be fairly large, so get a full sheet of copy or printer paper so you have plenty of space to write on.

2. Draw a circle.

Draw a circle on your piece of paper. It doesn’t have to be a perfect circle; just do your best.

Alternatively, you can download the Circle Exercise Handout and print out page 3. It has a blank circle all nice and ready for you to use.

3. Fill the inside of the circle.

Write at least five characteristics of your target client that are absolute musts for them to work with you and for you to work with them.

Ask yourself, “What are the must requirements of my target clients?”

Write at least five items.

For example, my target client absolutely must provide a one-on-one service and they do so virtually. So, if you’re a make-up artist and you only want to do make-up on people, then you’re not my target client. Yes. But are you my exact specific client? No.

But if you’re a makeup artist and you want to offer one-on-one coaching to help other makeup artists set up their businesses, then you become my target client.

My circle might look like this:

4. Write outside the circle.

On the outside of the circle go the “non-musts.” Begin by listing the characteristics that 20-99% of your ideal clients have. Write at least 20 features in this category.

Again, in my example, 99% of the clients I work with are women. Being a woman is not a must, but most of my clients are female, so that trait goes outside my circle.

Then the other “non-must” characteristics of my potential clients (but the majority of my clients do have) is they’re coaches or nutritionists or consultants. They could also be bookkeepers or designers or developers or copywriters.

This means you don’t have to be a coach to be my client. You don’t have to be a copywriter or a nutritionist or a designer or a bookkeeper. That’s why those features go outside the circle.

Keep going until you have at least 20 items outside of your circle. Think of their interests, their life situations, the media they consume, their favorite authors—really other noteworthy attributes that many of your ideal clients share.

When you think you’re done, write some more: This time, list at least five noteworthy traits that a minority (<20%) of your ideal clients have in common.

Going back to my example, this could be their age: a small portion of my clients are upwards of 60 years old. And similarly, a small number of them are less than 25. So, I add those qualities outside my circle.

Feel free to go through each list, both inside and outside the circle. Revisit and refine. The more you work on it, the more ideas will come to you!

When you have at least 25 items listed outside the circle, you’re ready for the next step ….

5. Find out where your target clients hang out.

Something I teach a lot is to be of service in other people’s Facebook groups. But then people say, “I can’t find a group of people who are my perfect target clients.”

Of course you won’t find a Facebook group of your perfect target clients, because your target clients are absolutely unique to you! There’s no group out there of your perfect clients. I want to bust that myth that a group exists out there who are your people exclusively. The only way that would happen is if you created that group yourself. (And you don’t have to start your own group by the way. It’s a lot of work.)

So instead, go in groups where some—not all—of the members are your target clients.

Let’s say that I were to participate in a group of entrepreneurs who are just starting out. The people I serve are maybe just a third of the group because other members offer digital products and others have brick-and-mortar stores. Those are not my ideal clients, but a portion of the group are my people.

In other words, your people are only going to be a subset of the groups you go to. To find your perfect clients, go to places where possibly 20-30% of the people are your people. And when I say “places,” I mean:

• Facebook groups and other social media
• Blogs
• Podcasts
• Online forums like Reddit, Quora, etc.
• Networking events

How do you find these places? By going outside your circle!

Let me explain.

Pick one or two characteristics from outside your circle. That becomes the general population where you look for your people.

For example, let’s say I’m looking for a blog to guest post in. I would ask myself, “Where is a health-related website where some portion of the readers are also online, one-on-one service providers?”

This is how I ended up guest posting on Kris Carr’s blog (when she was still accepting guest posts). If I had pitched a post that just talked about what I did as a business coach, she would’ve said, “This has nothing to do with what my people care about. My people care about their health so don’t give me a blog post on how to get clients. That’s not what we talk about on my website.”

And so, I wrote a guest post about health—with a slant that’s related to business (inside mycircle).

Can you guess what my post was about?

It was about how I took care of myself and my health while running my business. It was about health but in the context of business. I talked about her topic in the context of my topic.

That’s how you go out to where your people are and talk to them about topics they care about in the context you serve people in.

Here’s another example.

A majority of my clients are interested in social media. So, I went to a blog about social media where a subset of readers run online service-based businesses. And my guest post was about how to use social media to market your service-based business. See how I talked about the main topic of the blog … but within the context of my business?

The same approach works for podcasts, too.

I was on a podcast called the Real Talk Radio Podcast with Nicole Antoinette. Her whole audience isn’t made up only of business owners, but they’re women who are passionate about what they do. And so, a subset of her audience is my audience. That’s why we talked about her stuff in the context of my stuff.

See how that works?

There’s a whole bunch of other places where you can go and find your clients. When you use the circle you made, all these possibilities open up for you in terms of the groups and communities you can reach out to.

You can then put yourself in front of your people, talk about what they care about and with a slant to what it is you do.

Go Forth and Put Yourself Out There

The next thing for you to do is to put yourself where your people are. Use the Circle Exercise to figure out exactly where these places, both online and offline, might be.

It’s not about getting people to come to you. To get clients, you’re going to go to your people. You have to go out there and find them. They don’t even know you exist.

You can’t just put up a website and expect your perfect clients to come to you. You can’t just have a Facebook page and expect them to find you. You can’t create a LinkedIn profile and expect your people to approach you.

You’re going to be on Facebook and you’re going to go engage in a group. You’re going to be on LinkedIn and you’re going to engage in conversations. You’re going on Quora and you’re going to have a discussion where your people are.

By now you realize that finding clients isn’t something you’re going to do in 5 minutes. You can sit down on your computer and search for a couple of hours to find good sites to guest post in, and you may only find a few. And that’s exactly the case. You are looking for a needle in a haystack.

It is hard.

Too many people out there are trying to sell you that it’s easy. That you just click a few buttons and you’re going to be rich. I’m not that kind of coach. I’m not that kind of person. If you want easy, go somewhere else. I’m just going to tell you the truth.

It’s going to take some searching. It’s going to take some work. If it were easy, everybody and their sister and their brother and their cat would have a successful online business. It takes a little bit of work.

But this is not hard work.

It’s just work.

It’s fine.

You can totally do this.

Next Up: Creating Long-Term Success

We started this 4-part series with a post that shared why I think one-on-one services are the best way to get stated online.

In Part 2, I showed you how to come up with your first offer.

Here, you learned how to go about getting clients.

And in Part 4, you’ll discover the key to creating long-term success in your business.

The post Do This Super Simple Exercise to Find Your Ideal Clients (3 of 4 in the Grow Your Online Biz Series) appeared first on Jenny Shih.

That’s a big question when you’re figuring out how to start a service business online.

The answer to this question isn’t as simple as it seems.

First, you need to offer a service that clients will pay you good money to do for them. (After all, the goal is to have a full-time income, preferably without working full-time hours or more!)

Then, you have to be able to deliver it effectively, leaving your clients wildly happy so they hire you again and again (and spread the word about you to other possible clients).

And—many people forget this—you have to enjoy delivering the service, so you have a business you’re happy with. (Otherwise, it becomes another job you resent!)

In this post, I’ll share what worked for me when I was getting started with my online biz. It’s also the same method that has helped thousands of clients I’ve worked with for over a decade.

More specifically, I’ll show you how to come up with a no-brainer service offer that will be an easy “yes” for your prospective clients.

This way, you can begin generating an income, even if your online biz is brand-spankin’ new.

Not only that, what I’m going to teach you will set you up for growing your income steadily, up to six figures or beyond—even if you stick with the one-on-one service business model.

(Note: This is the second installment in the Grow Your Online Biz series designed to help you build a thriving, web-based business. Did you miss the first one? You can read it here.)

Step 1. Begin with the end in mind.

It sounds counterintuitive, but your first step is to think of the end in mind. That is, the end that your ideal client has in their mind.

Adopt the mindset that you’re offering a solution, not a service. So, ask yourself some important questions:

• What problem does my ideal client have?
• What specific, tangible result does my ideal client want?
• How am I going to help them solve their problem or get what they want?

Give yourself the time and space to think about the answers to these questions. Write them down; don’t keep your thoughts inside your head.

If the result you first think of is big, then break it down into smaller pieces or steps. Keep scaling down or going backward until you identify bite-sized results that will get your clients closer to the end-result.

For example, let’s say you’re a holistic nutrition coach and the result your clients want is to control their ADHD child’s symptoms without medications. If you keep breaking down this big result, you may come up with bite-sized results like:

• Find out what nutritional deficiencies are making their child’s behavior worse
• Address their child’s picky eating habits and develop healthier ones
• Learn how to prepare nutritious, budget-friendly dishes that even the most difficult eaters love to eat
• Identify and eliminate harmful foods in their home

… you get the idea!

(Now I’m not a nutrition coach, so these examples may be ridiculous. They’re not meant to be accurate but only to illustrate how you could perform this exercise.)

Brainstorm at least 20 ideas. Write down even those ideas that sound far-fetched or unrealistic. You’re only brainstorming, after all.

When you think you’ve exhausted all the possibilities, go back to your ideas. Make a shortlist of offers that:

• You can deliver in a relatively short amount of time (about 4 hours or less). After all, this is just your first bite-size offer. You want to complete it, learn what you can from it, and move on.
• You’d be happy to do. You need to be fully aligned with your offer because when you love what you’re selling, others pick up on your excitement and want to buy it!
• Solve a specific problem your clients want to solve. They must care about the end result. If they don’t, then no matter how great you think it is, they simply will not buy. Keep in mind that the result clients want may not be what you think they need!

Start small because you want prospects to be able to say “yes” quickly—without you having to get on a call with them and expending a ton of effort to get them to hire you.

Remember, you’re crafting a no-brainer of an offer!

Your first offer is similar to a “minimum viable product.” Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, defines minimum viable product as “that product which has just those features (and no more) that allows you to ship a product that resonates with early adopters; some of whom will pay you money or give you feedback.”

In other words, your first service offer should be a service that resonates with your first few clients, that you can get out there quickly, and get money and feedback for.

Step 2. Design the offer.

Now that you know what result you want and can promise, it’s time to put together the solution you will deliver. This refers to the actual mechanism or how you will deliver the result.

The different components that go into your offer depend on what kind of services you do. Do you do work with clients? If you’re a coach, consultant, or trainor then this is you.

Here’s the recommended bite-sized offer format for business owners who primarily do work with clients:

• Prep work (like an assessment)
• A 90-minute session (with homework, if appropriate)
• Support materials (like an action plan, a worksheet, handouts, a guided meditation, recipes, or a session recording)
• A 30-minute follow-up session 5 to 15 days later

OR, do you do work for clients? This is you if you’re a writer, designer, or editor.

Here’s the recommended bite-sized offer format for business owners who primarily do work for clients:

• Prep work (like an assessment)
• A 30-minute session to gather the information you need to do the work
• The work you deliver (such as writing, designing, programming, etc.)
• A 30-minute follow-up session 5 to 15 days later

Notice, I recommend that you have TWO phone/video sessions. Why is that? Because you need both touchpoints to get all of the insights you need from working with clients to grow your offers and your pricing.

Speaking of pricing …

Step 3. Identify a no-brainer price.

Pricing is a common sticking point for online service providers, and it’s easy to see why.

You worry that if you charge too much, then nobody will hire you. Especially if you’re just starting out and you have no track record, no testimonials, and no raving fans yet.

But if you charge too little, then you wonder how you can make a decent living without working yourself to the bone.

Those are all reasonable concerns.

Just remember, this is only your starting point. You want a price point that’s easy for people to say yes to—even if they’ve never met or hired you before. This is not what you’ll be charging for your services for the rest of your career as a business owner.

For your first offer, I usually recommend that you charge $99.

It’s a good, no-brainer price point. Assuming you’ve identified a bite-sized solution that resonates with your potential clients, then you should be able to sell your $99-offer.

Another benefit of this price point is that it eliminates a common mindset block among service providers who are just starting out. That’s the money block of charging for your services. This shows up in thoughts like “Who do you think you are, anyway?” or “Why would anybody want to pay me for this?”

(Sound familiar?)

Now while I always recommend starting with a $99 offer, every once in a while, you can go above $99 for your first offer. That’s if:

• You have experience doing this type of work AND
• You’ve worked with at least 10 clients in the last year AND
• All of those clients worked with you to achieve the same results (and you delivered on those results)
• You’re extremely confident you can deliver on the specific, results-oriented offer

If you meet all of the above criteria, then you can start thinking about pricing your above $99.

This is only the beginning.

Your first offer sets the stage for the long-term growth and sustainability for your business. Because it’s a no-brainer of an offer, you get money coming in immediately.

You don’t have to get on sales calls or consults with each prospect. You don’t have to do a ton of marketing or even to advertise your offer. And, you’re getting paid to gain more experience about your market and about yourself.

You learn more about your clients, so you can create more offers that you can charge more for. Eventually, you’ll know enough to craft premium priced services (aka “signature program,” “high-ticket program”). You’re not guessing at what your clients want and are willing to pay for.

Instead, you’re letting your clients show you how to improve your offers. So, if (and when!) they want more, you know what to offer at a higher price or in a larger package. Once you’ve landed on the right offer with the right clients, you’ll be able to quickly scale your offer and your pricing—with confidence and integrity every step of the way.

You’re also becoming a better marketer. Your first few clients are telling you what language you should use in your copy to make it more compelling, and they’re helping you hone your skills even further.

All this information is priceless!

Pretty soon, your initial successes snowball. You get enough experience and confidence delivering the service. You gather testimonials from happy clients. And you build up your marketing and sales skills.

All right, if you’ve followed the steps this far, then you should have at least one irresistible service to offer potential clients.

Next Up: Getting Clients

We started this 4-part series with a post that shared why I think one-on-one services are the best way to get stated online.

Here we talked about how to come up with your first offer.

In Part 3, you’ll learn how to go about getting clients.

And in Part 4, you’ll discover the key to creating long-term success in your business.

The post 3 Steps to Craft Your Very First IRRESISTIBLE Service Offer (2 of 4 in the Grow Your Online Biz Series) appeared first on Jenny Shih.