Michelle worked with a client for 9 months, did a TON of work, provided a LOT of value, but the client didn't fulfill their end of the bargain by properly tracking leads. Now she's wondering how to salvage a case study without having all the results-based data. In this episode, I talk about how you can create a case study based on the work you did and some of the results you got (i.e. more traffic), but obviously it won't be as strong as a financial outcome-focused case study. I also talk about:...
Oct 23, 2020•17 min
I had someone reach out to me on Clarity.fm today (I had set up an account a long time ago but never used it). We booked a call to talk about how he can sell his India-based business outsourcing services into Canada/US. All of his questions were tactical. Things like, "how do I get more US and Canadian traffic to his site, how many keywords this, how many backlinks that." The main problem, however, wasn't the tactics. It was his positioning. He sold everything to everyone. There's no way someone...
Oct 21, 2020•11 min
I had a great question from Michelle on how to know what content to give away free vs. paid when you sell a premium content subscription. My response includes an example I heard from Josh Spector , who believes paid content should be different than the free content, not just more of the same. His subscription outlines his exact processes for doing what he does, and his free content includes more general advice and curated links. The differences may seem subtle, but the content style is sufficien...
Oct 19, 2020•7 min
A lot of folks joined this group with an interest or desire in staring a membership, mentorship, or other form of subscription program. But the biggest issue (aside from picking just one idea) is knowing where to start. And the ideas of creating content in advance is daunting—especially if you don't even know whether people will buy it. My advice? Create a landing page and outline of what is going to be included in the membership and just launch it. I talk more about how to create this outline i...
Oct 16, 2020•7 min
Choosing a niche is hard. Or, it's scary, I should say. It feels like the more you focus down, the less opportunity you'll have. And even if you think you know where you want to specialize, knowing what steps to take first can be daunting. Michelle reached out with this exact conundrum, so I thought it would be good to jump on a coaching call with her and share the conversation with you all (with her permission). In this call, we talk about ways she can go about identifying her best opportunitie...
Oct 13, 2020•53 min
Here's a question with a lot of moving parts. One of our members asks: Have client who wants advisory, 1 hour a week. I’m skeptical they’ll want to pay my £200/hr rate. Pre A round. What would you do/suggest? Some highlights of my response include: Don't let clients prescribe solutions/scope/how you deliver your work You want to create solutions based on their goals—which are determined by your ability to deliver on it and the value of that outcome Whatever you do, don't sell by the hour Bake in...
Oct 09, 2020•9 min
How do you know what information you can share about past clients and the work you do? Personally, I use a pretty simple philosophy: if it's public, it's fair game. But if you're in doubt—get permission. Hiring an advisor requires utmost trust and confidentiality. You need to know all the private details of your clients' business if you have any hope of helping them. And this is especially true when you specialize (like I do). I've often worked with clients in the same market at the same time (a...
Oct 07, 2020•11 min
Here's a question from Oren: What’s the difference between group coaching and this Patreon model? This particular Patreon model is what I consider a "subscription". It's access to content for a small monthly fee. However, and I don't mention this in the recording until the very end, but the community and resources add-on features make this group more like a membership model. It includes the content ( subscription ) plus the other things that create a multi-faceted membership . For more on this t...
Oct 06, 2020•8 min
Have you ever wanted to create a low-tier consulting service? Something your smaller clients could afford that delivers lots of value, gets results, and is profitable for you? Oren has a great question around just this topic. I've been evaluating doing a low tier, like $750/mo for unlimited slack messages (no phone calls). Like a light weight version pre your advisor tier. Concern is massive energy-drain potentially. Multiple businesses pinging lots of questions over all day long. A fair few bus...
Oct 03, 2020•13 min
Do you take inventory of the client's key performance indicators when you first start working with them? Personally, I didn't do this for a long time. And it became really hard to: a) prove your results down the line b) write a case study In this recording, I talk about some of the KPIs I track early and why they matter later on. If you are clear about your client goals from the beginning, you can break them down into sub-goals that allow you show progress during and after your engagement. For r...
Oct 01, 2020•4 min
Taking notes during your client calls is one of the most valuable things you can do. It outlines what you talk about, what you mutually decide on, and who's responsible for doing what. In other words, it creates a record and accountability, which leads to better results. It also lets you reflect on the work you do. Clients get to see progress and you have a fully documented record of accomplishments that will make it easy to write case studies on in the future. Listen in for the specifics in how...
Oct 01, 2020•5 min
Do you have a hard time getting paid in advance? If not, it could be due to one of a few reasons: 1. You don't have enough leverage (i.e. unique specialization) 2. You don't set expectations in advance 3. You don't follow up for missed payments in a way that fixes the systemic issue Or any number of other reasons, but these are the big ones. Here's how to get paid in advance for all of your engagements. Yours, —k...
Sep 29, 2020•9 min
Happy Monday! I had a question over the weekend from Oren, a new member of the Mentorship who positions himself as a "chief growth officer" and runs a hybrid agency/consulting model. Oren asks: Have you seen benefit from making your pricing transparent on your websites (everspaces & kevin.me ) Excellent question! Here's an overview of some of the reasons I publish pricing transparently for my consulting services.: 1. It's all about the customer experience —transparent pricing is a better exp...
Sep 28, 2020•14 min
Hello my friends, I hope you had an amazing week, it's been a long one for me. In this episode, I share a few updates and then answer this question from Michelle: Hey Kevin, I don't know if you run into this issue, but I have. My client is very cheap (and right now bc of covid and election here people are full of fear and do not want to spend money). They don't have an accurate marketing budget - which makes it very hard for me to help them. Do you have techniques that help clients that generate...
Sep 26, 2020•15 min
Here's another great question coming after last episode on negotiating with clients. I mentioned that my first few months are heavy in terms of workload, involvement, and the value I deliver relative to later months, so Jordan asked: Since a lot of work is front-loaded, do you charge more in the first few months and then decrease in the following ones? And why/why not? Great question! The short answer is: sometimes. If the value and workload is setting to drop off consistently, I don't like to c...
Sep 23, 2020•4 min
Do you know what to do when your clients try to negotiate with your proposal? Sometimes it might be the scope, or the price, or the term length. Or any other form of customization. Is it a red flag? How do you handle it? I go deep into a few examples of how to handle those discussions in this recording. Do you do this or something different? Let me know in the comments (you can use the Patreon app if you don't already). Yours, —k...
Sep 21, 2020•12 min
I reviewed two clients' websites today and thought I'd share the main two things I look for in case it helps you do a similar review for your clients. I won't go into all the possible details here. It's not about fonts, colours, design, or anything like that. This is high-level, functional things that really make or break the user experience. They are: 1. The 15-second test - do I know what you offer, who it's for, and how they're unique within 15-seconds of landing on the site? 2. Don't make me...
Sep 19, 2020•5 min
For the first few years in business, all my clients were local to my area. I was worried about moving to another city in case it meant I'd lose all my clients! Gaah! In retrospect, I had little to be worried about. But it was a very real concern. Today, none of my clients live or operate locally. The closest one is an hour away. Most are flights away. What changed? I specialized. On our Q&A call, only two of us had clients from around the world. We were also, coincidentally or not, specializ...
Sep 17, 2020•10 min
Hey, everyone! Thanks so much to those of you who joined us on Friday for our first Q&A call. This is the recording from our Q&A call where we talked about things like: 1. How to package and sell a first phase engagement with a client who's interested in starting a membership program 2. How to organize your time and energies for maximum output 3. General discussion and ideas around things like proposals, projects vs. retainers, initial discovery and strategy phases, and a whole lot more!...
Sep 17, 2020•20 min
Here's a response to Michelle's follow-up question on which platforms to consider when building a membership program. She asked: Are there any other platforms you'd recommend for building a subscription-based membership besides Patron? If so, can you list them? And why did you choose this platform over others? Here are the platforms I discussed during this recording: 1. Circle.so 2. Podia.com 3. MightyNetworks.co , 4. Kajabi.com 5. Slack.com 6. Patreon.com 7. Memberful.com 8. RestrictContentPro....
Sep 12, 2020•20 min
Here's a great question from Michelle on how to help her client get into the membership model. Michelle asked: I have a client that I'm working with now and he already has the industry reputation and audience as a consultant in a niche industry. I told him he should consider doing a subscription-based membership. So, I'm going to help him build it out. I'm excited for this. Any advice on how to help someone else built this out? You've already provided some great content, just curious if you help...
Sep 11, 2020•6 min
UPDATED KPI SHEET: I put a link to the wrong sheet in the original post. The new one is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NYqN_QdbU7PPQ_v1LR9KycEdGNtm7a4LTugo09IADLk/edit Most new clients I speak to have never worked with someone who could prove an ROI. Which is crazy, because it's not that complicated. By tracking in a spreadsheet month over month the following metrics, you should be able to quickly see whether your marketing is performing well or not. 1. Revenue 2. Marketing expens...
Sep 09, 2020•8 min
When your clients decide to move forward with you, it's critical you make them feel like they made the right choice. After all, they are dropping some meaningful $$ on you (or should be), so first steps and impressions will mean a lot. Here's how I do my initial onboarding process, why it's so important to get right, and my template for the initial email once they decide to move forward with me (copied below). I've also linked my onboarding questionnaire in the content below, so feel free to mak...
Sep 08, 2020•7 min
In the last episode, I answered a member question about how I created a membership program for my consultancy (Everspaces). There were two follow-up questions: 1. How do you differentiate yourself from associations/organizations that also have memberships (e.g. GWA)? - How are you driving engagement on the Slack channel? For example, do you prompt questions every X days or weeks? 2. How are you driving engagement on the Slack channel? For example, do you prompt questions every X days or weeks? L...
Sep 04, 2020•11 min
Someone asked me how I started a membership for my coworking consultancy. I had to give it some thought—it's been an evolution and there are some distinct learnings I have found along the way. I'm far from finished on this journey and have plenty of things to learn still. Here are my notes I took from the recording for your reference: Have a niche focus Build a "Success Path" Started at $100/mo, but went to $9/month and built up again from there Book recommendation: Trade-Off by Kevin Maney Why ...
Sep 02, 2020•16 min
Are you thinking about getting into an industry or niche but aren't sure if there's enough money in it to sustain your business? This episode is based on a question that came in regarding the home care industry. Some research showed people don't spend much money on marketing relative to their revenue. Does that mean it's a dead end? Not so fast, I say. Yours, —k
Aug 28, 2020•9 min
Do you ever wonder if your prices are too high or low? Feel like you're shooting in the dark? Is $2,000 expensive or cheap? The question comes down to the value of your work and your ability to articulate it. In this session, I break down a question from a writer in this group about how I would go about the process of pricing and explaining the value to a client. You'll also hear an idea for how to increase your price by 150% if you had a few extra skills. Give it a listen and let me know what y...
Aug 27, 2020•12 min
Testimonials are a powerful way to convey quality to your prospective clients. There's nothing like your clients' words when it comes to articulating the value and experience of your services. And while there are lots of ways to do this, the main job of testimonials are to: 1. Articulate the transformation (before/after) 2. Help overcome objections your prospects may have The best testimonials are raw and unedited. Use the language your clients gave you. It's fine to tweak or edit it, but don't ...
Aug 26, 2020•4 min
Do your clients want quick results? Here's the truth... it's a myth. Marketing is the slow road. Sure, you can get some numbers quickly. But like all things, if you want lasting, sustainable growth, it takes time. Think of it like your health. You can lose 10 lbs by starving yourself for a few days and taking extreme measures. Fighters do it all the time. But if you want to be healthy and have and maintain a healthy bodyweight over time, you need to build habits, systems, strategies, and conting...
Aug 24, 2020•9 min
This idea won't make sense for all situations. But it will for many. The general idea is this: take your clients' best customer (or multiple) and analyze a typical day in their life. Actually interview them and ask them to walk you through what happens from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep, including how and when their products or services are consumed. What you're looking for is context around how their products and services fit into their daily lives. It tells you far mor...
Aug 23, 2020•3 min
