This one might be a bit controversial. 🙂 Not really, but I do use the current political situation in the US to make a long-discussed point about where and how to build your marketing platform for longevity. Disclaimer: I mention not liking Mr. Donald Trump in this episode, but it's not a slight at the Republican party, people, nor their values. My friends and colleagues walk down both sides of the aisle and frankly, there are things to be gained from both sides. No judgement from me. So with th...
Jan 12, 2021•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast > Click here to the conversation on this episode in the Mindshare community. I'm a big fan of productized services. They let you design your business in a way that lets you create predictable outcomes, scalable earnings, and managed effort. But I don't create these services in a vacuum. And they're never completely "done"—I'm always updating them along the way. These services are always born during the sales process. Specifically, it goes something like this: I speak with potential clients in...
Jan 08, 2021•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today's content comes to you a bit late in the evening. I'm tired and ready for bed, but I didn't get this recording done so I wanted to make sure I delivered on schedule. I committed to Monday, Wednesday, Friday recordings, so that's what I'll do come heck or high water (except holidays ;)). In this episode, I talk about the reasons why you should aim to stick to a set publishing schedule. Give it a listen and let me know what you do to keep on track with your own publishing. Best, —k...
Jan 07, 2021•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Link to episode in the Mindshare community Hey all, I hope you had a great week and were able to take a few days off over the holidays. Today's topic is about how you position your services. I talk about how my two websites work and why Everspaces is really the model to follow. Here are my services pages as discussed in this episode: https://kevin.me/consulting/ https://www.everspaces.com/services/ The big point is that Everspaces' services are about YOU, the potential client. Whereas my persona...
Jan 04, 2021•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’ve all been there. You need to fire your client. Something is not working or feeling right, and it’s just better to part ways. Ideally, you find a way to part ways amicably, learn from these experiences, and watch for red flags in the future so you avoid repeated scenarios. In this episode, I talk about the 8 signs it’s time to fire a client. At a high level, they include: They make you feel bad or stressed often or all the time They don’t implement your advice, or they pick and choose what t...
Dec 23, 2020•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Join the conversation for this episode: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/85-should-you-do-project-management-for-your-advisory-clients Last episode (I said 84 in the recording, I meant 83), I talked about the various ways some advisory clients can’t or won’t implement your advice, and what to do about it when that happens. Mark had a follow up question about whether to do project management in cases where the client doesn’t have an in-house person to implement. The short answer is no. I...
Dec 21, 2020•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you’re working in an advisory capacity, it’s critical that your advice gets implemented. If your recommendations aren’t being executed, you aren’t creating enough value for your clients, which means you become a cost . And that’s not good. In this eposide, I share some ideas for what to do when your clients can’t (or won’t) implement your ideas quickly enough, including: Bringing in additional support to introduce to my clients (like a general marketing freelancer) Doing some up-front impleme...
Dec 18, 2020•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast It can be hard to know how to position your services. Are you the high-quality option, the "cheap and cheerful" one, or somewhere in between? I've spoken before about being in a reasonable price range so clients can justify staying with you longer. But "reasonable" is a big vague, so I wanted to explore this topic deeper. To me, it comes down to the pain potential . Not the pain, necessarily, but the potential for pain if they don't hire me (or someone like me). The bigger the downside potential...
Dec 16, 2020•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Join the conversation for this episode here: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/general/81-why-sharing-your-backstory-matters * * * * Have you ever noticed how dramatic movies tend to start with lots of backstory behind the characters? Think about Apollo 13, for example. The first part of the movie is focused on their family life, children, etc. Why do they bother going into all that backstory? What does it have to do with the main plot? They do it so you are emotionally invested in the characters. ...
Dec 14, 2020•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Join this episode's conversation in the community: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/80-how-to-make-your-products-or-service-more-compelling . . . . Lately, I've been paying attention to the factors that convince me to buy things—especially when I'm not super familiar with the product or creator who made it. By far, the most compelling factor in my decision to puchase was the positioning. What does it do, how is it unique, and is it for me? And assuming the product or service is well-pos...
Dec 11, 2020•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Join the conversation around this episode here: https://society.mindshare.fm/c/mentorship/79-how-to-come-up-with-interesting-topics-for-your-content-marketing . . . . I had a great question come in about whether to interview clients for content ideas or not. In general, I'm not against asking clients what topics they might be interested in, but like a lot of things, people don't know what they don't know. Especially if you ask them out of the blue. It's better to spot things "in the wild" in the...
Dec 09, 2020•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Every client engagement comes to an end, eventually. And when it does, I'm a big believer in having an "off-boarding" call. In my opinion, these are critical. It can sometimes be a little uncomfortable—even when things end on a good note. But they are extremely valuable to both you and the client. I'll explain why. In this episode, I talk about: Why you want to have off-boarding calls with your clients (and not let things phase out into oblivion). What to talk about during those calls, including...
Dec 07, 2020•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's late on a Friday night and I'm sharing this quick audio with you. It's about consistency. The value of showing up even when you're tired and don't want to. Writing and publishing content consistently has been the sole driver of most of my businesses since I started. If I didn't create lots of content over the years, I wouldn't be in business today. It's that simple. And while I've gone through phases of creating lots of content and letting the habit slide, the best results have always come ...
Dec 05, 2020•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast When you get paid to do implementation work, you're ultimately being paid to solve a problem. Maybe it's anything website or content-related. Or maybe it's more broad, like anything marketing-related. Anything within that purview becomes your problem. In other words, you own the entire problem of X for your clients. The challenge when switching to advisory work is that you end up facilitating the solution instead of actually doing it for your client. That means someone still has to actually do t...
Dec 03, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Positioning yourself effectively kinda hurts. It should feel like you're leaving a LOT on the table. And the reality is, you are. You're leaving MOST of your opportunities on the table. And yet, counter-intuitively, by saying no to most, you say yes to more. In the episode I talk about how and why you should tightly narrow your positioning. It shout hurt a little bit, which is why I recommend doing things in a very particular way (i.e. having a broad AND narrow position until you get traction, p...
Nov 30, 2020•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’ve been talking a lot about business models and positioning lately but not enough on how to generate leads for your consultancy. In this episode, I break down the way I've been able to get a consistent flow of clients in my consulting work, resulting in me being booked solid for most of this year. Here's an overview of what I talk about: Positioning Choose something you have an existing advantage in Go two levels deep Industry Problem you solve How you solve it Deep research Communities Podca...
Nov 27, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast As a marketing advisor, I’m biased towards done- with -you services. While I see the merits in done-for-you work (freelance/agency style) or do-it-yourself (one-off strategy sessions and/or info products), the thing thay works best for me is clearly the done-with-you offering. In this episode, I talk about the three ingredients required to make done-with-you work into a high-profit and low labour engagement. The three ingredients include: Having a process for every engamenent Having pre-made tra...
Nov 25, 2020•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast There are lots of ways to price your consulting engagements. You could be the low-cost consultant, the high-price consultant, or anywhere in between. Usually, I recommend companies focus on being either one of the lower cost, convenience providers (and do it at scale) OR create a world-class experience and charge high rates. This idea came from a book called Trade-Off by Kevin Maney. I highly recommend you read this. But oddly enough, I price my consulting services at what I consider to be a ver...
Nov 23, 2020•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hello friendly people! Oren had some questions about my coworking consultancy's membership program , whether people upgrade to the 1:1 premium "inner circle coaching" option, and whether it's the same things my Propeller Program . In this episode, I break down: How many people are in those groups Whether people upgrade to the premium 1:1 coaching The surprising benefits of memberships outside of the money it generates How the small group coaching works and why it's a good idea to try And how bei...
Nov 20, 2020•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast I was recently asked how I am able to find clients for all my different services. So, I thought I'd break down my business strategy, marketing strategy, and marketing plan to help you get the full picture in case it helps you get clarity. Currently, I have: 8 x 1:1 advisory clients 1 x 4 members group coaching clients 40+ people in a memberrship program This community which is in it's infancy I do occasional workshops/training programs I sell (very few) info products Some lingering website maint...
Nov 18, 2020•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Yesterday, I wrote a quick post on my personal website about how your job as a marketing consultant is as much about de-risking your clients' situation as it is about growth. It might seem counter-intuitive for a marketing consultant to be thinking about risk mitigation when your day-to-day job is to help clients win new business, but you might be surprised to hear that they are two sides of the same coin. Give this one a listen and let me know in the comments what you think! Yours, —kevin...
Nov 16, 2020•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hey! Today is my birthday and I felt like recording this little bit of encouragement for those who are thinking of starting a group program or mentorship of your own. Yours, —k P.S. The community is being rebranded as Mindshare.fm and has been rebuilt using Circle (community platform), Memberful (payment and private podcast functionality), and Transistor (podcast host). If you want to get access today, you can head over here and save $5/mo. on monthly plans (promo code: VIP5 ) or sign up to the ...
Nov 12, 2020•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast When a prospect asks to speak to one of your pasts clients as a reference, what do you say? Do you say yes or no? Is it a red flag or normal procedure? Let's dive in. Yours, —kevin
Nov 10, 2020•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Happy Friday, everyone. I wrote a blog post today and thought I'd do an audio version for you to make it easy to download into your brain while you do something else. The TLDR is: Most consultants don’t publish their pricing. While custom quoting based on value isn’t wrong, it can lead to a poorer buying experience, less trust at the beginning of the relationship, and even fewer opportunities overall. You can read the actual article here ( https://kevin.me/prices/) or just give this a listen and...
Nov 07, 2020•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast A client recently asked to downgrade services to my lowest 1:1 advisory tier. During that conversation, I walked them through several levers of value that they would be missing from the tier they were currently on. Since my work isn't based on hours or "deliverables", the value clients get from each feature might be nuanced but are worth talking about so they can make the right decision. In this episode, I talk about: 1. The intangible but valuable features of my advisory services—especially at ...
Nov 05, 2020•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Is there a difference between selling consulting vs. advisory work? In my world, there certainly is. A big one. Advisors sell their advice. They sell access to their knowledge and expertise . Consultants do, too. But according to my definition, they also produce deliverables . And of course, there's nothing wrong with producing deliverables as part of your services. But from my experience, they're not as valued as you might think. In this episode, I talk about: How I transitioned from roadmaps/a...
Nov 03, 2020•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast I recommend ActiveCampain to a lot of my coworking clients. It's easy to use and has a CRM/email marketing/automation built in. When one of my clients signed up recently, the folks at ActiveCampaign asked where they heard of them. Of course, they mentioned me. So, ActiveCampaign then reached out and asked if I'd like to be an affiliate partner, earning commission for all referrals for the lifetime of their relationships. And while they did set me up with an affiliate URL in case I ever need it, ...
Oct 31, 2020•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Unsure what to put in a case study? The key is remembering to think like a prospect. What do they want to see? 1. That you've helped people like them 2. That you actually do things they want done 3. That you get results they are looking for 4. That you can get results for them specifically, too The first step before you begin is knowing what kind of clients you want to attract. There's no point in doing a case study on clients you have no desire to replicate. Like attracts like. Once you have a ...
Oct 28, 2020•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast I interviewed Jonathan Stark today for a new podcast I'm creating. The focus of the podcast is to help marketing freelancers, consultants, and agency owners package and sell their expertise, not their hands, in an effort to create leverage and scale. And Jonathan is a wealth of knowledge on this subject. Right before the interview ended, I asked him what his best advice would be to someone who wants to sell their expertise as a product or advisor (vs. implementor) for the first time. His advice ...
Oct 27, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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•Transcript available on Metacast 
