All right, I'm back. Okay, I need the first sip review. So, we've transformed. This is part two of this episode. We're transform swish it. Okay. Oh, yeah. Okay. So, you're going to like add it to the glass. Oh, it's so It's pretty. It is kind of pretty. It's like an effect. Yeah. Is this the most drug we've ever I feel like something weird is happening right now. Okay. Doesn't smell horrible.
It's a lot better. Okay. It's a lot better. So, tell us what you put in it to make it amazing. I wouldn't say amazing. I'd say better. Better. Um, so I added um almond milk, eggnog. I guess it's not eggnog, but it's like a it's called holiday nog. I like it. Made with almond milk. So basically like their creamer, I think, is what I've added to this. So good to the to the coffee espresso martinis that we are drinking that neither one of us have ever had before. And this might be the one and only time that I probably will not have again to be honest. I have to say I really like this. Um I'm delighted. I don't know h I mean maybe I will serve this. I'm having a party maybe on Friday if the snowstorm doesn't like cancel everything. Maybe I'll do this and stay awake for longer than 9:30 because that's usually when I go in bed. You know what? It might be fun to like ch have a challenge of like turning like maybe I'll make my own Mhm. Espresso martini and like doctor it to try and make it delicious. That could be a fun challenge. I I like it. I I'd be up for a recording an episode over homemade drinks. Yeah, we'll see how we're feeling tomorrow after we've stayed up until like 3 a.m. Okay, so back to Yes. clearing the scene. Um, so yeah, I think Facebook ads was one of the things that a lot of people go into business or at least like coaching business with that in mind that they should tackle that initially as a way to to generate leads. I think there are a lot of other creative ways and maybe more authentic ways that you can generate leads. starting with like if you're just starting out, I would think of it less as like generating leads and more as just helping the people around you and finding ways to help the people who already are in your orbit. Oh my gosh, so true. So good. And I mean, I use the terminology like generate leads because I'm in like a business context, but like when I think about it, I'm just like it's so cold. It's like generating leads like are we growing people right now? Like what are we doing? Yeah. And people are not leads as well. Like I know this is just terminology and I think it's like if you're in a context where that is the terminology, that's totally fine. But I think most most new coaches are not like I want to build like a robot empire where I am. I think they're like I want to go out and help people. So you're just gathering people to to offer help to. Absolutely. And I think that sometimes that terminology like I live with a person who was a sales engineer who is like very closely working to grow a startup right now. Um, and I do think like actually the termin that terminology can be really helpful when you are trying to depersonalize it because you're talking to so many people, you're experiencing so much rejection like right it's kind of better to think of people as leads because they're not it's not personal at that point. Right. Right. Isn't such a like an intimate service-based business which I think coaching is. I do like the word nurture. I like like nurturing people. Um, and I don't know, I mean, if I think about like what has worked really well in my business is like launching something. Very often, the thing I'm launching is not the thing that is like bringing in all the money. But when I'm in a launching mode, like when I'm trying to I It's so crazy like when I'm trying to think about how am I going to sell my 20 to $30 book that puts me in like an energy and in a stream where I become more strategic. I think like what does someone need how much does someone need to trust me to take a chance on not only buying it but like taking the time to listen to the audio book or read the book like that is valuable energy that people are spending and I just kind of work backwards in my marketing and think about what does someone need from me to say it is safe to spend my time and energy listening to this to reading this. Um, I say this as a person who has, oh my gosh, we did this categorization of our library recently. I think I have like 700 books. Wow. In my home. And I haven't That does not include all of the children's books, which we have two separate bookshelves full of children's books. Like I at one point I was like I just stopped counting right now because this is a little bit much but I haven't read all of those books. You know I've I I buy books because I like the idea. But then what actually gets me as a reader to say this is the book that I'm going to spend my time with and spend my energy with. This is one I'm taking a bed with me. I'm going to listen to while I'm puttering around the house. That I think is a more helpful like marketing question than how am I gonna make $300,000 this year. Yeah. So divorced from like the person that you are going to help the next person. It's also Yes. It's it's divorced from the purpose or it's the person you're going to help because it's like entirely focused on what you're going to get from the relationship which I think it's awesome to like set goals in that mindset. Like of course you want to think on behalf of yourself and what you want and what you want to build when you're setting goals for your business or for yourself. And when you're thinking of marketing, it's so much more powerful to think of how do I take care of the other person in this dynamic? How do I like build that connection, build that trust? And I love your framing of um how do I create safety basically for like how do I create a a dynamic or a situation or content whereby the client feels safe to come to me for help with what they need. I love that because it's not it makes rejection not personal also not final necessarily. So, if a person is not buying from you, it's not that they're like they hate you or you're insufficient. It's just that you haven't solved the problem yet of how to create an abundance of safety whereby they can either like can like further the relationship with you in some way, be delighted in where the relationship is like forever and just decide they're never going to buy from you or bounce. Yeah, I'm so glad you brought that up because I think that that if if I like think back to early business owner days um just even talking to some people this year this week this year and this year this week who are like starting kind of this the branch of their business that they're working on. It's like, yeah, rejection is a big fear and I think it's why it's so much easier to like focus on the perfect marketing plan instead of just talking to people. Yeah. But if I can offer some like old lady wisdom or ripe old lady wisdom at the age in this industry, we're like seasoned. We're elders of the sure. We've been around since before 2020. But like I have done the sales trainings that are more about like psychological sales and fast action activation and all that stuff. And I've had problems in those client relationships in the past. Mhm. The two things that really helped me in regards to like having conversations about like should I work with this person is like there's nothing I can like I there's nothing I can do or not do that's going to bring this person closer if they're not the right person. And that's really powerful. I only want people who are like at a really high level of readiness for the depth we're going to go. I have had clients in the past where every week was kind of spent in their coaching like convincing them that they could do it. Convincing them it was convincing. It was not It was like I'm like, "All right, we're getting the cheering squad. We're making sure like yes, this is a real business. 100% you're smart enough." Yeah. like it was really a lot more validating and cheerleading than going deep into okay what's the obstacle is it a mindset obstacle is it a external obstacle what's the strategy what's the processing I now have like no attachment when I talk to somebody if I don't if I've never met them before we talk and I never hear from them again it's not that I don't wonder or think about them I'm like I hope the best for them, but I'm just like that was not my person or this was not their time. And that just frees up my like mental energy to like and if I'm just like I really could have helped them and I think I didn't articulate that well then it's like okay so I'll go articulate what I should have said on a blog post in a podcast. I'll go offer a resource and I'll send it to them. I have had clients come back after that. Wow, that's amazing.
Yeah, I think there's also I'm also not opposed to if there are a lot of conditions for this, but if I feel like, oh, there's something major that I left out or I didn't like if I see there's a chance to help them that I wasn't able to articulate at the time, I'm not opposed to reaching out to them and just offering with a sense of detachment, not with like a like desperate energy. But I think it's fine to be like cuz I people are imperfect and I think clients are like when coaches model what it looks like to have integrity and also be imperfect humans. Yeah. I mean I tell people all the time like if I can have a really successful business and not be a good salesperson. I'm great at selling other people's stuff. Like if you ask me about products I love you will buy them. I have a friend who's like talking to you is very expensive. I'm like, "You should buy this $4,000 massage chair. You should buy this $500 ring." I can sell people's stuff, but when it comes to myself, I'm like, I am maybe intentionally like just try to be removed. And it's something I'm always working on because I never liked I I just don't like the pushy sales stuff. But I also I'm like I think about the difference between buying We have a really nice car. It's like a luxury brand car. And that sales experience was so different from when I like had a $16,000 car. Oh, really? Very different. Like they were not bothering us. They were not like calling us three times a day. They were just like, "This is an incredible car. We have this car and one other car and if you want it something outside of that, it'll be six months wait." like there was like no tension at all and I bought that car after five minutes of test driving it. Wow. Yeah. See, I don't think that's a problem. Like what? Also, I I take issue with the idea that sale like sales is inherently pushy, right? Andounding. I don't think that's true. Yeah. I don't think that has to be true. I think in a lot of people's minds that's true. But I also think that's a lot of what stops newer coaches from doing like the core work that Karen was talking about at the beginning of the call of just like helping people and making offers. Yeah, I think that like there's a lot of power. I found my my I don't I hate like talking about these business terms because really it's just like the amount of people I was able to help, but my quote unquote like conversion rate from consults went way up when I just stopped trying to like convince anyone of anything when I was just focused on reminding myself of what my lane was and what I could help with and coming to calls with a pure heart of like, can I help this person and if so, Wow. And being very honest in that space and writing about you way less. Yes. Oh yes. Okay. I'm going to write about you for a second because I've seen you in action. I've watched you coach lots of people about lots of things. Um and the thing is what most people don't like I people get really in their heads about like the sales and the marketing and the d like listen the people who are coming to you actually really need you. Like I wonder what would be different if coaches didn't get on sales calls and think, "Oh, I really hope this person signs up with me." But instead was like, "All right, let's go. I'm going to I'm going to help this person with my pure heart." Like I have watched you basically collect fans, not because you were like, "I need fans," but because you were like, "Let me show you what I've got." And not from a egotistical place, but just from like this person needs me to be fully present with them. And most humans never get that experience. Yeah. Well, thank you for saying that. I think that is from a personal like psych like like from my own psychological experience. That's the thing that has helped me by far the most show up to consults without like weird energy and show up to coaching calls even that I may have felt a little intimidated but intimidated by or scared of and like actually help people is just grounding myself in can I help like how can I help this person? Oh my gosh, it's so good. Yeah, it takes all of the pressure off of like performing or or like grasping. And also, I like how it gives me the freedom to not put my [ __ ] on the client and not be like, "Oh, I need to sell to this person because I have rent." Which my rent, my mortgage, my payment, right? Like I'm human. I have concerns about money as much as anyone else, but I that it just feels so icky to think about mixing that with helping people. So like my entire goal with consults is just what do you want to create? Like how can I help you? Can I help you? Am I the right person for you? And helping them figure that out in the time that we have together. Yeah. And you are such a master at doing that like with just such a clean focus. Thank you. I think that I think a lot of people forget that like this is where I think it gets muddy for people. It's like the business there I think there are different hats like when you are in the business building space this is an opinion but I have found it really helpful to have days that are about business building and marketing and writing and creation and then days that are really just where I'm in my coaching my coaching hat is on um it's a pointy witch hat and we're doing magic with clients. Wait, is it a literal? Do you have a I do have a pointy witch, but I don't wear it my wicked sweatshirt. After I wore it on this podcast, one of my clients was like, "Can you please wear that for the next one? I don't want to tell you what to wear, but can you wear it?" I was like, "Yes, I can." Amazing. I love that. But like I think about like that's the magic. And I don't want to bring my own needs or goals or desires into someone else's space. what where it's supposed to be about their needs and their goals and their desires. And so I I as much as I can, I do try to keep those days like mentally and emotionally very separate. And then it makes the like business building days really fun because then I'm like, "Ooh, it's creative. It's fun." Like I can think about the sessions I've had. They're usually closer to the end of the week, but I can think about the sessions I've had and I'm like, what would be a resource that like this person needs? What would be a really helpful class I could teach and invite my clients to, but then maybe open it up to other people for like one example is like for a couple of years I've done these end of year like reviews and VIP like yearly planning things for clients and I was like you know I can do that for other people too. They don't have to work with me for a year to like get a good plan and feel really excited about what they do. you can offer that as like a thing. And it's just like so fun because whether that works or that doesn't work from year to year. Some years they've sold out immediately. This year I've sold a couple and we'll see if anybody else picks it up before, you know, before the end of the year. Um, but it's like that's like the creative fun stuff that I get to test and play with that has no it takes nothing away from the energy that I need for the client work. It doesn't and it doesn't need to be successful for it to be like a worthy experiment, right? because it sounds like everything that you're undertaking is a way of helping the people that you want to help whether it's like directly or indirectly. Yeah. But that's always a powerful endeavor. Even if it fails, you're learning how to help your people more. And I think that I think I'm gonna amend what I was saying at the beginning of the call slightly from like just like talk to people to be obsessed with the question of how to help people in your area of expertise and that will never lead you astray. And if that calls you to do Facebook ads, like so be it. If it calls you to build a website, like so be it. But I think probably more often it's going to lead you to more direct impact stuff and then you'll know when it's time to expand and like strategize in those other ways. Yeah. And I I mean I think there's also just this weird mindset that a lot of people have that I definitely have shared. Not free of this by any means, but like it couldn't be that easy. Like I think we just expect that it's got to be like a 10step funnel with like this much money invested and this shiny thing and all of this stuff, but it's like you could just have one of my friends just had a party, showcase some stuff that she had been working on, invited like 300 people, and her business was born. Wow. Mhm. You could just if you're a coach offer a, you know, if you're a coach and your big dream is to like teach retreats in Costa Rica, which I would love to come to. Yes, me too. Have people come over and offer a free half-day session for some of your close friends and say, "If you loved this, I would love a testimonial. I would love something that I could use for my marketing." If you know people who would benefit from the work that we did today, I would love to be able to talk to them. Like generosity I think is one of the best marketing and sales plans. Not that it has to be free, does not have to be free, but like you can offer like we are offering some insights over our
beverages and you know maybe something will turn into something for one of us, both of us. Yeah, maybe maybe it'll inspire another coach to say, "I don't have to have a pretty polished podcast to just announce my message to the world." Because these two got drunk on
show that was held every week. Yeah. Yeah. I will say when I was thinking of alternatives to like I think some of the business rules which not every business coach is like you should have Facebook ads but like I think there is in my mind that was a like rule that I had in the back of my head that like oh I should be doing that or I should be thinking about doing that. Um, but one of the the most effective things that I've done is um offer pay what you can packages, okay, for a time. And like I did that because I was like I want to be coaching more. I don't I'm not really wanting to sell a lot more at the time. I had very limited bandwidth to like market and to even post on Instagram, but I did want I did have energy to coach people. So also there was a lot of and is a lot of stuff going on in the world and I was like not everyone has access to coaching and I think that's awful and I want the world to be more influenced by people who don't have financial resources to pay for coaching. So I came in with that perspective offered them and like got some clients out of it some like regularly priced clients and not all of them did and I feel amazing about everyone that I coached with. But I think I think that's like just one example in the corner of if you do something anything that is in the direction of connecting with people and offering them help however you can. You will be building more than if you are waiting for the right path or like refining your language on your website. Yeah. If you're doing like these these things that take a lot of energy and mentally and emotionally sometimes, but aren't directly related to Yeah. helping people. Yeah. Don't be fooled by thinking that because you're spinning on it, it's the same as doing actual helpful work, right? That could be really helpful for people, too. Is like, is this work that did my work today help somebody? Like what a great question because working on your website before and like refusing to publish it after four months did not help anyone. Yep. Publishing. That is s I love that question as like a guiding that's beautiful. Yeah. I think that as a way especially at the beginning when you're bigger maybe that will change but whatever. I think when you're bigger you're doing that because that's the machine you've built and that's why you're bigger. Right. Right. Yeah. And that's one thing I admire from Karen actually. And I've like seen her walk the walk around. She's always doing things to help people. Like I I from my perspective, it seems like she's enormously generous with her brain power and her content. And I think that's why she's so successful. Yeah. And why she creates so much as well. Yeah. Because her clients know that she really cares about them and she's really thinking about them. And it's not Yeah. Like it it just comes across as so genuine because I think it is. Yeah. I don't know the inner workings of her business. I'm not going to speak for her, but like Mhm. it just if I think we can speak for the people in her orbit. Like I personally benefited and and found what she creates helpful and how she shows up helpful as well. Even just like her submitting this question was like she doesn't need to do that for us. No, she has millions of listeners on her podcast. She doesn't need us to talk about her. Absolutely. But like that is just such a good example of exactly that. Someone who is in the world giving generously, not doing it for personal gain, does not is probably never going to hear this. But like now we've just talked about her several times and someone who's listening to this is going to go find her and that might be exactly the person that they need. Yeah. Or you might be the person they need. Can you tell us how to find you? Are you such a good transition? Oh my god. I told um yes you can find me on Instagram Elena Mccernin. um or on my website at no coachingwithal elena.coming. Um I also something that I have not posted or like written about but that I do I'm excited to offer is support for coaches who are like wanting just help with their coaching. Um so if you're interested in anything like that just like email me. Yes. Oh my gosh. and cannot recommend that enough because you like I know you've talked about in the past like oh I was so analytical about my coaching and I would like really rehash things but I'm like the the positive of that is you actually are so attentive and present for people who maybe are trying to figure out like why do I have no issue if like if you have an issue like signing clients but then they never renew or they never really feel like they got everything that they c that you think they could have from the coaching, that would be like a really great reason to reach out to Elena. Yeah, absolutely. Or if you feel like you're going to sessions and like some of what your clients are needing is like stumping you or you're questioning a lot of like how you show up. I just love I love like waving the standard of coaching just across the board. And I also love supporting coaches through the process of evaluating their own coaching because I know that can be a very vulnerable and scary thing. Especially if you have a brain that's like sometimes mean to you. Yeah. Especially if you're trying to also do it while you're building a business and figuring all of that out. Like do yourself a favor and get support for that. Yeah. All right. How about you? How can people get your brilliance in a more personal way? Okay. So, in an impersonal way, the book um be super super That's personal. Yeah, that's I I tell some very personal if you if you like our personal shares here on the podcast. Superbound book um that I wrote with Steve is a great way. And I do work with business owners at the superabound.com. You can always set up a discovery and we can talk about your situation and what you need and happy to help. And I just want to shout out that like I think what's remarkable about the coaching that you offer, it's a blend of I feel like this is see I don't feel like I'm being salesy, but I think another person might intery. I'm here. I'm listening. But I think it is rare to find someone who has so much like emotional presence and groundedness and openness and curiosity, but also has like some pretty stellar opinions about like the like tactical work. So, I think that's a beautiful combination for newer coaches who are like, "What do I do? How do I build a business? I'm told that I'm supposed to like listen to myself, but also I have no clients and I don't know how to make myself have clients. I think those are some things that you are very equipped. I know that's not necessarily like all of your targets, but it is a big deal. Like I think having someone who's going to like be strategic with you, but like through always through the lens of like your vision and values, which is what I think is sometimes missing from the business world, it's like who cares about your values? Who cares about your vision? Let's just make some money and do it. Yeah. And you also must do it by becoming an extrovert and going to lots of networking events, even if you want to stab yourself when you're at them. Yeah. That is not going to ever come out of Erin's mouth. I can say with full confidence unless you're into it. Yeah. If you really want to, I will support you. Yes. I love how I was like for this episode I was like I don't know if we're gonna have enough to talk about this is gonna be minute episode and here we are. It's going over an hour which will probably split into two episodes. Espresso martinis. Oh, you finished. I did. So I Mine looks fuller than it did. But that's only because I poured the rest of it in. Oh, you did. I I actually like it now. It's good. Well, there% egg. Yeah. You can also pour down the drain after you're done. I I may do that. We'll see. I'll Okay. Well, I'll text you at 3 in the morning. Yeah. See you then. Talk to you then. Thanks everybody for listening. Have a great week. Yes. Bye.
