Hello and Happy Friday to you, Gentle Reader

This week I am grateful to my new client Alison for reminding me that the business of attracting clients can sometimes be (and is mostly) a long game.

And, with that in mind, I am also grateful to Rosie Allen who shared this on Facebook. I've edited it a tad without losing anything, I hope. I could see that she'd written it in an enthusiastic hurry (interpret that as you will!). Apologies if you've been in my coaching diary this week as I've read it aloud to anyone who would listen, whether they liked it or not, including on next week's podcast.

Rosie addresses her message to coaches, artists and creatives but even if you don't fit into those precise three boxes, I'll bet you recognise yourself in here:

I sent a message yesterday to a brilliant coach in America. I sent her a message to say "I'm already your client, I'm just waiting for an opportunity to pay you- when the timing is right and I'm ready."

As a coach or artist/creative, you never know who's watching you or following you. You never know the reason they haven't paid you yet. It could be you don't have a price point that works, a timing that works or even just an exciting program that works for them.

This is why

1) don't give up, they could just be waiting...

2) offer variety of options. People who don't want to pay over £1000 know they can come to a £20 afternoon workshop. A talk for £6 or even a group coaching program.

It's a long term game. Never be discouraged at helping someone and them not signing up with you... They could well become a paying artist lover in a few years!

You never know who is already your client.. They just haven't found the right time, program that screams at them YET.

Sometimes an idea becomes a theme of the week and I just see it everywhere. Everyone I talk to makes me think of this, the long game, how you never know who is in your pipeline, who is already a client but they just haven't paid you yet. 

Take heart.

The Long Game

Here's the story which Alison taught me.

In January I was a guest expert for Sherry Bevan's Confident Mother telesummit.

I was optimistic as ever that clients would come from it. Had I judged it by the results I achieved in January I would have considered it a failure and/or a waste of my time.

Except I wouldn't. Because I never do that.

But some of my clients could be forgiven for thinking that something like that hadn't worked.

The fact is we never know.

Alison heard me on that call and bided her time until I offered her the right program at the right price at the right time, as Rosie says.

The impact was made in January and Alison was already my client, I just didn't know.

It won't be lost on you that although I may be Confident, I am not a Mother, and I could have assumed perhaps I didn't get my piece right for that audience. Alison encouraged me to see it otherwise. So I went back and listened to the audio again and I thought I did a pretty good job, I even impressed myself.

I remembered that although I am not a mother, I know them well. I have worked with mothers for forty years in all my businesses and I am a good observer and a sympathetic adviser. And that this particular 60 minutes of audio was part of my long game and that none of us, myself included, should attempt to judge too quickly whether or not something is working.

What if you think you can't afford the long game? What if you feel you must have overnight results and income?

I wish it worked like that.

Whilst we all have to play the long game, we can also play some short and medium games too.

And I remember that the family financial circumstances of no two people are the same. Clients will find the money to work with you if you have the solutions they need. And they'll do it when the time is right for them.

So, meanwhile, how do you hang on? Let me count the ways.

Redundancy money
Savings
A start-up loan
Another member of your household pays the bills for a while (a double-edged sword, I know, and not without cost to all concerned)
A part-time job - not a full-time job please 'cos then there's no time for your biz.

Meanwhile you do need to be doing all the right things but they won't be as complicated or difficult or scary or as many as you think. If you get just a few simple things right and craft an appealing offer of a couple of ways in which your ideal client can invest in working with you, when the time is right they will. 

And sometimes that's today. And sometimes it's in their own sweet time.

But it isn't half rewarding when they show up in your world and let you know what you did right in theirs.

Don't give up too soon. But do be doing all the right things to be both useful and visible.

***

Whilst I was writing this, the Beatles' Long and Winding Road came to mind. Here's a wonderful stripped-back recording I've not heard before. If you are a Beatles fan like me, you'll enjoy this. 
 

Pay What You Want

This week I have done two Pay What You Want sessions with clients. It is the best way for me to work with those who want to pick my brains from time to time, rather than to retain me. The first session was all about marketing and sales, specific to a particular business idea but generic enough too to be adapted in case my client decides on another venture entirely.

And the second was about making a difficult life decision where the choice was a rock or a hard place. My client said I helped. I was a sounding board. I trust her to make the "right" decision in a set of circumstances where neither of us could see that there was a right way. We tried everything we could think of between us to evaluate feedback from both head and heart, but there's still a few days before she has to decide so let's see what unfolds.

Here's how it works if you'd like to book an ad hoc session and pay by donation using PayPal. Or do ask for my online bank details if you prefer.

I have taken these two calls this week as yet another reminder that soon I want to turn my entire business model over to this, where I let people pay for everything based on what they can afford and/or what they think having me on board as adviser, mentor and cheerleader is worth to them.

Fun times ahead! Ah, didn't I sign off last week's with pretty much the same message? What am I like!

Until next time...

Judith

x

PS This week's podcast which should be live by the time you read this newsletter is episode 096, all about finding the right kind of client.