What if you needed to make money, like YESTERDAY?

What would you do?
Well friends, this is a trick question.
And to further confound you, I’m going to answer this query right off the top of this post…
You’re SOL — Sh*t Outta Luck!
Because if you find yourself in this position, you’re doing something WRONG.
But this misfortunate circumstance offers a segue into a VERY poingenant case study on this exact topic.

Why Did a Decade of Profitability Run Out?

Unfortunately, for the subject of this case study, this is where one of my long-time clients — let’s call her Maria — recently found herself.
Maria’s a life coach of sorts, and until her latest troubles, she’s been in the VERY enviable position… She’s operated her business (as a soloprenuer) profitably, month-after-month, for nearly a decade.
In other words, she’s consistently generated enough income to cover all of her bills and squirrel away some portion of her earnings in savings for just shy of 10 years.
Until this past month, that is…
For the first time since she went solo, she’s dipping into her savings to cover her expenses. And wondering (with no small amount of panic): “What the FORK do I do NOW!?”
How did Maria, amid so much seeming success, wind up here?
Let’s take a closer look…

Maria’s Business Falls Into Three Buckets…

1. One-time coaching sessions (though many one-time coaching clients return for repeat sessions).
2. A one-on-one 8-week student training program.
3. Self-help info products online course sales (written, audio, and video-based course, mostly sold through her website).
While Maria’s 8-week student training program brings in some additional funds and her course sales generate some spare change, the bulk of Maria’s income comes from her one-time coaching sessions.
But while session work + student training has thus far paid the bills, Maria’s really wants move away from the “trading time for dollars” model of coaching sessions and student training.
Largely because it’s VERY draining work, it’s impossible to scale as a solo-operator (because there are only so many hours in the day), scheduling her increasingly packed calendar has become a nightmare, and even with a packed calendar, you never know when your business may suddenly dry up.
TO make this shift happen, Maria hatched a Grand Plan…

Ditch the First Two Buckets, And Convert To An eCommerce Biz

Given the trials and tribulations of relying on session work and student training, Maria aimed to make selling info products her chief money-maker.
And she was on the right track, to a certain extent…
She significantly raised prices on individual coaching sessions, essentially ensuring only highly motivated clients would continue to book appointments. This cut down on session volume, which gave her more time to focus on creating info products.
In a very insightful move, Maria zeroed in half or dozen or so issues would-be clients continuely sought out her services to resolve. And she used these commonly reoccurring issues as the basis for her self-help courses.
Maria’s logic being that… “You can pay hundreds of dollars for an individual session with me. Or, for a fraction of that price, you can buy one of my courses.”
This greatly lowered the barrier to working with her. Instead of booking a pricey individual session, or spending a couple thousand dollars on an 8-week training program, you can learn the techniques Maria applied in individual sessions and training program by simply buying one (or several) of her online courses.
So far, so good. But Maria neglected a crucial element in her transition plans…

No Marketing Strategy or Execution Plan a Successful eCommerce Biz Does Not Make

Maria created the courses and posted them on her website. But after sending an announcement to her email subscriber list, she basically forgot about them.
If prospects contacted her and couldn’t afford a session, she’d recommend one of her courses as an alternative.
But that was about the extent of marketing and promotional efforts.
And, predictably, her course sales were very scant.
Meanwhile, Maria’s strategy to reduce session volume proved very effective (maybe a little too effective), as her booking requests slowed to a trickle.
At this point, it finally occurred to Maria that if she hoped to replace her session income, she needed buyers for her courses. And if she wanted buyers, she needed to actually PROMOTE her courses.
But here’s the problem… She’s at ground zero with marketing her courses. And she needs to make money, like YESTERDAY!

How Could Maria Have Better Managed This Transition?

In short, better planning on the marketing front, and a bit more forethought in general. Something along the lines of the following would have be a far more effective approach…
1. Create a marketing strategy and execution plan to promote her courses at the same time she was developing her plan to transition away from session work and student training.
2. Consistently market the bejeezus out of her courses while she was still drawing the bulk of her income from session work and student training.
3. Wait until she built a steady book of business selling courses BEFORE she making a serious push to curb her session work and student training.

Stuck In a Penniless Vortex

Or course, Maria failed to follow these steps and now she’s in a very precarious position…
She needs to build demand for her courses, which requires money — Both to pay for marketing and to support herself until course sales generate sufficient income.
But without session work income, she can’t afford to do either. As a result, Maria’s forced to reactivate her session work and student training.
This in turn is confusing to Maria’s coaching clients and prospects because she actively pushed them away to slow her session work and student training. So, now Maria’s faced with winning back that business, too.
All-in-all, it’s a big mess!

Where Did Things REALLY Go Wrong For Maria?

Maria made some BIG assumptions, which were tantamount to relying on hope. And hope is never an effective marketing strategy…
Maria worked for a third party when she first started coaching. This third party marketed her services and generated cliente.
During her tenure working for this outfit, Maria EXCELED! Buidling a solid book of business and earning a name for herself.
So, when Maria went solo, word-of-mouth regarding her sterling reputation ensured a steady stream of new clients and repeat customers.
Thus, when Maria sought to pivot her business from session work to course sales, she assumed (in effect, hoped) the same word-of-mouth reputation would make her course sales gambit a lucrative enterprise.
Meanwhile, she never laid the groundwork that made her coaching business a success.

The Lesson Here?

You can’t assume just because you’re offering a service or you’ve created a product that you’ll have willing buyers — No matter your background or previous successes.
You may have a few at the outset. Family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. Or prospects interested in the novelty factor of your product or service, simply because it’s “new.” But a “few” buyers aren’t enough to sustain your operation in the long term.
You need a marketing strategy and an execution plan to grow your business and build clientele.

The Solution?

ABM — Always Be Marketing!

Need Help Crafting Your Marketing Strategy + Execution Plan?

Let’s chat! Get in touch here: 310.466.7893 | ryan@ryananys