How To Use Live Events To Get Coaching Clients With Patsy Culp

All right, so I have Patsy Culp here, who is the founder of anncelebrate, which is an event management company. Maybe you can correct me on the wording of that, but I brought Patsy into my business. Maybe, you know, we started talking maybe six months ago about working together and recently I just decided, okay, I just got to bring her in and have her just manage everything because she's so much better than me at this stuff and she's just a magician. So, Patsy, thank you for being here and having a chat with me.

Thank you so much for having me. It's my total pleasure. I love talking about all things events and branding and how do you bring people together. I really, my philosophy is that hosting a live event for your business is the most efficient way to deepen your client connections, create a catalyst for business growth and generate a word of marketing or word of mouth machine for your brand.

Beautiful. And what I like about what you do is that when I always used to think about sort of an event manager, I always thought of just someone to just do the logistics, which you help me with and is super helpful. But that kind of belief that you have that is so strong, which is that an event is a way to really create that connection with your potential clients and existing clients and the thoughtfulness that you put into it is awesome. So that is, I think what I want to talk about a little bit today is what for coaches, whether you've been in the game for a while or you're just starting out, maybe you don't have any clients, or maybe you've only had a few clients, why should you be thinking about some sort of live event experience on some scale? So I guess I turn that over to you. Why is a live event, why should it be a high priority or on top of mind for coaches?

Yeah, absolutely. And so I think first and foremost it's this opportunity for people to get to know you it on a one to one basis. So something physiological happens in the room when we're together in person. Right. Even different from what we're doing today. It's a full century experience. You get to really feel into the other person's energy. You have that opportunity to really get to know your audience and they have the opportunity to get to know you, to experience what it would be like to work with you one on one. But in a group setting, that's almost like your. Yeah, I would say, like it's an interview if you want to think about it that way sometimes, like in a coaching perspective, because as coaches the work that you do as a coach is really intimate, right? You want to get to know that person and that person wants to feel really confident and connected to you because you're helping them, you know, not only build their business, but a lot of times you're talking about deep life things. And so hosting an event, even if you're just starting out, even it's, you know, four people around your, your dining room table or at a co working space gives you that opportunity again for, to invite the right people to say the right things about you as they go on in their circles and in their lives. And so that starts to build that word of mouth machine that is super beneficial. You know, when I first started out, I started doing some, some of those dining room table sort of events. And those folks who were originally around my dining room table have become like my biggest champions today, you know, six years later.

So I remember my first two or three clients came from doing a live event. And I actually didn't create the venue or host it myself. I linked up with this group when I lived in Washington D.C. that basically did different adult education workshops and you could sign up for one to do. And so mine was about living deliberately and being more productive and all of that. And at the end I was like, hey guys, if you want to take what you learned today and sort of figure out your own custom game plan, I'm happy to have a complimentary chat. People signed up for that, and those became my first ever coaching clients. So I think it's also powerful. One thing we haven't mentioned is just the authority building piece, right? So you have, number one is the trust and the intimacy, which is huge because if people don't know you like you, trust you, they're not going to hire you as their coach. But also just you're the one that people are there for. Even if it's just the dining room table thing, you still have credibility as the connector of that group. So can you talk a little bit about that?

Yeah, absolutely. No, I think that's huge. And so this is actually bringing up a great example of someone I worked with recently who wanted to. She was in her business spending 80% of her time as a PR professional actually like reaching out to get to gain PR. Right. On behalf of her clients. And she had had the opportunity to speak at an event just like you were talking about. And she recognized in that that she was loving the interaction she had with her audience. She felt like she had the opportunity to really empower the people who were there to see her and so she said to herself, I would rather spend 80% of my time sort of in this space of educating and connecting with clients in a workshop setting versus the 20% of the doing. And so what she ended up doing was creating her own credibility by hosting a couple of events, speaking at a few that were local to her, and then utilizing that content that she had created there. And that exposure, you know, one event led to the next event kind of thing. So you're absolutely right. The credibility piece is huge. I mean, you and I met through the Good Life Project Camp glp, and you were a speaker at that. So, of course, immediately that credibility was formed in that setting as well. And then I think I went on to buy your book. We continued our conversation. Right. So just having that interaction and that opportunity to share what, you know, like, what is your message, that's a big part of what I do. And like, the clarity sessions I have with my clients, like, what is it that you're supporting people with? How are you helping them? And then who is your. Your ideal audience? So when it comes to choosing or having that opportunity to be a speaker at a larger level event or at a local event, think about that too. Like, what audience is going to be there? Is that audience an audience that matches who you want to serve?

Mm, great. Yeah. And it's making me think about maybe there are different even levels to how to use live events to get clients and grow your business. Like, the first level might just be going to someone else's live event. Like, technically, you know, you're at a live event, you may not be the person who's speaking there, but it's still better than interacting with someone, you know, maybe on Facebook. If you get to interact with them on person, in person, you're going to build more trust, more of a connection.

Totally. You have that conversation. Sorry to cut you off. But in those interactions. Right, so even if you're just there as a guest, you have the opportunity to share your expertise with somebody who's sitting next to you, depending on what their topic is. Right. So you're building that, again, the trust and the credibility in that scenario.

Right? Yeah. As we've been planning out my live event and our live event we've even talked about. Okay. I need to sign up for one or two more live events than maybe I would usually just to meet more people who could become customers and kind of going in with the mindset of, oh, I'm there to add value as well to the experience that they're having. So if that's maybe level one of using live events, just going, being a participant in a live event. What might be the next level up in terms of difficulty and in terms of effectiveness?

Yeah, I would say so first. Yeah, totally agree. Attend, right. From those connections that you make at some of the events you're attending, start to have conversations with people. Maybe there's an opportunity or connection point where you meet somebody who's then going to be hosting their event and there's the opportunity for you to have that next level. Maybe it's 10 minutes to speak at an event. Right. From those speaking engagements always offer or an extended invitation to speak with you one on one afterward. Because just like you did that first round, you gained a couple of clients out of it. And then I would say third tier would be hosting your own. And it doesn't have to be this huge shebang. Right. It can be a very intimate experience to again build that trust and credibility and share and share your expertise and also practice your content. I think the other value of an in person event, whether you're attending it or speaking at it or hosting one yourself, is that when you're in a room with people, people reflect things back to you. Right. So you're constantly getting new information and feedback that helps you to refine your brand message and. Right. And sort of like reframe it sometimes where it's like, oh yeah, that's exactly what I meant. But that sticks, right. Or that, you know, you can sort of shape and evolve your business through that sort of feedback, which I think is super valuable.

Great, I love it. So what would you say in terms of when you're thinking about bringing putting your own event together? I think the biggest challenge for people sometimes is like, how do I get the butts in seats? Because sometimes depending on your audience size and how established your business is, it might be just as hard honestly to fill an event as it is to just, you know, just get those people as clients. So I don't know, what do you, what do you make of that? What would be your perspective there?

So I always say hearts and seats. Right. So again, it's defining who your people are. And I think that if you want to keep kind of continue to use the scale we've just established, like by attending events, you start to find some of those people and just putting it out there as an experiment. If you're at those beginning stages, look at where is your audience currently? Do you have a larger Instagram following? Do you have, you know, is Facebook kind of where it's at have you been part of different Facebook groups? Continue to sort of plant the seeds in the places where your people are and you already are having interactions with folks. If it is local networking events, continue to go to them. And then while you're there, talk about your event or this idea that you have for hosting a small gathering. And then maybe you find somebody who you'd like to partner up with that can, like, add value to that same community, depending on what it is you're talking about or want to share. So I would say go where your people already are. Those people are going to have larger networks, too. So one of the most successful ways in which to fill those hearts in seeds is to say, okay, I. I've got this core group of people. They all have people. So if that core is interested, invite them to invite their networks. So it starts to build out from there. I hope that answers it.

Yeah, great. And so, okay, so maybe the best thing is to go with, like, the timeline. So we started to think about how we can start to fill our own live events, say, if we want to do our own, whatever scale it's on, big or small. What are the other things besides getting people getting the hearts in the seats that you need to be thinking about while you're planning the event?

Oh, so many things, Greg. So the way I sort of break it down, I have like four P's in terms of creating an event. So first things first is your purpose. Why are you having this? And I often say, not just like, creating a vision for your event, but I want to know, like, what's your future vision for your business? So this doesn't have to be, you know, five years out. If you're just getting started, like within the next year, what are your goals? Because this event can really become a catalyst for building your business, right? Depending on what that is. And the strategy is going to be different depending what those goals are. So the example I'd shared before, you know, my client, she wanted to spend 80% of her time, like ends her profit coming from speaking engagements, right? If it's somebody who is a coach and they want to create a group coaching program, perhaps this one large event a year is going to create the catalyst to fill that program, right? So depending on what the goal is and the larger vision for your business, that will help to drive the strategy so you've got your purpose, then the people who are those people, who's most going to benefit from the, you know, the message you have to share and what profit would you like to make? From this event. So 100% of the time when I'm working with folks, the goal is to break even on the event production itself. But you often will have a budget in mind of what you'd like to spend to put that together. So no matter what the scale is, right? And then the profit often comes from the invitation on the back end. So if it is inviting people to be part of a group coaching program or perhaps you want to fill your roster with one on one clients, you could utilize a smaller scale event. You know, if you need six more clients tend to be, I feel like the ratio tends to be it again depends on the context. But 10% to, you know, a goal of conversion. Keeping that in mind sort of then helps build out what other things to be thinking about as you move forward. So then what is the content you're going to be sharing? What sort of materials do we need to create to complement that content, to really drive that home, to support people in the best way moving forward. On the other end of the event, I also always invite my clients to think about how do you want your guests to feel? So when they walk in the door? So there's sort of like in the marketing component, what are they feeling right now? What do maybe they need the most help with that sort of helps to drive your content and the creation of that. And then when they walk in the door, what are they feeling during the event? How do you want them to feel when they leave the event? What are they calling their partner, their best friend, their, you know, their business colleague to say about it? So those sort of feelings help to shape the planning and the rest is logistics. You know, the venue of course is a big one people always sort of go to first I think in terms of logistics. Where are we going to have it, when are we going to have it? I could go on and on.

So feel free to interject just so I'm clear. So it's purpose, what's the reason for doing this event? People, who is it for profit? What is your financial projection and concept and then planning. So okay, so, and I'm realizing as we're talking that maybe there's even four levels as you're thinking about live events. There's attending someone else's, speaking at someone else's, planning your own, but maybe for free. That's something that probably you don't do as much work with people on obviously because they wouldn't probably hire someone unless it was a bigger deal type of level four deal. But I'm having a free Live event as just more of a marketing, just a pure marketing type strategy and then planning your own event, but having it be paid and that can be more for marketing or just making money on the event itself. What would be your perspective when people are thinking about, okay, is this event sort of just a break even to fuel me getting clients on the back end, or is this event some sort of higher end experience where this is really the offering itself?

Yeah. So I think again it comes down to those goals. So if it is your desire to again fill a program or fill your roster, then I would say create the event around that opportunity or that invitation if it's looking to, you know, I think of like the larger scale summits and conferences, right. Where it's like you're bringing a ton of people together. It's high energy, inspiring. Maybe not as you're leaving with sort of clarity and an action plan of sorts, but it's more there for inspiration. Those events can be priced that. That experience is typically priced for profit. Right. So you've got access to a ton of different speakers, there's different activities going on. That kind of thing creates a. There's a lot more budget required to produce something like that. But also people are, I think, willing to pay for an experience like that without expectation that there will be an invitation on the other end of that. If that makes sense.

Yeah, makes total sense. And so we've talked a lot about, you know, if you are in the category of wanting to do an event to fuel the client side of your business, what has been your experience as you've seen, Because I know a lot of people have probably been to events with really hard pitches in them or maybe they're lower, they cost less to go to the event. But then it's kind of a pitch fest and. And then on the other end there may be an event that you go to and you really don't know what the next step is to continue on. So talk a little bit about that balance and what you've seen be most effective.

Totally. I really believe like when you have folks in the room who are engaged or excited to work with you, you do yourself a disservice if you don't give some sort of offering on the other end. Right. But it does not have to be this stop, hard, stop, sell sort of experience. I really see creating an event as the opportunity within the programming to build in the value that you add the, you know, the expertise that you have and like the way in which people can work with you. So I always Encourage folks to sort of do that in a way that's graceful and easeful to the attendee so it doesn't feel obtrusive. And you can do that through. You know, you and I have talked about a strategy around providing like a feedback form at the end with sort of just information about how they could work with you in a future capacity that works really well. The other thing I've seen work really well is saying, you know, everybody who attended tonight, you'll receive an email tomorrow talking about the details of the program, and we're going to be providing, you know, a special rate for those of you who are here tonight, that kind of thing. So you're not sort of stalling the experience to give a hard sale. And it just feels like a really amazing sort of as an attendee, like you feel thought of and cared for and you have an opportunity to say yes in a future capacity, but you're. So there's no confusion, but there's also no sort of feeling of being taken advantage of, for lack of a better word. I've been in scenarios where I've been an attendee and I expected one thing and ended up just sitting there listening to pitch after pitch after pitch, you know, and it's not a good feeling. And that I think that it's breaks the trust. Right. And we're all about creating the trust in these experiences, right?

Yeah. I mean, one of the things I think about in my business a lot is Ramit Sethi talks about this, the I will teach you to be rich guy. He says, like, I'm looking for students for life. Right. So you may not buy one of my things now, but I want you to be a student for life. And so in the short term, sometimes a more aggressive selling strategy can get you slightly more clients. And but in the long term, obviously it's not going to get you as many and it's going to break trust and rapport. And one of the things we were talking about even yesterday was how can we bring the sales and marketing aspect of this and the just content delivering value aspect to this and just merge them as much as possible. And it's the same thing. Even if you're just in a, you know, enrollment conversation with a potential client, it's like by the end of that conversation, the person should already be wanting to learn more about how to work with you. And so it's a very effortless transition into just here's what the next step would be as opposed to it feeling like, okay, we had one type of conversation, which was the value conversation. And then we had one type of conversation which is the you selling me on something conversation. So how can you merge that? And I guess maybe that's, that's something that would be helpful to talk about. I mean, one of the things that we were talking about yesterday for my event in terms of being able to convey the value of working with me longer term while delivering value at the event is having, for example, case study examples thrown in as I'm teaching content to help them understand the concept better. But of course, those case studies are from clients who have done a higher end program with me. So you can start to see how that matches up. Are there any other, when you think about aligning the sales with the content, anything else that comes to mind for you?

Yeah, that's a top one for sure. But the other thing you and I have talked about was creating an opportunity for sort of hot seats, right? So it's executing on your or it's showcasing your coaching style and ability. And people are getting extreme value from that. And then they're also those who may not be in the hot seat have the opportunity to sort of learn through, through that experience of watching that unfold. So I feel like we all learn in different, slightly different capacities as well. So the way you can sort of build it in is like through example. So actually whatever it is that you're conveying, you know, if you are a health coach, for example, maybe if you're supporting people with creating a more healthy, balanced lifestyle and through nutrition, maybe part of what you're doing at your event is taking people through like what you do in the kitchen in the morning. So you're doing more of like a showcase of what those recipes look like. People can interact and have questions. Right. So like anytime you can show what you do instead of tell what you do, I think that builds in that trust and example.

Yeah. One of the things that comes to mind for me in terms of someone might be listening and saying, well, how do I know what to kind of give away in a live event? Whether it's for free talk or even I'm charging money for it. But I still want to have people continue on with me, like, how much can I give away? And I'd be curious to hear your perspective. One thing that comes up for me is something that my colleague Tad Hargrave said and he runs a site called Marketing for Hippies. And he said, you know, you can teach so much, you can be so clear and people will still want your personal help to implement it 100%.

100%. I mean, even if you don't mind. So you and I had had a strategy session, right? And as part of that strategy session, there was two follow up calls that you could utilize going forward. And ultimately you ended up hiring me to support you with the entirety of the event to really implement this. So it's. I think you can give it all away and people are still going to be. I mean, I say that with. Because the thing, the value is working with you, right? So like you can have all the information in the world. We also have access to everything online now, Right. If you think about it, you can pretty easily find what it is you're looking for. But it's about your energy. Like how are you utilizing your energy and how does your audience want to be utilizing their energy within their business, Right. So there's always going to be that person, those people who want to hire you for the implementation factor, who desire the accountability piece of it, who want to focus their energy on more, you know, more higher priority things within their business to keep it going forward. And as a coach, I think the value there is that you're supporting people in growing their business. You know, there's a lot that comes up emotionally as you're building a business. So a coach can be there to support a guide you on taking action, but also managing the mindset. Right. So I would say you can't, you can give it all away and still have the clients. At the end of the day, people are always looking for that extra support.

Great. Yeah. So, okay, a bunch of things are coming up for me. Number one is I just like, one of the things I really respect about you is I feel like you're a really good example. I kind of see you as a coach in a way. Even though you have a consulting edge to you, you have a implementation edge where you're actually calling up some of these vendors and negotiating for me and things like that. But what I really like, for anyone listening who maybe says, well, I want to be a coach, but I don't even really know what I want to coach on, that's pretty common. That's actually a huge issue for coaching businesses because people just want to be a coach, but they forget that a business is actually about solving problems for people, so then they have to go do it the opposite way. But you have this great expertise, which is event creation, management, orchestration. But then also like in that strategy session we had, you're helping me get clear on how this fit into my business on Why I was doing this on some deeper clarity coaching style questions. So I just wanted to thrive. You're a great example of someone who's paired coaching skills with actual tangible expertise. Did that come from a background that you had in events or did you just get into it and just go.

Well, it's funny because I, and I actually don't lead with this, but I did go through a coaching certification a couple of years ago in 2015. And at first it was sort of I had these three silos of things I was doing. So when I launched my blog and celebrate in 2014, I was really sort of talking about how do we find celebration in everyday moments? Right. So even when shit hits the fan, when it is not fun, when like times are tough, like, how can we find the silver lining? What can we celebrate in those moments? And so I was blogging about that consistently and I really desired to create a business, but I didn't know how that was going to become profitable. Like, what was my offering going to be on the other side of that? So I had gone and invested in some of my own coaching. And through that process, one of the things that had come from a session I'd had with a business coach was coaching could be a pathway for you. So ultimately went down that pathway, received a certification. But simultaneously I had been working, you know, 10 plus years in corporate with a marketing background, always concentrating on client relationships and events. So having that plus then, you know, I had happened to be that person who was always planning for all of my friends, baby showers, bridal showers, all of the above. So the styling component and the creativity that came through in the event styling aspect was also sort of this like, section that I didn't really feel. I didn't know how it all fit together. It seems silly to say that now, but it was all right there all along. And it wasn't until 20. Yeah. A year later in 2016, that I was speaking to another business coach who just happened to be put on my path. And I sort of was expressing that I didn't see how it all fit together. And she said, well, it sounds to me like you have all the ingredients to support me with this three day event I'm planning to host for my business. And would you like to put a proposal together? And it was in that moment that I was just like, oh my goodness, of course. This all fits so beautifully. And I love personal development. That's something that I, you know, all those years while I was working in corporate, I was also investing in myself by sort of attending workshops, retreats, conferences, you name it. I loved being in that environment. And so I was unknowingly also gathering tools for my toolkit that I use now in terms of programming with clients. So it sort of. It came together. It's like that Steve Jobs quote. Like you, when you look back, you see how all the dots connect. But yeah, and I think I was really excited when I started getting into this path to see how much the coaching piece really benefited the work I was doing with my clients. Because also, and you know, there's this wave that happens when you're planning an event. Like you are putting yourself out there, you're putting yourself on stage, fears come up. Like it's a normal thing. I've started tracking, like when you're gonna start losing sleep about it. What if nobody shows up? All these same questions continue to arise with each. With each client that I have served. And in hosting my own live event a few weeks ago, I also had the same sort of thing. I'm like, oh, yeah, yep, this is normal.

Yep. Yeah. I mean, I just think it's such a great example. And you're obviously so in your sweet so spot. There's something that happens and even I'm thinking about an article I read from Rebecca Tracy, another colleague. Encage youe Life or Encage your business is her main offering. And she talks about don't throw out everything. Everyone always wants to be a coach. And then they throw out all of the expertise, all the background they had where if you just would pair the coat new coaching skills with the expertise, for most people, that's the best way you're going to deliver value. There's very few coaches who can just be the pure coach and get clients that way and deliver transformation that way. To me, the most powerful thing is pairing some sort of expertise consulting system knowledge that you develop with that exploration that comes from coaching. So anyway, I just think you're an awesome example of that.

So thank you so much.

We've talked about the four levels. I'm creating IP for you right now. We talked about the four levels, types of ways live events could fit in. Right. Go to someone else's, speak at someone else's. Host your own free one. Host your own paid one. We've talked about the four P's, which is, let's see if I can get it people, purpose, profit planning. And we've talked a little bit about how to think about selling your services on the back end of an event and how to do that in a balanced way, I guess the next thing that comes up for me is, and this is something I'm really looking to you for, because I think you're going to be amazing at our event where I don't have necessarily the same eye for this is the style and component. So as someone's planning, they've gone through the four P's and now they're thinking about what is the feel, the vibe that I want for this. Can you talk a little bit about why it's important and how you approach that component?

Absolutely. So what often happens in that clarity session too is really the values around your brand and those of you who are already established. You've likely got a look and feel on your website. You've got some sort of online presence that is helping you to articulate and sort of share your message in a visual way. So what I always say is like the online component feeds into the offline component and vice versa. So even down to how are you presenting yourself by attending an event, do you have a business card? Sometimes we don't, and that's okay too. Like the non business card, maybe go that route. But what are you wearing? Does what you're wearing represent your brand in some way? Is there something, you know, some sort of talking point or visual identity that you can present with? Like what is your Persona? What is your brand Persona? Does that match in real life and online? So being really sort of intentional about that also helps to build trust. So I always talk about touch points when I'm talking about your brand experience because your brand is so much more than your website or your logo. Right? It's the collective sum of touch points that your audience has with your brand and experience with your brand. So kind of taking inventory of what you've already got out there. And then how can we translate that brand that you may have already established online into inlay experience? So it starts to come down to things like linens. What are we going to have? What's the entryway going to look like when you first walk in the room? Is there some sort of symbol or emblem that lets people know, okay, I'm in the right place? You can work with colors, you can work with texture, you can work with, you know, plants, flowers, florals, all those sorts of things. But I would really highly suggest being intentional about all of that because again, it's opportunity to deepen that trust. Workbooks. So depending on what you're creating or the promise of the event is going to be, could you create either a really, you know, well, branded workbook or folder or some sort of tangible takeaway that people are utilizing during the event and then they're going home and like pulling that thing out to execute upon, you know, afterwards. So what is the transformation going to be beyond the event? So we have a transformational component inside the container of the event and then beyond the event. How are you inviting people to sort of take action and that can come through or can be driven home through these little takeaways.

Great. So as I'm listening to you, I'm starting to think, wow, like this is a lot that's adding up. What is the minimum amount of time that you would say someone should leave to plan their event? From the moment they say I'm definitely gonna do an event to how far they should they push out the date itself.

Yeah. So I mean, again, it depends on like if we use the sort of, like this is my first event and my goal is, you know, to have eight people in the room or 10 people in the room sort of thing. It's possible to do that in eight weeks time. It also depends on, but it also depends on where is your network currently. Sort of like I always say, first things first when it comes, when you go back up the scale. So we've got the purpose and the people component. Set your timer for a few minutes and write down all the people you know would benefit from the event. And then when it comes to approach. So if you say, okay, I'm gonna do this in two months time, making those personal connections with people are going to be much more transferable or the conversion rate is going to be much higher if you're making a personal connection and outreach. So even if the person who you've reached out to to say, hey, I'm planning this thing and I thought of you, here's the reason why isn't interested. They may have somebody in their network who is. Right. So it's a conversation starter in terms of getting those hearts and seats. So I would say the two month time frame is probably like the minimum amount of time you would want if you have a larger audience, if you're planning a larger scale event, if it's a destination type of event. Right. People are going to need more time to book that onto their calendar, to create travel arrangements, all that sort of thing. So it sort of backs up from there. Keep going back to the purpose.

How long have we been planning this event?

We had our first strategy session in January. Okay, so I think something of your scale is typically 6 to 9 months, sometimes 12 months depending on the goal.

Right. So we started in January, we got serious a month or two after that, and then it's going to be at the end of September, which we can talk about at the end. Okay, so what have I not asked about at this point? We've talked about the lead up to the event, how you think about the event in your business, styling the event. I guess we haven't talked about event itself. What's the mindset and the thought process once it's the day of the event?

Oh, that's a great question. I love all of your questions. Greg could talk about this stuff for days. So I always say, even if you're hosting your first event, you haven't hired someone like myself to support you. Have somebody there that you trust, who knows your business, who can be there to sort of handle any logistical things that could happen behind the scenes. Whether that's pulling out the lunch trays or making sure everybody has water, the AV equipment, you know, you never know what sort of like little things could come up. So having somebody who's solely dedicated to that is super important and will also put you at ease. So a calm, inviting host equals a calm, engaged audience. Right? So that's something that was told to me years ago and I like it. Never, never left my mind. So I highly suggest having some downtime and quiet time before the event for yourself, building in a buffer around like the teaching zones if that's how you're structuring the event. If it's more of like, you know, a workshop type of setting, give yourself the time to sort of breathe in between teaching segments and build in more time than not. So when it comes to creating the content for the event, when you have a room full of engaged people, those questions, you know, the content can really be talking points and actually you need less content than you think you do is sort of my point here. Because when people start to ask questions that leads to other questions, it generates conversation, you can pull from examples, all that kind of stuff. So sort of be mindful of. But in your first setting, so say you're doing a more intimate event and you have eight people there, maybe it's a two hour event and you're really focusing on one topic in particular and people are leaving with one worksheet, you know, it doesn't have to be over the top, but really well thought out and giving yourself plenty of buffer room and time to decompress afterward as well. Like don't over schedule yourself, especially if you have a, like a day two kind of thing.

Going on.

Take it easy, be well hydrated. Have somebody that can run around behind the scenes for you and really knows your business and has the audience at the forefront of their mind. Because at the end of the day, we want the audience to feel really, really well cared for throughout the whole process.

Great. Okay, so we're. You mentioned hydration. Schedule less than you think that you need. Have some sort of ally there, some sort of help. I remember I even had that again, that very first free workshop I ever hosted. Emma was there, my wife was there and just helping. One thing I might add is don't schedule something the day after the event. Oh, my gosh, you're on uptime. Right. And so when I posted retreats here and things like that, it's great in the moment and you're in the zone, but you're going to need some recovery time.

Totally. Yes. Thank you for saying that. That's exactly it. I always encourage folks to like, block off at least a day afterward or two. And even, you know, for us who are on the production end of things, like next day is usually, you know, returning things that need to be returned, shipping things back out, all that sort of logistical stuff, it actually doesn't really end until like the second day where you can, you can breathe on the production end. So having folks to that point, having folks who could potentially support you in, if you had to, had rented something to support the event, maybe not take that on yourself, give that to somebody who would be happy to take that back for you so you can rest and recover.

So once you're recovered, the event went awesome. You nailed it. What should be on your docket or on your mind in the week after the event itself?

Follow up, follow up, follow up. So I feel like having that invitation for folks, right, for those of you who, for those audience members who desire to go forward and working with you in a future capacity, what is that going to look like? So ahead of time, sort of building out the strategy for onboarding, if that's appropriate, or if you're taking just info calls, scheduling those. And then are you inviting people to sort of continue to have a conversation in some sort of online group via Facebook or some other modality? If so, you know, just having a light check in with them and. Or what kind of content are you creating for your business as a result at the end of this event? So are you going to create a recap post if you had a videographer there? Is there going to be, you know, some sort of sort of. Yeah. Recap video that you can share with folks like, again, it goes back to that like purpose and your goals. But knowing what that is up front is going to help drive the back end sort of weeks, months to come as well. If you're doing multiple events a year, then maybe you're utilizing that video that was captured at event one to promote event two.

You know, when it comes to actually selling the event itself, because I know that that's where a lot of people listening are going to get caught up. They're still not going to feel like they can actually sell the event. The planning and doing the event. It just feels like the easy part. My perspective when it comes to sales is always that, you know, you're not selling coaching, you're selling the tangible, specific result that they're hoping to get out of coaching. And so that's what have people focus on when it comes to getting clients. It occurs to me the event might be a little bit different because you still want to lead with the benefits of the event. But also people go to events also just because they want to go to an event, like just because they need to get out of their apartment and meet people. So how much in the sales process do you encourage focusing on the event experience itself, the what you're selling versus the why they should go to the event in terms of the outcomes they'll leave with?

Yeah, I think it's a beautiful hybrid of the two, especially because events are, like you said, this opportunity to connect. Right. So I always call events like an incubator for connection. So really selling the experience and the community aspect of that as well. I think especially for those of us who are in business for ourselves, it can get a little lonely at times if we're not surrounded with like minded folks or people. You know, if we are doing this and maybe our partners or our spouses or even our friends have a different. They're not, they're not creating in the way we're creating in terms of our businesses. They're going to maybe a traditional job or something like that. It can get a little lonely. So I would say really highlighting the community aspect of that and when it comes to the event and creating the container for the event itself, really being mindful of that in terms of your programming as well. So there's so many different ways in which you can sort of match people up or suggest that, you know, create prompts that would sort of bring people together because people are naturally going to gravitate to people who they connect with anyhow. So what is that? Yeah, what Is the promise of the event, what results are they going to get? But more so than anything, like, what is the experience going to be like, and what kind of community or environment are you setting there? I think that Jonathan and Stephanie Fields do an amazing job of this in terms of creating Camp glp. So you are there. They are setting the tone for that experience through all of their marketing efforts, through their email sequences, through the conversations that they're having on the podcast leading up to the event, and now that they've done it several years in a row, of course they have more content in terms of visual content to share. But I think selling the experience then creates excitement for the experience, and therefore then the experience becomes exactly what you envision.

Awesome. So I feel like we've covered. We've covered a ton in terms of how to think about it beforehand, during the event, after the event. What might be fun as we start to wrap up here is maybe we could give them an example. Obviously, you're helping me plan my event. So as a tangible example for some of the process we went through, I could ask you some questions and you could start to explain the process we went through in developing my live event. Would that work?

That'd be great. That sounds awesome.

Cool. So we met. We've been teasing Camp glp, shout out to Camp glp. It's a great live event to go to. It's where I met a lot of my initial batches of clients. So we met there and we had that first conversation, I remember, on the bench outside. Beautiful day. And what. What was that beginning phase look like in terms of when I was just thinking about maybe I should have a live event? Totally.

Totally. I feel like some of the questions I had asked you then was really more about the purpose. Right. So, like, where do you see yourself going within your business going forward? How do you see this event supporting that vision? Why do you want to have, you know, this event? And one of the things that you had said was that you really enjoy the interaction you have with your audience or in that opportunity of being either speaking at an event or hosting your own event, that interaction you gain from audience participation is really something that fills you up. And so that's also something to be mindful of as you're planning an event. If that's something that fills you up, this is certainly a modality that's going to support you in doing that. And really thinking about what you would share, I think was probably some of those initial questions I had for you, thinking about what would the event look like, because at the time too, I think you were considering a retreat like on your property at that point in time.

Yeah.

Sort of tossing some ideas around. But what was the ultimate goal going to be?

Yeah, and it's funny, I'm just remembering back to this now. I think that when I talked to you initially was probably right during or after a real phase of burnout. For me, there was a time last year where I was just totally burnt out. I just like didn't really want to do what I was doing as much anymore. And it wasn't that I didn't love the clients that I was working with. That's the first thing you should think about if you feel burnt out is like, am I working with people who I enjoy working with? And that was fine. I was loving my clients. I was enjoying what I was doing too. But how I was doing it was a little bit too much onto the online marketing spectrum in terms of being isolated, feeling disconnected. I was building funnels and webinars and stuff like that. So that's another thing that comes to mind in terms of where we started out. So we had that initial conversation. You kept following up with me like a good salesperson in a good way. Like, I remember you followed up with me a couple times and I was like, I'm not. That's not in my mind right now because I have to focus on other things. But like, definitely follow up with me again. And you kind of stayed on my radar. And then I think, you know, maybe at the end of last year, at the beginning of this year, we scheduled that first sort of strategy session together. And what was it that we started to get clear on during that session?

Yeah, so we got even more clear. That strategy session is really the basis of what we've now we're executing upon. Right. So it went back to those four P's. So the purpose, we got clear on that the people. And you were really, you knew your people really well. I think the thing that we've done more recently that has like fine tuned the strategy was you had put out a survey to your audience, to your list, and got a better sense for where the audience was within their business. Meaning sort of, are they just starting out, are they well within building their business or are they taking it to the next level? And that that data has really supported us in refining the strategy going forward.

Yeah, I'm going to interrupt. When we started off, that was to be really specific. I was thinking I was going to make an event for more advanced coaches who are scaling Their business. People who already had a full roster were almost full roster and were just trying to grow and maybe double their business or something like that. And then the survey results come in, and it's like all coaches in their first year of business with zero to six clients who are in the traction phase. And it's just, you know, this isn't something you've talked to about in the interview so much, is just asking people what they want. Because when you're an entrepreneur, you always stay in your head and think about what you want to create. But the problem is, if what you want doesn't match up with what other people want, then you don't get paid for anything, and then you just sit on your butt and don't get to have fun. So putting out that survey was a key moment because you're right. In that first strategy session, we were thinking about a certain type of audience to serve, and now we're thinking about gearing it towards people who are a little bit earlier on, which some of the content will be the same, but it will be. It will be oriented in a different way, and it will be sold in a different way because of that.

Totally. So that's a huge takeaway, I would say, for anybody listening. And I always talk about sort of like the sweet spot. Right. Is like, what do you have to offer? Who are your people and what do they need? How can you help them? And then, like, the in between is. Is the. What do they. You know, like the. The sweet spot, as you said, the merger of, like, where are they at? How can you actually support them best? So that was huge. The strategy session itself covered everything in that. The purpose category, the people category, from what we knew. Right. Have sort of. Well, it's different stages. You have the same, I would say, ideal client avatar. But they're in the journey. Yes, exactly. So, and then the components of your brand, how would we infuse your brand into the physical space? What. What does that look and feel gonna be like? How do you want? What are your desired outcomes? What are your desired outcomes? That for the attendees. What am I missing?

So what did we talk about? Just to get even more specific, what did we talk about in terms of the look and feel as we were thinking about that component.

So that was a fun one for me because you have this really clean aesthetic online. It's got this sort of luxury feel to it, but you also have this component in your everyday life where you're living on a farm. So you have this sort of woodsman essence about you and the way you approach your, you know, your experience as a wrestler has like informed your brand or sort of helped shape your brand with the languaging. You're using that high performance aspect as well. So there's a masculinity to your brand, I would say. But there's also this, this sort of lovely dance in the way that you work with people and your delivery is not overly masculine, I would say. So it was really fun to sort of pull from all of these parts of you, your Persona and your brand into a mood board of sorts that I think really we hit the nail on the head with that. And in terms of choosing a venue, I would say using that mood board as inspiration helped to drive where you were gonna host the event. Because if you can find a venue that sort of already matches the aesthetic and that vibe and that feeling you want your audience to have, it creates a lot less work in terms of production to create, you know, almost over, make over a space if you need to, depending on what that is.

So two things that I love about what you said, one is that you said Woodsman Essence, which I think would be a great cologne or something like that. And the second thing is, you know, this concept, and this applies beyond events, which is, you know, ask the question two levels up from what you're tempted to. So don't think about where am I going to have this event, Think about what is the purpose of the event or what do I want to convey? And then that will filter the lower level questions, decisions for you.

Yeah, because the, I think our inclination, when you hear event, so many people go immediately to where am I gonna have it? What are the logistics? What are these things gonna be? And it's like, it's almost, you're. You're not maximizing your impact or opportunity if you're not asking those higher level questions first. Because anybody can have an event to have an event, but we want to create a really memorable, impactful experience for your audience. The one that leaves them talking about it for years to come. Right. So that word of mouth machine, if you don't answer those up, you know, these questions up front, then you're sort of missing the mark in a sense. Right, Definitely.

So, and then we also talked about, you mentioned, we talked about the purpose. So what is it that we started to develop and create there?

Yeah, so you kind of were pretty clear right up front what the six steps were going to be for. From like sort of taking your business from where it's at to scaling it. And so you knew that. And those, I think, have been a little bit refined now that you know exactly who you're speaking to. But having that, you are very clear on that up front. And you, you know, you're really all about process and creating that ease and flow for your clients and seeing that process, even in the. The bootcamp that you offer now and seeing how beneficial that's been for people who are following a process, I think that you were, you know, right on. We didn't have to do much probing around what was the content going to be. So. And I love that about you. I love how clear you are within your business and your goal and your visions for your business. It's been so easy to work with you because it's just like, okay, done, decision made, you know, And I may ask a question that makes you think about it a little further, but you are already pretty darn clear when it comes to that. Cool.

So as you mentioned that the one thing I realized we didn't cover is. And we'll be talking, like, for two days, because I just love chatting with you. Is that naming the event, Naming the event. How important is it to get the right name? Is it kind of important? I mean, where is it in terms of.

Well, I think it's another touch point. Right. So it drives home your brand message. It tells, like, if you create a name that is really memorable and, like, sticks with people, that's easier to share, it's easier to talk about. And you want the name to tell what it's going to like, the purpose of the event. So you want to know the essence of what you're going to be learning or getting from the event, benefiting from the event in that name. If you can do that in a way that's like, also utilizing humor or alliteration or. At first, I had suggested let's write down the. Like, start with the subtitle first. So that's like, what exactly are you going to receive from this experience? And then the title itself is going to be that thing that is like the memorable, impactful, sort of almost summarizes what the subtitle says in a quick, memorable way.

Yeah. So I actually had done a brainstorm of titles and. And maybe they sucked or maybe they were decent, I don't know. But Patsy came back and she said, why don't you write the subtitle first and then you can think about rhyming and things like that for the title. So this was after I did the survey. And so I think the subtitle we came up with was how to create a line of paying clients and build a six figure coaching business even if you're getting started. So that hit on a lot of the goals, a lot of the frustrations, a lot of the doubts, like if I'm new to this, is this really possible? And literally the words from the survey, someone in the survey had said what they want is to create a line of paying clients. So that was well articulated. So slide it out.

Anytime you can utilize language of your ideal client like you're immediately people then think oh my God, he wrote this for me. Right. Or she wrote this for me. This is the, that's the beauty of marketing and words and sort of creating something for your audience and what they desire because then that's like a no brainer. You don't have to think about it. It's not. Sometimes I think we have start out and we're using language maybe that we would use or we've heard other people use but it's not the language that our ideal audience wants to hear or is hearing, needs to hear. Right. So just like those quick. I think it didn't take much time to tweak that and now I feel like what we've come up with is something that really sticks and it's going to be super memorable.

Yeah, yeah. Everyone thinks marketing is hard or you have to be clever. Marketing is just saying back what you.

It's just like coaching, reflecting.

It's just saying it the exact way that they just said it. And so we came up with the title drum roll which is foster your roster. So foster your roster. And then we started to nail down some of the details of the venue. So do you want to talk about. Let's just talk about the venue and the process that we went through for that and what we landed on.

Yeah. So that is always sort of one of these dances where you kind of keep. When it comes to negotiation, there's few key areas that often folks on the other side can support you in sort of coming to a mutual beneficial agreement. But knowing that we had sort of 50 attendees in mind that we wanted it in the D.C. area. So you start to ask these sort of demographic questions and then look and feel wise. What do we want that to be and what's important in terms of priorities. So I think finding a spot that was easy to easy access from an airport was really important for you. Food was really important, like a beautiful meal was important to you. And then obviously pricing. We wanted this to be a high end experience, but one that was really, you know, affordable and reasonable as well. So that's sort of what the filtering system became as we went out and started looking for venues and we ended up at a hotel because of convenience as well. I think that's part if people are coming in from out of town. Having a built in room block, an affordable room block for people is really important in that essence too. So I always tell people, you think you can think outside of the box when it comes to the venue itself, but in this case the hotel venue made a lot of sense. It was like the perfect fit. So we landed on the Kimpton Donovan in dc, which I'm really excited about. And the other thing too, I just, if I may, is when you're in negotiation with folks like, pay attention to how people on the other end are responding to you. If someone's super responsive, if somebody is really friendly already, going above and beyond and supporting you and getting the information that you need, like put those folks higher on the list. You know, I read recently read the book Blue Fishing by Steve Sims. I don't know if you've read it yet, Greg, but it's all about experiences. And he is a concierge of sorts that makes like extraordinary things happen for his clients. And he says one of his points is like, give them the chug test. Would you chug a beer with, you know, the person you're going to work with, whether that's your client or a vendor you're going to work with? Like, would I want to go to dinner with the folks that I've been, you know, sort of supporting me and negotiating your contract? That's sort of the question I've been asking and I think it's really important because that again, on that end it helps if something were to go wrong day of. I now have a really great relationship with, you know, the salesperson on the other end that's gonna, you know, have my back. And so the trust thing goes through all these channels, not just with your audience and your clients.

Beautiful. I love it. So we landed on that hotel, the Donovan. We're targeting the end of September, so it's going to be September 29th and 30th. I just had to pull up my calendar to remind myself because I don't want to get that wrong. And that's what it's going to be. Foster your roster. Teaching you the six steps to create a line of paying clients and build a six figure business. And it really will be targeted towards coaches who are earlier on so whether they've done my boot camp course and they want to grow from there or they haven't bought anything from me before and they want to learn what my system is and how I help people build their business. Is there anything else that you want to share with people around using a live event to get clients and grow their coaching business?

I would just say don't hesitate to do it. Start small. Start by putting yourself out there by attending events. I loved how we sort of came up with those four stages as we were talking today because it's really true. And I think what's interesting for me as I reflect back on my own experience is that some of my business best friends have come from attending a conference or a retreat. Some of my biggest allies now have come from that. And and when you're. When it go. When you go forth to create your own event down the line, if that's something you desire to do, calling on those connections, whether they become referral partners or folks that may come in and speak to share the stage with you, whatever it may be, is just like so valuable. The return on investment sometimes with a live event doesn't happen immediately. Right. But it's that long term customers for life as you had mentioned that it's friends for life. Relationships for life is really the value of participating in and hosting live events. So I'll leave it with that.

Great. Where should people learn more about you and how can they get in touch?

Awesome. So my website is andcelebrate.com so it's and celebrate.com I have a free downloadable at the top of my page all around getting clear on your event so feel free to download that. And I also spend a lot of time on Instagram. My handle is and celebrate over there as well. And you can drop me an email right through my site.

Thanks Patsy. It's always a pleasure to talk to you.

Likewise.

All right, take care of.