How To Build Your Business | Jack Canfield

Hi, I'm Jack Canfield and today I'd like to talk to you about the future of your business. If you're a coach, trainer, speaker, consultant, or someone who offers some sort of professional service, it's important to have a game plan for how you plan to grow your business in the months ahead. And today I'd like to give you some tips to help you do just that. My first piece of advice this when it comes to your business building strategies, be sure to track your actions and pay close attention to your results. This is always important and something you should always be doing, of course. But if there's one thing the past few years have shown us is that everything can change on a dime and the approaches that used to work before can stop getting results literally overnight. So the more you pay attention to what's happening in your industry and your business, the more the better situated you'll be. My next piece of advice is to do more of what works and less of what doesn't. This may sound obvious and like a no brainer, but you will be surprised at how hard it can be for some people to change their habits. For example, if the best way for them to grow their mailing list has been to offer free webinars via paid advertising on Facebook, that's what they're going to keep doing. Even as the results continue to decline. They tell themselves that it was the marketing copy that didn't work, or maybe the offer wasn't as good this time around instead of realizing that the cause may be much more significant and more indicative of a major industry wide shift. Also remember the Pareto Principle, otherwise known as the 8020 rule, which states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from just 20% of causes. In other words, a small percentage of causes have an outsized effect. And this concept is important to understand because it can help you identify which initiatives, practices and activities to prioritize so you can make the most impact. So take the time to see if you can identify which activities that 20% are producing your best results and decrease or eliminate the activities that aren't. So as you take action in your business, make sure to pay close attention to the to the actions that you take that are getting the kind of results you want as well as the ones that aren't, and focus more of your time and effort into the ones that are working. And if none of your growth efforts are getting any traction, that could be a sign that it's time for you to do something radically different. Successful business people have to be prepared to let go of what's not working so they can free themselves up to find a better approach. Now my next tip is to make sure you're speaking to the right people and then do more of it A lot of people try to appeal to too wide or too general an audience. They think everyone can benefit from what they have to sell or to teach, and so they decide to cast as wide a net as possible. But the problem with trying to appeal to everyone is that your messaging is so vague it ends up not doing a great job of speaking directly to anyone. And when people don't feel like you are speaking directly to their situation and their needs, they will be less likely to pay attention to your message. In my experience, you'll see better results when you get really clear on exactly who you want to work with or connect with and gear your message and your offerings specifically toward them. Then once you know you're speaking to the right people, do more of it. If you only send emails once or twice a month, send more. Try sending one a week or even more than that. If you only post once or twice a week on social media, post more often and perhaps on more network. Reach out to people individually and forge more personal connections with the people who may be able to support your business in some way. The more people are aware of you and feel connected to you, the more likely they'll be to engage with you and take action on your offers. But also make sure you're providing value in your emails and social posts. If it is all only marketing and sales company people will opt out. Most people advise at least two contacts that appear purely valuable content before you follow that with marketing messages following on that idea, my next piece of advice is to make sure you're offering something your people actually want. It's great if you're able to grow a sizable email list or social media community, but if they're not taking action on your offers, that's a sign there's a critical disconnect somewhere that you need to address. You are likely either talking to the wrong people or you're offering things they just aren't in, interested in buying, or what you are charging may be out of alignment with what they can afford or are willing to pay for your product or your service. For example, if you offer self help workshops and your community is largely made up of people who would never sign up for self help workshop in a million years, no matter how much they might need it, you're never going to see a lot of action on your offers. In that case, you either have to change the people you're talking to or look for a way to offer them something they actually do want and are eager to take action on. Now, if your offers aren't getting a lot of traction, as I said, you may also want to reevaluate them in terms of their value and pricing strategy. I'm going to say something a little controversial here. There are a lot of experts out there who will tell you how important it is to charge what you're worth, and you should. But if you're just starting out and haven't built up the kind of reputation needed to catch the eye of clients who are willing to pay what you think you're worth worth, you may want to adjust your strategy and work your way up to that point. The same goes if the community you have built around your business simply can't afford what you're asking. If the majority of your community is living paycheck to paycheck, you're going to find it challenging to sell them a product or a program that costs thousands of dollars, no matter how worth it your product or program is. That's just simple economics. But what you can do is come up with something you can offer them that fits within their price range. Maybe that means a group coaching program or an online self study program that you can sell at a lower price point because it doesn't take up too much of your personal time to run it. Now, finally, in terms of your marketing again, I encourage you to focus on the marketing efforts that are getting the best results and be prepared to explore new strategies. Right now, if you talk to most marketing experts, they'll tell you that short form video is all the rage. I'm Talking about the 60 to 90 second videos you can see on TikTok or increasingly on Instagram and Facebook. This is the most popular, most consumed form of media being consumed online right now. But remember, the popularity is largely being driven by TikTok, which skews toward a much younger audience than say Facebook or Instagram. I've seen articles claiming that TikTok and short form videos are also increasing in popularity with older audience as well. But remember, that includes videos like cat videos and cute baby animal videos, not to mention humorous videos. Just because this type of content is very popular doesn't mean that it appeals to your target audience or that it lends itself very well to the type of content that you offer. That said, if you can figure out a way to offer powerful snippets of value via short videos, it's definitely worth posting them on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok to see if your right fit audience respond. Just remember that the social media landscape is always changing and what worked last year may not work at all this year. You've got to be willing to experiment. Just remember that your value is still primarily in your email list. All of your other marketing efforts should ideally be geared toward encouraging people to sign up for your emails, because that's where you will likely find it easiest to cultivate a relationship with them and motivate them to take action on your offer. Offers Also, if you offer professional B2B services, you may want to revisit LinkedIn as a primary marketing and networking hub. I'm seeing more marketers turn to LinkedIn these days as a more reliable way to find other professionals who are actually interested in talking business as opposed to watching all those cute baby animal videos. So if LinkedIn isn't something you've invested a lot of time in and effort before, maybe now's the time to start. Start. Just remember that even when it comes to marketing, the more personal your communications and connections, the more valuable it will be. You may find your time is better spent cultivating one to one relationships with people who may be willing to have you appear on their podcast or host a free workshop for their community and growing your list that way as opposed to throwing all your money down the Facebook and Instagram rabbit hole. So if there's just one, one takeaway I could leave you with, it would be this. Your best chances of growing your business will most likely come from successful collaborations with other people in your general industry and with businesses that are complementary but not necessarily competitive to your own. So look for people who are already serving the same clientele that you want to work with, and then form relationships with these people. And look for ways that you can help their communities in ways that they can't. And by giving, you shall receive and and It's a great way to put yourself out there and introduce yourself to new communities. The more people who know you exist, the easier it will be for you to grow your business. All right, those are my main recommendations for how to build your business in the months ahead. If you have big plans to grow your business this year, please share them in the comments below. I'd love to hear about your goals and what your plans are now. If you found this video helpful, please make sure you like it. Share it with a friend who may need it. Subscribe to my channel for more videos like this one and for some additional business growth strategies Be sure to visit jackcampfield.com and check out the links in the description below as well and let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for watching.