You do what now?

Sam. Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Katie McManus, your practical business coach. Coming to you live in a few different places. I'm over here on my phone on TikTok. Hello, everyone. I am also. Oh, gosh, I have to remember to do that. Also going live over on Instagram and on LinkedIn and YouTube. I love us to be interactive. So if you're watching and you have any questions, please do feel free to pop them into the comments. Tonight, I want to go live really quick because this isn't like, a big topic. This is just stressing how important it is to have a good answer to that question. What do you do? Right. It's one of the most common questions I get in all of my programs and in all of my webinars. How do I describe what I do? Right? And I think what's really hard about this for a lot of folks, especially when you've come from working in corporate, is that in corporate, like, you have a title, right? You are an sdr. You are a sales executive. You are the VP of marketing. You are this thing. And like, everyone in your ecosystem is able to understand how you are useful to them, how you could be a. You a resource to them, what you're relevant to, what questions they can come to you with. And it's a way to kind of like, communicate value. This is the value that I bring. And when you're a business owner, there's no, like, natural title that comes to you. You have to decide this. Hello, Michael. Hello, Colt. Culted board. Hello, welcome. Cultivoard. Am I pronouncing that correctly? Anyway, welcome. Hi, Beth. Hello. Welcome. So, yeah, so it's kind of trip when you start your own business and you realize that, like, you get to make these decisions on your own. You get to decide what your title is going to be. You get to decide, you know, how do you describe what it is that you do? And really the difference between a good answer and a bad answer when you have a bad answer. Let's just go there first, because I've heard some really bad answers to this question, and I think a lot of it comes to, oh, hi. Hi, Brooklyn. Hi, jj. Hi, Anthony. I think a lot of this comes from this advice that got passed around a lot, like, 10, 15 years ago that when, like, you give your elevator pitch and you talk about what you do, you should, like, say something that makes people curious and ask a question, right? So, like, I don't know, the advice was like, say something that's, like, a little out there, and then People are like, oh, what's that? And then, you know, you can start the conversation, you can tell them more about what you do. I think that's garbage advice. I think that is absolutely garbage advice. Because here's the thing. In practice, people don't like looking stupid. They don't like looking stupid. So if you say something, if you say, you know, I'm an executive coach, I'm an executive leadership coach, and they don't know what that means. They're not going to be like, most of the time, they're not going to be like, oh, what does that mean? What they're going to do is they're going to be like, oh, that's so nice. And then they're going to say, oh, you know what? Like, my, my drink is empty. And when it's not, I'm going to go to the bar and get a refill. Nice seeing you. Really, really lovely to see you today. They're not going to stick around and dig for what the answer is. Okay, people, our brains are constantly working to, like, mitigate how much energy we have to expend in any given interaction. All right? So if a given interaction. Hi, Jim. Hi, Wendy. Hello, Doo doo. Welcome. If in a given interaction we, like, say something that someone doesn't immediately understand, literally their brain is gonna shut down curiosity, because that is too much energy. They're just gonna continue with the conversation with the things that they understand. All right? The worst answer I ever had to this question. I was, I was training like a bunch of coaches that like, went through my coach training program. And like, you know, full disclosure, my coach training program was a little hippie dippy. Okay? So, like, it's totally normal, but I was talking to someone who is an executive leadership coach and she was really, really wanting to get corporate clients. And I asked her, you know, to do this workshop, this, this exercise that I'm actually going to be teaching in my five day challenge that starts next Monday. So if you want to sign up for that, go to the link in my bio. If you're on TikTok or Instagram, and if you're watching this on YouTube or on LinkedIn, it's right in the description of this live. You can go ahead and sign up. Day one, we literally cover this. I will walk you through exactly how you come up with your title. How do you describe what you do in a way that, that gets you clients like that? All right, but this really bad example. So she was really wanting corporate clients and the reason a lot of coaches want to Go for corporate clients is because you can make a lot of money. Coaches that work like with C suite or VP level, they charge anywhere from like 15 to $30,000 for a six month engagement where you have one or two calls a month and that's it. Okay, so it's like the big whale. So everyone, everyone who goes through coach training goes through a phase where they want to do this kind of work. And of course, like, there are some people who are really successful and some people who get into it, realize it's not their thing and move on to something else. But to be able to get there, you have to have a really compelling answer to the question, what do you do? And so I had her go through this whole exercise and she didn't want to listen. She did not want to go through my exercise because she had the right answer. And the right answer that she had come up with was when someone asked her what she does, she was like, oh, I'm lightning. I'm lightning. Expecting them to be like, well, what does that mean? And then she was going to go on and explain. Like, she's like the shock of electricity that comes in and blah, blah, blah. Guys, no one's. Oh, no, am I going. I'm going live in the wrong one. I'm in the gay birthday club. Oh, bummer. Okay, hold on, I'm gonna switch. Okay, bye. Guys, this is. Hi, everyone. Oh, my gosh. Hold on. If you wanna. Okay, I'm in the wrong Tick tock account. Oh my God, that's so embarrassing. This is the gay birthday club. If you want to start a business. I need to go to my other account for my business. You can go to Katie kdhd. Just follow me there and I will see you over there. Oh, man. This is the problem with having multiple TikTok accounts. All right, so we're gonna switch over. Justin. Sounds like a Kanye west answer. I know, I know. It was like I. I felt bad because, like, you have to give really, like, really specific feedback to people and she really didn't want to hear it. She did not want to hear that her answer wasn't good because she was so excited for it. But you know, like the whole lightning question or the whole lightning answer to the question. Bitter in the butt for a few reasons. For one, when she's talking to people and they're asking what she does, like, they're not going to want to expend the energy to ask her what that means. What does it mean that you're lightning? They're also probably going to think that she's a little. A little out there. And I can't tell you, I can't tell you what everyone thinks, but if I were at a barbecue and I met someone who said they were, you know, lightning, the last thing I would do is want to introduce them to my boss. The last thing I would want to do is bring them into my company. Because that's just like, it's so out there, it's not a good answer to the question. So we need to. Yeah, one sentence to set the hook. Exactly, exactly. But, you know, we overthink this. We overthink this. So. So people either go with the bad old advice of, you know, here is like, here's an answer that, like, creates curiosity, so you have to ask me a question, then I get to explain, more or less. Or they go for status and they try to come up with an answer that sounds impressive. That sounds like they have status. Like, I'm a senior executive leadership coach. No one knows what that is. I'm an operation systems analyst consultant. No one knows what that is either. Okay. If you have any friends who are consultants, I bet you you probably don't actually understand what they do. And like I said, these are all mistakes that everyone makes when they first start their business. Okay. Everyone, like, comes up with a bad answer to the question, what do you do? And it's okay. But I am training on how you can come up with a better answer. In the five day challenge that I'm doing next week, the very first day on Monday, you'll get the first. First answer. And there's a whole exercise that you can do in like five minutes. And it breaks down exactly how you answer that question so that you land clients anyway. And then of course. And then of course, there are the folks who, when they, they're asked the question, hi, Michael, welcome. When they're asked the question, what is it that you do? They completely over explain. They get like, really in their head and they feel like they have to go on like a five minute tirade about the thing that they do. And we all know the problem with this, right? The problem with this is that people just start dissociating. They stop listening. They're thinking, okay, like, I have to go to the store later. And they're smiling and they're nodding to go to the store later. And I have to buy that thing and oh, my God, we're out of dish soap. I have to remember dish soap. Oh, yeah. And I have to water the plants later. And until you have a Breath. Like, there's a pause in the conversation that you're having at them, and they're like, you know what? I have to pee. I gotta go. And then they skedaddle, and they never come back. All right? We have all been in a situation with that kind of person. And you know what? We have all also been that kind of person. All right? It is just something that is, like, normal to the human experience. All right? Hi, Nathan. Welcome. But you know what? Like, the thing about it is that we all have to go through giving the bad answer to the question, what is it that you do to see what does not work right? Because we can't realize that we need to change it unless we see this isn't working right. We can't commit to doing the thing that's correct unless we know what's not correct. All right, I want to share a little bit about what's possible for you. When you have a great answer. When you have a great answer to the question, what do you do? You sign clients like that? I had a client who literally was on a plane, and he was sitting next to someone. Hi, Newt. Welcome. He was sitting next to someone. He was sitting in first class. He got upgraded. He traveled a lot. And he was an executive coach, new work, primarily with men. And he's talking to this guy, and the guy asked, you know, what do you do? And he gave his answer, and I won't share it because I don't want to, you know, give away his thing. But the guy was like, oh, my God, I think. I think I might need to work with you. And so they started talking, and this little, like, hour and a half flight in that hour and a half, this guy that he was sitting next to basically went through a whole little sales call just like that, and. And then decided, I want to work with you. And my client at the time charged $18,000 for clients to work with him. And that's what's possible. He was just on a plane, minding his own business, and this guy asked him what he does for work, and he got a client for $18,000. I have another client who. Whose dog passed last year and is really sad. And she decided that she really, really, really wanted to have the dog time in her life. Hi, Dennis. Hi, Nana. Welcome. But she didn't. She wasn't ready to get another dog. She was going to be moving. There's going to be a lot of stuff. And so she decided, on top of her business, where she does some consulting and coaching, that she was going to Start like this cute little dog sitting business where she could just go and hang out with dogs. And she again has an excellent, excellent answer to the question, what do you do? Right? Because, and it's funny because like the people who, who ask it are her clients for something completely unrelated. They met her as a dog sitter and when they ask her like, do you do this full time? She says, no, I actually don't. I do this other thing. And then she describes what she does and what her, what her quote unquote title is. And she gets referrals into companies from folks that she dog sits for. Okay? That is what is possible when you have an amazing answer to the question, what is it that you do? Right. So again, I am going to be training on how to come up with this statement that gets you clients right away in my five day training, my five day challenge that I'm doing next week. Week it is day one. Monday, you're going to get that email that has this, this exercise first thing in the morning so you can get to work on it. And then in the evening at 5pm every single night next week, we are going to be going into a zoom room together as a group and I will be coaching whoever wants some help on this, on their answer. All right, let me see. Justin, do you either sign or DQ in seconds instead of months of chasing someone? Oh, hold on. You either sign or DQ in seconds. Okay, I understand. Instead of months of chasing someone who wasn't in the ICP 100%. Yeah. When you can communicate, this is what I do and this is what, who I'm useful to. People don't need a whole lot of time. If, if they have that problem and you seem like someone who can help, they will sign up with you. And even if they don't like hand you money right in the moment or sign a contract right there and then they've already hired you in their heads. Right. It was so funny. So a couple years ago I was at a garden center because my parents wanted more hydrangeas in front of their house. And so I'm at this garden center, I'm talking to the owner and you know, I'm, he's helping me pick out different hydrangea bushes. And he asked me like, what do you do? And I gave him my answer and his response was, I need to hire you, I need to work with you. Right? It is that fast. When you have the right answer, when you have a statement that you can say every single time someone asks you, what do you do? It is magic. What happens? Hello. Jay, Mitchell and D1. Hello. And John and Jackie. Hello. Welcome. And Robin and Corey and Bite. Doctor. Hello, welcome. Yeah, and if you guys have any questions, just let me know. Hi Adam. And like I said, if you want to join the challenge next week and hi Noor. And a high ADHD with Johan. Johanna. Welcome. Yeah. So if you want to join the challenge, it starts next Monday, August 4th, every single day you will get an email in the morning and that gives you a really, really simple exercise that you can do to build this one piece of your business. So on Monday of next week you are going to have all the instructions as to how you can come up with your statement that you're going to say when people ask you what you do that gets you clients and it only takes about five minutes. And then in the evening at 5pm Eastern Time, we're going to hop in a zoom room and I'm going to coach you on this. Right. And we're going to be doing that every day next week for a different thing each day. By the end of the week, you will have all the building blocks to have a successful business to be able to go out and sign high paying clients. Michael Gale, it's your value proposition. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You know, value proposition feels like so stuffy and like it has a lot of pressure to it honestly. Like it's just the answer of what you do. Who are you useful to? Hi Cece. Hi Gary. Welcome. Hello. Oh Adam, thank you so much for the follow. I appreciate that. And hi C.P. hello. Yeah, just want to make sure I'm not missing any, any comments. Okay, beautiful. So, yeah, that's pretty much it. Like if you, if you have the right answer to the question what do you do for work, you're going to get clients from it. You know, it's going to be so easy for people to see and understand. Oh my God, you're useful to me. Oh my God, you help people with the problem that I have. Oh my God, you help people with like reach the goal that I've always dreamed of going after. You're the person that I want to hire. Right. And once they have that experience, once they like, like see you and experience you and hear you say that you can help them without being salesy about it. That's when their head, they start making plans, they start deciding, okay, I'm gonna do whatever I can to work with this person, like and they will make the move. That's when people from past lives, like old colleagues, people you went to high School with will see a post that you share on social media. Not like it, not comment on it, but they'll see it and they'll read it. Hi, Uzi, welcome. Oh, thank you. I got a go girl over on TikTok. But they will see your content and they will have a moment of, oh my God. Like, I will remember this because this is someone that I know even if you weren't friends in high school or that past job, and they will refer business to you. Okay? It happens every single day and it happens a lot with my clients. Thank you for the likes. Oh my gosh, that's so nice. All right, Justin. The amount of people I've met who didn't have an elevator pitch or a blurb about what they do is astounding. Or it takes them five minutes to explain. Sorry, my TikTok brain turned out four minutes. Tuned out four minutes ago. I know, I know. We have short attention spans. If, and here's the thing, whenever I ask someone a question, and not just about what they do in their business, but anytime I ask someone a question, I want them to explain. Explain what they do or like, or explain like a technical thing or how something works. If they can't answer the question in a short amount of time, they don't know it well enough. Right. If I ask you how to fix the washing machine and you go on a 30 minute tear, I don't think you know it. Right? Because you can't boil all that information down into a few sentences. You know, when someone asks me, my clients, when they ask me how do I do a sales call, you know, of course there is a longer answer. There's a training that I take people through. You know, I really break down each and every single step you're going to do in that sales call. I help you come up with a script that works for you, the questions that you ask, where you lead people to. But ultimately I'm an expert at that. So I can boil it down to like three, three or four sentences to make it easy for someone who's just starting out to understand what's going to be involved when they start selling their services. Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Uzi over on TikTok said so good at this. I appreciate that. I love a compliment. Anyway, what was I just saying? See, you complimented me and it made me nervous and then I forgot what I was saying. What was I saying? I completely lost the plot. Oh, yeah. So, but like if you're answering a question, you can't boil it down to a few things. People assume you don't know what you're doing. How much worse is it when the answer to the question is about what you do? If you literally cannot boil down like your answer about what you do in your business to something that's less than five minutes, people do not think you know what you're doing. It does not communicate any level of confidence. And that is not what we want. We want people to see how confident and assured we are. And this is what I do, this is what I accomplish with my clients, and so on and so forth. And like I said, I am going to be. Oh, I need you as a therapist. You do not want me as a therapist. I'm a great coach, not a great therapist, but I appreciate the, the faith there, but. Hi, Mon, welcome. Hello, everyone. Yes, my therapist is gonna laugh at that. I'm gonna tell her about it. She will agree. You don't want me as a therapist anyway. Oh, yeah. So. But I am doing a challenge on this next week, day one. I'm teaching everyone in the challenge exactly how they come up with their statement about what they do. So that when they meet people out there in the real world, people hire them in their heads right there and then. And not just in their heads like in real life. I've had clients sign $18,000 deals from being able to say, from saying what they do to someone who's sitting next to them on an airplane. I've had clients get clients for their consulting business while dog sitting. It's wild what's possible when you know how to communicate your value. And if you want to sign up for that, if you're watching this on TikTok or on Instagram, you can go to the link in my bio and I want you to click on the five day challenge and go and register for it and you'll, you'll be all signed up. You're going to get all the emails, you get the invites to the zooms, you're going to be all in. If you're watching this on YouTube or on LinkedIn, then just go to the description of this post and click the link in there and you should be all set to sign up. And just a little bit of logistics. So you're going to get an email every day, Monday through Friday next week, where I train you on a foundational part of starting your business and you're going to have a five minute exercise. It is so simple, the work I'm going to have you do, but this is the work you need to do to be able to have a successful business. In addition to that, you're actually going to get a free coaching call with me in a group setting at 5:00pm Eastern Time every evening next week. Okay, so. So any questions you have about your value statement and everything else, we're going to be covering. And I'm going to be going live every evening this week, kind of teasing this information. You're going to be able to get direct feedback from me. Okay, let me see. Uzi, what about me? You are absolutely welcome. I don't think it's going to be YouTube video. I think it will be available if you wanted to sign up. I think we will be sending the recording out at some point, but I don't think it's going to be on YouTube. I don't want people to feel, like, weird that their information is going to be out there for the whole world to see. It's going to be, you know, within my ecosystem, I think. But, you know, I haven't decided yet. We'll see. We'll see how the calls go. If it's pretty anonymized, you know, I'm pretty comfortable putting on YouTube. Hi, Mike and Kathy. Hello. Welcome. Oh, man, am I talking to a physical person? I mean, if you're not physical, if you're a bot, then you're doing a great job of. Of fooling me. No, there's no actual humans here. I'm just saying hello to the people who are in, who are joining the room. Yeah. So anyway, next week is going to be so much fun. We're going to be doing this challenge together. You're going to be building the foundational bits to your business. You're going to have me holding your hand every step along the way. And actually, if you go and register your. Your welcome email has some journal prompts that'll help you really hit the ground running. And you'll get those immediately after you sign up. So am I talking to, like, a person in front of you? No, no people are in this room. My dog here? Yeah, my dog is here, but she's sleeping, so she's not paying attention. This is a place. Hello. Welcome. Anyway, thank you all for being here. I'm gonna keep it short and sweet tonight because obviously we're gonna be going live every evening and be covering a lot of this stuff. But seriously, if you're building your business, if you don't know how to get clients, if you're struggling to figure out what you should sell, how to sell it, how to market it, and all the things in between. Then join the challenge that I am doing next week, August 4th, to build your business. Five day challenge. It's 100% free and I will get you up and running in five days. Okay? So, Uzi, wondering if I was interrupting something? Nope. No. No interruptions. This is live. We. You're being a part of it. All right. Marilyn and Todd, hello. Welcome. All right. All right. Well, everyone, this has been so much fun. Justin and Michael and Uzi and Mike and Kathy and everyone else, thank you so much for being here. I hope this is really useful for you. I will be going live again tomorrow at 5pm so. And we'll be covering a whole other part of building your business. And again, this is all as a ramp up for you to come to the challenge next week. So if you have any questions, then just comment on these videos. I'll be answering them tomorrow, but I cannot wait to see you there. And everyone, I'm Katie McManus, your practical business coach, and I wish you an amazing Monday evening. Bye.