How To Use LinkedIn To Generate New Leads For Your Business

Its a new way to use LinkedIn to attract a steady stream of qualified leads on LinkedIn who are EAGER to talk to you... and it only takes 10 minutes a day

https://linked55.com/

How To Use LinkedIn For Beginners & Get New Clients

LinkedIn lead generation - Level up your online networking and raise your profile by tapping into the biggest and most profitable business networking platform on the planet. 

Linked55 - How To Generate Leads On LinkedIn

Attract A Steady Stream Of Qualified Leads On LinkedIn Who Are EAGER To Talk To You... 

To You... 

Want To Launch An Online Business In 2020?

 Let's get one thing clear. Most people in this world are good in at least one field of their life. Maybe they’re passionate about a certain subject. Perhaps they put in a lot of time, effort and energy doing all sorts of activities and tend to get good in at least one of them. All of us can be experts in at least one area of expertise.

 

The problem is just because we can be experts in those areas doesn’t necessarily mean that we will  be able to run a successful business in those areas of expertise. This is the mistake too many people make. They get all excited about the fact that they know their stuff. In fact, they would brag that they are the very best experts in the local area when it comes to doing certain things.

 This may well be true but the problem is if you look at your business as something that you do on the side, you are doing yourself a big disservice. You really are. You are actually setting yourself up for eventual failure.

 Too many people think that just because they are naturally ‘good’ at something that they can dispense high quality services whenever they want and based purely on their own terms. While this might work in rare cases, for most people, this doesn’t work. They are either too distracted or too confused to build a solid brand providing a memorable service. This should not be a surprise since they view their service as more of a hobby than a vocation or, better yet, a business.

 The truth is if you are serious about making money online, you have to wrap your mind around it; you have to commit to it and, yes, you have to treat it as a business. That's right. A real business means you have to lay out the difficulties you’re struggling with and solve them one by one.

 Unfortunately, a lot of would-be online marketers never manage to do this. They’re just focused on how passionate they are. They’re just focused on how many people they can help with their expertise.

 Those are well and good but until and unless you view your activities as part of a business, chances are you will continue to struggle long into the future. Chances are you may not make the kind of money you had hoped.

 You have to run it like a business; you have to make hard decisions and you have to set it up in a systematic and methodical way.

 To figure out how to build a successful online business from scratch, click here.

 I’m inviting you to The Phoenix Challenge – a five day FREE Facebook programme where you will get access to information that will step you through the often difficult and confusing process of putting up a successful online business. It is definitely not for everybody. However, if you have the right plan, you definitely go a long way increasing your chances of success. You owe it to yourself. You don’t have time to waste trying to figure things out the hard way.  Let me help you.

How To Create Your Own Online Course

https://instantedge.lpages.co/guru-fa... The nearest thing to a salary that a solopreneur can get - imagine monthly subscriptions coming in from all over the world, for work you did once... #OnlineCourse

15 Ways To Make Money Online From Zoom Working From Home

 I’d like to give you 15 ideas about how you can make money online, working from home, using the Zoom web conferencing platform

This is perfect for Coaches, Consultants and Authors… or somebody to wants to be one, OK?  I’m going to talk about how you can add one or more income streams to your business with tools you are probably already using.  Imagine working from home or anywhere you want – living the laptop lifestyle, and doing the job once and getting paid forever.

If you have a vision of starting an online business, or you can see yourself adding it to your main thing as a side hustle, let me show you how it’s done.

Zoom is being used for meetings to communicate and educate all over the world right now.  I don’t know if you saw the world’s best known personal development guru Tony Robbins running a couple of his live events with thousands of people on Zoom as he stood in a studio and addressed them all.

Even Britain’s Got talent has had all of the audience tune in online using video conferencing

You’re probably already using Zoom, or you can sign up for a free account at www.Zoom.us.  You can use Zoom to communicate on video, and you can record both the audio and the video.  So what you might be thinking.  Who cares?  Why should I bother?

So let me give you some examples.

Now I’ve got 2 YouTube channels and I’ve now got over 500 videos on there that I’ve built up over the last 20 years, so I often get leads and enquiries from people who’ve already “met me” in a video.

This is my online course on business networking called “TurnYour Contacts into Contracts” = that’s a whole training course on video with handouts that sells on the web 24/7, to the world.  That’s globally.

Here’s Instantedgeconline.com – my yearlong marketing training for business owners who want to grow their profits and do it themselves.  Again, members pay me a monthly fee to access the training… and I’m not there.

You can record yourself talking about your knowledge, skills, experience, interests, and then turn that into a book.  I have 6 non-fiction books here on my Amazonauthor page, and I also have 3 novels out there.

My First book was “Ignite & Unshackle” which was written in 2006 - people say when they read it they can hear my voice talking – well that’s probably because the book was transcribed from my live seminars, so it IS me talking!

Then there’s my CD sets – see if you teach a weekend seminar once, it’s over.  The only people who benefit from it were the students on the day.  But if you record it, its evergreen, and you can impact a lot more people, and get paid over and over again

Maybe you’re not that familiar with Zoom – that’s OK, I have several videos on how to set it up and use it on my YouTube channel – I’ll put the link below this video here

https://www.youtube.com/user/FounderHGE/

Some people are scared of the Tech issues – Zoom is pretty simple to use.  There’s even an app for your smartphone.  Sure appearing on video takes a bit of getting used to but honestly, once you’ve done it a few times, you get a taste for it.  But think about it – it’s better than a phone call because now you can hear and SEE the other person too, their body language, all the little nuances, all the emotions in a conversation.  And usually what kind of books are on their bookcase behind them.

What about the time it takes?  – For years my Coach told me if you’re speaking at an event or to a group, record it.  If you’re teaching people, record it.  I ignored that advice for years which is a shame cos I could have captured a ton of good stuff.  But from the point I did start capturing most of it, I know have a huge vault of material.  Do it once, get paid forever.  That’s why it’s called a “royalty”  So a huge benefit of using Zoom is that you can record stuff so people can play it back later.

If like me you have a face for radio, fine, use PowerPoint or keynote slides and just use your voice.  You don’t actually have to be in the video.  You can always keep your camera off, or just have your image on there.

If you’re a consultant in a particular field or area of expertise, or you want to be one, you can communicate your skills and knowledge and advise your client over the Zoom platform,  You can record your screen, you can share your screen, you have online chat and you can record each session to they have a complete record of the discussion.  You’re helping people you’re solving problems and you can charge by the hour or by a block of sessions, whatever you want to do.  With anyone anywhere in the world.  Think about the possibilities.

If you’re a Life Coach or Health Coach or Eating Coach or Business Coach or Underwater Basket Weaving Coach – whatever - you can have a group of paying clients all call in to your group coaching class at a certain date and time and you take them through a 4 week or 90 day programme.  They pay up front or they pay in monthly instalments and you have an agenda and some individual coaching.  You take your members through a powerful series of lessons over a number of weeks – and of course if you record it then you’ve got all the material you need for a book or an online course that you can sell forever more.

Then there are Virtual Summits – where a group of experts all get together to work as a team and everyone benefits.   You host the event and each expert then gets a chunk of tie to teach something valuable then take questions.  Students pay to attend and the profits are divided up between all them experts.

Let’s move on to using Zoom for Lead generation.  Every business under the sun needs new prospects, and here’s how you can do that.  Create Traffic magnet videos - I’d advise you start by recording talking head videos – answering the Frequently Asked Questions that your target market are asking.  Use the great website www.answerthepublic.com if you’re not sure what they are.  Set up a Zoom call by yourself, hit record and shoot a 1 minute video answering that question.  Record it then upload the recording to YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.  Make sure you include a link sending them somewhere, you’re your website or offering your webinar [which we’ll come to in a minute]

You can also offer 15 minute Strategy Calls – a free chat in confidence where the person can get to know you, you get to know them, and you can find out what problems your audience is having right now and give them bespoke, tailor made coaching to help them figure it out and move them in the right direction.

Online virtual networking – weekly business networking like Club Five 55.  You can get in front of 20 or more business owners and decision makers who you can share your details with their connections.  Most virtual networking events allow you to do a 60 second pitch - in your 60 second pitch make sure to mention your webinar and give them the link

Perhaps more importantly is what you do AFTER the networking event – and that’s the 121, where you identify 2 or 3 of the other attendees as potential clients, joint ventures partners or they asked for help and you know you can help them.  That’s where relationships are built and opportunities pop out and they are simple to arrange as a Zoom meeting.  No petrol expenses, no parking to pay for, no need to get dressed up from the waist down.

Teach a Webinar or a virtual class – 30-40 minutes of good, valuable content, then have an offer of your product or service at the end.  Put together a short and simple PowerPoint presentation so you can bring in a helpful visual element so people can see what you’re teaching .  Simply prepare your slides, your speaking notes and then hit record. That’s up forever on YouTube and will drive traffic to your offer

Recording Podcasts – now take all of your FAQ videos and upload them to www.anchor.fm.  Now you have a podcast show with several episodes that will get syndicated out to major podcast platforms including Spotify, Google Play and iTunes.

By this point you’re ready and well-practised enough to move into Product creation – think online course like Udemy or Teachable.  You can create your course first then turn it into an book – send the videos to Rev.com and they transcribe it for you for free.

Another product Creation thing you can do is meditation audios or self-hypnosis tracks.  Get yourself a good meditation or guided visualisation script off the internet, record yourself reading it out in your best… hypnotic …and relaxing…voice.  You can use free sound recording software called Audacity, get some royalty free meditation music from www.Incompetech.com and you can combine your voice and the music into a cool guided relaxation audio.  You can then sell that on Etsy or eBay.  Imagine if you built up a collection of 10 or 20 different tracks, all selling globally, 24/7.  Do it once, get paid forever.  Is this giving you ideas?

How about writing a book by dictating it – take all of your FAQ scripts and your webinar script, add a story or bio at the start, and you have your book.  See my other video on How To Write A Book Quickly & Easily.  Once you have your book you can use each chapter as the script to create a video to camera – now you have an online course.  So you can dictate a book and turn that into an online course, or create an online course and let Rev transcribe it for you and now you have a book.  And it’s all free.

Paid workshops – hold a 1 or 2 hour paid event on Zoom where you teach a topic and interact with your students.  List it on Eventbrite, Facebook events and LinkedIn events, then teach it.  Record it too.  You can then repurpose that seminar into an online course or a book, or sell it as an off the shelf product as a corporate training for businesses.

Keynote speeches – you offer your services as a speaker and teach good content using a PowerPoint presentation on Zoom.  Simply prepare your slides, your speaking notes and then hit record.  Charge a speaking fee for your time.  One you have your Signature Talk prepared you can deploy the same presentation that’s all ready to go.

Amazon Affiliate – you can sign up at www.Amazon.com as an affiliate and you can instantly resell ANY product that Amazon sells and make a commission.  You buy the product, do an unboxing video then do a review video.  Post them on social media with your Amazon link – that’s up forever.  If anyone clicks that link, goes through to Amazon and buys that product, you get paid a commission.

Network marketing is another obvious way to make money online and Zoom can be used for three way calls where you introduce your prospects to our upline sponsor, for team training, supporting your downline promoters, new product training, you name it.  So if you are signing up to a supplement company or a beauty company or a health company, you can use Zoom to grow your business and grow your monthly commissions.

Expert Interview – we prepare a series of questions, the expert knows what questions I’m going to ask them and they can have a cheat sheet on the wall beside their computer screen, and I interview them.  They don’t have to travel or come to me so its cost effective.  That can then be edited and a nice intro added to it and now we have a natural and authentic show reel or ask the expert style video that shows off their expertise and credibility which they can put out on YouTube and LinkedIn to get clients.

So there you have it – several ways for you to start or grow a business and make money online from home using Zoom. 

Now we have a flagship programme called The Guru Factory where over 90 days we help our client write a signature talk and get it all over the internet.   We handle all of the technology, the transcribing, we organise the slides, we even set up the social media platforms for you and build out the online course.  Or a book, or a CD set, or live workshops.  Or all of them!

But that’s actually step 5 in a 9 step roadmap from struggling and invisible, to impacting thousands of people without years of trying to figure it out yourself.

Fancy making money while you sleep?  How confident are you that you could do all of the above steps?  I’ve tried to strip it right back and make it as simple as possible, and as low cost.  Now as I said, we do all this for you as part of the Guru Factory programme.

If you’d like to get crystal clear on the first steps you should be taking right now then schedule a call with me and we’ll take a look at how using Zoom fits into your overall business plan.  We help entrepreneurial people who want to have books, courses and products online as their main income stream or as a side hustle.  Either way we can help.  So see the details below and let’s have a chat.

https://calendly.com/instantedge/fic

Tel 07715 641690

Email admin@imstantedge.co.uk

How To Write A Book Quickly And Easily

Have you ever wanted to write a book?  Do you have an idea for a story or a plot that you’d love to publish one day?  Or as a business owner, do you realise that a book can be the ultimate business card?  Maybe you’ve got a child who’s creative and they’ve got ideas pouring out of their head. 

Hiya – my name’s Jonathan, I’ve just published my 11th book and I’d like to show you how to get a book done quickly and easily… for virtually nothing.  If you’d like to know exactly how to get your book out in the next 90 days, for free or for less than a family meal out, then watch the rest of this video



So I started doing some research on Google Trends and other websites that give you that kind of data about what the market wants – where’s the demand?  Honestly I was surprised – every day you see stuff on Facebook about creating online courses or various trainers offering their online programmes, but there’s WAY more demand for information on how to write a book.  Here’s a screenshot from Google Trends showing the demand for how to write a book in blue, and how to create an online course in red.  This is Worldwide in the last 12 months.  So guess what?  I’m making a video about the top one!



And just so you know you’re in safe hands, here are some of my books, and here are some of the results of some of my clients.



As you can see we’re quite good at not only getting books written and published, we’re also damn good at turning our clients into bestselling authors. 



Fancy being a best-selling author?



Now if it’s so easy, why doesn’t everyone write a book?

Well, we both know it might be simple, but it ain’t easy.  There are 3 main reasons people struggle with producing their own book:



1] You don’t know what to write about.  Where do you start?  OK, so ask yourself would your first book [notice that I said first book, cos once you’ve been bitten by the bug, you’ll want to do more] would your first book be a fictional story, or a non-fiction factual book?  Fiction is the tougher one of the two, cos you need an idea for a fantastic story, you need to know if its science fiction, horror, a cowboy story, a romance, i.e what genre.  Then you need a plot.  I can recommend a guy called Stevie Drive who created a series called Perfect 10 plots – these are pre-written templates for whole books.  You just fill in the blanks.



2] Little old me – impostor syndrome – who’d read a book that I wrote?  Most authors go through that stage of feeling vulnerable, like people are seeing into your soul.  I felt like that when I wrote my first book – I was worried what my parents would think if they read it. You could always write under a pen name so nobody knows it’s you.  Listen, if you are passionate about your topic and you have a dream of being published as an author, just do it.  The royalties help ease the struggle 



3] Technology puts me off or is overwhelming.   Like most things in life, it sounds more complicated than it actually is.  All you need is a word processor like Microsoft Word, and a cover.  And I’m going to show you where you can get that done too.  Getting excited yet?



The good news is that, if you’re struggling with any of these issues, I am going to show you very clear, proven and easy-to-implement steps you can use TODAY to handle these issues and start your writing career without losing your shirt or having to get rejected by publishing houses



Non-fiction factual books are the easiest.   Biggest FAQ’s customers ask you.  Not sure?  Go to a wonderful website called Answerthepublic.com. Or go on Google Trends and look at what people are looking for information on. Or the Amazon best seller list in your niche or area.  Look at what’s selling, cos you’re far better giving the market what it wants than trying to guess



Fiction? I’d recommend The Marshall Plan book and software, or Save The Cat by Blake Snyder. Both of those have a template that you can follow. Or Google The Heroes Journey and you’ll see the formula that most books and movie use, from Star Wars to Lord Of The Rings.



Your book manuscript is just a Word document.  Start with an introduction which is mostly your bio or story – tell us who you are, why we should listen to you, your credentials, qualifications, experience and then a bit of background story telling us your experience in your chosen topic.



Then 3-5 chapters of meaty content.  You ideally want about 50-100 pages so 10-20 pages per chapter FOR YOUR FIRST BOOK.  The easiest and fastest way to do that is sit down for dinner with your friends or family, stick your phone’s voice recorder on and record an hour on one topic.  Then send that to Otter.ai and it will be transcribed for you overnight.  Five dinners and you’ve got a book

Then finish with an offer to join your Facebook Group, or buy your main product or service, or go to this website.  A next step.



For your Book cover you can do it for free using the pre-made covers inside Canva.com, there’s a great website called Designrr which has pre-made covers and layouts – in fact you can import your text into that and it’ll make it look pretty.  The other cheap option is the wonderful Fiverr.com where you can get an awesome cover done for peanuts – even £20 will get you a nice looking cover.



What should your cover look like?  Again look at the Amazon best seller list – look at the most common colours being used.  Are they long titles or short titles?  Do the covers have people on them or diagrams?  Photos or cartoons?  Again you should be modelling what’s already selling.  So if they are mostly blue covers with a person’s face on the front and 3 word titles, so should yours be.



Here’s an example of a client of ours – Fae wanted to write a vampire novel which are huge on Amazon Kindle.  Most of the covers were spooky, blacks and purples, with a girl on the front and 3 word titles.  So we produced Dead To Me.



Then you go to kdp.amazon.com, upload your word document, upload your cover, and 24 hours later you’ll have a book on Amazon Kindle.  Boom!  You’re a published author on the world’s biggest book selling platform



See once you’ve got a book that’s divided into say 5 chapters, it’s really easy to then sit down in front of your smartphone or even a webinar app like Zoom, and read your chapters to camera.  Now you’ve got an online course!



Now I’ve made this sound ridiculously easy, and it is simple – maybe not easy – but this in only part of the overall process to making money online or using your book to get more visibility, sales or credibility.  You still need to market the book cos nobody will know about it unless you tell them.



Now we have a flagship programme called The Guru Factory where over 90 days we help our client write a book and create an online course.  We handle all of the technology, the transcribing, we organise your cover, we even get the book uploaded onto Amazon for you.



But that’s actually step 6 in a 9 step roadmap from struggling and invisible, to impacting thousands of people without years of trying to figure it out yourself.



Fancy making money while you sleep?



How confident are you that you could do all of the above steps?  I’ve tried to strip it right back and make it as simple as possible, and as low cost.  Now as I said, we do all this for you as part of the Guru Factory programme.



If you’d like to get crystal clear on the first steps you should be taking right now then schedule a call with me and we’ll take a look at how a book fits in to your overall game plan.  We help entrepreneurial people who want to have book in their name and be an author on Amazon, or they already have a book and it’s not selling.  Either way we can help.  So see the details below this video and let’s have a chat.

Could you use another client or two?

Could you use another client or two?

I don't know about you, but most business owners I work with answer that question with a resounding "YES!"

In fact, it seems like finding clients is the number one struggle businesses face. It doesn't matter if you've been in business for 6 months or 6 years, it's still a constant struggle to find and keep customers.

But it doesn't have to be that way! Not if you know the secrets for getting more yes's...

On Monday 3rd August at 9pm I'm hosting a FREE Facebook Challenge in which I'll reveal the proven strategies top salespeople are using to fill their calendars with quality, high-paying clients they love. These are not what you think :-)

And you can use these same techniques!

REGISTER HERE http://www.sellmorestuff.uk

In this seven day series of 1 hour Facebook lives [all recorded and replayable at your leisure] you'll learn how to quickly get over any "ickyness" you have about selling, make the most of your influencing skills, and turn "fence sitters" & "tire kickers" into your best customers. Follow the steps, and you'll be enjoying a full calendar while working with clients you absolutely love!

Join me, won't you? There's absolutely nothing to lose, and everything to gain!

Business Growth & Next Generation Leadership

Highly recommend this 6 week series of Zoom workshops, but only if you're serious about growing your business post lock down...

What Do You Think About Sales Training? Here's My Take...

The name of my upcoming course, book and workshop is “Sell More Stuff – How To Enjoy Selling Your Services, Get More Yes’s & Make More Profit.”  So who the hell am I and what gives me the right to train anyone in selling?

You have to understand that I’m a very private person.  To be honest I had to think more than twice about posting this.  On all the psychometric tests I score high as an introvert.  At age 17 I was diagnosed with a duodenal ulcer from fear – I was terrified of people. Remember I told you that…

My first business was at age 19 when moved from contributor to editor of a Superhero Fanzine, and actually made money!  It was an A5 stapled, black and white hobby magazine, we had contributors all over the world posting me their articles and material which I collated, edited, printed, and posted.  Eventually we got the thing turned into a full colour magazine which sold on the shelves of John Menzies [if you remember that shop].  Buyers paid their subscriptions by Postal Order [remember them?] and they were all enthusiasts about the niche.  They had an irrational passion  [that becomes important later…]

My Dad was a bank manager for The Trustee Savings Bank Of Scotland [now Lloyds TSB] and I watched him dealing with the public, taking Her majesty's prisoners out at weekends to visit their families, and knocking on doors to collect loan payments.  He was considered a pillar of the community.  We celebrated my 18^th birthday when he took me to a company called Northwest Securities and got me a car loan.  That was where the rot started. When he died in 1991 [on the same day as Freddie Mercury] there was no insurance, no savings and just debts.  Looking back i shouldn't have been surprised.

My first real job was in the Department of Social Security as a Pensions officer.  In that civil service role people had no choice but to come to us, but it taught me a lot about customer service and looking after people.  We dealt with State Pensions, Income Support, Death Grants [Here’s a whopping £30 Mrs Smith – sorry for your loss] and Widow’s Benefit.  The Department just wanted endless cases done efficiently and correctly, whereas I wanted to help people and feel good about myself.   They introduced a computerised system in 1989 and we helped pilot it.  Later we were asked [as we were now experts!] if we would conduct training sessions to roll it out through the other departments.  I volunteered because that meant I would have to stand up in front of my peers and run workshops.  Bricking it!  Turns out I loved doing it and the workshops went down a storm.  And I got a wee bonus in my salary for doing it [but was sworn to secrecy not to tell anyone].

By that point I was writing positive thinking newsletters for the civil service newsletter.  One night a member of the Benefit Fraud Team held me by the throat against a wall at an office party and told me to stop rocking the boat.  That was it for me.  I lasted seven years before I couldn’t take it anymore.

By this time I had a gorgeous black XR31 [remember them?], a flat, a stunning girlfriend and big circle of friends.  And even more debt.  And I’d just quit my job.  

Then a handwritten note came though my door “Earn Extra Income – phone this number.”  I was desperate so I called.  That was my introduction to MLM and my friend and mentor Alan.  Party plan style copy perfumes.  Seriously. Imagine a room lit by scented candles, me, 12 beauty therapists and a bottle of Anais Anais talcum powder.  Good times J  And how did I get those bookings?  I did what Alan did – I put hand written notes through people’s letterboxes, and put postcard ads up in  newsagents' windows for 50p per week.  Within a year I had a team and moved up the ranks, went to the ra ra conferences and wore my shiny Regional Director badge with pride.

My Dad had died, my brother was a struggling actor and I was up to my eyeballs in debt so I figured I needed to handle money – fast!  So I became a Financial Adviser cos I figured they knew how to handle money.  I started in Canada life - on a basic salary for 3 months then commission only, so it meant hardcore sales.  I went through [what I now know was outdated] sales training and it was pretty brutal.  Everyone had to stand on the desk and make calls and you could only get down if you got an appointment.  The XR3i had to go and I was parking my battered old Volkswagen Jetta where clients couldn’t see it.  Make calls, secure appointments, meet the client, complete the fact find, go away and prepare a solution, go back and see them and try to get a signature.  Hated every minute, but I needed the money.

Unfortunately my low level of sales didn’t justify them keeping me on, so I moved to Friendly Society based in Twickenham.   I was the only Financial Adviser for the whole of Scotland, doing 3000 miles a month.  This was more me, until I ploughed the company Peugeot 306 into a bus in Glasgow one day.   Generate leads, get the appointment, conduct fact finds, present solutions, ask for the order.  I had more autonomy and the jaunts to Twickenham every month were fun, but I still wasn’t happy in a suit and tie trying to sell life insurance – a product everyone needed but no one wanted.  They had an introducer in every prison in Scotland who made appointments for me [they got a finder’s fee of course] and I ran seminars [with a memorised script and teeny weeny projector slides – remember them?] for prison officers.  We had an irresistible offer of 8% pa interest and guaranteed money back so we went through shed loads of Bonds so it was a pretty easy sale.

Then I got an offer from Norwich Union – I would be fed warm leads by head office, all I had to do was turn up. Another week of albeit better sales training but still pretty old school.  Again covering the whole of Scotland in a gorgeous Vauxhall Vectra with the flared wing mirrors [remember them?] and a car phone.  A fricking car phone! Despite training with three different companies, the format was usually the same.  Memorising product knowledge, painful role-playing sessions and awful telephone scripts practised rote fashion by phoning from my hotel room to my manager in the room next door. The queue of jittery rookies watching you while you squirm in the spotlight.  I think lasted a year – long enough to get my Advanced Financial Planning qualification.

This was the time I launched my part time side hustle.  I called it 'Therapeutic Interventions' cos I had no idea what to call it.  My brilliant marketing strategy [because it had worked before] was to put postcard adverts into every newsagent window along Great Western Road in Glasgow.  My fee was £25 per hour only because the longest running Hypnotherapist in Glasgow was charging £20 per hour and I figured it was time for a new kid on the block.  I picked exam stress, learning problems and Photoreading as my offerings.  Little did I realise I was advertising 2 months before the exams in the student district of the city.  I was inundated.

By this point [thanks to the network marketing] I was addicted to personal growth audiotapes [remember them?] NLP especially -   Neuro Linguistic Programming - and all of the aforementioned  cars had been my “universities on wheels.” By 1997 I had attended 3 different NLP Practitioner trainings and was qualified by three different companies.  Their sales techniques were more consultative and were built of the basis of unconscious rapport and eliciting the client’s buying strategies.  Fascinating stuff and still leading edge in 1997.  The rapport skills changed my life.  Seriously.

One of my highest values is freedom [that’s important later] and with my girlfriend’s blessing and encouragement, I quit my last employed job and launched my own full time therapy business. In my first month self-employed I made the same money as I had the previous month employed.  By month two it doubled.  And it just kept going up and up…  In my first year I earned £9813.  If you can’t make a MINIMUM of £9813 in your first year self employed then I’ll have ZERO sympathy for you.  See I was enthusiastic about my service, I gave public workshops and talks, and tried every marketing method I could think of.  All of my therapy clients had pain and urgency.  That helps.

Having burned out my school-learned terror of public speaking in the DSS and in every prison in Scotland, I started doing public seminars in the areas of personal development that I was so passionate about.  All of my self-help workshop attendees were passionate about self-help.  This felt like easy street.

Later I broke into corporate training mainly from corporate employees doing my public workshops then going back to their boss raving about it.  I sold myself into Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Virgin, and many other household names.  For four figures a day.  And after they’d signed the contract they’d always say “OK so now you’ve got the sale, tell me what you were doing with the foot tapping thing!"

NLP Trainers Training in 2001 taught a model of marketing your business and it fitted me very well – less working one on one, more working one on many.  I also joined the local BNI chapter [Business Networking International] as a Hypnotherapist/Life Coach.  That was a hard thing for them to understand but I learned a lot about networking and it filled my practice.  At this point I made a mistake and quit the networking group because I was too busy, when I should have trained some associates and grown the business.

In 2003 I hired one of the UK's most expensive business turnaround experts and worked with him for 3 years.  He had his own sales methodology and considering he once filled a room with 55 business owners each paying £35,000 a head for a five day course, I knew he was the guy to model.  My NLP course was £1500 for 7 days so he was a good role model.  As a result of working with a Coach my income doubled.  We were jetting off to Hawaii every 6 months, I started writing books…

Then the 2008 recession started to hurt my business and at the same time I could see the oncoming decline in demand for NLP, so I had to reinvent or “pivot” and grow a whole new business from scratch by offering something every business needs - marketing.  Let me tell you a quick story about how the 2008 recession slashed my income by 60%  But now I never have to worry about the economy ever again…

I was trying to keep my business going while the credit crunch was crippling my industry, clients were holding onto their money as the impending crash loomed closer and I was a first time Dad into the bargain.  I was struggling with juggling work, business and family all at the same time.  I was getting more and more anxious and burned out.  I was also frustrated and behind on my bills.

Then the bottom fell out from under me when all of my corporate clients started slashing their training budgets and the big 4 figure paydays vanished.  Which meant I couldn't give my new family the life I promised them.  I’d told my wife it was fine for her to give up work permanently and be a stay at home mum cos the business was growing on average 30% per year, every year.  Until now.

But I wasn't ready to give up on my dream of having work/life balance, the freedom of running my own business on my terms, and going to Hawaii every 6 months.  Throughout my career I have studied and used advanced influencing techniques.  Then I discovered the truth about why people buy – the psychology of sales - and everything changed.

• First of all I mastered training other people in how to send me all the warm introductions I wanted.
• I also learned how to create sales messages that drove people to action and got them to click "BUY" on my 17 websites
• Plus I already knew how to build trust and rapport with virtually anyone… so my appointments halved and my sales doubled.  This meant I could now live my dream of working from home with a rejuvenated business.  

Ultimately I’ve been able to make a huge difference in people's lives in many different areas, including my wife and son's.  This meant I now had the power to use my passion for learning and training to have a huge impact on the business world.

I even returned to BNI in 2010 and in my 7th year became chapter president of the top performing chapter in the region, one of the 2 Regional Trainers responsible for teaching networking skills to all the new members and a Director Consultant recruiting members and launching chapters.  I also went back into MLM and in my last network marketing venture I built a team of 104 people and qualified for a free car in 37 days.

By 2017 I was in the top 3% of BNI members, before being conned out of thousands of pounds by 2 fellow members.  Unbelievably I got dismissed by email then told I was essentially gagged for 2 years and couldn’t use my training anywhere else.  Must be some good shit if they didn’t want me teaching it to anyone!  To think I had breakfast at silly o’clock with the same group of people every week for 7 years and only one of the 25 members kept in touch.  Classy.  BNI likes to portray stories of chapters rallying round their fellow members but all I got was bad mouthed.  

Karma's a bitch though, isn't it?

Hurt and gutted to the core, I nursed my wounds for two months then joined ClubFive55 networking group, and my business quintupled! I get to sleep longer, make more money and meet nicer people!

Nowadays I use speaking, networking and marketing and only work with clients who know what I do, want what I do and can afford it.

The way I sell myself now bears no resemblance to the way I was taught to in my financial services days.  That was more a source of what NOT to do.  Having a phone sellotaped to my head until I got a sale.  Tasked with making 100 sales calls a day.  Horror stories that most people have heard, some have experienced, [and some even enjoy] but if I’m honest, I LOATHED and DETESTED every minute of it.

Most of what I was taught in traditional sales was Seduction.  What actually works in the real world is Attraction.  And that’s what I’m going to share with you here.  “Sell More Stuff” is my latest thinking on selling skills and sales training – but with a difference.

So I honestly feel I've earned the right to train people in sales skills that work today. I’ve used the last few weeks to put together a FREE Cheatsheet and video called “Why They Buy – How To Attract More Paying Customers” which goes into the psychology of what makes people buy stuff and gives you the exact criteria you need to pull in more eager clients who are ready to buy from you.  Email me at admin@instantedge.co.uk if you’d like a copy because it absolutely can transform your customer base if you let it. 

Fear-Based Decisions Are Bad for Business

At one point, every business owner will find him or herself in a troubling situation. Revenue is down. New clients are scarce. Profits are falling, and a peek at the financials is enough to bring on a full-fledged anxiety attack.   

Unless you’re Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates, chances are you’ve experienced that sinking feeling of a business that’s trending downward, too. But how you handle it can mean the difference between continued success and business-killing burnout.

Here’s where a lot of business owners start to self-sabotage. They start to worry about money, and that worry leads to poor decisions that ultimately have a negative impact not just on finances, but—maybe more importantly—on morale, too. Or feeling surrounded by competition and giving up the ghost.   Maybe you know what I’m talking about.

Wasting hours of your life enduring Business Networking meetings and coming away with nothing to show for it.  Or fruitless meeting after meeting and you dreading coming home for you partner to ask how it went…

You Take On the Wrong Calibre Of Client

Let’s be honest here – we might hate to admit it, but we all know there IS a difference between low-end clients and high-end clients. In my experience, the customers who plead poverty and haggle prices with you cause you the most grief and are the most demanding.  The clients who didn’t even ask about price are prompt, do their homework and are delightful.  [Makes you wonder what kind of customer YOU are…]

Now when money is tight, it can be tough to keep your ideal client avatar in mind. Instead, you jump at the chance to work with anyone who comes along. The trouble with this scenario is you are so desperate that you pounce at the slightest whiff of a sale.  There’s an old saying that “Bad salesmen have skinny kids” because the client can smell your desperation.  That also makes you feel awkward and sleazy in case you’re coming across like a predatory double glazing salesman from the 70’s.  Then you can find yourself with a roster full of clients who:

·       Aren’t willing or able to do the work you ask them to

·       Spend all their time telling you why your ideas and advice won’t work, or finding fault with every detail

·       Drain your energy and make you dread your office, or cringe when their name appears on your phone.

True story - When I wrote my first book “Ignite & Unshackle” in 2006 I had this one chap who hounded me to get one of the first copies.  I mean he emailed me daily, phoned every other day, chasing chasing chasing… for 3 weeks.  As soon as the box arrived I carefully packaged the book up in its cellophane wrapper, inserted a thank you letter and the 3 free CD’s that went with it into a padded jiffy bag and took it to the post office, paid extra to send it recorded delivery and emailed him to say it was on its way. 

Three days later I got the book back in the mail, still in its cellophane, with a post it note saying “I changed my mind.”  But he kept the free cd’s!  Jeez man if you just wanted the cd’s you could have asked for them!

You Stop Creating

And who can blame you? With profits down, you have to pull back. You can’t afford to spend time and money creating new programmes or offers, so you recycle the ones you’ve already produced.

Now, this would be ideal if you were repurposing with a positive intent. Turning your e-book into a group coaching course? Perfect! But that’s not what your fearful brain is telling you.

Your fearful self is saying, “Just re-release this same product again, so I don’t have to have new sales copy written or record new videos.”   And while this might help bring in a bit of cash short-term, it won’t do anything for your reputation or your self-esteem.

Errr… no. That’s no way to operate a business, but that’s just what a fear-based mind-set can do to you. Better (much better) to make a MINDSHIFT and hold out for that perfect client. And while you’re waiting, take what you’ve learned from your drop in sales and create the killer product your audience is clamouring for!

That’s what I’ve done – I’ve used the last few weeks to put together a FREE Cheatsheet and video called “Why They Buy – How To Attract More Paying Customers” which goes into the psychology of what makes people buy stuff and gives you the exact criteria you need to pull in more eager clients who are ready to buy from you.  Email me at admin@instantedge.co.uk if you’d like a copy because it absolutely can transform your customer base if you let it. 

No more wasting time on low probability prospects who just use up your time or suck you dry.  These 7 factors will get you more yes’s, make selling feel more like helping  and fill you with confidence knowing you’re helping your ideal clients solve problems which they gladly pay you for. 

Sales Techniques To Make More Money From Your Business

Try the Profit Growth Calculator for yourself at https://instantedgeonline.com/newprofit

Leadership

A collective group of 10 like minded entrepreneurs who decided not to wait to be told how and when they should come out of lockdown...



https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/leadership-growth-hotseat-tickets-111561980888

Leadership & Growth Hotseat

 Are you feeling the effects of Mental Lock Down? Move from a stuck Mindset to a flowing Mindshift with a collective of ambitious thinkers to help grow your business...



https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/leadership-growth-hotseat-tickets-111561852504

Virtual 360 Tours Of Your Location

Glasgow Business Coach Shares The £150k Treasure map

Latest Podcast outlines the £150k game plan I came up with for a client

Beginner's Guide To Zoom Part 7 - Creating A Meeting Continued

Here's the next video I recorded a year ago on using Zoom - hope you find them useful

5 Ways Writing Your Book Will Build Your Marketing Nous

Writing a good book is the first step. The next step is actually selling some copies! Gone are the days when the big publishers scheduled book tours for you,  booked you television interviews, and secured radio appearances. Big name authors still get these perks, but most "mere mortal" authors are responsible for their own marketing activities, so having a game plan up front gets you out there, and might even land you a publishing deal.  

Here are 5 things you can do...

1. Get yourself in the spotlight. No more skulking behind the keyboard if you want to make book sales! Be proud of what you’ve achieved and tell the world. Nobody will know about your new book unless YOU tell them about it, using your social media channels, maybe a press release, and any other publicity events you can manage. And a quick reminder: You can’t please everyone so keep your target audience avatar in mind. Don’t listen to the prophets of doom - pay attention only to the feedback from your fans.

2. Well written press releases and buzz-worthy news. What better way to tell the world about your new book than to write a press release. But to prevent your press release from getting forgotten at the bottom of the pile, learn how to write one so your book is seen as newsworthy. In media pitches, mention how you are different from the competition and why you’re the best choice as the ideal interview guests. Of course you want the publicity, but craft your releases and pitches so they come across as a win-win relationship.

3. Practice your diary management. Scheduling interviews, in-person book readings, book signing events, a book launch party, and social media promotion takes a fair bit of planning and patience. Add some travelling into the mix and you may want to consider hiring a virtual assistant and/or travel agent to handle flights and accommodation. Guest interviews can be cancelled or booked at the drop of a hat so your plans can change with one email. Always have a Plan B if a scheduled event is cancelled so your time isn’t wasted.

4. Continue connecting with your social media fans. Consistency is the name of the game when it comes to growing followers online. It’s all about know, like and trust so your fans feel that you are credible and not trying to 'buy' them. Build that relationship, share parts of your personal life and/or business, be human, and naturally enthuse about your book. Just don’t post "buy my new book" every 5 minutes.  Show them behind the scenes [ in-to-me-see]  that you’re a normal, approachable person who cares about helping them more than about book royalties.

=======================================================================

We have a programme that turns you into a published author with your own book, your own webinar, your own social media presence, your own online course and a whole lot more.  Get our £150k treasure map at 

https://instantedge.lpages.co/guru-factory/

=======================================================================

5. Start planning now and use a mind map to structure your marketing plan. Authors need to market as hard and as long as they wrote.  If you want to sell books and expand your fan base, a marketing strategy is important. Start early by brainstorming your ideas and then decide which of these ideas you do in which order for your book launch. Consider outsourcing any tasks you don’t know how to accomplish so you can do what you're good at. Save those tasks that you love or at least know how to finish for yourself.

If you’re overwhelmed by this solo marketing approach, consider hiring help, either an assistant with marketing and publicity experience or a Marketing Coach. Stick to a budget but make sure you get news of your book out there in as many ways as you can.

Final point - if writing is part of your business, remember its best selling book, not best written.  Amazon doesn't care about the content, it cares about number of sales first, reviews second.

Beginner's Guide To Zoom Part 6 - Creating A Meeting

For anyone still trying to get their head around Zoom

Beginner's Guide To Zoom Part 5 - Adding free users

Beginner's Guide To Zoom Part 5 - Adding free users to your paid account

Business Networking For Introverts - Part 1

Business Networking For Introverts - Part 1. Extract from my "Turn Your Contacts Into Contracts" online course, which applies as much online as it does offline.