Mark Williams

You will struggle to win clients without relying on referrals if you don't understand this... Creative business owners, please listen. If you are approaching a prospective client cold, you MUST have a different strategy. It's not enough to say "Look at all these amazing people we've helped like you" It's not enough to say "We can promise this result" Imagine if someone walked up to you on the street and said that.. How much would you trust them? If you want to get clients without referrals you have to bridge the trust gap. In order to do that, you have to offer value up front and solve a specific problem for them BEFORE they pay you any money I get soooooo many pitches from people I have never met or worked with that promise everything under the sun. It doesn't work for a cold audience! If it does, and people buy, they will be the wrong people. You will have nightmare clients that question everything where you have to constantly reassure them Like a needy girlfriend If you deliver value up front and solve a specific problem before asking for anything in return (apart from their time and energy), you will create life long clients. Ones that treat you as a valued partner, not a creative worker. Rant over. Ps: Want help attracting high value clients without relying on referrals? Comment "Clients" below and I will send you more info

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A paid audience should not be your guinea pig. Too many people come to me and their first question how do I get booked? How do I get paid to speak in? My response is honest and it’s that “you’re not good.” When you accept payment for a speaking engagement, you’ve said a high expectation. And many people don’t think that if they are bad at that engagement, it can get someone fired, it could break the trust that their coworkers haven’t with them, or we can even break the trust that their boss has with them. Just because you’ve spoken to a team, a small group, or on a panel does not mean you are good enough to command a stage for over 30 minutes. For you to command an audience for over 30 minutes. For you to leave them with something tangible a memory and motivation or a skill. When you accept a check, and our honest stage and it’s only you it is different in all aspects. You do not have anyone to bail you out. Before you even think about accepting payment for speaking engagement, ask yourself these questions. 1. Do I have a topic that isn’t something that everyone else is doing a.k.a. I wanna be a motivational speaker because I’ve struggled. Hate to say, but everyone says that it’s not a niche. 2. Do I have actual expertise in a topic not just an opinion, but actual expertise? 3. Do I know how to build a slide deck? There’s nothing worse than going and listening to a speaker that has an awful slide deck. 4. Do I know how to command a stage? Do I know how to bring energy do I know how to get people‘s eyes to follow me? Do I know how to own the stage in the room? 5. Do I know how to do transitions? There’s nothing worse than speaker who doesn’t know how to transition and leaves you trying to figure out how to connect one story to the other one. 6. Is my topic actually interesting enough? Are my stories interesting enough? 7. Do I feel comfortable enough that someone won’t get fired if I screw up? 8. Who are your competitors? Don’t name the big stars. You should know who are in your topical area are your competitors. What they talked about, what they charge, who their customers are, what courses they teach. You should know everything about them. Advice- you need to do numerous free sessions to get your topic, stage presence, and voice figured out. This is a skill my friends.

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⛔️ As a business owner are you lonely? ⛔️ This is what a client told me yeterday. “ I love being a business owner but I’m so lonely. I love what I do. I’ve built a business from absolutely nothing, I’ve gained hundreds of clients, hired a small team of staff in-house and love every working day. But I’m so incredibly lonely. I’m 34 years old and feel so out of place around everyone. I do have some friends and I see them as often as I can but feel like I’m intruding as they all have their own groups of friends and I feel quite conscious about the fact I talk about my business a lot. I don’t know how to fix this. I’ve resorted to just doing things alone as I don’t feel like I can talk to anyone about my stresses / day because it’s always about the business” According to CEO today, up to 73% of entrepreneurs feel lonely. It seems loneliness is an epidemic in business and this topic kept popping up in our Exit Game Plan Materclass this week. Soooooooooo how do we deal with this. Here’s 7 tips: 1) Mingle with like minded people - People who can offer you emotional business support whenever you feel lonely. 2) Become a member of an amazing networking company or a coaching mastermind. 3) Stop comparing yourself to others. 4) Admit to yourself you are lonely rather than fight it and remind yourself it’s not just you. 5) Do a JV (Joint Venture) with a charity or another company. I do this and the other company always makes me feel part of their team. 6) Have someone to talk to like a coach or a mindset coach. 7) Learn to love who you are, and you will automatically start enjoying your own company. Get over the shame of being alone and doing stuff on your own. In fact, be proud of your ability to overcome loneliness and turn it into something positive and something that will help you improve yourself. Guys - You may feel like you're on your own, dealing with the pressure of making decisions, managing employees, and staying competitive, however you are not. If you ever need anything, please give me a shout and I will introduce you to mega amazing people who have felt the way you feel and are now buzzing. Remember - as a business owner you are doing an amazing thing. Be super proud of yourself. It can be a hard gig at times.

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