Save time and money, build your fan base before planning your course

Does it sound weird if I suggest that you should build your list before you decide exactly what to sell? It's a little counter intuitive isn't it?

So here's what I'm saying. If you're a coach or a yoga teacher you know what your passion is and you know roughly what you're going to teach. So before you start paying deposits on venues or buying lights for your course or online studio (even if that's your front room) build your network. And it doesn't have to be a stadium! Twenty, thirty, fifty people who are really engaged in exactly what you do is great.

Why?

Have you ever put your heart and soul into a project, spent hours on getting it just right and then tried to sell it but no one buys? I have. What I learned is that posting a couple of posts in local groups about your upcoming event or posting on social media a few times is not enough. You need to have a group of people who are really interested in you.

How?

1. Figure out what you want to teach. What general style? 
2. Decide who you will offer it to.

Then you need to create something small that's hyper related to what you're going to offer... you could:

• record a meditation with your phone
• put together a mindfulness journal with Canva
• create a PDF guide to Healthy Eating for a particular cohort
• share 5 ways to improve your finances before you go on maternity leave
• demonstrate 5 yoga poses within your niche for your ideal client that helps them to get from A to B.

Then create a registration page (you could save the file on a G-Drive that's free) and you could use Mailerlite, that's free. And then share it with everyone. Gather emails.

Talk to them about the kind of course or classes that you want to share, how you will help them to feel in their body and mind as a result of your classes. 

Use your social media to grow the list too.

If you're on Instagram put a link to it in the BIO of your profile. Share it on Facebook. Share it on LinkedIn. And then, and only then, reach out to everyone and see if they would sign up to an event, a workshop, a class. Get feedback and then go looking for a venue.

Build your network before you launch your business. 

Imagine how it would feel if you had customers ready to buy your course, your membership, your coaching. Think about how powerful it would be to ask a group of people who are already interested in what you share for feedback on something that you're thinking of offering.

Remember people want to help others so ASK

Look around on social media, I know it can be toxic but it's also full of people helping each other, connecting, sharing, laughing, crying, buying.

So reach out to friends and family, even former colleagues and ask them to share your lead magnet. The worse thing that can happen is that they say NO.

Everyone appreciates being heard so LISTEN

Go to the hashtags that you use to post and share to try to reach your ideal clients. And see what they are posting and talk to them. Like their posts. Share their posts. Help them to succeed. Make insightful comments. And do it consistently.

Set notifications up for when your prospective clients post. On Instagram you can do this using the bell feature beside the account name. On LinkedIn you can use Sales Navigator.

Get the balance right use SELF AWARENESS

Have you ever heard that phrase that you shouldn't go back to the same well too many times. This expression is a modern version of an ancient proverb, appearing in various ways and numerous languages from the fourteenth century on. Thomas Fuller (Gnomologia, 1732), “The pitcher that often goes to the well comes home broken at last.”

But some people think asking their family to help them once is too much.

Others go back and back and back and ask for help until no one wants to talk to them anymore.

Self awareness is so important. It's ok to ask for help. Maybe not 10 times from the exact same people. But certainly more than a couple of times is ok.

Do you have a system for Building your Network?

It forms part of my M.A.R.K.E.T. Method which is my signature program which helps coaches, yoga teachers and online entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, create more freedom in their lives and ultimately make a bigger impact.

To book a call with me and get my help with energising your network visit https://www.elainewalshmcgrath.com/call