For experts like coaches and consultants, it’s easy to get trapped in a business that doesn’t fit us.
In the real estate business, Mike Ferry is still going out and speaking to live audiences and real estate offices in his 80’s. That’s the lifestyle he wants, but it’s not what I want.
On the flip side, some experts set the goal of a business that runs without them and throws off a high profit that allows them to essentially retire. Richard Koch is a great example of this. He works a few hours in the morning in communication with leaders of the companies he’s invested in. That leaves the rest of the day to think, write, ride his book or tool around his property in South Africa.
He does no 1-on-1 coaching or mentoring, it’s all through the books he writes and interviews he gives.
For me, I want something in the middle.
I genuinely enjoy the client work of helping people figure out their marketing strategy, their messaging, their ideal client they want to attract, the Point of View they want to put into the world, the big, valuable problem they want to solve. That’s where I get the sense of fulfillment and impact.
So my ideal business doesn’t take me out of that work, it just adds a ton of leverage.
(Side note: if you’re on the introverted side like me, we need leverage. We don’t get energy back from all of our social interactions, so we need to get more out of each interaction. That’s leverage.)
So the question for this episode is, What do you REALLY want?
The ideal person for MicroFamous isn’t someone who’s building a coaching/consulting company to sell. Or the speaker/author who wants to be on the road doing 150 speaking gigs a year. Most of those things sound great at first, but once you get close to people who’ve done all those things, you realize that they envy those who have built lifestyle businesses.
So in the world of MicroFamous, we’re building lifestyle businesses. Businesses that make an impact but still give us a great, enjoyable, sustainable life in the process.
If you’re building a lifestyle business, you’re probably…
- driven more by freedom and impact than by economics and public achievement
- much more intentional and strategic about who you serve and who you take on
- involved in some key part of the business that uses your unique ability
- looking for leverage so you can only be involved in the few things that use your unique ability
That leverage comes in a few forms. On the operations side, leverage typically means systems and people. On the marketing side, leverage comes from influence.
Think of how much easier it is for Tony Robbins to run Facebook ads to an event than someone who’s brand new to events. The difference isn’t just that Tony Robbins has published books. Lots of people you’ve never heard of have written amazing books.
It’s not just that Tony Robbins speaks all the time. Lots of people in the National Speakers Association have spoken all over the place and don’t have influence.
There’s no leverage on the marketing side if you have no influence. And it’s really, really hard to build a lifestyle business without leverage.
There’s only so much you can do on the marketing side without influence. And it all takes more activity. Speaking, sales calls, networking events, seminars, you name it.
That’s why MicroFamous starts with the goal of becoming famously influential to the right people.
Influence is leverage. When you’ve built real, enduring influence in your space, ideal clients come more easily, their sales cycles are shorter and they require less interaction with you in order to sign up. Then when they become clients, they take action on your advice and get results. Which creates great testimonials, great reputation in the industry, and great word of mouth, which all feeds into attracting new clients.
That’s the power of influence. That’s why influence is the heart of MicroFamous.
So let’s return to the question. What do you REALLY want?
Do you want the outward achievement of building something really impressive?
Do you have an insatiable drive to make more and more money, to build generational wealth? Or do you want to turn your expertise into a business that delivers freedom and impact?
Because if you want freedom and impact, you’re my kind of person, and you’ll probably like the MicroFamous system. The more clarity you have on what you want, the faster you can get there.