Step one in growing and launching a business is what I call Grow Up. Get your mindset for entrepreneurship. What this means is that maturity does not solely come from experience, age, wisdom or longevity. It comes from decisiveness. When you decide to stop living small and embrace your possibility, that’s when you reach full maturity.

Remember, coaching is a business. It’s a passion and for most of us it’s a calling, but at the end of the day you’re becoming an entrepreneur and it is a business. You may need to change your thinking to be more business-oriented, as many coaches do.

When I got my mindset for entrepreneurship, when I decided I knew that I could design my own destiny and that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, everything aligned. The teachers I needed showed up, the money flowed, and I became a center of influence.

You’ve got to get to a level of maturity and get your mind set for entrepreneurship first. Then follow your passion and what you love and know will become your niche.

Actually I don’t like the word niche. I think it actually holds a lot of coaches back and a lot of people get stuck on “What is my niche?” and a little obsessed about it. It is very important and you have to have a target market, but I’ve re-languaged that to be ‘who needs you most?’ Follow what you love and what you know will become who needs you most.

Think about what you cannot get enough of. What or who just fires you up and you could talk about it for days? It’s the kind of thing that people have to shut you up because you’re so impassioned you want to share it. That’s your target market. That’s your hive. Those are the people who need you most.

You might be like me. I was literally niche-phobic for almost a year. I could not decide what my niche was; I wanted it all. My business was growing nicely but I could feel that there was a weight that was keeping me from really exploding.

I now know that if I had gotten that target market – who needs you most – earlier, and if I had committed to that, I probably would have built my business in double time.

Most coaches have the problem that we want to help everyone, and that often ends up helping no one. We see the needs all around us, but it doesn’t mean we can help them all.

I knew very early on I was meant to work with other entrepreneurs, but I kept saying, “You know what? I just started building my business myself. I couldn’t possibly do that. Look at me. I’ve just started.” Even though my instincts and my gut were telling me that’s what I’m supposed to do, I ignored it for quite a while.

It was in my bones. Had I just embraced that I would have done things with less stress and even faster than I did them.

Getting your mindset right and understanding who needs you most are two factors that will be instrumental in bringing success to your coaching business.

I’d like to invite you to learn how to help more people, make more money and enjoy more freedom with the free 5-day mini course, “Awakening Your Authentic Entrepreneur,” at http://www.helpmorepeople.com/minicourse.htm

Entrepreneurial Mindset for Coaches – Pinpoint the Right Group of People to Work With [ 3:53 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Entrepreneurial Mindset for Coaches – Pinpoint the Right Group of People to Work With [ 3:53 ] Download

Sometimes I get a question from people, “How do you stay motivated to market?” That question, I have to be honest, always worries me.

Close your eyes for a second. This is a silly, fun exercise. Go back to middle school or high school to that crush. That crush on whoever it was – a teacher, a girl or boy, whoever it was you had that crush on – that you were stalking to see when they would be at their locker. You felt like you were going to lose your breath because you were so enamored with them.

Take that moment for just a second and let me ask you this. Did you ever have to have anyone remind you to see where they were or to check on that Wednesday and see what they doing, or to write a love note if you were dating them?

Did anybody have to wake up and say, “Susie, make sure you write Bob a love note?” That doesn’t happen, right? It’s such a part of you it’s in your being. You know to go check where that person is or to write them a note or find where they are and sit with them at lunch.

That’s really how the marketing of your business should be. You need to make sure you have a target market and a business structure that you are so in love with that no one needs to remind you to market.

When you decided what group of people needed you most, that you were qualified and excited to serve, you started along a path that can have lots of unexpected happy surprises, leading you into opportunities that you never knew existed. As one thing leads to another, just stay alert to people who can be connectors for you, opening new doors for speaking, writing, media, and projects.

At the same time, like any journey, you need to be monitoring your progress and correcting course from time to time. Most commercial flights are off course a high percentage of the time, and yet they arrive at the right destination. How is that? Because the pilots are making small course corrections to get back on track.

Measure everything you can in your business so you know what’s working well and worth the investment in time/money/energy, and what’s not. With the goal of constant improvement, your small tweaks along the way will really result in significant progress over time.

I put both feet on the floor in the morning and like I said I go, “What can I do today? Who can I teach something about marketing? How can I market something? What’s something I could sell?” I just love it.

People talk about workaholics and I have to be careful that I take time out for myself. Not because I’m obsessed with working and I have to do the job, but because I love it so much. It’s energy for me. I love to see the difference that my coaching has made in someone’s life, business, relationships, and finances.

That’s how authentic marketing should feel for you. The motivation comes from within because you know the value of what you’re doing, and you’re enjoying learning how to serve more people, making more connections, and growing your wealth as you implement the marketing that works best for you.

I’d like to invite you to learn how to help more people, make more money and enjoy more freedom with the free 5-day mini course, “Awakening Your Authentic Entrepreneur,” at http://www.helpmorepeople.com/minicourse.htm

Small Business Marketing: What's Your Motivation for Marketing Your Coaching Business? [ 2:52 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Small Business Marketing: What's Your Motivation for Marketing Your Coaching Business? Download

Feel like you lost your calling in all this marketing madness?  I know.  In the quest to build our dream business we can sometime lose sight of the gift that fueled that BIG business dream.  One of the best ways to attract clients and quantum leap your business results is to reconnect with the special gift.  We can overwhelm ourselves with marketing information overload and find ourselves not living our purpose, not loving the work, and frankly… tired.

Here is my quick fix for the marketing weary!  A mini revolution!

1) Check your message

What is it you are sharing with people?  Are you clear?  Are you sincere?  Are you sharing the benefits of working with you and how you can offer solutions to people’s problems?  But mostly, are you speaking from passion and your divine purpose?  People can smell sincerity and they will know if you are not connected to your calling.

2) Mediate on your meaning

There are certainly strategies that allow you to market effectively, but all of them fail miserably if you have lost your meaning.  Why are you marketing?  Why are you using the strategies you are using?  Why the language?  Every choice in your marketing must reconnect with your meaning and the big mission you are on.  Take a moment in your marketing strategies to pause, meditate, reflect, and reconnect with your meaning.

3) Ask more

We can not help anyone without asking.  I try to ask 100 people a week to join me in my movement.  100 people MINIMUM.  I started this business to help more people and I simply can not do that unless I am actively asking people for their business.  You can not ask enough.  You can not help too many people.  It is your blessing.

4) Appearing as defeat

Recognize that the obstacles may well be opportunities.  Napoleon Hill says, “We see men who have accumulated great fortunes, but we often recognize only their triumph, overlooking the temporary defeats which they had to surmount before ‘arriving’.”  Our opportunity may not come in the package we had expected.  Temporary defeat can blossom into great opportunities.

5) Make your mess Your Message

Tell more of the not-so-pretty stuff.  Clients want to connect with your message.  They need you to tell the whole story and not just the success parts.  The greatest gift we have is empathy.  Don’t hide your empathy to look “good” or “impress”.  Your full story is the impressive story.

6) Become Hype Free

Are you sharing the best of you and giving away the good stuff?  People don’t need hype and they certainly don’t buy hype.  Check your messages, your language, and your marketing and make sure you are providing high content, high value, and the highest level of support.

7) Start a Movement

Your calling is your blessing to the world.  It is not just an idea or a method… it is a revolutionary tool to make a difference.  Don’t just market – find the grass roots calling inside of you and create a movement.  You and your gifts are revolutionary – go big!  Start a movement.

(c) 2009 Suzanne Evans

About the author:  Suzanne Evans is best known as the ‘action expert’ and has coached hundreds of solopreneurs to model her multiple six figure business. Learn how you can help more people, make more money and have more fun doing what you love by signing up for your free copy of the 5-Part Mini-Course ‘Awakening Your Authentic Entrepreneur’ at http://www.helpmorepeople.com

My mentor says, “Suzanne, You must get comfortable with being uncomfortable”. Ugh. That is so hard. I know why….I get it. My other mentor says “business is messy”. So if you know that business is ever changing, can be messy, and really is an ebb and flow. You must be OK with being uncomfortable. Lots of unexpected things will happen. Lots of unknowns will be present. Lots of mistakes will take place. You sit in uncomfortable quite a bit. For months I have been intellectualizing this by thinking, studying, and processing.

Then the other day I got it…

Being comfortable with being uncomfortable doesn’t mean you have to be out on a limb, no safety net, or reckless. It mean s you ride the big waves, go fearlessly into the ocean, and you wear a life vest. When I “got” this I recognized that most of you want to ride the big wave and launch yourselves in a huge way, but it just feels too hard or too soon. You might be ready to jump in if you had your “life vests” in place:

1) A coach. The right coach. Someone to hold your hand, kick your butt, help fix the mistakes before you make them, and give you specific examples of the “how to”.

2) Support. Unless you are a VA or web designer you should not be doing your websites, autoresponders, or admin stuff. Get the help. Find the help. Borrow the help. Do only what you do and the marketing.

3) Know how to sell. Oh, yes…the dirty word. before you create programs, write material, and take 5 years of training know how to sell. You can not operate a business I you do not know how to sell. Business is about currency. You must ask for the client to get clients.

4) Have money ready to invest. To launch, grow, or makeover a business you will need to invest in yourself. Watching thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs EVERY single one that succeeded had a mentor, attended events, and invested in themselves. The money is always present. The Universe provides what we need, but you have to be open to it and willing to do what it takes.

5) Be a list builder. Realize next to selling the other must-have in your business is a constant list building strategy. You can start this today with offline and online marketing. Your job is to collect names so that you can authentically communicate your message. Collecting names builds an audience. Get some support to set up automated systems to make this happen.

These five life vests make the plunge possible.  You can go into the deep end and ride the big waves because even if the water is choppy you are ready!

(c) 2009 Suzanne Evans

About the author: Suzanne Evans is best known as the ‘action expert’ and has coached hundreds of solopreneurs to model her multiple six figure business. Learn how you can help more people, make more money and have more fun doing what you love by signing up for your free copy of the 5-Part Mini-Course ‘Awakening Your Authentic Entrepreneur’ at http://www.helpmorepeople.com

Most of my private clients and inner circle know that I have been through a huge transition over the last four months.  I worked in the Broadway Theatre industry for ten years and left that position about four weeks ago.  It is a long story why I stayed so long with a thriving business.  In some ways it was fear of change.  Some of it was doing what you know and a part had to do with other people’s voices.

Most of you know my story of struggle, confusion, and frustration around finding a marketing path that felt authentic and heart centered when I first started my life coaching business.  How would I get ONE client much less a whole practice full?  I would cry in the shower, pray on the bus from Hoboken to New York City, and question myself.  When I did finally nail my mission, I went from zero to six figures in 14 months.  Everything shifted.   The point here is I didn’t need to stay in the day job.  The Universe supported me and things were working.  But I did.  I let the naysayers talk louder than the cheerleaders.

Now that I have let it go, I can clearly see my bigger vision, but the truth is….

Sometimes I am not sure what to do next.  I feel like I am wearing someone else’s pants over the last four weeks.  I had a routine.  A life. A pattern.  It was comfortable.  So, here I am wondering what to do next?  The ACTION expert!   I do have a plan though and it is working.

I knew I had to write about this today because so many of you are where I am.  You are asking, “What do I do next?”  I hope my imperfect action can move you forward in some small or large way.  We have to change, we don’t have a choice.  Change is how we live.  Sometimes we chose change (like my job) and sometimes it chooses us (like cancer).

When change comes, let the fear rise up.  Let the fear soak in.  Embrace it.  Spend a few minutes trying to understand it and then move.  In your business and life some of you are facing the following right now:

* Bankruptcy

* Illness

* Depression

* Panic

* Failure

* Success

* Exhaustion

* Anger

I could go on…..  All change.  All motivated and moved only by action.  Here is my plan and tips for you:

1) Get over being in control cause you aren’t. We are in control of our thoughts and that’s it.  The rest is somebody else’s doing, so spend the majority of your time focusing on thoughts, mindset, and mental shifts.  The way we think is the way we live.

2) Take hourly imperfect action.  In the last four weeks I have found more that has NOT worked in my business and life than does work.  THANK GOODNESS!  We only become enlightened when we move.  So, send the email, ask the neighbor, enroll in the program, start the health plan, and launch the business BEFORE you have all the answers.  The answers will find you.  They always do!

3) Stop asking for so many opinions cause you  know what?  YOU will get them.  And you will be confused as heck.  If that means unsubscribing from me right now then so be it.  Choose 2-3 voices and people that resonate and study them, look to them, learn from them.  Your husband and best friends should not be on this list.  Sorry!

4) Turn complaints into requests.  Most of the time we don’t know what to do because we are complaining; we are fretting or we are confused.  ASK.  REQUEST!  Every time you find yourself complaining about your business, give $20 to charity.  Either stop complaining or stop the business.  It doesn’t work.

5) Leave the damn house.  90% of you reading this work in isolation and for yourselves; get out of the house.  There is a whole world out there – go explore it.  If you are leaving your house where are you going?  Are you surrounding yourself with the right people?  Are you seeking success in a physical human connection form?

I am excited about the new chapter in my life.  I am thrilled to be in imperfect action mode and YES…I often ask “What do I do next”.  Then I just look above, get my rear in gear, and move forward!  See you at the success line.

(c) 2009 Suzanne Evans

About the author:  Suzanne Evans is best known as the ‘action expert’ and has coached hundreds of solopreneurs to model her multiple six figure business. Learn how you can help more people, make more money and have more fun doing what you love by signing up for your free copy of the 5-Part Mini-Course ‘Awakening Your Authentic Entrepreneur’ at http://www.helpmorepeople.com