FYM 2015
Hey there, Mooser :-)
Thanks for attending my talk on positioning your dev biz!
Resources
I’ve provided resources below to help you grow your business and reduce your stress in the process.
Slides from my talk (with speaker notes):
Creating a laser-focused positioning statement:
https://jonathanstark.com/#create-your-laser-focused-positioning-statement
The benefits of pigeonholing:
Soggy positioning examples:
Market research cold email template for validating a new position:
https://jonathanstark.com/market-research-cold-email-template
How to attract clients without doing sales:
https://jonathanstark.com/how-to-attract-clients-without-doing-sales-with-jonathan-stark
Panel Questions
What is the most common issue your clients come to you with?
They want to level up and have no idea how to do it.
Business has plateaued. They feel like they’re on a treadmill. Cash flow is hand to mouth. Workload oscillates between feast and famine. They’ve read a pile of business books but can’t seem to apply the principles to their situation. Basically, they’re stuck.
What strategies do you employ to help them achieve their goals?
I have them decide what they want to be when they grow up :)
Specifically: pick a specialty, define their ideal customer, and then work with their ideal customers to identify and solve their most expensive problems.
If I came to you and said, “I need to make more money!” what would your response be?
Charge more.
Seriously. Why not just double your rates? If you only lost half your customers, you’d be making the same money with half the work. Even if you lose all your customers, the problem of “how do I create offerings that deliver enough ROI to justify these rates?” is way easier to solve than “how do I eek more profit out of the low-value activities I’m used to delivering?”
In other words, it’s easier to come up with something that your customers will pay more for than to convince them to pay more for the same old thing you’ve been selling to them for years.
If I came to you and said, “I am so stressed out how can you help me?” what advice would you give?
It depends. I’d have to ask a few question to identify the main source of the stress. If the stress was business related, then better positioning, attracting better clients, and/or ditching hourly billing would likely improve the situation.
How can I change my business so I can do more of what I love, and get help with the rest?
Know your super power and just do that. Most everything else can be outsourced, referred to a colleague, or refused. This is easier than it sounds, though. Lots of people don’t really know what they love doing (or at least, they can’t articulate it well).
What problems & solutions do you see with my current approach?
The biggest problem most students suffer from is soggy positioning. They think being a jack-of-all trades is an asset (it’s not). They think their work is equally valuable to anyone and everyone (it’s not). They think that their time is inherently valuable (it’s not). The solution is to decide what your specialty is, who your ideal client is, and then to go deep at the intersection of those two things.
What is the return on investment for coaching?
Coaching pays for itself emotionally in the first month (if it doesn’t, I give their money back). It pays for itself financially in the first 6-12 months. Coaching will fundamentally change your business for the better, which in turn has a big positive impact on your life.
Questions? Ping me at jstark@jonathanstark.com.
Yours,
Jonathan
P.S. Need personalized actionable advice on growing your business? I’m available for a limited number of 1-on-1 calls every month, and would love to chat with you. Book a call with me.