What Can Dogs Teach You About _________?

You already know that at 1 point in my life I started a Dog Walking and Training Company in New York City…

Since then I have gone onto create very successful businesses for myself and others — but I have to tell you a secret…

The best lesson I EVER learned about marketing was back with the dog walking company, when I knew NOTHING about marketing and business…

Here’s the deal…

No matter what you are doing, you need to know about marketing…

I can just hear some of you yelling at me that you are employees so I must be crazy…

I’m not kidding…

No matter what you are doing you have to know about marketing…

If you are an:

• Entrepreneur
• Artist
• Athlete
• Employee
• Business Owner
• Real Estate Investor
• Actor
• Singer
• Coach
• Consultant

etc. etc. etc.

We can talk about why at another time — BUT — right now, let me share with you that first and best lesson I learned from my Dog Walking Business…

Here’s the lesson…

Know your target market and go directly to them and forget about the rest!

Seriously…

Get efficient and stop wasting your time on people who don’t care about what you are doing because it doesn’t solve a problem or need they have…

Here’s how I learned this lesson…

When I got started, I knew I wanted to walk and train dogs in my East Village area of NYC…

• There were dogs everywhere, so I realized there was a market…
• I made up some flyers, recruited 2 AMAZING friends…
• And we set up outside the Astor Place Subway station at rush hour…
• In 19 Degree weather…

19 Degrees is COLD and in New York City, the wind whips around the buildings and feels like it is slapping you in the face…

So here’s what happened…

After 2 days of doing this, I was disheartened, didn’t have a single person that had called me, had spent more on flyers than I could afford at the time and I was unwilling to ask my friends to continue helping me – for OBVIOUS reasons.

I wasn’t ready to give up…

So I had to get creative…

I only had about 100 flyers left (of the 2000 that I started with) and I needed money coming in FAST…

So this is what I did…

The next night I waited until 6 pm and I took my 100 flyers and I hit all the parks and dog parks in my immediate area…

I watched the OWNERS who had come home to walk their dogs to see which ones weren’t crazy…

Then I walked up to them, introduced myself, and asked them if they had a dog walker…

If they said “No” I gave them a flyer –

If they said “Yes” I asked them if I could give them a flyer in case they were looking in the future –

What do you think happened?

I got clients!

By the end of the week I had 5 clients and by the end of the month I had 15…

Within 3 months I was working by word of mouth only and never had to hand out a flyer again…

Did I get rich from Dog Walking?

NO

Did I learn the best marketing lesson of my life from Dog Walking?

YES!!

How can you use this lesson to make your marketing efforts better?

Leave me a comment — I can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

Go Big!

Kristen

Only 5% do it…

Oh boy, I’m going to push some buttons with this one…

As a website owner and coach etc.  I am required to tell people about average results…instead of the great, life changing results, that some of my clients experience…

So I want to talk about average results for a second…

Here’s the truth…

(For this post, I am only talking about programs and people that deliver on quality — let’s take the con artists out of this particular conversation)…

So, back to the truth…

The average results for any system or program or book or coaching is…

Failure…

and if it isn’t failure, it is mediocre results that probably would have been achieved without the purchase of the program or coaching or book etc.

AM I CRAZY??

You are probably wondering why, as someone who has products and coaching for sale, I would dare say this…

I’ll tell you why…

It’s true…

And it has NOTHING to do with the program, coaching or product (again, assuming a high level of quality)…

Here’s why the Average Results are so poor…

ONLY 5% of people that buy products, coaching, books and more ACTUALLY FOLLOW THROUGH!

And when I say follow through…

• I don’t mean start the program and do the parts that seem easy…
• I don’t mean read the book but don’t put anything into action…
• I don’t mean have your coaching sessions and just talk about things and then only take some action between sessions…

Just so you know…I was in the 95% for years…so I’m not pointing fingers AND you CAN CHANGE!!

I mean REALLY follow through…

• I mean go through the tough times and the frustration and the growing pains and the fear of change and the pain of being called on your resistance…
• I mean not jumping ship the second things get hard and going to the next program that you think might just make everything better…

To be honest…

I am tired or average results…and I know you are too!

• I’m excited about the 5% that do follow through…
• I’m excited about the 5% that puts their head down and knows it is going to be tough at times and that they are going to want to quit but they are so sick and tired or having Average Results that they do it anyway!

Let’s assume we are only talking about great programs and coaches and books etc.

It doesn’t matter if you work with me or with someone else of high quality…

Here is what matters…

Are you in the 5%?

Honestly…

Are you?

Now here’s the tough question…

Why?

Why do you refuse to stay in the 95% a moment longer?

If you are here, I know you are close…but only you can decide!

Are you ready to be in the 5% now?

Whether it’s now or later, whenever you hit the point that you are ready…

I am here for you…

To help you be EXTRAORDINARY!

Trust me, you are more than you could ever dream of…

Go Big!

Kristen

Scared to be too pushy or salesy?

I know there are many of you trying to get something out there into the world…

For some of you it’s a new business for others it’s a  form of creative expression or way of impacting the world…

It doesn’t matter what it is, what matters is that you get it out there and I know that for most of you there is probably fear that goes along with that.  You don’t want to be pushy or salesy or annoy the people you know and love…

But let me tell you something important about this…

And I’ll actually use this blog to illustrate my point…

Here’s the truth…

The more I blog, the more responsive people are…the more people ask for my help, hire me as a coach, bring me on to speak etc.

What does this mean to me about life and more specifically living the life we want to design, achieving our aspirations, being the people we desire to be?

I’ll tell you (you knew I would)!

It means that when we want to get something out there or make something known or get people on board with something we have to take the other people into account.

Now this is where I flip what we normally do on it’s ear!

How we normally ‘Take other people into account’ is by ASSUMING we will annoy them or bother them…we think they will grow weary of us…so we mention something in passing and then let it go…assuming that if it is important to them or resonates with them they will pick up the ball and run with it, gleefully letting us know how what we have is exactly what they’ve been waiting for.

Let’s be honest,  if we REALLY ‘Take other people into account’ we will realize that there are so many distractions and so much stimuli flying around all at all times, that if we just mention something in passing, chances are great that our thing or message or whatever will automatically shift to the back of their brains, not because they are being mean or don’t care, but just because that is how it is.

BEFORE I GO ON LET ME CLARIFY…You should also NEVER ASSUME that they are all ears and sitting around all day every day just waiting for your message or thing or whatever…I’m NOT saying be annoying…I’m not saying harass people…in fact you should always give people the chance to respectfully decline…

Here’s the thing…you only want to be talking to people who want to hear what you have to say AND I guarantee you that there are a lot more people that actually do want to hear what you have to say than you think.

To boil it down, I’m saying is this…

‘If you don’t toot your own horn, someone else will pick it up and hit you over the head with it.’

• Toot it with respect for the people listening…
• Toot it with confidence but not OVER confidence or false bravado…
• Toot it and know that NOT everyone will like the sound of your particular horn…

Keep in mind…tooting your own horn doesn’t mean talking about yourself or bragging…it means putting what you want out there and letting it be known…you never know who has the key to a door for you!

And remember…listen for when you might have the key to a door for someone else…because that’s a powerful thing!

Leave me a comment right now and answer this question…

What have you  quietly kept to yourself or mentioned only in passing, that it’s time to claim loudly now?

(This could be a dream as big as wanting to run for President or it could be as simple as speaking up and saying that you have always wanted to have the Vintage Cameras that used to be in your Grandmother’s house.)

Go Big!

Kristen

P.S. My new monthly membership program is filling up and I’m very excited to be able to hold my VIP members accountable and talk with them every month. If you are ready to live an extraordinary life NOW then go check it out and see if it’s the program for you:

http://www.gobigcoach.com/gobignow

Who are you?

Wow…thanks to everyone for being so patient during my blog hacker episode of last week!

Everything is back up and running now…

I’ve noticed something from the emails I get every day…

I want to address it here, because even if you haven’t emailed me about this specifically, you may be struggling with this very thing.

So what is it?

Figuring out what you want in ALL areas of your life…

I’ve told you to look at the whole, big, amazing vision of what you desire…

I want to help you get more specific and really fill in that vision…

I assume you want more than just money or a better career or a better relationship or to lose weight etc.

Right?

Good…then do this…

I want you to answer this question with as many answers that come to you (and I’ll give you an example to help you through it):

Who are you?

For every single one of you I can guarantee there is more than one answer…

For instance if you were to ask me the same question, this is how I would answer:

• I am an adventure seeker
• I am a coach
• I am a champion of my loved ones
• I am an entertainer
• I am an entrepreneur
• I am a creator
• I am a networker
• I am a marketer

etc. (I left out quite a few but you get the idea).

The point is this…

We are all more than 1 thing…

For each of us there are typically specific areas that we will always want to be attending to and growing and going to the next level in…

Some of these areas are personal like:

• Your body and health
• Your spirituality
• Your relationships
• Your money and finances
• Your fun, adventure and relaxation
• Your creativity
• Your atmosphere

etc.

Some of these areas are professional like:

• Your job or business
• Your business relationships
• Your business growth
• Your business finances

etc.

I want to give you a bonus step that will help you create a FULL vision of exactly what you want in ALL of your areas…

1. Write down all of the areas of your life that are constant areas of attention (separate them into personal and business) you will probably have 5-10 in personal and 5-10 in business.
2. Decide what your Ultimate Vision is for that area of your life…
3. Write it down…
4. Look for any conflicts between areas (that is a BIG reason for blocks to success) and then and ONLY then, put all the pieces together to form a COMPLETE vision.

There is so much power in coming up with your ultimate vision this way…

In my coaching sessions I work with people on this and the results are amazing…so trust me and go for it!

Leave me a comment and let me know who you are!

Go Big!

Kristen

How do you walk into a room?

We’ve been talking a lot about how to become a solution for someone else’s problem.

We’ve also talked about how important it is to approach people and ask them how you can help them instead of approaching people and telling them how you think you can help them.

I know from the emails I’ve been getting that some of you are already having GREAT success with this and some of you are really struggling.

The biggest struggle seems to be in having people believe you are the solution.

Luckily this is where I can help…

As you know I am a coach but I am also an actress.  I have performed on Broadway and in Film and TV and the audition process is a great learning tool…

Here’s why…

When someone is casting a show or movie or TV show they have a problem that needs a solution.

Their problem is a script with no one to bring the characters to life and tell the story in a way that will come across to the audience.

That’s where an actor comes in…

Every person that walks in the door to an audition is a potential solution to that problem.

Now here’s the key…

When you walk into the room to audition, you better carry with you the belief that YOU ARE A PERFECT SOLUTION to their problem or you are going to be almost invisible.

Notice I didn’t say THE perfect solution and that’s because I am of the mind that to every challenge or problem there are multiple solutions…

But if you don’t go in there feeling that you are A perfect solution they will almost not even see you.

So what can you learn from this?

MANY, MANY things…

But the primary thing I want you to look at right now is making sure you do whatever you need to do before you approach someone in any way to absolutely believe that you are 1 perfect solution to their problem.

If you are feeling invisible, that’s what’s missing…

People are looking for solutions to what they are focusing on and if you don’t fit that, it’s nothing personal, you just won’t be on their radar.

I want you to remember this through all of it…

You won’t be the solution that gets chosen every time…

That’s ok…

Your ONLY job is to make yourself visible to them as a possible solution whether it’s now, later or never…

If you find yourself constantly feeling invisible there are 2 primary reasons:

1. You don’t have conviction in you being a solution
2. You are trying to make yourself a solution to the wrong problem (find the right fit and you’ll be amazed at what happens.)

So I ask you…

How do you walk into a room?

Do you walk in as a possible solution or do you walk in already expecting that you will be invisible and overlooked?

Be honest and leave me a comment so I can know how to continue to help you!

Go Big!

Kristen