Bill Baren Blog

I can’t tell you have proud I am of my amazing clients.

There is nothing better for me that seeing someone live into
their full potential as a business owner and grow by leaps
and bounds as a person in the process.

This week I am going to be highlighting three of those
clients, who a little less than a year ago came to the Big
Shift Experience with a desire for making a bigger difference
with their business and with the hope that the time they
spend with me for 3 days is a catalyst for things to change.

So I want to introduce you to Sakada

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1.    Tell us about your business

I am the creator of the Write Your Book: The Visionary
Author Program that will help you, the cutting-edge
entrepreneur, write excellent books that will share your
mission and message with the world, bringing clients and
multiple streams of income to your business. The program is
about moving you from being an expert to being a visionary
author and leader, and taking your business to the next
level – the level where you will be autographing your book
instead of giving out business cards.
http://www.writeyourbookprogram.com

2.    Before you attended the Big Shift Experience a year ago,
what was your business like?

I had six struggling “businesses,” which meant that each
time I sat down to work, the first work was to figure out
what business to work on and by the time I figure that out
my time was up! Obviously this was not efficient or
effective, and I was scrapping by financially, despite the
high quality of my services.

Marketing was a four-letter word to me and I was desperately
hoping that people would “just find me” and become clients.
When I write this, I see how absurd my thinking was… but I
have to admit, it was true.

I had tremendous confidence in what I offered, but when I
got to the point of asking a potential client to sign up for
one of my programs or classes, a tension would enter my
body, making my brain foggy and my mouth dry. My words, and
passion for what I do, would get stuck in the back of my
throat and never make it out, or I tried to answer twenty
objections the potential client might have about my program
before they had even thought of any themselves.

I felt the alone part of “solopreneur,” and despite the
large number of friends and colleagues who believe in and
support me, it was still difficult to make decisions on my
own, without the feedback of a community of entrepreneurs
who shared the same “language,” information, and goals.

3.    What is your business like now (a year after the Big
Shift Experience)?

As always, I love helping people write excellent books and I
love witnessing the transformation that the process itself
brings to them, but now…

• I have a focused mission and vision about my business
• I have a solid foundation for an elegant and prosperous
  business.
• I have a business that feeds my passion.
• I have “merged” with my business. I do not mean this in a
  workaholic way. I feel like my business is an expression of
  who I am and when I commit to it, I commit to myself and the
  values I honor. Before I had an “old story” that success in
  business would involve me compromising my values – now I see
  I can elevate and express my values through my business.
• I feel my commitment to my business, and myself, on a
  deeper level than I have ever experienced before.
• I have a business that I am truly proud of.
• I have clients who praise me and pay me! (Credit to
  Chellie Campbell for this phrase.)
• I have a business that is bringing in money, instead of
  costing me money. Ah, a much better model
• I am currently charging 6x more for my services, compared
  to my fees before Big Shift.
• I am getting clients to sign up by speaking to them
  honestly and from my heart, and finding clients I love to
  work with.
• In the last three and a half months, I brought in $ 22,000
  and am on track to bring in at least $35,000 in the next
  three-four months.
• Marketing is a creative adventure and feels linked to my
  being of service in the world.
• I love networking, and am finding it highly effective for
  bringing in new clients.
• I love having enrollment conversations and signing up new
  clients.
• When I want more cash flow, I think, “Time to get a new
  client!” Then I smile, because I know I have what I need to
  do this, and everything is in place and ready to go.

4.    What are you most proud of having accomplished?

It’s the mindset shifts that have made all the difference!
Our mindsets are intricate and intimate puzzles and
everything works together, so I can’t say that there was one
mindset change that I am most proud of… but I can say that
doing the mindset/inner work is crucial to everything else.
In fact, once I started opening up with this work, the
logistics of putting together my business became a journey
of ease and adventure; not a journey without challenges, but
a journey well worth taking despite the challenges.

5.    What’s the biggest personalshift you have made?

The way I view money and prosperity is being re-written, the
old stories are vanishing, and I welcome the energy and
abundance of money… while still feeling like I am being both
of service to others and true to myself.

6.    What would you have wished you knew then that you know
now?

I know now that the most important thing I do for my
business is to commit to it, then implementation and the
resulting success are inevitable.

I also know that in order to move ahead into a successful
business, risks must be taken. So faith in myself and the
universe, and the willingness to invest in myself and my
ideas have been critical factors. I feel like I have finally
separated myself from those who just dream of a business and
am joining those who make it happen. Now – no matter where
you are in the process – is the time to invest in your
business and yourself.  Activate!

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Now you can see why I feel like a proud papa bear!!!

Shower Sakada with praise of her accomplishments below.

Warmly,
~Bill

Using a product launch to fill your coaching program is one
of the best marketing strategies ever invented! The following
are some of my most important key strategies that will help
you launch your program successfully. Any time you get away
from these principles, your launch results may suffer.

1. Think like a newbie. Experience can cloud your judgment,
and what appears simple to you, maybe a complex idea for
others to grasp. So, put yourself in your prospect’s shoes
and simplify concepts as if you are talking to a 5th grader.

2. One core concept per message. Whatever your communication
medium maybe (videos, emails, podcasts), make sure you limit
yourself to one important concept per message. The idea is
not to overwhelm your audience with information, but give
them one interesting idea to think about at a time.

3. One option. Giving people too many choices when they do
not understand the very basics will only leave them confused.
Focus on teaching them one path, explain why that is the best
choice, and stand by it. (For example, there are many ways to
launch coaching programs, but I focus on ONE specific path
a 28-day timeline proven to work!)

4. Don’t share everything you know on the topic. Focus on the
most exciting information that will inspire your prospects and
give them time to absorb what you have said. Giving too much
information can actually overwhelm people and deter them from
buying from you.

5. Make it as simple as you can for Joint Venture Partners to
support you. Respect their time and make the promotion process
as convenient for them as possible. Don’t send them a huge to-do
list at once. Instead give them time to focus on one thing
at a time and do whatever you can yourself.

About Author: Milana Leshinsky has created a million-dollar
coaching and information business empire. She uses simple
product launches to create income and get clients on demand.

To learn her program launching secrets, including the 28-day
simple product launch blueprint, be sure to attend her LIVE
teleclass at http://www.LaunchYourCoachingProgram.com

There are hundreds of ways to market your products and
programs, but there’s one that stands out as the most
powerful one – product launches! It’s the fastest way to
generate a surge of sales and clients in your business,
even if you’re brand new to your target market.

In fact, the biggest LIE of a product launch is that you
need to be a well-known authority or expert in order to
succeed with product launches. When done right, a product
launch can be the SOURCE of your celebrity status and
financial success!

Let me share with you the 3 factors that make product
launches the absolutely BEST marketing strategy on the
planet:

Factor #1 – Social Proof
The invisible force that makes rational people do crazy,
even appalling, acts

A product launch has a unique ability to cause a flood of
motivated and excited buyers to sign up for your offer in
a short, concentrated period of time. New York Times
bestselling psychologist, Robert Cialdini, validates the
power of a product launch:  We view a behavior as more
correct…to the degree that we see others performing
it.  The reason is simple. It’s called social proof.

So much fear is removed from the mind of your buyers when
they see that they are not alone! There is a huge difference
between being ONE person buying something by themselves,
and being a part of a stampeding horde of buyers racing to
buy at the same time!

The feeling is electrifying! For both you and the buyer! A
product launch, done the right way, is based on magnetically
attracting a targeted crowd and guiding them into an
overwhelming desire for your product.

Factor #2 – Education
Empower Your Audience Through Education

Trying to get a total stranger to pay you their hard earned
money is not easy. But doing it over a distance and doing
it online can be even harder. The BEST way I have found to
CONNECT with your prospects is to EDUCATE them. The
purpose of educating your audience is to INCREASE DESIRE
and SEE YOU AS THE AUTHORITY. Your educational will
position you in their minds as an expert and you’ll significantly
increase your results.

The other incredible benefit to educating your audience is
that you don’t have to be a great copywriter! Your content
will help you connect with your prospects, and they’ll buy
from you based on that connection – not based on the sales
copy. An educated and empowered audience is willing to pay
50% to 500% more for the same product!

Factor #3 – Timing
Giving Time to Get To Know You

The last factor of what makes a launch effective is the timing.
By spreading your launch over time, you give your audience
a chance to get to know you. They get familiar with your name,
your content, they do not feel forced to make the decision to
buy right now. It’s not about pushing your product onto your
prospects. Product launch process gives you time to connect
deeply with your audience and generate an unconscious and
powerful desire, so they DEMAND your product. I call it silent
selling.

In my experience, the best way to time your product launch
is over the course of 28 days. Every week you release a piece
of content teaching your prospects about your topic. They
consume that content, ask you questions, give you feedback,
and discuss it with peers. Then when you announce your
product or program, they rush to purchase it. Of course, it’s
very important that your educational content is connected
to your product. I teach how to do that in my “7 Strategies
for Creating Content That Sells” at
http://www.LaunchYourCoachingProgram.com

These 3 factors create a unique buying environment no other
marketing strategy offers.

About Author: Milana Leshinsky has created a million-dollar
coaching and information business empire. She uses simple
product launches to create income and get clients on demand.
To learn her program launching secrets, including the 28-day
simple product launch blueprint, be sure to attend her LIVE
teleclass at http://www.LaunchYourCoachingProgram.com

This is the riskiest post I’ve ever written.

I am about to break my own cardinal rule of never talking
about politics or religion in my newsletter. And even
though I am not political, I can’t help but talk about
politics to illustrate my point.

Here it goes:

In my opinion, one of the main reasons our political system
is broken is because its design has been co-opted by
politicians who put most of their time, energy and resources
into getting re-elected and holding power rather than on
serving the people they are meant to serve. Politicians make
promises and then make back-room deals, placing their own
interests of staying in power (or getting elected in the first place)
way above what they are there for in the first place being
in service to their tribe, their constituents. Because of
this unfortunate evolution, government has become a joke.

Well, marketing has become a joke, too. Just like
politicians, seemingly conscious business owners can also
fall into the trap of placing much more of their effort on
marketing rather than on truly serving their tribe. They
care less about helping their clients get results than they
do about getting those clients in the first place. They
seem to forget that they are making empty promises and
ignore the fact that so many of their clients are
disappointed.

Just like politicians with government, unconscious marketers
are giving marketing a bad name. They make a pact with the
devil to do whatever it takes to get someone to do something
(vote, buy their product, hire them, etc…) for their own
benefit, forgetting their role as a humble servant of their
community. And it makes me mad (and it’s not easy to get me
mad).

What’s worse, these marketers are leaving a bad taste in our
mouths about marketing. It’s giving marketing a bad name
and creating so much resistance in all of us to market in
the first place. At the same time, we know we need to
market in order to create the level of success we so desire.

So how do we get this bad marketing taste out of our mouth
and be able to market with no resistance?

This is how I’ve done it.

• I commit to delivering on the promise of my marketing.

• I commit to over delivering with every one of my offering.

• I commit to only enroll people who I know will benefit from my offering.

• I commit to putting the need of my clients over my own.

• I commit to creating a first rate experience for the people I am meant to serve.

And I ask you to do the same.

I can’t change our political system, but I am committed to
do everything I can to inspire more heart-based business
owners to embrace and fall in love with conscious marketing.

Would you be willing to help?

Let me know here.

Warmly,
Bill

I was talking to a holistic health coach last week at a
party. She told me that she loves my Master of Enrollment
methodology and that because of it, she had tremendous
success with enrolling clients during her consultations.

I’ve gotta tell you, I was really excited for her.

But my excitement was short-lived.

When I asked her how she is doing financially in her
business, she replied,  Not so hot!

How can that be?

How can someone who thinks they are really good at enrolling
clients be struggling financially?

She wasns’t charging enough for her services

She was charging $235 per month for her services. So to
reach her goal of $80,000 per year, she would need to be
working with 28 clients each month and that’s not easy to
do. And it’s a recipe for total burn-out.

So it’s one thing to be great at enrolling new clients while
undercharging for your services.  It’s another to be awesome
at enrolling and be charging your top fees.

So if you are not yet great at enrolling clients, it’s
important to master this vital skill. And if you are good
at enrolling clients, significantly raise your fees, so you
can get to a deeper mastery of the enrollment process.

As always, leave your thoughts here.

Warmly,
~Bill

P.S. When you become a master of enrollment, you become
confident in being able to enroll clients whenever you want.
And it that gives you freedom, to CONSCIOUSLY chose to work
with certain clients pro bono or at greatly reduced rates as
your way of giving back.

When was the last time you asked for a discount?

Last week I lead a 4-day Big Shift Retreat with 70 of my
most amazing clients.  These are the business owners who
decided to step up in a big way to invest in themselves and
their businesses.A few of them literally did not have the
money to join my program. Yet they said ‘yes’ and did
whatever it took to come up with the investment.

…not one person asked for a discount.

I want to break down why no one ever asks me for a discount
and what I recommend you do when someone does.

The first thing you do happens way before a potential client
asks you if you would be willing to discount your services.

It actually starts with you not asking for discounts
yourself when you are paying for stuff.

I used to be a master haggler.  In fact, friends would take
me shopping with them because I could always get a discount.
I loved the process of paying less than what people were
asking for in a product or service.  I was playing a zero
sum game.  When I got the discount, I was literally taking $
out of someone else’s pocket and putting it into mine.  And
I loved it.

As I became more committed to living a conscious life, it
became harder and harder for me to ask for discounts.  And
then, one day, I consciously decided that haggling was no
longer going to be part of my life.

My new path was to only buy and hire people that I thought
were a great investment at the price level they set.  I am a
free man and I have the power of choice.  And I will decide
if it’s a YES for me.  I will respect the people and
companies which I am investing in.

And with this new respect I found for service-providers and
artisan product makers, a magical thing happened – I began
to respect myself more as a service provider and the value I
provide.

I began to stand in the power of my prices – knowing that I
feel good about the exchange of services for money and
knowing that it is simply an even exchange of energy between
two consenting parties.

I began to see that the ‘discount mindset’ is one of
scarcity, fear and contraction. It discounts the value you
place on things.  And it discounts the talents of the people
and products you are investing into.

When you believe in the value of what you are getting, it is
your belief that sets in motion your access to that value.

So when someone asked me for a discount, I tell them that I
believe in the service I provide.  I believe in the results
they will get from working with me.  And I invite them to
invest in themselves in a way that honors them and honors
me.

One time, someone told me that another coach they spoke to
offered them a discount and asked me to match it.  And I
said, “Whose service would you trust more – one that gives
you a discount because you asked or one that knows its value
and will stand firm on their prices?  Who would you like to
stand in your corner?”

Who do you think got that client?

So next time you want to ask for a discount – think again.

And the next time, someone asks you for a discount – stand
firm and resist the urge, knowing that you are not helping
anyone in discounting your value and the value of their
investment.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this here.

Warmly,
~Bill

We are living during a very interesting time in history.

There has never been a time when there is been such a
disparity between the masters and the PRETENDERS.

• At a time of unbelievable advances in sports training,
  the majority of people are trained by the average.
• At a time when masterful food preparation has become
  an art form, awful fast food places are also spreading.
• At a time when our ability to help people make breakthroughs
  in their psychology is astounding, there are
  also a lot of subpar practitioners.

My prediction for the future is this:

The masters will succeed beyond their wildest imagination,
the rest will battle to be the low-price leader.

The choice is yours, which one will you be?

Please share your thoughts with me here.

Warmly,
~Bill

P.S. If you are choosing to be a master of your craft,
what are you committing to do to achieve that mastery?