How to work for money when love isn’t paying the bills

If you read popular business culture sources, it’s easy to get caught up in the concept of “do what you love, the money will follow”. It can and usually does, but rarely is it instant!

Like anything that’s good for you, moderation is key. Focusing on creating your dream business, and working with the best, ideal clients for you is a step that I advocate. But balancing this with a practical and realistic approach is equally important.

Here’s why: It can take several months, and in many cases, more than a year, before a new business (or a new initiative) takes off and attracts new clients consistently. Closing your eyes and wishing for it isn’t going to make it happen any faster! Building a business takes time. Meeting the right potential clients and walking with them along the path until they are ready to purchase your services takes time. There’s no shortcut. A formula to follow, or a new marketing strategy certainly may make you profitable faster, and even bring in a burst of short term cash, but to build a solid, sustainable business of lasting value takes time. Your clients are living, breathing individuals with distractions and needs, just like the rest of us. I’ve yet to meet a person on this earth who fits into a formula.

This year I realized my dream to get a horse of my own again, after many years away from being around horses. In a completely indirect way, it has strengthened my business and my beliefs.

The horse who chose me is a six-year old. Making the decision to purchase him wasn’t taken lightly. Owning a horse is a long term commitment and I expect to have him in my family for the rest of his life. Building a relationship where he sees me as his chosen leader is absolutely the most important, light years above the instant gratification of hopping on his back and forcing him to perform through short cuts or harsh aids. If the end goal is to have a true partnership and a safe horse, those things won’t get us there.

Building a business is no different. It takes a certain amount of time to grow it, and while that’s happening, you’re probably not going to be making predictable and consistent income. All businesses have ups and downs and natural cycles. In a new business you simply don’t have enough information yet to be able to predict the highs and lows. Even longtime business owners never really know for sure, since there is never a guarantee. So what do you do in the meantime?

Well, it depends on your situation. Once again, there is no one-size-fits-all piece of advice I can share. In an ideal world, you’d have several months’ worth of expenses socked away for this rainy day. But that isn’t reality for many business owners, who found themselves “accidental entrepreneurs” or who left their jobs without a financial cushion (many of us, myself included, financed our businesses through personal credit and sweat equity at the start).

So, how do you bring money in without sacrificing the end goal? Here are some tips.

• First of all, don’t feel badly if you take on less than ideal work or even a part-time job to make ends meet. Taking care of your immediate financial needs is what puts a roof over your head and feeds you and your family. Put it into perspective. You are doing what needs to be done. That doesn’t make you a failure in business, it makes you a responsible and smart adult.
• This doesn’t mean giving up. Don’t put your business on hold or on the backburner. This will cause you to lose the momentum you have worked hard to build up. Serve your existing clients well, keep in touch and in front of your contact list, and keep marketing!
• If you haven’t already done so, look with new eyes at your business. Most clients and colleagues I know always have hidden assets they’ve overlooked. If you can’t see them, get a second opinion from a qualified advisor. Most of the time this is providing new services to existing clients. Ask yourself, how can I improve what I’m already doing, and how can I make their past investment even more valuable? Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, once said “We were most creative when our back was against the wall.”
• If you decide to take on outside work, there are two approaches to pick from. Either choose something that is closely related to your business, and gain more experience and broaden your network; or do something completely different, and doesn’t drain your creative energies for your primary business.
• If you need to take on a client who is less than your ideal client, do this carefully. If you can keep it separate and distinct from your dream business, all the better. In fact, having more than one pool to dip into is the original and time tested way to get multiple streams of income – the internet simply makes this easier. Consider the advice of Chase Revel, founder of Entrepreneur magazine passed on by author and ardent self bosser Barbara Winter: it’s easier to make $1000 a month from ten little businesses than it is to earn $10,000 a month from one big source. While she wasn’t specifically referring to new businesses in this example, it is even truer if your enterprise isn’t firmly rooted yet.
• Remember that it takes a healthy dose of “different” to become an entrepreneur. Most mega-successful companies were founded by people who simply failed to give up long after the average person would, and didn’t stop to question whether their vision would ever come to fruition. Most of all, they show a superhuman form of resilience and keep on ticking. “Making mistakes is the privilege of the active. It is always the mediocre people who are negative, who spend their time proving that they were not wrong,” – Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA.

Want to use this article? You can as long as you include this footer: Sherri Garrity is the Chief Corporate Fugitive and creator of the Five Keys Success SystemTM for ex-corporate employees and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break free from the confines of their corporate experience and live outside of the ordinary. The Corporate Fugitive system demystifies the business of setting up, managing, marketing and growing a successful and extraordinary business. Visit www.corporatefugitive.com for information and step-by-step resources to take you from overwhelmed employee to extraordinary entrepreneur.

Mastermind and High End Coaching Programs: The Ugly Underbelly They Don’t Want You to Know About

The fall event season is in full swing. If you dip your toes in the water of the coaching and speaking world, your inbox is filling with event reminders. So many choices, so many compelling offers, so little time, right?

Before you whip out that credit card and start booking travel, there are some things you should know. There are many excellent programs out there run by professionals that delivery results with integrity – they help you boost your business and skills, develop your network and lead to wonderful opportunities you simply cannot get while sitting in the comfort of your office at home.

There are also programs out there that over promise and under deliver, and can leave you crying in the comfort of your office at home, if you still have one when it’s over.

These are the stories you’ll never hear about.

Since I started my business in 2007 I’ve had the good fortune to meet many business owners and coaches. I’ve attended a variety of events and participated in a variety of programs. Because I work privately with entrepreneurs, I’ve also been privy to their experiences, good and bad, with other coaches, gurus, celebrity marketers and consultants.

If you’ve never attended a big-name workshop or event, or participated in a paid mastermind or “platinum style” private coaching program, let me give you the low down on the model that many coaches and consultants use. Let me be clear here – there is a formula that many follow to market and fill their programs. This doesn’t mean that every coach offering an event or a mastermind uses it, or that all of these programs are rip-offs or run by greedy crooks! The formula can be successfully applied by people who back it up with transparency, expertise and excellence in their business practices in all ways. The intent of this article is to make you aware of the ugly underbelly that no one wants to talk publicly about. I’m sharing this so you know what to watch for. It means that you need to do your homework and go in as an informed consumer just as you would making any other investment in your business.

Pre-Event:

Before the conference or retreat, you might be invited to a series of teleclasses where you are sold a program that includes tickets to the Big Event. It may be as simple as signing up online or you may be asked to complete an elaborate application giving the impression that this is exclusive for a limited number of qualified people (which in very few cases, seems to be true).  Most pre-event programs help fund the Big Event and generate testimonials at the event from excited new clients.

You are invited to attend an event. You might pay for it, or it might be free, because you are a past client, won a contest of some sort, or are going as a guest of someone else. Prices have really dropped as competition has increased, and also because organizers need to fill the room. The event itself is not always the money maker for the speaker. Selling the products and programs announced at the event is the “big back end moneymaker” as one popular marketer dubs it.

You are invited to upgrade your ticket to the event to get VIP status. This is one way the event organizer pays for the special receptions and adds another stream of income. This usually gives you access to a party, private networking opportunities, and better seating at the event. It can be worth it at a large event, because you will get more time to connect with other entrepreneurs who are attending. But be aware, at many events, the audience is filled with guests who have been “comped” their tickets. They are not paying to be there. They are there to fill the room and give credibility to the event. They are the equivalent of seat fillers at the Oscars. Or they’re friends or people within the personal network of the speaker, there to provide support and make it look like a sold-out event. Simply be aware, they aren’t necessarily as vested in being there as you are.

The Event:

You arrive at the event. Many of them are excellent and full of useful content, so make sure you pay attention and learn as much as you can.

But be aware that the event is carefully orchestrated as a sales opportunity. From the music chosen, the video presentations, the language used, the seating plan, and the agenda, you are now immersed in one big upsell.

In fact, there are highly specialized event planners who charge six-figure price tags to organize these types of selling from the stage events. If you’ve been to enough of them, you quickly see the formula. A friend of mine calls it “smoking the conference crack” – and we know the dangers of that, don’t we?

If it’s a multi-day event, you will typically experience an agenda that goes something like this.

Day one: introductory material and light content introducing you to the speaker’s system.

Day two: Get into more detail, and bring past clients up on stage. At the end of the day, the speaker will mention that there is opportunity for you to get the same kinds of results the past clients have. Generally you will be invited to step forward and pick up the information. It is a dramatic and charged moment. You will be asked to submit the application by the next morning at a designated time. The reason is that you will be invited to attend a lunch to learn more about the opportunity. You’re encouraged to forego partying that evening to spend some serious reflective time completing this application that is a big step in your business

(Watch out: there is a coach out there right now, who has tiny fine print on the luncheon invite that commits you to a non-refundable credit card charge of $4000 if you attend the luncheon and choose to not proceed with registering for the mastermind program. If you are asked for your credit card and signature just for the privilege of attending the no-obligation introductory presentation, be very suspicious).

Day three: Wrap-up and upsell pitch. At the private lunch, the ante will be upped as people in the room start to feel the excitement and the pressure of making a decision. Special event only pricing will apply, offering a deep discount, and they will be asked to sign a contract and provide a credit card number before they leave, promising that it won’t be charged right away. Later that day, anyone who has already committed will be awarded a special gift often in front of the audience. This celebrates the decisions of the participants, and plants a seed in the audience of “maybe’s” who wonder what it would feel like to be on that stage.

So what happens next? Well, that completely depends on the person running the program. Some programs are as they were promised, some are not.

The Upsell:

It is not my intent here to paint the industry with the same brush. There are many valuable programs run by ethical and professional coaches and consultants who deliver the results as promised, who also run mastermind and big ticket programs. It is my intent that if you are considering this large investment in yourself and your business, that you enter the exploration process as an informed consumer.

What you need to know is that you need to do your homework before you sign up.

There has been a disturbing trend over the past few years that you don’t hear about unless you personally experience it or know someone who has. Several of the high ticket programs offered by the big name event organizers have no out clause and no guarantee of satisfaction. If you are a dissatisfied customer, or you wish to withdraw for personal or financial reasons, you will be expected to pay in full. Once you sign the contract, even at the event and before your credit card has been processed, you are in a binding agreement. End of story.

(Editorial comment: Where else could you run a business, charge someone upwards of $20,000 then multiply your fees several times over the next year, offer no guarantees, and get paid regardless of results. It’s practically criminal, except that people continue to sign up, and the individuals running these programs now have a few years’ worth of copycats following in their footsteps!)

If you are willing to retain a lawyer or simply keep pushing back, you may be offered a settlement. This is usually in the form of not being required to pay the balance of the program fees. However, you also sign an agreement that prohibits you from talking about it, or coming back with any future legal complaint. This is why you don’t hear this part of the story.

So how do you do your homework?

1. Check the credentials of the person running the program. Although they don’t necessarily have to be a registered or certified coach (depending of course, on what you are hiring them for) or have attained a recognized designation, you should see a strong professional background. Taking other peoples’ programs, reading lots of books and only being able to relate their own personal experience could be a questionable sign. Make sure you go further and follow these other steps too.
2. If you are considering a big ticket program like a year long mastermind or anything that is a significant investment for you, ask around. Ask for references but of course, be aware that references supplied to you will only be positive. You will get far more accurate results if you dig a little deeper in your research. Many coaches or marketers that run these programs publish a blog or ezine and feature testimonials and often announce members of their mastermind, or refer by name to their high level clients. If you do your research, you will find a good list of people you can contact. Ask them as much as you can about their experience so that you can get a sense if it’s the right fit for you. Ask how many people are repeat customers, and what the dropout rate of the program was. While people leave for many reasons and it is only one piece of puzzle, the more pieces you gather, the better overall image you’ll get.
3. Read the contract carefully. Don’t feel pressured by the event only pricing. You might not save a few thousand dollars, but if you take the time and get a second opinion before you sign, you could be saving thousands more.  If you don’t have your own attorney, you may want to consider investing in a pre-paid legal service and have the contract reviewed before signing.  In general it is also better if you pay by credit card as that offers more protection if needed. Credit card companies may go to bat for you as they don’t wish to be associated with fraudulent or unethical practices either and many have built in protection.
4. Be clear about what you’re actually getting. This is where the slope seems to get very slippery. The amount of private coaching you receive, how the coach actually works with you and in what form you will actually receive information are good places to start asking. Will you actually be working directly and privately with this coach, or is it all group work? How much actual access will you get? Is there a sub-coach or facilitator? Is this person an expert in all of the areas promised to be covered?
5. Ask for a list of 25 references of clients who have actually completed this specific program and got the results as marketed – not other programs. Any solid program upwards of $20,000 or more will be able to provide this. Be extra careful if this is a first time or new program without a solid track record. Many internet marketers will often use references of new clients or clients that worked with them in an entirely different capacity. When you interview references, be sure to ask what service they received, and if they are earning an affiliate fee by recommending this person.
6. Check with the Better Business Bureau and google the person’s name and company name to see what comes up. If you add the word “complaint” or other synonym to the search phrase, you might be surprised at what you’ll find. Measure it all with an objective eye and look to the reputable sources like BBB especially. Good reputations can be discredited by smear campaigns and this goes both ways, so do as much research as you can.
7. Know why you really want to do this, and be clear about your expectations. Attending for the experience is fine, if that’s what you desire. Joining to network and find joint venture partners is a great reason. Being challenged to broaden your horizons and perspective is perfect. But if you are expecting a specific financial result or change in your business, be sure you have picked the coach or consultant that is right for you.
8. Be aware that there are more costs than the initial investment. In general, expect to pay an additional $6,000 to- $10,000 for a typical twelve month program. Most group mastermind programs involve mandatory attendance at one or two retreats. The price tag will add up quickly. Many coaches and consultants also offer special opportunities for participants, such as special offers to collaborate on books, participate in other programs or get professional photo and video shot. While these can be good opportunities for you, they are not inexpensive. And remember that your coach may be getting a handsome commission on them (and should disclose this to you) so once again, buyer beware.
9. Be sure you are at the point in your business where this investment makes good sense. If you do not have the means to implement the ideas you will be getting, or you are very early in your business, you might be very frustrated. You will still learn, meet people and be challenged, but it might not be the right time for you. You will learn a lot and be baptized by fire, but sometimes, it’s better to invest in other more tangible things like promotional material, a good website, etc. and work with several professional advisors who can help you with very specific areas of your business to get you ramped up quickly, before you invest all of your money into one coaching or consulting program which will help you develop yourself, but will tie up your available funds to implement all the ideas you will have. Which brings up another alert: a good coach will screen applicants and only accept the right fit for the group. One who is more concerned about filling the seats is probably not going to be the best option.

What does this come down to in the end? Before you sign up, it’s your responsibility to know what you want and be clear about your needs. Then, it pays to check out the reputation, track record and business practices of the company you’re paying. You want this to be a wonderful investment in your future, so take your time and choose carefully.

Want to use this article? You can as long as you include this footer: Sherri Garrity is the Chief Corporate Fugitive and creator of the Five Keys Success System™  for ex-corporate employees and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break free from the confines of their corporate experience and live outside of the ordinary. The Corporate Fugitive system demystifies the business of setting up, managing, marketing and growing a successful and extraordinary business. Visit www.corporatefugitive.com for information and step-by-step resources to take you from overwhelmed employee to extraordinary entrepreneur.