He was right

Now that I've made my email newsletter both more challenging as well as more authentically me (really sharing myself), some people are dropping off the list, and some people have become raving fans.

My biz coach said that would happen. He was right!

Media!

Yesterday
Waterloo Record (newspaper)

Today @ 4pm
Mojo Radio - 15 minutes, live

Sunday, Jan. 2 @ 7pm
CFRB Radio

Tuesday, Jan. 4 @ 8:40am
Niagara Radio

Friday, Jan. 7 @ 12:30 pm -- live to tape for 5:30 pm newscast
CKWS TV (Kingston TV)

Soon
Interview in Kitchener Record ?


For most current list, check the most recent post on http://stopsmokingcoach.blogspot.com

An Article

Genetics and smoking

Quit Success Matrix

On a coaching call, my biz coach just challenged us to create matrices to communicat concepts with our clients. Here's the first one I whipped up in 5 minutes.

Niche

They say that in business, especially my line of business (Life Coaching) that it is essential for success to have a "niche," a very specific "who you coach."

I've been doing this for a year and a half now, and the whole time I have been struggling. I thought at first that "smokers" was enough, but it turns out it is not. I needed to be coaching something more specific, because, well, where do you go to find the smokers? As my Business Coach says, "Where's the list?"

I was on a workshop with my coach all weekend, and again this was something that was front of thought. Everyone else was coming up with their niches, and any niche I or someone else came up with, either got rejected by myself or my coach.

Finally, in the last hour of the weekend, my coach gave me an insight that has alleviated all of this, and has explained my situation better to me, so now I can move forward.

He said: "Your niche is smokers. That's it. That's why I asked you to get a publicist, so that instead of finding a list, you can get exposure and the people can come to you."

Hallelujah. Now I can get on with my life.

And the publicity! btw....

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 04
8am EST
York Region Television
Rogers Station (Channel 10 in Toronto)
I will be coaching 2 people LIVE to quit smoking

You won't want to miss this!

Financial Projections

I just worked out my finances for the year, again. More refined this time.

Using only one of my 3 potential marketing funnels (if I use all 3, I can pretty much add at least 50% to my income, probably),

If I have 10 one-on-one clients and 10 group coaching clients, plus 30 people come to my bootcamp in February, I'm laughin'! I have money to spare. Before expenses I'm making $73K.

If I have only 10 people at my bootcamp, 4 group coaching, but 15 one-on-one clients, I'm laughin'! Before expenses, 63K !

Of course, I'm shooting for 15 one-on-one, at least 10 group coaching, and 30 at the bootcamp. 76K. Shazam!

All figures above are more than I ever made at a corporate "job" job.

Expenses for personal + running my business are about 58K.

Expenses at corporate "job" jobs were about 36K.

So - I can have much more expenses, and still have savings.

New Tagline!

My tagline was: "Tired of smoking?"

I was just challenged to create one that speaks to the benefits of what I do. But.... all the stop smoking programs sound exactly the same. "Easy way to quit", "Quit smoking forever", etc.

I really loved the marketing that a hat lady at the One of a Kind Show had - I *needed* to buy one of her hats, just because her tagline was "Do you have what it takes to be a Melonhead?" She also challenged me to come up with something that challenges people...

The one that my biz coach just suggested on our group coaching call gave me the absolute chills.

"Are you ready?"

And it was done. After a year of the old one, I have a new tagline.

Did you know? Smoking 'is bad for your brain'

"More research has been published linking smoking to health risks - with a study suggesting the habit affects IQ."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4078841.stm

Leadership

I have been slowly but surely working on my leadership skills over the last year or so.

Recently everything gelled, and my leadership and "personal power" (gotta love coach-speak) have grown exponentially.

About 2 weeks ago, I figured out one of the key pieces to leadership and it just clicked.

Making people feel special and heard.

It's simple, but it's effective. Even something as small as saying a "thank you" for emails that I wouldn't otherwise reply to.

This little piece has turned entire relationships (friends, co-workers, family) around. I have a simple little sentence I say now, but I can't tell you.... if I did you'd know my secret. ;)

My Wise Words

Maybe I can use this quote somewhere.

I came up with it while taking a plane during a storm.

"No matter how miserable the weather, it's always sunny above the clouds!"

Staggering Statistics

I'm revising my Business Plan, and this new template I'm using asks about Exit Strategy - i.e. when I'm going to call it quits in the biz. I haven't actually seen that before in my templates (if I had, maybe I had consciously ignored it ;)

An obvious Exit Strategy is when there are no more smokers left...... So I did a little research into smoking worldwide, and I found that:

The population of the planet is approx. 6 billion.
Approx 1.1 of them (that's 18%) smoke

What if only 5% smoked? That would be 300 million. That's a number I could live with.

I think this should be part of my mission statement. Bringing the number of smokers worldwide down to 300 million. What do you think? :)

I was also thinking about all the people who use other methods to quit. Sure they quit, but often it's very temporary (http://statcan.ca/Daily/English/041124/d041124b.htm) and they don't get all the other benefits of working through my method - whatever was stopping them from quitting smoking was stopping them in most areas of life. Unblock that piece, and everything opens up.

Email Newsletter Conundrum - resolved

I was having a bit of a conundrum over my email newsletter. Right now I've generalized it for more than just stop smoking - part of the reason being that at first I didn't know any smokers, and I needed readership. The other reason, that it's grown into, is that many smokers don't want a newsletter about smoking. They've heard enough of that BS. I've found it much easier to appeal to them when they hear it's not just about smoking, that it's about "weaknesses" in general.

Then there's the other folk. Now that I've tapped into the smokers, there are those very vocal smokers who ask me where the smoking info is.

This left me with - what do I do? Do I create two newlsetters? Do I focus on just one? Which one?

The answer is simple and brilliant. In my one newsletter, have two sections. One for, basically, those who aren't yet ready to quit and don't want to think about it. The other for those who are ready and are dying for free info from me.

Ta-dah!

I can't wait to get started on the first of the new issues. :)

Psychologically Healthy

I thought this was really interesting and worth noting:

3 things everyone needs to be psychologically healthy and balanced:

a feeling of control over your own life

a sense of accomplishment that comes from doing what is personally difficult

a feeling of connection and trust in other people
- from "Sacred Bull" by Bernstein and Rozen

I'm not a smoker - that's why you want me

I have many thoughts that have been twirling around my head lately, which was a big impetus for beginning this blog.

I'm going to start my first post with something very apropos. I just got off a coaching call with my brilliant business coach, and told him I was tired of giving my long answer every time someone said to me, "But you're not a smoker. You can't know how it feels. How can you coach this?"

This is my new, amazing answer. I LOVE it!

"If you needed a heart transplant, would you need a doctor who's had a heart transplant? If you needed your leg amputated, would you want a one-legged doctor? I'm not a smoker, I've never smoked in my life, and that's precisely why I'm speaking to you on this subject. I have thought, eaten, breathed being a non-smoker and making all my decisions as a non-smoker my whole life. I am modelling the person you want to become."

If you'd like to know, you can read my long answer.