“Yet I’m getting invited to hold workshops in large companies and executives are coming to me for coaching.”  That’s how a client I’ll call “Rita” began a consultation a while back.

“I haven’t walked in their shoes,” Rita continued. “My coach told me to market to people like myself. But in this case, I’m not marketing to me! Why would someone believe I can help them?”

Rita had fallen for the widely reported myth of, “You must tell your story. You’re qualified because you are just like the people you help. You know what they’re going through. You can help them.”

Rita was fully qualified. She just needed a new story. 

Rita had a story that resonated with her audience of solopreneur creatives. She could share her experience of moving from a struggling solopreneur to a confident, profitable business owner. But she couldn’t tell an origin story about moving from frustrated corporate executive to confident, fulfilled professional.

Rita’s dilemma will be familiar to business owners who experience a shift, or pivot, as they grow. They start to attract clients in new markets, so they need new marketing strategies, new copy, and of course, new stories.

These shifts are inevitable. You change. Your market changes. You discover new solutions. You get invited to take on new challenges.

When business owners call me, they often believe they need to start with the common definition of a rebrand, i.e., a new website, color scheme, images, and slogan.

Actually, your first step calls for telling a new story — 3 stories, in fact:

Story #1 – answers the question “Why did you make this shift?”

Story #2 – answers the question “Why are you qualified to perform the new role?”

Story # 3 – the new sales story you tell so people think “I want what she’s having”

Do me a favor: Stay tuned for more information. And reply to this message if you’d like to learn more. I’m working on a guide (free or very low cost) and would like to know what questions you have.

And if you’d like to get the lowdown on the different stories you can use during a pivot, check out my book on Amazon – Grow Your Business One Story At A Time. It’s currently in kindle form but you don’t need a kindle to read it — just a computer or smartphone.

So, she thinks, why not coach accountants on job and career change?

But then she wonders: “Is this niche too narrow? Maybe I should offer career change for professionals in general. And perhaps I should emphasize my stress management background on my website?”

Marianne probably thinks she can get an easy answer. And many people would answer without hesitation:  “Go with the smaller niche and focus.”

But Marianne’s got to do some testing first.

How do accountants find a career coach? Do they use career coaches?

Marianne googles “career coach accounting” and finds that she’ll have some competition, which is a good sign. She can look into their websites and see what keywords they’re using.  And she can borrow strategies from them.

When accountants search for a career coach, do they prefer to work with an accounting specialist? If they like the “accountants-only” approach, she’ll need to include at least a separate page on her website.

Will she have access to accountants so she can market her services? Will she get entrance into networking meetings? For instance, can she be a guest at a local CPA lunch meeting? If she’s just getting started, she’ll need to network and line up a few clients before starting her website.

Does she know a few accountants who will be her first clients? A few good testimonials will help a great deal.

Can she fill up a blog with solid, innovative articles on “career change for accountants?” Will these posts go beyond the usual same-old, same-old advice and give readers an “aha” moment with every post (well, almost every post – it’s hard to knock it out of the park 100% of the time)?

How will accountants respond to her as a career coach? Will they appreciate her background or be a little nervous about it? If she mentions stress release, will they think, “Uh oh … too shrinky for me!” or, “Oh good: she understands how tough this field is.”

If Marianne decides she’s got access to accountants, and if she finds that many accountants are willing to pay for career coaching, I’d encourage her to set up a website for accountants.

Here’s what she needs to remember.

Even if her website targets accountants, she’ll find that other professionals will show up and she can decide how narrow her niche will be. Just about every coach who targets women will get male clients.

For instance, on my career site I target midlife, mid-career executives, yet I’ve gotten clients who are more millennial than midlife. I draw the line at working with someone who’s just graduated: I don’t know how to help a brand-new entry level 21-year-old.

The real question for any new coach is, “How can I get my first client?” If your first few clients come from a narrow niche, then go for it. Otherwise you may have to cast a wider net. You won’t target “everybody out there,” but you can avoid limiting your scope.

Some new coaches have a natural pipeline to new clients. For instance, a fitness trainer would do well as a life coach or nutrition coach; half his clients already talk about their lives, careers and relationships, and nearly all of them (including me) end up modifying their diets in some way.

But a teacher or corporate executive might not have a natural bridge to a new stream of clients.

This post is based on my QuickStart Guide To Becoming A Coach. It’s a comprehensive ebook with soup-to-nuts, hold-you-by-the-hand guidance on everything from choosing a niche to building a website. You’ll get a sample coaching agreement and a template to send colleagues to generate referrals.

Readers say they got the core of what you need to start as a coach — even if you’ve been working with a five-figure marketing coach. In fact, if you do work with a high-end coach, you’ll speed your progress astronomically because you won’t waste time asking informational questions on your sessions. You’ll focus on what you need for you.

The QuickStart Guide has just been updated, but I haven’t updated the sales letter yet. So for now, you can get a 52% discount  with all the bonuses! – until I revise the sales letter. Just go here to learn more and place your order. 

And if you’d like a consultation (which includes your Quick Start Guide as a bonus), we can take an in-depth look at your business and your marketing. It’s not a “borrow my brain” session because you don’t just borrow a brain: you get started on action to move closer to your marketing goals, starting now! Click here to learn more.

“Pivoting doesn’t necessarily mean desperation,” says Alan Spoon in his Inc article, What Pivot Really Means.  “It can be a tool to discover additional growth–growth you might otherwise have overlooked.”

When you pivot your business, you’re exploring new models and directions. Often your vision remains the same: you’re fine-tuning, adjusting and maybe rebranding.

And you’re no doubt exploring ways to generate a new message. The stories you’ve told up to now may not be as effective.

Here are three ways to use stories to remodel, rebrand or reframe.

(1) Share a story about working with your competitor versus working with you.

When you pivot your business, your clients might enjoy a whole different experience from what you offered before – and what you competitors do now.

A physical therapist points to “one-on-one sessions instead of having someone divide their time between you and someone across the room.”

A lawyer shares a story of a client whose previous lawyer didn’t return calls and generally made her feel her problem was too trivial for his attention.

A massage therapist focuses on pain relief and therapeutic healing instead of a feel-good spa massage (which has its place for sure – just not what his clients want).

I give my own clients a smooth, straightforward web experience, in contrast to web developers who make a big production out of a solo-preneur website and charge accordingly.  Here’s an infographic I made a long time ago to show the differences in website development. Click here.

You could also develop a concept story, along the lines of the Wall Street Journal’s “Two men started at the same company the same day. Twenty years later, one headed a small department; the other had become a senior officer in the company. What was the difference? One read the Wall Street Journal.”

That story has sold millions of subscriptions. The “two guys” framework is my own “go-to” story template when I’m looking for a way to explain something.

(2) Share a story about why your best clients chose to work with you.

This is a fun one. How do clients make buying decisions?

What assumptions are you making about your market? Are they accurate?

For example:

Coach A’s market story is, “New business owners want to learn from people like me, who have gone from heartache of business failure to earning in the high six figures, over a 3-year period. They will hire a coach based on the coach’s own track record, preferably verified with sales records. They view the coach’s success as social proof, saying, ‘If she can do it, I can do it!'”

Coach B’s market story is, “New business owners realize that a good coach often is a mediocre player. For instance, Pat Summitt – perhaps the most successful and most honored coach in women’s basketball – was not a superstar when she played for UT – Martin.  So these business owners will make buying decisions based on what they believe about the coach’s effectiveness, not the coach’s own success.”

(3) Borrow from sci-fi and tell a story of “Forward To The Future.” 

After you pivot your business, what will your company look like in 3 to 5 years? What can clients expect?

Imagine that it’s 3 or 5 years from now. Tell the story of how your new pivoted company went from here to there. Is your company still around? How big is it now?

You’re not fortune telling or planning, just exercising some imagination. It’s a good way to see whether your brand will grow with you. Of course you may get derailed or you may realize along the way that (a) you’re not interested in growing this way or (b) the world has changed so much it doesn’t make sense anymore.

Here are 2 kinds of stories you might want to tell:

Story #1:  “My company now has grown to 7 figures annually. I have 3 contract employees and I go to an office every day. I am known as a sought-after speaker in my field. I work with VIP programs such as high-end weekends and intensives for one-on-one clients. I value the opportunity to influence hundreds of people each year and change their lives, even if I see them just briefly.”

Story #2: “My company has grown to give me a comfortable living and time for leisure. I work out of my living room with my 2 dogs and assorted cats. I work one-on-one with clients at moderate price points and sell many products. I have one assistant for a few hours a month. I value the hands-on interaction with my clients.”

Can you see how these consultants might move in different directions?  Their stories hold the clue to where they want to be in future times.

Free: Download the pdf version: 3 Stories To Pivot Your Business Successfully. 

If you’d like to plan your own Pivot Your Business to Profit sequence, let’s talk! Send me a message or sign up for a consultation.

With all the changes going on around us, many business owners are looking to pivot their businesses. A pivot means you change direction when your market shifts and your services no longer meet their demands.  Or you may feel you’re growing bored with the business you used to enjoy.

Or you may pivot to take advantage of a new opportunity. You realize your skills and reputation have grown and you can capitalize on your new strengths. For instance, one of my clients had built a successful business working with clients on wellness. She now realized she could expand by training new coaches to serve this niche.

Now you’re ready to create content to promote your new offers. Here are three steps to guide you through the process.  

(1) Start with your story.

David Thoreau allegedly said, “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.” But when you embrace a new enterprise, you’ll require new stories.

Continuing this example, the former wellness coach used to share a story about her own journey from tired, stress executive to dynamic, highly fit entrepreneur.

Now she needs a new story. Perhaps she’ll talk about how she couldn’t find the resources she needed to start her own business. Or she’ll talk about the way she mentored other coaches, saw them flourish, and decided to make that her main focus.

Learn more about how to create your new story in my podcast, “Connect the Dots for Credibility.”
You can listen here on Apple, here on Spotify, or on any of these platforms.

There’s a free guide for that.  Download your free guide here. 

(2) Research the motivations of your new market.

If you haven’t done so already, dig into the backstories of your potential new clients. For instance, the business owner now trains wellness coaches will need to find out what’s behind their decision to work with clients on fitness and health. What’s missing? Do they need training in coaching? Marketing? Confidence?

And how do you do the research? More details in, yes, another free guide.

(3)  Repurpose every piece of content so you use it at least 3 times.

Pivoting takes time. It’s a mini-version of starting a whole new business (and sometimes more than mini).

Every time you write a post or publish a video, send a message to your list, inviting them to visit your blog. .Sure, You’ll soon get a sense of which headings get the most people to click “open.” And as you re-target your list, you’ll naturally attract a more targeted audience.

For some particularly detailed or useful posts, create a content upgrade. Use Beacon or another tool to transform your post into an attractive pdf ebook.  I use LeadPages to create a leadbox, which is more helpful than just a link to a page.

Look for opportunities to be a guest on podcasts, webinars, telesummits, and more. You’ll reach new audiences faster and more easily this way.e

Guest blogging delivers your message when you follow certain steps. It’s a good way to establish yourself as an authority by associating your name with established blogs. And it’s a great way to get in front of your target audience, leveraging the reputation of the blog editor.

QUESTION:

“I’m putting a new program together on content creation that will be the first step in changing my business direction. Another business owner approached me and suggested a partnership. I would do the content development and she would do the design and publishing, as well as our program promotion. We each have our own business but would partner with this program.

“The question is, how do we divide the revenue? She’s saying she should get 60% because she’s doing the sales and getting the money. I’m doing a lot of day to day work, including client consultations and webinars included in our program. I’d be happier with 50-50 as a split.

“Does this issue mean our partnership is doomed? We have a good synergy here.”

ANSWER:

When you’re pivoting to a new market with a new program, it’s easy to feel as though you don’t have enough experience, skill or time. A partner can seem like a real gift, especially if she can compensate for your weaknesses and reinforce your strengths.

It’s especially tempting to find a partner who promises to promote the product, especially if she seems confident of her skills. Yet handing over your marketing to a partner can risk your business, your brand and your reputation. You need to be able to say, “This doesn’t feel right.”

In many ways, a partnership is like a marriage. So why not do some dating first? Develop a program and set up a joint venture. Create a referral program where you each get 50% of the proceeds when you refer someone. See if you like the way she works with your clients and see how well you work with her clients. ‘

Some things to consider:

(1) Do you serve the same niche?

Clients for writing/editing most likely differ from clients for design and publishing. You gain some clients with a bundled offer but lose other clients who want one service only – not both.

(2) Could an environmental change affect the partnership?

Long-term contracts – let alone partnerships – can be hazardous in an online marketing environment. Suppose you had partnered with an article marketing specialist three years ago. Some article marketers wisely decided to pivot. Their partners might find the new direction even more synergistic or completely inappropriate.

(3) Are you choosing the best resources for your own business?

Kimberly, a first-time book author, chose a marketing partner “because she used to work for IBM in their promotion department.” Kimberly spent over $10,000 on building a website and designing a book cover. The book wasn’t selling. I had lots of suggestions but her budget was exhausted.

Kimberly would now be a successful author, with a calendar of speaking engagements,  if she had talked to a copywriter or marketing strategist who could introduce her to the world of book publishing (which is completely different from the corporate world) and who would understand the unique challenges of solo-preneurs.

In fact, successful authors often talk to a copywriter before they hire an editor, just as successful business owners hire a copywriter before they start to choose colors and have fun with design. Copywriters can move quickly from concept to value proposition so you make the connection before you’ve made an investment.

Bottom Line

Time to walk away from the partnership. Once you start looking around, you’ll find lots of great resources for design and self-publishing. You can work with them on an as-needed basis and who knows? They may be able to send you referrals from a wider source.

If you’d like to plan a profitable business pivot, start by telling these 3 stories.