In This Issue...
1. President's Letter
2. August 10th Webinar - Values: Your Key To Marketing Ease
3. August 22nd In-Person Meeting - How to Look like the Solution your Client Needs
4. Booming Business Blueprint - Sweet Spots in Fishing and Marketing
5. Global News
6. Regional News
7. Chapter News
8. Member Announcements
President's Letter - August 2017
Sara Krisher, ACC
ICF Minnesota President
I’ve always been energized by a challenge, but I haven’t always known it. Being coached has opened my eyes to so many discoveries about myself. I find it absolutely fascinating how those discoveries don’t seem like much at the time, but then one day while you’re walking the dog you realize what you’re missing (what value isn’t being honored) and ‘BAM’ you know what you need to do. I wrote this poem in honor of my experience working with my coach. Maybe you can relate?
A Tribute to my Life Coach
You dare ask me life’s biggest questions when I’ve told you I’m in search of answers?!
I ring my hands furrowing my brow, uncomfortably admitting my weakness.
And you acknowledge me for my bravery?
I wrestle with truth, blurt out half sentences and unearth stories without hesitating.
And you hold my gaze intently?
I’m at a loss, turning circles and fed up to here.
And you ask me what I want and expect an answer?
Doubt fills my world shrinking me in fear.
And you’re my champion again?
I question every move and look to others for approval.
And you believe in me more than I do?
I’m sharing all sides of me along with my shadow.
And you remain my confidant?
I misstep, stumble and fall flat on my face.
And you remind me of my strength?
I’m struggling to take the next step.
And you gently illuminate all I’ve done?
It’s incredible to me that you can listen to what I say and hear all that I don’t. In this harried, chaotic labyrinth called life I’m grateful to know you and grateful to call you my coach.
With Confidence,
Sara Krisher, ACC
ICF Minnesota President
Board Elections to be held in August
Board elections will be held this month. The board slate is being finalized and voting will open mid-August. Please watch for an email containing the link or check the ICF Minnesota website and thank you for taking the time to cast your vote and support the incoming board members!
Upcoming Events
August 10th Webinar - Values: Your Key To Marketing Ease
August 10, 2017 12 - 1 p.m.
It’s not widely known but your values are the key to easy marketing. There are thousands of marketing strategies to choose from and any one of them could be successful for a coach. Which one(s) will be most successful for you?
Don’t worry, this isn’t another class where you are assigned a whole bunch of marketing to-do’s that are so overwhelming you can’t possibly get them done. The teleclass is all about narrowing down your marketing to-do list. It’s about using your values to find one focus for the year that will drive your marketing success in the easiest, most exciting way possible. Because it will honor who you are. Prior to the session, it's recommended that you take the Core Values Index™ to make it easy to jump right into the values conversation.
Here’s what you’ll walk away with:
A new way to look at values and how they make or break your marketing.
A new way to narrow down your to-do list.
An efficient way to get marketing done, even if marketing is your least favorite part of your business.
It’s time to bring who you are to the marketing table, for greater success.
Kristen Beireis is the Trust-Building in Marketing Expert. She helps coaches put together a plan for what to do and say in marketing. Kristen specializes in helping her clients find ways to enjoy marketing, even if it's something they hate when they first come to her. She's on a mission to stop the sacrifices that so many coaches make, in the name of marketing. With Kristen, it all starts with trusting in who you are so you can capitalize on your own uniqueness.
Kristen has over 15 years of marketing experience online and offline. In 2015, she was voted ICF Ohio Valley Coach of the Year for her contributions toward advancing the coaching profession. Kristen is also a Trained Life Coach, a Certified Essential Message™ Facilitator, a Group Coach and Certified Core Values Index™ Facilitator. Kristen believes life was meant to be enjoyed and that includes marketing.
August 22nd In Person Meeting - How to Look like the Solution your Client Needs
Tuesday, August 22, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
One of the biggest challenges for coaching business is to have your specialty or interest seen as a clear and recognizable solution to people. To do this we must be able to articulate the problems we solve in a manner that reflects our prospects perception of their problem and then offer an enticing solution that speaks to it. Much the same way a person can leave Wallgreens with 2 bottles of the same pain reliever, one for their migraine and one for their back. They searched out and bought solutions for specific problems rather than taking a general solution. The key is to market to a specific audience with a specific need so you can be really good at being known for the solution for that specific need. To do this you need to choose a niche to market to. This is a difficult choice for every business and the reward for those who choose and commit is growth and financial success. In this workshop you will learn what niching is and how to chose one for your practice. We will also explore crucible moments of a persons life and how to use them in your marketing. These are moments in a person’s life when they may be most motivated to invest in coaching for their well being, growth or as a solution to address the pain of a situation.
Jason Jones is a certified coach who is committed to helping entrepreneurs hit their first six figures and beyond! His previous ventures involved communications media and entertainment. Being an entrepreneur all of his life he finally gets to provide the program he wished he had when he started his first business 20 years ago. Jason is certified by The Royal Roads University and the International Coaching Federation. After years of starting several businesses, succeeding at some and failing at others Jason has learned the hard lessons and come to respect and follow the fundamental practices of a savvy entrepreneur. His coaching and training programs focus on the implementation of proven business tactics and the support necessary to set up clients for a lifetime of success.
Booming Business Blueprint: Sweet Spots in Fishing and Marketing
by Lynn Nodland, Ph.D., MCC and Robin Nordmeyer, CLC
Greetings, Lynn and Robin here with Booming Business Blueprint and Masterful Coaches Community.com. We help you to reach your goals for a booming business and a balanced life. In our last article we talked about ways to manage expenses to keep more of your coaching profit. In this article, we look at finding the sweet spot with marketing as it relates to the sweet spot in fishing.
SWEET SPOTS IN FISHING AND MARKETING
Do you have a favorite fishing story from your past? Maybe you had a great time, caught lots of fish, and could have kept going for hours. Or maybe your story is about a time when the fish were not biting, the environment was uncomfortable and the occasion couldn’t have ended soon enough. Marketing can be similar. Just like fishing, you want to find your sweet spot with marketing where you enjoy the process and reap the rewards for your efforts. What does it mean to market and fish for clients in your sweet spot? It means finding what is best for you. Let explore this metaphor further to see how it fits into marketing in four ways.
1. First, in fishing you have to decide on what kind of fish you want to catch. Do you want to catch smaller fish, like sunfish, or do you want the big ones, like walleye or northern pike or even tuna. Deciding this will make a difference in where you go to fish, how you fish and what you will offer as bait. Similarly, in marketing, you want to decide who your ideal client is early on.
Write out the specific characteristics of your ideal client.
2. In fishing you want to find the right pond, lake or ocean so that you catch the kind of fish you want. You won’t get sunfish in the ocean and you won’t find tuna in a local lake. In marketing, you want to find the place to go to find your ideal clients. They thrive and show up in particular environments, just as fish do. What do your prospective clients like to do and where do they go? What places, forums or groups do you want to join so they can get to know you and you enjoy the experience of interacting with them?
Write out where you will go to connect with your ideal clients.
3. In fishing, special bait and particular techniques are used to attract certain fish. The angler has strengths to know how to throw the fishing line or cast the net and has figured out how to fill the hungry needs of the fish. In marketing, use your strengths in ways you most enjoy to attract ideal clients. Do you like to reach people through writing, speaking, networking, social media, etc? Much as the fisherperson has special bait, you also want to have a unique offering so you attract ideal clients and encourage them to “bite”. Finding your authentic style will make it more enjoyable and easier for you to market.
Write out what strengths you’ll use to attract clients and identify your unique offering to meet their wants and needs.
4. Fishing and marketing are similar in that to increase your chances of success, you have to be consistent with effort but flexible with your approaches. Anglers don’t give up if the fish aren’t biting. They will make incremental changes to see what works by fishing at a different time of day, changing bait, or something else to have success. In the same way, marketing takes consistent effort and making adjustments as needed to meet the needs and wants of your prospective clients. Analytics will help you make decisions on what’s working and what needs to be changed. The key is to not give up!
Write out what you want to do to be consistent and yet flexible with your marketing.
In summary, we’ve suggested that the “sweet spot” in fishing and marketing occurs when you enjoy the environment, the process and reap an abundant “catch”. You don’t need to do it alone. We are dedicated to serving you. We invite you to join our Facebook group at Masterful Coaches Community.com to be part of a supportive, collaborative community sharing ideas for running a thriving, rewarding coaching practice. If you know coaches who would be interested in this article or our community, please pass the entire article along to them.
Here’s to your success!
Lynn Nodland, Ph.D., MCC and Robin Nordmeyer, CLC
© 2017 Masterful Coaches Community & Booming Business Blueprint
How to Bust Through Fear of Speaking
By: Maria Lynn Johnson
“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’d rather be in the casket than doing the eulogy.”
– Jerry Seinfeld
We’ve all heard the statistic. So, one has to wonder – what could possibly be so scary about speaking that you’d rather die than stand up and present?
Here’s why. We are wired for human connection – it is built in to our brains for survival. If there is any threat to being disconnected from one’s group, tribe, audience, or posse, then a switch goes off in our brains to make sure we stay connected, and stay alive. Back when we were being chased by saber tooth tigers, if we were banished from our tribe, we could pretty much write off any chance of sticking around for very long.
Even though we’ve evolved and we’re now only being chased by deadlines and emails, our lizard brain is still wired to fire us up and sound the sirens when there’s a chance we could be ostracized. Speaking in front of a group is a regular buffet of possible negative social outcomes. We could be laughed at, ignored, ridiculed, fired, patronized, or just stared at stoically with no flicker of acknowledgement that we exist.
THESE are the fears that light up when we think about speaking publicly. And although we actually survive these outcomes – and many times grow and improve after a disappointing run at the pulpit, our brains still respond as though there’s a beast nipping at our heels.
So, the gazillion dollar question is – how do we change this?
The problem is that when we’re thinking about standing up and introducing ourselves at that all-important networking meeting, all we’re focused on is our fear and if we’ll freeze or forget what to say. So, our brains basically shut off. Instead, try one or more of these seven techniques:
Think about what you’re actually going to say. Think of the words in your mind and picture yourself saying them – forget about the people that are there…what would you actually say? (For my fellow geeks, here’s the neuroscience: the key way to shut off the reptilian fear response is to activate our pre-frontal cortex, which controls our thinking. That is accomplished by speaking words. And deep breathing to counter the stress response…)
Focus on being of service. Think about how you could actually help these people solve their problems and improve their lives. What pain are they experiencing and what could you offer to provide some relief? Taking yourself out of the picture removes the pressure and the fear.
Notice your fear and claim it. “Yes, I am deathly afraid of speaking in front of the neighborhood “Rally For Bunco Night” meeting tonight.” Then acknowledge that your fear is being driven by some outdated, medieval belief of survival that no longer exists. “No, I will not keel over and cease breathing if they don’t like what I have to say. I am nervous, but the worst that can happen is I don’t get the outcome I hoped for and I learn something.”
Change the visual. This is the picture and belief that is lodged in your brain stem…jiggle it loose and replace it with a new, more positive and realistic one. Close your eyes and actually picture yourself speaking at the event (this is what famous athletes and musicians do before a performance). So, picture the Bunco moms and their kids are watching you with excited, interested faces and you’re speaking with complete ease and passion around your topic (maybe it’s proposing that bloody marys be served on Bunco night). Everyone is nodding and hanging on your every word – they love you! At the end there’s a round of applause as everyone sets down their mimosas and marvels at how they never knew they had such a dynamic, interesting neighbor.
Take action. The key to building confidence is taking action. The surest way you can get over your fear of speaking is if you actually stand up and start speaking…ums, uhs, and all. The more you do it, the better you get. The better you get, the more confidence you have. And the more confidence you have, your beliefs around speaking start to shift. Fear…? What fear?
Use the fear to your advantage. Even the greatest speakers still get nervous before speaking. It's a good sign and gives you the energy you need to be engaging and own the room. Once you notice your fear and claim it, channel that energy and adrenaline into your message and the words coming out of your mouth. Get excited about the connection and transformation, and relish the journey you're about to take with the people in the room.
Move your body. When you're nervous, your body moves into fight or flight mode and releases cortisol. The more you can move around and stand in a powerful position, the more your cortisol lowers and your testosterone increases (Amy Cuddy's "Power Pose"). Don't close up and freeze on stage. Open up your body, move around, and shake it out.
Moving forward, any time you have to speak – retrain your brain to think and feel differently about the event. So, start practicing, formulating your words, and visualizing success. And as a final one-two, be sure to always have a pre-speaking ritual that includes stretching and a physical warm-up. This can get you revved up enough to turn the tables so you feel like YOU’RE the saber tooth tiger.
For over 20 years Maria Lynn Johnson has presented, trained, and coached thousands of Fortune 500 leaders to higher performance. She is a #1 bestselling author, speaking coach, trainer and business communication consultant. In 2012 she started her own business and now gets rave reviews by helping entrepreneurs and leaders KNOW WHAT TO SAY and HOW TO SAY IT. Maria helps professionals nail their message and delivery to move their audience to action and get results. She's available for keynote speaking, emceeing, individual coaching, and workshops around leadership presence and high impact communication.
Contact Maria for a complementary "Speaking Discovery Session" to discover your next best moves!
www.MariaLynnJohnson.com | 952-500-2790 | Maria@MariaLynnJohnson.com
Facebook Community: "Speaking Mastery"
Global News
If you were unable to attend the sold-out ICF Advance 2016: Science of Coaching, you can still benefit from this incredible educational opportunity. OnDemand video sessions are now available. The topic areas covered in this year's incredible event were:
• Coaching Presence
• Creating Awareness
• Team Coaching
New Member Onboarding Calls
ICF Global is scheduling New Member Onboarding Calls every two weeks, and inviting new members to attend these meetings to leverage their ICF membership benefits. Attendees will learn how to update their information on the ICF website, connect with their local ICF Chapter, and apply for an ICF Credential.
5 Ways to Use ICF Industry Research to Boost Your Coaching Business:http://bit.ly/2fVMDjr
The Coaching Trap: http://bit.ly/2gpUPcz
Brave New Coaching World: Are Your Clients Ready for Artificial Intelligence? http://bit.ly/2fTeqOz
Oh, the Questions We Ask: http://bit.ly/2gIdjm9
Twitter Ambassador Program
Join our Twitter Ambassador Program to receive a weekly email with shareable messages about coaching and the ICF to post on your Chapter's Twitter page and other social media channels. To join, send a message to ICF Social Media Specialist Lisa Cunningham.
Regional News
Mark your calendars for the ICF Midwest Conference in Pittsburg, PA in June 2018!
Chapter Member Announcements
Membership Renewal UPDATE:
Please note that we are removing the grace period for those who are renewing with the chapter. Starting January payments are due before the subscription expiration date or the membership status will lapse. Reminder emails go out to 1 month, 14 days, 7 days and 2 days before expiration.