When I think back over my entrepreneurial journey, I’m really like wow! I started my business with no money or business loans and I’m still standing strong after 12 years. if I’m honest, I recently began to dance with the idea of taking advantage of grants however, for me I am very intentional about operating with integrity and wanting to ensure that if i go that route that I use the funds properly and not pocketing it for myself as I’ve seen so many influencers, content creators and small business owners do over the years.
For me, I started out with coaching and the great thing is my mentor at the time was launching her own life coaching certification program and wanted me to enroll for free to provide feedback. If I’m honest, it took me over a year to complete it because I just didn’t see myself as a coach or mentor to anyone.
I was young, in my 20’s and was still trying to figure out my own life, so how in the heck was I going to help anyone on their journey? But here’s what I learned… although I hadn’t mastered life, there were natural gifts that I had that I later learned weren’t so natural to others and people would pay me to share my knowledge.
Such as: being organized, consistent, a creator, a great communicator, self-motivated and more!
Here’s what I did and you can too especially if you are just getting started and are not so sure about stepping out there in a big way:
- I used social media to my advantage to reach a large amount of people at a time. At first, I was only sharing inspirational content which ended up being great because due to my wealth of knowledge and consistency it made part 2 a breeze.
- While going live and sharing videos online, I began to issue a “Call to Action” which invited others to delve deeper into the subject matter I was teaching on by scheduling a coaching session with me. I began to make money before I ever had a website or even a business card. The key here is to ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT!
- Next, I began to create programs by packaging my knowledge into palatable steps for my clients to follow on their own during their desired scheduled time.
From there, I began to build my business by writing books, hosting events, creating more courses and mentorship programs that have allowed me to help thousands of people over the years. I remember once I designed a flyer myself and promoted it online and when people inquired, I sent them an already typed and ready to go document pitching the program filled with WHAT IT WILL DO FOR YOU TIPS and I had 10 people sign up immediately! I’ll never forget, that was 10 people at $697 each! Now you do the math!
Doing that was inspiration to continue to create programs because I tested the waters and saw that people were interested in learning from me. Now of course there are so many other ways to do this but what I encourage you to do is really think about what your sweet spot is and package it in a way that makes it irresistible to your target audience. Then simply rinse and repeat!
*Would you like to discuss your ideas and work with me to create a strategy that fits your mission and target audience? Head back over to www.CarlaCannon.com and schedule a VIP Business Coaching session with me today!
