When you do any kind of business coaching with people who work in the online space, it can be a real eye-opening experience. I once had someone tell me that their coaching clients were like liquorice all-sorts – it was just a random crapshoot about whether or not you’d like them.
I’ve been a bit luckier and a little more selective about who I work with over the years. That said, I’ve run into a few strange cases during that time.
Without a doubt, the type of person that I see the most where it doesn’t work out with us is the person who wants to eat their yummy dessert before having their dinner. I often refer to those folks as wanting all schnitzel and no veggies.
This mentality is a real problem online. It is perpetuated by Hopium Dealers who tell you that there is a secret to success and for just a few bucks, they’ll let you in on it to help lead you to a six-figure income by only working a few hours a day.
That’s just rubbish. It doesn’t work like that.
Most people who’ve tried to build a new business on the internet or to establish a presence for their existing offline business in the online space all know that it’s just never that easy. There is such a wide range of new skills to learn and so many moving parts that it can be overwhelming.
However, that doesn’t stop the folks who come to me and say, “Listen Sean, I’ve got an amazing idea. I don’t know anything about building websites, running an e-commerce store, fulfilment of products or services, generating traffic or writing copy, but my idea is amazing. I know you can help me get there, but I need you to sign an NDA before we can work together. Oh, and I noticed your coaching fees on your site, what if I pay you half and give you a slice of my profits on my new business – you’ll make way more with that I bet.”
You’d be flabbergasted if you knew how often I get approached like that. It’s like the Idiot Circus has come to town and they want me to juggle fire under the big top with them.
If you’ve been reading these emails for awhile now, you know that I have a low tolerance threshold for stupidity. Having said that, I have an even lower threshold for laziness. These people manage to cut across both… Well done.
I keep saying it on here by you have to put the work in if you want to have long-term success. You will spend a fair bit of time laying the foundations that almost always generate no immediate impact or benefit to you, but they are super important over the long term.
For example, if you’re doing content marketing, then it’s not unrealistic for your first year to be spent getting almost no traction at all if you don’t already have a pre-existing audience. You need to lay the seeds and learn your craft.
I’m not particularly precious about who I work with on my coaching program either because I just enjoy doing it. I know some people get all up themselves with, “Oh, I need to qualify you for my program and I need to feel that we’re aligned…”
Blah, blah, blah… I figure it’s worth giving everyone a chance, I like making new friends and getting to know people. If you’re interested in my coaching, fill out this contact form, we’ll grab 15-20 minutes on Skype, get to know each other, I’ll ask what you want to achieve out of it all and unless you say something stupid, then we’ll give it a shot.
And just a reminder, don’t ask me to sign an NDA, your idea will just never be that good or important enough to me that I’d want to steal it from you.