How to Succeed as a Free Agent

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I’ve learned the hard way how to succeed as a consultant, coach or professional – or what I call a Free Agent.

I learned three essential elements to get more clients and achieve my goals.

They’re essential because without understanding and applying the basics, you will continue to struggle in attracting new clients to your practice or business.

I know because early on I was trying to learn the newest strategies. I was trying to act on every email tip I received. I was trying not to “miss one.” That caused me to learn a lot about different things, but not be very effective in any of them.

And as I’ve learned in other areas of my life, success comes quickly from mastering the basics.

So, what are the basics of succeeding as a consultant, coach or other professional?

First Way to Succeed

Online Marketing: I was originally deterred by this. Terms like SEO, SEM, PPC, keywords, et al, can be very confusing or overwhelming. How the heck can you get to the first page of Google?

It may be overwhelming and you might be intimidated to even start. I’ve found mastering five simple steps to be very effective, while easily achievable. They are:

Write – get in the habit of writing daily or weekly. Write articles and blog posts. Write scripts for videos and presentations. Just write consistently. This helps clarify your message and keeps you moving forward.

Publish – whatever you write, publish it to your blog, article directories, other blogs and anywhere else soliciting relevant content. Be sure to write quality content and don’t provide the same exact article to two different sites. Search engines punish duplicate content.

Distribute – Similar to publish, distribute your articles to as many sources as possible. Article spinning software is a great way to get the most leverage out of your writing. Distributed content provides free leads and backlinks to your site, and backlinks are one of the best way to enhance your site SEO.

Socialize – Use all the popular social media sites to build a dialog with your target audience. Interact, help out, get to know them and let them get to know you. Socializing provides a free source of leads back to your site.

Comment – Comment on other relevant blogs. Provide meaningful, relevant comments as part of the conversation. Don’t spam with filler; “hey, great post!” but provide meaningful remarks. This is another source of free lead generation and backlinks to your site.

Second Way to Succeed

Offline Marketing: Focus less on business cards and brochures and more on listening, serving and building relationships. How you succeed as a consultant, coach or other professional is directly proportional to your ability to create meaningful relationships.

The next time someone asks for your card or to send you a brochure, pause. Instead of immediately agreeing, ask them why? What interests them about your service? What problems are they having?

Perhaps you could provide some simple suggestions or point them to some resources. The key here is to start serving right away. And what better way to serve than to truly listen and understand the other person’s pain, and start helping them immediately?

Third Way to Succeed

Mindset: When I first started coaching, I wasn’t sure of my value. What would a client receive as a result of working with me? So, I developed a list of the Top Ten Benefits of working with me specifically. I knew my value, and when asked, could quickly share some of the benefits of working together.

I’ve found that knowing my value makes it easier for me to discuss my service with others. Creating the list helped me believe I could help others – that I added value.

Finally, by creating that list, with the help of clients and friends, I was more confident to take daily action. Whatever fear I was feeling seemed to go away as I took action.

How to Succeed Action Steps

One – when planning your week, set aside time each week to focus on the above activities. Break them down into simple, doable steps.

Two – do a little bit each day, don’t expect everything to shift overnight. How to succeed as a consultant, coach or professional is not a one-day solution, but a lifelong pursuit.

Three – be okay with what you’ve done and focus on where you’re going. Don’t get caught up in “I should have done this sooner.” Just start doing a little each day.

Soon you’ll find, that more and more people are attracted to you as you get more clear in your writing, message and value in relationships.

To Your Millionaire!

David Koons
FreeAgentCoach.com
Helping You Get Clients… Faster!

PS – These are the notes from a previous teleclass.

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Tags: David Koons, Free Agent Coach, how to succeed as a consultant, market research, Public speaking, Small Business, Web Design and Development