Training Business: Recent Episodes

Mark Garrett Hayes

Want to know how to drive sales and get more training, facilitation and coaching clients? Thinking of becoming a freelance consultant or starting your own facilitation business? Training Business ® is definitely the show for you.

The Training Business podcast helps freelance trainers, training business owners, learning and development professionals, facilitators and coaches like you to start, grow and scale your business.

Every Thursday you get expert tips to help you market your training, facilitation and coaching programs and sell your learning and development services.

Your host, Mark earned his first train-the-trainer (TTT) whilst working for The Walt Disney Company in Florida and his MBA from the University of Ulster. He is an expert sales coach and passionate developer of people, and a former Learning & Development Manager with 17 years of experience training corporates, self-employed and unemployed across 19 countries.

Subscribe to the show right now for a fresh episode each week.

In this week’s epsiode, I’m speaking with Andy Storch, a friend who just like me, has moved to Barcelona.

That’s quite a bold leap. But that’s the kind of guy that Andy is. He has taken calculated risks during his career and they have paid off!

Andy has published a book called “Own Your Career. Own Your Life” and the success of his book has enabled him to build virtual training and speaking business.

I now I have like sort of multiple keynotes that I run and a training program run. And it's almost all virtual.

“So I can kind of do it from anywhere. And then along the line, along the way, I also started a membership community for people in the talent development space that came from my conference.

There's sort of two parts to my business. One is the speaking and training for companies on career and leadership development.

And then the other part is running the membership community and a conference that I run occasionally. as well for people in talent development”

Tune into this week’s episode to learn more about Andy’s business including:

How Andy started a trainer’s Mastermind Group

Which kinds of corporate clients he works with

How building a community has worked out

What its been like to work from Spain

How he has built a team for his business

In this episode, we're joined by Myriam Hadnes, a seasoned coach and advocate for embracing the unexpected twists and turns of professional life. In our conversation, Myriam shares some golden nuggets:

“So I have my business has three parts. One part is the community that I built never done before. It's a paid community for facilitators where that started as a playground where we can experiment with new tools and new techniques.”

“And having grown this global community, we are about 100 facilitators from 40 different countries. I attracted multinational companies who are looking for online training for their global remote workforce in different languages and different time zones.”

Embrace Uncertainty: We'll explore the power of embracing uncertainty and how it often paves the way for unexpected opportunities and personal growth.
Share Your Wisdom: Myriam highlights the importance of sharing knowledge, whether it's through teaching in academia or crafting innovative tools, as a means to bolster professional credibility.
Diversify Your Income: We'll discuss the significance of diversifying income streams and leveraging a variety of roles and experiences to craft a career that's both robust and adaptable.

Myriam's journey isn't just a story; it's a blueprint for success in today's ever-evolving professional landscape. Tune in to glean insights and chart your own path to success!

This week on The Training Business Podcast, we're excited to welcome Penny Haslam. Penny is a renowned speaker, executive presence coach, and author of 'Make Yourself a Little Bit Famous.' Penny brings her experience from the spotlight to help professionals shine. She's passionate about boosting confidence and visibility in the workplace. In today's episode, Penny shares tips from her book and coaching practice. She talks about building executive presence and making an impact. Listeners will learn how to stand out in their professional lives. Penny covers: * The importance of being visible and vocal in your field. * Strategies for enhancing your executive presence. * The power of media in boosting your profile.

Penny stresses the value of making yourself known in your industry. "Being a bit famous in your field opens doors. It's about being visible to the right people." Get ready for actionable advice on elevating your professional image. Penny's insights are a game-changer for anyone looking to advance their career. Tune in and start your journey to a little bit of fame!

How can strategic diversification sculpt a dynamic and robust professional life? Learn how varied experiences and continuous learning are key to enduring success in your coaching business.

My guest this week is Drew Boyd, a global leader in creativity and innovation. He is an international public speaker, award-winning author, and professor of marketing and innovation.

Drew teaches, consults, and speaks extensively in the fields of innovation, persuasion, and strategy.

Drew’s career path is a masterclass in leveraging diverse experiences for enduring success.

His story illuminates the essence of strategic diversification—transforming varied skills and roles into a cohesive blueprint for resilience and growth.

Join us in this episode to discover how you can strategically diversify your career path, skills, and income sources to achieve long-term success.

Tune in and you'll discover the following:

The value of embracing uncertainty and how it can lead to unexpected opportunities and growth
The impact of sharing knowledge, whether through academic teaching or creating cognitive tools, and how it enhances professional credibility
The importance of diversifying income streams and leveraging various roles and experiences to build a resilient, dynamic career that adapts to changes

This episode is not just a narrative of Drew Boyd's remarkable career journey; it's a map for sales leaders, consultants, trainers, and coaches aiming to navigate their professional landscapes with confidence and adaptability.

Harness the lessons of Drew Boyd's journey to chart your path to success.

Check out this week’s episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Are you on the hunt for insights that can grow your consulting, speaking, or facilitation business? Discover how your diverse professional and life-experience can fuel extraordinary career transformations.

In this episode of the Training Business Podcast, I'm thrilled to welcome Ken Pasternak.

Ken's journey is as diverse as it is inspiring, evolving from a corporate banker to a globe-trotting consultant, author, and sought-after speaker.

Ken shares his journey, detailing the pivotal moments that shaped his career and led him to where he is today. From his early days in banking to transforming a dilapidated hotel into a world-class training centre for Turkish bankers, and eventually, to making a significant impact in the world of Formula One.

Ken's story is a testament to the power of embracing change and following your passion and one that you can certainly take inspiration and learn from.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus MUCH MORE:

How to leverage your diverse experiences for unique value proposition
The importance of being adaptable and flexible in navigating career transitions.
The critical role of networking and building relationships in identifying and seizing new business opportunities

Tune in to be inspired by Ken's journey and gain valuable insights into growing your career as a coach, consultant, or facilitation expert.

Whether you're contemplating a significant career shift or looking to refine your path in the consulting world, this episode is packed with wisdom and practical advice that you won't want to miss.

Imagine transforming your business's reach and impact overnight with just your smartphone: Find out how to captivate, educate, and inspire your audience with a training video and elevate your training or coaching brand.

This week on the Training Business podcast we're thrilled to be speaking to Rob Glass, a BBC-trained Presenter/Producer/Video Journalist with over 20 years of experience.

Rob is a masterclass facilitator for The Guardian newspaper, Lead Trainer at Make Great Video, owner of Coracle Films Ltd, and a respected LinkedIn Learning instructor. He has conducted courses globally and worked with renowned organisations like BMW, Deloitte, and Siemens.

Rob's insights into creating compelling content using just a smartphone are invaluable for anyone striving to make a significant impact without the need for extensive production teams.

Tune in and you'll discover:

Techniques to grab and retain viewer attention within the first few seconds of your training video
Strategies to align your video content with your audience's needs to ensure your videos facilitate real change or action
Practical tips on lighting, sound, and framing to enhance the visual and auditory appeal of your training video, regardless of budget constraints

For anyone invested in leveraging video to enhance their training, facilitation, or coaching brand, this episode is not to be missed.

Rob's expertise and practical tips will help you to effectively communicate your message and connect with your audience on a deeper level.

Tune in today to discover how you can transform your business with engaging and well-crafted video content.

How often do we focus on what we're selling rather than what our clients truly need? It's easy to get fixated on our products or services, but what can be gained from a more client-centric approach? 🤔

Join me on this week's episode of the Training Business podcast as I chat with Ivonne Kinser, a seasoned CEO and advisor, whose insights are bound to reshape your perspective on business strategy.

Ivonne is the Founder/CEO at Vantage Innovation Lab, a best-selling author, and a respected keynote speaker with a passion for helping organizations thrive.

🌟 Her journey is marked by a commitment to understanding client needs and crafting tailored solutions, making her a sought-after thought leader in her field. 👩‍💼

Tune in and you'll discover the following, PLUS MUCH MORE:

The Importance of Client-Centricity
The value of authenticity in standing out in a crowded market
How to leverage your personal strengths and values to carve a distinct identity to elevate your brand.

Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, or simply curious about the dynamics of client relationships, this episode will inspire and enlighten. 🌟

Tune in to the full episode today to uncover strategies for success. Learn how to navigate the complexities of business, and unlock the potential of authenticity in driving growth.

Imagine unlocking the collective wisdom of your organization to drive innovation, make informed decisions, and achieve unparalleled success. What if the key to success lies in building a business smarter than yourself?

My guest this week on the Training Business podcast is Jennifer Sundberg, a seasoned expert in consultancy. She is the Co-Chief Executive Board Intelligence and co-author of the book 'How to Build a Business That's Smarter Than You'.

In this episode Jennifer will explain the meaning behind the book title and reveal how to unlock collective intelligence in your business.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, PLUS MUCH MORE:

Practical methodologies for fostering critical thinking in your business
How to streamline communication channels within your business
Strategies to help you focus on what matters most in prioritizing tasks, making informed decisions, and driving success through strategic alignment with organizational goals

Cultivate your critical thinking, enhance your communication effectiveness, and master the art of prioritization and decision-making.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to gain a competitive edge in your consultancy practice. Tune in now and take your consultancy skills to the next level!

How do you captivate your audience, leave a lasting impression, and potentially transform your business through the power of keynote speaking?

In this weeks episode of the Training Business podcast I'm speaking with Maria Franzoni, the founder and chief mentor of Speaking Business Academy.

Maria is one of the most experienced speaker bookers in Europe and recognised as a speaking industry expert. She supports speakers (established and new) to turn their speaking into profitable businesses.

Maria set up Speaking Business Academy, driven by a passion to elevate industry standards and empower speakers worldwide.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, PLUS MUCH MORE:

🎤 How to monetize your speaking engagements effectively. From identifying your target audience to refining your message

🎤 The secrets behind crafting compelling narratives, delivering memorable messages, and leaving a lasting impression

🎤 Ways to stand out, attract high-paying clients, and build a successful speaking career

Tune in to discover the secrets of powerful keynotes. Unlock your path to speaking success! Your journey to becoming a captivating keynote speaker starts here.

Resilience, adaptability, and leadership skills are vital for anyone in the consultancy or coaching industry.

Today we'll be exploring how the principles of military discipline can be transformed into powerful tools for business success.

My guest this week is Garry Banford, a seasoned veteran with 22 years in the Special Forces. He's the founder and lead coach of Duratus, a consultancy firm named after the Latin word for 'endure.'

His journey from a high-pressure military environment to a successful business coach and mentor is nothing short of inspiring.

Garry's story is a testament to the power of endurance, adaptability, and the human spirit's resilience.

Tune in and you'll discover the following, plus MUCH MORE:

The two simple principles of leadership
The one skill most commonly found in Special Forces leaders which can be learned
Why debriefs and are massively under-utilised

Garry's story is not just inspiring; it's a blueprint for success in any high-stakes environment.

Tune in to discover how military precision can be the secret ingredient to your business and personal growth.

Listen today and subscribe to get more episodes like this

Are you starting to get that burnt out feeling or do you constantly feel the weight of burnout in your professional life? If you are desperately seeking a cure you're in for a treat on this week's episode of the Training Business Podcast.

My guest this week is, Emily Ballesteros, owner of Burnout Management. Emily is not only a master of Industrial Organisational Psychology but also a corporate training expert.

She holds a master's degree in Industrial Organisational Psychology and is also about to launch a book titled "The Cure for Burnout" on February 13, 2024.

So, in today's episode, Emily is going to share tips from her book on how to combat burnout. She'll also be drawing from her successful career as a trainer in overcoming Burnout her and media features in The Wall Street Journal and Fox News.

Let's uncover the keys to conquering burnout together.

In this episode, you'll discover the following:

Strategies to combat burnout
How to position yourself for success
The importance of setting boundaries

Ready to revolutionize your approach to burnout? Don't miss out on invaluable insights that will reshape your professional journey.

Tune in now and subscribe to get more episodes like this.

🪨 Have you been feeling like you are struggling to overcome challenges in your consultancy business? Well today we will be guiding you through the 10 common challenges faced by consulting firms, and how you can overcome them.

Do you have a defined niche for your business, or are you trying to be all things to all prospects?

This is just the beginning of a conversation that will uncover valuable insights into building a successful consulting business. 🔥

We'll cover the need for a clear engagement process, the power of setting clear pricing, and the impact of creating compelling case studies.

🧭 So, if you're looking to navigate the common challenges people with consulting firms face this episode is a must-listen. Let's make your business journey smoother and more successful.

Tune in and you'll discover the following:

🎓 The importance of defining a niche for your consulting business

🎓 Strategies for leveraging your natural network to tap into overlooked opportunities

🎓 How to drive business growth and credibility

Discover how to tackle common challenges head-on and propel your consulting business to new heights.

🎧 Subscribe now to the Training Business Podcast, and let's embark on this journey together. Your consulting business's success story awaits!

Success isn't a one-time event; it's a series of choices and actions. You've already succeeded every time you choose resilience over surrender.

So, challenge your mindset! Empower yourself to face life's challenges head-on in 2024.

Join me as I chat with renowned speaker, author, and thought leader, Paul McGee about the S.U.M.O philosophy. 🧠

Paul has a unique approach to personal development and is an expert in human behaviour and performance.

Often referred to as "The Sumo Guy", Paul is currently a visiting professor at the University of Chester in the UK.

He has authored 13 books on change, resilience and motivation, and collaborated with major clients such as Dyson, Manchester City Football Club, and Adidas. 📚

Today, we explore the pivotal moments that shaped Paul's trajectory from adversity to success. Follow in his footsteps and find success in moments where you feel like you have failed.

Tune in and you’ll learn the following, plus much more:

👊🏻 How you can manage setbacks in both your personal and professional life

👊🏻 Learn the importance of adapting and being flexible with your brand

👊🏻 Understand the significance of smart persistence and how to turn rejection into your opportunity for success

Don't miss out on the chance to gain valuable insights from Paul McGee's wealth of experience.

🔥 Tune in today. Discover how the S.U.M.O philosophy can transform your perspective and empower you to overcome challenges. Let's pave the way for personal and professional success.

Check out this week’s episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

In past episodes we've touched on the transformative impact of improvisation skills on personal and professional development. But why would someone in coaching, facilitation, or training need these skills? 🤔

Join me as I speak with Kiva Murphy, actress and founder of Barcelona Improv Group.

Kiva stumbled into the world of improv through unconventional paths. Her journey, from bringing humour to hospitals and circuses to founding Barcelona Improv Group, has been shaped by the idea of opening doors and letting light into unexpected places. 😂

Now, Kiva not only delivers improv but teaches individuals and businesses the art of spontaneity.

Tune in today and you'll discover the following, plus MUCH MORE:

🎭 How the essence of "Yes, And" can help you build on ideas

🎭 Ways improv can help you to handle unexpected situations

🎭 The power improv can have in boosting your confidence to navigate challenges

According to Kiva, improv is not just about entertainment; it offers crucial skills for the business world. It teaches individuals to embrace risks, fostering a culture of creativity and resilience. Whether it's team building, presentation skills, or navigating unexpected situations, the applications of improv in the corporate landscape are vast. 🎓

Gain insights into how improv can transform not just your professional skills but also your approach to challenges.

Don't miss out on the chance to explore the world of improv and unlock your untapped potential. Tune in now and discover the joy and empowerment that improv can bring to your personal and professional life.

🗺️ Goal-mapping can help you turn your dreams into reality and create a sustainable blueprint for success. But how do you create an effective one?

My guest this week is Brian Mayne, a man of remarkable resilience and innovation who helps businesses and individuals through his 7-Step Goal-mapping plan.

Mayne's background is as fascinating as it is inspiring. Coming from the oldest circus family in the UK, he grew up in a traveling funfair environment.

Despite leaving school at 13 with no formal education and facing the challenges of dyslexia, Mayne's journey took a transformative turn. 💪🏻

From the lows of financial hardship to mastering the art of positive thinking and goal setting, his life is a testament to the power of resilience and personal development.

Mayne’s approach offers practical strategies for both personal growth and professional development, especially for entrepreneurs and independent professionals.

Brian's story is not just inspiring; it offers practical tools and insights that can change the way you approach your goals and challenges.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

🏆 The science of positive thinking and its impact on achieving your success

🏆 The importance of setting realistic and achievable goals for yourself

🏆 The concept of goal-mapping—a unique technique combining visual and verbal elements to activate the whole of your brain in goal-setting

Discover how to harness the power of positive thinking and effective goal-setting to transform your dreams into reality. Tune in now to learn from a master in turning life's obstacles into stepping stones for success. 🪜

Check out this week's episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Have you ever wondered how high-pressure experiences can transform into invaluable life lessons? How do you embody the resilient meaning of adapting to life's challenges and turning them into opportunities for growth and self-discovery?

This week I'm speaking with Sarah Furness, a former Royal Air Force officer turned mindfulness coach and professional speaker.

Sarah's remarkable journey is not just about her transition from military life; it's a story of how she harnessed her unique experiences to carve out a new path in the world of business and personal development.

This episode delves into the unique transition from the battlefield to the boardroom, exploring how resilience, adaptability, and mindfulness can redefine your professional journey.

Tune in and you'll discover the following, plus MUCH MORE:

The power of storytelling to connect with your audience
Insights into developing your resilience and maintaining composure in high-pressure situations.
How mindfulness is a career catalyst.

If you're looking for inspiration on how to pivot your career path or incorporate mindfulness into your professional life then tune in to discover how you can apply these lessons to your journey.

Check out this week's episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Ever wondered how your personal finances impact your business as a self-employed consultant or trainer? Do you ever dream of financial freedom? Well, maybe that dream isn't so far out of reach!

In our latest episode of the Training Business Podcast, Xaviar Gray, founder of Tech and Flow Ventures, sheds light on the often-overlooked connection between personal finances and business success.

Xavier's journey started with a simple question: "What does it take to achieve the financial freedom enjoyed by those seemingly successful entrepreneurs?"

His insights are invaluable for anyone in a similar position.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

Why treating your business as a replicatable model with store-of-value elements is crucial for long-term success.
Why investing in yourself is just the beginning.
The significance of building something beyond your own expertise that adds value to your business and can be sold or licensed.

Ready to take control of your financial future?

Don't miss out on the knowledge that can transform your approach to money, business, and long-term success!

Check out this week's episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one

💭 What if strategy solutions could instead be clear, simple, bold, and even actually useful?

If you know the unique value you bring. How to articulate it. And have the confidence to attack it in a way that captures the imagination then you'll leave your competitors in the dust.

My guest this week is Alex M H Smith, Founder of Basic Arts which helps businesses realise total strategic clarity.

Alex is a published author of 'The No BullSh*t Strategy' and has spoken on the Ted X stage.

📚 In 2015, he founded Basic Arts to help founders and CEOs get clear on their strategy and then execute it effortlessly across their whole business.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

🐂 The importance of strategy for Small Businesses

🐂 Top of the funnel strategy solutions you can use to gain more clients

🐂 Reasons you need a Diverse Value Curve

Everybody should be able to look at your website, at you, your offering, your business, and if you ask them, what do you think my strategy is? They should actually be able to give you a pretty accurate summary of it, purely by observing you.

So get ready to see your business in a totally new light, and effortlessly unlock insights you didn’t know you had in you.

🎓 Tune in now and subscribe to get updates on future episodes.

Using games and acting in your training can create a safe space to help clients become more resilient and confidently tackle obstacles in their work. However, there is a fine line to getting the balance right in training sessions.

My guest this week on the Training Business podcast is Dr Audrey Tang.

Dr Audrey Tang is a Chartered Psychologist (British Psychological Society), and award-winning business author with a focus on practical tools for wellbeing.

She hosts podcast 'Retrain Your Brain for Success', and The Wellbeing Lounge on NLiveRadio (2nd place/Silver "Female Presenter of the Year 2022 & 2023 in the Community Radio Awards).

Audrey offers expert comment as a psychologist spokesperson both academically and through TV, Radio and published media in the fields of mindfulness, resilience, leadership and wellbeing.

As well as her workshops and coaching practice, she is a long-time advocate for boosting mental and emotional fitness within her community through CLICK Arts Foundation. The foundation offers opportunities to build confidence, boost self-value and learn new skills through shows and performing arts driven events.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

The importance of building resilience in business
How to use games and actors correctly in training
How escape games can be useful in training

Tune in and subscribe to get more episodes like this one.

🤗 What is neurodivergence strength? Well, by embracing neurodiversity you can unlock hidden talent, improve retention and creativity, and appreciate different perspectives.

This week I'm chatting with Jess Meredith, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Differing Minds.

Jess works with Organisations, Education Settings, and Individuals to kickstart or accelerate neuro-inclusion strategies through engaging and effective training and consulting. 🧠

She is passionate about creating neuro-inclusive environments and is proud to have ADHD herself.

Jess knows first-hand what it is like to be neurodivergent and what strengths that can yield. And if you think neurodiversity doesn’t impact you, Jess is here to tell you, it does ‼️

Roughly 1 in 5 of us are in the neurominority so it’s all of our responsibilities to understand it and support others.

👉 Tune in today and you'll learn the following, plus MUCH MORE:

🧠 Why your cognitive diversity is a wonderful thing

🧠 The incredible strengths of ADHDers.

🧠 How you can change mindsets and help to create neuro-inclusive workplaces and societies

👂 Listen to the full episode today to discover why accepting different perspectives can make successful businesses and thriving societies. 🤝

If you want to gain access to high performance tools and tactics to achieve peak performance in your business read on.

My guest this week on the Training Business podcast is Terry Rice.

Terry is a Performance Coach & Business Development Consultant at Terry Rice Coaching & Consulting. He is also a Contributor & Podcast Host at Entrepreneur Media, an Advisor & Expert-in-Residence at SPI Media, and a highly regarded LinkedIn Learning Instructor in Entrepreneurship.

🏆 He is also an instructor at New York University, speaks at business development events on behalf of big companies such as Amazon and Google, and has been featured as a subject matter expert by Good Morning America, Fast Company and the Wall Street Journal.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more from Terry's High Performance Playbook:

How you can create your personal philosophy
The importance of committing to a high performance schedule
Exploring the power of using the "what if" technique in your business

If you want to learn from a professional entrepreneur coach and learn powerful techniques to help you grow your business then you won't want to miss this episode. 💪

Tune in today and subscribe to get updates on future episodes.

Have you ever noticed that some people seem to effortlessly overcome challenges and achieve remarkable success while other people remain stuck in the same spot? 🤷🏻

In today's episode of the Training Business podcast, we'll explore the barriers you create for yourself when you look at situations with a fixed mindset.

💥 I'll also be explaining the benefits you'll see when you start looking at things from a growth mindset perspective and how this mindset can improve your business prospects.

👉 Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

🧠 How your mindset impacts your business success

🧠 Ways to embrace challenges and develop a growth mindset

🧠 How to change your mindset and perspectives for the better

If you want your business to thrive and to learn how to turn perceived negatives into positive learning outcomes then tune in! 👈

🎧 Check out this week's episode now and subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

💭 Have you ever dreamed of becoming a motivational speaker on stage, want to learn how to land paid keynote speaker spots or share your knowledge and become a published author?

My guest this week is Jess Ekstrom, Founder of Founder of Mic Drop Workshop, Headbands of Hope and Board Member of District C.

🏆 Jess is a Forbes Top Rated speaker with past clients like Zappos, Priceline, Netflix, Canva, Edward Jones, Magnolia, Under Armour, Newell Brands, Leadercast Live, SAS, Harvard, TEDx, and more.

In 2018, she founded Mic Drop Workshop, a company with the mission of empowering more women to share their message as public speakers and authors.

Jess is a 2x bestselling author of Chasing the Bright Side and Create Your Bright Ideas and has been featured on the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, Vanity Fair, and Forbes. 📚

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

📣 Methods to change your mindset around speaking

📣 Tips to make you an impactful speaker

📣 How to launch your speaking career

If you want to enhance your training/consulting business further and become known as a knowledgeable speaker or author on your niche, then this is the episode for you.

🎓 Tune in now and subscribe to get updates on future episodes

🎲 By infusing games in training and development you can turn dry, monotonous content into an immersive adventure, making learning exciting and memorable.

Games captivate and motivate like no other medium. They tap into our intrinsic human desire for competition, challenge, and achievement.

My guest this week is Tamara Eberle, Founder & Managing Partner of Traction Strategy / Traction Toolbox.

🎮 Traction Strategy is an award-winning facilitation and training company specializing in strategy, process improvement, innovation, creative problem-solving, and change.

They have a dedicated team of senior professionals who design and lead collaborative, productive and engaging events, group facilitation, training and organizational games.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

♦️ Understanding what is a game and what is not a game

♦️The key elements of game design and how to get started

♦️Reasons to use games in facilitation and training

Ready to learn more about how games in training and development can boost learning?

Tune in now and subscribe to get updates on future episodes!

🎮 By using games to teach skills and methods in your training sessions you can transform the effectiveness of your workshops and make your training/consulting business stand out from the crowd.

My guest this week is Mark Young, Owner of Rational Games, Inc.

🎲 Rational Games is a Training and consulting company that offers innovative approaches to teaching negotiation, leadership, and other topics through the power of play, inspiring a more cooperative and enjoyable learning experience.

The company also pride themselves on being a non-profit that make small grants to organisations who make creative use of games and play to resolve conflict. 🤗

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

🤯 Methods to create a more positive and interactive learning environment for your clients

🤯How to get the balance right between seriousness and fun in training and coaching

🤯The importance of developing effective methods to measure the success and impact of your training programs

Are you ready to explore how using games to teach client’s has the potential to revolutionise your training process? 🎯

Check out this week's episode today and subscribe to get more episodes like this.

If you've ever wondered about how to use quiz funnel marketing in your business then this episode is for you!💥

Quiz funnels can be a fun way to gain more insight into your customer's wants and needs, attract warm leads and increase your sales🔥

My guest this week is Leigh Simons, Customer Success Manager from ScoreApp.

🥅 ScoreApp helps you to generate higher quality, higher converting leads by making quiz funnel marketing easy and providing insightful data to help you increase your sales.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

☑️ How to leverage quizzes for Lead Generation

☑️ How to optimise quiz promotion for Maximum Reach

☑️ Ways to convert quiz data into Actionable Insights

Do you want more leads, more data and more sales?

🎙️ Then check out this week's episode today and subscribe to get more episodes like this.

Thought leadership isn't just about sharing your opinions; it's a strategic blend of expertise, credibility, and the ability to inspire and influence others.

❓ So what does it take to become a successful and highly regarded thought leader in today's fast-paced world of information and ideas?

My guest this week is Scott Jeffery Miller, a seasoned thought leader, highly sought-after speaker, Wall Street Journal bestselling author, and co-founder of talent agency Grey and Miller.

💥 Join us as we journey from Scott's early career at Disney to becoming a thought leader in leadership development. Learn about the significance of finding your niche, building a strong work ethic, and consistently creating content to establish a thought leadership brand.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

🤔 The importance of targeting a specific audience with a unique point of view

🤔 How to build a successful thought leadership brand

🤔 Ways to monetize your thought leadership through various income streams

Ready to learn valuable strategies so you can embark on your own path to thought leadership?

🎙️ Then check out this week's episode today and subscribe to get more episodes like this.

Josh Miller has over 350K followers on LinkedIn. He worked his way up to VP in an advertising company. But a chance meeting made him realise his destiny was executive coaching.

Josh works with executive leaders of existing and emerging Fortune 500 companies. He has since developed the 6th most popular course on LinkedIn Learning in 2022. He has also been a TEDx Speaker and contributed to quality publications like Forbes.

Josh feels that his success can be attributed to the quality of his network. Here is some of his advice to help you build your coaching business:

The first place to always begin is within your network, professional or personal. There are usually people in your lives who are willing to support you. Then can help you get to that next level in your business.

I leveraged my connections and relationships from the corporate world. Was it easy? No. It took persistence but my network really helped. And here's how I did it.

Check out the rest of this week's episode to learn more!

Key Takeaways

What convinced Josh to become a coach
How Josh got his first paying coaching clients
How successful was Josh's first LinkedIn course
What Josh believes will make you successful
Where you can get the best quality exposure for your brand
What Josh does to drive his personal brand marketing

www.joshhmiller.com

What does the British Army have to do with how to develop programs for your consulting business?

👉 My guest this week is Mike Jones, Founder & Director of LBI Consulting

Mike is a seasoned leader, organisational psychologist, and systems thinker. He is adept at navigating the intricacies and unpredictability of contemporary organisations by developing foresight, strategy, and alignment.

🪖 Interestingly, Mike's leadership journey is rooted in his extensive service in the British Army, where he led troops in challenging and hostile environments.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

🎖️ How Mike's Army experience helps him develop leadership programs

🎖️ The way to lead through complexity

🎖️ Methods you can use to help navigate complexity for your clients

Are you ready to transform your strategic challenges into opportunities?

🎙️ Check out this week's episode today and subscribe to get more episodes like this.

🧠 How does an expert facilitator benefit from developing a crisis management background?

👉 This is something my guest, Thomas Lahnthaler, Owner and Master Facilitator at Thomas Lahnthaler AS has built a business around.

Thomas is also an Author, TEDx-Speaker, Founding Member of The Octopus Movement and Advisory Board Member at Never Done Before.

As an experienced facilitator with a global perspective, Thomas' main skill is creating solutions and learning spaces that focus on people and help them learn and grow. ⚡️

💡 Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

🤯 The importance of play in training and facilitation

🤯 The reason you should have a balanced approach in training

🤯 The positive effects of disruption in learning processes

Check out this week's episode now and subscribe to get more episodes like this. 👈

Today we're going to unravel a topic that's close to home for many in the consulting and learning & development sectors.

Yes, we're talking about the kinds of challenging clients who cost you in more ways than one. Not just financially.

You have worked with some great people. Maybe you have some fantastic clients who pay on time, contribute great ideas, and are easy to work with you. But maybe you have some clients you wish you didn't have. Clients who criticise your work. Clients who seem to be unable to make up their mind. Clients who question your fees and indirectly your worth.

We're breaking down 5 specific types of difficult clients who each have their unique set of challenges and solutions. Then, we're going to give you some tips and ideas to fix things.

Key Takeaways

Why You Need Deadlines for Procrastinators
How You Can Stand Firm with Budget Pinchers
Agreements You Must Have for Late Payers
Setting Boundaries You Need with Mood Drainers
When You Should Set Deadlines for your clients
Tailoring Solutions You'll Need for Difficult Clients
How You Can Safeguard Your Time and Well-being

Once you understand cognitive learning it can revolutionise how you deliver your training.

This is something my guest, Janell Blunt, Associate Professor at Anderson University knows all about.

Dr. Janell R. Blunt is a cognitive scientist with over 10 years of experience conducting research on how people learn. Her work has been published in top academic journals, including Science, and has been featured in the New York Times ❗️

🚀 Her workshops and keynote addresses focus on how to boost your learning whether at school, work or play.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

🌟 Where most training providers go wrong with learning.

🌟 The evidence based strategies to learn better

🌟 Why you should use a combination of learning modalities

Are you ready for some wisdom and leadership insights

Check out this week's episode now and subscribe to get more episodes like this.

Have you heard of Butter? Not the kind you spread on bread...this Butter is a fantastic facilitation tool that enhances your virtual training and makes your training fun, engaging, and memorable.

💥 Want to know more how you can make your training stand out of the crowd and really engage with your clients?

💥 My guest this week is Cheska Teresa, Chief Growth Officer at Butter.

💡 In this episode Cheska shares the functionality or Butter's software and how it can be used to facilitate better learning experiences.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

🧈 Butter's story: How Butter started and what problems they're trying to solve

🧈 Why facilitation is a skill of the future

🧈 How to make virtual training more fun and engaging

Check out this week's episode and subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

🌟 Looking for some serious learning insights into how to craft impactful coaching programs and forge strong corporate partnerships? Then you'll want to join me for an enlightening episode with Alessandra Wall, founder of Noteworthy. Discover how Alessandra's strategic vision shapes the future of Noteworthy and how personal passion drives the business forward! Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more: * What to gap is between what the market needs and what it thinks it needs * The art of curating content and simplifying training programs for actionable results * The power of building social capital and nurturing relationships for long-term success

Are you ready for some wisdom and leadership insights! 💡 Check out this week's episode now and subscribe to get more episodes like this one! 👈

Ever wondered how to make sure you're catering for all learning types so ALL attendees get the best out of your training courses?

My guest this week is Samantha Calamari, Senior Learning Experience Designer, Inclusion at Microsoft.

In this episode Samantha shares her experience in and thoughts on the benefits of inclusive learning design.

Tune in and you'll learn the following, plus much more:

Why you need to include your learners at the beginning of the design process
The reason you need to know all your learners layers
What you can achieve by applying the 4 Pillars of ILD

Check out this week's episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Do you offer guarantees to your clients?

Imagine boosting trust, credibility, and standing out from your competitors - just by offering a guarantee.

Offering guarantees is one way of giving your clients the feeling that you’re willing to stand over results.

In this week's episode, we're diving headfirst into the world of guarantees and why they're a must-have in your business arsenal.

Get ready to take notes, because we'll cover the following and MORE:

🔎 How guarantees build trust and credibility, making potential clients flock to your expertise like bees to honey.

🏆 The secret sauce to differentiate yourself from the crowd and become the go-to choice in a competitive market.

💡 Reducing client risk – the ultimate key to unlock doors and have clients confidently invest in your consulting services.

What will you achieve when you're offering irresistible guarantees to your clients?

What were the first 18 months like for you when you started your business? How did you know which area to specialise in? Which courses did you decide to create?

How did you decide to market yourself? Via which channels and who was your ideal buyer? These are some of the many questions you might ask yourself when you become a self-employed consultant, trainer, coach.

And this week’s guest Martin John spent years in procurement before deciding to become a freelance trainer and figure out some of the answers to questions like these.

Martin is based in the UK and delivers training in topics like negotiation. He is a LinkedIn Learning Instructor and is in the process of qualifying as a Cialdini Certified Coach [LINK].

Takeaways:

How Martin became a LinkedIn Learning Instructor

What made Martin decide to go freelance and work for himself

Which things you can do to get clients to buy from you

How he decides which clients to work with

What have been some of the highs and lows working freelance

Where Martin expects to be in 18 months with his business

Resources:

Martin Johns’s website https://www.martinjohn-training.com/

Cialdini Certified Coach: https://www.influenceatwork.com/upcoming/

Martin John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-john-0a53262/

We have all heard claims that ‘email is dead’ or that social media marketing is the only way to go. It’s just not true.

Email marketing still is an extremely useful way to get your message directly to your prospective buyers or clients.

If you’re a consultant or a business owner, selling training and coaching, you really want to use something like email to get people interested in what you have to offer

In this weeks episode, I’m going to give you 10 tips to help you get more sales from using email properly.

Let’s go!

My top three marketing assets are my book, my podcast and my keynotes, which always get me some kind of lead on stage.

The next three would be my LinkedIn profile, my videos and my newsletter.

Anything which raises the profile of your brand and contribute to that brand awareness and profitability is a marketing asset.

So which marketing assets do you have right now? Which marketing assets do you need to create and how will you measure their effectiveness?

In this weeks episode I’m going to give you some ideas for marketing assets that you need to be able to market yourself successfully and grow your client base.

Let’s dive in!

👉 Today, I’m helping you plan the rest of your training business year for 2023.

💥 We’re at the half-way point of 2023, so it’s a great time to think of where you are with your business goals.

Now is a great time in the summer months to revisit your plans so you hit your targets for 2023! 🌞

✒️ Maybe you’re thinking of writing a book or creating a new course?

✒️ Maybe you want to create content for new articles or start a newsletter?

✒️ Maybe you want to book some keynotes so you can get on stage as a speaker?

Grab a pen and paper and get ready to make some notes. We’re going to cover a lot of ground this week❗️

What are the 7 profit pitfalls that are real killers for your consultancy business?

Today, we'll explore key talking points like over-reliance on a single client, neglecting recurring expenses, mispricing services, inefficient client acquisition, scope creep without compensation, inefficient financial management, and the avalanche of taxes.

Listen to the full episode to gain valuable insight into the profit pitfalls that could be impacting the success of your consulting or training business.

By the end of this episode, you'll walk away with a deep understanding of these seven deadly sins and the tools to safeguard your earnings as a self-employed consultant or business owner. So buckle up, take notes, and get ready for an eye-opening discussion.

Let's dive into the world of self-employed success and conquer the seven deadly sins that can wipe out your earnings as a Self-Employed Consultant.

What is the World Café method? And how could you use the World Café process with your clients?

Have you ever felt that traditional workshops sometimes lack the dynamic, free flowing exchange of ideas, and that they limit the capacity to think creatively and collaboratively?

With the World Café methodology, you can encourage free flowing ideas and improve client relationships.

These informal conversational sessions help your audience to cross pollinate ideas and build on each other's thoughts, unlocking their creativity and collaboration.

So, today I’m going to explain the World Café method, tell you how you can create your own World Café workshop, and detail the power of the World Café method.

What's a workbook and why would you want to create one?

Many course creators know that people want a step-by-sep process to put learning into effect.

A course workbook is an opportunity to provide your clients with a branded asset that reminds them of the value that you provide.

There are of course cost and time considerations involved. It's worth doing none that doing it poorly. I've seen excellent workbooks and I still refer to them.

So today, I'm going to give you pros and cons for creating a workbook for your audience.

Listen to this week's episode now!

James Schramko is the business coach to many coaching business owners.

People who have built their own courses and 8-figure online businesses trust James to help build their expert brand.

But building your own consultancy or expert brand is not about finding ways to spend more time in your business.

It’s quite the opposite. James helps people primarily to make time away from their businessso they can maximise quality of life.

James says that ’it’s all about figuring out your 64: 4.”

“80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. But 64% ( almost 2/3) of what we achieve comes from a mere 4%.”

So what is that 4% for you?

How does outsourcing make it possible?

What happens to your life when you succeed?

Listen to James Schramko today.

Subscribe to the TrainingBusiness podcast today!

🤔 How can you use ARR or MMR with a membership model to help monetize your business?

ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) or MMR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) is basically a recurring revenue stream where someone is paying for access to a product or service you provide. 😃

⭐️ My guest this week, Robbie Kellman Baxter, is the Founder, Peninsula Strategies and author of 'The Forever Transaction'.

Today Rachel and I will be talking about the value of a subscription or membership model to create a regular revenue income stream for your business,

👇 In this week’s episode you’ll learn the following, and more:

💲What is the value of using ARR or MRR

💲How to create a membership model

💲Ways to monetizing yourself, your services or your products

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one! Visit trainingbusiness.com ⬅️

When building your coaching workshops how can you ensure they are going to really engage the audience? 🤨

How do you know if your audience are going to be WOWED or sit there in stony silence with stifled yawns?

My guest this week, Rachel Davis, is the Founder and a Workshop Creator + Facilitator at Your True Tribes.

Rachel is a workshop experience designer and facilitator with over 18 years' experience across design thinking, brand and creative strategy, workshop creation, and facilitation.

She loves to bring joy and energy to workshops and helps businesses and individuals to figure out how to infuse creativity in workshop sessions and hone their facilitation skills. ☺️

👇

In this week’s episode you’ll learn the following, and more:

🥳 How to inject fun and excitement into workshops

️🥳 The difference between outcomes and deliverables

️🥳 Which tools to use to create great workshops

➡️ Fun coaching workshops equal more engagement!

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one! Visit the trainingbusiness website.

When you want to get your priority one value tasks done, what barriers do you face? 🤨

Time, procrastination, lack of organisation and overwhelm are just a few things that might be holding you back. So how can you prioritise effectively and get the things that need doing, done?

📝 Grab a pen and paper, because this week I'm going to give you a few simple tips and tricks so you can get your highest priority one value tasks done.

👇

Get ready to learn the following, and more:

🤔 Ways you can prioritise using value scores

🤔 How to maintain your goals

🤔 Figure out how your time is actually spent

➡️ Priorities change, but when you’re always focusing on the right activities you will achieve more to help your business thrive!

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one! Visit the trainingbusiness website.

What is the value for relationship building using Transactional Analysis? 🤨

And when it comes to Transactional Analysis in business, what do we actually mean? 🤔

My guest this week, Clive Vanderwagen, is the Director of ReadyPeople . He is also a well-regarded speaker, team dynamics facilitator, trainer, and coach.

ReadyPeople works with people to be better in their interactions with other people (especially in businesses), to challenge mindsets, and to set intentions in people's careers and personal life. 🎉

👇

In this week’s episode you’ll learn the following, and more:

🤝 How TA can help you with relationships

🤝 Where you can use transactional analysis in coaching and training

🤝 How you can certify in Transactional Analysis

➡️ Transactional Analysis is the key in creating value for relationship building!

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Lead generation is vitally important to ensure that you have a consistent stream of high-paying clients who like what you do and are willing to pay you to help them!This week we’re going to give you seven key things to generate leads for your business.Maybe you know these things or are already doing these things. Here they are: * Specialize in a specific niche * Develop a strong online presence * Offer free workshops or webinars * Network at industry events and conferences * Leverage existing client relationships for referrals * Collaborate with other professionals or companies in related fields * Create and share valuable content, such as articles, books (me) case studies, or blog posts

The good news is that we have podcast guests talking about all of these topics in previous episodes of the showCheck out this week’s episode now

If you don’t communicate effectively then your leads aren’t going to convert to clients and you won’t win business contracts.

So how can you ensure you are communicating your message as clearly as possible?

My guest this week, Jessica Chen, is the CEO of Soulcast Media. Her company provides leadership communication workshops to elevate people's speaking, improve productivity, collaboration and teach people how to communicate effectivley.

Jessica is an Emmy Award winner, highly requested keynote speaker and has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, Entrepreneur and Market Watch.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn the following, and more:

How to find your true voice

Ways to get work with big corporates using content

Why quizzes can get people into your sales funnel

With the right marketing in place and the knowledge on how to communicate effectively you will see more conversions and growth than you ever have before!

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Entrepreneurs that are successful know that the greater you are, the greater the business can be.

If you want to have a thriving business, you have to take charge of its process. And this is something my guest this week, Rachelle Leerling, knows all about.

Rachelle’s business, GrowTribute, helps ambitious entrepreneurs get in the fast lane to business success and personal happiness.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn the following, and more:

How your business can thrive while you thrive too
Understanding your boundaries and setting healthy habits
The three pillars that will make you a radically successful entrepreneur

Once you take charge, everything around you starts to change for the better, imagine the places you could take your business then!

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

What Keynote speaking opportunities are out there and how can you start getting paid to speak?

If you’re not sure where to start, my guest this week is Grant Baldwin who is the Founder and CEO of The Speaker Lab.

The Speaker Lab helps aspiring speakers get consistently booked and paid to speak through their SPEAK Framework™

In this week’s episode you’ll learn the following and more:

What the ingredients of a great keynote are
Which organisations hire keynote speakers
How much money you can make as a keynote speaker

What opportunities could open up for you if you started keynote speaking?

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

When coaching do you take into the consideration the cognitive diversity of diverse staffing levels?

How do you include people who may have different thoughts and learning processes to yourself?

My guest this week is Ann Herrmann Nehdi Chair of the Board and Chief Thought Leader at Herrmann.

Ann is passionate about helping thinkers, teams and organizations get better results and performance through better thinking and learning.

As an author, thought leader, keynoter and researcher, her work is specialized on the practical application of neuroscience, learning and ongoing research using her company’s HBDI database of 3 million thinkers from around the globe.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn the following and more:

What the whole brain approach means and how to apply it
The importance of cognitive diversity in the workforce
How and why you need to apply neuroscience to leadership

What more could your coaching bring when you consider cognitive diversity?

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Do your use LinkedIn in your business? As a professional coach/trainer you really need to be on LinkedIn, but how can you use the platform to work in your best interests?

My guest this week is James Potter, also known as 'The LinkedIn Man'. 👇

James is an expert at helping business owners achieve success on LinkedIn.

He helps people to come across well on LinkedIn in being able to demonstrate their expertise, stand out from the crowd, and learn how to use the platform to get more clients.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn the following and more ⬇️:

🔗How does LinkedIn really work

🔗Should you pay for it's extra services

🔗What you should be posting to get results

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one! Visit trainingbusiness.com 🙂

A headshot photographer isn't just a necessity for actors anymore. If people can search for you online, it’s time to start thinking about a headshot.

My guest this week is Ivan Weiss who is a well know professional headshot photographer in London and Director of IvanWeiss.London LTD

His work has been featured in high profile publications such Canon UK, Affinity Photo, Vogue, BBC, and Forbes, among others.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn the following and more:

How to use images to humanise your brand
What key things to look for when you are working with a photographer
Why how you present yourself can make of break a lead

Is it time you invested in better photos and a headshot photographer?

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Does landing big, dream clients seem like a pipe dream? How do others do it and what business development channels do successful consultants use?

Dr Beverly (Bev) Kaye is the world’s top speaker in the areas of career development and engagement according to Marshall Goldsmith.

She has been given multiple awards by the ATD (American Association of Talent Development) for her work spanning 4 decades in learning and development.

Today is your chance to learn how Bev has built a business helping brands such as BOSE, Boston Scientific and Pfizer with employee development, engagement and retention.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

How writing books can help your brand

Why you need to use Sticky Keynotes

Ways lightening consults can help your prospects

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

The similarities between ADD vs ADHD mean that as a coach/facilitator, you face a number of extra challenges on a daily basis, but...

Neurodiversity isn't a weakness, it's actually your superpower! With some small changes and a different mindset, these can be easily overcome.

My guest, David Citron, Founder of Expresso Coaching helps business owners and people from all stages of their life with ADD and ADHD to perform to their fullest potential and realise their strengths.

Expresso Coaching has helped over 900 life and business coaching clients across 15 years including 250 company directors. David is also a published author and his book The Winning Mode is internationally acclaimed.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

How hyperfocus helps you to achieve

How you can help coaching clients to get things done

Ways to prioritise the right thing to do in your business

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Are you looking to grow awareness of brand through media exposure and increase your brand recognition?

My guest, Melody Wilding, is an Executive Coach and Leadership Coach, and owner of her own business helping CEOs, C-level executives, and managers at top Fortune 500 companies.

Melody is the best-selling author of Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work. She has been named one of Business Insider’s Most Innovative Coaches for her groundbreaking work on “Sensitive Strivers”. She has worked with some big names including Google, Amazon, and JP Morgan, and has been featured in The New York Times, Business Insider, Wall Street Journaland Forbes.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

What HARO is and how to use it to grow your business
How to overcome impostor syndrome
How to connect with journalists and grow your PR exposure through awareness of brand

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work

Have you ever heard of lumpy mail? It’s actually a really simple, valuable, and effective lead generating business method. Want to find out how it can work for you?

In this episode I’ll tell you what Lumpy mail is and how to use it correctly to your advantage.

Today’s tip is directly from me, Mark, your training business podcast host.

If you don’t know much about me, I’m a self-employed trainer and coach. I work with technology and SaaS businesses as a remote/virtual sales trainer and inside sales coach. I’m also a published author and my first book, Sales Coaching Essentials, was published in May 2022.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

How to generate more revenue and build successful relationships
How you can stand out from the competition
How to can create value and a lasting positive impression

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one. Or visit trainingbusiness.com!

Is your subconscious secretly sabotaging your business? My guest this week explains how goals are achieved through successful habits and thought processes.

My guest, Jon Finn, is the Director and Founder of Tougher Minds.

Tougher Minds uses science based training to reduce stress, procrastination, worrying, and self-doubt and improve brain performance, motivation, and productivity.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

How you can build and sustain helpful habits

Understanding your habit mechanic

The psychology behind your thought processes

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

It seems obvious, right? But as my guest this week knows, not a lot of leaders know how to show appreciation of employees, and his training on this seemingly simple idea has grown into big business.

My guest this week is Christopher Littlefield, founder of Beyond Thank You.

Chris’s company trains leaders across the world in how to create cultures where people feel valued every day.

Chis is an international keynote and TEDx speaker, author and has been featured in the Harvard Business Review.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

Practical insight into Chris’s framework

How to establish yourself in a loud market

Methods to creating a business that supports your life values

Plus so much more in this value packed episode.

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

As a trainer do you want to be able to communicate at a deeper level with the team you are coaching?

My guest this week is Kate Cranshaw, owner and founder of Serious Woo.

Kate’s company helps leaders and teams to develop new skills and learn new techniques though training programmes using corporate actors.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

Why approaching facilitation practically gives better results
The value of applied improvisation
What you can get out of celebrating failure

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one.

The rise to being a truly successful entrepreneur is like a cocktail. Do you want to know recipe to land dream clients, appear in top-tier media and more?

Today’s tip comes from Karin Hurt and David Dye, CEO and President of Let's Grow Leaders.

Karin and David use practical tools and leadership development programs to help leaders find clarity in uncertainty, drive innovation, and achieve breakthrough results.

They are the award-winning authors of five books and have appeared in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and Forbes.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

3 tips to achieve greater success
Ways to make an impact to grab bigger, dream clients
How to use and give powerful keynotes to rile up your audience

Plus lots more on how this power duo scaled their business to the success it is today.

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one.

A sales process is the recipe to success to get leads and make an income. When was the last time you reviewed your process and evaluated your opportunity to make more money?

The start of a new year is a great time to take stock of how you sell, market yourself, generate your leads and manage your sales funnel.

Today’s tip is directly from me, your training business podcast host.

I’m going to tell you:

Why you need a sales process
How you can review generate more revenue
Ways to target higher paying clients

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

Ways to create a clear and manageable sales process
How to designing a great sales process that works for you
Why you need to keep your sales process simple

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one! Visit trainingbusiness.com

Media training can take you and your business to the next level. Making you visible to a wider audience and opening up new opportunities. So, how do you tap into this and become the interview that major media brands want to schedule?

Joanne McCall is a Media Publicist, Trainer, Book Publicity Expert, and former broadcaster.

Today she is going to tell you how she trains business owners to become, what she calls, 'Media Darlings', and the steps you can take to become more media savvy and get your name to reach a wider audience.

Joanne is a media insider and a veteran publicist who operates on a first-name basis with hundreds of top-tier producers, editors, and writers at such outlets as USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Investment Business Daily, The View, Today, The Huffington Post, Yahoo, and many others.

She trains entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants who want to expand their visibility on how to attract media attention and deliver fantastic interviews.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

Ways you can get noticed in all the social media noise
Why the 3 buckets of media are essential
Tips on how you can become a 'Media Darling'

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

You have a good relationship with customers, but could you be using more powerful, everyday opportunities to persuade them to buy and engage with you more?

Brian Ahearn is the Chief Influence Officer at Influence PEOPLE.

Today he is going to tell you how you can make positive influences on your clients and turn things around in your favour to make more money and build a better relationship with customers.

Brian specializes in applying the science of influence in everyday situations. He’s one of only a dozen individuals in the world who holds the Cialdini Method Certified Trainer designation.

His first book, Influence PEOPLE, was named one of the Top 100 Influence Books of All Time by BookAuthority and his second book, Persuasive Selling, was an Amazon new release bestseller.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

Positive ways to deal with objections
How to close more deals
How to build a better relationship with customers

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Do you really know what critical thinking is? How can you apply it to your business and what barriers to critical thinking might you come across?

Becki Saltzman is the Founder and Chief Curiosity Seeker at Applied Curiosity Lab and the host of the Good Thinking Show.

Today she is going to tell you what some of the barriers to critical thinking are and how you can overcome them.

Becki is an international speaker and best-selling author/content creator/online learning instructor (LinkedIn Learning). She has helped organizations around-the-globe and millions of leaders turn the art and science of applied curiosity and critical thinking into optimized decision-making.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

How you can avoid the most dangerous critical-thinking killers
How you can use a referee to know when to trust your intuition
Ways to develop your intellectual courage

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Not all keynote speakers do a good job of using their skills to generate more leads, so how can you make sure you do?

Diana Chan is a dynamic professional Speaker, Trainer, and Executive Career Coach at My Marketability.

Today she is going to tell you why you need to consider your personal branding in all aspects of your business and how this can help keynote speakers generate more leads.

Diana is a personal branding, communications, and networking expert, where she’s known for differentiating your personal brand, building strong relationships, and communicating with confidence.

Diana's mission is to empower you to own your greatness with the confidence to shine and thrive in your career.

She’s been recognized as LinkedIn's Top Voice in 2022 for Careers & Job Search and the Top Career & Job Search Expert to follow on LinkedIn in 2019 & 2020. She’s been featured in Forbes, LinkedIn, HuffPost, JobScan, Globe & Mail, and many podcasts.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

How to really know your audience

Ways to differentiate your unique value

How to establish your authority and credibility

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Do you dream of setting up your own consulting firm, but aren't sure where to start??

Today Andy Cope tells you how he left his career in academia and set up his now successful training business .

Andy is a sought-after keynote speaker and authority on employee engagement, wellbeing and human flourishing. He’s done numerous TV and radio appearances as well as being featured in The Telegraph, Daily Mail and Esquire.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

Why you should never chase the money.
How to get people talking and recommending you.
Why taking care of yourself will pay dividends

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

How does your team manage their time? Are they really productive??

Today Dave Crenshaw gives you insight into the time management strategies he uses in his training.

Dave is the master of building productive leaders and has appeared in Time magazine, USA Today, FastCompany, and the BBC News.

He is the founder and CEO of Invaluable Inc., a coaching and training corporation promoting productive leadership. He is also a published author and his most popular book is The Myth of Multitasking—a time management bestseller.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

Why your calendar should be your to-do list
Where you should focus for optimal productivity
How you can have more productive conversations

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Today Alexia Vernon tells you how she developed her own certification programme and why they are beneficial for businesses.

Alexia is a transformational speaking and women’s leadership expert, coach and author of the award-winning book Step into Your Moxie

She is also the founder and president of the Step into Your Moxie vocal empowerment platform. Branded a “Moxie Maven” by President Obama’s White House Office of Public Engagement.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

The benefits to making your pitches short

How to discover and promote your differentiators

Why you need to stop vocalised thinking

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Today Stan Phelps tells you how he became a certified professional speaker and the growth prospects you can achieve if you do speaker events.

Stan is a TEDx speaker, Forbes contributor and Certified Speaking Professional who focuses on customer experience, employee engagement, technology, differentiation, and purpose.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

How to add value to your customer's experiences
How to generate better social proof for yourself
Stan's Goldfish methodology for your business

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Today Chris Croft tells you how you can grow your business, be known as an industry expert, and make a passive income at the same time using training videos.

Chris Croft is one of the top makers in the world of video training courses.

He has a variety of best-selling sales and leadership courses on Udemy.com and 36 courses on Linkedin Learning, with about 20,000 people a day taking his courses.

In this week’s episode you’ll learn:

How you can get more sales in a simple way
Why you shouldn't worry about being the ultimate expert
Why your competitors are your friends

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Today Lorraine Lee tells you how you can make an impact with a killer presentation and how to develop presentation skills.

Lorraine is a top-rated virtual keynote speaker and leader at the intersection of editorial and tech.

She helps professionals accelerate their careers and stand out in the virtual office and is the Head of Editorial at Prezi.

In this week’s episode:

How to make your presentation stand out

Presentation skills you need and how you can develop them

Why how you present is just as important as the presentation itself.

Check out the episode now in the link below! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Leadership training is something you should invest in to grow, but when it becomes too much it can do you more harm than good.

In this week’s episode, Sara Canaday will share with you how to grow your knowledge and business without wasting loads of money and time.

She'll also help you to where and how to best focus your time and energy to grow your customer base.

Sara is a recognized expert in leadership development.

She helps people identify the barriers that are preventing them from taking their careers—and their companies—to the next level.

Listen to today’s episode as Sara shares her expert knowledge with you so you can take your business to new heights.

You will learn:

How to invest in success coaches and programmes wisely
Why you should meet your clients where they are, not where you want them to be
Why you should be attracting businesses, not individuals.

Want to know how to boost your business?

In this week’s episode, Lucas Aguirre will share some tips that will help you to do this.

He'll also help you to understand the positive impact these tips can make on your customers and growth.

Lucas uses Positive Psychology Tools anchored in solid scientific research to promote connections among employees to build a happier more productive workplace.

Today Lucas is going to share some unique and simple ways to change your methodologies, ideas, and approaches to boost your business.

Want to know some practical tips you can use immediately to boost your Consulting and Training practice?

Listen to today’s episode to find out.

You will learn:

How you can decolonize your ideas

Why it's good to let your customers know you don't know everything

The power of your words

There is a science to being a great influencer.

In this week’s episode, Melina Palmer will share this science with you. She'll also help you understand what customer wants you can positively influence to ultimately win more business.

Melina Palmer is a keynote speaker helping brands leverage the power of behavioural economics. She is CEO of The Brainy Business, which provides behavioural economics training and consulting to businesses of all sizes from around the world, and writes the Behavioural Economics & Business column for Inc Magazine.

Her first book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You, was a finalist in two categories of the International Book Awards.

Today Melina is going to share her expertise with you so you can understand why people think and act the way they do. You will be able to use this knowledge to communicate better and positively market yourself to your customers.

Want to know more about how to influence people and understand what customer wants and needs you really need to cater for? Listen to today’s episode to find out.

You will learn:

How you can influence people subconsciously

Why it matters how you present information

Why being thoughtful with marketing works

To have successful conversation starters you need three ingredients.

In this week’s episode, TJ Guttormsen will share with you how you can communicate more confidently and the amazing results you can achieve from doing so.

Want to know about TJ’s secret ingredients to successful conversations, and more? Listen to today’s episode to find out.

TJ Guttormsen is an established communication coach and public speaker. More than 100,000 people from 150 countries have participated in his coaching and his series of online courses on Udemy have all been awarded “highest rated”.

Today TJ is going to give you the knowledge and tips he shares with his own clients so you can make effective conversation starters that will help you to attain successful business relationships.

You will learn:

The three ingredients for successful conversations

How you can get more results from conversations

Why building your rapport, tension and escalation is key

Being a self-employed business owner can be scary, even to the most seasoned entrepreneurs.

In this week’s episode, Dean Karrel, Career Development Advisor and Sales Trainer, tells you his story of how he felt the fear and did it anyway to become a successful self-employed business owner.

He also shares with you the invaluable lessons he learned along the way so that you can learn from them too.

Dean’s career began as a sales manager for a large global publisher.

After deciding he wanted a change he left the publishing industry and went back to school to study coaching and leadership development.

He is now a successful author, LinkedIn Learning instructor and established trainer at The Skyridge Group.

Today Dean is going to tell you what he has learned as a self-employed business owner and his biggest learnings for success.

You will learn

Why it’s so important to develop your networking skills
How to figure out your audience
Ways to develop your emotional intelligence

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

How do you handle challenging communication situations? By understanding the emotional intelligence behind the way you communicate you can turn more conversations and leads in your favour.

In this episode, Brenda Bailey-Hughes, Communication and Leadership Expert, will tell you how you can do this.

Brenda is an award-winning educator, communication coach, and speaker.

Over her career, Brenda has shared her expertise in influential communication, empathy, emotional intelligence for leadership, and more with a wide audience, from college freshmen to top level executives at Fortune 500 companies.

Today Brenda is going to give you the knowledge and tips she uses to coach leaders to communicate better so you can too.

You’ll learn

The fundamentals of communication
How to assume and communicate positive intent
Ways to neutralize negative emotions

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Are you finding it nerve-wracking to start your next steps as a freelance consultant or trainer? Richard Gerver was in the same shoes as you but has made the leap from a school job, teaching textbooks, to a successful freelance career.

Richard is an author and successful keynote speaker. He has been named UK Business Speaker of the Year three times, and has been invited to speak on the world’s most recognised stages, including TED, the RSA and the BBC.

In this episode Richard is going to talk to you about how he made the leap from teaching textbooks to creating a full time freelancing career.

His unique insight into human development will help you understand the nature of your personal and professional responses to risk, change, creativity, and development.

You will learn

Why you should think like a 5 year old
How to have more faith in your instincts
The benefits of making mistakes

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

How I help create workplace effectiveness w/ Lia Garvin

When you are a solopreneur what things can you do to make sure you are running your business to its full potential and creating your own workplace effectiveness?

In this episode, Lia Garvin, Founder/CEO of The Workplace Reframe, will tell you how.

Lia has worked with some of the most influential companies in tech including Microsoft, Apple and Google to explore the power of reframing to overcome common challenges found in the modern workplace.

Today Lia is going to give you tips and know-how on how she creates workplace effectiveness for other businesses and how you can achieve this too for your own business.

You will learn

Why you should share your story
How you can always add value
How to prioritise and maximise your time

Are you nurturing those relationships with people in your network to make valuable connections you can rely on to help grow your business?

In this episode, Denise Hamilton, Diversity & Inclusion Strategist, will tell you how.

Denise Hamilton is the Founder and CEO of WatchHerWork, a digital learning platform for professional women.

She is a speaker and trainer as well as a media personality.

Her clients include household names, like Apple, ExxonMobil, and Shell and she has been featured in many publications such as Forbes and Newsweek.

Today Denise is going to give you the knowledge and mindset you need to grow your business and make valuable connections that will help you achieve this.

You'll learn:

Why you should budget time for relationship building
Why you need to upgrade your online presence
How to create your dream team of evangelists that amplify you

So, you run a business by yourself? Perhaps you’ve grown your business or a while or maybe you’ve just begun on the solopreneur journey?

But, how well do you deal with the pitfalls and financial risk to make your business as successful as it can be when the only person that is responsible for that is YOU?

In this episode, Dan Weeding will tell you how you can grow your business.

After listening to Dan you’ll be better equipped to manage all the extra things that come from running a business such as how you market yourself, manage your financial risks and other factors to give yourself the best chance for success.

Dan is a Risk Strategy expert specialising in helping other solopreneurs like you to manage all aspects of your business to give you that lightbulb moment that helps you to grow your business.

He will give you the insight and advice you need to really think about all aspects of your business, from all the back-office tasks you ignore or put to the back of your mind, like taxes and cash flow to the fun stuff, such as marketing your business and making your investment in yourself a profitable one.

You will learn:

How to hone your Entrepreneurial mindset
What business questions you need to ask yourself
The difference between your marketing & selling
Why you need a solid marketing, operations & content plan
Who you need to really rely on
How to grow your business

Check out the episode now on trainingbusiness.com

! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Do you offer remote coaching, training, or consulting? How can you tell if you are making a great impression on your clients if you are not in the same room as them?

In this episode, Bianca Lager will tell you how you can deliver your workshops remotely in an effective way, taken from her course How to stand out remotely.

She will give you the tools to create an impact that will make you and your business stand out and steps that will make a great impression on your clients.

Bianca is a business strategist and career growth expert specializing in personal communication intelligence. She also has a career as the President of Social Intelligence, a consumer reporting agency.

Bianca is an expert in her field and started her business as a speaker and LinkedIn learner when she was approached to share her experiences and expertise. Bianca found that people were really interested in the type of content she was discussing and wanted to hear more about her area of interest about how to own a room.

Bianca will talk to you about how to make a great impression. You will learn:

How to own a room

Why you should be aware of your body language

Why your positivity matters

How to project your presence

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Do you offer resilience training to your consulting clients? How do you integrate resilience into your work and operations as a training business to be more productive?

In this episode, Allison Jarrett speaks to me about how you can:

Improve your resilience

Make your business more productive

And how a collective can help you thrive

Allison has been a resilience coach since 2012 after retiring from the US Air Force.

Allison was always impressed by how the Air Force’s resilience training programme helped Force members develop their personal strength and growth.

In this episode, Allison shares her knowledge from her years in the Force and from running her own business.

She'll give you the tools to improve your resilience so you can be more productive for your clients:

Finding your collective
Why you fail to be productive
How you can scale up your productivity
Why you should seek out support
The power of your tribe
How you can be more resilient

Check out the episode now! And subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Today, I’m talking to Todd Dewett, PHD in Houston, Texas. about how to use authenticity to build productive relationships.

Dr. Todd Dewett is a best-selling leadership author, educator, and speaker. He is a widely recognized expert on authenticity, leadership, relationships, and success. He speaks, writes, and has created an educational library of courses enjoyed by millions of professionals in nearly every country in the world.

Todd’s story begins when he started getting honest and real with himself. He realised that relationships, when they are optimised, are really useful and fulfilling. He was intrigued by this and yet, that wasn’t as common as Todd believed it should be. Todd wondered where he fit and it became clear to him that a PhD made a lot of sense to him so he let go of a big prestigious job and went to get a Phd in organisational behaviour.

Todd didn’t even know that when he finished there would be people out there wanting to speak about organisational behaviour. It wasn’t until during the PhD teaching students, starting to speak and consult that he noticed that people were interested in the topics he was learning about.

Today Todd will be talking to me about three tips, taken from his course:

Establish two-way authenticity

Model it, don’t ask for it

Use your mistakes

Check out today’s episode now!

Build Productive Relationship

“What I mean by two-way, I only discovered this 10 years ago, people often hear me talking about it and they feel that I’m only talking about them learning to be a little bit more complete, and that's not true, the goal is more rapport and positive productive relationships which means it’s not just about you. If you care about authenticity it really is about the others with whom you interact regularly with as well.”

“The truth is saying something you need someone to do as an authority at work has got only one level of utility, showing them through your own behaviour is far more impactful. We’re much better at vicarious learning. Go show them how to get it done.”

Take-aways you don’t want to miss

When Todd blew it and how he overcame it

How Todd has grown his business

Todd’s biggest screw-up

What ‘Show your Ink’ means

How to really be authentic

Using modelling to get more impact

Why kindness is important in work

Making your mistakes useful

Some resources for you

(A few useful resources from the podcast, guest or that relate to the topic)

www.drdewett.com Todd’s online ‘home’

https://linktr.ee/drdewett Todd’s LinkedIn information

Resource title - what it is

Check out the episode now!

Today, I’m talking to Nidhi Tewari in Washington DC who is a Keynote Speaker & Mental Health Expert.

Nidhi speaks to organizations and events about mental health, workplace well-being, and leadership. She is featured in The New York Times, Forbes, The Washington Post, Oprah Daily, Thrive Global, and HuffPost as an acclaimed mental health speaker, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and consultant with a decade of experience.

In 2018 Nidhi experienced a tragedy in her life which affected her in all aspects of her life. What she discovered was a lack of systems in place or understanding about how grief and mental health conditions can impact you in and out of work and so part of her journey has been to help leaders and teams to promote an environment of wellbeing.

Today Nidhi is discussing:

How to attune to your audience
Why storying is your strength
Ways to maximize your value

Check out today’s episode now!

Why an attunement mindset makes a great speaker

“Most people may not have heard of the word attunement. Attunement means you have to be able to anticipate and adapt to the needs of your client, so when you have this initial conversation with your client you should be doing some sort of needs assessment. It’s helpful to really hone in and connect to the specific audience you're going to be speaking to. You really have to understand to some degree what their struggles are so you can assess them in your training.”

“I think that the best speakers are the ones who can whittle down a concept. You want the audience to be able to come away with the things that are your biggest takeaways and they can’t do that if you are spewing information at them. Look at value as a correlation to the efficiency with which we communicate that information.”

Take-aways you don’t want to miss

The big event that made Nidhi realise the need for her services

What is an attunement mindset

How can you create impact and change

Ways to make your message resonate with the audience

How she turned things around to grab her audience's attention

Some resources for you

nt@wellbeingspeaker.com - Nidhi’s Email Address

www.wellbeingspeaker.com - Nidhi’s Website

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nidhitewarilcsw/ - Nidhi’s LinkedIn profile page

Check out the episode now!

Today, I’m talking to Erin Shrimpton in Dublin, Chartered Organisational Psychologist and LinkedIn Learning Instructor.

As Erin's website states she works as a coach and consultant helping people, teams and leaders change workplace experience for the better.

Erin has always been interested in the psychology of work, what makes people thrive in work, and why people love their work.

She cut her teeth at Innocent Drinks and learned so much, but one of her great takeaways from working there was if you see a different way of doing things, just do it.

Today Erin discusses her top so you can find success and fulfilment in your work including:

Why you need intrinsic reward in your everyday

Ways to think in visionary terms

How to learn optimism

Check out today’s episode now!

Successful entrapraners success and fulfilment in your work

Because I've worked with a lot of entrepreneurial people over the course of my career I actually started to pick out the things that I've seen in entrepreneurs that they do and how they motivate themselves, how they respond to the world, and how they face to the future.

Everybody needs to have little things that you do that you find intrinsic reward in. It has to be aligned with your own values, aligned with your strengths.

I have found that successful entrepreneurs are the ones that find tasks that motivate them intrinsically.

Things I noticed when I talked to entrepreneurs is that they talked in visionary terms a lot. We don’t have to do things as they are, let’s think about how they could be. For people working individually it helps you to deal with uncertainty.

These are steps I use with clients and myself.

Take-aways you don’t want to miss

What results Erin has gotten from starting a LinkedIn Newsletter

How Erin went from being an employee to being a consultant

Why do you need to find intrinsic reward when self-employed

What setting a vision can do for you as a business owner

How Erin balances being a consultant with being a mother

What you can do to learn optimism (and why it’s surprising)

Some resources for you

www.erinshrimpton.com - Erin's Website

https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinshrimpton - Erin's LinkedIn Profile

Using and Entrepreneurial mindset - Erin’s linkedin courseCheck out the episode now!

Let’s imagine that you’ve delivered a training program or consulted on some L&D project, your clients feel that the program is over and feel that their job is done

You’ve had my people in your training room for x days what more do you want?

Actually, there is a lot more that you want and need.

The training or workshop is over but the work is not yet done.

You now need to gather information to show that you added value.

You need to leverage this success to help your brand.

When you can turn client success into a story, you can use it to develop more business opportunities with your client and leverage it to attract new clients.

Today, I’m going to give you three steps to do this:

Clarify
Capture
Communicate

Check out the episode now!

Subscribe to get more episodes like this one!

Are you taking time-off this summer?

As a learning & development consultant or trainer, it’s easy to have an ‘always-on’ mentality.

You’ve worked hard all year and you probably like making money because you love what you do.

But you and I need time off from training and coaching clients.

We need to revisit what we’ve learned from working

We need to reimagine how we can build a better business

We need to reboot ourselves so we can add value to what we make money doing

Today, I’m going to give you 5 tips to get more from your time off as a business owner.

Subscribe today to get high-value content each week!

Today, I’m talking to Samantha Bennett in the USA, author, keynote speaker and mentor. She has written two books in particular that sparked an interest in me when I asked her to be my guest, “Get It Done” and “Start Right Where You Are”.

As a creative person and entrepreneur herself, Samantha is interested in how creative people make decisions when there is no external accountability and the only one counting on you is you. From her first foray into the world of training, Sam discusses some of the mistakes she made, so you don’t have to, and how you can find your incredible method for getting things done,e such as:

Banishing procrastination and self-doubt
Building your self-confidence
Improving the ability to think on your feet
And more

Check out the episode now!

Many of us selling our training and coaching are convinced that someone somewhere needs what we do and is willing to pay for it.

But this is not always the case, is it? We’ve all assumed that clients need what we do.

You need to ensure that what you are selling in the form of training and coaching is a fix to a problem, there is a cost to not solving it now and your clients are willing to pay to solve it

When you can sell what people they need to fix and they are convinced that you have a solution worth paying for, you are not going to be short of clients.

Today, I’m going to give you 7 questions to make sure your training fixes a problem worth paying you for.

Many trainers and coaches don’t see themselves as marketers.

It’s perhaps not your natural strength but you have to be able to market yourself so you can find people who need what you do.

How do you market yourself right now? Public speaking? LinkedIn posts?Videos? Email marketing?

For me, it’s all of these things and more.

Today I’m going to give you 5 ideas to help you build your go to market strategy.

When you have these 5 things in place, you are going to be in a position to target and communicate with the right people so you can attract paying clients for your programs!

Have you a dream client?

Can you describe the ideal client for your training or coaching business?

What is their role?

What are their concerns?

Where do they live and work?

Which challenges can you help them with?

When you understand whom you are serving:

You are going to better target the right people
Communicate the right value message
Increase chances of delivering the right training

Today, we’re going to help you work out who your ideal client is so you can target them, attract them and get them to work with you.

Do you want to earn money from training live?

Or do you want to build products that people pay to access in their own time?

I have just written a 289 page book and its for sale online. That’s an example of passive income.

I also charge clients per hour when I deliver sales training and sales coaching. That’s an example of active income.

Today, we’re going to give you 10 ways you can make money as subject-matter expert.

5 of these are passive revenue streams and 5 are active income streams.

These are all great ways to increase your profitability.

You will need at least two! So let’s dive in!

Check out the rest of today’s episode now!

You have an idea for a program or a workshop so you do what many of us do.

You bury yourself in your office and work on producing the finished product

The whole thing: slides, handouts, modules, exercises, the lot!

You’re not the only one who does this.

Many training providers are convinced they know what paying customers need.

They invest thousands of dollars / pounds / euros in creating before they have confirmation of market demand.

This approach may work but there are times when it does not work!

By the time that your ‘finished’ training program is ready,

You may realise that there is no demand

Your customer may have changed their mind

Market requirements may have changed

But you can avoid these headaches when you presell your training.

Pre-selling means producing something that isn’t complete or fully designed.

You have what’s called a minimum viable product. You have a first module or an outline. Nothing more.

But that is often enough to confirm interest and to provide valuable feedback before you invest any time and money in creating the whole thing,

Listen to today’s episode to learn more!

Have you experienced virtual learning yet?

Better still: have you thought of how your customers could benefit from it?

My guest today founded VirtualSpeech.com to help herself and others overcome the fear of communication.

After 5 years, Sophie’s app has been downloaded over 100K times.

Sophie now works with brands like Vodafone, the BBC, VMWare and Pfizer to deliver presentation skills and customer care training etc.

The market for VR Training is growing fast.

Corporations such as Bank of America, Accenture and Walmart are buying thousands of virtuality reality headsets for their teams.

Sophie’s company is working with training providers to help them create virtual reality training for their customers.

As Sophie says: When we all live in 3D, why practice training in 3D?

Check out today’s episode now!

This week, I published my first book called Sales Coaching Essentials.

I’ve learned loads writing it, and it’s time to share these lessons with you.

Writing a book will change how you are perceived. I can now introduce myself as an author.

It’s going to open doors to you. I have already been contacted by magazines, 2 radio stations, blogs and podcasts.

Your book is also going to give you a wealth of content that can be repurposed into tweets, posts, videos etc.

Writing a book as a subject-matter expert will boost your confidence. You will have done something which you can be proud of.

Last but not least, your book becomes a lead magnet that attracts business opportunities.

I hope that my book will start attracting quality prospective clients. In fact, it already has!

Listen to today’s episode to find out more!

Summer is nearly here and now is the time to plan how you are going to use your downtime in the coming months.

I like to take some time each year when I am not so busy so that I can start with a bang in September.

In today’s episode, I want to give you some ideas around three things that are going to help you to get more business!

Gamification has been around as a term for a long time in the world of learning & development.

It’s increasingly important as technology plays a greater role in classroom and online learning.

Today’s guest is widely-recognized as one of the experts in the ’Gamification of Learning and Instruction.

That’s actually the title of one his books on the subject.

In this week’s episode, Karl is going to define 5 key terms about gamification that you need to know as a training & development professional.

Today, I’m talking to Ajay Pangarkar in Canada and author of “The

Trainers Balanced Scorecard: A Complete Resource for Linking Learning and Growth to Organizational Strategy”

Certified Training and Development Professional. He’s also a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants.

What his accountancy background gives him a numbers mindset.

It also gives him a business mindset.

So in today’s episode, we’re going to give you 5 Ways to Get Customers to Buy into Your Training

Be innovative
Provide proof
Align with business challenges
Offer assurances
Give quick buying options

Check out the episode now!

Last week we spoke with public sector procurement expert Peter Smith.

Peter is back again this week to give you some advice on how you can get ready to be shortlisted as an approved training vendor to government.

Many governments and local government organisations encourage tenders for training from small organisations like yours.

This week, you’re going to learn where you can start to look online for RFPs for public sector consulting and training.

If you didn’t hear part one of this episode, go back and listen to last week’s show!

Listen now

Have you bid on any public sector training contracts?

Are you currently a training supplier to local, state, national or federal government organizations?

Today’s guest is Peter Smith, previously Procurement Director for the UK’s Department of Social Security and NatWest Group.

Peter is also the author or co-author of 4 books, including ‘Buying Professional Services: How to get value for money from consultants and other professional services providers’.

So if you want to hear from an expert who advises government bodies on how to buy training and consulting, you’re going to learn loads!

Listen now!

Congratulations! You’ve won the training contract. It’s a nice piece of work and it’s the kind of program that you can deliver.

But before you get too excited, are you clear on what your clients expectations are and how you going to manage them?

Frequently there is a misunderstanding. Your client believes you’re going to produce one set of results but you think they’re looking for something else entirely

When expectations are different on both sides, it’s no wonder that frustrations occur and reputations are damaged.

In this weeks episode, we’re going to look at three things:

Understanding client expectations

Managing them professionally

What to do when they go wrong

Listen now!

How has your training delivery changed and how much of it is virtual these days?

In this week’s episode, guest Diana L Howles is going to give you a masterclass on the intricacies of virtual training

If you’re unfamiliar with terms such as Live Mixed Learning, Synchronous Education etc., you’re going to find today’s podcast interview particularly helpful.

Diana is the author of Next Level Virtual Training and has some powerful tips to help you take your virtual training to the next level.

In today’s episode

How Diana started off as a trainer

What is Live Mixed Learning

Which virtual training challenges to master

What are the 8 areas of expertise for top virtual presenters

Which roles are necessary in virtual learning experience

How you can get your hands on Next Level Virtual Training

Have you ever been in a situation where you are working with a training client and you ask yourself why it doesn’t feel right?

Why do I get the feeling that this workshop isn’t what they need?

Why am I not clear about their goals for their program?

Why are we focusing this training when this isn’t really the problem that training should be trying to solve?

Last week in episode 183 we chatted about why you need to have confidence in your training.

A large part of having confidence in your training is the knowledge or belief that you are training the right clients.

You are right for them and they are right for you.

Your clients’ challenges are ones you can solve and you have the right solutions.

This is the program they need and you can stand over the results they will get.

So this week we’re going to help you to better qualify prospective clients!

I was involved in delivering a substantial training program together with another training provider recently.

Approximately 122 people to train.

Three training modules were to be delivered remotely to groups of 9-10.

It looked straightforward on the surface. The client was happy with the content.

But problems began when two things happened.

The client didn’t take our advice on positioning the training program internally
They questioned the order of the training modules

The results? People complained that they had no idea why they were on the program.

Secondly, the flow of learning didn’t make sense.

Against our better judgement, we agreed to their changes to our recommendations.

In the end, the client took our advice but some damage has been done. Feedback was disappointing.

What’s the lesson here?

It’s really important that you don’t just show confidence in your training - but in the process in which your product is delivered.

In today’s episode:

Why your training process matters

What to do stand your ground professionally

How having the confidence to push back matters

Check it out now!

As the owner of a training, learning & development brand, your goal is to deliver programs that answer your customer’s talent development needs.

Your workshops and content help your customers achieve their learning goals, upskill their people and impact their leaders.

But what are the goals that you are not serving? Are there programs that your customer needs which you’ve not sold them? Where are the gaps in your offering?

Those market gaps are what we call ‘whitespace.’ And they represent a business opportunity for you when you can spot them and fill them.

In this week’s episode

What exactly does the term whitespace mean?

Which questions should you ask yourself

How to find out where the business opportunities are

What to do in order to meet them

Dr Jeff McCausland is a retired Colonel from the U.S. Army and former Dean of Academics at the U.S. Army War College. Jeff is also a graduate of U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Army Airborne and Ranger schools, and the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

He has built his training business Diamond 6 Leadership and Strategy LLC by bringing together a remarkable faculty of military, diplomatic and academic leaders.

In this week’s episode:

What opportunity Jeff saw in the marketplace for leadership training

How Diamond 6 integrates experiential learning into its programs

Which leadership lessons Jeff addresses in his book ‘Battle Tested’

Where Diamond 6 Leadership and the team are going next

Check out the episode now

What does your income look like for this month?

How much will you earn and where will the money come from?

When training projects come to an end, do you have to look for new training clients to plug the gap?

When you working for yourself in a freelance or independent capacity you have to generate predictable revenue.

Cashflow is key when it comes to surviving as a consultant, coach, facilitator or trainer.

A retainer is an arrangement agreement you and your client to pay you on a consistent basis for a defined period in exchange for services rendered over the long term.

I’m working on one this week.

It’s a 12 month agreement for training and coaching. In return, my client will pay an agreed month each month, every month.

In today’s episode:

How retainers work in training and development

Examples of retainers models you can use

Things to think of before you decide to set one up

and much more.

If predictable recurring revenue sounds like something you want, then check out today’s episode!

Laurie Ruettimann exited the corporate life at Pfizer to set up her own HR consultancy Punk Rock HR working with executives, business leaders and HR Directors.

Laurie is the author of ‘Betting On You: How to Put Yourself First and (Finally) Take Control of Your Career’

NY Times bestselling author Daniel Pink reviewed Laurie’s book as ‘Indispensable reading for anyone looking to improve their professional selves’.

Laurie also has has a highly popular course on LinkedIn Learning called Be the Manager that people won’t leave with 784,291 learners.

In this week’s episode, Laurie is going to share advice on:

How you can prepare to step away from your corporate role.

What to do in order to negotiate a severance

Why a ‘pre-mortem’ will help you avoid business mistakes

Check it out now

You often hear business owners or business leaders talk about their vision.

Their vision for the business that they want to grow.

How they’re going to get there.

When they’re going to get there

What it’s going to be like when they get there.

Some of the guests I have had on over the years have had clear visions about the kind of training, facilitation or coaching consultancy that they want to build.

Guests such as Shawn Callahan of Anecdote, Adrian Moorhouse of Lane 4, Craig Ross of Verus, Stephanie and Russell Watkins of Sempai, Grant Cardone of Cardone University, Nick Smallman of Working Voices, Jo-Ellen Grzyb of Impact Factory, Shannon Banks of Be Leadership, Karen Winfield of PD Training have all had a vision of the kind of training business they wanted to build.

What about you?

Have you a vision for your business ?

Have you written it down?

What are the constituent parts?

Have you built it together with anyone ?

Have you shared it with anyone?

How often do you refer to it?

Does it fit on one page or even two pages?

Today, we’re going to chat about the vision you have for your consultancy and this is big, bold stuff.

It’s going to get you thinking about the possibilities you have what it’s going to look like when you arrive.

Check it out now!

Storytelling for Leaders® began when Shawn Callahan started his training company Anecdote to help clients with storytelling training. Story telling training is big business these days. Teams, leaders and whole organizations realize the importance of communicating key points to their audiences in an impactful way.

Shawn spotted a gap in the market for helping clients such as SAP, Microsoft, BHP, Accenture and others to influence decision-makers and inspire them to take action.

A chance conversation lead to Shawn and his team deciding to build products that could be sold into corporates around the world.

Listen in right now as Shawn tells you all about the training brand he built selling workshops and programs in 28 countries with the help of licensed partners.

Adam Wilson began his sales training business but had no leads and no plan except to work extremely hard and really believe in himself. It worked.

It would have been easier to stay in a job as head sales trainer rather than to think like an entrepreneur and to start his own business.

As a talented employee, Adam could have taken the monthly salary and kept the company car. But he knew that he could make more money and have greater control.

Adam realized that he could lead his own niche. He could be the expert that electrical goods manufacturers and contractors think of when they want help selling electrical installations.

Fast forward two years and Adam has now got 'run-rate' income, his first $100k sales year and plans to grow his training and coaching brand internationally.

But what a time to launch a training consultancy at the start of the global pandemic in 2020.

Check his story out now

Sharon Boller is the author of three books including Design Thinking for Training and Development: Creating Learning Journeys that Get Results co-authored with Laura Fletcher.

Sharon also built Bottom Line Performance from one person to 33 employees and $4 Million in sales before selling it to TiER1

As Sharon admits, her training company would not have grown without a focus on the kind of stuff that training and development practitioners often overlook.

Things like:

Negotiating terms of a contract

Devising pricing strategy

Recruiting associates, assistants, vendors

Managing accounting, marketing, systems, standard operating procedures

There are two parts to today’s episode:

What Design Thinking is

How Design Thinking gets results

Why a clear vision helped Sharon grow BLP

Where L&D practitioners need to focus to build a business

Which skillsets are needed to scale and grow

Check out the episode now!

Florian ‘Flo’ Mueck is an expert trainer and consultant in rhetoric and delivers training to some big corporate brands including Accor, Danone, Amazon and Deutsche Bank.

Flo recently came up with C-I-R-C-L-E as a framework to help trainers, consultants and keynote speakers to deliver memorable messages.

‘C’ reminds you to build connection with your audience.

‘I’ tells you to make your presentation interesting.

‘R’ suggests that your keynote or workshop should be relevant

‘C’ asks you to be creative so you stand out from thecompetition

‘L’ underlines the need to make your presentationlogical

‘E’ stresses the vital importance of engaging your audience

Let Flo explain how you can put all of this together in your next training or presentation.

In today’s episode

How Florian Mueck went from broke to successful consultant

Who he created his first online course ‘Push your Pitch’ for

Which kinds of clients Flo prefers to work with

How creating his own board game helps position him as an expert

Why writing a book is going to help you stand out from others

Check out the episode now!

Today, I’m joined by Robert Cserti, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Session Lab.

Thousands of trainers use Session Lab’s Session Planner to quickly design their training session, and automatically update timings.

You can print off documents to share with clients, attach evaluation forms, presentations etc.

What I like most is that you can access a library of activities and drag them into your session and modify them.

You can reuse elements from previous sessions and lots more.

Today, we’re going to look at Session Lab today from the user’s perspective.

Not the technical stuff but the practical features and why you might want to use with your clients...

It was a fellow trainer, Murray Cowell who put me on to Session Lab. Thanks Murray!

In today’s episode:

What is SessionLab?

How many users / subscribers are there?

Which are the top features that users like?

How does the SessionLab Session Planner work?

What are the 800 or so resources in the library?

Which new features are on the way?

Check out the episode now!

Today’s guest is Tobias Rodrigues, a former Catholic priest and now a trainer helping global brands to build bad ass teams.

In fact, Bad Ass Teams is the name of Tobias’s brand.

Tobias helps organizations such as Henkel, King, EBay and Citibank in areas such as effective team building, leadership coaching and emotional intelligence training.

He tells an amazing story of how he got his first clients and how working IESE Business School in Spain has been very productive

In today’s show

How networking has produced business leads

What Tobias gets from his collaboration with IESE business school

Which training products Tobias developed and why

How he got his first paying clients

The kinds of challenges Tobias Rodrigues helps to solve

We’re wrapping up 2021 today by revisiting your choices for best episodes of 2021

Episode 1 was in August 2018, so 2022 is therefore the 5th calendar year of the podcast.

You will have loads more great episodes coming next week and all through next year bringing you key advice and expertise from practitioners across the world of learning & development.

But today is all about thanking you, the trainers, consultants and facilitators you for your listenership and your loyalty this year and for subscribing to the podcast.

It’s also a chance to thank my great guests who so generously gave their time to share their stories.

And what better way to do that than to remind you of the highlights from the podcast this year.

Many of us have grown up playing with Lego®, but did you realize that it can be used by trainers and facilitators like you to help your client to think creatively?

The Lego Group developed Lego® Serious Play® as a facilitation methodology in the late 1990s and made it ‘open-source’ in 2010.

Interestingly, many people in Learning & Development aren’t aware that we can use Lego® in our training and workshops.

Michael Fearne is today’s guest on the TrainingBusiness podcast. He’s going to explain why Lego® Serious Play® is still not widely known in the talent development community.

Michael has loads to tell you about his business and how he helps his clients in a range of industries in online workshops and face to face facilitation programs.

In today’s episode:

What is Lego Serious Play?

Which organizations use Lego Serious Play

How can you get certified in Lego Serious Play

Which Lego Serious Play resources are available for free

What’s the LSP method and the LSP community

What’s in Michael Fearne’s book and how you can get it

Olivia Schofield runs her own speaking skills business in Berlin from where she helps client with presentation skills and professional communication coaching.

As a keynote speaker and communication consultant, Olivia works with corporate clients like Gore-Tex, Hoffman La Roche and Amex.

In 2011, Olivia got to the finals of the Toastmaster World Championship. She became the first woman and the first person from Europe to get that far!

Today, Olivia still works with corporate training clients and she also runs an inspirational annual two-day speaking bootcamp called Spectacular Speaking!

In today’s episode:

How Olivia’s BBC background helped her coaching business

What Olivia did to become a Toastmasters World Finalist

Which kind of work she does for corporate training clients

How 4 trainers cooperate to share leads and ideas

What participants learn at Spectacular Speaking

Check it out now!

David Brownlee is a key-note speaker, customer service training expert and best-selling author of ‘Rockstar Service | Rockstar Profits’.

David’s training company has worked with businesses such as Harley Davidson, Google, Walmart, T-Mobile and Amazon and his goal is to help 100M people.

With one YouTube video alone, David had big brands knocking on his door, wanting to work with him.

In today’s episode

Which personal incident convinced David Brownlee to help people

How David’s experience as a small business owner helped his training

Which companies turn to David for customer service training

What David has learned from creating his online courses

How David’s book has generated leads for his brand

What David learned from being a Tony Robbins coach

What 50 | 50 | 50 means to David and why it matters

Check it out now!

As learning & development professionals, we use the terms facilitation, coaching, and training interchangeably.

But which is which, and when should you coach or train or facilitate?

Today’s guest Pepe Nummi is the Founder and Managing Director of Grape People, a Finnish company which has helped over 15,000 students to become facilitators.

Pepe is also the author of The Handbook of Professional Facilitation: Theory Tools Design.

That’s 450 pages covering what you need to know to become a top professional facilitator.

In today’s episode

What is facilitation?

Which of your clients need facilitation?

What are the differences between training and facilitation?

Which skills do you need to become a facilitator?

Which kinds of work are best suited to facilitation?

Most trainers and facilitators are used to running onsite workshops and programs, right?

But have you delivered hybrid training and facilitation yet?

You have people on site and people offsite - at the same time!

I had 8 Senior Leaders onsite in a hotel conference room today.

But one person was dialling in remotely.

So that made me reflect on what each audience took away from the training.

Hybrid is hear to stay so it’s important that we do our best to create EQE (Equality of Experience)!

In today’s episode, let’s look at 3 things to consider when planning hybrid training!

Rob D Willis is relatively new to the world of training & development.

For nearly 10 years, Rob had been working as a tour guide in Berlin developing his communication skills and public speaking.

So when COVID struck in Feb 2020, Rob had to pivot fast.

Gone were the public tours and the accompanying revenue streams. What to do?

Rob knew that Berlin has a large number of fast-growing tech firms.

Through client conversations, Rob has discovered a need for helping teams improve their internal communication.

In today’s episode, listen in as Rob tells us:

How he chose his training niche

Where Rob got his first customers

Who his ideal consulting client is

How Rob markets his training brand

Where he is taking his business next

Check it out now!

Today’s guest began as most training professionals begin their business by working for themselves.

Kevin Eikenberry moved from a corporate career at Chevron 28 years ago and started his own Leadership training brand.

These days, Kevin has 4 parts to his training & development brand focused on frontline and remote leadership, DiSC assessment and Kevin’s 1-1 coaching and speaking.

In order to spread his message, have a bigger impact and make more money serving clients, Kevin had to do number of things including growing his team of training associates.

Kevin’s leadership development programs, leadership books and online courses have created a stream of business leads. That’s what every business owner wants!

In today’s episode

What made Kevin Eikenberry get into L&D

How he scaled from 1 to 14

What Kevin did to figure out his training niche

Which things he has learned from 28 years in the business

Are you earning income as a consultant, facilitator or trainer or is that something that you’d still like to do?

Thousands of people are thinking of how they can develop income streams from productizing their expertise.

They’ve spent years, sometimes decades in corporate roles and now want to capitalize on their knowledge through training and developing people.

That’s what today’s guest had in mind when he left a senior leadership role at GE to acquire a UCD International Executive MBA and 2 postgrad diplomas in teaching & learning.

Joe Houghton is Director and co-developer of the UCD Smurfit Business School Masters in Project Management. He is a trainer, coach and these days a busy consultant!

Check out Joe’s story now!

Garry Gormley spent 17 years in Contact Centre Operations Management before he started up his customer experience training and consulting business in February 2019.

He took his knowledge about customer journey mapping, process improvement and contact centre employee engagement, and created a customer service excellence framework.

Using this consulting framework or what he calls his ‘FAB Proposition’, Garry helps his clients to run an efficient contact centre in 4 key areas: People, Process, Technology and Leadership.

This framework is the basis for Garry’s workshops, coaching, playbooks, diagnostics. By using this model, Garry is able to show contact centre consulting clients where and how he add value.

So what’s your model or framework?

Do you have one?

Do you think you need one?

Have you given any thought to how you can create your own consulting framework?

In today’s episode:

How Garry developed his FAB proposition

What he does to attract high-paying clients

Where contact centres need his support

How Garry brings in associates under his brand

How he believes his framework has helped win business

Listen now!

Sharon Steed is an Empathy Consultant. She works with businesses who need to build empathy between their people in these challenging times.

As you’ll hear, Sharon has a pronounced stutter. But that’s something that makes clients want to work with her. She knows what it’s like to be different.

Sharon understands the power of leveraging diverse strengths and of profiting from difference not masking it or running away from it.

Sharon could have avoided the stage. Instead, Sharon brings her stutter to her clients as part of her trainings and keynote talks.

In today’s episode:

Why people are starved of connection

Where Sharon found the courage to leverage her stutter

How Sharon facilitates conversations in empathy

How being a TED speaker led to a business idea

What the business case is for empathy at work

Check it out now!

Today’s guest Dave Birss has written several books on creativity and generating ideas. He works with clients such as Facebook, BBC and Hilton Hotel to help managers get better ideas from teams.

But it’s one of Dave’s LinkedIn Learning courses that has really caught people’s attention. It’s called How to Create and Run a brilliant Remote Workshop and has 72,495 learners.

Dave has just released a new online training program called virtual presenting academy to help presenters like you and me to master presentation planning, creating presentation assets and of course managing presentation technology.

Dave is a poet, stand-up comedian, session-musician, radio-show presenter and much more.

But he describes himself as a virtual speaker who trains other virtual speakers and that’s why we have him here today on the show. To help you!

In today’s episode:

Where Dave helps his corporate training clients

Which research Dave conducts to build workshops

What you need to create amazing presentations

How you can keep people engaged and focused

How collaborative documents will help your clients

How Dave is planning and designing his new course

Listen now!

Jason Durkee has been delivering learning and development solutions to clients in Japan for 28 years beginning in 1993 when he joined a startup as a corporate trainer.

He worked his way up from trainer to instructional designer to manager to director, then started out on his own working with direct clients.

In that time, Jason reckons that he has developed, co-developed or contributed to the design of 200 or more training programs.

How many learning programs have you designed?

How do you know whether your workshop or coaching program is the right thing aimed at the right audience?

In today’s episode:

How to research the training market

Why to create a minimum viable product

What to do to get client feedback early

How to get your first workshop to market

Why to involve customers in shaping design

Which testimonial to get from customers

What to do to launch your training product

Are you aware of the importance of Emotional Intelligence at work? What about the concept of Embodied Emotional Intelligence?

Today’s’ guest Jay Fields helps clients through her training programs in managing emotions at work and regulating the nervous system and reducing stress.

Jay highlights the importance of Psychosomatic training. She suggests that you can think of it like Mindfulness 2.0.

When you understand how your nervous system influences your ability to be resilient and adaptable, Jay says we can a healthier and more compassionate work environment.

In today’s episode:

What Embodied Emotional Intelligence is

How Jay works with coaching clients

How your nervous system has an effect on you

Why managing emotions at work is crucial

What the science tells us about stress

Check it out now!

Today we’re talking to Pete Starr, Managing Director of Chilli, a training consultancy based in the Manchester in the UK.

Pete was the second guest ever back in episode 2 in 2018 and since that time, Pete has developed his training brand, launched his own corporate training programs and hired a team.

We’re going to focus on the lessons that Pete has learned from onboarding his first big training client and delivering a 6-figure talent development project.

If you’re thinking of making the move from the corporate world to launching your own training consultancy, you’re going to get loads from this episode!

Jodie Salt has just written a business book that is attracting followers into her sales funnel. ‘Woman Up’ that has gone to the top of the Amazon charts in 11 categories!

Jodie began as a Learning & Development consultant working with brands such as Sky and British Gas and still works as an associate trainer on projects she loves.

She now co-owns Ladies Life Lounge and has developed a range of revenue streams from masterclasses, online learning products and retreats in exotic locations.

In today’s episode:

How Jodie got into training & development

What she learned from working as an associate trainer

How she is growing multiple revenue streams

How she is using her book to attract high-paying clients

What she plans to do to attract corporate clients

What Jodie does to market her brand successfully

How she developed a membership subscription model

Check out the episode now!

Right now many organizations are or should be aware of the harm that can be done when they fall far short of acceptable standards in areas such as equality, diversity and inclusion.

Today’s guests Trier-Lynn Bryant and Kim Scott of Just Work have built a business around calling organizations out on this - or ‘calling them in’ on this as Kim likes to say.

Kim wrote the book called Just Work: Get Sh*t done fast and fair. She then invited Trier to be the Co-Founder and CEO of this new company.

Just Work LLC helps clients to create and sustain equitable, fair and just workplaces. Kim and Trier give keynotes and run workshops on these themes.

In today’s episode:

Which experiences inspired Kim to write the book

How Just Work gets the message out into the marketplace

Which kinds of organizations need help with bias

How the Just Work framework was developed

Which challenges Trier and Kim address and solve

Listen now! (Link in comments)

Last year, I had the privilege of speaking with Ben Hunt Davis, Olympic Rowing Gold Medal Winner with Team GB. Ben leads the performance consultancy Will it Make the Boat Faster.

In this week’s episode, I have the privilege of interviewing Adrian Moorhouse, Swimming Olympic Champion, European Champion and World Champion.

Adrian started Lane 4 a UK based Talent Development company in 1996 together with 3 others and grew it to over 130 people.

Less than 4 weeks ago in July 2021, Lane 4 was acquired by the global professional services giant EY (formerly Ernst & Young).

Today:

What it’s like to have your business acquired

What Lane 4 stands for in the marketplace

Which kinds of clients Lane 4 works with

How he got his first paying training clients

What it was like to take on his first employees

Where Lane 4 is going and what’s next

Check it out now!

When did you last have a burger or a shake or fries. Chances are that many of you will think of one brand in particular! This week’s guest was Chief Learning Officer at McDonalds Corporation until October 2020.

Over many years, Rob Lauber worked his up the corporate ladder from L&D Manager and Director of Learning Services to Chief Learning Officer of one of the world’s most iconic brands

These days, Rob now runs XLO Global, an advisory service which helps startups position their offer to decision-makers in the coropoate L&D Space. Is that something that could help you?

In fact, Rob is an advisor to no less than 5 talent-development / learning & developent centrix startups right now

In today’s episode:

What was Rob’s journey to CLO of McDonalds?

What were some of the challenges he faced?

Why has become a L&D Consultant?

How Rob gets clients in front of L&D decision-makers

It’s August, it’s a quiet month for many training professionals. Maybe you’re on holiday or it feel like a holiday or even just a quiet time.

People are away and there isn’t much facilitation or coaching or training going on. Is that true for you right now? If it is true, what are you doing with your time?

What I and a lot of professionals do is we look at our forecast, or we start to build one.

We look at the projects, the contracts, the engagements, the bookings that are going to take us right through to summer next year.

We consider the projected revenue, where it’s going to come from and when it’s going to come to us.

Forecasting means having confidence in your version of the future and being able to stand over it.

If you’re engaged in activities which have a direct effect on future revenue streams and you are accountable for delivering on those things, then forecasting is in your remit one way or another especially if you’re running your own business.

In today’s episode:

What is a forecast?

What stops people from forecasting?

How to create a simple forecast model

Some key questions to ask yourself

Listen now! (Link in comments)

The world of delivering consultancy or training or facilitation has changed, right? The circumstances and conditions under which you do work for your clients has changed post-COVID.

Suddenly, there is a lot to negotiate. Maybe your client wants you to reduce your your fee for training design. Maybe they want to change the scope of your contract or get you to work more for less.

What do you do when you feel that you need to have tough conversations? How do you stand your ground whilst being flexible so you maintain your dignity and keep the client relationship?

Today’s guest Selena Rezvani is an expert in self-advocacy, the creator of the best-selling course LinkedIn course on Executive Presence as well as the author of ‘Push Back - How Smart Women ask and Stand Up for What they want’.

Check it out now!

In this week’s episode, I’m chatting with Training Manager and passionate Learning & Development advocate Cara North who tells us how she is ‘owning’ her L&D career trajectory.

Like many training professionals, Cara has taken an interesting path to get to where she is today. She worked as a full-time Senior Instructional Designer, then as a Learning & Development Consultant.

Cara’s L&D path is very clear. She has her sights set firmly on becoming a CLO -Chief Learning Officer.

Listen in as Cara tells you what she’s doing to get there with the help of the right mentors!

In today’s episode:

Where Cara started from in training

How she doubled her L&D followers on LinkedIn

How she chose her CLO mentors to help her

Why Cara is writing a book with the ATD

What prompted Cara to write her PhD in Learning

What she is doing to become a Chief Learning Officer

Check it out now!

Elliott Maisie is the analyst first credited with using the term ‘e-Learning’.

Today, Elliott runs multiple learning projects and organizations under the Maisie.com brand including the Maisie Center which hosts global learning conferences.

Elliott also heads up the Learning Collaborative which brings L&D leaders from 76 organizations including Google and Amazon to focus on innovations impacting learning.

Today, we’re going to share with you what Elliott has discovered from listening to these L&D thought leaders as they focus on trends that are just around the corner for their organizations.

To do that, we’re going to give you some perspective under 5 headings:

The Changing Learner

The Changing Needs

The Changing Language

The Change in Behavior

The Change in Empathy

Check it out now!

Last August I got a WhatsApp voice memo from another trainer.

Hey Mark. This is Tim.

Give me a call. I’ve got a contact for you.

She’s looking for sales training and it’s right up your street. Cheers.

As short as that. I called Tim back. One thing led to another.

Actually, one call led to 8 different training courses and still counting.

I am doing more work with the client in July, August and September.

I didn’t have to advertise.

I didn’t have to market myself.

I didn’t have to spend any money.

We all want this kind of effortless revenue generation.

In sales terms, this is called a bluebird. Like an unusual bird, it lands in the hands.

It’s training work you can do.

It’s facilitation work you love to do

It’s consultancy work that’s right for you.

Thank you, Tim!

Today, how do you network for business from other trainers.

In today’s episode:

Some coaching questions to help you network

Differences between referrals, references and recommendations

Internal versus external networks

What a lead-exchange is

What you can do to get training referrals from other trainers

Crystal Kadakia is the co-creator of the Owens-Kadakia Learning Cluster Design Model and the co-author of the book ‘Designing for Modern Learning - Beyond ADDIE and SAM’

The model addresses the need to surround employees / learners with what she calls learning assets designed to close performance gaps. There are five actions which underlie the model

As you’ll hear in this chat with Crystal, a lot of organizations focus on desining content for learning rather than designing content for learners. This is where you need to understand the relevance of learning personas.

In today’s episode:

What Learning Cluster Design is

What Learner profiles are

What are the 5 LCD action points

How you can design for modern learning

Listen now! (Link in comments)

Naphtali Bryant has been leading L&D teams for nigh on 17 years - he’s currently Director of Learning & Organization Development at Netflix.

He’s also a LinkedIn Learning Instructor and breakout speaker at the annual LinkedIn Talent Connect conference and he’s passionate about making L&D engaging and accessible.

In fact those are the first two letters in an acronym which Naphtali has been honing for a number of years and it’s the guiding set of principles which informs how Naphtali ensures that talent development serves organizational needs.

Deliver EASY stands for Engaging, Accessible, Simple and Yielding to Impact. Naphtali’s going to give you the breakdown on that concept today and how he uses it to earn a place at the strategic decision-making table

In today’s episode:

What got Naphtali into L&D in the first place?

What is Sharpening your EDGE?

How does Naphtali’s Deliver EASY work?

How you measure the efficacy of Deliver EASY in a practical sense

Why your would measure Return on Expectations rather than RoI

Whether its easier or harder for L&D to earn a seat at the strategic table

What are the expectations of L&D leaders in the 21st century?

What are some of the major changes in Learning that Naphtali is seeing?

Check it out now!

As a self-employed consultant or trainer, you’ve been through your fair share of struggle.

You have these internal conversations in your mind. Am I doing the right thing? Where is the next client going to come from?

If you’re up against clients demands, you know what it’s like to be under pressure. You make a mistake. Someone rejects your proposal. You lose a client.

You’re told that your prices are too high etc. Who needs that kind of stress every day? Would it not be easier just to give it all up?

Here’s one way of looking at it: If you and your business have overcome this, then you’ve already learned a lot about yourself and your coping mechanisms.

My guest today is author and Productivity Ninja, Grace Marshall who tells me why struggle is normal and why this is the way things are meant to be.

Check it out!

Last week’s guest was Peter Brown, author of the groundbreaking book on Knowledge Retention: ‘Make it Stick’.

Why does that matter? Because we are revisiting the same subject this week. Helping your clients not just to acquire knowledge but to retain it.

This week speaking with Lawrence Schwartz, CEO of Trivie and that’s an interesting story because Lawrence and his team launched a game on the app store which was downloaded millions of times.

Those early lessons laid the foundation for creating Trivie which helps some of the world’s top brands including Unilever, Anheuser-Busch and Subway to retain information longer through personalization of learning, gamification and retrieval practice

In today’s episode:

Why are organizations ‘flying blind’ right now with regards to L&D?

How do organizations make learning more engaging?

What is the science behind Practice Personalization and Predictability

Is there a danger adults will begin to resent repetition as an interruption?

What the impact of AI-driven learning will be on classroom-based learning

Check the episode out now!

Today’s guest is Peter Brown, co-author of a book that has really resonated with learning practitioners. Make it Stick was written with one purpose to mind: to find out how we can make learning easier and learnings durable.

Make it Stick draws on recent breakthroughs in cognitive psychology and explains how knowledge transferred in training is encoded, accessed and retrieved in the minds of learners.

When you run training programs, you want to impart knowledge but also want that knowledge to be retained so learning gains don’t fade quickly. The science behind successful learning should interest every learning professional.

In today’s episode:

What does the latest cognitive science tell us about learning?

How do wedeliverlearning so that it sticks and becomes durable?

How do we create opportunities for retrieval practice

What does the science tell us about the most effective ways to practice retrieval?

How spaced-out or far apart should retrieval practice be?

How do we refresh learning as training

How do we deal with the illusion of knowing?

Check it out now!

If you’re running a business these days, you need to have a web presence.

You need some kind of home page or landing page where people can find you and find out about you.

More importantly, they want to learn how you can help them and how you haved helped people like them.

If you are a consultant, a trainer, a coach, a facilitator you need a digital space where people can find reasons to connect with you and contact you.

Many people make the mistake of deciding what they want from their website rather than what their prospect needs.

In fact, you don’t want a website. You want a system that attracts people to engage with you so you can convert them to paying customers

In today’s episode:

What the difference is between a web page and a landing page

How to to convert visitors into prospects

What you need on the front end and on the back end of your site

Which kinds of software can capture visitors details

What lead magnets are and how to use them to attract clients

What the difference is between organic and paid traffic

Fascinating conversation today with Jonathan Halls author of Confessions of a Corporate Trainer.

Jonathan is a Master Trainer and has developed his own models to help facilitate great learning experiences.

I asked Jonathan about how we as learning professionals can flip things around from trainer centric learning to learner-centric learning.

What does this mean? It means that we become conscious of the need to step back and step out of the way so that our clients become the centre of attention.

When we do this, amazing things can happen

In today’s episode:

How can you get results outside of the classroom

What is the flipped classroom model

What does Jonathan mean by the term extended classroom

How can you get learners to think more for themselves

What should you be telling learning stakeholders

Why you need to rethink how learning takes place

Check it out now!

Today, we’re talking to Brandon Carson, Director of Learning at Delta Air Lines, author of Learning in the Age of Immediacyfrom 2017 which focused on five factors transforming the modern workplace; learning technologies like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.

Brandon’s new book L&D’s Playbook for the Digital Age helps makes the case why corporate learning and development needs to reorientate itself for the digital age and lays out a tactical ‘playbook’ that you can apply in your learning & development practice.

Not least, Brandon is also co-founding director of L&D Cares, a network to help learning professionals like you and me in these difficult pandemic times. And right now, there are plenty of people in our training community who can do with help.

In today’s episode

How L&D can prepare itself for the Digital Age

What’s technologies will shape corporate learning

Who is L&D Cares for and how can it help you?

Check out the episode now (Link in comments)

I’ve no crystal ball.

Nobody does but that shouldn’t stop us asking which learning trends will be hot in the workplace of the near future

Learning Analytics?

Learning Platforms?

Augmented Reality?

Virtual Reality?

Social Learning?

More importantly for you, we should be asking ourselves how these L&D trends will impact your talent-development business and those of your clients

Today’s guest is Don Taylor, Chair of the Learning Technologies Conference, Chair of the Learning & Skills Group and Chair of the board of the Learning & Performance Institute.

Don is going to share critical results from his annual GSS Global Sentiment Survey which goes our every year to 000’s of Learning & Development stakeholders to help paint a picture of what the talent development community - people like your clients - think are the hot trends in the near future.

In today’s episode:

Which are the key findings from the GSS Global Sentiment Survey 2021

What do they mean for the future of workplace learning?

How do they affect you and your clients business?

Listen now! Link in the comments!

Most small business owners don’t think of themselves as content producers but today’s guest Joe Pulizzi, author of the bestselling book Content Inc thinks that you should start thinking that way.

Strategy is about knowing what people need to read, hear and think so they want to work you and buy from you.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a coach, consultant or trainer. It doesn’t matter what kind of business you’re in.

You’re probably already including some kind of blog posts on social media content to people you want to attract clients. But is it the best stuff you have?

It probably isn’t and that’s a mistake. Joe says that you want to give away your best stuff. You do that by focusing on the content that solves costly problems.

Check out the rest of Joe’s advice so you can start creating posts and content that makes you stand out.

In today’s episode:

What exactly is content marketing

Why consultants need to create a media brand

How do you write content that wins subscribers

What do great articles and posts look like

Why consistency really matters to your audience

What Joe means by your ‘content tilt’

Why should you give your best content away

How newsletters can help you attract clients

When you are running an effectively facilitated remote learning experience, there is all the check-listing beforehand, the technology, the design, the logistics. Sure, you can do that yourself. But is it the most effective use of your time?

You might have to look after screen-sharing, comments in the chatroom, polling, breakouts, reactions, late-comers, troubleshooting, email in the background. That’s a lot to handle. When it comes to delivering high-value remote training that can be too much to handle.

This week’s guest is Kassy LaBorie, a virtual classroom master trainer, a former senior trainer at WebEx, and a past Director of Virtual Training Services at Dale Carnegie. Kassy has written a book on it: Producing Virtual Training, Meetings, and Webinars: Master the Technology to Engage Participants.

Today’s episode is going to shake up your ideas about your role in delivering remotely to your clients, and it’s going to give you some fresh ones as well!

Peter Carlin co-founded LogicEarth an e-learning company in the middle of a global recession over 10 years ago. It was a difficult time to launch an online education business but Peter saw a massive gap in the market.

Working for BT (British Telecom), Peter asked realised that spending on classroom-based training was falling. He asked himself: ’Is face-to-face learning the only option that we can give L&D buyers? Of course not!

Fast forward more than 10 years and LogicEarth is now part of the Creative Engagement Group following a successful sale of the business led by Peter and his team in Belfast. So what was the journey from there to here?

Peter has a great story to tell and it’s full of tips and pointers for you if you plan to grow and sell your elearning or facilitation business one day!

In today’s episode:

What exactly was the gap in the marketplace that Peter spotted?

What was it like to start a elearning business in a difficult time?

How Peter and business partner Paul McKay got their first clients

What was it like taking on their first employees?

How Peter and Paul funded their startup early on

Who approached LogicEarth to acquire the business?

Why Peter felt some buyers were not right for them

What convinced LogicEarth to sell to Creative Engagement Group?

Check out the episode now!

My mother was a teacher. The she became a trainer. She absolutely loved it! And both my grandfathers were teachers. So maybe there is something in my genes which I have inherited that makes me a good trainer and facilitator.

One thing is for sure: teaching, training, facilitation are all closely interlinked. Teachers have learned to be great communicators. Teachers have a passion for helping people to develop. Teachers care about the impact that lessons and guidance have on others.

What about you? Were you a teacher or Lecturer in a past life? Are you a teacher now and thinking of setting up your own facilitation or training business. Great! Today’s guest, Lisa Spinelli has written a book on the subject and is going to help you succeed! Teachers to Trainers: Apply Your Passion and Skills to a New Career

In today’s episode:

Why you might be thinking of transitioning to training from teaching

What kinds of challenges you may face

Which transferable skills you can use right away

Where to find resources to help you make the switch

Which possible career paths exist for you right now

How you can get started planning right away

Check out the episode now

#corporatetrainer #facilitator #facilitation #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

As a facilitator or learning designer, your stories connect you and your subject to your audience. They are about you but not for you according to today’s guest, Hadiya Nuriddin.

Hadiya is a storytelling expert and speaks at national conferences on learning and development topics, specifically storytelling for facilitators and quality control & assurance for learning teams.

She is the author of StoryTraining: Selecting and Shaping Stories that Connect, published by ATD. Hadiya has so much to share with you to help you use the power of storytelling in your next trainings.

In today’s episode:

How to build a story ‘spine’ that works

What do do to create a storytelling environment

Why ‘meaning’ really matters in storytelling

How to get better at getting stories from people

Why stories create headlights not spotlights

What to do to generate a better response in facilitation

How to help people tell their own stories

Check out the episode now! (Link in comments)

#corporatetrainer #facilitator #facilitation #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Have you ever asked your audience how they rate your ability to listen to them?

Are you conscious of your ability to listen critically? It’s tempting to do all the speaking as a trainer or facilitator, isn’t it?

Often the best feedback I am given is not based upon something that’s come out of my mouth. It’s because I’ve created an environment where people feel that they can be heard and understood.

If you want to get people to listen to you, you have to start by listening to them.

Today’s guest is Julian Treasure, 5 times TED speaker, and he’s going to give you some key tips to speak so people want to listen to you.

In today’s episode

How you can learn critical listening

7 deadly sins of speaking

4 foundations of powerful speaking

The importance of sound in your workshops and trainings

How sound can help your business productivity

Why you should care about HAIL and RASA

How you can get money off Julian’s course

#corporatetrainer #facilitator #facilitation #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Leanne Hughes is a trainer and facilitator based Brisbane Australia

She is also an experienced facilitator and host of the #first time facilitator podcast

I’ve asked Leanne on the show today to share 7 things she’s learnt since starting her own training business and facilitation business. It’s a great chat!

In today’s episode

Why you don’t have to stay busy all the time

What constructive delusion means

Why you need to be agile in your business

How to ask for a great referral from clients

Why social proof is King as a facilitator

How to use LinkedIn to build relationships

Where you can protect your time and energy

Why are no screen day every week helps your mind

We’re also going to mention some resources and great books you can check out to help your facilitation brand

#corporatetrainer #facilitator #facilitation #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer

As trainers, coaches and facilitators, we do what we love to do!

I have always thought of training as a privilege. Do you agree?

You help people to be the best that they can be and you do this through your programs and workshops.

But you don’t do it purely because you love it.

You train and coach because it makes you money. It’s your business, right?

Your business pays the bills and helps create the lifestyle you aspire to.

But will you do it forever? When will you take a sabbatical? When will you exit?

Many of us as trainers aren’t looking to the horizon.

Instead, we are knee-deep in day-to-day delivery and design.

So, let me ask you a hard question right now…

Could your business survive without your for a day or a week (or even a year)?

For many trainers and facilitators, the honest answer is ‘no’.

If you are however interested in learning how to building a business you can sell on, you need to listen to today’s guest best-selling author and business-selling expert @johnwarrillow.

In today’s episode

What the freedom point for you is
Why you need to start thinking about your exit now
Why generating recurring subscription revenue is key
What a buyer will look for when buying your business
The mindset you need to create a business others want
Some examples of training companies that sold for millions

This is a value packed episode so leave a rating, share the episode and subscribe to the show!

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #facilitator #facilitation #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

How is your remote training / facilitation going?

What are the guidelines or ‘rules’ to move it from standard training to really radical learning?

@Joshua Davies is today’s guest and he’s written a book on the subject called Radically Remote.

The timing is perfect, now that we as facilitators are delivering workshops from behind laptops, desktops and web cams.

When your learners are meeting family, friends and holding meetings on Zoom, you know you have to be different.

We can’t deliver training and facilitation like we used to.

It’s time to rethink the quality of the learner experience and to stretch the paradigm.

It’s time to get radical!

In today’s episode

How to use technology to build authenticity
Where to have better breakout sessions
5 ‘dont’s’ for a brilliant remote session
How to gameify your facilitation session
What to do to creating learner ownership & momentum

This is a value packed episode so leave a rating, share the episode and subscribe to the show!

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #facilitator #facilitation #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Do you every draw when facilitating OR maybe you get your delegates to draw ?

How are your artistic skills?

My drawing skills are not the greatest but that’s no excuse not to draw.

As qualified facilitators, we know that adults need visual information to learn.

infographics, charts, mindmaps, sticky notes, wordclouds: these are all visual tools.

You can use them to bring your training to life.

But what about livescribing and richdrawing?

I had never heard of them until I spoke with today’s podcast guest, Hannah Williams.

Hannah works with clients to capture their spoken ideas and transform them into pictures.

She helps facilitators and consultants to offer a visual service to their workshops.

Unique, bespoke story graphs of customer journeys, strategic plans, the sky is the limit.

In today’s episode:

What is the value to you and your clients of offering powerful livescribing?

Why should you as a facilitator create visual information?

How more than ever, remote facilitation needs images and pictures

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #facilitator #facilitation #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Businesses now have different expectations of training delivery.

Before the pandemic, your clients were happy to pay you to spend a day or a half-day on site with their people, right?

But you now have to deliver a training and facilitation experience under a completely different set of circumstances.

You and everyone else is behind a laptop screen or camera these days.

So because your customers are more open than ever before to remote collaboration, you need to master tools like Miro.

I was blown away when I first saw Miro in action!

My students were not expecting anything like it.

This is why we have Isman Tanuri, a Miro specialist on the show today!

Isman is going to help you get started with Miro so you can absolutely revolutionise your workshop delivery.

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #facilitator #facilitation #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

You are a faciliator. You are a coach. You are a trainer.

You are an expert and you know your subject.

But do you design your own content? Your workshops? Your programs?

Can you design your own content?

Can you come up with ideas on your own?

Do you need help to translate them into a product you can sell?

A lot of us don’t find it easy to come up with ideas and to convert them into reality.

I am putting my hand up here!

So do you need help with that?

Today’s guest, Cat Hase helps people like you and me to come up with great ideas, co-create ideas and get them into a workable product.

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #facilitator #facilitation #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

For a long time, I have meant to have a guest on to talk about values.

Not just personal values but professional values.

What are your business and personal values?

How did you discover them?

Why do they matter and why should you share them?

You might wonder what your values to do with your business.

The answer is that they matter a lot actually

Today’s guest is Mark Hughes who runs his own consultancy in the UK.

Mark left the corporate world as a consultant with McKinsey and decided to become a trainer working with social enterprises.

Listen now to find out how your values can have a significant influence on your choice of work and the success you enjoy.

This is episode 126 of the TB

#corporatetrainer #facilitator #facilitation #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

According to Gartner only 17% of buyers’ time is spent speaking directly with suppliers.

What this means is that the people who buy training, coaching and facilitation do so when you are not there.

What they really want is to learn from people who are in the same job as them or the same industry as them.

They want to learn from their peers, from industry leaders, from thought-leaders.

What if you could facilitate an event where you get to learn exactly what your prospects and their peers are thinking?

This is where running a virtual round table for your facilitation business comes in

A virtual round table is not for your prospects and customers to learn from you

It’s for your prospects to learn from each other and for you to learn from them.

When the time is right, you can use this network and influence to help you sell your products and services.

Check out the episode now!

Have you plans for your business this year?

Are they still in your head or have you written them down?

Have you a list of goals and a clear idea of how you are going to achieve them?

You need a system to decide your revenue goals, marketing goals, development goals and relationship goals.

Annie Clarke of Annies Training Company in the UK has a system which she follows every year.

She launched her training business 6 years ago and has seen it grow

Annie now has help from virtual assistants and a team of associates who deliver on her behalf.

Today:

Which valuable lessons she learned in the first 6 years

Which method Annie uses to devise her goals

How Annie’s ‘WOOP’ and ‘POOP’ system helps

Which tasks she allocates to a VA to free her up

How Annie got into the training business

How Annie has managed to take every Friday off

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Today’s interview is with Sheryl Newman, Principal and founder of Appetite for Business, a Microsoft 365 Consultancy and #Training business based in Aberdeen in Scotland.

Sheryl’s business has won training contracts for multinational vendors across multiple countries.

She won leader of the year in technology in Scotland in 2018 and Business of the Year Scotland for a business more than 3 years old.

And Sheryl has been a finalist for the Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

But it’s the story of Sheryl and how she has built the business that’s really impressive.

Today:

How Sheryl spotted an opportunity in the training market

How she has built an award winning business in just 4 years

How she has tendered for and won training contracts

Check out the episode now

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

How do you achieve work-life balance?

Caroline Laycock is a trainer and productivity expert.

She works as an associate for several brands and manages her own direct clients

She has worked with clients such as Dyson, British Gas and Shell.

Caroline’s training helps busy people to lead productive lives.

As a Mum, Caroline has to juggle her training business with her kids schooling, and domestic life. Not easy.

So as a self-employed trainer or facilitator, how do you get things done whilst having a life?

That’s what today is all about. Running your training business and living a life.

We’re going to give you some key ideas to help you be both profitable and productive!

Check out the episode now! (Link in comments)

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

In a world of digital distraction, your have to ‘stand-out’ from the ‘drown-out’ of information overwhelm.

As a business owner, you have to separate yourself from other people’s messages.

ironically, the solution to brilliant prospecting - to winning new training clients is not technological or anything modern.

It’s a human-skill as old as humanity itself.

The good news is that you already possess the skill to win new clients

It’s the art of story-telling.

Today I'm going to give you:

5 things great stories do
3 qualities stories must have
3 kinds of stories you need
3 steps to building a story

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Today’s guest is Craig Ross, CEO of Verus Global in Colorado.

Craig leads Verus Global, an international training company more than 25 years in business.

You’re going to spend some time with Craig and me today as we share what has made Verus Global successful

You're also going to find out which lessons Craig has learned including:

How important it is to have intellectual property

How Verus has attracted Fortune 500 clients

How writing books has generated leads and revenue

Michael Bungay Stanier, CEO of Box of Crayons and Author of The Coaching Habit was kind enough to suggest I invite Craig to be my guest today.

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Hope you enjoyed Eps 118 with Luke Smith of Simply Converting last week.

We gave you key tips to understand and use Facebook ads to attract training clients.

Today, we’re bringing you the second last episode of the year.

This is the third year of the training business podcast.

In less than 10 days, it’s the start of another full year, maybe an unpredictable year.

Let’s look at what the key lessons from 2020 so you can make 2021 your most productive, happiest and fulfilling training business year ever? Ok?

This is episode 119 of the TB

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Facebook is everywhere. You more than likely have a FB account.

Whether on desktop or mobile, Facebook has ads in your feed.

That’s how they make money from people like you and me.

What’s it like to be someone who creates those ads?

What kinds of ads work on Facebook?

What makes a good ad and how to you go about creating one that gets consultancy work to your door?

I’ve tried running them before myself - you can do that - OR you can hire an expert.

I work with an expert in Google Ads but I put my hand up when I tell you that I am not clued up on Facebook ads.

Luckily, I know a guy who does. His name is Luke Smith of Simplyconverting.com and Luke is my guest today.

In the next 35 mins, We’re going to give you the foundations of running FB ads for your business. .

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

I was thinking about some of the things we haven't covered so far here on the show.

What helped me in my business this year is having someone to talk to and also someone to copy or emulate

You know what a trainer is and you probably know what the coaches but what about mentoring?

What does a mentor do and why would you want one for your training business?

Well it turns out that having a mentor is going to help you move forward more quickly than you would imagine.

Today I'm speaking with Kay Littlehales in the UK who has been for training years but decided this year that she needed mentoring for her training business

Together, we’re going to give you ideas on what a mentor can do for your training and facilitation business, how to find one and how to work with them

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Today’s story is different. Why?

Many people I have on the show are running a small #training business.

Some guests I have had run a multi-person training business

I’m thinking of past guests including:

JoEllen Grzyb of Impact Factory
Grant Cardone of Cardone University
Nick Smallman of Working Voices ..and many more

But it’s wonderful to chat to two people who are in between

Transitioning from a small team to a multi-person blended-learning business earning 10s of millions in revenue annually.

My guests today are Russell Watkins and Stephanie Watkins of Sempai

Steph and Russell are a couple in the UK who are taking their 3-person #LEANconsultancy brand, transforming it and scaling it into a multi-million pound #digital training business.

We’re going to talk about:

What their brand means
Who needs what they do
What they see as a massive market opportunity

So if want to hear a great story of exactly why and how 2 people are scaling up their training #business - then you’re really going to enjoy this!

Check out the episode now! (link in comments)

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance#trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment#learninganddevelopment

Today, I get chatting with Leslie Riley, a former Captain in the @US army who flew helicopters

I was curious how Leslie's being a former officer and a graduate of Westpoint has helped her grow her #leadership training business.

Leslie’s brand is @LeadLikeAGirl and she specializes in delivering leadership through everyday experiences and stories

With Leslie’s career to date in the army, in the media as a TV producer and a Director Sales and Marketing, Leslie has more than a few stories to tell.

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Today’s guest is Trevor Ragan of Train Ugly

One of my listeners asked me to have Trevor on the show and I can see why.

Trevor almost singlehandedly has built a brand around the topics of learning and growth mindset.

He was worked with clients such as Pepsi and Ferrari, Microsoft and the United Nations.

He has given talks in prisons and schools, delivered workshops and keynotes.

But how does he win clients and why does he have two brands in the marketplace?

We’re going to cover all these things and more.

Check out the episode now

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

How often do you worry about evaluation sheets or happy sheets?

As a professional trainer you are usually asked to get your training delegates to fill them in.

It’s so easy to obsess about the things people say about us or workshops, right?

We all want 10/10 or 5 stars etc. But you don’t always get them do you?

You can so easily feel depressed when one or two people give you a negative score.

But what really matters is whether your training has helped people to achieve objectives.

So how can you find out what people really think of your training?

Today, Andy Edwards a highly-experienced trainer is going to share his ideas with you so you can focus on what really matters.

This is episode 114 of the TrainingBusiness podcast

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Have you written a book yet? Would you like to write one?

If you are thinking of writing a book, this is the episode for you.

Many well-known coaches, trainers and consultants have written a book and sometimes several books.

Whilst you may never make the top of the New York Times bestselling business book list, you may find that your book opens up new avenues and helps you to attract new clients.

Your business book can help you to formulate your training or coaching system and convince potential customers that you are the person that they need.

Today’s guest Alison Jones is founder of Practical Inspiration Publishing and Head Judge of the Business Book Awards in the UK.

Alison is going to walk you through the process of creating a book, getting it out there and generating leads for your business.

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

It’s not very often that I have a husband and wife on the show at the same time - last time was with Jack and Patti Phillips of the RoI Institute back in eps 69: Measuring the return on training investment.

But today I have Tessa Sharp and Keith Jones, co-authors of Provoke - The Art of Transformative Facilitation - Creating Dynanmic Learning in the Corporate World

The material in a book is interesting, often transformative.

But the question is whether having one actually generates revenue.

Has writing Provoke lead to training business opportunities for Tess and Keith and it appears that it has.

What does their business do, who needs what they do and how has their book increased their sales. That’s some of what we’re going to cover in this next hour.

Check out the episode now

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

I was recently online in a Zoom Room as part of a 4-person team putting together a design outline for a workshop for a corporate client.

The term action-learning was mentioned and I thought what is that term?

I have heard it before, but I don’t know where... and I don’t know what it means.

I need to have someone on the show who does. So we have!

Shannon Banks is VP & Director Scholarship and Grants World Institute of Action Learning which is based in Washington DC.

Shannon herself is based in the UK from where she runs her own training business Be Leadership.

And that’s something else we’re going to share with you this morning: how Shannon started her training business journey, how she’s growing it and where she’s taking it next.

This is episode 110 of the TB

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Today’s guest, Miranda Cain reckons that 2020 has been the right year to start a training business - not on her own but with 7 fellow directors.

Miranda was Director of Operations and People for Blue Sky Performance in the UK until it was acquired by international BPO giant Capita PLC.

And that eventually was the catalyst for Miranda and her 7 colleagues to set up Elev-8. Great name!

Today we're sharing the story of how Miranda and the team started, what they are doing now to build the business and where they are going next!

Lots of inspiration and ideas for you!

This is episode 109 of the TB podcast

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Denice Whiteley is back for part 3 of our series on helping you set up, market and launch your online course

Tons of people creating income from their subject matter expertise.

As a trainer, you have this knowledge. So why not put into a product?

If you are in the process of planning, designing or just about to #launch your course, Denice’s topic today is going to help.

Remember to check out the other 2 episodes.

Grab a pen and let’s go!

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

Today, guest is Gina London, former CNN Colorado Bureau Chief, Anchor and now communincation training consultancy owner.

Clients such as Salesforce, Heineken and Google entrust the development of her senior people to her.

Gina made the jump from working for others to running her own business and is now building out her team and bringing others into her business.

It's a great story and you’re going to come away with ideas and solid inspiration.

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

I would rather get a 1-page training proposal in someone’s hands ASAP rather than take 3 hours to write one then send it via snail-mail.

With tools like GDrive, you can share a simple outline which they can see rather than wait several days for the post to arrive.

If you get a rough draft in someone's hands - literally the same hour or day - they can give your helpful advice and guidance on how to improve it.

That’s what happened this week and I won the training contract. So what could a 1-page training proposal look like?

Today, we’re going to cover this in 30 mins or less!

Did you get last week’s episode? My guest Denice Whiteley and I gave you a walk through of the technology and steps to help you set up your online course.

Today, Denice is back again for part 2. We're going to look at how you can market your online course.

This means developing your content calendar, lead-magnets, paid-ads, bonuses and so much more.

If you are wondering how to get your message about your course out there to the right people, that’s what today is all about!

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

With most training programs being delivered online instead of face-to-face, there is a huge market for online courses, which means a huge market for online course creators like you

The part that most course creators fear is the tech.

What platform do I use? What is an LMS?

How do I host my videos?

How do I get paid? etc etc.

The technology side of things is a natural source of fear….

The good news there are people out there who can take the tech side of things off your plate.

This is what Denice Whiteley (our guest today) does for her clients.

Today, we’re going to take away any fear of tech and help you to set up your online course.

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

This summer, kitchen tables, bedroom desks, cafés, hotel lobbies and umpteen other places have become makeshift offices for independent trainers and coaches like you and me.

We are now mostly at home and our training clients are mostly at home. Offices have been closed and there has been a radical shift in how we train people.

What's it been like for you to run your training business from your home environment? For many of us, it has been difficult.

Today, I want to share some ideas on how you can make working from home work for you!

Check out the episode now!

Video is exploding right now. In the absence of face-to-face communication people are looking to technology to come up with cool ways to allow us to connect with our customers with video messaging.

You can demonstrate your training products, follow-up with prospects, create testimonials, generate new leads creatively through video marketing and much more.

One such solution is the wildly-popular Loom.

Today, you’re going to learn 5 ways you can use the power of Loom in your training business

Check out today's episode now!

Recently, a trainer asked me whether I thought she was 'ready' to hire a trainer to train her training programs.

So I asked her some questions: Do you know your client’s needs? Does your client trust your judgement? She said yes to both questions. So I said: You are ready.

But the question is not whether you are ready. The question is whether the person you going to hire as a trainer is ready.

Because this person is going to represent your brand. S/he is going to deliver your training material on front of your clients. Do you think they are ready?

Today, I’m going to give you the advice I gave her, so you can hire a trainer good enough to train your programs to your clients.

Check out episode 101 now!

Have you noticed how Zoom has dominated training delivery this year?

We are in the middle of a 'Zoom Boom' with organisations adopting Zoom as the preferred platform for running training, coaching, mentoring: 1:1 sessions and group sessions.

I have run 4 group sessions already this week - all on Zoom. 19 sessions in total in August. That does not include dozens of coaching sessions.

How about you?

This 'Zoom Boom' is not going away any time soon. It could be the way that we are training for months or several years to come

Zoom can be fun but there are limitations to Zoom - let’s be honest. I’ve made mistakes and I have learned from taking part in some really good sessions

So today, I’m going to give you 7 tips on how to run a training session on Zoom.

Check out the episode now

Many trainers nowadays making the leap from employed to self-employed and a problem many have is this little voice in their head saying that I can’t charge this? It’s too much. They will never pay this.

If you are making the leap from the world of being an employee to being a self-employed trainer, there is defintley a mental shift involved.

You look at your pay-check and tell yourself that you are worth $250 dollars a day. But that’s a mistake when you could be charging $5000 or more a day.

Today’s guest is Murray Cowell with whom I have worked in a previous life. We have both worked as L&D Managers, hiring trainers to deliver training so we know the value of the training you sell to people like us.

It’s more than you think.

The good news is that there are so many things that trainers can charge for than just the training element and that’s what we are going to help you with today.

Check out the episode now

Organisations invest thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars, pounds, euros annually on training interventions.

Time and time again I’ve seen organisations invest in the wrong things and for the wrong reasons.

Very often the people who commission training are not the people who understand the training or benefit from training.

We both know that Training often is incorrectly assumed to be the fix for a range of structural and behavioural problems.

As training providers, we want to be sure that what we are delivering is not just a product, but a solution.

What we should be doing more of is helping our clients to clarify what they really need help with right now.

We’re not talking about post - training evaluation. We’re focusing on the kinds of surveys we don’t do enough of - pre-training surveys.

Thankfully there are lots of tools which can help you to conduct employee surveys.

Today I’m going to outline how employee surveys can help your training business and your client, and how to do them!

Check out the episode now!

Facebook has been around a long time and Facebook groups have been around long time so it’s high time that there was a TrainingBusiness Facebook group too.

We’ve just launched a small, intimate free, private Facebook Group for training business owners just like you.

Over the coming months, there will be a focus on building our FB community through competitions, challenges, announcements, training and 1:1 coaching. I’m quite excited about it and I want you to be excited too!

If you are interested in building your training business with the help of others just like you, apply to join today!

Check out the episode now!

Ben Hunt-Davis won an Olympic Gold Medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in rowing.

That victory inspired the publication of a book called #willitmaketheboatgofaster co-written with @harrietbeveridge

Naturally, Ben took the principles of leadership on-board (excuse the pun) and realised the market opportunity for developing a leadership brand WillItMakeTheBoatGoFaster

Today, you are going to learn from Ben about:

how he created a training company from scratch
how he hired people and grew the brand
how he and Tom attract quality clients

Check out the episode now!

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #trainers #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment

We are half-way through year. 2020 is a leap year so that makes 366 days in total.

Today, July 9 is day 191 of Week 28. That means 51.91 % of year or 175 days remain.

Are you on track to achieve your revenue goals and business goals in the time left?

By the end of this year, you could have acnieved some amazing results.

To that end, John Lee Dumas, author of the Amazon Best Selling Freedom Journal is our guest today

Together with John, I’m going to give you a very simple timeline for setting meaningful goals for the next year half.. 10 day sprints, quarterly reviews and 100 day goals

This is episode 95 of the Training Business Podcast

#corporatetrainer #trainertalk #trainingbusiness #marketing #freelancetrainers

#trainers #coaching #freelance #trainer #freelancetrainer #traininganddevelopment #learninganddevelopment #trainingprofessional

When people engage with you as potential customers, what they're really looking for are results. What does your training business promised them? What can your training business deliver to them? If they pay money what return on investment do they get?

I have made the mistake of throwing up a website and hoping that people find the way to my door. I've put time and money into a nice design and a website with great functionality only to find that it doesn't really deliver anything.

So that's the first realisation. People are not interested in your website. They're not really interested even in your products or services are they?

What they're interested in is results. What they are asking is this: if I take this leap of faith in you and bring you in to my company and stand you up in front of my people, how do I know that you will deliver? Where is the proof?

It's that last question that's crucial to answer. The best proof that your training programs get results is proof that your training programs get results. What better proof than a case-study.

Today I'm going to give you 7 steps, step-by-step on how to put a case study together and get it on front of your prospects so that they reach out to you for a conversation.

Check out the podcast episode now!

I have always had this fantasy - ok it’s more than a fantasy - to start my own conference - you know to have dozens, a hundred or even hundreds of people who are at my conference and have paid to be there.

I have been a speaker at several conferences and I am certainly interested in being a speaker at more conferences.

What about you? Is this something you would like? Is it a goal? An ambition? What would that do for your business?

What about making you money? Very few of the conferences I have attended are started on the basis of making the organiser some money. If they do, it’s a nice bonus. As long as they cover costs, that’s the main financial consideration.

But here’s what starting your own conference network will do:

At the very least it’s going to raise your profile
It’s going to change how other people see you
It’s going to allow you to connect with amazing people

Today’s guest Yota Trom is going to share with you how she came to start her own network step-by-step, the success she has seen to date and where’s she’s taking it next. Big plans!

Check out the episode now

The Coaching Habit is a book I read recently. I have read it several times. It’s not a complex book - which is good news when you want a book intended to help practicioners.

It is a simple book. It is a powerful book. It gives you an understanding of how you can use coaching questions to get more from yourself and your team. For that reason, it has gone down a storm with companies who want their managers to adopt a coaching style of leadership.

But….more importantly is the story of the man behind the book and the man behind the training business

Today’s guest is Michael Bungay Stanier who started Box of Crayons his training business completely on his own in Ontario in 2002 and has since built it to an international success story

He has a team of facilitators running his programs worldwide on his behalf for clients like CitiBank, HBO, Nestlé, Yahoo, American Express.

So how did he do it? That’s what today is all about.

Check out the episode now!

I've gotten great feedback from listeners to the show recently about the conversations with trainers. We've had some high-profile guests on the show such as Neil Patel, Marshall Goldsmith, Grant Cardone.

And we have Michael Bungay Stanier best selling author and founder the training company Box of Crayons on the show in two weeks time.

But what you seem to really like are conversations with other training business owners because this is a chance to find out what people like you and I are doing, whom they serve and what is working for them in their training business.

I love episodes like this as well because it gives me a chance to speak introduce you to Training business owners in my training network.

Today it’s 30 mins of training business talk with Executive Coach & Consultant Vicky Harris from the UK.

Check out the episode now!

Leadership training with horses, seriously? Just when you think you have heard everything there is to know about the training business, you realise that there are people selling training programs and learning experiences in environments and in ways that you had not realised were possible.

I had never thought of leadership as something which can be delivered through interaction with animals. For many people, animals tend to invoke irrational fear. Yet for others, working with these gentle, silent beings brings out feelings and confidence that does not emerge readily from working with humans alone.

I know of two training businesses that deliver leadership training through having their paid clients working with horses and it's my pleasure to have a guest on today's episode who is going to explain to you how she came to build a training business around leadership training with horses.

And because Jude is also a published author, you’re also going to learn how writing a book has attrracted new clients and increased her revenue dramatically.

Check out today's episode now

Linkedin is chock-a-block full of people’s stories at the moment - not just the usual self-promotion and advertising - there are a lot of human-interest stories as people are publically coming to terms with being laid off or being furloughed - which is what happended to Lorna Gamman today’s guest

I can’t recall having heard that term before the COVID-19 pandemic, but that’s one of the things which has emerged from this situation, new language, new terminology but also new mindset, better mindset and a stronger mindset.

Lorna wrote a post on LinkedIn which took a glass-half-full perspective - that being furloughed actually is an opportunity to rethink what you are doing, why you are doing what you are doing and what you can and want do next. It is in many respects, an opportunity to reinvent yourself as a learning professional

Check out the episode now!

How are you doing this week? There are signs that restrictions have been lifted here. Shops are opening and some businesses are reopening although it's going to be to a very different world.

Some of the trainers I have been speaking to I doing okay, some are doing well and some are not doing so well.

Many trainers have no idea where money is going to come in the summer months because the summer months are sometimes dry months and they're dreading September particularly if there are no on-site training programs.

Everyone is scrambling to produce programs and deliver programs online, but as I explained last week or the week before, I think that many programs are not transferable to an online environment.

We may have to deliver training online for the forseeable future. That is one challenge in itself.

But, we need to learn how to sell our training online as well. That is going to be a massive challenge for some and a massive opportunity for others.

Are you ready for the future of selling your training programs online?

Subscribe to the podcast today!

Following an online networking group with other trainers last week, I realise that the one constant in this sea of variables, is that actually no one really knows what next quarter looks like. We are slap bang in a VUCA environment.

What does VUCA mean?

I have delivered training programs for the military before and one term which has been mentioned several times in conversations with military learning and development consultants is the term ‘VUCA’ which stands for Volatile. Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.

So that's what today is all about. What to do when the training world is VUCA. I’ve got three ideas that will help your learning and development business survive.

This is Eps 87 of the TBC!

Mark

p.s. Subscribe to the show today to get the heads-up on new episodes with tips for training and coaching business owners and just like you.

You are on LinkedIn and so are 690M other users. I've been a member since 2006. That's a long time in Internet years. But what is LinkedIn Sales Navigator?

I delivered a sales workshop in Utrecht in the Netherlands in February 2020 but not one person had heard of it. Then I delivered a 2-day sales programme in Fort Worth in October. No one there had heard of LinkedIn Sales Navigator either.

Then an online workshop online in April and no one had heard of it all. So is LinkedIn Sales Navigator perhaps LinkedIn’s best kept secret? If you are a consultant, trainer, coach, LinkedIn Sales Navigator might open your eyes.

I have brought a LinkedIn expert to you today to give you 5 actionable tips to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to get more leads for your training business.

Check out the episode here bit.ly/trnbsncm

Thanks for listening. Enjoy the episode!

Mark

p.s. Subscribe to the show today to get the heads-up on new episodes with tips for training and coaching business owners and just like you.

How well do people know you? How well your clients know you? How well do you know and understand yourself?

Personality testing or psychometric evaluation is frequently used as a tool by organisations to assess the qualities and capabilities of their people.If you think about it, the most complex and effective investment any business can make is the investment it makes in its people.

Increasingly, many of your clients are using tools like Discovery Insights, MBTI and 16P to help better manage people and identify leaders in their business.

Helping people to be more self-aware and able to navigate the complexities of working with, managing and leading others is crucial.

Today, I'm going to explain how you can enhance your training services by offering personality profiling and how to sell it as part of your learning and development business.

Check out the episode here bit.ly/trnbsncm

Thanks for listening.

Enjoy the episode!

Mark

p.s. Subscribe to the show today to get the heads-up on new episodes with tips for training and coaching business owners and just like you.

Right now - wherever you are listening to this - at home, in bed, on the commute to work (if you're still working) or perhaps you're sitting out in the garden if you're lucky to have one, things are economically, financially and personally tough!

You don't need me to tell you that your learning and development business is not where you thought it would be this time last year.

A good deal of my coaching and training work has been cancelled or postponed. Is that true for you? I hope not.

But if our clients don’t need us right now, that is not to say that they won’t again soon.

Your clients will need you again!

Good times or bad times, we need to keep on keeping on and use the power of habit to get into the habit of doing things that focus your mind and keep you busy marketing and selling your training and development services when everything around you is up in the air.

Today I'm going to give you five pretty straightforward habits to keep you focused, keep you on your toes and doing the things which will strengthen your business mindset.

Best wishes, Mark

       Think of the most enduring business relationships you have had. What were they like? Do you still have them? What is it about them that has made them last this long? If you asked your client: Why do you still work with me? What would they say? Have you ever asked a client that question? If you already know the answer to that question, you can keep on doing the right things right and attract even more clients who also feel that way about you. Today, I’m going to give you 5 tips to building lasting client relationships.

As someone running their own business, do you find that you are spending a lot of time on admin tasks? Are you the person doing your own website, content creation, social media output, appointment setting etc. etc.? If so, you are probably losing money and you may not even realise it. With a Virtual Assistant, you could hand over tasks to someone who can do them better, quicker and more cheaply. In today’s episode, we’re going to give you 5 key steps to hiring a VA to help you save time and money.

Today we're answering the question submitted to the show by a listener in the UK. If you're thinking of making the move from a corporate role to becoming a self-employed trainer, then this episode is for you!

Client testimonials are important but how do you get great ones? Testimonials are public declarations of professional opinion so you want the right ones. You don’t just want anyone’s opinion. Today, I'm giving you 5 steps to get great client testimonials.

Today I'm going to share with you some lessons I learned recently when a proposal I put together with a colleague failed to materialise.

When things beyond your control affect your business, what can you do to keep going?

One of the cornerstones in running your own business is having the kind of mindset that deals with adversity. Having the courage to start your own business and ask people to give you work. That’s a question of mindset. Having the strength to deal with rejection. That’s also question of mindset.
Today, I’m joined by Robbie Anderson a Performance Psychologist from Chimp Management in the UK and we’re going to tell you how your brain works, where the natural anxiety in running your business comes from, how to manage this anxiety or stress and how to replace your gremlins with a positive, productive mindset.

Boundaries denote or define what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. Today, I’m going to define what boundaries are, why you need them, what happens when you don’t have them and how to set boundaries with training client and with yourself.

How to let of client relationships and move on when things aren't working out

You want business from people who will give you the highest reward for your best work

Whom are you right for and who is right for your training business?

Is it ever ok to deliver training or consultancy at no charge?

Today is a masterclass for you to get new clients, qualify them and develop a sales mindset.

How to start your expert personal brand by working with great clients

Why proving level 5 training evaluation is essential for your business

How you can get your site online and on front of people looking for you

How to build an online funnel to drive qualified leads to your training business

How you can help your training and coaching clients to achieve excellence

Why your email list is a strategic asset that can grow your training business

What you can do to create actionable goals and develop an exciting plan for 2020

Do you deliver the same programs every time or do you consult to add real value?

How you can close more business deals by challenging and teaching customers

Why Ken Blanchard is the best-selling author of some of the most iconic books in leadership

We’re looking back at highlights from the first 60 episodes and who’s next on the show

How a French couple grew their training business from just 2 people to a team of 600 internationally

What exactly do you need to save time and get prospects to sign your training proposal?

What does the biggest name in sales training worldwide have to tell you about getting results?

How delivering world-class communications training to corporate clients has succeeded

Are you using the same old sales pitch to win businsess or is it time to try something better?

How do you ensure that the adults you train are harnessing their creativity?

Where do people go when they want to find training providers and training programs online?

What belongs in a training contract and why its important to include it and understand it.

Why would you want to take your expertise and experience and make money from the brand of you.

Making the business case for your training programs begins with training evaluation. Wendy Kirkpatrick tells you why.

We were curious about how international teams could work effectively together and felt that cultural-training was an opportunity in the corporate marketplace...

Read the trends I think that the workplace today is very much driven by the primary forces of digital technologies and globalization and that combination is creating a complex, inter-cultural environment.

So, where 'globalization' has been a major influence within organizations, digital technology has started to play a major role.

The idea of the borderless workplace is where people who are working in teams across different geographies and timezones need the kinds of skills and support for those environments.

Develop your idea "We were starting with an early-stage idea and we were focused on how we could turn that into a business idea.

Cultural intelligence has developed significantly very much in line with the way that organization in the workplace have changed.

What we have noticed over the course of our existence as a business, is the increasing adoption of digital technology".....

Now listen to the rest of the episode to learn more!....

Some takeaways for you today:

What brought Chris to the training business world
Why clients need cross-cultural collaboration training
How Chris has structured the TMA World operation
How your training can better serve international clients
How TMA World's attracts the right associates for the brand
Which business challenges require TMA World's unique help
Which unfair advantage TMA World has over competitors
Which marketing channel has been most rewarding

Some helpful resources for you:

TMA World- Corporate training website for TMA World
Country Navigator- Online cross-cultural training tool
LinkedIn- Chris Crosby's profile on LinkedIN
HBR Review- Article explaining Cultural Intelligence [2004]
Forbes- Why Cultural Intelligence Matters [2019]

If I am going to invest an hour in training, I ask myself how I can help 10 or 20 or 100 people in that same hour…..that’s what I focus on….

Scale your Model “One of the other things which I am starting to do now is to coach other coaches about how to do what I have done..which is how to create a scalable coaching model.

I was talking yesterday to a coach whom I am helping right now and he is ‘maxed-out’ now because the only way he can service clients is 1 to 1…. ”

Smash that Ceiling “I am helping this coach move from 1 to 1, to group coaching so that he can (one day) have 1000’s of clients which he can work with at any one time.

He can then smash that ceiling in terms of his income and earning potential, because most coaches stop at about 200K-300K.

If you develop a good model, you should easily be able to go past the $1 million mark and then to $5 million or $10 million once you get really good at scaling…”

Now listen to the rest of the episode to learn more!….

Listen to get these takeaways:

Why 2019 has been Dale’s most successful business year ever
How Dale built a multi-million dollar coaching business
Why you need to leverage and productize your training
Why delivering training by mobile device is the future
Why building apps is 10 x times harder than you think
What Dale is launching in 2020 and how it can help you
Where to begin with producing your own video library

Some helpful resources for you:

Dale Beaumont – Dale’s personal website with links and resources
Bizversity – Mobile business university with 2K+ videos
BusinessBluePrint – Coaching and community for business owners [AUS]
YouPreneur – Chris Ducker’s live event in London every year [UK]

How we can have better and more rewarding relationships with the people who pay for our training products and services?

I was curious about what is it that makes the perfect pitch. Tina was curious about what makes for high performing, teams and organisations. When we (as EdoMidas) got together, there was a real synergy.

Everyone has an opinion about what it is that creates high-performing individuals and organisations. There is no shortage of information out there, according to today’s guest, David McDermott, Managing Director of EdoMidas.

Over the course of 35 years in the training business, David (together with Co-Directors Nicola and Tina) has built a rock-solid reputation among the who’s-who of the professional services industry.

Power your referrals Banks, Investment Funds, Asset Managers, Insurance Giants call on David and his team of Business Psychologists and Consultants to help them in strategically vital areas such as negotiation skills, pitching skills.

Many training businesses would naturally covet such a reputation. (You would, wouldn’t you?)

But as David tells you, he tried many routes to market including hiring internal sales people. The one thing which worked …again and again and again….is the power of referral.

What that means for you as a training business owner is that you must ensure you find a way to systematically and ethically leverage your existing client work to get quality clients!

Listen back again (After you listen to the episode with David today, check out Episode 4 with Andy Lopata where Andy tells you how to be referred and recommended)

I am fortunate in that I have worked (and continue to work) with David and his team as an external consultant on projects over the course of several years.

So, it is a huge privilege that I have someone who has been a really good friend to me on today’s episode as a guest.

EdoMidas has a great story, so listen now to the full episode to hear the rest!

Some takeaways for you today:

What is it that makes the perfect business pitch?
How David and Tina had a Eureka! moment with the name EdoMidas
How David’s team comes up with training courses to bring to market
How EdoMidas settled on three core areas for training products
What David looks for when hiring external training consultants
Where he and his team is taking the EdoMidas brand next
Why evidence-based research legitimises your training material

Now listen to the rest of the episode to get the rest!

Some helpful resources for you:

EdoMidas – David’s Training Business in Edinburgh, Scotland
LinkedIn – EdoMidas’s LinkedIn Business Page
Recommended – Andy Lopata’s book to help you get referred [Amazon]

" I allowed my previous work experience in the corporate world to become a platform, from which I could move into developing my training brand…"

Step off slowly Before you ‘jump’ into starting your training business, it’s important to consider the reasons why you want to make this bold and ambitious move.

Some people dislike the constraints of a ‘j-o-b’ and feel that taking the leap into starting their own training brand will turn everything around.

So, before you feel tempted to ‘dive-in’, here are 6 basic questions to ask yourself:

Are there benefits, which you are leaving behind and can you live without them?
Do you really have to make a ‘break’ now or could you gently ‘transition’ instead?
What would a strategic, clever (slow) exit plan from your corporate role look like?
What is the ethical way to leverage your existing job to prepare you for success?
What will you do to you keep your current professional relationships intact?
Which skills can you ‘take’ with you or leverage to get your first pieces of work?

As Lisa tells us: “I think it’s really important, that if you have spent a long time in a particular field and have been quite successful in that field, that you ‘leverage’ it….”

“Don’t just say ‘oh no, I don’t want to do that anymore because I am a coach now or I am a trainer now….”

“Well, actually, you can train in the things that you did really well and this allows people to see you in the same area…”

The key point is to ‘step-off’ on your time and to your agenda… not to ‘jump off’ or to be pushed out on the basis of some one else’s agenda. Make sense?

Now listen to the full episode to learn more.

Biggest takeaways for you today:

How working in marketing gave Lisa the skills to start her training brand
How you can leave your current role in a way that sets you up for success
How you can get onto the panel of training providers in corporate
Why going to networking events is absolutely essential for you
How Lisa has used MBSR in her portfolio of training services
Why you need to build a network of other trainers to help you
What Lisa learns from going to sales meetings with prospects
How Lisa has survived the difficult years of starting her business

Now listen to the rest of the episode to get the rest!

Some helpful resources:

Lisa Hughes – Lisa’s professional profile on LinkedIN
Irish Times Training – Delivering corporate training programmes in Dublin [IRL]
CIPD – Chartered Institute of Professional Development [UK]
EMCC – European Mentoring and Coaching Council [EU]
Give & Take – Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant [Amazon]
MBSR – Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction [Wiki]
Oxford Mindfulness Centre – Mindfulness Research [UK]
Positive Success Group – Executive Coaching provider in Dublin [IRL]

What is NLP and how can the skillset help you in your coaching and training business? More importantly, how can you ensure it can make you money?

NLP is arguably a powerful skillset to have in your arsenal of competencies as a trainer.

Tim Robins – today’s guest – qualified in NLP and has found great success in using it to help himself. clients and friends over the years.

But, before you rush out and invest in any qualification like NLP, you need to run a cost-benefit analysis.

Run the numbers Here on this show, we are primarily concerned with your success as a business owner and that means running a profitable and sustainable training business.

Any investment in skills for your or your people has to be done on the basis that you are going to generate a return on investment in a reasonable period of time.

Make sense?

“To get to the NLP Trainer level, you are probably going to have to invest 15- 20K and at least three years. Many of the NLP Trainers I know say that it’s a constant battle to fill seats…”

In Episode 17, we talked with Mark Houlihan who was considering investing in a psychometric evaluation qualification to sell to clients.

Turns out he had lots of options and ways to save money.

We guided him on the kinds of questions to ask himself in order to clarify whether he could make his money back and on whether It was the right thing to do given his financial situation.

There is no rush. So take your time, conduct your research and examine the numbers.

Hire coachable people Do you have plans to hire or have you already grown a team around you? What have you learned?

Tim has plans to grow his business now that he is at full stretch.

“I would like to have a team of 10 high-quality trainers whom I have personally invested in so I can cater for bigger numbers because that brings out the coach in me…”

Lots of trainers grow their business to a point where they – sometimes unexpectedly – have to find ‘associate trainers’ in order to meet business demand.

Has that already happened to you or is it something which you hope to have to do someday?

In a future episode, we’ll dedicate an entire show to helping you to find your first hires, specifically other trainers who won’t let you down.

Tim believes that the best associates for his training business, are those who possess charisma, are passionate, are incredibly good at what they do (yet) are humble enough to listen to others.

The key point is that your hires have to be good but they need to be coachable and willing to learn your way so they can represent your brand.

Since they’ll be taking the lead from you….Ask yourself: “Am I coachable?”

Biggest takeaways for you today:

What Tim is looking for in new associate trainers for his team
Which lesson Tim learned by moving countries with his business
How Tim came up with his great brand name and logo
What you need to get the confidence to be great on video
How to get powerful referrals to new clients for your business
Why Tim thinks there is a business in working with schools

Some helpful resources:

Inner Leader – Tim Robin’s training business website
James Wedmore – Video coach and online business ‘guru’
Pre-Suasion – Dr. Robert Cialdini’s book on leveraging others
Recommended – Tony’s Lopata’s book on getting referrals

You set goals at the beginning of the year, right? Before Jan 31, you made new year's resolutions. How did you do? (Let's look back...to get back on track)

Maybe you are on a well-deserved break as you read this or listen to the episode or maybe you are still working.

Either way, at the half-way point through this year, now is a good time to review your progress in light of the goals (committments) you made to yourself.

In episode 20, we suggested that there were 4 areas to concentrate on for this year. So let's use those again as a 'yard stick' to see how you measured up against them. Cool?

Review your journey Ideally, you created goals under the following four headlines last December. Did you?

revenue goals
marketing goals
relationship goals
investment goals

So how far along are you towards their achievement?

Imagine that your training business is the vehicle to get you to where you want to end up at the end of this year.

So, now is a good time to 'pull over' to the side of the road and carry out a quick inspection of those four 'engine parts' (revenue, marketing, relationships and investment)

Are there any 'leaks'? Are there any problems you cannot see from your driver's seat? Are you happy with your journey so far?

Happy with some things, but no so elated with others?

(That's ok)

Restart the engine The good news is that we are only half-way through the year, so it's not too late to get your 2019 business goals over the line.

Nonetheless, we don't want to get too relaxed. We all have work to do. Lots of work.

Maybe it's time to make some changes. That's a good idea.

But don't make the changes too radical until you are sure that you have a good reason to make them.

Take a day or so to digest your 6-month progress
Consult your team, a business coach or advisor
Tweak, amend, revitalise your goals and start again

Plan slowly, execute quickly ... then measure

And we'll be back to this topic again in 6 months to see how far you got. Fair enough?

Biggest takeaways for you today: * Why you need to 'pull over' to take stock of your progress today * Why goal-setting will clarify what you need to do and by when * How you can reduce costs and increase profitability * Why you need to consider both online and offline marketing * Why investing in yourself amounts to investing in your business

So who are the anonymous visitors to your website? With an attractive and useful lead-magnet, you can find out who they are, how to contact them and what they need help with...

Capture email addresses Ever seen a pop-up or some advert for an ebook or a resource guide just begging to be dowloaded?

(Of course you have!)

You entered your email address and...(hey presto)...you saw a link to a download in your email inbox.

When you clicked on that link, you just proved that content-marketing really works.

As today's guest Kevin says:

"....It's very rare for someone to come to your website and immediately hire you. 'So what you need to do is to get the email address of the visitor so you can contact them.

Then over time (once you have their email address) you can start to send them useful content. Over a period of time, you win their trust so that they are more likely to hire you.

Effectively, you need to build useful content in an attractive, concise format which convinces your target audience that your content is worth exchanging their email address for.

So where's your first ebook?

Start writing today The good news - as Kevin explains - is that you don't have to write a 100-page tome or huge book!

Think of the last .pdf you downloaded from the web. It wasn't the complete guide or the last-word on that subject, was it?

It didn't need to be because most people just want a few tips (usually 3-7 steps) to accomplish something. That's something like 500-800 words plus pictures.

The point is that you don't have to write a whole book. You can start with something simple ..but valuable.

The beauty of software like Beacon.by is that you can select the kind of lead-magnet you want to create, and Beacon.by creates the front page, back page, table of contents....the works!

So, start up Microsoft Word or Google Docs and start with an outline, then add some content to each paragraph.

When you are ready, you can paste the words into Beacon.by and download your new ebook to feature on your website or email your customers.

What are you waiting for?....

Biggest takeaways for you today: * How lead-magnets are changing the world of marketing * Which kinds of lead-magnets are right for you * How you can include video in your lead-magnets * Why you need to add a CTA (Call to Action) * How you can create a very effective title in 2 steps * How Beacon can convert a blog-post into a lead-magnet * Where you can find free pictures to make ebooks attractive * Why you need more than one lead-magnet for success

Some helpful resources for you: beacon.by- Create downloadable resources for prospects
leadpages- Create landing pages to market your training
mailchimp- Use your prospects email address to market to them
drip- Create automated email series to send your prospects

Andrew Sillitoe has developed a successful corporate training brand and a personal coaching brand. How did he do it?

How do you prove that you are competent to stand up on front of your clients and deliver an effective training program? Have you been tested? Where's the badge?

Many training companies have their own internal TTT (train-the-trainer) qualifications. But how do they 'stack-up' against industry-standard trainer qualifications? Are they recognised?

This is the first of a mini-series looking at Trainer Certifications, which can help you and your people decide which credentials will work for you.

Today, we are going to look at TAP, Learning a UK-based training certification body which runs the internationally-recognised Certificate in Training Delivery.

Prove you can You have heard of a 'TTT', right?

Simply put, it stands for 'Train the Trainer'.

A Train the Trainerprogram is usually created to enable a training professional to deliver a specific piece of content to set standards.

For example: When I worked at Disneyland Paris, I completed a TTT in order to prove that I could deliver on-boarding for new cast-members.

I learned how to:

Conduct a training needs analysis
Design a training plan in order to satisfy job requirements
Competently deliver a training session to adults
Communicate via visual, auditory and kinaesthetic media
Evaluate training program success

In fact, I have undertaken multiple TTT's produced by a range of organizations over a number of years, including most recently, the TAP Certificate in Training Delivery for Experienced Trainers

Although many 'internal' TTT's are good, many are not good enough. This is why organizations turn to the TAP as a 'benchmark' of trainer skills development.

It is not uncommon for organizations to expect you and your training consultants to have completed such a qualification.

Therefore, your TTT 'badge' proves that you have the necessary skills and experience to deliver a quality training experience.

So when a prospective client next asks for proof of your training skills or those of your team.

(what are you going to tell them?)

Show your credentials Of course, TAP is not the only programme out there.

Many countries have their own national bodies supporting training professionals in acquiring training skills e.g. AITD (Australian Institute of Training and Development),

In the US, the ATD (Association for Talent Development) provides a robust and internationally-recognized Certificate in Training Design and Delivery

In Ireland, the IITD offers a MA (Masters of Arts) in Learning & Development Consultancyin association with University College Cork.

In the case of TAP, training professionals who pass the respective exam can put either TAP.cert, TAP.dip or TAP.mdip(Master Diploma) after their name.

If you decide to take the relevant ATD route, you can put the coveted title ATD Master Trainer ™ on your LinkedIn profile.

Once you have passed, you can proudly show your qualification on your LinkedIn page and/ or CV making it easy for prospects to find you.

In the age of the internet, people make up their minds quickly.

Having the right certification makes you, findable, hireable and professional.

What are your next steps?

Biggest takeaways for you today: * Where TAP Learning is recognised internationally * Which kinds of learning programs are offered by TAP Learning * Why understanding Adult Learning Theory is essential * Why you need to re-certify and how to go about it * How to get your TAP Diploma or TAP Master Diploma * Which resources are available to TAP Learning graduates

Some helpful resources for you: TAP- TAP Learning for Training Professionals [UK]
ATD- Association for Talent Development [USA]
AITD- Australian Institute for Training and Development [AUS]
IITD- Irish Institute of Training and Development [IRL]
Disney Institute- Walt Disney's Training and Development Institute [USA]

Are there websites, software and systems which can free up your time and make things easy? (Sure!) That’s what today’s episode is all about….

The ‘internet’ has been around since the 1950’s. The ‘WWW’ (World Wide Web) was born in 1991.

They are two different things. I know because I used to teach this stuff at the Institute for Public Administration in Ireland.

But, who cares… (Right?)

What really matters is that you are taking advantage of some great websites and software online which will save you money and simplify a lot of the tasks in running your own training business.

* DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert in matters of law, tax or business compliance. It is strongly advisable that you seek professional advice in these and ancillary areas as they are complex subjects in their own right, which require subject matter expertise *

Start off simple One of the ways in which online services can make your life easier is in the area of business formation.

Sure, you can start out as a sole trader regardless of where you are heading on your journey.

But, there are advantages to keeping things simple at the outset.

Dip your toes If you are just ‘dipping your toes in the water’, you might want to trade for a while in your own name to establish whether you like running a training business and whether you want to – and can afford to – keep going.

But – let’s say you do like working for yourself and that you have reason to believe your training consultancy / coaching business can survive the critical first two years in business.

LLC or LTD? In that case, many training business owners consider setting up an LLC (Limited Liability Company) which is a US form of private limited company.

An LLC and its counterparts in other jurisdictions, are created to allow a business owner to separate personal assets and liabilities from those of the business.

In the UK, business owners may opt to create a Limited Company (frequently abbreviated as ‘Ltd’).

In Australia, the equivalent is referred to as a Proprietary Company (Pty Ltd).

Many clients I work with, require that I have a limited company before they will do business with my brand. This is why I have to have a private company.

So… is that the case for you?

Save your money The formation of a legal entity requires that you get things right first time. The problem is that this expertise can be expensive to avail of.

LegalZoom was created to make common business legal services both affordable and transparent.

They can help you with the registration of a trademark, the filing of a patent, the filing of a DBA (Doing Business As) [USA], the creation of an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), business licenses and much more.

LegalZoom’s packages start at $79 plus filing fees in the USA, or £34.99 in the UK.

PLEASE NOTE: None of the links on this page are affiliate links – which means I do not benefit financially from anything you click on or decide to sign up to. It is your choice to select your provider

Have you given any thought to which type of business formation suits you?

If not….it’s time to go talk to a few people and find out.

Find the money One of the most rewarding times in running your training business is the moment when you submit your invoice for a job well done.

In the beginning, you might simply create invoices using a Microsoft Excel template.

You might even be creating your invoices in Microsoft Word and send them via email.

(But, that sounds so ‘1999’!)

Make life easier Instead:

Why not send your invoices automatically and receive notifications when the money is credited to your account?
Why not give your accountant access to your online records so you s/he can file your taxes on your behalf?
Why not run reports which instantly show spending patterns at the click of a button?

These are just several of the many reasons why it makes sense to use online accounting software.

Less time chasing expenses and filing claims. More time consulting and making money.

For a modest fee, you can set up an account with one of a range of online accounting providers including Xero, Quickbooks, Zoho, Freshbooks and more.

Xero has come in for special attention because of its ability to connect with many apps including your marketing software, your CRM (customer record database – listen to the episode) and of course, your bank account.

Check your bank I’m definitely not a numbers and accounts kind of guy, so using online accounting software is designed to make my life easier.

You can sign up for each of these for a free trial, which means that you can play around with the software before you decide to commit.

Just remember that you do need to ensure that your bank can connect with the relevant online accounting software vendor!

Now listen to the episode to get more information on the kinds of services which can help you.

Biggest takeaways for you today: * Which online services can help you to create a winning brand * Why you might need a landing-page rather than a web-page * Why you need to understand SEO and Online advertising * How a CRM can track every interaction you have with customers * Where you can find free images and videos to use in your content * Why you need both an offline and online marketing strategy * How you can find local events and create sell tickets to your events

Some helpful resources for you: LegalZoom – Avail of affordable legal and business services
UpCounsel – Identify and hire legal experts in a range of areas [US]

Xero – Connect bank accounts and manage accounts
Freshbooks – Track your time and invoice for project work
Zoho – Manage accounts and invoicing online
QuickBooks – Online accounting & invoicing platform

NameCheckr – Free service to check domain name and social media names
99Designs – Create design contest to attract designers
GoDaddy – Buy domains and arrange website hosting
Fiverr – Find and hire designers, coders, assistants online
Moo – Create and order quality business cards

Wix – Low-cost website builder using templates
LeadPages – Create landing pages online
Instapage – Create landing pages online
Unbounce – Create landing pages online
Ontraport – CRM, landing page and marketing automation
NeilPatel – Expert on Search Engine Marketing
Amy Porterfield – Expert on Facebook marketing

Hubspot – Marketing, Sales and CRM platform
PipeDrive – Sales-focused CRM
Zoho – Online CRM
Salesforce – Small-business version of salesforce CRM

Pexels – Find free photos and video footage for marketing
Unsplash – Find free photos and video footage for marketing
PiktoChart – Create infographics, presentations, reports online
Beacon – Create ebooks and lead-magnets for marketing purposes

EventBrite – FInd events and sell tickets to your own event
MeetUp – Find groups and create your own group
Zoom – Host webinars and video conferences online
BigMarker – Host webinars, video conferences and webcasts online

* DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert in matters of law, tax or business compliance. It is strongly advisable that you seek professional advice in these and ancillary areas as they are complex subjects in their own right, which require subject matter expertise *

The demand among employees for mental-health services is steeply-rising. We speak with Maureen Hotchner about her plans to start a business in this market.

Hands up. When was the last time that your training proposal was rejected? Here are 10 questions to ask yourself so you can improve your chances next time.

Have you ever been asked to give a talk at an awards-ceremony or event? Have you ever approached any organisation to speak to their members? You should. Here's why....

Here is my check-list to accompany today's episode! <<<

There are lots of organizations in need of speakers. Thousands of companies have off-site company team-building days to which they invite motivational speakers.

Business networks hold monthly or weekly events and are all the time in search of the kind of competent, knowledgeable, 'listenable' speakers who can help their members.

The goal is not to make money. Rather, the goal is to get you in front of new faces as often as possible and to spread the word that you exist, that you are great and that you are open for business!

Always be live You might be the kind of person who is convinced that social media marketing or content-marketing is the way of the 21st century.

That is true. But it's not the only way.

No one ever intended Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook etc. to completely replaceconventional marketing. Rather, they exist to complimentconventional marketing.

Let's imagine that there are three levels of differentiation to your marketing. (Bear with me on this one).

Level-1 differentiation This refers to your email posts and your blog. It describes all your tweets and comments. Just like everyone else's. No differentiation.

Hard to stand out in that snow-storm, isn't it?

Level-2 differentiation This describes your video content or your audio content. It describes all the stuff on your YouTube channel or Vimeo channel if you have those.

This is much better. (There you are!) Hey! People can now see you, hear you, watch you. It can't be anyone else but you.

We now know what you look like and what you sound like. We want more! You look great!

Let's go up another level.

Level-3 differentiation Now, this where you turn up in person. You are live! People can interact with you, they can ask you for your opinion. You can answer questions as only you can answer them. Well done!

"Now, your audience are thinking: 'Hey! She would be great as our resilience trainer. I need to talk to her after the event and get her details."

"Hey! I can see him doing a great job delivering leadership to our senior team. We need to download his ebook.."

Never give away Have you ever been asked to give your audience a copy of your slides? Did you? Any regrets?

What your audience really want when they ask for your slides is this:

They want something to refer to after your presentation
They want reassurance that they won't forget anything
They want to be able to look up that book or website which you mentioned

"But that does not mean that you should give them your precious slides - all your work..."

It's your intellectual property and once it's out there on the internet in its entirety, you can't control it. It's in the wild.

Instead, you can create a PDF 'Cliff's notes' or shortened version of your main points along with a list of useful resources, all of which is branded with your details and logo.

Next, work with a VA or coder to create a landing page using Unbounce, LeadPages, or Instapages and create a form so that people have to give you something for this.

People give you their email address and you give them what they really want. It's a fair deal.

I like to use Beacon.by (here is my check-list) to create ebooks etc.

Biggest takeaways you don’t want to miss: * How you can prepare to give a talk that drives leads to you * Which technology can capture email addresses for you * Why investing in photographer and videographer pays off * How a VA can save you huge amounts of time and legwork * Why you need to productive your speaking engagement * How to legitimately follow up to arrange business meetings * What to do after your speaking engagement is over

Some resources to help you: Download today's free PDF - Get your free checklist
Drip- Marketing Automation software
ClickFunnels- Marketing Automation software
Instapage- stand-alone lead-capturing pages
LeadPages- stand-alone lead-capturing pages
Unbounce- stand-alone lead-capturing pages
Science of Persuasion - Dr. Robert Cialdini's seminal work
Fiverr - Freelancing platform to help you with tasks
Upwork- Freelancing platform to help you with tasks
People Per Hour - Freelancing platform to help you with tasks

JoEllen Grzyb tells a wonderful story of how she and Robin Chandler built a world class training business in the face of every possible adversity.

In this week's episode, we're taking two tips from my free ebook 21 Tips to succeed as a freelance trainer. You need to write your profile and you need to be passionate.

Today we're giving you another 3 'P's to help your thinking and preparation so that when it comes to price, you have already succeeded in positioning your price in your prospects mind.

Negotiation is a value-conversation you have with others. So the first thing we need to tackle is the value-conversation you have with yourself before you ever open your mouth. Does that make sense?

Today, we are responding to a question from a listener who asked not to be named. She has described herself as a ‘sucker on pricing’

Question: Is that how you talk to yourself? Do you give yourself a hard time when describing your ability to get what you want from others?

Negotiation is a value-conversation. So the first thing we need to tackle is the conversation you have with yourself before you ever open your mouth.

We are going to look at the psychology of negotiation through three words beginning with ‘p’: positive, perspective and preparation. Part 2 next week looks at the next three ‘p’s, which are: perception, packaging and price (last).

Fix internal dialogue I want you to grab a pen and write down what value you think your training business value represents to your clients.

Put a daily number on it. I also want you to write down how good you think you are at persuading others to give you this amount.

Are you surprised by what you have written? Do you see a disconnect between the two? What are you feeling as you read the number(s) and the words on front of you?

The bad news is that this disconnect explains

1. Why you are perhaps unhappy with your pricing
1. why your clients don’t pay you what you want.
1. Why you dread a negotiation (or value-conversation)

The good news is that you can take steps to do something about it.

The ‘internal dialogue’ you have with yourself BEFORE any negotiation determines your success WHEN you have that negotiation.

Negotiation favours those who BELIEVE they can win

Look at those beliefs again. Are they true? Or are they just False Expectations Appearing Real (FEAR).

Great! Now replace them with positive beliefs based on your value to your training clients.

That’s the language that needs to be rehearsed inwardly so that when you come to a negotiation or value-conversation, your beliefs support you rather than working against you.

Choose your perspective Discussing your value with your clients or prospects need not be a courtroom battle if you do decide to renegotiate.

It’s a solution-focused conversation, so be creative and stretch the boundaries.

Negotiation is a game so your perspective is key . She who cares least, wins!

Negotiation or re-negotation is not life or death. Very seldom has anyone ever said ‘take it or leave’ it to me. Has anyone ever said that to you? I would be surprised.

People expect to have to negotiate with you. They even admire it.

But, you need to offer value. And you need to be willing to trade value. If you want to renegotiate your rates upwards, that ok. But you need to be willing to concede something in return.

Distributive negotiation suggests that there is only so much to go around. There is only so much money. There are only so many options. There is only what I want versus what you want on the table.

This is conducive to win-lose-or lose-win thinking.

If you cannot see options beyond those on front of you, you may not even want to try. You may tell yourself that ‘negotiating is only going to make things worse’. Really?

Integrative negotiation suggests that there are options you may have not yet thought of. So, you need to think creatively and collaboratively,

The key point is that if you and your team has the right perspective, you can find a way to get your client to accept your prices as long as your suggestion creates greater value for her.

Biggest takeaways you don’t want to miss: * Why your internal conversation with yourself determines your negotiation success * Why you need to trade value rather than trading price * Whether it is better to renegotiate bad prices or replace a bad deal * Why your perspective will shape your negotiation success every time * Which 4 questions you need to ask yourself before you negotiate * Why preparation vastly increases your chances of getting what you want

Some helpful resources for you

Getting to Yes – Finding agreement with others – Fisher and Ury
The Negotiation Book – Defining successful negotiation – Steve Gates
Successful Negotiation – Free online course – University of Michigan

From a Harvard University Bedroom to a $511.44 Billion dollar business with 2.32 Billion monthly active users, Facebook has reached unprecedented heights in only 15 years.

Why is this relevant? Today’s guest is Jeff Turner, International L&D Director with responsibility for all learning & people development outside of North America.

Jeff tells us of the lessons he’s learned in developing people at one of the most iconic brands on earth and (exclusive) what he’s about to do next…. can you guess?

Ask for referral The perceived kudos of being a supplier to Mark Zuckerberg’s company means, that there is no shortage of vendors trying to get a foot in the door.

As a training business owner, how easy is it for you (or your team) to get time with someone like Jeff?

What Jeff recommends (when seeking the attention of people like him) is to leverage the power of referral.

That means using your network strategically to get an introduction through a mutual contact.

TIP – listen to Andy Lopata (Eps 3) explaining why referral is so powerful and why he wrote a best-selling book on the subject.

So, when seeking an opportunity to present your training business credentials to prospects, it sometimes makes sense to take the indirect path and let someone else point out why you are worth meeting.

Dr. Robert Cialdini refers to this as the principle of Pre-Suasion.

Have you given any thought to how you can ‘pre-suade’ your target decision-maker through referral?

Get out there I’m a big fan of Billions, the US cable tv series from Showtime starring Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti.

In a recent episode of series 4, Bobby Axelrod’s (played by Lewis) hedge fund sustained a massive cyber attack which took the company’s network and entire phone system offline.

Absolutely no one could trade and the business was about to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in a single day… [But that wasn’t the worse thing...]:

None of the young, but brilliant traders had any connection to the people they bought and sold from….

They didn’t know their phone numbers and couldn’t call them because they had never met them. They didn’t even know what they looked like!

They had no relationship to fall back on when they needed help.

In this day and age of Facebook, Jeff knows that his network (not his ‘likes’) will make or break his new training business as he leaves the corporate world to go out on his own.

So, he gets out there and meets people, builds connections and puts a face to his name. Jeff’s launch won’t be a landing page or a video.

It will be a real live event with real live people who can meet him, listen to him and get to know the person they’re buying before they ever buy his brand.

Question: What’s your strategy to get out there and meet your buyer face-to-face?

Biggest takeaways you don’t want to miss:

How Jeff got from sales trainer to directing facebook L&D worldwide
How to get the attention of corporate L&D managers when selling your training
Why Jeff feels that L&D deserves a place at the strategic level
Why workshops alone are not the way to fix impactful leadership problems
How Jeff feels about leaving a salary and security to venture out on his own
How Jeff plans to market his business to his ideal customers

Some helpful resources for you

mytformation– Jeff’s new training business website [IRL]
eventbrite– Jeff’s launch event ‘Challenging Team Dynamics’ in Dublin [IRL]
linkedIn– Jeff’s professional profile on LinkedIn
newsroom – Facebook’s newsroom page with up-to-date business statistics

Today’s guest is Nick Martin, CEO and founder of Workshopbank.com, a site used by training professionals from Microsoft, Disney, Microsoft, Heineken, Amazon and 40,000 organizations globally.

During his time as a change-management consultant and trainer, Nick realized that particular tools consistently produced powerful results.

But there was no single resource (at the time) making these tools available to trainers.

Workshopbank now provides a growing number of free tools, lesson plans, slides and more to 167,000+ subscribers online.

Biggest takeaways you don’t want to miss:

What convinced Nick that there was a market for Workshopbank
Which differences there are between training and facilitation
Why workshops are more valuable to your clients and you
Which kinds of tools are likely to effect the most impactful change
How to know when to use a tool in which situation
What you need to do to be able to properly facilitate a workshop

Some helpful resources for you

workshopbank – Nick Martin’s platform providing tools to trainers and consultants

You are thinking of starting a training business, right? Today is all about helping you ask yourself key questions so that you know whether it’s the right thing for you.

Are you pitching at a client meeting? Today, we're going to look at four areas to prepare so you can win your next training contract.

Your training slides, workbooks and courses are your intellectual property. Kristin Grant tells us how you can protect it and why you should.

Which 5 things could you do to boost your training business in Q2 and beyond? There are lessons for me here too! Let's take more risks together!

Are you maximising your LinkedIn profile? Petra Fisher is a LinkedIn expert who is going to give you 5 key tips to get the best out the world's top business networking platform

Meet Kathryn, a Resilience Trainer and Organizational Psychologist from Adelaide in Australia who tells us how she started her business and attracts customers.

Today, we’re speaking with Gilly Thompson, a trainer and sales training business owner who sells her own sales training courses online.

In today's episode, we're going to give you 5 ways to make yourself valuable and easy to hire as a contract trainer

You don’t yet have your own clients but you want to work as a trainer? No problem. Here are 5 steps to stand out and get hired as an associate trainer!

In today’s episode, you will learn what you need to have In place for 2019 to make your training business your best year ever.

Gabriele Galassi is a psychologist and board-member of the Association for Business Psychology with responsibility for training.

Andrew Tilling shares a very personal and honest story of losing his way in life only to find it again by coaching and helping others to manage change

Today is a live coaching call with a trainer who has wants to know whether he should invest in an accreditation such as MBTI and how he can be sure it's worth investment.

This week, We are looking at part two of a 2-part episode on how to cold-call new prospects for your training business.

This week, we’re going to focus on 5 key tips to help make cold-calling work for your training business. This is part 1 of a 2-part series.

Lottie Hearn is a passionate live-streamer who helps thousands of trainers and coaches to be their very best and present with confidence on camera

Jade Luke is a self-employed trainer and training business owner with a passion for helping organisations in the UK to get their customer service right

Sandy is a wonderful trainer with a load of heart-warming stories as well as sage advice learned from her years training clients in her native Canada

Shelley Fishel runs the IT Training Surgery, a niche training business focused solely on delivering training on Microsoft Office products to her clients across Europe

Michael Virardi is a motivational speaker and trainer and takes time out his packed schedule today to tell us how he attracts clients and why he is passionate about training.

Silke Körner runs a dynamic and innovative training consultancy based in Germany. Today, she tells us her story and where she’s taking the business next.

Karen Winfield tells us all about running a global business of 300+ trainers and what she looks for in prospective freelance trainers who want to work with her clients

In this episode, Kevin M Yates tells us how we trainers can use analytics and data to prove the effectiveness of our learning programmes to our clients

In today’s episode, we’re speaking to Katy Caselli, an Industrial and Organizational Psychologist who is passionate about delivering training which works

In this week’s episode, Suman Kher tells us how she makes social media work for her training business in Mumbai and where she is finding success.

Andy is author of ‘Recommended’ published by the Financial Times. Today, he tells us how trainers can win business through networking and referrals.

Bart is a self-confessed ‘Road-Warrior’ and freelance technology trainer and has accrued many years’ experience working in the training business.

Pete Starr speaking from Manchester, United Kingdom shares his freelance training story and explains how he decides which training companies to work with.

Ryan Varga tells us how he became involved in training and how he recruits and hires out other freelance trainers across Africa.