Business Tao with George Kao: Recent Episodes
George Kao
George Kao shares a unique message for business: Create without resistance. Connect without guile. Succeed without stress. Find his best articles here: https://www.GeorgeKao.com .
Topics include Authentic Marketing, Joyful Productivity, and Healthy Money. New episode every Monday and Thursday.
A reminder for us soulpreneurs:
You have to do stuff you don't naturally love⌠until you have enough money to do only what you love.
Building a business as a solopreneur involves a huge variety of tasks and projects, most of which you wouldnât naturally have thought â âThis was what I was looking forward to doing, day to day, with an authentic business!â
The stronger your passion and vision for what should be your ideal work, the stronger youâll feel the gap. The destination seems so far from where you are now.
The sane solution? You'll have to practice loving what you âhave toâ do now, to make money, so you can â one day in future â make money doing only what you love.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
I've come to see deadlines and metrics not as enemies of the soul, but as potential tools for its play.
I mean, why did we even come to this Earth game with all its limitations, like needing to pay rent and all that? Back in the soulful realm, it's all abundance and freedom.
So, maybe these constraints are actually part of the game, a way for our souls to practice expressing themselves powerfully within a specific context...
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
I've been part of several cults myself â religious, political, and even business ones! So I know the dynamics, and I'm susceptible to falling into those patterns myself.
That's why I'm so passionate about finding a healthier way to build an audience.
I don't want to be a "guru" telling people what to do. I want to empower them to find their own answers.
It's about encouraging self-reflection, speaking to their deep desires, and helping them relieve themselves of unnecessary burdens.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
You have a rare combination of strengths. In this video, I'm rattle off a bunch of possible ones. What's your combo?
Don't try to be the best at everything... it's exhausting.
Other people are just naturally stronger at some things. Let them be.
Instead, find YOUR combo, and become the ONLY one in your field with your unique strengths.
See the full list at www.GeorgeKao.com/blog/listofstrengths
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Authentic marketing is the practice of expressing your soul, from an energetic space of enjoyment and connectionâŚ
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
When I first started, I thought business ownership meant complete freedom to wake up whenever and work however I pleased.
But here's the truth: successful businesses require the same dedication as professional artists or athletes.
You need to create your own structure, follow your schedule religiously, and understand that skill development takes time.
Just like you can't expect to run a marathon after one day of training, you can't expect immediate business success. It's about consistent practice and accepting that lag time between starting and seeing results.
If youâre interested in working with a group, I run a membership community of joyfully productive business "athletes" :) called JoyPro: https://www.georgekao.com/joypro
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Despite the abundance of free information and the rise of AI, I still believe that creators will be able to make a good living selling their own courses -- because you have a unique human presence and nuanced insights about your field...
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
As creators, we aren't the best judge of their own work... our time, energy, and emotional investment often cloud our objectivity.
Let's continually practice creating with a light touchâŚâŚdetaching from expectations of outcome.
Just like the vital rhythms of the body and nature, our business needs our reliable rhythms of creation...
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Consider this:
Your audience will grow far beyond the people you currently know.
Your network right now is tiny, compared to your eventual (big) audience. Your current people might not even be a good representation of your true fans!
So donât make your content in fear of the judgment of your existing colleagues, friends, fans, or family. They are not your true audience.
Create only for your future true fans.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
You are already ready to put your work out there.
Because your ideal clients benefit the most from how you are now, before you get too far ahead of them...
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
If you've been wrestling with the idea of making money doing what you love, you're not alone.
It's common to feel a painful gap between where you are and that dream of abundance, especially as a soulpreneur seeking an authentic business. The practical steps can often feel like a dragâŚ
I encourage you to make this shift in perspective -- to see things like marketing, content creation, and even selling, not as chores, but as opportunities to practice love.
Love for yourself, for nurturing your creativity, and love for your (future) audience, by truly serving them.
It's a journey of finding joy in the process, even when it's hard, and remembering that every step can be a step closer to alignment with your heart.
Read the post: https://www.threads.net/@geokao/post/C9STUNYucf8
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
How to sustain one's social media presence?
I view it as an opportunity to be as authentic as possible -- much like you would with a trusted friend.
I don't worry about keeping up appearances. Instead, I focus on being myself, knowing that the right audience will appreciate me for who I am, flaws and all.
This approach has allowed me to consistently engage on social media since 2009.
While it may not attract everyone, it helps the algorithm find those who truly resonate with my energy, leading to more meaningful connections over time.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
This video/episode shares my best advice to date about creating consistently and authentically...
See the resource links I mentioned here:
https://georgekao.substack.com/p/my-top-advice-for-creating-consistently
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Let me know your thoughts below...
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Do you ever feel like youâre bothering people, when you post your content?
One of my students wrote:
âConsistency of communication is my goal. To hold myself more accountable to this and get over the problem I have with feeling that I am bothering people by sending them content via email or other means, even if they have signed up for my list!!â
Maybe you can relate. I appreciate your sensitivity! It means youâre being thoughtful and courteous about other peopleâs time and attention.
And yet, itâs important to understand that you have any kind of audience (even if itâs just a few Facebook friends) because they actually want to hear from you...
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
See actual examples here (without having to opt in) -- George Kao Email Newsletters
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
âHow do I grow my capacity to have and receive a large audience, and not be afraid of becoming more visible or well-known as my audience grows over time? Could you, George, share how your mind/heart have adapted at each stage of your audience growth?â âa YouTube viewer wrote to me.
I thought this was a very thoughtful question, and wonder why more content creators donât talk about this. I appreciate the questionerâs sensitivity!
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
The video I mentioned: https://youtu.be/T5akVg_8HI0
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Consistency in content creation comes from a deep belief in the importance of expressing my voice -- all of us have a unique and important voice to share. There are always people out there (not everyone) who need to hear what you have to say.
It can help you stay motivated and committed to showing up consistently if you focus on the opportunity of authentic expression and service to your audience, knowing that your content acts as a form of ministry to those who resonate with your message.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
...the power of creating lightly â¨
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Where so many of us heart-based entrepreneurs fall down:
we try to mix our selling with our moments of content-sharing generosity. ..
This creates inner conflict.
Instead, if we aim with purity of heart for each activity, we can then sustain those actions for a very long time, and that's what creates the skillfulness that leads to the best results...
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Many people have lost connection with their inner authority. So when they sense confidence that promises to solve their problems, they gravitate towards it.
This is the path of the typical influencer.
Theyâre trying to build a âcultâ following that does whatever they tell them to do⌠including to buy whenever they tell them to. The influencer might use charm, persuasion, and clever copywriting to get it done.
None of these methods sit right with me. I donât want to be your guru.
I would rather help my audience regain their sovereignty⌠to do whatever small thing I can to help them wake up â to their own power.
Although slower, this still can build a true social media following, but in a healthier, more sustainable way...
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
One realization, early on my in my content creation journey, set me up for life:
"The vast majority of your content isn't going to make an impact."
I know that sounds negative, but the corollary is:
"Therefore you are liberated to experiment!
And you'll eventually come across the few gems that will make your career..."
This idea had a deep impact on me, and has helped me create consistently for 9+ years now.
And it's true:
Most of my videos make almost no impact... but a few? Those rare gems have contributed significantly to my business success today.
I hope you will similarly feel liberated to create, to experiment and publish -- consistently -- so that you give yourself the greatest chance of stumbling upon those occasional treasures that will set you up for life.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Nothing in my business is as important as being in a consistent rhythm of content creation.
It is how I get smarter in my field.
Itâs how I develop the writings and videos that sometimes get shared, thereby allowing new fans and clients to find me.
More than anything else I do, creating content is how I give back.
Itâs my ministry and missionâŚ
âYour wisdom, life lessons, skills, knowledge can help to transform so many people's lives! If youâre not being consistent in creating content, what's holding you back?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
You can read the post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/perfectnow
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Over the years, Iâve become sensitized to marketing manipulation. By watching/listening to this episode, youâll also gain more conscious control over your purchasing choices⌠and be empowered to do more authentic marketing.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
As a heart-centered business owner, youâre very supportive of others. This can mean youâre not mindful about your boundaries sometimes, and you give away more than you sustainably canâŚ
When friends or family are interested in your services, do you instinctually offer them free sessions or access to your programs?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
If you can learn to love the process, you'll stick with it... and if you stick with it, you'll practice enough to succeed.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Which marketing methods have been used on you, that turn you off? Take notice. Donât use such methods.
Authentic marketing is simply following the Golden Rule: (not) doing unto others what you (donât) want done unto you.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
In my courses, I resist being "too" step by step about everything.
Some complain that they want exact detailed steps so that they don't have to be uncertain. With technical training, that may be true (although there's a joy in finding your own way there as well.)
With strategy, formulas are questionable.
If I teach you step by step, please feel free to rebel, and find your own way.
That is the only way to authentic fulfillment in your business.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Iâve written a lot about the importance of creating and distributing content⌠itâs a great foundation for an authentic business.
What I havenât emphasized as much is the importance of having an offer rhythm, and thatâs what this post is about. I encourage every client of mine â and you, if you are a small business and wish for consistent income â to have a consistent rhythm of offerings.
Even if you have no audience yet, you can and should begin testing offerings, as soon as possible, starting with your friends.
Hereâs what I mean by a rhythm of offerings:
To have a consistent schedule of sharing (testing) your offers with your audience or network.
What are your offerings? Any products, services, or programs that you create and sell, or alternatively, that you curate and earn a commission from selling.
(You donât have to always create products, you can find things that your audience or network might love to buy, and earn an affiliate commission by promoting it to them. However, in the long term, creating offers is usually the more authentic and meaningful path.)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
How to keep your business growing when sales are slow, and to do it authentically?
Connect more internally: with your deep source of security, compassion, creativity...
Connect more externally: with friends, colleagues, acquaintances who have some interest in your work.
The tougher the times, the more we need to connect.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Dear soulpreneurs â you donât need a âmarketing funnelâ to succeed in your businessâŚ
May this video inspire you to align your marketing strategy with your heart and find authentic success :)
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
The accumulation of attention in the hands of a few will erode the diversity of creativity, true livelihood, and authentic businessâŚ
Where is your attention going? :)
Attention, like time, is limited. We ought to be more mindful of where it goes.
I encourage us all to start giving 10% or more of our attention each day to small creators: bloggers, video makers, podcasts, websites, or social media pages that get few comments on their content.
Good karma will come back around đ
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
I see a lot of aspiring business owners doing this:
Youâre waiting until youâre âreadyâ before you take the leap.
A dear client asked me about the âthin line between readiness and procrastination.â
After coaching hundreds of business owners, I can tell you this: â
Chances are, you are being fooled by your own brilliant mind. Feeling of âlack of readinessâ is usually procrastination.
**
Hereâs the truth:
I rarely feel âreadyâ.
When I started writing this article, I felt maybe I wouldnât have enough to say⌠maybe I should do more research or journaling or give it a few more days (or weeks) before Iâm ready to start writing this.
When making a video â at the moment I press ârecordâ I feel like I couldâve spent another hour thinking about the topic.
When I launch a course, I know I could spend several more months (or years!) researching the topic⌠but I remind myself that whatever I already know will be helpful to the students. We are usually much harsher on ourselves than our students / clients are.
The founder of Linkedin, Reid Hoffman, famously said this:
If youâre not embarrassed by the first version of your product, youâve launched too late.
**
I feel embarrassed often⌠because I create often.
Every book that I publish, I feel slightly embarrassed by⌠but the reality is that if I waited until a book was âreadyâ I might never publish. Thankfully I do publish, because book after book, each one is getting better. I can always re-publish and re-launch a 2nd edition later⌠and I am already planning for it!
Every course that I teach, Iâm embarrassed by, but I also get feedback that makes the course better, year after year.
Iâm doing this for the long term journey of growth, not just short-term experiences of posting, publishing, launching.
The creative process, the reality of building an authentic business, requires this continual practice:
Transform fear into Love.
I feel that we are being called by Spirit to recognize when we are feeling afraid in the creative process, and instead, reinterpret that emotion. Turn âfearâ or âlack of readinessâ into one or more of theseâŚ
Excitement
Passion
Service
Curious self-exploration
Adventure
**
Transform hesitation into Action.
If I am creating something, and I feel hesitation, I now interpret it as a signal to take action, to just do it. To take the next step. To write the next sentence. To click ârecordâ on the video. To press âpublishâ.
It is a daily creative practice: transmuting fearful hesitation into loving action. Bit by bit, piece by piece, we become more courageous. We get wiser through action and experience.
A little-known fact is that the creative personâs doubt and âlack of readinessâ never goes away. We simply get better at recognizing it, and transmuting it into creative action.
So thereâs only one thing to do:
Start today.
Bias yourself toward action, doing what you are afraid of, knowing that it can be interpreted as excitement, passion, service. Go ahead and write, speak, publish, launch, etc⌠do the thing that puts your work into the marketplace.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
An audience member wrote the following to me, and maybe some of you can relateâŚ
âI long for the ability to create without any thoughts of moneyâŚto create because I love it⌠to take real time off when I need it⌠to try new things and build in more hobby time into my life. Everything I create is because I love it, but I tend to always have that background question: âWill it make me money?â I want to get to a place where I feel I can try things and fail and be totally fine with itâŚâ
This video is my response. I hope you find it helpful as well.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
A few years ago, I stopped marketing to the reptilian brain. My conscience could no longer tolerate itâŚ
By âlizard brainâ I mean the parts within people that are governed by fear, greed, and impatience.
To see a real example analyzed, see here: To get more sales, market to the âlizard brainââŚ?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
âIâm hoping that I can find a way to weave things together in a way that makes sense, resonates with buyers, feels enjoyable, and generates income.â â a client said.
âThatâs a lot of pressure on yourself,â I thought.
Who says you need to weave all your interests together in a way that makes sense to anyone else, except for yourself? (You can have the most complicated vision of your work, as long as it makes sense to you.)
What if being financially successful â and happy in your work â doesnât require the integration of your various interests?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit georgekao.substack.com
Trying to attract with visuals tends towards a shallower engagement with one's audienceâŚ
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
When you create something and people don't get it, you shouldn't quit.
You simply need to test more ideas.
This is why I believe in the importance of the 3 stages of content creation:
-
casual, prolific, exploratory.
-
improve on what's liked.
-
integrate and productize.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
I don't believe your email list is your most important business asset... It's really about having a genuine connection with your audience and treating them with respect. That's why I don't use deceptive tactics like "lead magnets"...
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
There's too much mercenary marketing advice out there. Even if it might get us a few more clients in the short-term, we donât want to put more negativity into the world. Instead of selling to a client's "pain points", there is a better way.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
You don't need to prove yourself as #1 in your field, or best selling author or any kind of puffery. All those tactics will feed your "fixed mindset". Instead, demonstrate your real expertise by showing up consistently to talk about about what's working for you now, and what you're learning. When people see that you are consistently in the practice of improving in your field, you naturally gain trust.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
Years ago, I championed the idea that all knowledge should be freely available online, aiming to accelerate humanity's progress. When I actually tried it, I learned two valuable lessons -- (1) free courses resulted in lower engagement and commitment from participants, and (2) my motivation waned without the reciprocal energy of paid exchanges. This experience, coupled with the disappointing experiment in using Patreon, gradually shifted my perspective. I now seek a middle way. I hope to integrate generosity and sustainability. I now advocate for (fair) pricing of courses. It's important for boundaries, self-worth, and the support of small creators.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
My gentle launches are simple: Early bird for 1 week, then regular price for 1 week before the course begins :)
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
Watch/listen to this episode firstâŚ
Follow-up question I received:
"So let's say we have an offer like with your example, 3 're-works' over 6 weeks... once you've got the most response from whichever one... when would you actually then launch what you'd been talking about? Would that be your next offering? Or would it be a few months out? What do you typically do? "
My response:
I would go ahead and launch (as the very next thing) the offer test that did the best. Basically, sell it while it's hot đ because it could be something in the culture or timing that's making your audience more interested in that one right now compared to the others, so... don't wait, assuming it'll be hot later (or that you'll be interested later!)
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
This principle has been essential to my success.
How do I make great content? By making more content, and observing what spreads.
How do I improve my skills? By working with more clients, and noticing who grows the most.
True learning comes from action â we build muscles by doing things, not just reading about them. It takes quantity of action to develop quality of results.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
how to feel ready to put your work out there?
begin, explore, publish, repeat.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
Even if you haven't been actively posting on social media or creating content, don't let it stop you from gently launching new offers and services to your audience.
I appreciate hearing from people I've hired, even if it's just a few times a year to let me know about their new programs or specials.
In this video I also discuss how often to post content vs. how often to sell something on your social media. I assure you that even a small announcement -- after a long time of not posting -- is usually appreciated.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
In this video, I discuss a different perspective on pricing -- charging based on "enoughness" and compassion -- rather than the common advice to charge what you're worth or what the market will bear.
It's important to consider our own lifestyle needs and determining what is "enough" for us. By minimizing our lifestyle costs, we can charge less, serve more people, and do so with less financial pressure.
I also discuss the idea of charging with compassion for our clients and customers, while still ensuring that we have a bit more than enough to invest in our future.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
Get all the info here:
https://www.georgekao.com/instagram
If you have any questions about the course, ask it here.
Wishing you a good day and weekend! đ
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
Of all the things that I do in my business, the most important thingâand I hope to inspire you to consider this for yourself as wellâis to stay in a consistent rhythm of creating, both free content like this video, and paid offers as well. Just as our bodies rely on consistent rhythms to stay alive and thrive, our businesses need a steady flow of creativity to flourish.
I've made nearly 2,000 videos on YouTube, published over 300 blog posts, and launched more than 30 courses. I wish I had developed a sense of urgency for generating free content earlier in my career...
In this episode, I discuss common limiting beliefs that hinder content creation, the importance of gaining experience and clarity through the creative process, and the need to embrace imperfection and let algorithms and audience engagement guide your content improvement...
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
-
Donât beat yourself up :) because at least you have a vision! Many people donât. And weâre all in the journey of learning how to properly motivate ourselves.
-
Got human accountability? Simplest is to use Focusmate. Join my focusmate group here: https://www.focusmate.com/signup/georgekaocommunity
-
Got a clear workflow process? Write it down. âHat manualâ.
-
Unsure what the workflow process should be? Come to a Q&A call and letâs talk :) or talk with a friend, colleague, or coach to help you sort it out.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
Here, I talk about the faith that I have in the potential of my content to make an impact -- and hope to inspire you to take on that kind of belief for your content creation efforts as well...
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
Here's what I would tell my younger entrepreneurial self -- ditch the quest for a huge audience and social media fame. I made that mistake. Within two years of starting my business I hustled and grew my email list to thousands of subscribers... but then realized that most of them didn't really care about my content or journey. I ended up deleting over 90% of them. I now realize you can only authentically serve and commit to a small group of people you truly know. So start there. Get to know your first 30 or 50 followers deeply. Apply your skills to help them specifically. Marketers don't teach this counterintuitive relationship-first approach, but I've learned caring for a few is far more fulfilling than chasing clout. And as you grow your audience you'll be able to create content & offerings that are much more aligned to what they care about.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
1) more focused hours, 2) way more breaks than most people take, 3) constant reparenting of myself... In the video I also mentioned that I'd share the format of my work retreats. Here it is -- http://smpl.ro/CoWorkRetreat
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
I have a strong stance on how âattractiveâ one needs to be in their brand, website, and social media presence, in order to attract ideal clients⌠Iâve worked for a decade to slowly and steadily build what I would call a "loyal" and "true fan" audience for my business⌠an audience that feels connected to me not through flashy marketing or clever persuasion, but through shared values and an appreciation for my authentic presence. So what I share with you in this video comes from years in the trenches developing my approach. May you find something here to be valuable for you as well.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
Authentic marketing means that we practice en-joying the experience of showing up for our marketing. How? By bringing our energy/focus to expressing our values & heart in our marketing actions, and holding loosely to our attachment to the results. By doing so, we learn to deeply en-joy the experience, which then encourages us to show up consistently, which then brings better results naturally...
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
For years I tried narrowing my business to a niche, but having interests for multiple areas, I struggled. Now after 14 years of successfully providing myriad services, I want people to know - do not limit yourself. Have diverse offers. Customers will hone in on whichever resonates.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
See my newsletter examples: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/monthly
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
0:00 Authentic marketing avoids showy tactics and aligns with a deeper purpose and higher mission. 00:41 Authentic Marketing is the process of a business finding its calling. 01:09 Avoiding empty steps and focusing directly on soul's work eliminates the waste of time and life in the marketing process. 02:14 Every business action should be deserving of the soul's attention and contribute to a greater connection to the divine. 02:44 Marketing essentially boils down to content and offers, both of which should align with one's soul's work. 03:09 Content creation should be an exploration of the soul in service to humanity, targeting the intersection of what resonates with both you and your audience. 03:47 Offers should also be an extension of your soul's work, framed in a way that meets your audience where they are at. 04:17 Market research becomes meaningful when it's about understanding soul-to-soul connections, focusing on what your audience cares about. 04:53 Aligning what you care about with what your audience cares about creates a meaningful, soul-fulfilling offer.
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
In this video I explain that your "energy signature" includes everything about you that resonates with your ideal audience - your visual branding, communication style, content, and more.
I believe that before birth, you planned with your "soul group" to find each other in this life by recognizing each other's energy signatures. I recommend using authentic marketing to consistently "ping" your soul group so they can recognize you, and advise being patient as it may take them multiple tries to connect deeply. I note that your soul group will be more patient than the average website visitor.
Therefore, you should persistently ping your authentic energy so your soul group members have opportunities to find and connect with you...
Get full access to Authentic Business for Solopreneurs with George Kao at georgekao.substack.com/subscribe
Your ambitions can be as grand as you want them to be. What inspires you? Dream it!
Yet, when it comes to the timeline of when those dreams are met -- hold to them loosely. Be unattached to the results of each day, each week, each month.
Instead, "attach" yourself (care much more) about the schedule you planned for today...
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/xsbHvIrK6no
See course details and enroll here:
https://www.georgekao.com/interview
Iâve been interviewed on more than 100 creator channels, podcasts, and summits.
Iâve also played the other role â Iâve interviewed more than 100 people on various webinars, videos, and podcast episodes.
If I can be honest here â rarely am I impressed with how my host did⌠or if Iâm the host, how my guests did. It often feels like an opportunity wasted for both sides...
Yet â when itâs done well, itâs a simple and proven way to grow your audience â interview interesting people, and be interviewed by othersâŚ
When you interview someone for your video channel, social media page, or podcast â and you do a good job as a host â your guest is naturally excited to share the recording, thereby growing your audience with people interested in your topic. This is a great way to connect with new potential clients.
Vice versa â when youâre being interviewed, and you do a great job as a guest, your host naturally is excited to share your interview even further!
However:
-
Hosts mostly donât know how to prepare their guests, nor how to draw out the most interesting sharing from the guest. They also mostly fail at follow-up with the guests, to make the episode sharing easier, and to create ongoing collaboration as appropriate.
-
Guests donât know how to use the opportunity of an interview. They answer questions too literally. They explain themselves too much, rather than connect deeply with audience's yearnings and the hosts' curiosity. The guests then donât follow-up with the host regarding additional opportunities to connect and collaborate.
These are all lost opportunities, and Iâm on a mission to change that.
I would love to see you become both an excellent interviewer and interviewee.
This will help you to:
- Explore and practice communicating your message with deeper impact.
- Enjoy your âmarketingâ efforts â because you are connecting from the heart with others whose message youâre genuinely curious about.
- Grow your audience (thanks to the added promotion of your host or guest) with new people who are more likely to be engaged and aligned with your work.
- Create friendships with new collaborators who can become client referral sources for you!
If this sounds great to you, join me for a 3-week experience:
-
Learn how to be a great host, with a step-by-step plan for reaching out to interesting guests, helping them prepare, bringing out their best, and hosting an excellent interview that theyâll want to share for months to come.
-
Learn how to be one of the best guests that hosts have had the pleasure to interview. Youâll get a method for reaching out to interesting channels & podcasts that are more likely to say Yes. You will also learn how to present well in your interviews so the host is genuinely excited to share your episode widely.
-
Connect with a group of kindred spirits in our course community with whom you can practice as you develop the skills to become a great host or guest! There will be a step-by-step process to find and match up with like-minded practice partners in this course.
See course details and enroll here:
https://www.georgekao.com/interview
The force is strong within you... become aware of the potential within yourself of both -- light marketing and dark marketing...
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/SLvx3z8h12Y
Observe the business experts you follow: notice the core message of their emails, social media, and websitesâŚ
Are they trying to tempt you with big incomes and large followings? "Make 7 figures!â "Get one hundred thousand followers!â
By selling wealth and fame, they are leading some people towards anxiety and depression.
A business built on extrinsic (or external) motivations will eventually foster unhappiness.
On the other hand, an authentic business â based on intrinsic motivations â tends to create true success...
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/nVmR5qs2sl0
Donât beat yourself up :) because at least you have a vision! Many people donât. And weâre all in the journey of learning how to properly motivate ourselves.
Got human accountability? Simplest is to use Focusmate. Join my focusmate group here: https://www.focusmate.com/signup/georgekaocommunity
Got a clear workflow process? Write it down. âHat manualâ.
This segment is a sample from the Authentic Business Course:
http://smpl.ro/BizInsights
I used to dream about âfinancial freedomâ⌠having so much money that I could just do whatever I wanted, travel the world, give money abundantly to causes and people in need.
I invested in lots of business programs that sold me on that dream.
Eventually I learned about the true purpose of work...
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/0TYAJFTaxa4
You might want to listen to this more than once...
This segment is a sample from the Authentic Business Course:
http://smpl.ro/BizInsights
May you celebrate your past actions, have peace in the present, and joyfully stretch (just a bit!) into your potential.
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/mU9FFtvV80c
This segment is a sample from the Authentic Business Course:
http://smpl.ro/BizInsights
It's good to niche your offers, but you don't have to niche yourself / the entirety of your business.
For us solopreneurs, it's about credibility anyway, not as much about niching...
Comment on this episode:
https://youtu.be/SLOr7M4GMTk
You might want to listen to this more than once...
This segment is a sample from the Authentic Business Course:
http://smpl.ro/BizInsights
Authentic, consistent creation... itâs a spiritual practice:
-
Post without checking for engagement (until your regular data gathering)
-
Show up and create as a discipline, not relying on inspiration only.
-
You are practicing your internal locus of motivation, the source of your authentic power and voice.
Watch the video / add your comments here:
https://youtu.be/Rr_W44dqmqQ
"There are only TWO spots left in the program. Sign up now!"
âŚis the sort of marketing message we might receive from a conventional marketer.
It seems to me that they havenât taken the care to consider how the audience feels. They're doing it because it "works" to get those few openings filled.
When they offer only 2 spots left, and yet the campaign is being sent to thousands of people, what are the rest of those people supposed to do?
Theyâre supposed to feel left out.
In this episode I discuss marketing with FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) and a healthier alternative...
Watch the video / add your comments here:
https://youtu.be/o83bKOhfwIE
Jeffrey Scott's website:
https://www.joyomancy.com
The Technomancy Workshop:
https://www.joyomancy.com/book-technomancy-workshop.html
Your ambitions can be as grand as you want them to be. What inspires you? Dream it!
Yet, when it comes to the timeline of when those dreams are met -- hold to them loosely. Be unattached to the results of each day, each week, each month.
Instead, attach yourself, care much more, about the schedule you planned for today...
Watch the video / add your comments here:
https://youtu.be/WJnZBuaUuDU
No, you don't have to do what those marketing experts are telling you -- you don't have to use persuasion psychology to have a successful business. (I'm living proof and so are many others out there who simply focus on showing up consistently and authentically.)
Watch the video / add your comments here:
https://youtu.be/sA2ez5B4-6I
The next time an expert tells you that a marketing or conversion tactic âworksâ... ask this question:
âIt might work to convert 10% of the audience⌠but does it build trust with the other 90%... or would it feel salesy to them?â
Watch the video / add your comments here:
https://youtu.be/d3sWWBxRrvk
Understanding the two energy sources that move your business forward... passion vs. compassion.
In other words...
Do what you love?
Or...
Offer what they want?
Try to integrate these two...
Watch the video / add your comments here:
https://youtu.be/w1JmTkTz4-U
Announcing my upcoming course:
âWhat Do You Do?â â
Integrate Your Deep & Diverse Work
Into a Coherent Intro & About Page
(3-Week Transformational Experience For Soulful Service Providers)
Have you found it challenging to communicate the depth and complexity of your work to others?
Multi-passionate solopreneurs often struggle with conveying the essence of their offerings in a way that resonates with potential clients and collaborators.
Letâs do this important work â together in community â for each of our businesses.
This 3-week experience is tailored for solopreneurs who have diverse passions and tools. We will clarify, and then practice, how to describe our work.
Throughout this course, you will create (or update), with the support of a community of fellow service providers, the following assets:
-
A captivating Bio that can be used on your website and social media profiles, as well as a modified version for introducing yourself in a group.
-
A new (or improved) About Page about you and your work â one of the key pages for your website.
-
A clear and resonant Professional Title that you can proudly use in various places: LinkedIn Headline, your Zoom name, and many other places where youâre introduced.
-
An authentic and simple Homepage Video where you introduce your work for 1 minute and invite the visitor to explore your website.
-
A simple Media Kit webpage you can send to people interested in interviewing you on their podcast or video channel.
If it sounds exciting to you to create these things â with my facilitation â in a supportive community of kindred spirits, then I hope youâll join us for this 3-week experience!
See the dates + the price at the enrollment page here:
Details & Enrollment
Ask any questions here.
In trying to understand your purposeful work, you may have encountered various kinds of venn diagrams (overlapping circles) to express the idea of Ikigai.
Well, here's my version of it... a venn diagram for Authentic Business.
Let me know if it helps! If so, add it to your toolbox đ
Watch the video / add your comments here:
https://youtu.be/J27KPHFHrgU
Many of us grow up hearing âYou only get one chance at making a good first impression.â We are taught this when applying for schools, for jobs, and when finding friends and partners.
Itâs no wonder that so many people are blocked from their authentic creativity. I also believe this is why so many of us are not consistent in creating content, due to this deep philosophical limitation.
Years ago I encountered this quote, which had a life-shifting impact for me:
âDo not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.â â Ralph Waldo Emerson
Over the years, Iâve practiced not worrying about making a good first impression...
Watch the video / add your comments here:
https://youtu.be/rpcVO8Nszyw
Iâve noticed that many service providers who consider themselves âspiritualâ often toss their spirituality out the window when it comes to marketing...
They trust the marketers and ignore their own values and heart.
This kind of disconnection is not necessary (and actually harmful) if you want a successful, authentic business. In this video I discuss how genuinely caring for your people can be the core of your "marketing strategy".
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/WpzesUSlA3g
Hereâs the business model that I use, and recommend for all clients to consider.
Itâs an alternative to sales funnels (which often feel unethical to me).
This concentric circles model is meant for those who earn a living as solopreneurs (simpler business with less overhead) by sharing their lifeâs experiences via coaching, mentoring, facilitation, or healing.
See the diagram and written explanation here:
https://www.georgekao.com/blog/businessmodel
Years ago, I received a simple piece of career advice:
âGo where youâre respected.â
â eco-entrepreneur Paul Hawken
These 4 words have guided my career.
It applies to marketing too â aim to sell only to prospective clients who are already eager to work with you. By doing so, there will be no feeling of âselling.â Thereâs only connecting from the heart, helping them genuinely, and answering their questions.
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/xU5dAQRLJII
In this episode, I discuss how marketing doesn't have to be about chasing a huge audience or thousands of subscribers. Instead, I encourage you to focus on finding your 100 true fans â people who genuinely enjoy and connect with your authentic self.
By exploring and empowering your authentic expression, you'll strengthen your unique energy signature, which will naturally attract your true fans. These fans will not only support your products and services but will also share your message with like-minded individuals, helping your audience grow organically.
I hope this perspective shift inspires you to approach marketing with more heart and authenticity. By focusing on building genuine connections with your true fans, you'll create a more fulfilling and successful business.
Watch the video and comment here:
https://youtu.be/FlQf6bGLMZ4
If feeling stuck in business, get back in touch with your audience on a 1-1 basis...
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/Fvk-Z0sH6gw
Alex's voice alone is healing to listen to! Enjoy this conversation about the power of our voice to heal our stored pain and liberate more authentic creativity and growth. Included is a sample meditation for releasing your voice.
For more, check out Alex's website -- https://www.alexkingharris.com
Alex King-Harris, known in the music world as Rara Avis (which is latin for Rare Bird), is a celebrated producer, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist with a 25-year career focused on music for yoga, embodiment, and the healing arts. He is a recognized pioneer in his field and has gained worldwide recognition for his musical offerings that blend live elements with eclectic, trance-inducing soundscapes. Alex's love for teaching vocal freedom and sound healing vocal journeys is evident through his workshops and ritual concert series. Additionally, he is the CEO and Co-Founder of YogiTunes, a worldwide streaming music platform for yoga and wellness.
Comment on this episode here:
https://youtu.be/YTIYVqmre-Y
This was a sample segment from the Joyful Productivity program: www.GeorgeKao.com/TLC
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/tyDlhukEVjw
-
As a society, should we pause AI development?
-
What about for you and me ... should we learn how to use AI?
No (we can't anyway)... and yes, it's urgent.
Related blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/pauseai
Discuss this episode here:
https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/744206333746662
Rebecca is a Content Strategist who specifically works with people making a positive impact on the worldâhealers, artists, activists, social entrepreneurs, and nonprofits. Her mission is to help do-gooders clarify and express their message in order to connect with, ignite, and expand their audience to disrupt the status quo and nourish humanity.
In this interview, we discussâŚ
-
Why you don't need to chase the algorithm around to have a successful online business.
-
Why you should lead with your most unpopular belief.
-
How to write copy in an effortless way that connects deeply with the people who would most resonate with your work.
Rebecca is in the process of building her Content Cultivation Community where you can get ongoing access to her expertise as well as group accountability to have a consistent and effective online presence even if you hate social media or feel strapped for time. Join her email list to be the first to know when it drops at https://rebeccavandamm.com/email
In the meantime, if you'd like to get a taste of her work, you can join her every first Friday for her free monthly gathering, Content Strategy Cafe. Check it out at https://rebeccavandamm.com/offerings
Many solopreneurs are being indoctrinated by digital marketers who sell them on the idea that they need a sales/marketing âfunnelâ.
A typical funnel works like this:1. You see an Ad (for example on Facebook or Instagram), or receive an email, and itâs about a wonderful âfreeâ thing⌠free video series, email course, or an intriguing quiz. 2. You can only get that âfreeâ thing by giving them your email address. This is known as âthe opt-in.â 3. Youâll get a series of emails giving you âvalueâ in the form of free advice or teachings, but what you donât realize is that itâs all designed to âindoctrinateâ you. They want you to buy a specific thing theyâre going to sell you soon. 4. You then get an email that brings you to a sales webpage (usually quite long!) or sometimes youâre invited to a âfreeâ webinar that tries to sell you on the thing they were intending for you to buy, from the very beginning. The original intention was hidden from you until now. 5. You then get cleverly-written email reminders until you buy. It might include scarcity tactics (âBuy in the next 2 hours to get this amazing bonus!â)
The idea of a âfunnelâ is to squeeze or manipulate people through a cleverly designed persuasion process.
There are many variations of this. You might see an innocent â5 day challengeâ to change your life, which then puts you into a Facebook group that is designed to build excitement for you to buy their program.
Or it might be a long webinar that is cleverly-designed to hook you into buying. Sometimes the webinar appears to be just in time for you! What they donât reveal is that the webinar is auto-playing (they should just call it a video!) and they only make it appear as if it is an event.
I purposely don't use sales funnels in my business. In this episode I discuss this, and also offer what I consider to be a better alternative...
Comment here:
https://youtube.com/live/k6RvWJZ3roo
I welcome your comments below -- how do you feel about A.I. (artificial intelligence) such as ChatGPT and MidJourney?
Do you think it will benefit your authentic creating?
Choose one of the places below to add your comments...
on Youtube: https://youtu.be/p-V8nqxSL5s
on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/575820811178908
Talking with Tad Hargrave about "point of view" (what I call "frameworks") and the 3 cases you need to make in your marketing: Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Prescription.
In celebration of his upcoming course:
https://georgekao--marketingforhippies.thrivecart.com/pov-marketing-lab/
Follow Tad's content:
https://www.youtube.com/@marketingforhippies
https://www.instagram.com/marketingforhippies/
To comment on this video:
https://youtu.be/g5hPU0rbRcA
This principle has been essential to my success.
How do I make great content?
By making more content, and observing what spreads.
How do I improve my skills?
By working with more clients, and noticing who grows the most.
True learning comes from action â we build muscles by doing things, not just reading about them.
It takes quantity of action to develop quality of results...
Comment here:
https://youtube.com/live/juTyVlL1plU
Sonja's links:
Website -- https://sonjathegrey.com
IG -- https://www.instagram.com/sonjathegrey/
FB -- https://www.facebook.com/sonjathegrey
Youtube -- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUBQb8E3JqTUBzPvdhQTOGQ
Sonja is part of my group coaching program: https://www.georgekao.com/group
Comment on this episode:
https://youtu.be/YoMLBsAVxbg
There are essentially two foundational ways of showing up in our marketing and content:
Be impressive instantly.
Be consistently authentic.
You can get clients through both methods, but only one method unleashes your full potential...
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/q7gTBV53XTE
Eric's links:
https://www.wisdomheart.com
https://www.facebook.com/wisdomheart
https://www.instagram.com/wisdom.heart
https://www.youtube.com/@WisdomHeartTV
Eric is part of my group coaching program: https://www.georgekao.com/group
Comment on this episode:
https://youtu.be/IlBtz9rrzDM
I used to dream about âfinancial freedomâ⌠having so much money that I could just do whatever I wanted, travel the world, give money abundantly to causes and people in need.
I invested in lots of business programs that sold me on that dream.
Eventually I learned about the true purpose of work...
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/fBbmVDZ5ihQ
How to get others excited about your passion project?
Document your own creation journey...
May this episode inspired you to go for it đđž
Comment here:
https://youtu.be/Ks5DO9dFuKQ
Links mentioned and additional thoughts can be accessed here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/theprosperouscoach
Cryptocurrency is a gamble. The stock market is volatile. Shockingly, even bonds donât feel safe anymore.
The best investment for most of us is â and has always been â in improving our own monetizable skills.
You will never have to worry about ups and downs. Itâs always valuable.
It has always been the highest sustainable return on investment -- in money and in your personal growth. Win-win.
Discuss:
https://youtu.be/lRSwfPSpn6w
Mira's Links:
https://www.facebook.com/MiraRaoCoaching
https://www.instagram.com/miraraocoach/
https://www.youtube.com/@mirarao5864
Mira is part of my group coaching program: https://www.georgekao.com/group
Comment on this episode:
https://youtu.be/iSbET0We3I4
Maybe itâs my fault.
Iâve written and spoken for years about how beneficial it is to be creating content consistently.
Now, some of you are feeling guilty if you arenât being consistent with it.
You might even be letting it stop you from doing gentle launches on a consistent basis...
Discuss here:
https://youtu.be/BeTVIPw7CpM
Get inspired by Gregory Vahanian as he talks about his shift into authentic content creation and netcaring.
Links to Gregory's content:
Facebook -- https://www.facebook.com/gregoryvahaniancoaching/
Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/gregoryvahanian/
Gregory is part of my group coaching program: https://www.georgekao.com/group
Comment on this episode:
https://youtu.be/6nwQBU71n8o
We become inauthentic when we try to persuade people.
When youâre in the energy of trying to âgetâ someone to believe you and to buy your thing, it becomes too easy to say whatever you think the other person wants to hear. You lose your grounding and integrity.
Instead, what if you sell only to people who will quickly understand the value of what youâre selling?
Discuss:
https://youtu.be/9tQ3CusWAyE
See all the info here:
https://www.georgekao.com/outreach
To ask any questions, comment here:
https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/1604533226641719
âTell me about your goals.â
âWell, I want a business beyond my wildest dreams. Doesnât everyone?!â
In her voice, thereâs a slight tinge of desperation. An unspoken, âI refuse to be happy until I arrive.â
When I started my business in 2009, I was like this, too. Easily influenced by my business mentors at the time, I became uber-focused on external success. Becoming a millionaire, building a guru online presence, etc.
Eventually, I burned out. I came to realize that prioritizing the externals often erodes the internals, and lends itself to stress, constant grasping, lack of fulfillment, etc. A breathless chasing after external validation.
Today, I wish to be average in external metrics, yet lead from the inner qualities.
In an industry of business coaches and marketing experts who all clamor for seven-figure incomes and million-follower fame, I focus on three different things nowâŚ
Discuss here:
https://youtu.be/EM5s20UUBGI
I wish I knew this when I was in my 30's, my 20's, even my teens...
Discuss here:
https://youtu.be/xk7sAsmUE3I
These are values that drive my business, and what I hope will set the foundation of my client community.
Iâm happy to share these values publicly, with the hope that it inspires growth for all business owners.
As you listen to each point, take a moment to reflect on how it aligns with your own values. Iâd love any comments, questions, and even suggestions.
Related blog post: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/values
Iâve been full-time as a solopreneur since 2009. Iâve launched many services, programs, and events. Some of them have been busts, getting few to no enrollments.
My first reactions to those experiences had been discouragement and slight depression. Many times Iâve been tempted to quit.
While I was in a state of discouragement, I asked myself:
âWhat would I say to a client who was experiencing this⌠and what therefore should I do to also recover?â
The word that came to me:
BREATHE
Intentional deep breathing is always a good reminder! However, I also got curious what else BREATHE could mean. In the next few days, what formed was a simple system bouncing back from setbacks.
âItâs important to have a recovery process quickly available to you when you start to get discouraged.
The next time you encounter a discouraging mistake or failure, try the BREATHE method as described in this episode.
Discuss here:
https://youtu.be/8tdMFKytknI
No, you don't have to niche down and constrict yourself like that.
For us solopreneurs, it's about credibility anyway, not as much about niching...
Discuss here:
https://youtu.be/wwliMMN1FZA
Someone asked what I thought about paying $20,000 per year for a business coach...
Of course, itâs fine if youâre having a very worthwhile experience, and if you are gradually paying it. My concern is when youâre paying a large sum and the coach is new to you, yet promising you the sun, the moon, and the stars.
Many of us idealistic business owners are easily taken by big promises from authoritative-looking coaches. We can end up wasting thousands⌠or tens of thousands of dollars.
The money you spend for business coaching should really be going towards the five areas I discuss in this episode.
**
Add your comments here:
https://youtu.be/gNd4QCnzrzg
âWe often hear that we only commit to things we pay a dear price for. Today a coach tried to sell me a ÂŁ20k program to work with him 1-o-1, weekly sessions for a year. And he justifies the price with the need to commit: if you pay for a cheap service you won't be so likely to commit to change.
As a healer, I wonder if selling high price packages might actually help my clients stick with my healing programs instead of being distracted by the next thing they find online.
I remember you talked about self-worth and money⌠but Iâm not sure about the relation between money we pay and the clientâs commitment.â
--reader of my blog.
This is a great question, and as you study business, you will encounter this kind of advice: charge higher rates so that your clients take the work more seriously.
Iâll turn the question around so you can see how it feels â how would you like it if you knew that I was charging you more, so that you would take my work more seriously?
Discuss here:
https://youtu.be/SLMZBrdlhb4
Once a year I teach my business plan course for the coming year.
It's my most important course and I require all my clients to take it, so that we can be on the same page re: effective & authentic business planning đđ˝
What does the course cover?
-
In-depth training about the 111 business formula -- a unique strategy that I've been applying for years to build a thriving business. You'll learn the strategy + get my newest tracking system for helping you apply it.
-
In-depth training about the 8 practices of authentic business -- how I see the whole landscape of business -- the core elements needed for entrepreneurial success.
-
Additional key pieces and templates for how I recommend planning a business for the coming year.
-
Q&A with me to answer your questions about all of the above.
If you're seeing this in November, you can catch the live sessions -- see the dates & times here: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/BizPlan
Either way, I hope you have a method -- or will find/create one -- of planning your 2023 business that feels inspiring and effective for you đ
Yours in Grateful Service,
George Kao
Iâve noticed that many service providers who consider themselves âspiritualâ often toss their spirituality out the window when it comes to marketing.
They trust the marketers and ignore their own values.
Not necessary for a successful, authentic business. In this episode I discuss how genuinely care for your people can be the core of your "marketing strategy".
Discuss here:
https://youtu.be/DEZK4OTkcvw
"Capture, Categorize, Calendar" is the core idea from the "productivity" side of my Joyful Productivity teachings.
For a writeup of this lesson, visit: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/ccc
Here is the public description of the program -- www.georgekao.com/group -- you can use the link there to request an Application. It's quick to fill out. Once I receive your request, if it seems like you might be a great fit for the program, I'll send you the official application and private document with other details. đđź
"There are only TWO spots left in the program. Sign up now!"
âŚis the sort of marketing message we might receive from a conventional marketer.
It seems to me that they havenât taken the care to consider how the audience feels. They're doing it because it "works" to get those few openings filled.
When they offer only 2 spots left, and yet the campaign is being sent to thousands of people, what are the rest of those people supposed to do?
Theyâre supposed to feel left out.
In this episode I discuss marketing with FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) and a healthier alternative...
Discuss here:
https://youtu.be/3uabo3wF-Ug
Recently Iâve spoken to several who have spent around $50,000 USD on business/marketing coaching or trainings⌠and often because they didn't realize those marketers are selling to their trauma. Sadly, much of the persuasion psychology being used (and taught) in marketing â the stoking of fear, uncertainty, doubt (FUD) â âworksâ on people who have experienced traumatic backgrounds⌠Iâm not an expert in trauma and its healing, but some of you are. I welcome your comments below â if you want to share your insights on how marketing is being used to take advantage of peopleâs trauma backgrounds, to make more sales, and how we can instead do marketing with more awareness and compassion. In this episode I'll share a core shift of perspective to help you break free of manipulative business teachers... To comment on the episode: https://youtu.be/eiPPg471VSQ
I'm launching a coaching program & community to help coaches/mentors/healers get (and stay) consistent in creating authentic content: The Soul Gym -- https://www.georgekao.com/SoulGym (www.GeorgeKao.com/SoulGym)
Clients -- you'll attract more clients (and more ideal ones) because the practice of creating authentic content somehow changes your energy -- you get more in touch with a deeper authentic power than before. Plus, some of your content will get shared and find new ideal audience members. Calling -- by exploring your ideas, experiences, passions and putting it out into the world, you discover more of the intersection between your creativity and the market's wants. Creativity -- you will grow your "creativity fitness" -- the skill of being creative on demand.
I'm launching a coaching program & community to help coaches/mentors/healers get (and stay) consistent in creating authentic content: The Soul Gym -- https://www.GeorgeKao.com/SoulGym (www.GeorgeKao.com/SoulGym)
Understanding the two energy sources that move your business forward... Join the discussion for this episode: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=763920981598888 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=763920981598888)
Coaches often tell me: âBecause Iâm not a consultant or teacher, I can't create content.â This is certainly an example of a limiting belief đ and it prevents many coaches from experiencing a greater potential that they could have as coaches. If you had a larger audience (created via content sharing), you have more choice â among your fans â of which clients youâd like to take on. You could raise your rates if you wished. You could also more easily create a group coaching program if you wanted to. Yet, content is not just for growing a business. Content is an important exercise of personal creativity and authentic expression. Nothing else has helped me find my authentic power more than my practice of creating consistently. Content is also a service to humanity â your content will benefit many more people compared to those who are able to give anything back to you. In this episode I'll offer some content ideas for coaches and facilitators. Join the discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/2259773334181042/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/2259773334181042/)
...that "make" people buy? Over the years, Iâve become quite sensitized to this type of marketing manipulation. By listening to this episode, youâll also become more conscious in your marketing, and also gain more control over your purchasing choices. I hope we can become more "childlike" in our marketing philosophy -- to be persuasive not by trying, but because we are innocently trustworthy and naturally likeable :) Join the discussion here: https://youtu.be/vDf89855Kl0 (https://youtu.be/vDf89855Kl0)
My analysis of Simplero vs Kajabi, Podia, and a few other popular all-in-one platforms: https://www.georgekao.com/simplero (www.georgekao.com/simplero) This was a segment from my mentorship program: www.georgekao.com/group Comment here: https://youtu.be/sU3fPkzSfi8 (https://youtu.be/sU3fPkzSfi8)
Some marketing experts want you to focus on âlist-buildingâ or getting lots of âtrafficâ. It can make us start to do things that are inauthentic. For example, using âlead magnetsâ to grow an email list, or making popular posts on social media that arenât true to our business or authenticity. What if instead we focus on serving the just right âpeopleâ, instead of always getting more âtrafficâ? The shift seems subtle, but itâs important: a more relational language continually trains us to focus on real human beings. Instead of âtrafficâ, what does an authentic business really need? I discuss that in this episode. Comment here: https://youtu.be/p90Uk6G-irE (https://youtu.be/p90Uk6G-irE)
Many of us grow up hearing âYou only get one chance at making a good first impression.â We are taught this when applying for schools, for jobs, and when finding friends and partners. Itâs no wonder that so many people are blocked from their authentic creativity. I also believe this is why so many of us are not consistent in creating content, due to this deep philosophical limitation. Years ago I encountered this quote, which had a life-shifting impact for me: âDo not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.â â Ralph Waldo Emerson Over the years, Iâve practiced not worrying about making a good first impression... Comment on the episode here: https://youtu.be/oGZFh_AtvTo (https://youtu.be/oGZFh_AtvTo)
I loved being interviewed by Leah Cooper for her podcast The Wellbeing Room. I hope you enjoy this special episode! Topics I shared: how I came to bring spiritual awareness to the work I do as a business and marketing coach what prompted the start of "Soul Gym" and how it has evolved over time the Spiritual Alphabet - my tools and values for wellbeing the evolution of the Energy Reboot practice
To watch the video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/13ks1gen0Mo (https://youtu.be/13ks1gen0Mo) Leah Cooper's Podcast â https://www.thewellbeingroom.com (The Wellbeing Room)
We become inauthentic when we try to persuade people. When youâre in the energy of trying to âgetâ someone to believe you and to buy your thing, it becomes too easy to say whatever you think the other person wants to hear. You lose your grounding and integrity. Instead, what if you sell only to people who will quickly understand the value of what youâre selling? Comment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMrjEKwp7VY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMrjEKwp7VY)
Is LinkedIn useful for non-corporate professionals such as holistic healers and intuitive coaches? I took a survey of my audience of non-corporate professionals... Here is a summary of their responses: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/linkedinforcoaches (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/linkedinforcoaches) Comment on this episode here: https://youtu.be/__EAw35qRH0 (https://youtu.be/__EAw35qRH0)
Check out my course on the simple process of self-publishing a book: https://www.georgekao.com/bookcreation (https://www.georgekao.com/bookcreation)
Check out my course on the simple process of self-publishing a book: https://www.georgekao.com/bookcreation (https://www.georgekao.com/bookcreation)
Too much of online prospecting/sales is about reaching out to strangers or acquaintances who have not signaled their interest in your work. "But based on their profile they might be interested, so I should reach out to them." Most of the time, this feel to the recipient like spam. In this episode I'll share 3 "warm outreach" alternatives... Comment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gbeGlyKOAo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gbeGlyKOAo)
Thereâs so much talk in marketing about increasing "conversion ratesâ -- which may mean how many webpage visitors buy, who many opt into your email list. Yet, none of us heart-based entrepreneurs like to focus on the manipulative actions that supposedly lead to "higher" conversion rates. And thankfully, we donât need to worry about it. Comment here -- https://youtu.be/Uvqh3_VTaOk (https://youtu.be/Uvqh3_VTaOk)
My focusmate group: https://www.focusmate.com/signup/georgekaocommunity (https://www.focusmate.com/signup/georgekaocommunity) My in--depth program about joyful productivity: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/TLC (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/TLC) Comment here: https://youtu.be/TWryykCEync (https://youtu.be/TWryykCEync)
Comment here -- https://youtu.be/XqIMy7oEfhA (https://youtu.be/XqIMy7oEfhA) This snippet is from MasterHeart Business Mentoring: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/Group (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/Group)
Episode from 2018 that's worth resharing... A lot of solopreneurs get indoctrinated by marketers into believing that they need a sales/marketing âfunnelâ. I don't think it's necessary, and for many of us heart-based service providers, it's not the way we want to start the relationship with our potential clients. Comment here -- https://youtu.be/esA0IH0zIgI (https://youtu.be/esA0IH0zIgI)
Coaches, Healers, and Mentors -- hereâs a marketing framework to help you fill your practice. Let me know if you find this short episode helpful đđź Comment here -- https://youtu.be/TTswoxJPqCE (https://youtu.be/TTswoxJPqCE)
An episode from 2018 that's worth re-sharing... Marketing doesn't have to feel fake... nor be a performance to try to "attract" people. What you're really doing -- when you take on authentic marketing -- is dedicating yourself to the practice of Passion + Compassion... Comment here -- https://youtu.be/hiotuAxyKvc
Many spiritual teachers, coaches, and healers fall into the idea of "means to an end"... let the marketers do whatever they do to get us an audience, so that we can do our "real" work with the clients... They donât understand that their marketing itself is impacting many more people, compared to the smaller numbers who sign up to work with them. Their public presence (messaging and branding) is influencing many more minds and hearts than they realize. In other words, your marketing itself is a core part of your ministry/client work. Comment here -- https://youtu.be/Xc8ckPBr2eI (https://youtu.be/Xc8ckPBr2eI)
In this episode I share the core practices that consistently give me a sense of deep well-being. This is a aample from this course -- https://www.georgekao.com/tlc (https://www.georgekao.com/tlc) Mentioned in this episode: TLC Reboot July 2022 My favorite coaching program to run is restarting next week -- The Joyful Productivity Program. The skills are so foundational to business success and well-being that I recommend it as the FIRST program to take for all my clients. I myself review the skills every year and find benefit each time. Check out the details: https://georgekao.captivate.fm/tlc https://georgekao.captivate.fm/tlc (TLC)
It's been a long time that I've hoped to facilitate a community of coaches & creators to support each other in spiritual/personal growth. It's finally happening :) See here: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/SoulGym (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/SoulGym)
My video creation course -- https://www.georgekao.com/videocreation (https://www.georgekao.com/videocreation) The best of my videos: https://geni.us/GKBestVids (https://geni.us/GKBestVids) My instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geokao (https://www.instagram.com/geokao) Watch this video and comment here -- https://youtu.be/g8ULevnGUc0 (https://youtu.be/g8ULevnGUc0)
Cryptocurrency is a gamble. The stock market is volatile. Shockingly, even bonds donât feel safe anymore. The best investment for most of us is â and has always been â in improving our own monetizable skills. You will never have to worry about ups and downs. Itâs always valuable. Itâs the highest sustainable return on investment in money and in your personal growth. Win-win. The old post I mentioned re: why I don't like the movement to invest in crypto: https://geni.us/WhyNoCrypto (https://geni.us/WhyNoCrypto) Comment on this episode here: https://youtu.be/ubFEfCaJEFs (https://youtu.be/ubFEfCaJEFs)
If you find it helpful to clear your limiting beliefs, go for it. That can be a good first step. Please don't stop there, though, or you might get stuck with giving too so much energy to expanding the limiting belief that "your limiting beliefs are what is actually limiting your life." I suggest that you must take the next steps and look at your limiting structures so that you can create empowering environments for your action... Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/JGbFVBKjBf8 (https://youtu.be/JGbFVBKjBf8)
"Iâm loving the course as it has already generated more action on my part than the whole preceding year. But I do have a tendency to want to solve everything NOW⌠and some degree of frustration that my life just doesnât allow for that!" Comment here: https://youtu.be/AZchuttsra4 (https://youtu.be/AZchuttsra4) This is a segment from the https://www.GeorgeKao.com/TLC (TLC program).
Years ago, I received a simple piece of career advice: âGo where youâre respected.â â eco-entrepreneur Paul Hawken These 4 words have guided my career.
It applies to marketing too â aim to sell only to prospective clients who are already eager to work with you. By doing so, there will be no feeling of âselling.â Thereâs only connecting from the heart, helping them genuinely, and answering their questions.
**
Watch the video or comment on this episode here: https://youtu.be/cdMy7lBVLaM (https://youtu.be/cdMy7lBVLaM)
"Best of" video from 2018: âI had been taken it really hard when I didnât get engagement after every/any post, thinking it was a reflection of my value.â â a fellow content creator. This is one of the main things that stops people from creating consistently. Let's talk about a few strategies to keep going -- because longevity of creating is the true secret of finding success with content. Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/nLa7LzjwBx8 (https://youtu.be/nLa7LzjwBx8)
There are essentially two foundational ways of showing up in our marketing and content: Be impressive instantly. Be consistently authentic. You can get clients through both methods, but only one method unleashes your full potential. ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/SPQnw1ZHAW8 (https://youtu.be/SPQnw1ZHAW8)
"Best of" video from 2018... What if you could reframe the "work" (and sometimes, the "struggle") of building your business, so that you take the truly productive actionsâââyet find it deeply fun? And what if that is part of lifeâs purpose: to sense into the deeper joy that is actually present in all productive and helpful activities, that at the surface level donât seem âfunâ? Let's discuss in this episode. ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/uHNn2_tGGDI (https://youtu.be/uHNn2_tGGDI)
You've heard me (and Gary Vaynerchuk) say before... if you're not consistently creating content, try the mindset of "documenting" your journey versus trying to create masterpieces. But if you're doing that, won't you look like a novice? Will your audience trust you enough to hire you for your services? In this episode I discuss ways of "documenting" that still builds trust with your audience... ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/UHCzpG4RZBs (https://youtu.be/UHCzpG4RZBs) This is a segment from my Monthly Q&A call. You get access to 2 months of these live calls when you sign up for any of my courses: https://www.georgekao.com/workshops (https://www.georgekao.com/workshops)
For most my life I worked like most people -- just "getting through" tasks as soon as I can, and with a "have to do this" kind of attitude. Once I started practicing what I shared with you in today's episode, my days become much more joyful (and productive!) This is a sample lesson from the TLC (Joyful Productivity) program... a 6-month group coaching program that is my favorite one to run. It starts again next week: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/TLC (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/TLC) Mentioned in this episode: TLC Reboot July 2022 My favorite coaching program to run is restarting next week -- The Joyful Productivity Program. The skills are so foundational to business success and well-being that I recommend it as the FIRST program to take for all my clients. I myself review the skills every year and find benefit each time. Check out the details: https://georgekao.captivate.fm/tlc https://georgekao.captivate.fm/tlc (TLC)
A "best of" video from 2018... To reach more people and make a deeper impact with your message, and ultimately grow your business, work on getting better at the 7 factors discussed in this episode. Look at it as an audit of your content marketing process, and make time to gradually improve in each of these areas... https://www.GeorgeKao.com/Blog/7Content (www.GeorgeKao.com/Blog/7Content) https://youtu.be/HdYNWvxYS2Q (https://youtu.be/HdYNWvxYS2Q) Mentioned in this episode: TLC Reboot July 2022 My favorite coaching program to run is restarting next week -- The Joyful Productivity Program. The skills are so foundational to business success and well-being that I recommend it as the FIRST program to take for all my clients. I myself review the skills every year and find benefit each time. Check out the details: https://georgekao.captivate.fm/tlc https://georgekao.captivate.fm/tlc (TLC)
It's a good question -- with these different ways of showing up online and communicating your message -- by writing blog posts (articles), making videos (Youtube, IG, FB, LinkedIn, TikTok), or recording podcasts... which one should you choose? Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/GKgKAMSOkMQ (https://youtu.be/GKgKAMSOkMQ) This is a segment from my Monthly Q&A call. You get access to 2 months of these live calls when you sign up for any of my courses: https://www.georgekao.com/workshops (https://www.georgekao.com/workshops)
"How do I grow my email list?" I've been asked this question for years. People hear from business experts that building an email list is the most important thing to do in marketing. It's a myopic focus. If you talk more deeply with marketing experts, I think they'll agree. None of us need an "email list". What we actually want is an audience who cares about what we offer. It is essential for authentic marketing to switch our mindset from "building an email list" to growing an engaged audience. Without this mindset shift, even the resulting email list will be ineffective. ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/k1K4EDuuIwo (https://youtu.be/k1K4EDuuIwo)
People get stuck on having to integrate their life's purpose, fully, into their "brand". I say let it go. Be willing to try offering different types of services. See what your audience resonates most with. Then do more of that. Eventually your "brand" will become clearer over time. ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/aMJ6U5ymd20 (https://youtu.be/aMJ6U5ymd20)
If you make videos sharing your knowledge & experiences (I hope you will!) you might feel anxious about remembering what you want to say on video... or sometimes, you might lose your train of thought. In either case, remember this: The purpose of authentic video (compared to writing) is to convey an authentic presence, to demonstrate your care for the topic and your audience. If you want accuracy of information delivery, do it in writing instead. ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/atRLF0LJi_o (https://youtu.be/atRLF0LJi_o)
The most basic thing in business is to have a good offer (product, service, event) that is aligned with the wants of one's audience. This video makes it very clear how to improve the value of that offer. Tad gives us 13 ways to consider. The ideas are borrowed in part from "Leadsology: The Science of Being in Demand" a book by Tom Poland. This is probably going to be required viewing for my clients so we can work on improving their offers! Check out Tad Hargrave's content and offers here: https://marketingforhippies.com (https://marketingforhippies.com) Tad's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/tadhargrave (https://www.youtube.com/tadhargrave) Tad's social media: https://www.instagram.com/marketingforhippies/ (https://www.instagram.com/marketingforhippies/) https://www.facebook.com/hippymarketer (https://www.facebook.com/hippymarketer) ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/ZzH4A3Ja-5Q (https://youtu.be/ZzH4A3Ja-5Q)
Why is it hard to sell art... or anything you passionately create? When we create something, we're hugely biased toward it. We took a long journey to get there, to make that vision a reality. Yet weâre surprised when the thing doesn't sell well. Others just âdonât get it!â, we think. Hereâs what happened â your experience of the "aha!" moments, during the long journey of creating, all happened within your own experience⌠nobody saw it. Therefore, youâre the only one who finds the end result, the âpay offâ, super valuable. If only you can find a way to bring your audience along on the journey of discovery and creation, then they might share moments of realization with you. The resulting creation will be deeply valuable to them, because they feel they also had some part to play. ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/agkKrQxIWr8 (https://youtu.be/agkKrQxIWr8)
I've got to tell you that one of the most common things I see, that is preventing people from making progress in their business, is that they're always preparing. They're always getting ready to get out there... One more training. One more month of working on their website. This is a dangerous pattern... ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/D97HVXGz_bA (https://youtu.be/D97HVXGz_bA)
Solopreneurs sometimes wish that they didnât have to do marketing, and people would just discover them and inquire about their services. For a lucky few, that non-strategy might work. For the rest of us? We have to learn how to do good marketing⌠In this episode I talk about how to post about your business on social media, and not sound salesy... ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/eKpzgyCLGY4 (https://youtu.be/eKpzgyCLGY4) Mentioned in this episode: Book Course Promo -- starts next week Announcement -- my next course begins on June 8: The Blog-to-Book Strategy: Organize Your Existing Writings to Self-Publish on Kindle & Paperback With a 5-Week Step-by-Step Process Details about the course here: https://www.georgekao.com/bookcreation
Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/C1n3rbiWIa4 (https://youtu.be/C1n3rbiWIa4) Mentioned in this episode: Book Course Promo -- starts next week Announcement -- my next course begins on June 8: The Blog-to-Book Strategy: Organize Your Existing Writings to Self-Publish on Kindle & Paperback With a 5-Week Step-by-Step Process Details about the course here: https://www.georgekao.com/bookcreation
If you study âhow to build an email listâ youâll almost certainly come across the strategy of hosting a telesummit. It is one of the fastest ways to build an email list. But it's often a terrible way to do it, because youâll end up with an unresponsive list of subscribers, after spending incredible amounts of effort and time in creating the telesummit... Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/g2k2eyfb6OQ (https://youtu.be/g2k2eyfb6OQ) Mentioned in this episode: Book Course Promo -- starts next week Announcement -- my next course begins on June 8: The Blog-to-Book Strategy: Organize Your Existing Writings to Self-Publish on Kindle & Paperback With a 5-Week Step-by-Step Process Details about the course here: https://www.georgekao.com/bookcreation
I see a lot of you (aspiring business owners) doing this: Youâre waiting until youâre âreadyâ before you take the next leap.
A dear client asked me about the âthin line between readiness and procrastination.â
Based on my experience personally coaching hundreds of business owners, I can almost certainly tell you this: â
You are being fooled by your own brilliant mind. Your feeling of âlack of readinessâ is actually procrastination.
I never feel âreadyâ --
When I started writing this article, I was scared that I wouldnât have enough to say.
When making my videos, by the time I click ârecordâ I feel like I couldâve spent another hour (at least) thinking about the topic.
When I launch a course, I never quite feel ready⌠but I remind myself that whatever I already know will be at least somewhat helpful to the students. We are usually much harsher on ourselves than our students / clients are.
The founder of Linkedin, Reid Hoffman, famously said this:
If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late.
This article explains his thoughts: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/arent-any-typos-essay-we-launched-too-late-reid-hoffman/
I feel embarrassed often... because I create often.
Every book that I publish, I feel at least slightly embarrassed by⌠but the reality is that if I waited until a book was âreadyâ I might never publish. Thankfully I do publish, because book after book, each one is getting better. I can always re-publish and re-launch a 2nd edition later⌠and I will!
Every course that I teach, Iâm embarrassed by, but I also get feedback that year after year, each version gets better.
The creative process, the reality of building an authentic business, requires this continual practice:
Transforming Fear into Love.
We are being called to recognize when we are feeling afraid in the creative process, and instead, reinterpret that emotion. Turn âfearâ or âlack of readinessâ into one or more of these⌠Excitement Passion Service Curious self-exploration Adventure
Transform Hesitation into Action.
If I am creating something, and I feel hesitation, I now interpret it as a signal to take action, to just do. To take the next step. To write the next sentence. To click ârecordâ on the video. To press âpublishâ.
It is a daily creative practice: transmuting fearful hesitation into loving action. Bit by bit, piece by piece, we are becoming more courageous, and wiser through experience.
But the doubt, the âlack of readinessâ never goes away. We simply get better at recognizing it, and transmuting it into creative action.
I encourage you to start today.
Bias yourself toward action, doing what you are âafraidâ of, knowing that it is actually excitement, passion, service⌠and just write, speak, publish, launch, etc⌠do the thing that puts your work into the marketplace.
Even though our lack of âreadinessâ in a creative project is procrastination, there is a real conversation to be had about âreadinessâ is in regards to the marketplace:
Itâs Not About Your Readiness, but Your AudienceâsâŚ
Building an authentic business happens in stages:
-
You build (and further nurture) your ideal audience through authentic, consistent content -- for example, through articles you write or videos that you make.
-
You then notice what topics your ideal audience most resonates with, and you make more content on those topics.
-
Based on one of the resonant topics, you then create -- lightly, with as little work as possible -- a product/service/program.
-
You then simply -- without much ado / pressure on yourself or them -- launch it to your audience. Donât think âthis better work!â but instead, hold the primary expectation of learning from your audienceâs reactions and feedback.
-
You then take their feedback and you re-launch the thing with more effort and care the next...
Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/k469ALv_6gc (https://youtu.be/k469ALv_6gc) Mentioned in this episode: Book Course Promo -- starts next week Announcement -- my next course begins on June 8: The Blog-to-Book Strategy: Organize Your Existing Writings to Self-Publish on Kindle & Paperback With a 5-Week Step-by-Step Process Details about the course here: https://www.georgekao.com/bookcreation
"There are only TWO spots left in the program. Sign up now!" This is the kind of email we might receive from a conventional marketer.
They have not taken the care to consider how this makes the audience feel. They're doing this because it "works" to get those openings filled.
When they say there are 2 spots left, and yet the campaign is being sent to thousands of people, what are the rest of the people supposed to do? "Feel left out" is the unfortunate answer.
This is the biggest problem in marketing today -- doing things that are expedient, that "work" to achieve a short-term result for profits, without caring how the audience feels (i.e. the majority who canât buy at the moment), and therefore how this affects the marketer's own brand (i.e. reputation and relationship with audience) in the long-term.
Sometimes, this is even consciously done by the marketer. Maybe they want the audience to feel like they must do what the marketer says ASAP, or otherwise feel left outâŚ
I, too, have to become more aware of how my own promotions might make you feel. If it ever feels less than good, please do let me know.
Conventional marketing works to exacerbate: * Anxiety / scarcity / limitation * Fear of missing out / being excluded * Guru-ship (believe their authority more than your own inner authority)
When I have only a few spots left for something, I don't email my list. I don't post it on social media. I reach out specifically to a few people that I believe would be grateful to know about those few spots. (I will ask them to kindly respond by tomorrow if they are interested, because otherwise I need to share the opportunity with others.)
If you have something that is timely, e.g. a course or workshop, or the start of a program, then let people know the start date, and if they can't do it this time, when you might be doing it again. Respect people enough to make the choice. The ones who are excited about the offer will want to do it sooner rather than later. They won't want to wait.
Recently, I decided not to post a "Last Chance" type of ad on Facebook, because I felt my audience already saw it enough. I had sent 2 emails to my list, and had already done a Facebook ad. I noticed the sales was initially good, but had trickled to a halt.
I could "squeeze" out a few more sales by doing more promotions. Or, I could prioritize the feeling of connection and friendship with my audience.
When an offer is right for the audience, the sales come in strong at the beginning, and then, kind of like cooking popcorn, the sales slow down, and then, if most of the audience has seen it enough times, one or two more might sign up.
When cooking popcorn, you need to pay attention. It's not worth popping 2 more kernels, yet burning 20 of them. Stop promoting your offer to try to get 2 more sales, at the risk of burning 20 people. Don't annoy your list by sending too many promotional emails.
This is how so many email lists become useless over time⌠they were not conscious of how their messages made the audience feel.
I limit promotions to 2-3 emails about any one offer -- and this is only to my promotions email list (those who specifically want to hear about my promotions.)
For example, to promote an upcoming course, 1 email is sent announcing that it is now available for registration, and the 2nd email is sent one day before the course starts.
If it is a unique or new type of course that my audience isnât used to seeing from me, I might send a 3rd email in between the 1st and 2nd, to give them more information about it. You can see my actual promotional emails here. (As always, I continue to learn, so feel free to give me your honest feedback and suggestions, dear audience!)
On social media (particularly my Facebook business page) I post 2-3 times about the offer (1 link post, 1 event, and maybe 1 text-only post), boosting one or two of those into Ads. That's it.
Organic food is better for your health and the well-being of the environment, but usually costs more money. Similarly, organic marketing is better for your brand and the well-being of your audience, but usually costs more time and effort in the beginning... Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/U9eOa0VSbeA (https://youtu.be/U9eOa0VSbeA)
This is a segment from the Create Your Framework course: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/framework (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/framework) Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/6mryAd2AUjQ (https://youtu.be/6mryAd2AUjQ)
Webinar details and signup: https://georgekao.simplero.com/podcasting (https://georgekao.simplero.com/podcasting) My podcast hosting service: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=georgekao (https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=georgekao)
In marketing it is assumed that the goal, the daily effort, is to get more views, more followers, more sales.... always wanting other people to do more of what we want them to do. In other words, conventional marketing is deeply self-centered, which stems from either insecurity, or ego.
âIf I donât strive to get my share of attention, I wonât be able to survive or shine!â
The result is the proliferation of questionable marketing strategies and pushy sales tactics, that aim to âgrabâ more audience attention and action.
The real problem is that it seems to work in the short term. âThe squeaky wheel at first gets the grease... but all that squeaking eventually gets it eliminated and replaced! â Eventually, short-term strategies always comes back to haunt the marketers.
Itâs this selfish core of âI want you to do this for me" from marketers that makes consumers distrust and dislike so much of marketing. Whether itâs the emails that clutter our inbox, or the pushy calls to action, we feel we âhaveâ to consume marketing, in order to get to the good stuffâââthe content we actually signed up for.
Additionally, so many ads and commercials are annoying because they don't really speak to our true wants or needs.
The bottom line: Most marketers donât care enoughâââtheyâre just blasting their promotions to everyone, hoping to catch a few. They aren't caring enough to slow down and really understand and target their communications thoughtfully. It feels interruptive, a necessary evilâââwhich is why Adblockers are so popular.
Instead of âhow can we get more attentionâ, what if we think in terms of âhow can we care more?â
I believe there is a deep calling in us authentic business owners to bring more love and wisdom into business. That is truly the core focus.
By bringing more (and wiser) caring to our audience, the result tends to be more loyal attention, deeply happy customers, and greater word of mouth.
Caring more for our current readers, existing subscribers, the clients we already have, means that we will want to grow a deeper understanding of who they are and what they're going through right now. We can then create content and offerings that are more relevant to them.
Everybody wins.
Care Enough to Seek Conversation.
What are they thinking about now? How do they feel about our industry and the offerings that are available in the market? What can we do to meet them where they are, to serve them better?
Willingness to care means willingness to talk to them. To converse 1â1 with as many of our audience as possible.
Reach out privately to those who engage with our content on social media. Individually contact some of our email subscribers to get to know them better. Not just sending out surveys, but caring enough to be in 1â1 conversation with them.
In our conversations, try to uncover what it is they are struggling with at this time: what can we create that will help them, especially through our content? Find out what related products/services theyâve bought. What did they love, and what weren't they satisfied with? This helps us create (or curate) better offerings for them.
Most of us business owners are so in our own heads (and hearts), absorbed with our own experiences, in love with our own modality, focused on promoting our own ideas, that we can easily lose touch with what the audience actually wants.
We need to care more about our audience than we care about our possible embarrassment by their silence or rejection. Letâs rise up out of our cocoon and get more audience-centered.
It's so important to keep returning to these questions: How can I care more about my audience? How can I better understand them? How can I show care, in ways they can see and feel?
This is how real trust and loyal attention are created. Not by trying to grab attention, but by caring, so that others naturally trust and become loyal to you.
How Are
A common creative block is worrying about the sequence in which you should be creating your content. Having written a thousand blog posts, self-published four books, created a dozen online courses, I can tell you this:
Do not be concerned about the order of your content. Just start creating.
Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/qbxXr2cObEo (https://youtu.be/qbxXr2cObEo)
In this episode (best watched on video when possible) I show you how I quickly get clear about my top priorities, when so much is going on... Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/PfawawU8S7o (https://youtu.be/PfawawU8S7o)
Have you delayed your business progress, or felt stuck, because of big questions such as: âWhat is my niche?â âWho is my ideal client?â âWhat should my offering be?â âWhatâs my marketing message?â âWhatâs my Calling in life?!â
These questions carry a finality that can overwhelm. Itâs like once you answer it, you lose your flexibility. âThe decision would affect so many little things!â you say. No wonder we procrastinate before moving on such an important question. It can keep us stuck for years.
Many years ago, a wise mentor said to me that our Calling can only be understood looking backward.
As we observe the twists and turns of our life, we can then start to connect the dots⌠to see the pattern of our opportunities, the people we happened to meet, our successes and âfailuresâ and what we learned from each major experience.
We start to understand our Calling.
Yet, Life is lived forward. And itâs easy to be afraid of future future, afraid of going in the âwrongâ direction. We know that planning helps prevent mistakes, but when it comes to something as complex and continually evolving as our authentic business, there are too many factors we will never fully understand, for which we cannot plan.
âWe plan, and God laughsâŚâ --Yiddish proverb.
We donât know how we will personally evolve, nor how societyâs changes may affect us. This means the wisest way to build an authentic business, and to discover our calling, is to take the stance of experimentation.
âAll life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.â âRalph Waldo Emerson
From this playful perspective, letâs reframe those big intimidating questionsâŚ
âWhatâs my niche?â
âŚcan be reframed as:
âWhatâs the next niche Iâd like to explore, through experimentation?â
Instead of the false finality of defining my niche, I always am testing new ideas⌠while doubling-down on recent ideas that got traction.
For example, a few years ago, I noticed that I was often answering questions for my audience and clients about Facebook Ads. So I decided to test out that niche by teaching a single 2-hour workshop on that topic. People loved it. So I repeated it for another audience. They loved it too. And now, my Facebook Marketing Course is what many people know me for. In other words, for them, this is my ânicheâ. (I donât care how people define me -- as long as they find benefit from my work.)
Another example: I was interested in the topic of âhealthy moneyâ (relating to money in a wiser way) so I tried writing some articles about it. Most of my articles on that topic have received lackluster response. Therefore, itâs not a niche that Iâll be putting much effort into. If it were a hobby, I might keep writing about itâââI guess thatâs why I kept it up so long without much response. However, for my business, Iâd rather focus on other ideas that find a better market response.
âWhoâs my ideal audience?â
âŚcan be reframed as:
âWho has recently been responding to my authentic content?â
orâŚ
âWhat group of people will I try advertising my content to next?â
This is why I preach the message of Authentic Content Marketing: in your content, be yourself (without having to pretend to be like anyone else). Talk about your passions, talk about what has really helped you and others, and then observe who responds to your authenticity.
You can also experiment by running Facebook Ads to different audiences and see if they like your content.
Then, as you start offering your products and services, observe who buys. Thatâs the beginning of your true ideal audience. Study who your buyers are.
Back in 2009 when I started my business, I imagined that my ideal audience looked like me: male in his 30âs, business school graduate. Yet, as I created content and started to enroll clients, I was surprised: my audience was mostly women, and many of them were in their 50âs, and mostly without
Think about your favorite band -- you'd love for them to play your favorite song again. Same thing with your content and audience -- they want you to say the same thing (that made a difference for them) again and again :) Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/beVIDFzfgcQ (https://youtu.be/beVIDFzfgcQ)
When are you not confident in selling your services? Itâs when you donât believe the transaction is truly a win-win.
If you really believe in your services, and know that the person youâre talking to would find it to be a great deal at the price youâre offering, then youâre no longer afraid to sell. It becomes a worthwhile cause to let them know.
Comment on this episode under the video: https://youtu.be/RFeYMNoSp7g (https://youtu.be/RFeYMNoSp7g)
Today, your work, your tasks, are not your top priority. Your State is Your Top Priority. How are you being, as you go about your tasks and your work? Are you harried, anxious, struggling, and âjust want to get it doneâ? The quality of your work tends to match the quality of your being. Plus, you have no guarantees of your work results â you can only control whether you do the work, and how you do it. Therefore, why not do your work from joy⌠instead of frustration, anxiety, or boredom? Your state of being is your top priority, because the only thing you can truly control is your inner life. Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/BNoetdX3uZ4 (https://youtu.be/BNoetdX3uZ4)
âI long for the ability to create without any thoughts of moneyâŚto create because I love it⌠to take real time off when I need it⌠to try new things and build in more hobby-time into my life. Although everything I create is because I love it, I tend to always have that background question: âWill it make me money?â
I want to get to a place where I feel I can try things and fail and be totally fine with itâŚâ
âa reader sent this to me.
Indeed, itâs a life that many of us heart-based people long for. Itâs a worthy vision, and itâs absolutely possible â step by step. We can even do some of it now, without having to wait.
**
Comment on this episode under the video: https://youtu.be/txZAi7XZnx0 (https://youtu.be/txZAi7XZnx0)
I start by talking about how knowledge is holographic, expandible, collapsible and very importantly, can never be perfectly communicated in terms of what "reality" really is. Therefore, when trying to communicate knowledge, we are basically making shit up all the time. To comment on this episode, go here: https://youtu.be/wuIoM8vCDfU (https://youtu.be/wuIoM8vCDfU) ** This is a segment from the Create Your Framework course: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/framework (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/framework)
Richard Taubinger & Kylie Slavik have an agency that has done the marketing for some major spiritual teachers including Marianne Williamson, Eckhart Tolle, Jack Canfield, and Tara Brach. In this conversation we discuss what they believe are the core 3 marketing skills: The importance of "hooks" The importance of telling your origin story The importance of content blocks for copywriting and videos Learn more about their work at these links: Website -- https://www.consciousmarketer.com (https://www.consciousmarketer.com) FB Group -- https://www.facebook.com/groups/themarketerspath (https://www.facebook.com/groups/themarketerspath) Accelerator -- https://www.consciousmarketer.com/accelerator/ (https://www.consciousmarketer.com/accelerator/)
As you become more effective and successful with your work, one of the risks is that others might copy you. This is most frequently done in online content: one of your pieces goes viral and then others reuse it, but donât give you credit. Should you be concerned that it might happen? Do you need to constantly monitor and hunt down the copycats? Some people do. For me, it would be too much stress. Instead, I recommend preventive measures. The more places you publish the idea, the easier it will be for people to find you as the source of that idea. In this episode I also talk about uncopyrighting all my content... Comment on this episode here: https://youtu.be/36AhD6fAlqA (https://youtu.be/36AhD6fAlqA)
People hire your services because they trust your expertise. 1. "Low hanging fruit" are the people you know who already trust your expertise. Contact them first. They don't remember what you provide, and they always need a reminder. 2. At the same time, work on growing an "orchard" by planting seeds and nurturing the soil -- via authentic content, consistently. Comment on this episode here: https://youtu.be/ZOBsCJMJx3Y (https://youtu.be/ZOBsCJMJx3Y)
A surprisingly simple way to build self confidence -- as I've personally experienced over a decade -- is to set self-appointments for making progress on a project... and practice sticking to those appointments. It can help to use Focusmate as a way to get into the habit. If you'd like to join my Focusmate group, here's the link: https://www.focusmate.com/signup/georgekaocommunity (https://www.focusmate.com/signup/georgekaocommunity) Comment on this episode: https://youtu.be/2fkQbtLnt2Q (https://youtu.be/2fkQbtLnt2Q)
Why buy online courses, when all the information is available for free, if you only knew where to look? Or if you're an aspiring Course Creator, and consumed with self-doubt about selling information that âwants to be freeâ, this episode is for you too... Comment here: https://youtu.be/k-Xp4QFBbng (https://youtu.be/k-Xp4QFBbng)
Just as yours, my heart goes out to the innocent and suffering people of Ukraine and Russia at this time... and to the other wars around the globe that are underreported. And yet, you might have noticed that I rarely post anything about it, nor about the many important societal or political issues in the past few years. I wish to be an example of someone who does not post social/political stuff â for all of you out there who might sometimes feel guilty about not posting about such things. Discuss this episode here: https://youtu.be/QffSc9tFhWw (https://youtu.be/QffSc9tFhWw)
The most natural way for your friends to talk about your work is when they see some interesting content you've posted on social media related to your work, and thereby, share it forward with their network. It's easy and natural, and the more consistently you show up, the more often you'll get referrals. Comment on this episode here: https://youtu.be/rAplzAiluzs (https://youtu.be/rAplzAiluzs)
My 12-minute summary of how to gain a larger online following. This snippet is from a MasterHeart Group conversation: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/Group (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/Group) Comment on this episode here: https://youtu.be/5tFGXg3HIJ4 (https://youtu.be/5tFGXg3HIJ4)
Helen Perry's known for the idea of #justbloodypostit! and in this video we talk about, as well as other encouraging tips for creators. I hope you find it inspiring! Helen is a former BCC radio broadcaster and began her online business in 2017 and in a few short years has developed quite the following. Not surprising, since she is generous with her ideas and support! Helen Perry's links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_helen_perry_/ (https://www.instagram.com/_helen_perry_/) Podcast: https://www.helen-perry.co.uk/the-just-bloody-post-it-podcast/ (https://www.helen-perry.co.uk/the-just-bloody-post-it-podcast/) Website: https://www.helen-perry.co.uk (https://www.helen-perry.co.uk)
I have several colleagues and clients who offer sliding-scale pricing. Some of them advocate for it, so itâs touchy for me to disagree with that strategy, but I feel itâs important to share my point of view about it. I donât feel that sliding scale and pay-what-you-can is supportive for most businesses, and it puts too much burden on customers. Even if there are a few people who are doing it effectively, I think they are exceptions. Most of us would have a more sustainable business if we have simpler pricing. Here's the diagram I showed in the video: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/businessmodel (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/businessmodel) Comment on this episode here: https://youtu.be/IA1CzU8lSoc (https://youtu.be/IA1CzU8lSoc)
In order to be able to do marketing and selling consciously (with awareness of how our actions impact othersâ emotions, as well as our own psyche), letâs look at the foundational metaphors we use in marketing. If you can understand the deeper purpose authentic marketing -- you might just start to really enjoy it. Read the blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/marketingmetaphors (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/marketingmetaphors) Comment on this episode here: https://youtu.be/9enRMUF0G1o (https://youtu.be/9enRMUF0G1o)
New book is out today đ𼳠Joyful Productivity for Solopreneurs, 2nd Edition: Gentle Practices for Consistent Creativity, Wellbeing and Deep Meaning in Work To buy the book: Kindle e-book: https://amzn.to/3Hg4hrz (https://amzn.to/3Hg4hrz) Paperback: https://amzn.to/3JJL3MF (https://amzn.to/3JJL3MF) ...or go to Amazon for your country and search for the book's title (be sure to find the 2nd edition). Thank you for your support đđź To comment on this "episode" go to the video: https://youtu.be/s8maJGm5TIE (https://youtu.be/s8maJGm5TIE)
If you're planning to write a review (thank you!) -- and you're able to buy the book first -- it will then make yours a "verified" review, which adds more weight to the Amazon algorithm for promoting this book. Thank you for your support, however you decide to write a review, or not đ
Also, readers of this book are welcome to sign up for the Q&A calls about this book. See the dates/times here: https://georgekao.as.me/?appointmentType=30067369 (https://georgekao.as.me/?appointmentType=30067369)
You would love to do marketing authentically rather than succumb to short-term pressure, deceptive tactics, or hype. And⌠you need to fill your next course, program, or get some clients soon. So how do we get clients without resorting to conventional strategies that donât feel right? Here are 5 ways to consider. Watch video or comment on this episode here: https://youtu.be/LNdGwcmfRD8 (https://youtu.be/LNdGwcmfRD8)
Itâs sad when I see people seeking quick and easy money. Often, they seek it because they are actually exhausted with work, and life. âIf I could only solve this problem of money, then I can really have the freedom to live life on my terms.â That mindset provides little defense against unscrupulous people who are selling some system that will supposedly earn quick and easy money. Watch the video or comment on this episode here: https://youtu.be/iVUFuJyQ6xM (https://youtu.be/iVUFuJyQ6xM)
In selling, it is typically assumed that you must learn persuasion tactics. Persuasion strategies do work⌠but only for the short-term.
Do you enjoy having to convince or persuade people to buy from you?
The idea of âpersuasionâ sets up an arms-folded, you vs. me dynamic.
Our conscience is saying, âThereâs got to be a better way.â
Hereâs an alternative that I enjoy much more:
Instead of trying to sell, letâs do our best to align with our potential clients.
Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/NF4Iu7X1gOs (https://youtu.be/NF4Iu7X1gOs)
In this short episode, I share why itâs important for every authentic business to have its own framework. Other words for âframeworkâ include model, system, methodology, blueprint, map, curriculum, signature program, theory of change, and client transformational journey. If you'd like to create a framework with the support of my online course and community, check this out: https://www.georgekao.com/framework (https://www.georgekao.com/framework)
Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/E99LUyHZA5U (https://youtu.be/E99LUyHZA5U)
To watch the video or add a comment to this episode: https://youtu.be/-XP6Z2weqjM (https://youtu.be/-XP6Z2weqjM)
If you buy online courses, be sure to SCHEDULE these two times: 1. Time to watch the course. 2. Equal amount of time to implement what you watched. For each 30 minutes you watch, schedule 30 minutes as soon as possible (ideally in the same day or two) to implement the most important things you learned from what you watched. Otherwise, you might be wasting money just buying courses left and right! Mentioned in the video -- my Focusmate "group" so that you can get paired up with me and others in my group more often: https://www.focusmate.com/signup/georgekaocommunity (https://www.focusmate.com/signup/georgekaocommunity)
This video was part of a Q&A for my TLC coaching program: https://www.georgekao.com/tlc (https://www.georgekao.com/tlc)
It's often said (or assumed) that a fundamental principle of marketing is to have a clear, understandable message. It's then assumed that you should come up with that clarity before you start "putting your brand out there".
This is like having a fixed mindset in marketing & branding.
Growth Mindset for Branding A growth mindset looks more like this:
You don't "have" a clear message. You're always working to further clarify.
Youâre dedicated to the ongoing process of clarifying.
Comment here: https://youtu.be/If93Yi_Ltj0 (https://youtu.be/If93Yi_Ltj0)
Jen Louden is a personal growth pioneer who helped launch the self-care movement with her first book "The Womanâs Comfort Book". She's the author of several additional books on well-being, whole living, and creating, with the latest being "Why Bother? Discover the Desire for Whatâs Next". Her books have inspired more than a million women in 9 languages. Jen has spoken around the world on self-care, written a national magazine column, and even sat on Oprah's couch talking about the power of retreats. She believes self-love + world-love = wholeness for all. Check out Jen's coaching program for women writers of all levels and genres: https://jenniferlouden.com/write-now/
Comment on the video here: https://youtu.be/VYQwyvjlXt8 (https://youtu.be/VYQwyvjlXt8)
I share this âsecretâ with many creators -- I donât feel inspired until Iâve already started creating... as short as 5 minutes, upwards of 45 minutes. I often feel uninspired. But I am willing to try. Itâs how I start my work most of the time. This very video was recorded in an uninspired mood: https://youtu.be/RTKSIu3N9wI (https://youtu.be/RTKSIu3N9wI) (Add your comments there if you'd like.)
Many spiritual teachers fall prey to the idea of "means to an end"... let the marketers do whatever they do to get us an audience, so that we can do our "real" work with the clients... Those teachers donât understand that their marketing itself is impacting many more people, compared to the smaller numbers who sign up to work with them. Their public presence (messaging and branding) is influencing many more minds and hearts than they realize.
In other words, your marketing itself is a core part of your ministry/client work.
To comment on this episode: https://youtu.be/4Y7voUC63OE (https://youtu.be/4Y7voUC63OE)
Have you ever heard that âsales is a numbers gameâ? According to that idea, you just have to âpitchâ your services to a lot of people, and some of them will become your clients.
Many sales trainers teach this: âEvery no means you are closer to a YES!â
If youâve actually tried this, you know that itâs brutal...
To most of us heart-based people, trying to âsellâ a lot feels intimidating. We feel that itâs an inauthentic way of connecting with others.
What if there was an alternative way to think about it, that felt more aligned with the heart⌠and perhaps more effective in the long-term? â Try what I teach in this video and let me know how it goes for you: https://youtu.be/gTZfUluecZA (https://youtu.be/gTZfUluecZA)
Interview with Mark Walsh, founder of Embodiment Conference and Certification of Embodiment Coaching -- where we discussed the primacy of self-care and self-regulation. Main website: https://embodimentunlimited.com (https://embodimentunlimited.com) Podcast: https://embodiedfacilitator.com/the-embodiment-podcast/ (https://embodiedfacilitator.com/the-embodiment-podcast/) Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfgLCTiNzVpIeL_j7Icxh8w (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfgLCTiNzVpIeL_j7Icxh8w) ** To watch the video or comment on this episode: https://youtu.be/2F6N2UQ8yZE (https://youtu.be/2F6N2UQ8yZE)
Sorry a bit of cussing involved here... Movements/causes don't work out because individuals don't have their sh*t together: 1. Their productivity systems are unformed / all over the place. 2. Even once they have their productivity systems in place, they don't practice showing up everyday with joy for their work.... In my work, I sometimes get to do what I love. The rest of the time? I love what I do. 3. Leaders often become leaders without having adequately developed their inner wisdom and impulse control, to deal gracefully with human conflict, their base desires, and leading people well. Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/LNXZanU8B0w (https://youtu.be/LNXZanU8B0w)
Find the date and time of the webinar, and sign up, here: https://www.georgekao.com/success.html (www.GeorgeKao.com/Success) For most of my life Iâve been interested in what âsuccessâ means. Perhaps similar to you, Iâve read many books and attended many webinars on the subject. The past 12 years of building a business â and teaching entrepreneurship to thousands of others â have shown me that real fulfillment is based on oneâs own authentic pathway to success. To experience success, we need to continually redefine what success means to us, and to confirm that our daily actions are aligned with what we understand to be our pathway towards success. For example, what helps you feel like youâre on the right track, when it comes to your career, finances, and life purpose?
Join me â and dozens of kindred spirits who care about succeeding with their authentic self â for a webinar experience where we will work on our own definition and pathway of success. I will, of course, share mine with you. More importantly, Iâll suggest a framework for you to craft your own.
To see the date/time of this event and to sign up to attend for free -- https://www.georgekao.com/success.html (www.GeorgeKao.com/Success)
Will there be a recording? 1. If you are able to attend live, and fill out the feedback form, you will receive the recording of BOTH sessions for free. 2. If you cannot attend live, you can later buy the recordings of both sessions for approximately $75 USD. 3. Or you can join TLC 2022 â https://www.georgekao.com/TLC (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/TLC) â the recordings are included as a bonus.
Iâm strict about showing up, lenient about results, and gentle to bring myself back to focus again and again. This is opposite of what many people do... Comment about this video here: https://youtu.be/KHUDMH2wKRQ (https://youtu.be/KHUDMH2wKRQ)
Tyson is a Spiritual Business Coach and the creator of the free Facebook Group called "The Serving Circle" for spiritual entrepreneurs who would like to find creative, heartfelt ways to collaborate and grow as one. Since 2016 it has been his mission to help online spiritual entrepreneurs, coaches, and healers create more reach, impact, and income in their business by integrating spirituality with profitable business strategies. He is also the host of the âAwaken Your Businessâ Podcast and believes that you can elevate the consciousness of the planet through spiritual business success. We discuss: - How to build an online community that is engaging - The difference a community can make for your business. Here's how you can join the serving circle and start collaborating with your soul tribe. Jump into the Serving Circle FB Group using this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theservingcircle (https://www.facebook.com/groups/theservingcircle) You will then be given the welcome pack and all the links to join the collaboration zoom calls. To comment on this episode: https://youtu.be/gCIRnK741No (https://youtu.be/gCIRnK741No)
To accomplish worthwhile tasks with enough time (rather than doing things last minute), itâs a good strategy to schedule multiple appointments with yourself to work on that project and make gradual progress. However, what if the appointment passes, and you didn't work on that project like you planned to?
The most common reactions:
-
Ignoring the fact that you didnât work on it.
-
Self-blame for having failed to work on it.
Neither of these are healthy responses. Let's talk about each. Then I'll share my recommendations.
Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/-xY2Aig4gLA (https://youtu.be/-xY2Aig4gLA)
1 -- Step by doable step will take you to any vision of success you are committed to. 2 -- Every step has the deeper, more valuable opportunity, to practice a bit more of your Higher Self. Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/YHuyRsp4aCM (https://youtu.be/YHuyRsp4aCM)
This is hands-down my favorite program to facilitate. Iâm inspired by the vision of helping solopreneurs be joyfully productive, organized, better at boundaries and self-care, and excellent at daily prioritizing their time and energy. All of our businesses could thrive and our personal lives be far more balanced and joyful. Get all the details of the program (including the list of topics I mentioned in this episode) at this website: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/TLC (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/TLC)
For 12 years and running I've hosted a free webinar on New Years Day. If you'd like to join me, and meet other listeners of this podcast, check out the info here: https://www.georgekao.com/joyfulpro (https://www.georgekao.com/joyfulpro) It's free to attend live, or you can buy the recording later. Perhaps I'll see you there. ~George Kao
In this deep conversation, Mira Rao and I discuss the concepts of Resilience, Stress, Polyvagal Theory and the neurobiology of trauma, the difference between coaching & therapy, what is embodiment and authentic expression?, and why many of us (with people-pleasing tendencies) aren't setting goals that are really authentic to one's Self. When you understand your biology in terms of how you respond to stress, you'll empower yourself with new options that feel more true to you. Mira Rao is a Resilience and Embodiment Coach who has been practicing yoga for 25 years, and teaching yoga and body-based therapy for 10. She completed studies in Linguistics and Journalism, holds an MBA and is currently completing a Masters in Counseling at Notre Dame University. People seek her out when theyâre burnt out on getting stuck in their past in therapy or whitewashing their pain with toxic positivity in coaching.
They want to BOTH release old trauma and stress patterns, learn deep and steady self compassion AND make significant changes in their life to move forward with resilience and confidence.
Mira teaches them practical ways to develop routines and rituals for embodied resilience that help them work through unresolved traumas, deal better with challenges and stress and start moving towards what they truly want in their lives.
Mira Rao Website: https://www.mirarao.com.au (https://www.mirarao.com.au) You'll find her Embodied Envisioning webinar/workshop there.
Mira's social media links: https://www.instagram.com/miraraocoaching/ (https://www.instagram.com/miraraocoaching/) https://www.facebook.com/MiraRaoCoaching/ (https://www.facebook.com/MiraRaoCoaching/) https://www.linkedin.com/in/mira-rao-resilience-and-embodiment-coach-60085515/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mira-rao-resilience-and-embodiment-coach-60085515/)
Many of the blocks to creating content can be solved by one mindset shift: Make your content for just 1 person at a time.
Donât write for âthe worldâ.
Donât make videos for âyour audience.â
âThat kind of approach can easily cause performance anxiety, which blocks you from showing up consistently.â.. Instead, imagine that you are talking to just 1 person⌠someone you feel comfortable talking to, someone who loves your ideas.
Comment on this video here: https://youtu.be/-Hkw0EyrBGM (https://youtu.be/-Hkw0EyrBGM)
Your work -- and the way you show up -- is of deep unique value to thousands (maybe millions) of people, most of whom have yet to discover you. It's your great privilege and opportunity to do what you can to reach them. Comment on this video: https://youtu.be/a17rDzmbpjs (https://youtu.be/a17rDzmbpjs)
What do I mean by âauthenticityâ in the context of business and marketing, especially for us self-employed professionals? Authenticity is to practice having no agenda, other than these purposes: 1. Genuine expression of your best self 2. Enjoyment of the process 3. Heart-based service 4. Friendship⌠and thus playful collaboration! Letâs explore each ideaâŚ
Watch the video or comment here: https://youtu.be/C6S8dK9il6w (https://youtu.be/C6S8dK9il6w)
When working, are you aware of your facial expression, your body posture, your breathing? The more challenging the project, the more tense your face and body might get. This doesnât help you to do better work. Yet it increases stress. Years ago I started practicing what I call âcalm joyful focusâ, which is to practice noticing, throughout the day, my body expression as I work, especially my face. Instead of furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips, I consciously relax my face, and hold a soft, gentle smile. In this video, I demonstrate: https://youtu.be/ZurThxVCeTc (https://youtu.be/ZurThxVCeTc)
Itâs sad when I see people seeking quick and easy money. Often, they seek it because they are actually exhausted with work, and life. âIf I could only solve this problem of money, then I can really have the freedom to live life on my terms.â That mindset provides little defense against unscrupulous people who are selling some system that will supposedly earn quick and easy money. Watch the video or add your comments here: https://youtu.be/-6AArQ4nG4A (https://youtu.be/-6AArQ4nG4A)
You don't need a marketing funnel to succeed in business. To comment on this and/or to read the blog post: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-i-dont-like-marketing-funnels-george-kao (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-i-dont-like-marketing-funnels-george-kao) ** Business Planning Live Course coming up... info here: https://www.georgekao.com/intro (https://www.georgekao.com/intro)
- Better design of our life/calendar structure... are we getting enough self-care, enough family time, enough admin time, enough time for the important things? Are we putting those activities at optimal times? This is an ongoing re-design issue as you learn more about your energy flow and your life's patterns.
- Your motivational methods in the moment... what works for you? This is a Q&A segment from the TLC program: https://georgekao.com/TLC (https://georgekao.com/TLC) Watch the video or leave your comments here: https://youtu.be/7xIXjp9ywpE (https://youtu.be/7xIXjp9ywpE) ** Business Planning Live Course coming up... info here: https://www.georgekao.com/intro (https://www.georgekao.com/intro)
Pick a platform (such as Twitter) where you barely get any engagement... Reframe that fact as an opportunity -- you are liberated to test your content in relative obscurity! By having a daily practice of creating and sharing ideas, even if it's as brief as a tweet, you'll reach a new level of optimism and confidence in your business. Watch the video or leave your comments here: https://youtu.be/ezeAy0_hrzA (https://youtu.be/ezeAy0_hrzA) ** Business Planning Live Course coming up... info here: https://www.georgekao.com/intro (https://www.georgekao.com/intro)
I start with a bit about Sales Funnels, but most of this episode focuses on the common (dishonest) strategy of "free" webinars that are actually bait-and-switch sales pitches that are carefully designed to move the unsuspecting participant through a series of emotions and understandings into the buying mode. 1/3rd build credibility with rags-to-riches storytelling and testimonials, 1/3rd myth busting to create "aha!" moments that sets up for the final third: the pressurized sale. Yes, a bit of cussing is involved. I'm passionate about this stuff ;-) Add your comments below this video: https://youtu.be/9IT3GV6n1Qo (https://youtu.be/9IT3GV6n1Qo) ** Business Planning Live Course coming up... info here: https://www.georgekao.com/intro (https://www.georgekao.com/intro)
A few notes from the Live Chat: From Mira Rao: They are also paying you attention in the beginning before they pay you money From Jason Schneider Read an interesting article on âthe attention economy' So you have your market = has paid you⌠next ring is your potential market = they follow you⌠and then a wider potential market = people who could be in your audience with similar interests? I donât have the actual article but its an entire field with books etc.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_economy#:~:text=Attention%20economics%20is%20an%20approach,only%20so%20much%20of%20it.%22 (Here's the wikipedia). This is a Q&A segment from the CORE program: https://georgekao.com/CORE (https://georgekao.com/CORE) Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/iduUlPm6kJ8 (https://youtu.be/iduUlPm6kJ8) ** Business Planning Live Course coming up... info here: https://www.georgekao.com/intro (https://www.georgekao.com/intro)
Big thanks to https://katieraver.com/ (Katie Raver) for the permission to share this audio with you. Episode notes: the just launch or letting it go practice God / x deserves 30 seconds mindset: "I'm wondering if this will resonate with you" when it doesn't work: I didn't understand my audience wait an hour or 24 hours after putting it out there there's always a pattern so track the data (to relax about the just launch practice) just launch is: a dance, an inquiry, turning the corner, going to the park, asking "will this work out?", living from "it's gonna be ok"Â
To learn more about Katie Raver and her work, visit: https://katieraver.com (https://katieraver.com)
This is a segment from the Social Media Mindset Webinar: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/SocialMedia (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/SocialMedia)
So many marketing/business coaches use "free webinars" and "masterclasses" to sell their paid programs, often higher-end offerings. I used to be very good at it. Then I changed my mind. Also see this video -- https://my.captivate.fm/%22the%20sham%20of%20%22Free%20Masterclasses%22 ("the sham of "Free Masterclasses") that are actually sales pitches, and what to do instead..." This snippet is from a MasterHeart Group conversation: https://www.georgekao.com/group (www.georgekao.com/group) Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/5MgCax0s1BA (https://youtu.be/5MgCax0s1BA)
Oftentimes, we let relatively minor circumstances, like being a little tired or feeling like watching videos, get in the way of keeping our commitments to ourselves, i.e. doing the right thing. This is how people become victims of life: doing the right things only when we feel good or when conditions are perfect⌠Watch the video or add your comments here: https://youtu.be/bmeEZxhskx8 (https://youtu.be/bmeEZxhskx8)
There are good people in my circles -- those I would love to stay in connection with -- who are tempted (or have decided) to deactivate their Facebook accounts⌠or even leave social media altogether. This makes it harder to stay in touch, and far less likely for them to be top of mind for me. Iâm also concerned for the viability of their business, if they lose the long-term marketing benefits of using social media effectively... Read the blog post here: https://georgekao.medium.com/good-people-please-dont-quit-facebook-social-media-c4544da44bf8 (https://georgekao.medium.com/good-people-please-dont-quit-facebook-social-media-c4544da44bf8) Watch the video or add a comment to this episode here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/370931781485692 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/370931781485692)
For more on my thoughts on getting new clients: 1. Here's my category of blog posts about it: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/category/authentic-enrollment (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/category/authentic-enrollment) 2. Here's my course specifically about getting more clients: https://www.georgekao.com/authenticenrollment (https://www.georgekao.com/authenticenrollment) Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/JSjwWe5l4rw (https://youtu.be/JSjwWe5l4rw)
Thanks to Pamela Slim for giving a great overview of her new book: "The Widest Net: Unlock Untapped Markets and Discover New Customers Right in Front of You" Get the book in Kindle, Audible, or Hardcover: https://amzn.to/2X75S1Q (https://amzn.to/2X75S1Q) Pam Slim's website: https://pamelaslim.com (https://pamelaslim.com) Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/8SNNKO3Aq14 (https://youtu.be/8SNNKO3Aq14)
I don't think it's a good idea to try to figure out your niche at the beginning of your business. You don't have enough experimentations to understand that valuable intersection between your interests and your market's wants. ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/DMd59POmPZ0 (https://youtu.be/DMd59POmPZ0)
Is there a recommended amount of time we "should" spend on social media to grow our business? Some experts recommend hours per day. Here's what I think about it. ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/iVY0D0v5CvU (https://youtu.be/iVY0D0v5CvU)
A common thought-pattern that prevents a lot of people from making progress in their business: Before I... [take the next real step in my business] âŚI need to first do [some preparatory action that takes a lot of time] âŚso that I'll feel more ready/confident to move forward.
This is a dangerous train of thought because "preparation" always sounds logical... until you wake up to the fact that you have already been preparing for months (maybe years!)⌠and you can be in preparation mode for the rest of your life.
** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/BvaImDmyUnw (https://youtu.be/BvaImDmyUnw)
Marketing experts differ on this question of whether one should publicly publish the prices of their services / programs / packages or whether to keep the mystery and make the prospective client contact you. I discuss my viewpoint on this. ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/QKAeovZkGHQ (https://youtu.be/QKAeovZkGHQ)
This is a segment from the Social Media Mindset Webinar: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/SocialMedia (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/SocialMedia) ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/po6CctztWAw (https://youtu.be/po6CctztWAw)
454 signups -- 7x one of my average paid classes 75% attendance! Usually free webinars get around 25% attendance from signups. 77% of attendees filled out the feedback form to receive the free recording. 6% conversion (from total signups) to the paid version of the webinar, though I didn't know what to expect / wasn't counting on the sales. If you're interested in buying the webinar, it's available at: https://www.GeorgeKao.com/SocialMedia (https://www.GeorgeKao.com/SocialMedia) This snippet is from a MasterHeart Group conversation: https://www.georgekao.com/group (www.georgekao.com/group) ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/WFcRRSbiWVA (https://youtu.be/WFcRRSbiWVA)
People often bring up the story of how Steve Jobs launched the iPod as an innovative product that the world didn't know it couldn't live without, as "evidence" that we should just launch things we believe the market would love. Or they use the quote from Henry Ford, and I paraphrase here: "If I had asked what people wanted, they would've told me 'faster horses' instead of 'car' which they didn't know anything about." ...but in the reality of entrepreneurship, it mostly doesn't work like this. Market research makes it more likely that a product/service/program will do better when it launches. Why? Because you're partnering with the market to create something they really want. This is a Q&A segment from my course on market research: https://www.georgekao.com/CORE (www.georgekao.com/CORE) ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/Quo0mIzhlM8 (https://youtu.be/Quo0mIzhlM8)
As I prepare to update my Authentic Course Launches training, Iâd like to clear up a major myth, as well as share the 5 pieces to think about if youâre interested in launching your own courses. Read the blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/launchingcourses (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/launchingcourses)
As mentioned, my blog post about business model: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/businessmodel (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/businessmodel)
Perhaps the truest meaning of this moment is not whether you get âgoodâ results⌠or whether youâll have it easy⌠or whether youâll look good. What the deeper meaning is, will depend on your life philosophy. There are multiple good answers. How would you respond to this question: âWhat is the higher meaning of each moment, that is more important than whatâs apparent on the surface?â ** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/WOJZEulrpNQ (https://youtu.be/WOJZEulrpNQ)
Manon is a community builder and entrepreneur, and leads a global community for Co-Active coaches (and other coaches.) She believes the only way to grow yourself and your business is to Simply Start and the only thing you need to know is the next step. She brings together coaches in her community so that they can grow together in business and coaching and learn from each and from inspiring experts and mentors. In this interview, we discussâŚ
-
The importance of knowing you should not wait to be confident enough to start but confidence will grow as you do it. You DO NOT need to have all figured out, that is simply impossible.
-
When you create something new you will run into a lot of things that you don't know how to do yet. Learn to comfort yourself by saying: I will cross that bridge when I get there.
-
Don't go at it alone. Building a business can be a lonely endeavor. Find a group of trusted colleagues on a similar journey but that also inspire you to keep going and see your biggest self and gifts when you sometimes forget.
-
If you do not know exactly who you want to help or serve you won't find the answer in your head. You can do a 100 niche exercises but the only way you'll find out is by getting out there, doing it and get clarity by the doing.
-
If you are thinking of building your own community: do it. Do not underestimate the power and importance for people of being brought together with other people with whom they feel safe. People want to be connected and if you have the gift of being a connector: use it. I see it over and over again, in my own community but also with other coaches for instance when they do group coaching. Create a space that allows people to show up as their authentic selves. That's worth so much!
**
If you are a coach and you want to be part of a community of coaches in which you can not only learn together and from inspiring mentors but also be real and show up authentically, check out Manon's "Simply Start" Community: https://www.simply-start.com (https://www.simply-start.com)
If you want some 1-on-1 support to get simply started you can connect with Manon: https://www.instagram.com/simply_start_/ (https://www.instagram.com/simply_start_/)
** Watch video or add comment here: https://youtu.be/GvA_DeF4drA (https://youtu.be/GvA_DeF4drA)
Hereâs an attempt to simply explain my whole marketing strategyâŚ. There are 3 stages for every authentic business: 1. Audience 2. Offers 3. Expansion I explain in this episode. Watch the video or add your comments here: https://youtu.be/va91jWmuPZA (https://youtu.be/va91jWmuPZA)
Should you use a tool that automates your social media, such as Buffer, Hootsuite, etc? Iâve tried Buffer and Hootsuite, and have seen them used by some clients and colleagues. I use none of them now, and caution my clients away from such tools, especially when posting to Facebook. This episode describes why. Watch the video or add your comments here: https://youtu.be/qllc_WwJbhw (https://youtu.be/qllc_WwJbhw)
Watch the video or add your comments here: https://youtu.be/uzuU-GYq0IY (https://youtu.be/uzuU-GYq0IY)
Watch the video or add your comments here: https://youtu.be/05uuLvAceBE (https://youtu.be/05uuLvAceBE)
Watch the video or add your comments here: https://youtu.be/urFN0J23d_Q (https://youtu.be/urFN0J23d_Q)
Instead of possibly re-traumatizing our clients by selling to their "pain points" what if we emphasize their joy points, their gratitude points, their relief points? Watch the video or add your comments here: https://youtu.be/cZGfIVZgXw0 (https://youtu.be/cZGfIVZgXw0)
Not only should you not be afraid to repeat yourself, you should consider doing it regularly. Have a consistent rhythm of reposting your popular articles, videos, or podcast episodes. Feel free to repeat the same ideas youâve said before, whether in the same way or in a different way.
This may give you some relief that you donât have to constantly create new content forever (although, it is good for your creativity/mental fitness to do so!) You can sometimes simply work on improving and reposting your previous stuff.
Read the blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/yourbest100 (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/yourbest100)
Your life is actually working perfectly.
And your business? Itâs exactly where itâs supposed to be.
Itâs not that you love all the results.
However, anything and everything occurring in your life has a system behind it. Thereâs cause and effect. You experience the effects⌠and you have more choice in the cause than you realize. Read the blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/systems (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/systems)
One of the common pieces of advice in selling and copywriting is that you need to âovercome the objectionsâ of your prospective client. To ensure that their every concern and âwhat aboutâŚ.?â are answered so that they have zero doubt that your product/service is right for them. Letâs take a step back and consider this first: what kind of person would you rather sell to -- someone who has doubts and needs to be persuaded, or someone who is eager to see what youâre offering?
Read the blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/objections (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/objections)
View the video or add comments here: https://youtu.be/OyNnjvkhxdE (https://youtu.be/OyNnjvkhxdE)
Check out the video and add comments there: https://youtu.be/niT0FXOMITM (https://youtu.be/niT0FXOMITM)
Watch video or add comment here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/1069796693226612/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/1069796693226612/)
Watch video or add comment here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/1655769081223294/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/1655769081223294/)
Watch video or add comment here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/334504464081894/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/334504464081894/)
Watch video or add comment here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/190790339657675/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/190790339657675/)
Listen to the master at work as he coaches some of my own clients into greater clarity with their niche! Watch video or add comment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oduLmxRIkFQ&list=PLKgVtpwuUQ1s8aZ4dPOqpq6Z2ItmhLybJ (Tad Hargrave Niche Coaching)
Watch video or add comment here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/553102082738329/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/553102082738329/)
Watch video or add comment here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10161054882829867 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10161054882829867)
Add comment here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160904656124867 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160904656124867)
Watch video or add comment here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160925964604867 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160925964604867)
Authentic social media...is posting content from your own truth, regardless of whether people will like it or not. Watch video or add comment here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/2959732394042838 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/2959732394042838)
Watch the video or leave comments here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/2708424609217375 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/2708424609217375)
Add your comments under this video: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/1483027278727954/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/1483027278727954/)
Add your comments under this video: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/1382800175435296/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/1382800175435296/)
Iâve seen so many people get stuck about how to come up with the perfect professional title or succinct description of their work. Hereâs the secret:
Itâs mostly a vanity exercise, unless you come up with a brilliant brand name, but that can take a lot of time. You can simply let it surface organically. If you keep waiting for that perfect name before you start your marketing, you might just go out of business.
You donât need a perfect title or short description to start getting clients...
Read the blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/yourtitle (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/yourtitle)
How do you feel about the word âcompetitionâ? For us self-employed people, that word can create anxiety and resistance. Being âcompetitiveâ tends to make human beings less cooperative.
Instead, I recommend using the term âniche matesâ â other worthy human beings who occupy the same industry niche as us.
The world is starving for genuine, win-win collaborations.
Read the blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/nichemates (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/nichemates)
In this short video I briefly describe the 8 Practices that I do consistently and recommend to my clients (and to you!) for growing an authentic business: 1) Joyful Productivity 2) Healthy Money Habits 3) Authentic Content 4) Paid Content Distribution 5) Collaborations 6) Audience Research 7) Rhythm of Gentle Launches 8) Mastery of Your Craft
To read more about each of these, check out this blog post: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/8practices
The secret to joyful productivity is learning how to find enjoyment in any activity â especially tasks that move your goals forward but isnât naturally âfunâ to do â being able to do what is important, no matter what it is, with a consistency of joy. This blog post offer some ways to learn this valuable meta-skill: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/deliberatepractice (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/deliberatepractice)
Do you have something to add to this conversation? Add a comment below the video: https://youtu.be/ivA8UnoIFBU (https://youtu.be/ivA8UnoIFBU)
If you use visual interruption or other attention-getting techniques, you tend to build an audience that doesn't care when you are authentically you. Then marketing becomes a chore, and more costly. If instead we imagine being with a dear friend, someone we feel comfortable with, and treat our audience like that, we will shine in our genuine expression and grow an audience of true fans. Video: https://youtu.be/MKNwBcfrs2k (https://youtu.be/MKNwBcfrs2k)
Are you feeling "not ready" to put your work out there? Little known fact: I often feel that way too. Much of the content & products you see from me, comes from that initial feeling, which has been transformed. If you're asking yourself whether you're "ready", you're already aware at some level that you ARE.
Let that awareness transform your fear into love... hesitation into action.
I'm a rebel at heart... yet I've learned to train a wiser heart for joyful productivity :) In this video I talk about my new 6-month Coaching Program to help you create a "thoughtful life calendar" that helps you get clear about your weekly and daily priorities, especially to help you grow your business strategically. To read the blog post, go to: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/tlc (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/tlc) To sign up for the program, go to: https://www.georgekao.com/tlc (https://www.georgekao.com/tlc)
This is key to creating authentic content: Don't be afraid of losing people. Read the blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/nofear (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/nofear)
In this video I describe the 8 Practices that I do consistently and recommend to my clients (and to you!) for growing an authentic business: 1) Joyful Productivity 2) Healthy Money Habits 3) Authentic Content 4) Paid Content Distribution 5) Collaborations 6) Audience Research 7) Rhythm of Gentle Launches 8) Mastery of Your Craft
Read the blog post: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/8practices (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/8practices)
This was formerly "the 7 disciplines of authentic business"
I set goals that are fun to think about... but I focus daily on the systems. Read the article here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/systemsnotgoals (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/systemsnotgoals)
There is an unspoken assumption in marketing: More followers = More clients, more fulfillment, more freedom.
Related assumption: More Money = More Happiness.
These ideas are seductive, because they contain some truth, and they appeal to our human ego. But they come with profound burdens and drawbacks that marketers rarely talk about.
âIâll share with you my experience of getting "more followers", and why that might not be a wise direction to aim for⌠In the first 3 years of my business, I grew my Facebook Page to 3,000 fans, and my email list to more than 10,000 subscribers.
I got a taste of having lots of followers. It is not the fantasy we're usually sold. In my experience, it did not produce real engagement with my content, nor did it lead to more or better clients. It did however result in more emails to respond to, more spam, and more unpaid requests on my time.
A few years later, I rebooted my business. I removed 90% of my email list.
I started over, perhaps in a humbler way, grounding my business in a spirit of service, as true as I could connect with, trusting God more, aiming to bring Love into more of what I do.
That deeper commitment to service evolved into creating authentic content as you experience it today.
A year after I started creating authentic content consistently, I started to notice that I no longer had to reach out to get new clients. They were all coming to me now! People started to message me privately and ask about my services, thanks seeing my content consistently. From a spirit of service, I also began to experience deeper fulfillment in my work with clients.
Fewer followers also meant fewer emails, and less unpaid requests on my time... which meant more freedom.
Today, I am grateful to say that I feel a daily sense of well-being, a lot of gratitude and fulfillment in my work, whether I am writing you this blog post, or working with a client, or preparing for my next workshop.
This state of inner fulfillment is what Iâve truly wanted all my life. It is a sweeter experience than any glimpse of fame that I ever had.
By no means am I famous today. I get but a few hundred views on each video, and a few dozen likes per Facebook post⌠which is laughable when compared with other marketing experts.
Yet, I have a full client roster. I have enough participants for every workshop. And my content gets regular meaningful engagement from loyal readers.
Through the experiences of the past decade, Iâve learned that I donât want to be famous.
I donât want to get âmore subscribers.â In fact, I am trying to keep my email list under 3,000, which means I occasionally unsubscribe people who havenât opened my emails in a long time. This keeps my open rates higher (which is better for email deliverability), and it helps keep their inbox a bit cleaner.
Iâm not aiming to get tons of fans on social media.
Hereâs what I aim my energy towards⌠* Learning to serve more deeply * Learning to bring Love into my efforts daily * Learning what you (my audience) need, so I can be more helpful
My hope is that I can be a different type of example than the typical business or marketing expert or mentor that you might encounter. Many of them are spreading the message that more fame is always better.
Let us notice the seduction. Then, reconnect with ourselves and shift into a deeper way of being in business, one that fulfills heart and soul, rather than appease the ego.
Not Fame.
More Love. Greater Truth. Deeper Service.
In the pursuit of our dreams, may we all emulate the Edison type of curiosity and persistence. Work diligently and see no failure at all⌠only redirection. Persist with a playful heart :)
Read the blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/nofailure
Video here: https://youtu.be/Zhz2bGFsXQ4 (https://youtu.be/Zhz2bGFsXQ4) Dylan Newcomb is the founder & lead trainer of UZAZU Embodied Intelligence, a embodiment-based coach for helping professionals & cultural creatives, and is an avid embodiment researcher. Dylan trained at the Juilliard School in both dance performance and music composition, danced in the Netherlands Dans theater for 8 years, and was a multi-award-winning choreographer & composer in the Netherlands for over a decade.
Since 18 years, he has been developing and leading UZAZU Embodied Intelligence, an embodiment-based personal growth modality that empowers people to identify and shift their internal state from deregulation and stress to balance and empowerment
As a coach, Dylan Newcomb works 1-1 online with helping professionals, supporting them to move through the remaining blocks holding them back from effectively getting their purpose-driven work into the world, and with conscious entrepreneurs & cultural creatives looking to grow their impact, while also growing as a whole person.
Dylan lives with his wife Kyung-sun Baek and their 10 year old daughter Kiana in Freeport Maine, USA.
LINKS: https://www.uzazu.org https://www.facebook.com/UZAZU/
The self-assessment mentioned in the video: https://www.uzazu.org/sign-up-for-the-embodied-intelligence-free-self-assessment/
If you look at the posts on https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/ (my Facebook Business Page) (my social media platform of choice) youâll notice that I basically post two things: 1. Text-only writings, without images or links. 2. Videos. To read the blog post: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/noimages (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/noimages)
Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/281127163709494/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/281127163709494/)
I talk with Natasha Berta of Connected Marketing about how spiritually-oriented people can create a more supportive structure for their business. Natasha is a member of my MasterHeart Business Mentoring Group. Enjoy :)
Comment underneath the video: https://youtu.be/zuo_wA7Xihc (https://youtu.be/zuo_wA7Xihc)
Links to connect with Natasha: https://www.instagram.com/connectedmarketingau https://www.facebook.com/connectedmarketingau https://www.youtube.com/c/ConnectedMarketing https://connectedmarketing.com.au
Watch the video or comment on this episode here: https://www.facebook.com/georgeKaocommunity/posts/657146221477001 (https://www.facebook.com/georgeKaocommunity/posts/657146221477001)
Enjoy this inspiring interview with Akilah S. Richards, who is passionate about mindful partnerships and conscious parenting. She started Raising Free People Network, a digital multimedia platform for education, deep listening, and emergent collaborations within the intersections of privilege, parenting, and power. Her unschooling podcast is called Fare of the Free Child, and her latest book, Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work is available through PM Press, many local bookstores, and on Amazon. The video: https://youtu.be/Mh-ZXov9eNA (https://youtu.be/Mh-ZXov9eNA) Akilah's links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fareofthefreechild/ (https://www.instagram.com/fareofthefreechild/)
Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fare-of-the-free-child/id1138611256 (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fare-of-the-free-child/id1138611256)
Courses: https://www.rfpunschool.com/ (https://www.rfpunschool.com)
Here's a sample of a course I love teaching. To enroll in the full course and access all the links: https://www.georgekao.com/money (https://www.georgekao.com/money)
Nothing in my business is as important as being in a consistent rhythm of content creation. It is how I get smarter in my field.
Itâs how I develop the writings and videos that sometimes get shared, thereby allowing new fans and clients to find me.
More than anything else I do, creating content is how I give back. Itâs my ministry and mission.
âYour wisdom, life lessons, skills, knowledge can help to transform so many people's lives! If youâre not being consistent in creating content, what's holding you back? Whether you want to write blog posts, make videos, record podcasts, post images, or create courses, develop an urgency for getting into -- and maintaining -- a rhythm of consistent creation.
Not only can your content alleviate confusion and suffering in the world, and plant seeds that blossom into positive change, by creating, youâll also be growing yourself professionally.
When it comes to content, you get to quality through quantity.
Each day that I work on my business, I am also reflecting on the next piece of content Iâm going to create.
Itâs the foundation of my business creativity.
âBut I need to figure out my niche / ideal audience firstâŚâ
Maybe you are putting the cart before the horse.
I recommend you start with saying whatever you already know that might help others. Share whatever you have a passionate opinion about.
By doing so, clarity begins to form.
Be careful about defining your niche too early. Clarity about your Calling comes from your content... not the other way around.
âBut I need to first get my website or social media readyâŚâ
This is a frequent stumbling blockâââthe belief that somehow, you canât get started with content because something else isnât ready: your website, your Facebook Cover image, your âAboutâ section, etc.
What Iâve learned from 10 years of coaching entrepreneurs: Thereâs always something that isnât quite ready!
âIf youâre not embarrassed by the first version of your product, youâve launched too lateâŚââââReid Hoffman, founder of Linkedin, the largest professional platform in the world.
The same goes for your online profile or website. If youâre still waiting to get your ducks in a row, and youâre not creating content, you are delaying the true growth of your online presence.
The truth is that even if a lot of people see your content, very few of them will actually visit your website, Facebook Page, or whatever. If they like your content they will want to see more of your content, not judge your website!
Develop the urgency to get into the rhythm of your content creation first, and then after thatâs in place, get started creating or improving your website, social media presence, or anything else.
You are perfect enough. You know enough. You are ready.
âBut what if I lose potential clients from a bad first impression?â
The only situation where you should be concerned with making bad impressions is if you were forever stuck in a small village with no internet. Obviously, that's not true.
The reality is that you have almost unlimited number of people to reach online. As of 2020 there are at least 4 billion people online. Imagine a random group of 1,000 people who are online. Let's say that only 1 person out of 1,000 would resonate with your content⌠that is still more than 4 million internet users who could be your fans!
If you develop your skills of content creation, your message will be shared, such that even those who may have originally dismissed you, will eventually pay attention. Iâve seen this again and again.
In fact, I feel embarrassed when I look at some of my earliest content pieces. We all start somewhere.
I hope that in the future, when I read the stuff Iâm writing now, Iâll be embarrassed then. We are always in development, a work in progress forever.
You have to create and publish to truly learn and grow.
Donât worry about...
The most common financial goal for solopreneurs? To make â6 figuresâ. (And if they achieve that, they now have to make â7 figuresâ because you can never make enough, right?) How do you relate to such goals? Do you set ones that are effective â and mentally healthy â for you? Read the blog post or watch the video: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/success (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/success)
A nourishing conversation about the deepest reasons to create content on a consistent basis. Gregory Vahanian is a member of my MasterHeart Business Mentoring group. Check out Gregory's content here: https://www.facebook.com/gregoryvahaniancoaching (https://www.facebook.com/gregoryvahaniancoaching) https://www.gregoryvahanian.com (https://www.gregoryvahanian.com) ** Watch the video or add your comments here: https://youtu.be/sx9AvdZv_NU (https://youtu.be/sx9AvdZv_NU)
We think that we should have success already: a full client load, a large following of faithful readers, and interest from many people in regards to our work. I wish for you the greatest of success, truly. However, I also wish for you the peace of having gratitude for whatever stage you are, right now, in your business. ** Watch the video or add your comments here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/506705226646365 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/506705226646365)Â Â
Here is Adele Wang interviewing me about the topic of uniqueness in business. Enjoy! Watch the video or comment here: https://www.facebook.com/georgekaocommunity/posts/850537988925815 (https://www.facebook.com/georgekaocommunity/posts/850537988925815)
Here's a sample of a course I'm currently teaching. To enroll in the full course and access all the links: https://www.georgekao.com/authenticenrollment (https://www.georgekao.com/authenticenrollment)
As a heart-centered business owner, youâre very supportive of others. This can mean youâre not mindful about your boundaries sometimes, and you give away more than you sustainably can. When friends or family are interested in your services, do you instinctually offer them free sessions or access to your programs? Hereâs my recommended guidelines regarding what to offer for free to family, friends and colleagues. ** Watch the video or add your comments here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/2612527942360670 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/2612527942360670)
Jeremy Blanchard's passion is supporting coaches to fall in love with client enrollment. Heâs been training life & leadership coaches for 7 years in the art of enrollment. Heâs also a course leader, mentor coach, and the Director of Enrollment at a professional coach training school: The Academy for Coaching Excellence. After attending his trainings, Jeremyâs students are actually looking forward to having sales & enrollment conversations, because they see what a difference that conversation can make in the life of a prospective client, whether or not they sign up. Jeremy is on staff for the Academy for Coaching Excellence: https://acecoachtraining.com (https://acecoachtraining.com) Video: https://youtu.be/ckXucCEOBIY (https://youtu.be/ckXucCEOBIY) In this interview we discuss: Principle: âtell the truthâ - The key distinguishing factor Iâve noticed between the enrollment conversations that feel âsales-yâ and the ones that feel true to who you are is whether or not youâre telling the truth. Here, I donât mean âtruth vs directly lyingâ per se. I mean âtruth vs hidden intention.â It often looks like Ways to implement that: Clarify the purpose - What is the purpose of this conversation? State it up front. Applies in a referral call or in an enrollment call with a prospect. Could sound like... [insert example]. If the purpose of a referral call is to have them refer people to your coaching practice, donât say that itâs a âfriend catch up call.â If the purpose of an enrollment call is to see if youâre a good fit to work together, donât say that itâs for them to discover âkey steps to move their business forwardâ or call it a âcoaching call.â
Permission - Ask permission before going on to each next part of the conversation. Two examples: Which is more empowering and opens up more possibility? âOkay, it sounds like youâre having challenges with X and want Y. Let me tell you how my coaching can help with thatâŚâ âOkay, it sounds like youâre having challenges with X and really wanting Y. Would it be useful to talk for a bit about how my services might be able to support with that?â
Ways to apply permission: After stating the purpose: âHow does that sound?â (checking that youâre on the same page_) Before sharing what: âI think I have a good understanding of what youâre looking for. Would it be useful to look at how what I do might be of service?â Before introducing the logistics/price: âSounds like weâre on the same page that the services Iâm describing are along the lines of what youâre looking for. Is that right? ⌠Great. Would it be useful for me to share a bit about the logistics, price, etc?â Before supporting them if they arenât sure about signing up: âWould it be supportive to talk through whether this program is the right fit at the right time given what youâre looking forâ âWould it be useful to talk about ways you might be able to get creative to have this work financially for you?â
Jeremy is on staff for the Academy for Coaching Excellence: https://acecoachtraining.com (https://acecoachtraining.com)
If you can love the process, youâll stick with it. If you stick with it, youâll get enough practice to succeed! Watch the video or add your comments here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/954675228215336 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/954675228215336)Â Â
Corbett Barr's Fizzle podcast helped me a lot when I was starting my business. It's great to finally be able to interview him! We discuss what is a "creator" and the overall path to being a successful one -- mindset as well as marketing. Enjoy! LINKS: https://fizzle.co (https://fizzle.co) https://corbettbarr.com (https://corbettbarr.com) Watch the video or add a comment here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160816802499867/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160816802499867/)
Here's a sample of a course I'm currently teaching. To enroll in the full course and access all the links: https://www.georgekao.com/money (https://www.georgekao.com/money)
Millions of people have tried the âLaw Of Attractionâ (popularized by âThe Secretâ) ⌠and no matter how hard they try, they donât manifest those millions of dollars they envisioned. If they go into debt to buy that fancy house or car, they usually regret the debt. Or that so-called âperfectâ relationship they visualized, doesnât end up working out. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/3339605176148656/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/3339605176148656/) Visualization is ineffective â even detrimental â when used only to imagine the ideal outcome. Instead, what if we use visualization to strengthen the process of our actions towards the desired outcome? If we can manifest a https://www.georgekao.com/joyful-productivity (joyful way of working) day to day, rather than pining for a better future, we give ourselves the best chance at creating our ideal life. There are 2 things that make this work: 1. Successful visualization focuses on the process, even more than the outcome. 2. Visualization is a fantasy, unless tied closely to real-world practice. Focusing On The ProcessMost people visualize only the desired outcomes. âIâve written my best-selling book⌠Iâm holding it in my hands⌠Iâm seeing hundreds of positive reviews!â âIâve filled my workshop⌠I see a large group of students who are joyfully experiencing transformation!â âIâve filled my practice with ideal clients⌠I imagine myself working with high-paying clients on a typical workday!â These are good mental pictures to have, insofar as they: Helps you feel that the end vision is possible to attain Help you see what direction to work towards
It can, however, be detrimental to merely create the self-belief that you âdeserveâ it. Your vision may be ungrounded from the reality of what it actually takes to achieve it. You might also develop a false belief that you are entitled to it⌠and when you donât attain that vision which you frequently repeat, it creates even more self-doubt than when you started. By failing to achieve your dream, you might even doubt the tool of visualization! Letâs take a deep breath. Thereâs a better way to use visualization. Here is what we all truly âdeserveâ â to improve our journey/process. A good process eventually leads to a good outcome. Consistent actions, in the right direction, create miraculous results over time! In the book The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, he tells the story of 2 people: Aaron takes a job for $5,000/month, a job that uses only his existing skills. Barbara starts a business that earns her $10 in the first week, but with repeated improvement in her skills, it results in 10% growth in income each week.
Observe the wealth of these two people: 3rd month: total of $15,000 (Aaron) versus $235 (Barbara) 12th month: total of $60,000 versus $15,000 18th month: total of $90,000 versus $186,000 24th month: total of $120,000 (Aaron) versus $2.2 million (Barbara)
Again, consistent actions, with consistent small improvements, create the kind of results that many only visualize, but never manifest. Therefore, visualize enjoying the process so that youâll do it consistently, growing gradually in your skill and joy! Iâm grateful that my books have received many good reviews, but I didnât use outcome-visualization, except to help me believe that it was possible, and to make plans. Then, I used process-visualization every day to enjoy the tasks needed to accomplish those grand plans. So instead of seeing yourself with a best-selling book, visualize the circumstances in which you are writing your book: What day and time are you writing? Where are you? What did you do before you started writing, and how did you get into it? (This helps to anchor the task in reality.) What tool are you using to write, and how are you using it? Whatâs the expression on...
I used to believe in the conventional marketing idea that if the audience isnât buying, itâs because they havenât seen your offer enough times. https://www.google.com/search?q=the+rule+of+7+in+marketing (The rule of 7) is that a prospective buyer needs to see your marketing message at least 7 times before they truly decide whether to buy. From my decade of marketing experience â especially the past 5 years of consistent rhythm of offers â I havenât found this idea to be true. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160696877999867 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160696877999867) Most buyers see my offer 1â3 times before signing up, if they sign up at all. If an offer isnât a good fit â or if there isnât enough of a trusting relationship â they can see the offer a dozen times and still not buy. And by that point, theyâre experiencing whatâs called âad fatigueâ â theyâre tired of seeing the offer. The relationship between the business and the audience begins to erode. Hereâs a 3-part checklist to figure out why your audience isnât buying: Reach Match Trust ReachYour potential buyers need to see a specific offer at least once, and I would suggest up to three times within a month, before you know whether theyâve decided to buy. More than three times in a month, and theyâll probably be entering https://www.google.com/search?q=ad+fatigue (Ad Fatigue). It seems to me that many of you arenât letting your audience know often enough about the thing youâre trying to sell. Maybe you donât want to come across as salesy. Rightly so. Much of marketing out there does feel salesy⌠but you donât have to do it that way. I aim to do my marketing in a heart-based and authentic way, and my audience seems to like it better than most other marketing theyâve seen. Whatever youâre trying to sell, it is important to let your audience know, up to three times this month, about that product or service. Next month, move onto another product/service, or try saying it in a very different way. If youâve done this, and youâre surprised how few of them are buying, then itâs likely one of the following issues: Match or Trust. MatchHow well-matched is your offer to their wants? Have you surveyed your audience about the options you could offer? For example, every few months, I poll my audience about the upcoming courses I could teach, and see what they vote on. I then offer what is popular. OK, youâre offering the right solution for the problem they wish to solve right now. However, is the price a good match for them? How would you know? Ask them what theyâve bought â or have considered buying â to try to solve that problem. Compared to those options theyâve considered, is your price in the right range? What about timing?When people donât buy, they sometimes say âitâs not the right timeâ but in my experience, that is often a courteous excuse that âitâs not really a good fit for meâ because when it is a great match, they will buy it anyway.
The exceptions are live events and services: maybe theyâre going away in the next few weeks and literally cannot engage with your event or service in that same timeframe, but they really want to. Hopefully, youâll offer a popular service or event several times a year so you can catch them the next time. If there is a match in interest and price, but youâre still surprised your audience isnât buying, then thereâs one issue left⌠TrustOver the years Iâve met people who have good-sized audiences (sometimes thousands of email subscribers) and yet, their sales are still quite low.
Theyâve done the surveying to know what their audience wants. Theyâve made sure to send several emails about the offer or use FB Ads to reach their warm audience several times. Still, few sales. If youâre experiencing this in your business, Iâm willing to bet that it is a trust...
Which marketing methods have been used on you, that turn you off? Take notice. Donât use such methods. Authentic marketing is simply following the Golden Rule: (not) doing unto others what you (donât) want done unto you. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/georgeKaocommunity/posts/130166185004235 (https://www.facebook.com/georgeKaocommunity/posts/130166185004235)     I surveyed the students of my marketing course, https://www.georgekao.com/authenticenrollment.html (Authentic Client Attraction/Enrollment), about the marketing methods that turn them off. This blog post will list the commonly mentioned ones, and Iâll share a better alternative for each⌠Lead Magnets A âlead magnetâ is a free thing that requires the personâs email address in order to access it. This is incredibly common and chances are that youâre either using it, or are thinking about it. This came up several times from my students (smart, good-hearted business owners) as being one of the top tactics that turned them off. We donât have to use lead magnets to build a great audience. Read more: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/leadmagnets (No more lead magnets). Sales Funnels âIsnât this one of the key strategies for effective online marketing?â one might ask. Not in the experience of the students I surveyed. Many of them feel turned off by this kind of overly-scripted, forced experience of getting to know a business. Read more: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/complexfunnels (No more sales funnels). Pushy Headlines Just look in your own email inbox and youâll probably find some headlines that are clickbaity, simply trying to get you to open it instead of providing useful info. Maybe thereâs pressure about something expiring. Or a line that doesnât tell you anything about the email other than a basic message of âyouâll want to open this!â or âyouâll regret not seeing this!â But isnât that what headlines are supposed to do? To get you to open the email? Hereâs an alternative: Make your headline an interesting overview/summary of what theyâll read in the email. You might ask: âAfter reading the email, how would the reader summarize it, in an interesting way?â This is honest, respectful, and youâll build a trustworthy reputation with your subscribers. Theyâll be proud to forward your email onto their friends.
Free Webinars that are actually Sales Pitches Maybe youâve attended one of these: a so-called âfreeâ training or online seminar that was supposed to give you helpful, valuable information, and turned out to be a carefully-designed sales pitch for an expensive program, tool, or service. Most of the content of the webinar is spent building up the credibility of the expert, âeducatingâ the audience on the framework of the problem, and why they need the product that will be sold. Sometimes theyâll keep saying âWatch all the way to the endâ to get a special bonus / secret or something else. Again, the point of the webinar was to sell, not to serve. (The audience would not have agreed to come if they knew the real intention.) I know this method very well, because I conducted hundreds of these in my early years in business and ended up teaching others how to do it. Needless to say, I wish I knew better. Now I do. Alternative: Offer a truly helpful webinar that is free-to-attend, but paid as a recording. This puts you into a mindset that you are creating a genuine (yet simple) product â something you would be proud to sell. Sure, you might want people to buy a more expensive service/product afterwards, so you can use about 10% of the webinar to talk about that next-step product/service, but 90% of the time should be spent on delivering the promise of the webinar such that most attendees would praise the experience, rather than feeling like it was a bait-and-switch.
Giving Little to No Time to Decide Many people raised this point â feeling too much pressure to...
When you make content, think only about your true fans. Don't think of the judgmental people, who are simply showing themselves to the works for who they are... Watch the video or make a comment here: https://www.facebook.com/georgeKaocommunity/posts/1197304217326501 (https://www.facebook.com/georgeKaocommunity/posts/1197304217326501)
Sunny Sabbini, a member of my MasterHeart business community, discusses how she brings abundance-thinking into her content/framework creation and her netcaring/collaborations. Watch video here: https://youtu.be/otyULAyjeTo (https://youtu.be/otyULAyjeTo) Learn more about Sunny's work: https://www.conflict2collaboration.com (https://www.conflict2collaboration.com) https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunnysabbini/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunnysabbini/)
Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/1707807072688532 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/1707807072688532)Â Â Â Â Read blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/energyreboot (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/energyreboot)
Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160589819104867 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160589819104867) Read the blog post here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/actionplan (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/actionplan)
In this episode, Katie Raver, a member of my MasterHeart business community, discusses how she brings authenticity to relating to her audience and how that's helped her find more ideal clients. The Video: https://youtu.be/5O4KEIjTZpw (https://youtu.be/5O4KEIjTZpw) Learn more about Katie's work with NLP And Attention Experiments: https://katieraver.com (https://katieraver.com)
Iâve written a lot about the importance of creating and distributing content⌠itâs a great foundation for an authentic business. What I havenât emphasized as much is the importance of having an offer rhythm, and thatâs what this post is about. I encourage every client of mine â and you, if you are a small business and wish for consistent income â to have a consistent rhythm of offerings. Even if you have no audience yet, you can and should begin testing offerings, as soon as possible, starting with your friends. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/583623285582988 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/583623285582988)  Hereâs what I mean by a rhythm of offerings: To have a consistent schedule of sharing (testing) your offers with your audience or network. What are your offerings? Any products, services, or programs that you create and sell, or alternatively, that you curate and earn a commission from selling. (You donât have to always create products, you can find things that your audience or network might love to buy, and earn an affiliate commission by promoting it to them. However, in the long term, creating offers is usually the more authentic and meaningful path.) My offer rhythm is simple. Use it if youâd like: Each month I launch a light online course on some topic that my audience has said theyâre interested in. You can see how I actually launch, by going to my FB Page â https://www.facebook.com/pg/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/ (George Kaoâs Facebook Posts) â and observe what I post every Wednesday. Itâs always something related to the current launch. To find out my audienceâs interests, I occasionally make a post https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10159547857649867 (like this one) that asks which of two (or sometimes up to five) options they would prefer. Regularly launching light online courses is something I recommend that you do. Itâs a wonderful way for potential clients to get to know your work, to stay top of mind for them about your expertise. Itâs also an effective way for you to keep getting smarter and deeper about your field. Each of your online courses needs only to be 1â3 sessions/hours long. If you want to focus on growing your 1â1 client base, then your offer rhythm can simply be that twice a month, you remind your audience/network about your current offering. Do this through your email newsletter, and any social media platform you use. Your message can be: Telling a recent client success story Answer a frequently asked question about your work Describe the ideal client who would benefit the most from your offering Describe why youâre passionate about what you do, e.g. briefly, what got you into doing this work? Offer a seasonal deal, with a due date to inquire with you For any of the above messages you can be direct about asking them to inquire with you⌠or you can try an indirect approach: ask if they know someone who would benefit from your work, and that youâll take great care of whomever they refer to you. Try both approaches and see what works for you!
Besides a monthly rhythm of offers, you might also have an annual schedule. For example: Celebrating the anniversary of your business Holiday that has special meaning for you, or your work Start of year and/or start of quarter Celebrating your birthday
Any of these could be reasons for you to make a special announcement about one of your offerings. Part of an annual rhythm of offers could also be the launch of a bigger program. Or perhaps you want to self-publish a book every year or two. These can all be planned into a multi-year rhythm of offers. However your annual schedule, I highly recommend that you also have a shorter rhythm of smaller offers, such as the monthly (or bi-monthly) launch of a light online course, as I do. More frequent launches allow you to test more often what the market...
An authentic conversation about Purpose with Mark Walsh of Embodiment Unlimited. Check out the upcoming summit (free on Feb 26/27) -- https://purposeblackbelt.com/Summit/ (https://purposeblackbelt.com/Summit/) You can comment on this episode underneath this video: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/448009803105572/ (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/448009803105572/)
Marketing often teaches us to create free content as a way to build up desire for your audience to buy your thing later. I don't like manipulating my audience, and recommend that we instead approach content as inner exploration and outer service. That's 80% of what we put online. Let 20% be transparent selling. Add your comments here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160689274524867 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts/10160689274524867)Â Â
âIâll never be a good copywriter,â said the client. âHow do I build my ideal audience and generate new clients if I canât persuade them with good marketing copy?â âDonât try to persuade,â I said. âSimply talk about the transformation that people experience as they try your services.â That is good marketing copy. Here are 7 ideas for you to describe the transformational power of your work. Use these ideas in your content, your website copy, and in conversations with your prospective clients. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/georgekaocommunity/posts/230047291569129 (https://www.facebook.com/georgekaocommunity/posts/230047291569129) 1. VisionAs you get to know your ideal clients better, notice how they talk about the changes they wish to make. What goals are they yearning to achieve? What is the transformation they would love your help with? What kind of life do they want? Basically, why do they really want your services? It will take some experimentation to figure out how to describe the benefits in a way that really interest them. Donât delay⌠just start trying. Publish it on social media and get feedback. Importantly, donât promise the vision (definitely donât guarantee it!), but say that itâs the aim or focus of your work. After you get a bit o feedback, go ahead and publish it on your website. You will keep improving on it over time, as you interact with more clients and learn about their vision. But youâve got to start somewhere. Eventually, your description of the Vision will be so interesting and aligned to your ideal clients, that this may be all they clients need to see, to say Yes to your work. 2. ResultsWhereas the Vision is a description of what your potential clients want in the future, the Results are specific descriptions of what your previous clients did actually experience. If you donât have any clients yet, I recommend that you simply start doing your work with whomever is willing to experience it. You need to get some âresultsâ stories as soon as possible. Consider https://medium.com/@georgekao/need-more-clients-trade-with-other-service-providers-4e0797fe15ee (trading with other service providers).Before you have any client stories to share, you can talk about the results in your own life.The more work you do with people, the more Results stories you can tell. Whereas the Vision is whatâs possible, the Results are about whatâs likely. If you only talk about whatâs likely (Results), you might get fixated on past experiences. Yet if you only talk about whatâs possible (Vision), it can get into ungrounded idealism and hyped-up marketing. So in your marketing, talk about whatâs likely to happen when you work with an ideal client that is ready and willing to do the work with you. The simplest way to do this is to share testimonials or client reviews. If possible, weave in client case studies (stories of transformation) into your content and marketing. 3. ProblemsYour clients are experiencing problems that are preventing them from achieving their Vision. Or perhaps theyâre experiencing some pitfalls on their journey towards that Vision. As you observe your clientsâ experiences, notice how they describe those problems or pitfalls, that your business can help solve or alleviate. Include those descriptions in your content and marketing copy. The more accurately and clearly you can repeat what your clients are saying, the more your potential clients will say âIâve got those problems too!â Youâll get clearer over time, but donât delay. Just try to describe the problems now. As you experiment and get feedback, future versions will become more accurate. 4. DiagnosisMy friend http://marketingforhippies.com/ (Tad Hargrave) writes eloquently about the importance of diagnosis in his https://marketingforhippies.com/povbook/...
In my courses, I resist being "too" step by step about everything. Some complain that they want exact detailed steps so that they don't have to be uncertain. With technical training, that may be true (although there's a joy in finding your own way there as well.) With strategy, formulas are questionable. If I teach you step by step, please feel free to rebel, and find your own way. That is the only way to authentic fulfillment in your business. Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/7luNxAMNsMs (https://youtu.be/7luNxAMNsMs)
Tia Ma, a member of my MasterHeart business community, discusses how she brings authenticity to her content. Be sure to watch the last 5 minutes of the video (below) for a quick Qi Gong exercise that you can enjoy from wherever you are sitting! The Video: https://youtu.be/9c8gciWJXs0 (https://youtu.be/9c8gciWJXs0) Check out Tia's content: FB Page -- https://www.facebook.com/qigongwithtiama (https://www.facebook.com/qigongwithtiama) Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/qigongwithtiama (https://www.instagram.com/qigongwithtiama) Website -- https://tia-ma.com (https://tia-ma.com)
Iâve been able to accomplish a lot in my business because I create even when I donât feel like it â I work on a regular rhythm. (And I honestly donât feel like it most of the time.) Similarly, Iâve learned to rest myself before Iâm tired⌠to rest on a regular rhythm, whether or not I feel like it. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1178024079226820 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1178024079226820) Several times Iâve nearly burned out. (Maybe I did and eventually recovered.) Painful experiences â emotional lows, lack of motivation, lack of hope, physical exhaustion â something I hope to help others prevent. I now know how important it is â for health and for a sustainable business â to rest before I need to. By the time Iâm really tired, Iâve rested too late.The more addictive our technologies, the harder it is to remember to take breaks. So itâs more important than ever to make it a conscious practice of taking frequent breaks. To make resting a key discipline in our work. The reason for our breaks isnât just a physical one, itâs also to rest from the emotions and mental states of working: various degrees of tenseness. Staying healthy â and growing strong â means to have a healthy rhythm of stretching (working) then relaxing (not working). I have several ways to rest. As you read about these, ask yourself whether (and how) you can implement this into your own life too⌠MicrobreaksFor several months, Iâve been practicing taking a micro-break every 15â20 minutes during any work hour, and itâs been very helpful to maintain joyful productivity and well-being.
My micro-break takes about 30 seconds and goes like this: Taking a few deep breaths âŚand while Iâm doing that, my hands move off the keyboard and I drop my arms to my sides, and gently close my eyes. I thank God for having brought me through all the work thus far, and give thanks that Iâll be brought through the rest of it. I then do a very quick https://www.georgekao.com/blog/energyreboot (energy reboot) (breathing in Love, out Security, in Wisdom, out Thanks.) Then, I open my eyes, look into the distance and do a quick arm stretch, yawning or sighing as needed. Then I finish by reminding myself of what time the next micro-break is.
To be able to do micro-breaks requires that we have time-consciousness: being very aware of the time. Too many of us havenât practiced this, and it gets us into trouble. Weâre at the computer, in a trance, for too long. Because I glance at the clock every few minutes while Iâm working, Iâm aware of taking a micro-break every 15â20 minutes. Iâm not perfect, and sometimes I catch myself 45 minutes or an hour later without having taken a microbreak. The key is not to punish oneself but to treat it like a meditation: âAh! Iâm glad I caught my wandering mindâ and gently do a microbreak at that time. Mid-Day BreaksI never work more than 2 hours before a large break. Such breaks last 30 minutes to 2 hours. (As mentioned above, I also take many micro-breaks during those 2 hours of work.)
Two of these mid-day breaks are just 30 minutes each: Snack if I need to. 15-minute nap. (I usually donât fall asleep, but simply relaxing, laying down, helps a lot!)
Two of the mid-day breaks are 90â120 minutes: Snack and nap. Walk my dog. Maybe run an errand e.g. go to the post office or store.
Evening BreakOf course, itâs also important how we unwind, how much we sleep, and how we sleep.
Just like you can generate energy at will, you can also generate rest at will. This is what I tell myself when I am unwinding and getting ready to turn the lights off and sleep. Iâve learned that I need to spend at least 7.5 hours lying in bed to feel fine the next day. Most of that time is asleep but even if I have minutes (or hours) where Iâm not asleep, I still stay in bed: relaxing, breathing, thinking good thoughts (very slowly). Iâve...
https://www.google.com/search?q=1%25+own+world%27s+wealth (The 1% own more than 40% of the worldâs wealth.) The accumulation of assets in the hands of the few erodes democracy, as societal power becomes concentrated in the hands of a few. Knowing this, anything we can do to support small businesses will not just help those entrepreneurs survive, but will support more democracy, creativity, and true livelihood in the world. Similarly, the 1% most famous people own a huge share of the consumerâs attention. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2548686211913259 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2548686211913259) Influencers like Gary Vaynurchuk, Marie Forleo, Brene Brown, Joe Dispenza, and other celebrities own a disproportionate amount of our content consumption time. The accumulation of attention in the hands of a few will erode the diversity of creativity, true livelihood, and authentic business. Where is your attention going?Attention, like time, is limited. We ought to be more mindful of where it goes. I encourage us to start giving 10% or more of our attention each day to small creators: bloggers, video makers, podcasts, websites, or social media pages that get few comments on their content.
(By âsmall creatorâ I mean âsmall businessâ, not that they are small thinkers! Their hearts are much bigger than their numbers.) You can still spend the vast majority of your media time giving attention to big influencers, thought leaders, and to Netflix and the major studios. Letâs just mindfully spend 10% of our content consumption time gifting a bit of our attention to small creators because it makes such a life-changing difference for them⌠for us! When your comment is one of the only comments that a small creator gets, for them it feels like finding water in a dry desert. It feeds their hearts and supports their passion.Your supportive comment helps them power through the many times they experience silence (zero feedback).On the other hand, when you âlikeâ or comment on a popular creatorâs post, itâs like a drop in the ocean, making almost no difference to them. Letâs be more mindful content consumers, and care for our fellow small creators! There are 3 things we can do in our 10% time⌠1. Engage.Find a small creator (blog, Facebook page, Medium page, Youtube channel, Podcast, Instagram, etc.)
Look for a post that has few comments, and be one of the only commenters for them. It makes such a differenceâŚÂ Your comment could make their day, and inspire weeks of energy!
What to say in your comment? What you like about that piece of content. Even if itâs not the most brilliant thing youâve ever seen, thereâs still something good about it â call out the good. If itâs a piece of writing, highlight a sentence or paragraph. If itâs a video, say what you liked about their presence or message. What can be improved â itâs super helpful for content creators to get feedback about how they can improve. You might want to do this privately, though. Praise publicly, critique privately. Tell them what youâd love for them to create content on⌠what topics interest you, that might be in their field of expertise?
If you really liked that piece of content, go the extra mile and share it forward!
- Buy.Each week or month, find a small creator whose products youâd like to support, and spend some money with them.
Your purchase might be the only one they have that whole week!
They put their heart and soul into creating a product, and it makes such a difference when someone votes âyesâ by purchasing it. And donât just buy it: Use the product :) 3. Review.Finally, you can make the biggest difference when you post a positive review of their product or service.
For your review, think about the potential buyer: what will help them make a buying decision? They want the honest opinion from someone whoâs actually...
The first in the series I'm calling Progress & Learning, where I bring on members of my MasterHeart business community to share lessons that we can all use to help grow our authentic businesses in a joyfully productive way. Enjoy :) In this video, Tara Whitney and I discuss Joyful Productivity, Authentic Content, and Light Launches: https://youtu.be/rX5g2yM8PBo (https://youtu.be/rX5g2yM8PBo)
I see a lot of aspiring business owners doing this: Youâre waiting until youâre âreadyâ before you take the leap. A dear client asked me about the âthin line between readiness and procrastination.â After coaching hundreds of business owners, I can tell you this: â Chances are, you are being fooled by your own brilliant mind. Feeling of âlack of readinessâ is usually procrastination. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2714183308801995 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2714183308801995)        Hereâs the truth:I rarely feel âreadyâ.When I started writing this article, I felt maybe I wouldnât have enough to say⌠maybe I should do more research or journaling or give it a few more days (or weeks) before Iâm ready to start writing this. When making a video â at the moment I press ârecordâ I feel like I couldâve spent another hour thinking about the topic. When I launch a course, I know I could spend several more months (or years!) researching the topic⌠but I remind myself that whatever I already know will be helpful to the students. We are usually much harsher on ourselves than our students / clients are. The founder of Linkedin, Reid Hoffman, famously said this: If youâre not embarrassed by the first version of your product, youâve launched too late.I feel embarrassed often⌠because I create often. Every book that I publish, I feel slightly embarrassed by⌠but the reality is that if I waited until a book was âreadyâ I might never publish. Thankfully I do publish, because book after book, each one is getting better. I can always re-publish and re-launch a 2nd edition later⌠and I am already planning for it! Every course that I teach, Iâm embarrassed by, but I also get feedback that makes the course better, year after year. Iâm doing this for the long term journey of growth, not just short-term experiences of posting, publishing, launching. The creative process, the reality of building an authentic business, requires this continual practice: Transform fear into Love.
I feel that we are being called by Spirit to recognize when we are feeling afraid in the creative process, and instead, reinterpret that emotion. Turn âfearâ or âlack of readinessâ into one or more of these⌠Excitement Passion Service Curious self-exploration Adventure
Transform hesitation into Action.
If I am creating something, and I feel hesitation, I now interpret it as a signal to take action, to just do it. To take the next step. To write the next sentence. To click ârecordâ on the video. To press âpublishâ. Transform embarrassment into Surrender.
After putting your work out there, you may feel embarrassed by it and want to delete it. Donât. Practice surrendering to the process and youâll grow a bit stronger, more confident, each time. I recently had this kind of experience: being embarrassed by something I put out there, and after https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKao/posts/10110692016490053 (confessing my feelings about it) (while not deleting the embarrassing thing) I found that people didnât judge me the way I had judged myself. It is a daily creative practice: transmuting fearful hesitation into loving action and surrendering to the process. Bit by bit, piece by piece, we become more courageous. We get wiser through action and experience. A little-known fact is that the creative personâs doubt and âlack of readinessâ never goes away. We simply get better at recognizing it, and transmuting it into creative action. So thereâs only one thing to do: Start today.
Bias yourself toward action, doing what you are afraid of, knowing that it can be interpreted as excitement, passion, service. Go ahead and write, speak, publish, launch, etc⌠do the thing that puts your work into the marketplace. ** Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2714183308801995 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2714183308801995)
âIâm hoping that I can find a way to weave things together in a way that makes sense, resonates with buyers, feels enjoyable, and generates income.â â a client said.âThatâs a lot of pressure on yourself,â I thought. Who says you need to weave all your interests together in a way that makes sense to anyone else, except for yourself? (You can have the most complicated vision of your work, as long as it makes sense to you.) Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2595142044033704 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2595142044033704)       What if being financially successful â and happy in your work â doesnât require the integration of your various interests? For example, your introductory statement. Maybe youâre struggling to fit your entire catalog of passions into a short statement for your social media profile, or the bio at the bottom of your articles, or when someone introduces you on a podcast. What if you let go of any sort of perfection in that statement? There is a big difference between an intro statement, versus the descriptions of your various offerings. Your intro statement can be broad, inspiring, and short. It makes you feel good, and it gives a quick taste to the reader of what kind of person you are. But if you try to make it communicate exactly what you do (and the variety of things you do!) then you are giving yourself unnecessary pressure. How can you fit the brilliance of your infinite potential into a few words? Plus, the fact that you keep evolving! Let your intro-statement be a long-term project. Re-visit it every now and then, making a change here and there. Over the years, let it morph until you are really happy with it. And even so, it will still keep evolving! Please donât give yourself the pressure of coming up with such a statement before you get started with creating your services or marketing your products. You donât need a perfect statement for your website (you might not even need a website!) nor for your social media. Instead, you can have many different offerings, such as coaching packages for various kinds of client issues, an eventual catalog of online courses, workshops, etc. âIf Iâm feeling discombobulated in my content, then wonât those who read it feel that way too?â Most of the time, people will read your content on social media â and on social media, readers are used to a huge diversity of content. What about people who read your content via email newsletter? In their email inbox they are also accustomed to a large variety of topics. These days, people are used to â and prefer â variety. As long as your content is true to you, it will form in peopleâs minds a more whole picture of you, over time. As long as you share what thoughts are true to you, people sense your authenticity, and your ideal audience will like you more. In the lifetime of your business, you will have many offerings â sometimes simultaneously. For example I offer a different online course almost every month, and have a catalog of courses people can buy anytime. Another coach might offer coaching for different challenges, each one being a different package a client could buy. Again, thereâs no need to try to make your entire business or brand described in one short thing â people arenât buying your whole business. They buy one thing at a time. If you have a website, simply send different audiences to different pages on your site! Potential clients or buyers are looking at the description of the specific offering in front of them, the specific thing youâre selling. They arenât making a decision based on your overall description of yourself. Each offering can have its own clarity: Who is that specific offering best for? What problem/goal does that specific offering help them with? What is the specific journey that the offering takes them on? What part of your life experience or training qualifies you to provide that
A few years ago, I stopped marketing to the reptilian brain. My conscience could no longer tolerate it⌠By âlizard brainâ I mean the parts within people that are governed by fear, greed, and impatience. See the image below that breaks down a real example⌠Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=562306474673136 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=562306474673136)      Yes, my sales cycle is a bit longer now. When people find my website randomly, theyâre no longer immediately triggered or incentivized to opt-in or to buy from me. It takes them more time to get to know my values, my expertise, and my way of doing things. Yet, the clients I now get are a much better fit.And, Iâm able to connect with them about my higher values, which makes our work together more fulfilling. My marketing is no longer going against the values I believe in. Iâve made the commitment to prioritize virtues above quick sales results, and to help others become conscious of the values theyâre supporting so that they can be more empowered in their business. (You might get more short-term sales by manipulating peopleâs lower selves, but over time this erodes your relationship with your audience, eats away at your conscience, and spawns bad karma.) âThose who market to the lizard brain are breeding more lizard-brain-dominance in their audience.
By inciting the peopleâs lizard brain, marketers (and politicians) do in fact gain more control over their audience in the short-term. Itâs power-over others, rather than empowerment of others. I seek instead to help my audience grow their knowledge and ability to make good choices, not to diminish their free will for my own profit. By marketing to the lizard brain, theyâre also breeding more fear, greed, and impatience in society. So what if we short-term profit if it actually creates a society we donât want? âWhen I stopped doing this type of marketing, I also made the choice to stop supporting the companies that use such tactics. Therefore I donât use some software thatâs popular in my industry. (I wonât name them, but youâll recognize them when you see their lizard-brain marketing.) Thankfully, these days there are many alternative choices. We can work with providers that do more heart-based marketing. This supports our internal alignment with our values too. There are authentic ways to make more than enough sales.
I am happy to say that by https://www.georgekao.com/blog/authenticmarketing2 (prioritizing service over selling), I now have a full coaching practice, without using lizard-brain tactics. (To understand this better, refer to my https://www.georgekao.com/authentic-marketing.html (articles about authentic marketing).) I am always exploring better ways to run my business that align with deeper values. I love teaching methods what I discover to be both effective and good for the heart. May we all commit to more compassionate and wiser ways of marketing, knowing that even before people buy from us, our marketing itself makes an impact! ** Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=562306474673136 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=562306474673136)  Â
An audience member wrote the following to me, and maybe some of you can relate⌠âI long for the ability to create without any thoughts of moneyâŚto create because I love it⌠to take real time off when I need it⌠to try new things and build in more hobby time into my life.Everything I create is because I love it, but I tend to always have that background question: âWill it make me money?âI want to get to a place where I feel I can try things and fail and be totally fine with itâŚâ Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=735802437184284 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=735802437184284)     There are 2 things we can create: a hobby, or a business. Hobbies can be a fully creative and personal endeavor, with no pressure for anyone to buy or even like our work. Business has the need to sustain itself, ideally to thrive, which requires enough people to buy into our work, so thereâs pressure for meeting othersâ wants and purchasing requirements. And yet, there will come a time in your journey of building an audience when youâll finally have enough true fans, aka people who will buy just about anything you create and sell. Through my content and courses, this is what I yearn to help you do â https://www.georgekao.com/blog/category/authentic-marketing (create your own true fan audience) â because thatâs when you will have true creative freedom in your business. It takes time and sincere effort to build that kind of audience. The actions youâll need to take consistently include: content creation and distribution, audience research, collaborations⌠all the things Iâve been writing and speaking about. (See the https://www.georgekao.com/blog/7disciplines (7 disciplines of authentic business).) Iâd love to see you create your freedom by having a large enough audience who genuinely loves your authentic creativity! Itâs a journey, so letâs not expect overnight success. Maybe you have 2 or 3 clients who already buy much of what you create and sell. Maybe next year youâll have 10 or 12 such true fan clients. (With diligent content creation/distribution, audience research, collaborations, offer rhythm, etc., you can speed up the process and perhaps get to 20â30 next year, maybe even faster.) Also, what is âenoughâ true fans to sustain your business? That will depend on what kind of income you require, as well as how you structure your business model. (For more on that, read this blog post: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/businessmodel (simple business model for solopreneurs).) While we are still on the journey toward financial sustainability, how can we relate to money-making in a way thatâs not desperate? For us to really be creative and to serve, Money needs to be an afterthought. Having enough income has to be expected and stable, providing security that you can build on, to be able to then focus on truly serving and delighting your customers. Itâs like the https://scottbarrykaufman.com/sailboat-metaphor/ (sailboat metaphor by Scott Barry Kaufman) â if you havenât secured the leaking holes in your sailboat (which is endangering your life) then itâs all you can (and should!) think about. You need to plug up the holes to secure your boat (i.e. get a secure income), before you can open the sails and really explore the world freely (i.e. to build an authentic business). This means you need to figure out your financial stability before you can really have the freedom to get creative. Stability happens by doing one or both of these: (1) Require less income (live more simply) (2) Make more income (seeking family support, getting a job, getting a promotion, selling easier products in your business, etc.) (When youâre yet financially stable, these two methods should be combined.) Iâve said it before and itâs worth repeating: thereâs no shame in getting a stable job. Or in selling what you
If you look at the posts on my Facebook Business Page (my social media platform of choice) youâll notice that I basically post two things: 1. Text-only writings, without images or links. 2. Videos. In this post Iâll focus why I donât add images to my writings on my FB business pages. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=599283897542409 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=599283897542409)    Note -- this doesnât apply to artists, photographers, sellers of physical products, or those whose business is very image-oriented. This does apply to anyone whose business is primarily about knowledge, wisdom, or transformation, such as coaching, mentoring, teaching, or healing. Yes, I know the common advice that adding an image will expose my posts to a lot more people. Hereâs why I donât recommend it: 1. More exposure creates inauthentic engagement. 2. Getting engagement by non-ideal audience members worsens our costs for marketing to those who are ideal audience members.
-
Training your audience to like your images (easy to do) decreases their patience in engaging with your more thoughtful material.
-
You need to keep upping the game of attractiveness to keep their attention.
Letâs explore each problem.
More exposure creates inauthentic engagement
For authentic marketing, weâre not just trying to play to the algorithm. Weâre trying to inspire or help or connect genuinely with the people who are most meant for us. The algorithm, in fact, is trying to help us authentic content creators.
So when youâre doing anything to intentionally âget more viewsâ such as using an attractive image, you are trying to game the algorithm, and human beings will sense the inauthenticity. Itâs a bait-and-switch.Â
Sure, people will notice the attention-getting image, but if the message isnât a right fit for them, they will feel a bit disappointed by your brand.Â
You might actually get a lot of âengagementâ in terms of photo clicks, likes, or even shares, but this increases your non-ideal audience. This brings us to the next problem.Â
Increasing Marketing Costs to Ideal Audience
When you any attention-getting tactic, and get lots of attention, youâre growing a larger but less-ideal audience.Â
Whether you use paid ads, or try to reach them organically (without paid ads), youâll have to try even harder to reach the ideal portion of your audience.Â
Why?
If you have a larger audience that came from shallow engagement, it means the ideal portion of your audience is smaller and smaller in percentage. Therefore, a growing part of your ad dollars has to wade through a large percentage of non-ideal audience members, in order to find the ideal ones.
Without paid ads (trying to reach them organically) youâll need ideal audience members to engage with your content, to reach more ideal people like them. If instead a bunch of non-ideal audience members engage, Facebook shows it to even more people like that.
Creating Shallow Engagement
The more images you post, the more you get shallow engagement with your content.
What Iâve done instead is to post lots of thoughtful text-only content on my Facebook Pages -- https://facebook.com/georgeKaocommunity/posts (George Kao Authentic Business Coach) and https://www.facebook.com/SoulGym.Life/posts (Soul Gym) -- along with videos, and thereby, training my audience over time (getting them accustomed) to engage thoughtfully with my content.
Any paid work with me (books, courses, and coaching) requires deeper, even more thoughtful engagement.
Therefore, by creating a thoughtful relationship with my audience, my business flourishes, because through my content, my audience is getting used to deeper engagement with me. Reading a post or watching a video, rather than liking images.
Attractive to Keep Their...
A common mistake that I see from aspiring content creators. Maybe you have done this too:â You have an idea that inspires you⌠so you think that it must also excite other people, too. Understandable! Therefore you put lots of time (and maybe money) into packaging that idea into a book⌠or course⌠or you create an amazing video after a lot of hard work. You share it with the world. What usually happens? Far less response than you hoped for⌠You just fell for a core human biasâââto be inside your own head. Youâve neglected to adequately test the idea to see if it really inspires other peopleâââbesides yourselfâââbefore you spent all that effort. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=706941613233437 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=706941613233437)   Maybe you think itâs a visibility issue, so you try harder to promote it. Still, the result is baffling: why is something thatâs obviously so good (in your mind) not a game-changer for others? Why arenât people getting it?!
You might become resentful or cynicalâŚ
If you keep experiencing this, you might even decide to quit altogether, believing that itâs just ânot your thingâ.
I hope you will always remember this:
No matter what, your passion is a good idea⌠but how you share it will determine the response.
You need to experiment with different ways of sharing the idea, in the mindset of testing, until you discover a way that other people easily âget.â
In other words, I recommend the Three Stages of Content.
Stage 1: Casual Content
This is where it all starts.
For example, I casually make three short videos while on my long Saturday walks with my dog. In each video, I share an idea that I think might be helpful to some clients and audience members.
This very post youâre reading was inspired by one of those casual videos! See here:Â http://www.fb.com/GeorgeKao/posts/10106365973759363 (www.FB.com/GeorgeKao/posts/10106365973759363)
Update:Â By 2018, Iâve created so much content that, since then, most of my content creation is Stage 2 (Iâll describe that later.) I still make a Stage 1 video each Friday, from my office, as itâs become much easier to do that than making my dog walk videos.
I have no expectations about how these casual videos turn out. At this stage, I spend as little effort as possible. Therefore, I am not concerned whether the content gets any likes or comments.
An important distinction to make here: I care about my audience. And I care about my own explorations too, to keep making Stage 1 Content. Yet I donât care how people respond, because Stage 1 is meant to be exploratory and experimental.
The Principles of Stage 1 ContentâŚ
(1) Either explore a new idea. Or try a different way of saying an old idea.
(2) Test the idea with the market by sharing it on social media. Have zero expectations.
(3) Minimize your energy and time when making Stage 1 Content, since you donât know if your audience will like it, no matter how important you believe the message to be. âCasualâ is the word that helps me in this situation: relaxed and unconcerned; temporary or impermanent.
(4) Be prolific and consistent with your Stage 1 Content, so that you give yourself many opportunities to explore ideas and different ways of saying things, spending as little energy as you can for each piece. Remember, you are testing here, not trying to be perfect or polished.
In my definition, anything that is published for the first time is Stage 1 content, whether it took 5 minutes or 5 years to make. Stage 1 is all about the audienceâs feedback to something theyâre seeing for the first time.
Iâve noticed that no matter how unpolished my content is, the choice of topicâââor how I frame...
Excited to have this conversation with Mark Walsh of Embodiment Unlimited! Watch the video here: https://fb.watch/31MmmO5xMO/ (https://fb.watch/31MmmO5xMO/) Mark is launching a free bite-sized series of trainings called The Marketing Dojo. Highly recommended: https://ethicalmarketing.coach/ (https://ethicalmarketing.coach/)
Have you heard that you should âclaim / stand up for your valueâ ? Letâs look more deeply at this⌠How much is your value? How much are you worth? $25/hour? $150/hour? $500/hour? $10,000/hour? If other people charge more, are they worth more? Words matter: they shape how we see ourselves and others. Connecting our fees to our âworthâ is an unhealthy comparison. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1964471757017263 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1964471757017263)  Are you worth less than someone who charges more?
Truth: You are worth infinity.You are a precious human being whose https://www.google.com/search?q=odds+of+being+born+1+in+400+trillion (odds of being born are 1 in 400 trillion)!
âCharge what youâre worthâ was perhaps started by some high-priced coach who needed to justify how much theyâre charging you.
I have seen many people raise their prices (because theyâre âworthâ more!)⌠and then what happened? They saw their business decline.
So letâs stop using the word âworthâ in connection to our service fees.
Consider this truer, more practical idea:
âCharge based on the market rate.â
It makes sense to set your price based on what your clients are expecting and seeing in the marketplace.
Look at your niche mates and what theyâre charging. Then look at your own needs, and your reputation in the marketplace. Price your services accordingly.
Then, based on the marketâs response, you might need to change your pricing.
There is such a thing as perceived value. If you have a more premium branding and copywriting, people are usually willing to pay more.
However, before we all rush to rebrand ourselves as premium / luxury, we need to consider whether our branding is authentic to how we wish to show up in the world?
For example I prefer to be minimalistic and âamong the peopleâ⌠a âguide on the sideâ rather than a âsage on the stage.â Luxury branding is not for me. However, for others it may feel authentic.
Letâs look at another common idea:
âCharge what the market will bear.â
Economics teaches us to charge the maximum amount that our clients will tolerateâŚ
Letâs flip this around and apply The Golden RuleâââYou are my market, my potential clients. How would you feel if I charged you the greatest amount you could bear?
This is what some high-price coaches and programs do. They charge as much as they can get away with.
Their justification: âIf you pay more, youâll take it more seriously and get more results.â Really? Or are they using it to justify their own self-enrichment? The truth is that most people who pay for high-priced programs donât get the results promised. Iâve written about this before: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/bigprograms (Beware of expensive business trainings.) (Although the opposite can also be true: charging too low can make it appear that youâre desperate, unless you explain why your rates are much lower than others in your industry.)
I used to do all this. I used to teach it, too. Iâve also worked with many colleagues who operated from this mindset.
This is how business is supposed to work, right? Everyone is supposed to be out for themselves. The sellers should charge more, and buyers should bewareâŚ
I stand for a more caring vision of business: what if business owners had compassion for their customers and the customers truly wish to take care of the business too? We can run our businesses this way. We just need to remember that itâs not how most businesses are run.
Another common lie:
âCharge not for your time, but for the value you provide.â
So, if youâre a marriage coach who helps people avoid divorce, how much is that worth? Or an occupational therapist who helps someone recover their...
âFrom a marketing course I learned how to write my copy by using the hook-story-close model. The teacher showed how important it is to write to âthe pain of my clientâ in the hook part, and that I should even exaggerate the pain, make it like my client is in a dangerous situation (e.g. if you donât act now, youâll suffer dire consequences). The idea behind this is âThe bigger the pain, the quicker the client will buy from you.ââ â anonymous newsletter subscriber. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=412138569915728 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=412138569915728) Sadly, this kind of mercenary marketing advice is too common. Most of us heart-based people donât enjoy this feeling of transactional marketing. We donât want to create more negativity in the world. And, we donât want to possibly re-traumatize our potential clients. Why do we need to hook and close people so quickly? What about developing a relationship? If we think that instant-closing is the only way â to sell to the pain points of our clients â we might even want to give up on marketing altogether⌠So whatâs the alternative? Consider this:
Instead of pain points⌠what if we sell to the clientâs joy points?
âŚor their relief points?
âŚor their gratitude points?
Iâll say more about this later.
First of all, itâs actually good to gently mention their struggle â but not as a way to make them buy from you â but more like a caring doctor might very lightly tap on a painful part of your body to make sure she is diagnosing the problem correctly, and thereby able to provide you the right therapy.
(You donât want her giving you therapy for a non-issue!)
So, yes itâs good to make sure that you and the client are on the same page. Do you understand the actual problem they want solved? That is the only reason to gently touch on any pain points.
Then for the rest of your marketing copy (or conversation) focus on whatâs possible for them if they diligently use your service or product as intended.
What kind of transformation would bring them joy?
What kind of result would bring them gratitude?
What kind of relief might they experience?
What is possible for them â and likely to happen â by using your service/product?
To be clear, we are not guaranteeing results. No one can do that.
What we are saying is that if they have the problem weâve gently confirmed, then we have designed a service or product that is intended to produce a specific result.
We cannot promise the result, but we can promise that weâre being honest about our background and credibility, and weâre telling the truth about how the product or service was designed, and what kind of result it is meant to achieve.
We can promise our care for them, because we can surely deliver on that.
And if they are the right client, and they work well with us, then they are likely to be better off, than before they found us. They are likely to agree that the money was well spent.
In short, we can promise value, but not that they will be pain-free.
When clients see that we care, and that we are honest, we will stand out among all the others who are promising them the moon and the stars.
** Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=412138569915728 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=412138569915728)
Itâs ridiculous when someone says theyâre â#1â in their field. ââOh really, by whose standards?â I wonder. The more we puff our chest, the more imposter syndrome strikes. The need to prove our worth is part of the fixed mindset (ala Carol Dweck)âââwhen our ego is attached to a fixed identity that we should always be excellent, and one of the best. It sometimes makes us feel like a fraud, because nobody is perfect. We feel pain (or avoidance) whenever we donât live up to that shining standard. Instead, what if we simply share what is actually working now? Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=771193847068242 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=771193847068242) What if, rather than trying to prove anything, we simply demonstrate the kind of work weâre already doing right now, with ourselves and with our clients? What if we commit to a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindset#Fixed_and_Growth_Mindset (growth mindset)âââthe belief that we can always become better with practiceâââand publicly share how we are practicing, as we move along our journey of development? What if we share about why we care about the journey, and invite others to grow with us?
When I do this, my marketing becomes more authentic, because itâs based on actual experience rather than âfake it till you make itâ kind of puffery.
I donât have to project a superior image: âIâm so great, youâd be lucky to work with me!â
⌠but rather, we can dive into a heart of connection and service: âHereâs why I care. Iâm in the work daily. I love working with people like you.â
This is how I create content.
This mindset shift relates not only to how we sell, but also to our posture around content creation.
Are we talking as if we carry the absolute Truth about our field? That posture suggests that we have to defend ourselves against contrasting opinions. Are we projecting a belief that we know whatâs best for everyone?
An alternative way is to be in the attitude that I am simply sharing what is true for me now: What is true in my experience at this time? What do I currently understand, knowing there is always more to learn?
Yet, what if you need to sell an idea or product?
Again, the need to prove ourselves as superior in knowledge can get us into trouble: inauthenticity and desperation.
If weâre trying hard to sell something, weâre probably trying too hard.
If you already have someoneâs trust, then you can be confident to speak authentically and be in service to that person. No energy of âsellingâ is needed. Instead, youâre liberated to focus on genuine expression, as well as your caring for that person.
How to build trust? When you create content consistently, you naturally build confidenceâââother peopleâs trust in you, and more importantly, your trust in yourself.
When you learn to distribute content effectively, your audience experiences your presence as being reliable and therefore, more trustworthy. Youâll be top-of-mind for them on the topics that you write/speak about.
Therefore, thereâs no need to âsellâ or puff up our chest: âIâm authoritative! Iâm number one in my field!â
Instead, thereâs a natural yet humble confidence, and a caring invitation:
âThis idea / product has been useful to my clients⌠and given that youâre having XYZ problem, I think itâll be useful to you as well⌠especially if you already tried ABC. Why not give this idea / product a try and see if it helps? I will be here to answer any questions.â
To read more: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/category/creating-content (George Kaoâs articles about creating content) https://www.georgekao.com/blog/category/authentic-success (George Kaoâs articles about authentic success)
** Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=771193847068242 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=771193847068242)
In marketing, we typically learn about the importance of getting peopleâs attention. To try to stand out, to be more charming, to be more persuasive. âBut thatâs not what Iâm trying to do... If anything, Iâm trying to blend in. I know that my ideal audience will spot me, even in a sea of social media posts. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=812065499569280 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=812065499569280) Being flashy tends to get unwanted attention. Irrelevant comments. More spam. It may seem like more followers, yet strangely, still poor sales in oneâs business. Your audience may grow in the wrong direction, which increases your marketing costs over time, as it costs more to reach more people. Yet youâll have to wade through the many fake followers to find and connect with your true fans.
When we try to get attention, it is unsustainable. People may find out how we are ânormallyâ and become disillusioned⌠so we have to keep up a pretense to keep their attention.
A client of mine, with experience using visual interruption techniques to grow her audience, wrote:
âPeople who reply to the âpattern interruptâ are maybe 80% the worst possible leads Iâve ever dealt with⌠if you have a hide like a rhinoceros and are willing to deal with lots of ugly, so you can finally hit the few good leads⌠it can eventually work. But is it worth it??â
Your authenticity is greatly valuable
Doing anything deliberate to try to get attention will take you out of your authentic energy.
What I try is to be less motivated by the thought of your praise or purchases, and instead, to explore how I can resonate with you from a more authentic space.
If you practice simply being more deeply yourself, you will naturally be unique.
And youâll automatically be more attractive to your true fans.
We need to remember that how we truly are is of incalculable value to the people weâre most meant to serve.
We simply need to show up daily with our authenticity.
Beware of typical marketing advice
Pay attention to the marketing teachings youâre learning from. Notice how many marketers are in the energy of cynical attention-grabbing. Baiting their audience into watching or reading. Creating a presence that feels artificial and inflated.
These are normal behaviors in the online marketing world. They want us to believe that humans are constantly distracted and therefore require flashy and baiting tactics to finally pay attention⌠to âget themâ to buy from us.
Itâs true that all humans are distractible. But the more you assume they need flashiness to pay attention, the more youâll turn away your true fans. And the ones who are left? Theyâll need you to be constantly impressive.
Youâll end up behaving in ways outside your groundedness and personal truth.
Your ideal audience is seeking you
The truth is that your ideal audience is already looking for someone like you. They donât know what you look like, but they feel a resonance when they encounter you.
As an example, I often make text-only posts (itâs mostly what I do on my FB page, see here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/posts (George Kaoâs Facebook Posts)). Even though text-only posts might seem âboringâ on Facebook, my ideal audience immediately has a feeling of recognition: âthereâs something deeply true about this message⌠let me keep reading.â
I post videos that arenât edited. Theyâre one-take live videos. Your ideal audience probably doesnât need you to edit much, if at all. However, if you enjoy editing your videos, go for it. Just be sure itâs a process thatâs personally sustainable for you.
Itâs not that we should never be artful or entertaining. Itâs about doing it from our authenticity rather than any feeling of attention-seeking or desperation.
Are we enjoying our marketing? Are we tapping into the unconscious flow that comes from...
A few thoughts on how to develop authentic confidence... âNotice that money tends to flow to those who are most confident. However, fake confidence is too commonly taught in marketing. Fake it âtill you make it. Appear to be bigger, or more polished, than you actually are. Use hype to get the sale. Offer huge guarantees to remove all their risk. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1448007075365651 (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1448007075365651) It does get some people to buy, but fake confidence is neither sustainable, nor does it produce a fulfilling business. Thankfully, money also flows toward people with authentic confidence. How to develop this? Ease up on self-blame. Improve skills through practice. Notice the value youâre genuinely adding.
Ease Up on Self-Blame When I make a mistake: I get curious: âHmm⌠what can I learn from this?â and after a brief reflection (and note-taking as needed), I move on, knowing that I have the rest of my life to learn and get better! And Iâve learned that most people are forgiving, as long as I keep improving.Â
As soon as I sense self-blame coming on, I ignore it, knowing that it does more harm than good. It helps me to do my https://www.georgekao.com/blog/energyreboot (energy reboot practice). If it's hard for you to ignore self-criticism or blame, I encourage you to rebel against it: use anger productively and say a stern "NO" against self-blame.   When it comes to marketing mistakes (of which I have many!) I remind myself to https://www.georgekao.com/blog/impression (let go of trying to make a good first impression), because the practice of gradually improving future impressions is more effective for genuine growth (personal and professional) instead of stressing out about the first impression. Joyful long-term growth requires an experimentation mindset, rather than trying to be perfect.  Improve Skills Through Practice  The more you hone your professional skills, the more authentically confident you are.  To get better, you need to consistently practice. For example, creating content daily, and promoting your products/services weekly or monthly. These are excellent activities to practice in order to generate a stable and growing income.  The problem with most people is the inconsistency. If you can overcome that issue, youâll be far ahead of most aspiring businesses. Itâs often due to an inability to set and follow a schedule. Read more: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/productiverepair (Repair your relationship to your productivity tools.)  With consistency, you grow much more quickly than if you only did things occasionally, or if you only wait for inspiration to strike.  The more consistent, thoughtful practice you put in, the more skillful you become.  What skills should we practice to grow an authentic business? Read more: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/7disciplines (The 7 Disciplines of Authentic Business).  Notice the Value Youâre Creating  This is another important element for authentic confidence -- observing how youâre actually adding value.  Value can be measured by oneâs own standard: creating something youâre proud of.  Or, you can measure value by how much your customers/clients are benefitting from your products/services. For business, this is a better measure of value-created.  Learn to be observant about which of your content, and which of your products/services, are making the most difference for people. Notice the impact youâre making, and celebrate it. By doing so, you grow in authentic confidence.  What isnât Confidence  Most of us think the opposite of confidence is shyness. This may be true. You might be scared to be visible in front of others. The best way I know how to...
Is it possible to be emotionally relaxed and joyful, yet highly productive? Think of a master in martial arts ⌠they arenât fretting, tense, worried, or stressed out. They have a relaxed focus, a calm strength, a powerful composure. Their face might appear emotionless, yet their body expresses a wide range of motion, able to accomplish a great deal with both precision and flexibility. Inside, they are experiencing clarity, confidence, and a calm joy. Watch the video here: https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/2913992282051668 (https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKaoCommunity/videos/2913992282051668) âIâm not a martial arts master, but I have developed a sort of calm, joyful productivity within my own sphere of work: content creation, business coaching, and book writing. While I was writing my first book, https://www.georgekao.com/authenticcontentmarketing.html (Authentic Content Marketing), a dear client asked me: âAs the grand finale [of your bookâs completion] approaches, what are your feelings at this moment? Soon is the moment of âletting goâ⌠any thoughts on that?â My response:
I have never really âheld onâ to what the bookâs results would be, so there is no âletting go.â
As for a âgrand finaleâ⌠I donât see it, I said to her, since I was already planning my second book, http://www.georgekao.com/JoyfulProductivityBook (Joyful Productivity).
I now see each and every project as simply a mile marker on a lifelong journey of growing into greater service and deeper self-knowledge.
Joy occurs throughout the process⌠at the beginning, in the middle, and at the âendâ of a project⌠and again onto the next project, with a calm and joyful heart.
Thereâs no anxiety about results, no gritting of teeth, no failure or success.
Thereâs only constant experimentation, the steady progress of learning, and consistent Self-exploration and service to the greater whole. â Recently I came across an Alan Watts lecture that summed this up beautifully: âWhat do you do if I say to you, "Take a hard look at me. Take a real hard look." Now what are you doing? What's the difference between a âhard lookâ and a âsoft look?â
Why, with your hard look, you are straining the muscles around your eyes, and you're starting to stare. â If you stare at a distant image far away from you, you'll make it fuzzy. If you want to see it clearly you must close your eyes, imagine black for awhile, and then lazily and easily open them and you'll see the image. The light will come to you.
And what do you do if I say, "Now, listen carefully, listen very carefully to what I'm saying." You'll find you're beginning to strain yourself around the ears.
Supposing somebody says, "O.K. now, you've got to use your will, you've got to exercise strong will." That's the ego, isn't it?
What do you do when you exercise your will? You grit your teeth, you clench your fists. If you want to stop wayward emotions, you go uptight. You pull your stomach in, or hold your breath, or contract your rectal muscles. But all these activities have absolutely nothing to do with the efficient functioning of your nervous system.Â
Just as staring at images makes them fuzzy, listening hard with all this muscular tension distracts you from what you're actually hearing; gritting your teeth has nothing to do with courage. All this is a total distraction.
And yet we do it all the time; we have a chronic sensation of muscular strain, the object of which is an attempt to make our nervous system, our brains, our sensitivity function properlyâand it doesn't work.
From the moment when we were little children, teachers in class screamed at us, âPay Attention!â to see or hear more clearly, to concentrate, or to will something... which is supposed to be difficult to do. And that constitutes a habitual tension over the whole bodyâŚ
That feeling of unnecessary tension is, as it were, the material on...
This principle has been essential to my success. How do I make great content? By making more content, and observing what spreads. How do I improve my skills? By working with more clients, and noticing who grows the most. True learning comes from actionâââwe build muscles by doing things, not just reading about them. Watch the video here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/qualitythroughquantity (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/qualitythroughquantity) It takes quantity of action to develop quality of results. Yet, if you feel youâre not taking enough action, self-compassion is needed. Remind yourself that action can be primarily about playful experimentation. Action is much easier when you donât give yourself the pressure to perform, but rather, the permission to play with a skill or a project. How to balance quantity and quality?As an example, âI think about content in stages. Stage 1 is any content that is first posted or published. Did I spend 5 months or 5 years on it before publishing? Or did I spend 50 minutes on it? Whichever it may be, if itâs the first time itâs touching the world, being put into the marketplace, I still consider it âStage 1â.
Therefore, itâs more efficient to spend less time working on any piece of Stage 1 content.
Stage 2 is looking at my previous Stage 1 pieces, selecting what the audience liked the most, and spending more time editing those pieces. Then, I re-publish and re-distribute them.
In other words, I spend time improving the pieces that already demonstrated potential, based on my audienceâs reactions. I let the audience tell me what âQualityâ means⌠not my own self-judgments.
As an example, this very blog post was first written in 2017. Now Iâm taking the effort to improve it and to re-share this new version.
Stage 3 is to integrate and monetize the Stage 2 pieces that fit within a particular topic.
For example, I do this with https://www.georgekao.com/books.html (my books), each of which is an organized collection of my blog posts.
Think of it like a Buffet:
(Remember buffets, those restaurants that existed in the before-times? I used to love thoseâŚ)
The owner of a buffet restaurant notices which of the items gets more interest, and which items are ignored. Over time, sheâll increase the types of items people love the most, and remove the ones that people donât care for. Why cook stuff no one wants to eat?
By following this strategy, the restaurant becomes more well-loved over time.
You can do the same with your own content and products: try lots of things, and then notice what people find most helpful, and then offer more things like that.
âHow does my audience have time to consume all the content that Iâm putting out there?â
Back to the buffet analogyâââthe owner of the restaurant doesnât expect any one visitor to eat every item!
Similarly, Iâm not expecting you to consume all of my content. Thatâd be putting too much pressure on you!
Itâs my job to simply put content out there, and itâs my audienceâs job to pick and choose what they like to consume.
Similarly, your audience will tend to only consume the pieces that are popular (that have the most âlikesâ or comments.) When they have time, they might try a few other pieces of content from you. But itâs all optional.
Therefore, offer more optionsâŚBy putting out more content, we give our audience more chances to tell us what they like and donât like . If they donât resonate with something, theyâll simply stay silent.
This way, we are giving ourselves more opportunities to learn about our audience and what they really want.
By publishing more often, you learn more quickly about your audienceâs preferences and needs.
If you only created one piece of content a...
I see a lot of aspiring business owners doing this: Youâre waiting until youâre âreadyâ before you take the leap. A dear client asked me about the âthin line between readiness and procrastination.â âAfter coaching hundreds of business owners, I can tell you this: â Chances are, you are being fooled by your own brilliant mind. Feeling of âlack of readinessâ is usually procrastination. Watch the video version here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/notready (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/notready) Hereâs the truth: I rarely feel âreadyâ. When I started writing this article, I felt maybe I wouldnât have enough to say⌠maybe I should do more research or journaling or give it a few more days (or weeks) before Iâm ready to start writing this. When making a video â at the moment I press ârecordâ I feel like I couldâve spent another hour thinking about the topic. When I launch a course, I know I could spend several more months (or years!) researching the topic⌠but I remind myself that whatever I already know will be helpful to the students. We are usually much harsher on ourselves than our students / clients are. The founder of Linkedin, Reid Hoffman, famously said this: If youâre not embarrassed by the first version of your product, youâve launched too late. I feel embarrassed often⌠because I create often. Every book that I publish, I feel slightly embarrassed by⌠but the reality is that if I waited until a book was âreadyâ I might never publish. Thankfully I do publish, because book after book, each one is getting better. I can always re-publish and re-launch a 2nd edition later⌠and I am already planning for it! Every course that I teach, Iâm embarrassed by, but I also get feedback that makes the course better, year after year. Iâm doing this for the long term journey of growth, not just short-term experiences of posting, publishing, launching. The creative process, the reality of building an authentic business, requires this continual practice: Transform fear into Love. I feel that we are being called by Spirit to recognize when we are feeling afraid in the creative process, and instead, reinterpret that emotion. Turn âfearâ or âlack of readinessâ into one or more of these⌠Excitement Passion Service Curious self-exploration Adventure
Transform hesitation into Action. If I am creating something, and I feel hesitation, I now interpret it as a signal to take action, to just do it. To take the next step. To write the next sentence. To click ârecordâ on the video. To press âpublishâ.
Transform embarrassment into Surrender. After putting your work out there, you may feel embarrassed by it and want to delete it. Donât. Practice surrendering to the process and youâll grow a bit stronger, more confident, each time. I recently had this kind of experience: being embarrassed by something I put out there, and after https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeKao/posts/10110692016490053 (confessing my feelings about it) (while not deleting the embarrassing thing) I found that people didnât judge me the way I had judged myself. It is a daily creative practice: transmuting fearful hesitation into loving action and surrendering to the process. Bit by bit, piece by piece, we become more courageous. We get wiser through action and experience. A little-known fact is that the creative personâs doubt and âlack of readinessâ never goes away. We simply get better at recognizing it, and transmuting it into creative action.
So thereâs only one thing to do: âStart today.
Bias yourself toward action, doing what you are afraid of, knowing that it can be interpreted as excitement, passion, service. Go ahead and write, speak, publish, launch, etc⌠do the thing that puts your work into the marketplace.
Watch the video version here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/notready (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/notready)
As I prepared to launch this podcast, my audience suggested the playful name of âBusiness Tao with George Kaoâ. Some were concerned that the podcast name might be cultural/religious appropriation. (Nevermind that Iâm Chinese, and can pronounce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Te_Ching (Tao te Ching) more accurately than most Western Taoist scholars, and that Taoism is characteristically unattached from definitions and who gets credit for whatâŚ) Still, the question inspired me to dive back into studying Taoist philosophical principles. In this post, Iâll briefly share how a few such principles might apply to Authentic Business. Watch the video here: https://www.georgekao.com/blog/tao (https://www.georgekao.com/blog/tao) AuthenticityA core principle of Taoism is to live authentically. To sense into how the flow of Life is calling to us, and to merge with that flow. As applied to business, this is well-aligned with my teachings of Authentic Business: to create and sell that which is deeply meaningful -- life giving -- for us, and to do marketing âauthenticallyâ which is to give into the natural yearning to connect to other people in play and service. This is as opposed to inauthentic business -- https://www.georgekao.com/blog/bizsuccess (mainstream business which measures success by profit) rather than by authentic meaning. Also, conventional marketing is about forcing (by way of persuasion) others to do what is profitable for our business, rather than by merging with others in the flow of play and service, which is what authentic marketing is all about. DetachmentTo not resist results, aka reality, the natural flow of life. In conventional business, objectives and goals must be met to be considered âsuccessfulâ. For authentic businesses, we aim to find value in the action itself. Whether we are writing, selling, serving clients, or doing admin work, we aim to bring joyful productivity to it. We work on our compassionate service, our playful exploration, and by doing so, the process of building a business itself becomes worthwhile, regardless of todayâs results or tomorrowâs projections. We consider every day a success because we get to learn more about ourselves and about the world, and to practice embodying our values in our actions. We know that good results will eventually manifest when we act in alignment with authentic business. Thereâs no egoic attachment to a specific profit timeline. Sure, we can make projections, but those are done in a playful way, with curiosity about how they will match with actual metrics. Business metrics are measurements of reality. Observing them teaches us about the flow of the market. Goals are aspirations toward how we can develop ourselves -- what kind of people we can become -- because results come naturally from a developed business. (Another application of detachment: https://georgekao.medium.com/why-i-dont-protect-my-writings-b4b3c6e5c296 (I donât copyright any of my writings.)) Effortlessness
One of the popular principles of Taoism is âwu weiâ which has been defined in various ways -- natural action, non-action, inexertion, inaction, or effortless action. To me, this is the combination of authenticity and detachment. When I write this article, for example, I am not attached to whether or not my audience likes it. I am writing because I have an authentic interest to do it. I am not contorting myself into performing for others. I am working, yes, and Iâm taking action, yes, but Iâm doing it more from an attitude of curious exploration -- the play of a child! When Iâm doing bookkeeping, Iâm curious about the numbers and how theyâll turn out. When Iâm clearing my emails, I play with the balance of compassion and boundaries, rather than âwork hardâ at clearing my emails. When Iâm meeting with clients or teaching a course, I am either feeling into what needs to be said in the moment, or...