On this episode I travel down to Sydney for the Sydney Retail Festival and share with you one huge lesson about how to take advantage of the opportunities sitting right in front of you.

On this episode:

* Why the event is not the opportunity!

* The power of engagement and a simple "hello".

* Why showing up is not enough.

* How a million dollar opportunity came out of simply doing the basics.

* How an entitlement attitude will kill your chances of success.

Resources:

* The tools I use and recommend.

 

If you feel like you're ready for a breakthrough in your business... but... just can't seem to put the final pieces in place, then you might be jinxed by The Consultants Curse.

This is a challenge I've personally suffered from. It slows your growth. Puts you in a bad light with potential clients. And can cost you years in wasted opportunity if you don't identify and overcome it.

This episode we're going deep into what exactly The Consultants Curse is, and how you can not only avoid it's grasp, but profit from it.

In this episode:

* The Consultants Curse explained.

* My story of how I recently fell victim to this profit-killing plague.

* What a Russian piano teacher taught me about how to avoid the curse.

* How to take advantage of The Consultants Curse to bring huge windfalls for your clients.

* A simple 4-step process to shake off this jinx and create a breakthrough in your business.

Resources:

* The tools I use and recommend.

 

I started my first consulting business -- Devil Website Development -- way back in 1998, just before my 18th birthday. And I recently turned 36 years old, which means I've now spent half my life in the consulting industry!

I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about some of the lessons I've learned along the way about what it takes to be successful in this business.

This is part two of a two part series.

In this episode:

* How learning to surf is like starting a business... and... how to strategically approach your personal development to get results faster.

* What I learned from paying $10,000 to my first mentor.

* The "Production Vs Consumption" ratio you should be aiming for.

* The one big thing I learned from a 12-month Jay Abraham coaching program.

* Two clients in the same market: one got zero results, the other saw results on day one. I reveal exactly why, and how you can get more of the right type of clients.

Plus more!

 

I started my first consulting business -- Devil Website Development -- way back in 1998, just before my 18th birthday. And I recently turned 36 years old, which means I've now spent half my life in the consulting industry!

I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about some of the lessons I've learned along the way about what it takes to be successful in this business.

This is part one of a two part series.

In this episode:

* How to make the most of the opportunities in front of you.

* Why it's important to get started today.

* How to fast track your results by compressing your goal setting timeline.

* The #1 thing you should become a student of.

* How I faced my fear of selling and eliminated shyness.

And as always, much MUCH more!

 

This week on the podcast I'm answering a question from my coaching community about how you can progress from chasing clients to having them seek you out.

When you begin to move from constantly chasing clients to farming and nurturing them you will experience a shift that impacts all areas of your business.

Clients become easier to sell to -- in many cases coming to you pre-sold -- they are less price sensitive, and your ability to impact many people at once means your deal flow increases dramatically.

In this episode:

* How to stop chasing clients and start attracting them.

* How to get enough deal flow so you can sift, sort, and select the best clients.

* How you can become a celebrity in your market.

* Why most marketing burns people out and what to do about it.

* How to naturally develop a USP that instantly positions you as the go-to provider for your market.

And much more!

 

If you feel overworked and yet under-utilised -- busy but not productive -- then you're going to get a lot out of this week's podcast.

Episode 9 of the Consulting Tycoon Podcast is based on a training I ran for my inner circle clients on applying Essentialism to your consulting business.

You'll discover the way of the essentialist and how you can simplify your life, get time for the important tasks, and find joy in the process of building your business.

In this episode:

* How to filter out the good opportunities so you can focus on the great ones.

* How to prioritise your life before someone else does.

* The "Paradox of Success" and how it leads to being overworked and under-utilised.

* Why you should make one decision today that will save you a thousand decisions in the future.

* How to build buffers into your day so you always have time up your sleeve.

And much more!

Resources:

* Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

 

This week I've gone into the archives and pulled a very special recording for you. What you're about to hear is the first interview I ever did for Consulting Tycoon back in 2010.

I'm talking with Liz Canney, and ex-retiree who accidentally started her consulting business and made $12,000 her first month.

Now, some of the specific tactics we talk about might have changed, but the underlying principles of how Liz became so successful so quickly, remain the same.

In this interview, Liz reveals exactly how she did it.

In this episode:

* How Liz “accidentally” got her first offline consulting client.

* The simple 4-step system you can use to close 75%-80% of free consultations into paying clients — without ever hearing a “no”.

* How Liz gets around the fact that she is a complete newbie and has no “proof”.

* A remarkable outsourcing tip (Liz outsources most of the work) for getting cheap, reliable local workers.

And much more!

Transcription:

Kyle: I’d like to welcome everyone to today’s call. Today I have Liz Canney on the phone and she recently started her own consulting website and consulting business. Liz, good to have you on the line.

Liz: Thanks, Kyle; it’s a pleasure to be here.

Kyle: Let’s start off with your story. What were you doing before you started your consulting business?

Liz: Well, about three years ago, I guess (maybe a bit longer), I retired and within six months, I started to realize that you can only play so much golf, do so much patchwork and gossip about your friends over lunch, so I wanted to do something else. So I got into network marketing. It didn’t take too long for me to realize that there was an awful lot of pressure from up line.

I really wanted to just sell products full retail and make a 20 or 25% commission, but unfortunately, the people at the top didn’t really like that and in the end, I sort of said, “Well, you can keep your business and I’ll go elsewhere.” I got out of there. I did that a couple of times with a couple of different companies to find exactly the same thing.

So I finally decided to try Internet marketing because people said, “Oh, there’s lots of money in Internet marketing,” so off I went. I did have a certain amount of success. In fact, as far as affiliate marketing was concerned, I do quite well. I had what I called plenty of “running away from home” money, so that was really good, but it was just recently that I discovered that there’s a huge market for offline businesses.

When I say offline businesses, I’m talking about your brick-and-mortar businesses, your traditional stuff. Everyone has a website but no one’s making any money from it, so that’s why I decided to do something in that area.

Kyle: What was it that tipped your hat to that market? What was it that led you to the consulting business?

Liz: I read a book by Andrew Cavanagh called “Online Gold from Offline Business,” and also something written by the Rhodes brothers.

Kyle: Matt and John.

Liz: Yes. I really liked what they had to say. As it turned out, one of the things that Andrew said in his book was, “If you’re going to do this, get off your backside and do it.” My husband and I just dug up our front yard because with the watering restrictions we have in Canberra we had no grass, so I went up to the local gardening shop.

This guy has been my gardener for 15 years, so off I go. It wasn’t really in my mind to talk to him about his business or Internet marketing or anything like that. It just happened that during the conversation I asked him, “Do you have a website?” He said, “Well, no, I don’t, but I’ve been really thinking about getting one. I had one before. It was really terrible and I didn’t have time to maintain it.”

Before I knew it, something like 30 or 40 minutes later, he’s still talking to me about getting a website but he said,

The digital marketing consultant space is crowded with me-too competitors who look and sound alike. If you're the fifth SEO guy who has contacted Mr Generic Business Owner this week what are the chances he's going to be excited to talk to you? NONE.

This is why the riches are in the niches!

This episode we look at how to become a big fish in a small pond and leverage your unique strengths to build a profitable consulting business.

In this episode:

* The industry trends that led me to proclaim: Specialise or Die!

* The 3 ways to specialise and where I've seen the most success stories come from.

* 6 of my personal market criteria for finding high value clients.

* How to come up with hundreds of potential niches most consultants have never thought about. (Don't be the 10,000th guy trying to crack the dental market.)

* How I use "market" and "offer" based approaches to developing niche packages that sell.

* Three real life examples of how my coaching clients and workshop attendees have taken this advice and built mid six figure consulting businesses.

And much more!

 

This week on the Consulting Tycoon Podcast I'm talking about strategies to help you start charging premium prices starting today.

Your pricing can make or break your business and most people are coming in waaaaaay too low. Let's reset your pricing thermometer and learn how to set your fees based on the value you provide.

In this episode:

* The most common pricing mistakes consultants make.

* How your confidence impacts the fees people will pay you. (And a simple strategy that took me from shy introvert to powerful confidence in a few short weeks.)

* The different aspects of value-based pricing and why you are worth much more than you might think!

* Why the product/price link is the most dangerous idea in your head when it comes to charging higher fees.

* The secret of ABS and why I believe this is the key difference between natural sales people and those who need coaching in this area.

* 4 simple strategies to raise your prices today without risking your current business or clients.

And much more!

 

In a brand new episode of the Consulting Tycoon Podcast I'm talking about how to break the feast or famine cycle.

This is a common trap many consultants find themselves stuck in. And if you're not careful it can cripple your business and kill any momentum you might otherwise have gained.

In this episode:

* Why the feast or famine cycle happens in the first place

* The crippling implications that cause all sorts of other problems you might not even be aware of

* How a simple change in how you position and sell your services can largely overcome this cycle

* How to productise your offering to become more efficient at working with clients

* The daily habit I learned from Jerry Seinfeld that always gets my business cranking along

* How to use the "three circles" to figure out exactly who you should be selling to for maximum profit, retention, and enjoyment

And much more!