You’re a connector and love introducing people to each other. It can be a wonderful (sometimes career-changing) effect when it’s the right match! Yet, when it’s the wrong match — unfortunately much of the time — by being the connector, you just added a burden to them. Now they’re in an awkward position you’ve forced them into, where one person, if they don’t want to connect, will come across as unfriendly or unapproachable. I’m about to launch a podcast. My audience suggested the playful name of “Business Tao with George Kao”. Some were concerned that the podcast name might be cultural/religious appropriation. (Nevermind that I’m Chinese, and can pronounce Tao te Ching more accurately than most Western Taoist scholars, and that Taoism is characteristically unattached from definitions and who gets credit for what…) Still, the question inspired me to dive back into studying Taoist philosophical principles. In this post, I’ll briefly share how a few such principles might apply to Authentic Business.
When you’re still aiming to get your first 50 (or 100) clients, maybe all you need is a one-page website. Truly.
Most of your clients are going to come from word-of-mouth anyway. So why are you working so hard to build a fancy website that takes you more than a few hours to do? Let me share with you an example of a one-page website that I just came across…
A client asked me to write up a roadmap to a kind of “four-hour workweek” for authentic business…
The best I can come up with is an 8-hour workweek. It’s more realistic, yet still minimal. Imagine: just 2 hours of work, 4 days a week. Quite a luxury, especially in these economic times! Of course, it all depends on how much income you’re aiming for, and your current stage of business. “From 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 ‘the pain of my client’ 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 don’t act now, you’ll suffer dire consequences). The idea behind this is ‘The bigger the pain, the quicker the client will buy from you.’” — anonymous newsletter subscriber. Sadly, this kind of mercenary marketing advice is too common. |
George Kao is a Marketing Coach for small business owners, especially solopreneurs such as Coaches and Mentors. He focuses on ethical & effective ways to grow one's platform and build true livelihood.
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