In the past week, two different people have asked me why I don’t use my blog or newsletter to promote my business or try to get leads.
The answer is simple: I don’t want to. But here’s why.
1) It doesn’t work.
Not in my line of business.
Coaching is about building relationships with people through fun and powerful conversations. This is all done by reaching out, getting curious, and diving deep with individuals…not by sending a mass call to action and impersonally asking people to come to you.
Scenario 1: Someone you went to high school with posts the link to their website in a Facebook status telling everyone they’re giving free coaching sessions.
Scenario 2: Someone you went to high school with messages you asking how you’re doing. You hop on an hour-long call with them and share stories of what you both have been up to for the past decade. You discuss how you both have grown and the direction you’d like to head toward. You hear them talk about their coaching business and how passionate they are about helping people. Maybe at some point they invite you to a coaching session as a gift to see if they can help you too.
Which of these is more likely to lead to you sitting down and doing a session?
You might be thinking: neither. That’s normal. Most people don’t know what life coaching is. They’re afraid of being open and exploring vulnerabilities with someone they barely knew in high school.
But some people are totally down. So if they are, we schedule a call and explore what’s possible in their lives. But this only happens after the proper time has been taken to build that connection.
Here’s the catch…there is no catch. I love connecting with, reconnecting with, and learning more about people. So no matter what, I win. If we have a lovely hour-long chat about what they’re up to, I invite them to a coaching session, and they say no thanks, I still got everything I was hoping for.
I’m not here to “close” clients, hit my numbers, or get any sort of result. I’m here to have as many fun and powerful conversations as I possibly can. If a conversation leads to a paying client, cool! If not, cool!
Which brings me to the main reason I don’t promote my business on my blog or newsletter…
2) I do this shit because I enjoy it.
Each and every morning, I sit down and type a short blog and hit Publish. And every Thursday, I build my newsletter for Friday morning.
It’s therapeutic. It develops my skills as a writer, thinker, and content creator. And above all, it’s fun.
I love sharing my thoughts with close friends, acquaintances, and strangers alike. I’m honored that they would spend even 60 seconds reading what I have to say.
On the other side of the coin, I’ve had several fruitful conversations stem from people disagreeing with something I’ve posted. When 600 people read something you write, they’re going to have some thoughts about it.
Anyway, if my focus for this stuff was results-oriented: leads, subscribers, followers, etc…I’d burn out in a week.
I have no interest in mixing the thing I do purely out of love and joy with business goals and targets. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing…it’s just not my bag of wine.
From my limited experience in creating content and publishing it, the major piece of advice I give people is this:
If you’re going to create content, make sure you love doing it first…because if you don’t—if you’re solely doing it for a result—those early days where nobody’s interested will destroy your soul.
Feed your soul instead. Create shit because you love it.