Join Best-selling Author Suzanne Falter-Barns

Attract Big Media

ICF-NYC Monthly Meeting: Wednesday, February 18, 200
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Presenter: Suzanne Falter-Barns, best-selling author, infopreneur and business guru.

Join best-selling author Suzanne Falter-Barns, and learn what coaches just like you did to attract calls from some of the biggest media available today. Recent studies show that 79% of all major media find their resources and story ideas from blogs and the Internet. This is what media and publishing pundits call "Platform," and it's critical to attract and impress key decision makers.

Platform also allows you to build your national audience and spread your message further, so it's an important part of any serious coaching business. But your web presence must have instant credibility and the ability to stand out from the crowded pack. You will walk away from this dynamic presentation knowing how to:

• Gain a strong sense of what's missing in your current platform and get a firmer hold on what it should be.
• Probe issues of branding.
• Find a more powerful niche.
• Consider what a unique selling proposition might be.

Suzanne Falter-Barns is the author of the creativity classic, "How Much Joy Can You Stand?" Her second book, "Living Your Joy," was named one of the top nine self-help books in print by Self Magazine. She's also been featured in more than 100 TV and radio programs.

Location: The Support Center For Non-Profit Management, 305 Seventh Avenue, 11th floor (between 27th & 28th Streets) in Manhattan

Cost: Save $5 by registering online in advance. Online registration will be disabled 24 hours prior to the event.

Advance registration: ICF (any chapter) members $10; non-members $20

At the door: $15 ICF members; $25 nonmembers

For questions only: Contact Laurie Lawson, ICF-NYC vice-president, at laurie@eljnyc.com

Member Registration - $10
NonMember Registration - $20

All online sales are FINAL. No refunds. No exchanges.

Health & Wellness Professional Network

The coach and consultant networking world is just full of wonderful surprises and gems. I recently met a lovely independent consultant, Shannon Sodano, and from her I learned of the New Jersey-based organization - Health and Wellness Professional Network, a network specifically devoted to the health and wellness community. It is a community of practitioners, business owners and volunteers that helps people succeed in their respective endeavors by promoting a healthy mind, body and spirit. They join forces to expand your wellness options, to educate your clients and communities and so that you can educate each other.

Please email Risa Olinsky or call 973.761.5758 to learn more about HWPN.

BNI - The World's Largest Referral Organization

I attended a BNI meeting (Group 6); it was a great experience. I was merely subbing for a friend who could not attend, and I left the meeting with two very promising leads. Everyone was warm and friendly, but I noticed something very peculiar, however. I was one of only three women in a group of 25 or more men. Now I know from having attended other BNI chapters that that is not par for the course. Nevertheless, this was the case for this particular chapter, a chapter which seemed so welcoming to me and the other two women there.

So, I am writing to say this to the businesswomen of New York: If I were you, I would take advantage of this chance to join a group of fine, no-nonsense business people, who all seem to be having great success helping each other find leads and referrals, and, equally important – the icing on the cake - who are very receptive to the idea of increasing their female membership.

BNI - Group 6 meets each Wednesday at 7:00 a.m. at the Williams Club, 24 East 39th Street, New York, New York 10016. For more details, please contact Shaun Smith by phone at (646) 862-1710 or contact BNI by email at tcymbol@manhattanbni.com

Small Business Advice on 3 Ways to Grow Your Business

By Allison Babb

It probably goes without saying that all self-employed people want to grow their small businesses as quickly as possible. Solo entrepreneurs, in particular, can find this to be quite a challenge. Perhaps it’s because we’re often wearing many hats and juggling many responsibilities. Growth can seem slower and harder to achieve at times.

When you're self employed it's important to understand how growth happens in a small business so that you're not spinning your wheels. Growing your small business typically means growing the bottom line. You reach others with your product service which then produces growth for your business. So how do you get to growth? Well there are many ways, but here are 3 to consider:

Attract more customers: Yes, I know, you're thinking "well duh Allison". :-) Everyone knows they can use more customers, but too often we limit ourselves to 2 options: "word of mouth" and "networking." These are great ways to get the word out but there are countless other ways to market our businesses as well. We simply need to invest in our own learning and growth to discover more options.

I discovered countless marketing options by reading books like "The Ultimate Marketing Plan" and "Guerilla Marketing" and, of course, quizzing my coaches and mentors on what options exist for me. I now have well over a dozen different ways in which I market my business offline and online. If business growth is your goal, having only one or two marketing options is rarely enough to get the volume of customers you want.

Increase your prices: Now that’s one way to grow your bottom line, right? But seriously, can I share a secret with you? Most self-employed people undercharge for their products and services. Why? It's largely mindset as far as I can tell - we often don't believe anyone would pay us higher prices. Internally, we don’t think we’re worth it. So we undercharge. There are so many talented entrepreneurs out there who deliver tremendous value and deserve to be paid for the results they create for others.

With the economic downturn, we’re tempted to cut our prices to attract more clients. But quite honestly, people don't typically buy based solely on price (unless you're competing with Walmart-type goods and services.) People buy based on the value and results you deliver. Price your services based on the results you help people achieve. It may be time to amp up your value and increase your prices. Now I don't mean to overprice but truly take a look at the results you deliver in your business and see if it may be time to adjust your pricing based on what you help others accomplish. Your talent is probably worth way more than you think.

Create repeat business: Our customers return when there's something valuable to come back to. One thing to note is that a lot of self-employed people have just one or two things to sell. That's probably not enough options to create repeat business.

When you offer more options, you increase the opportunities for people to buy. Some of your customers will want your lower-end products/services while others will want your top end offerings. It may be time to add some offerings based on what your customers are asking about or what they're saying they want more of. And if it’s been a while since you asked your customers what they want, this may be a great way to start the New Year.


Allison Babb is an author, speaker and Small Business Coach to solo entrepreneurs. Get FREE weekly advice on how to create a steady stream of clients for your small business at: http://www.greatsmallbusinessadvice.com/

Life Coach TV

Created and produced by Marianna Lead, Ph.D.



Life Coach TV is a popular prime time live cable TV show in Manhattan which promotes the field of coaching. The show airs in Manhattan on Monday nights at 8:00pm on the following channels:
Time Warner Cable TV channel 56
RCN channel 84
Digital channel 111 without Cable Box on channel 17
You can also view it on the Internet at: http://www.mnn.org/.
Get more information and view past episodes on Dr. Lead's blog.
For more information, or to become a guest coach on Life Coach TV, please contact the show's creator, Dr. Marianna Lead, at drlead@drlead.com.



You may also contact her co-hosts, Laurie Lawson at laurie@eljnyc.com and Bonnie Gurwicz at bonniesgurwicz@aol.com.

Free Audio Workshop Download

The Real Secret to Attracting Coaching/Consulting Clients

As a coach or consultant, you want to make sure your target audience knows that you are the better choice when they compare you to other coaches in your niche market. In this brief audio workshop, you learn the 7 steps that you need to take to assure that that happens.

The Real Secret to Attracting More Clients - I.mp3

Get More Clients; Get Better Clients; Keep Your Clients Longer: A Workshop for New York Coaches

Wednesday, January 21, 2009; 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Presenter: Sandy Schussel, Founder of Brass Ring Coaching, Author, Speaker



Sandy Schussel, dubbed by one of his clients as the "More Clients Coach," will share ideas with coaches who want to stop struggling and start ATTRACTING the quantity and quality of clients they want.

Attendees will learn how to:
-Brand" your practice, so you have virtually no competition
-Tell people what you do in a compelling way
-Create a simple Client Attraction Plan
-Overcome your fear of "S&M" (Sales and Marketing)
-Approach the development of your practice from four different directions
-Compel a prospective client to move from interest to action

Everything Sandy teaches is ethical, professional...and it works!

Sandy provides attendees with a workbook and a copy of one of his recently published books.

The author of the acclaimed book on overcoming fear, "The High Diving Board: How To Overcome Your Fears To Live Your Dreams," Sandy recently co-authored "Success and Happiness: Experts Reveal Their Secrets." He writes a weekly motivational and skill building e-zine for professionals that can be accessed through his website at www.brassringcoaching.com.

Cost: Save $5 by registering online in advance. Online registration will be disabled 24 hours prior to any event.

Advance registration: ICF (any chapter) members $10; non-members $20

At the door: $15 ICF members; $25 nonmembers

For questions only: Contact Laurie Lawson, ICF-NYC vice-president, at laurie@eljnyc.com

Member Registration - $10
NonMember Registration - $20

All online sales are FINAL. No refunds. No exchanges.

Location: The Support Center For Non-Profit Management, 305 Seventh Avenue, 11th floor (between 27th & 28th Streets) in Manhattan

Happy New Year!