When I first left my tech career, having served in CEO and Chief Revenue Officer roles, I knew I had a pretty good gift for sales. As I started my executive coaching, facilitation and consulting business I realized that selling a product or an idea was a bit different than it was to sell…me.
I launched this business with substantial help from referral partners, including the folks at Conscious.is and a favorite collaborator, Kaley Klemp. I felt good about my “close rate” for work they referred to me (Kaley also does a great job of teeing up referrals, not easy given how badly people most want to work with her). I paid a referral fee on all of that inbound business, delivering a decent source of passive income to my referrers and creating a pretty virtuous cycle.
It’s been ten years now, and I feel secure in saying that I’ve become pretty good at selling my work. I now refer out a considerable amount of business to my partners under similar arrangements. I’m good at selling them too. I have a very specific way of being in the world, and I like being able to make matches for people who might want something different.
Sales for me feels effortless. It’s fun and energizing. I sell authentically. I work for win-for-all arrangements. I am selective. I create new things that I market like the Coaching Certification for Business Leaders. Those things mostly work, and I fail fast when they don’t.
Recently I’ve had a number of conversations about sales with other solopreneurs running businesses in which they are the product. I’m transparent in these chats. They say I add value.
So now I want to offer that to you or people you know and love.
On May 4, 2023, from 2pm to 5pm Mountain Time, I am going to run a hybrid session (Boulder and Zoom) on “Suemanship:” selling business services that revolve around you and building a solopreneur business that makes life feel abundant. I didn’t create this name. A friend calls my form of selling “Suemanship.” It delights me.
During this chat, I will tell you things I’ve learned about selling both my services and the programs I’ve built. I will be transparent, using real numbers so you get a feel for what’s possible. I will be wide open to any direct and “selfish” questions you have for me; if they help you, they’ll help everyone.
My dear friend and the ideator for this thing, Leah Pearlman, is going to emcee and facilitate this session. It will feel chill and relaxed, akin to the “Booth” events I used to run.
What’s the catch, you wonder?
No catch. This just sounds fun. IF you end up feeling like you closed a future sale leveraging anything you learned in this session, I’ll happily take a one-time 20% referral fee on the honor system. I won’t keep track or ever ask. No mailing list. No upsells. I just want to try this and see if it feels enlivening to me.
What is important:
- You must be awesome at what you do. Nothing I share will be useful to you if you are average. It doesn’t matter what you do. If you are a birthday party clown, you need to be one of the best clowns in Stamford. How do you know you’re an awesome clown? First, people to whom you’re not related say it. Second, you get word of mouth inquiries. Third, you have those really giant shoes. That’s imperative.
- You must have a website that currently markets the thing you do. If you don’t have this, you ought to explain why in your application (e.g, I am at McKinsey & Company now, but I’ve taken these three concrete steps to launch my own thing, and this session will get me even closer to my dream).
- You must have a strong LinkedIn profile.
- You want to make more money doing what you’re doing, either doing your thing at higher rates or doing your thing for more interesting people.
- You cannot have a poverty consciousness. If you’re committed to being challenged around money, if you have a ton of negative judgments about people who are successful financially, this is not a fit for you.
To apply, please complete this 5-minute application. If I know you, don’t get too detailed. If you take the action of applying, please plan to come, as you’ll be holding a seat (I know when people don’t pay for things, they are less likely to show up. If this is you, don’t say yes, or say yes, pay me for it in some amount that’s meaningful to you and I’ll give it back when you show up).
Can’t wait to be with you!
