Energize Growth Now: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Company

Implementation, not ideation, is the essence of entrepreneurship – Guy Kawasaki, Forward to Energize Growth Now: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Company.

Business is not built on ideas alone. In fact, many of us could be millionaires many times over just on our ideas. What separates the enthusiastic dreamer from the pack of successful entrepreneurs is acting on the initial idea and taking the idea successfully into the growth phase.

This is true even, especially for those of us that are a part of the inspiration economy as coaches.  Once we get comfortable with the message, method and promise we bring to a very specific market and begin to get hired by our clients – both individual & groups – we need to see beyond this start up stage and see where we are going from there. It’s important to get clear on what wealth and market success really mean to you.

I have been reading the book Energize Growth Now: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Comany which is written for a broader market of small business owners, rather than the narrow micro-niche of a coaching business. However, there are several key perspectives that I really like and believe are absolutely relevant to building your coaching business.

The author, Lisa Nirell, has identified 11 planning steps that are key to keeping your business energized for growth in all phases. There are two key principles from the book identified in the foreword by Guy Kawasaki that really stood out to me as it relates to the coaching business:

• You cannot serve everyone. Don’t even try. Avoid distractions and use this field guide (Lisa’s book) to help you focus.
• You can only do so much to position your products and services, so come to grips with the fact that you are not in total control of your positioning. It’s okay to position what you offer in a certain way, but ultimately the customers (or clients) will do it for you. Use the practical positioning tools in this book  to get you started and then see how the customer reacts.

I see these two principles as the most important principles as you develop your coaching message. Everything else will be much more successful when you get a handle on these.

This book just has so many good meaty parts to it. It’s not necessarily a book that a coach would pick up but it is filled with foundational principles that will start you out on the right path for growth and will keep you growing.

One of the things is that she asks her readers to look at marketing differently – rather than like a faucet to turn on every time your business needs a boost – make it an integral part of your over all business operation – part of your everyday routine.  And I would add to this – get over your fear of marketing! Face it and create a marketing plan that you can do. That is the only way you will really stay in (a profitable) business.

At the end of each of the chapter that explains each of the 11 planning steps this Lisa Nirell’s method is based on she has an “Energy Booster” – Let me give you a peek into why I think this book is perfect for coaches building their business:

Energy Booster 1 – What market changes & internal limitations post the biggest threats to your growth plan?

Energy Booster 2 – What steps can we take now to minimize the top limiting beliefs in our company (or in your coaching career)?

Energy Booster 3 – What shiny pennies are distracting us from our potential?

Energy Booster 4 – How do we rate our company’s current Wealth Quotient, and which of the seven areas need the most improvement (Wealth Quotient – think socially responsible business – doing business for the greater good of our world)

Energy Booster 5 – What industry, competitive, market and client information are we lacking and how will we find it?

Energy Booster 6 – What percentage of our team can clearly explain our vision, values and elevator statement on the fly? (if you’re a solo coach – can you do this compelling and with clarity?)

Energy Booster 7 – What stage of growth are we experiencing, and what can we do to scale the next wall? (Do you know what the stages of growth are for the coaching industry and what stage you’re in? Maybe you’re attempting to leap over a wall you’re not ready to scale – but you’re succeeding in a growth are you haven’t recognized.)

Energy Booster 8 – What success measures really count, and how will we track them? (no, you cannot ignore this one, well not if you want to grow your business).

Energy Booster 9 – What is our brand promise – and how can we fulfill that promise even more consistently? (yes, even you, a coach – no especially you a coach, needs a brand promise.)

Energy Booster 10 – What can we do to immediately to expand our perception of our value and attract clients who will pay us commensurate with that value? (in other words, more revenues, fewer clients, less trading time for dollars.)

In my opinion this is one of the most difficult topics for many coaches to wrap their minds around. The whole package – that coaching is a business and businesses require integrated marketing, understanding of the marketplace, and what competes for their dollars (not necessarily other coaches); and developing an attractive brand image with a powerful promise that demands a premium price because of it’s extreme value.

Lisa Nirell’s book Energize Growth Now: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Company lays out a framework to build on for taking your coaching business through the appropriate stages of growth – setting you free to celebrate success at every stage, because you recognize each stage and have a plan to take you to the next.

• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (June 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470413921
• ISBN-13: 978-0470413920
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches

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