Can you use work from your 9-5 job in your coaching business? A.K.A. “Work for hire”

I begin this post with the following disclaimer:  I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY!

THIS POST IS A PLEA FOR YOU TO CONSULT WITH AN ATTORNEY IF YOU SUSPECT THIS SITUATION APPLIES TO YOU.

Recently, I had a client tell me she planned to open a coaching business which was VERY closely related to her current 9-5 job.  Her plans included using resources she created as an employee of a company for her own business.  She naturally assumed that since SHE had created these resources, they were hers to use as she wished.  All I could think of was Steve Donner and Eudora.

I first became aware of the "work for hire" legal term when I heard the story of Steve Bonner, the creator of the email software program Eudora.

Mark Andreessen, the University of Illinois undergraduate who conceived Mosaic at the same time Dorner was working on Eudora, went on to develop the Netscape Navigator and became a multimillionaire at age 24 when the Netscape Communications Corporation went public. There was no such Cinderella story for Dorner. He left the university staff in 1992, only because he wanted to keep working on Eudora.

Qualcomm Inc., a communications company based in San Diego, signed licensing agreements with the university for the development rights to Eudora and later for the trademark, paying a sum a university official described as "not huge — more than $100,000 and less than $1 million." Dorner became a principal engineer at Qualcomm, working mostly on Eudora. But he did not get a cent in royalties, because the inventions of Eudora and PH were considered work-for-hire by the university.

Basically, work for hire means that when a programmer at Microsoft creates code for a Microsoft Product, Microsoft (not the employee) is the legally recognized owner of the work. 

If you are employed full time when you launch your coaching business, make certain to consult with an attorney.  Bring any documents you signed when you were hired at your current job.   It’s important to note whether you were classified an "independent contractor" or not. 

You’ll also want to be aware of this legal term if your clients include companies rather than individuals.  Check with your attorney to make sure the training program you developed for a client still belongs to you!

 

 

Posted by | Filed Under Building Your Business | Comments Off 

HTML Web Site vs Blog

I’ve been building HTML web sites for more than a decade now.  I’ve literally done HUNDREDS, many for coaching professionals.   Here’s what typically happens with a small (under 100 page) web site:

We usually spend 12 -16  weeks building an HTML web site.  Most of this time is spent nailing down content issues.

The first task in creating an HTML web site is to choose a look. 

We can either create a template OR select one from a service like Template Monster.  (If you want a ball park figure on what to expect on design fees, check out the "exclusive" option.  Remember, this is the price for a design that you’ve had NO input into.  Expect that fee to double when you add in your revisions or changes to the design along the way.)

Then, once we’ve selected a look for the site, we then have to create each and every page that will appear on the web site. 

Gathering content is the most time consuming part of the process.  See, the site has to be laid out in advance.  We have to create a structure and then plug in the elements.  If you’re planning on adding a "section" later… well, we have to build that in up front, otherwise it’s a nightmare to add and update.  (Ever see those sites with the "under construction" pages… that’s why those are there.)

After we construct this very "rigid" structure, we then go through and create the content.  We try to focus on what keywords visitors will use to find our site.  We write articles and create HTML pages.  Those pages MUST be coded correctly so the search engines will be able to read them and index the content.  (Remember, we had to plan all of this in advance: the keywords, the articles, the site structure.)   That means making changes in the actual HTML code… which is something easy to use HTML Editors like Microsoft Front Page do not do well at all.

Finally, we go over everything with a fine toothed comb to find typos and other minor mistakes and then we launch the site.

Then, we sit and wait.

Now, if you’re wanting your web site to function as a virtual brochure, you don’t have to worry.  You’re going to launch your marketing campaign where your goal is to drive interested parties to your virtual brochure.  Just as you don’t expect a paper brochure to run down the street and chase down potential customers, your virtual brochure won’t do that either. 

So you begin promoting your business. 

 

  • You purchase advertising time in the newspaper, on the radio, on television, in the movie theaters. 
  • You write articles and get interviewed by anyone and everyone you can. 
  • You get booked to speak where ever/when ever you can.
  • You join networking groups and pass out your card.
  • You talk to people EVERY WHERE about what you do.

Every time you promote your business, you want to be sure to list the URL (domain name) of your web site. If you’ve created your web site "correctly", there will be a newsletter sign up with a legal bribe so once people arrive at your virtual brochure, you will collect their contact info so you can stay in touch.

However, most coaching professionals want their web site to do MORE for their business than just act as a virtual brochure.  They want their web site to act as an ATTRACTION TOOL…. attracting interested parties in their practice.  So, as they engage in the activities above to launch their practice, they must begin playing the waiting game as they wait for their web site to "grow" into something more.

THE WAITING GAME:

  • We wait for the search engines… depending upon the focus of your site, you may wait for 12 months or more for the search engines to even RECOGNIZE your site exists.
  • We wait for visitors to come.
  • We wait for other web sites to link to ours.  Some people go out and try to negotiate reciprocal links… others will actually purchase links from other sites.
  • And we wait.

We wait because the whole visitors/linking thing is a catch 22…. in order for visitors to find your web site in the search engines, you have to have a lot of sites linking IN to the content on your site.   If you’re a coach, that’s usually hard to accomplish because most coaches don’t DO HTML.  In order for them to link to a page on YOUR web site, they have to hire their web developer to create a link…. or even a whole page.  Did I mention that the sites linking IN to your site also need to be coaching sites?  Yeah….in order to return your web site in popular searches, you need to have lots of other sites linking in.  This "shows" the search engines how great your web site is and they respond by offering it as a resource when people do searches.

Like I said…. getting other coaches to link their web site to yours is a real chore because usually you have to PAY someone to do this for you.   The other "catch 22" is your site must be CODED CORRECTLY for ANY of this to work.  (I’ve done VERY well for myself going in and fixing other people’s coding mistakes.)

This is the way we USED to do the whole web thing.  I still will do it for you now, but I REALLY don’t recommend it.

Instead, I recommend a self hosted WordPress blog!

With the self hosted WordPress blog, you don’t have to have a rigid plan for your content.  WordPress allows you to ORGANIZE your content as you create it.  (SWEET!)

Find yourself heading in a new direction in your coaching practice?  If you’re using an HTML web site, it could mean an entire site redesign.  (I just got a request for one of those yesterday…. guess what I’m suggesting?  <grin>)  With a WordPress blog you can just create a new category and begin posting.  Need to change the "look" of the site?  Pick a new theme, I’ll install it and you’re off and running.

Best of all, the WordPress blog is easy to use.  You don’t HAVE to hire me to make changes to your site.  Want to link to another site?  EASY!  Want to insert a YouTube video in a post?  Also easy!  Want to create a new page on your web site?  EASY!  No prior planning required!

Sounds good, right?  It gets even better!!!

What makes it even better is THE SEARCH ENGINES LOVE BLOGS! 

  • They love the structure
  • They love the fresh content
  • They love the fact that bloggers link to each other… creating more inbound links which means the search engines ASSUME your blog is GREAT!  (Obviously it will be, but it’s nice when the search engines agree!)

Remember earlier when I talked about "correctly coding your site"… well, if you’re using an Easy Coaching Website WordPress self hosted blog, your site will be set up with everything the search engines love and more.

Now, there are other reasons coaching professionals should use blogs to market their business, but I’ll save that for another post.

Posted by | Filed Under Blogs As Marketing Tools | Comments Off 

Basics of Targeting your Market

Unfortunately, when it comes to marketing your coaching practice, one size marketing does NOT fit all!

Everything you do in online and offline marketing flows from not only who you are, but who your clients are!  From the content you feature on your blog (not to metion the design and usability) to the events and seminars you attend, to every other mode of advertising  you use to create your business….. there is nothing more important than understanding who your potential clients are and what’s important to them.

The Basics of understanding your clients begins with basic demogrpahic information.

  • Geography: Will your clients come from the local area? Are they grouped regionally, nationally, globally?
  • Cultural and Ethnic Considerations:  Does ethnicity affect their tastes or buying behaviors?  What language(s) do your potential clients speak?
  • Economic factors including income and/or purchasing power. The first question everyone wants to ask is "What is the average household income of your clients?"  However, a more important consideration is what is the disposable INCOME of your potential clients.  All coaches seem to want to target the individual who makes $100,000 a year or more, however a six figure income doesn’t necessarily translate into a lot of disposable income.  Financial advisors report it’s often easier to create a budget for a family making $40,000 a year than it is for families who make over $100,000 a year.  The reason?  The higher income families have a hard time distinguishing between "essentials" and "nice to haves".
  • Age and family structure: What is the age range of your potential clients? Are they married?  Do they have children?  How many children and of what age are in the family?
  • Values, attitudes, beliefs. What are the predominant values that your potential or target clients have in common? Are they already familiar with coaching?  How about self improvement?
  • Learning Styles: How do your potential clients learn new things?  Via the newspaper?  Via the internet?  Paul Harvey on the radio?

Once you have a better understanding of who your clients are, then you can get down to the work at hand: Promoting your Practice!

  • Talk to your existing clients.  Find out why they hired you in the first place.
  • Talk to existing clients about all the services you have to offer.  Are they satisfied with the work you are doing for them?

Make sure all is well with your current clients before you begin recruiting new ones.  Better to fix any flaws BEFORE you begin your marketing campaign.

Posted by | Filed Under Creating Your Marketing Message | Comments Off