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Welcome to make more money without selling your soul with me Polly Lavarello, evergreen marketing expert. This podcast is for you if you are an online entrepreneur who is looking to simplify their business to scale. On this podcast you can expect to hear regular talk about wealth, about selling and about wellbeing. Because I believe these three core fundamental things are pivotal to your growth moving forward. 

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Welcome, cushy firm to make more money without selling your soul, I am Polly Lavarello, Evergreen marketing expert and cushy business pioneer. And I am so happy that you are here and that I am in your ears this morning, this afternoon this evening, wherever you happen to be. It’s an honour as always, today, I want to talk to you about what your group coaching program should be. Now why is this an important subject? Well, what I find to be the case is you’re either into categories, you’re either in the category of I know my expertise, I have a kind of booked out one to one clinic people know me as a fertility expert and autism expert psychologist who supports people around whatever it I mean, you know, there may it may be that it’s really clearly defined who you are and what you do, what problem you solve, let’s put it that way, which makes creating a group program really, really easy. On top of that, you probably have a particular framework you already use. Even if you haven’t given it a names, there’s probably some kind of common elements to how you look after all your one to one clients, which makes creating a group program, a walk in the park. But Category Two is actually very similar to me in that when I decided to launch my first group coaching program, I wasn’t really sure what to do. Because on the one hand, I had 10 years of digital marketing experience supporting startups supporting with branding, supporting with marketing, supporting with messaging supporting with positioning, I mean so many things. But two years prior to launching my first group coaching program, I had started offering Facebook advertising services as a service. So everybody knew me as at that stage as a Facebook Ads Manager. So the expertise people trusted me for was around Facebook ads. However, I knew in my soul and in my heart that the area that really lit me up was around offer creation was about was around messaging was around positioning was around scaling. But I really love supporting people to create scalable assets, and messaging that is potent enough that those offers sell like hotcakes. That was my passion. But I also knew it’s very hard to sell a group coaching program that people don’t trust that you’re a brand authority on. So I had those kind of things flying around my head, it was like I’m about to create something brand new. And this is going to be a new direction for my business. I know it’s not going to entirely take off overnight, because these things really do. So I need to be committed to this, this needs to feel meaningful. And at the same time, let’s not make things outrageously challenging for myself by doing something that people don’t associate me with. So that was my challenge. When I first created my first group coaching program, which I have to say was called leads on demand. It was only 497 Give me believe for 12 weeks, which I then extended to 16. And I had my first 10k launch I was over the bloody moon. Not gonna lie, I was delighted. But I really want to talk about this because one I’ve just created very recently, the cushy CEO roadmap, which by the way, if you’d already downloaded this recently, let’s say prior to January the 30th, it has just been updated and it’s a million times better. And today I’m going to share with you an exercise inside it and by this it’s an entirely free resource. So check out the link in bio if you want to download it and do this exercise alongside listening to me I highly recommend and of course if you’re following me on social media are very welcome to message me the word roadmap and you will be looked after buy one of my little bots who will deliver you this exercise as well. It’s inside the cushy SEO roadmap and it’s under phase one the cupcake. Don’t worry if you don’t understand the cake reference. It will all make sense when you download the Kisha SEO roadmap, but it breaks down. I’m going to share an exercise it’s going to help you understand if you’ve got a lot of different strength, your strengths that you could be wrapping up and selling as a group program. Let’s have a look at what the evidence is as to what it is that you should create that’s going to sell Okay, and I want to speak to this because one of the exercises people often give you to help you understand what your group coaching programs should be around are things like Avatar exercises where you get clear on who your ideal client is, what do they want? What are they reading? Where are they hanging out, market research exercises, which helps you understand where there is demand, how that demand is being described, what the opportunities are. But there’s often another piece that’s really regularly overlooked. And that’s the exercise I’m going to be sharing with you today. Because what I often see happening for clients in my world is when they get to cerebral, when they get to kind of in their heads about the solution they decide to deliver, they get really overwhelmed. And so this is an exercise that’s that’s designed to connect you back to yourself to ground yourself, and actually work with the data you already have. Now, I should caveat this and say that if you have minimal experience working one to one, then this exercise will not be very helpful to you. And I will also say if you have minimal experience working one to one, I’d also highly encourage you to get more experience working with your clients one to one, before you decide to create a group coaching program because the magic of a group coaching program is taking your unique skills and knowledge and experience your unique way of delivering and supporting people with that, and delivering it in a way that’s entirely unique. And by the way to be clear, before I share this exercise with you, I just want to be clear that I’m not Pooh poohing market research exercises or avatar exercises, they play a really important role in this. And like I say, if you find yourself getting overwhelmed, then here are some really, really valuable questions to help you get an understanding as to what makes working with unique. Now I often find when I asked my clients like what are your unique values, I’ll say things like I like connection. I like love. I like peace. I like jelly babies. And that’s not necessarily what draws a client to working with you. And what I find often is actually more helpful is them thinking more about who is it that they love to work with, because often it’s very mutual, often it’s hugely reciprocal. So when we think about the clients you have loved working with the most. Now, before I elaborate on this, I want to be really clear here, I’m not talking about all the clients you’ve worked with. And if you’ve only had one client that has been totally dreamy to work with, just think about that one client, okay. Or if you’ve never experienced working with a totally dreamy client, I would love you to take a moment and pull out this gorgeous exercise. Like I say, you can either send the word roadmap to me as a DM, or click the link in the show notes below this episode, or just pull out a journal and write down who was or were the clients I have loved to work with. And I’d love you to elaborate on that. And you may want to be pausing me if you if you want me to be working alongside you, because I’m gonna go through these relatively quickly for the sake of not having you listen to an hour long episode, because this is how long this exercise could take, by the way. And one of the things I highly recommend to all my clients, when they answer these kind of questions is get stuck in, do not be afraid to spend time on this because the clearer you are on this. And the easier it is for you to do your marketing like a million times easier. If you’re the kind of person who procrastinate and gets overwhelmed by what social content you should be sharing. It’s because you’ve not gone deep enough on this kind of work first. This is a non negotiable you need to do this work. And if you don’t do it, it’s going to show in lack of sales, it’s going to show and lack of activating content, you need to know who you’re speaking to. 

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And when we’re focusing on your ideal client, your messaging is going to have so much more potency. Okay, so what drew that ideal client to work with you? What what drew them to working with you? Is it your refreshing take on the industry that you’re in? Is it a certain way that you come across? Are you really relatable? Are you the opposite of relatable? Are you this like refreshing antidote in a sea of shallow promises? Who are you to them? What drew them to you? Is there something about you know, you soft and nurturing? Are you hard and honest, like think about what it is? And potentially think about what if you can’t think of it immediately. And of course, please do not be afraid to ask them. If you’re not already asking questions like What drew you to working with me? Please start making it a standard when someone inquires about working with you, because the answers will be gold. But another thing that will also help you think about what drew them to working with you is what character traits do you have in common with that particular type of client? What values do you share? And then think about potentially other ideal clients you’ve worked with and see if that’s the same for them to see there is gold in this, there are amazing clues that are going to help you get clear on how to attract more of the same. Now really importantly, when we think about what your group program is going to be about, what problem did you solve for them? How would they describe that problem? It’s not how you describe it, because you’ve got that elevated knowledge? What level of awareness did they bring into this? You may know, for example, that you support them to create like an incredible brand that stands out from all the other noise. But for them, would they describe it as they’re finally making more sales and wasting less time procrastinating over what to post? Think about it in their language? Because again, you’ll be then able to create activating content that has people saying, How can I come and work with you and be able to describe the problem you solve is fundamental. And one of the biggest things that stands in the way of people making sales is speaking too much from their own perspective, and not from their ideal clients, or speaking to somebody who is not their ideal client. And potentially somebody who doesn’t have a level of awareness or is really early on are really rooted in their pain. And then they’re attracting totally the wrong kinds of inquiries. So do speak to your most empowered, amazing to work with client as possible. And what did you love about working with them? What was special about working with them? I would love for you to get clear on that. Is it that they always showed up on time? Is it that they were always an implementer? Is it that they had a really positive attitude? Is it that they were able to self coach themselves and pick themselves up easily? Is it that they came to you really enthusiastically with questions? Is it you know, what is it about them? Is it that they were super laid back super grounded? Was it the fact that they were high energy like you? Was it that they had you know, what is it about them? That really attracted you to working with them? And what about your values? What did they love about you? Did they ever say things like, Oh, I love how accessible you’ve made your program. I love how diverse your panel is, I love how you know, is there elements about how are your values coming through in your business? And where are people showing appreciation for that? I’m not saying you should ever change any of these values, of course. But what I’m saying is, it’s useful to know that because that says something about them as well, what I mean, speaking of which, what about their values Did you love about them? Because obviously the things that we show through our business, because I always talk about values. And I say it’s not a thing to tell what your values are, you show them through the choices you make in your business, you show them through who you hire, you show them through who you invite on panels, you show them through how you invite people into your world. Like if you care about certain things, it’s not enough just to say it or put it in a post for engagement, you need to demonstrate it through how you run your business from, from the emails you send to your contractors, to the invitations you make to your clients, like there should be cohesiveness and how your values trickle throughout your brand. So I’d love you to write those answers down. Now sometimes, people have had more experience with the clients they really really dislike working with. And I’m not saying this to be harsh. I’ve been there, I’ve been that I was a service provider who wasn’t clear enough on communication. So I left too much to chance, which meant really assertive coaches were telling me exactly how they wanted me to run their ads. Rather than me confidently communicating how I run out and the process they needed to put themselves into. There was a lot of really steep learning curves. That happened to me early on in business down to my lack of experience, essentially. So don’t feel bad if you are in a similar predicament because I went from being that flimsily boundaried service provider to a very successful group coaching host because you know what, I was suddenly working in my zone of genius, and I tied it up all those other parts moving on from that, in fact, having a successful group coaching program enabled me to feel way more confident being boundaried with the clients I work with being picky with the Facebook ad clients I work with because I knew I was also I had another means of making money. So I didn’t just need to say yes to everyone that came my way which you know, I know everyone says you should do that. But hey, I was a single mom I had bills to pay. So it was very hard to not do that until I knew I had another way to generate revenue for my business. Okay, so let’s think about your worst clients who were they? What drew them to working with you where they you know, a lot of the time I found with my worst fit clients, I was their final hope they came to me because nothing else was working. And they hoped that confident looking Polly, who’s had amazing results for other clients were just sprinkle her magic on their business. And that didn’t necessarily always end well. Because ultimately the thing that was causing Ma’am to not be successful before was still there even with me there. So, so yeah. So we order them to working with you if like I say, if you were the final never ever get energy never ends up well, what problem did you solve for them? And what problem did you struggle to solve for them that’s really important to be aware of, it’s really beautiful to be able to competently communicate. If this is you, please do not apply to work with me. I am not your person. Like you say no, if you’ve got, you know, like those business owners I worked with who I struggled with were the ones who totally lacked infrastructure, barely had a team to speak of didn’t really understand funnels didn’t really understand marketing. And so needless to say, they didn’t do very well with Facebook ads. What felt yuck about working with them? How was it that they communicated with you that you didn’t like, how was it that they implemented that you didn’t like or didn’t implement? What about their values? Did they not love about you? There’s certain things that they regularly criticised about you that are just part of you aren’t going to change anytime soon. What about their values? Did you not love about them? Now I know this is a bit tricky. As I said, out loud, I’m like, Oh, you feel a bit gross saying this out loud. But it’s really, really important. Which of your boundaries did they push? And what of your sparkle? Did they not see or appreciate? So this is the thing you know, we can have a tendency to get in our heads about our niche, which doesn’t really make much sense. When we start out some traditional market research and other avatar exploration does make sense. But once you’ve got some decent experience under your belt, you don’t need another spreadsheet. If you want a heart bursting business that feels good. Why on earth would you seek the answers in your head, they’re hanging out down here in your heart. And when you can do that, you can start to be clear on what differentiates you from your competition. Because your values will play a big role in that the kinds of clients you’d like to work with, you will play a role in that the way you like to work will play a role in that your unique take on your industry will play a role in that. So consider all of these things, and what differentiates your clients from everyone else, because while they are your norm, you know, I know so often when I go and hang out with other business mentors, and I hear about the kind of clients they work with, it makes me realise, wow, I really attract a really unique bunch of people on the internet. And I didn’t really recognise that until I saw other kind of mentors attract so so that with all the love in the world, and you know, ultimately I attract a lot of kind of self led ambitious business owners, probably because I am one too. And when we’re so close to ourselves, we can’t necessarily see that. So these exercises are really good for helping us see these things, too. In fact, I recommend if you’ve got anyone who’s really close to in your business, ask them these very same questions and think about why the work you do is so needed and why your particular way of doing work is so needed. And there you got it. Those are the perfect foundations for you to be clear on what your group coaching program should be. Because it’s won’t be as simple as deciding on a niche. It’ll be looking at those clients you’ve created incredible results for and thinking about, how did I create those incredible results? What was it about them that made it so easy to help them get those results, and there, you’ll find the beginnings of the workings of what will help you get really clear on what it is that you need to package up. So many people, when they’re thinking about their group coaching program are trying to reinvent the wheel, they’re trying to create something entirely new. It’s all there already within your existing strength, your strengths. It’s all there already within your lived expertise. It’s all there already and how you’ve been supporting your clients so far. And actually, when you work with what’s there already, 

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you will get where you want to be so much faster. This isn’t about being incredibly clever, and pulling out some idea out the sky, it’s there under your nose. And the truth is, are like where we flow in business feels easy. So it’s really easy to kind of think Oh, but that’s easy for me. So therefore I shouldn’t do it. You know I’m in flow when I do that actually have fun when I do that, who would pay me to do that. There are lots of people out there who will pay you to do that the fact that you are in flow demonstrates to me that is your strength, your strength. So if you know where you flow, if you know where you find ease, if you know where your clients get incredible results. That my friend is where you should start with creating your group coaching program. If you found that exercise helpful and you’d like to dive into it even more, do message me the word roadmap or go click the link in the show notes below so that you can get the cushy SEO roadmap which outlines absolutely everything from the very beginning of your journey as a cushy CEO all the way to seven figures it tells you absolutely everything you need to do what you need to be doing for your office suite and includes some incredibly amazing needle moving exercises that will support you to get there I hope you love it. And if you do love it please please please make sure you share this episode so it can reach as many business owners as possible. I’m really really care this year about helping this Podcast reach as many people as possible and you can support me by either subscribing, rating it, sharing it, giving it a shout on your social. I’m going to unapologetically ask you for some love because I would love this to reach as many business owners as possible so that I can really be pioneering that because she Business Revolution. There we have it next week I’m going to be coming back and talking to you about the secret to selling your group program with more ease