How Two Questions and a Broom Started My Business [True Story]

I’ve never shared this before…

When I started my consulting practice in 2000 it wasn’t focused on providing marketing training.

I was getting “messages from the Universe” that that’s what I should be doing, but I was too stubborn (or stupid) to get it.

It was the proverbial “can’t see the forest for the trees” situation. But I digress… (Although I’ll circle back to how I made the shift in another email another day.)

Like most people starting a business, I hit the local “networking scene” in search of new clients.

Now, I’m not the most outgoing person so this was a real chore for me.

And there was one thing I hated more than anything about the entire “networking thing”…

I hated it even more than the fake smiles, sweaty handshakes, and the rubber-chicken lunches… 

It was answering two questions…

You know them… you’ve been asked them… and, like me at that time, you hate them… and you probably don’t have good answers to them…

The questions were:

1. What do you do?

and

2. Why YOU? (a.k.a. Why are you qualified to do this?)

These are fair questions, right? But I still hated them.

WHY? 

Because it felt like I had to pitch myself each time.

I hated the pressure to have to explain what I do (which can get pretty complex) in 15 seconds.

NOT FAIR!

And despite the fact that I just sold a super-successful business (my small chain of coffee and bagel shops which I built in the previous 10 years) I always felt like I had to justify myself why I’m qualified to do my work.

It felt diminishing. Like I was inadequate.

Total absurd – I know – but I felt how I felt.

Over time I found a good way to handle these questions.

I even developed a four-step formula for creating a hot Audio Business Card that gets attention and response each and every time. (I teach it in detail in my ACLC program – http://attractclientslikecrazy.com)

But I still hated having to deal with these questions in the fist place.

I realized that if I could somehow shift the process from pursuing to attracting, that I’d gain the upper hand.

(I didn’t know it yet back then, but it was the beginning of my ACLC system and my Authority Decoded work.)

I knew that when I went to see a doctor I didn’t ask him those two questions – his authority and expertise were already “built in.”

And I wanted the same.

So I vowed to create a system that will make clients come to me – period!

That’s how the idea for my Attract Clients Like Crazy program was born.

I knew that I had somehow instantly be viewed as an authority. But how?

Then, one night, I found my solution in a most unlikely place!

It happened when I was watching a late-night infomercial for a plastic broom-mop contraption. (seriously!)

It was literally a stroke of genius.

BUT, this email is already too long. So I’ll give you the rest of the story tomorrow.

For now – ponder one thing…

How can you quickly create a “doctor-like” effect for yourself so you can stop chasing and start attracting all the new, high-quality clients you want?

I’ll help you out with that tomorrow.  (Continue to Part 2 Here)