67. Testing Your Client Process: Should You Work For Free?

0:00
Hello, my friend. It is January. Okay, it is January. It’s crazy. I’m actually recording this in 11 below weather Fahrenheit, with over a foot of fresh snow in my home office in Minnesota right now. And it’s December. Okay, fine. It’s December when I’m recording this, but by the time it reaches your ears, I will be in sunny Rockport, Texas catching and eating all of the seafood that the ocean has to offer me. And I’m very excited about that. So by the time you get this is January, and I will be very, very happy to be in the sunshine and out of the full disclosure, I love four seasons. I love living somewhere, or being somewhere a lot of the time that has four seasons, I really appreciate it until December 26. I love the snow, it is very cozy, it is very winter white, beautiful white Christmas feeling. And I love it until after Christmas. And the minute that Christmas is over, I do not want to be in the snow anymore, I want to be somewhere else. So that is exactly what we are doing. Little update personal wise if you are new to the podcast, so let me catch you up. My family and I have been traveling a lot for the last few years. And we’d like to be in warm places in the winter. But the grass is always greener, especially if you are a nine year old and a 12 year old. Oh my gosh, 13 year old that was bad. Nine year old and 13 year old, I do know how old my kids are, I promise. So if you happen to be of the seventh grade, and fourth grade variety, hypothetically speaking, you would feel that your parents are just so crazy, to take you to all of the fun places and to insist on adventure and living your best life and it would be so hard for you. So you would in that situation, then beg them to go back to public school for a long time. And then they would, after careful consideration would relent to that request and would allow you to, on a conditional basis, go back to school while keeping a very close pulse on what’s happening in school and also mandating that you are going to be leaving a lot and not getting too comfy. And so that is what’s happening in my family. So we’re this is what the program is around here, we still travel a lot, we still go wherever and whenever we want to. And for Greg and I that means we have a new bay boat that we are taking to Texas to go catch all of the fish. And for I don’t know, six weeks, eight weeks, I’m not really sure we have a house rented, we’re actually not taking our RV this time, we have a house rented with my dad and we are going with rented for at least January February. So we’ll stay the whole time I don’t know if we’ll take off on a road trip and wander somewhere else, I don’t know. But there’s gonna be a lot of fish and sun in my future, we were actually going to be going back to the southwest coast of Florida, which is our favorite place, we have a little secret spot that I’m not going to reveal on here. Just stay a secret, we have our secret spot that we have loved so much the last two winters. And we plan on going back there as well. But it got absolutely decimated from the hurricane. So we were not able to go back to where we thought we were going to. So we made other arrangements. And we actually have never been to where we’re going to in Texas, it is just north of Corpus Christi, we’ve never been there before. But we have friends that are there that anyway, we’re gonna go check it out. So I will be able to update you more on that as the whole unfolds. If you wanted an update on my personal life and the fun of parenting. With the age of kids that I have, I’ll probably all age have kids, I was gonna I was going to qualify that with middle school, it probably doesn’t matter, grass is always greener, I remember that feeling. Anyway, we will be catching all the fish and doing all of the things in the sunshine. But for right now, as I’m recording full transparency, it is very cold, it is very snowy, I appreciate it. But I’ll be very appreciative to leave it as well. Alright, so getting into the meat of what I want to share with you today, I am going to break down the three step process of creating and refining your client process. It’s very meta, there’s a process for creating your process. And along the way, as we roll out this three step process for you, I’m going to answer the very recurring question that I hear from a lot of practitioners, which is should I work with clients for free in the beginning? And the answer might surprise you. Especially if you’ve been tuning into this podcast for a while. So it was something I talk a lot about. And something I’m very, very passionate about is being an example of what’s possible and in showing what’s possible and highlighting what’s possible that would otherwise not be known. Because I remember in the beginning of my holistic nutrition practice in 2015 I had no idea what was possible. I didn’t know that there were podcasts like this maybe at that point. There weren’t podcasts like this, but I didn’t know that there were podcasts or email lists or courses or programs or places where I could plug in and learn from a really successful practitioners that had gone before me did not know where to find that didn’t know it existed had I known that I would have done it, but I didn’t know. And that was part of my journey so that I could create that for you, I guess. It’s just totally fine. But the four minute mile as a concept that I talked about in a webinar, actually, it’s a brand new webinar that I just did last month that I talked about the four minute mile being a friend of mine. Well, I mean, it’s a long story. Anyway, I go into it in detail in the webinar. But bottom line is the four minute mile is my friend who took her first practice clients very first practice clients during her certification, and charge them $12,000. It was a husband and wife, she charged them $12,000 They were her first practice clients, she was not certified yet. I was a mentor in her certification group. So as a group leader, I was over the course of a year helping them through their certification. So I witnessed this firsthand as she took her first clients. And she and I became great friends. So I kind of saw the behind the scenes of how this all unfolded. But I love telling this story, because for many people, this is like the four minute mile, the four minute mile being something that nobody even realized was possible until finally somebody did it. His name was Roger Bannister. And he did a sub four minute mile. And his title only lasted for I think it was like 46 days or something like that for a very short amount of time. Because when people saw that it was possible, then they were like, holy cow, it’s possible. Now I’m gonna go do it. And so now 1000s of people have run of the four minute mile. Whereas before that was thought to be impossible. So that’s kind of the, you know, the correlation here, the four minute mile, four minute mile being taking a really premium offer and selling it when others may think that it’s not possible to do that. That’s the four minute mile here. I guess I’m not being very eloquent in my speech here. But you see where I’m going. So I tell this story of my friend, because it is a lightbulb moment for a lot of people who hear it, they’re like, holy cow, wait a second, wait a second, I’m charging $197. And I have zero clients. And someone who’s not even certified yet is charging $12,000 for their first client. And then what happened is she got a ton of client referrals from that client. So she filled up her practice and had a six figure business before she even graduated from the certification program. It’s very, very motivating. For some people, when they hear the story. They’re like, what? That is possible. I’m in I’m doing this, I’m doing some version of that for myself. I didn’t even know that I could do that. And now I can. I know when I started my practice, I had no idea that that was possible. I had no idea people were doing that. It wasn’t even on my radar, which is why I like to talk about things like that, put it on your radar, right, four minute mile style. So for some people, it’s very motivating, but for others, it is absolutely paralyzing. Now Know thyself, which is it for you is a very motivating for you. You’re like okay, done noted, I’m in, I’m going I’m going to change some things in my business. And that’s the direction I’m headed? Or are you instantly having a visceral reaction? Like holy cow? What is she going to try to make me do that? Is that what I have to do? I can’t Oh, my gosh, and it’s paralyzing Know thyself, which is a for you. Neither one is right or wrong, there’s just going to be a different strategy, depending on what your mindset is around something like a $12,000 first client, okay,

8:10
I find that this is a really good example to throw out there because it will really show you which camp you’re in. That makes sense. Now, I think that in this conversation, it’s a good point to talk about pursuing pleasure, versus avoiding pain, and pursuing pleasure is like 10% of people are going to see something like, for example, a $12,000, first client, and they’re gonna be like, That’s exactly what I want, I’m going for it, and they’re gonna run straight for that, versus 90% of people that are not really motivated by trying to get to that really high level quickly, and get the ultimate pleasure of building a business like that very quickly. And having a very lucrative business right out of the gate. That would be the pursuing pleasure in this example. A lot of people, I think it’s been said, like 90% of people aren’t necessarily motivated by that, and instead are motivated by trying to avoid pain, and just trying to acutely avoid the pain that they’re in. And that’s their motivation. So know this for your marketing, as well know this for yourself, but also know this for your marketing as well. And for how you talk to your clients. I know in the past, I’ve been very guilty of assuming that everyone wants to pursue pleasure, I’m very much so a pursue pleasure person. So if I see what’s possible, I’m honed in on that and I’m going full speed ahead towards whatever that goal is. And so my natural assumption is to lean towards assuming that other people feel the same way. And how that shows up is talking about six figure businesses, multiple six figure businesses, million dollar businesses talking about the big, big goals, and what happens and what you’ll probably see I think I’m doing a lot better at this now and realizing the avoid pain. 90% of people avoid pain is talking about what does that actually look like those big goals? What do they actually look like in avoiding pain on A Tuesday, for example, I know this for your business as well. So the big goal is having a six figure business, recession proof business, a very sustainable business that you absolutely love that’s built on referrals that no one can take away from you. Okay, that’s a big pleasure here, versus I just want to pay back my personal finances for my certification program. I just want to pay back my personal savings account for my business cost thus far, and I want to be in the black with my business, that’s an avoid pain. Do you see the difference here, there’s the big goal, that obviously, will provide the other goal, which is smaller, so avoiding pain, I want to be in the black with my business, I want my business to be profitable, I just want to pay back my personal finances for what I have incurred so far. That is the avoid pain. So we need to be thinking about this to kind of an aside, but think about this for your marketing. I certainly think about this for my marketing. And I think that I’m adjusting over the last I would say over the last six months or so I’ve been more aware of talking about the smaller pain points, the avoiding pain points that are not necessarily the big overarching goal. It’s more of the how do you avoid pain on a Tuesday to think about that for you as well. Neither is better or worse. Since this process we’re going to talk about today and I promise this will tie in to the creating a client process. And should you work for free and the entire theme of this episode, we will get back there I swear it is going to tie in but think about that, as I’m taking you through the three step process. Neither is better or worse, okay, this process is going to work for both people, whether you are a pursue pleasure person in most regards, or at least in your business, or you’re an avoid pain goal setter in your business, neither is better or worse, it’s just a matter of understanding that they’re very different motivations. So as you think about that for your people as well, what are the seek pleasure people going for? What are those big results that they want? And that they are very motivated by? And then what are the results that the avoid pain? People are motivated by? What are those smaller? I just want to avoid this pain right now this is this would be very motivating for me if I could just avoid this pain tomorrow. What would that be? And how do you speak to both of them, just a great marketing exercise a great, you know, thought process to bring yourself to as you’re thinking about your people. Now thinking of your people, I have to a little recap here on the four foundations of belief in your business, I do have an entire episode about this, it’s in the beginning episodes, if you haven’t listened to some of the beginning episodes of this podcast, you can go back and really go deep on these four foundations of growing your practice. But let me catch you up here just kind of broad strokes, for foundations of belief in your business or the belief in yourself, your belief in your people, meaning your clients, the ones that are they’re the ones that are coming in the future belief in your offer. And this is where we would also include belief in your process that we’re going to be talking about today. And belief in your business as a whole belief in your business being successful in the viability of your business long term for beliefs, belief in yourself, your people your offer and your business. Now, when you’re struggling to get your business off the ground or grow it at the rate that you want to whether that means you just don’t feel like it’s sustainable, you actually do have a business right now you are making money, but it feels like it is burning you out or it’s not scaling at the rate that you want it to or it’s going in a direction that’s really hustling and it’s really chaotic and disorganized. Or, you know, it could be any variation of those two. But at any rate, if it’s not growing at the rate that you want, it’s because you’re low in belief of one or more of these four core foundational areas. And your job is to intentionally raise your belief in whatever is low for you. So be aware of what that is an intentionally raise your belief in that area. No one is going to do this for you. This is an inside job. But what I’m sharing with you today is going to be a strategy to help if you’re low in all of these areas, which is belief in yourself, believe in your people belief in your offer or your process and belief in your business as a whole. Alright, as an aside, this is exactly what you learn how to do in the profitable nutritionist program in module one of the repeatable revenue process modules. Okay, so if you are in the program already, go back to module one and give yourself a refresher on the foundations and on building belief and the techniques for building belief in there. And if you are not in the program, what are you waiting for? What is happening,

14:16
you need this step by step process of applying everything from this podcast, and this podcast episode in particular, into your business step by step by step we have all of it in the program. So join at the next enrollment if you are not already in the program, shameless plug here you need to be and make sure you are getting my emails by the way, so that you don’t miss upcoming enrollment details for the program. And all of the rest of the best stuff that is included in my emails, I send emails, all of my best stuff goes out in the emails, you need to make sure that you are getting my emails. So if you aren’t already, make sure that you do that. You can sign up at Build a Profitable practice.com any of the fields there where you’re entering your email address you are signing up for my email list, or any of the links in the show notes of this episode are going to take you to my website so that you can opt in. So do that if you’re not getting the emails very, very, very important. Now circling back, if your business is new or you haven’t worked with many clients, what I’m sharing with you in this episode is going to be very straightforward for you to follow, it’s going to make a lot of sense. But like I said, If your business isn’t new, and you do have experience working with clients in some capacity, whether that is one on one, or a group program, or workshops, etc, doesn’t matter. What I’m sharing here is going to be equally important because you’re going to be able to see where the gaps are in your belief in any on all of those four areas we talked about, and how to start with a fresh strategy moving forward to set yourself up for much more consistent and repeatable and sustainable, enjoyable success in your business. Instead of the feast or famine roller coaster that you may be experiencing right now. Just totally optional, we got to get you off the feast or famine roller coaster, your goal here is going to be to test your process hypothesis as many times as possible, and generate as much data as you can to evaluate so that you can tweak your process and improve it. Remember this is what we’re specifically talking about here is figuring out your client process, the process that you are going to be bringing clients through in whatever way that you work with them, whether that’s one on one, or groups or workshops, or an online program doesn’t matter, you have a process. And if you don’t, you need to have a process, we need to figure out what that is. And you need to test it, you need to test it as much as possible with real humans get a lot of data so that you can tweak and evaluate it overtime and improve it and make it better. So how are you want to do that? Well, first of all, you can sign a bunch of clients and bring them through the process like my friend did, like many many, many of my students have done or you can make an offer to bring some clients through the process for free and test it. Neither of these options is wrong. I know this may sound contradictory to what I talked about most of the time, which is charging premium pricing. You hear me talk about this all the time premium pricing, premium pricing, but it’s not actually contradictory. It is a prep period, if you decide to take some clients for free in the beginning or as a reset, even if it’s not the beginning of your business, if you’re kind of refreshing your offer, and you’re going to be refreshing your process and maybe tweaking a new process could be a prep period that’s needed for you, or for some people because a belief build up period is needed. First, if you have realized that you are very low in belief in yourself, or you’re very low in belief in the resourcefulness and follow through of your clients. Or you’re very low in belief of your offer or your process that it’s going to deliver the results that your clients want and that you want for them. Or you’re very low in belief in your business, that it is sustainable, that you can do it that it’s going to be successful. If you’re low in belief in any or all of those areas, a belief build up period might be needed first. So that’s kind of what we’re talking about here. Meaning that you have a premium price that you do want to charge, but you just don’t believe that people will pay for it. Or you have this premium price in mind for a process for an offer that you want to charge. But you just don’t believe that you can be trusted to deliver the results that merit that investment for your people. Right your belief in yourself, your clients or your offer or your business is low. And when someone is in this low belief, it could be you, what usually happens is they hyper focus on the price. This is what I see all of the time, someone’s in low belief in any of those four areas, their brain defaults to the price being the issue. They create lots of stories and lots of drama and lots of indecision, about how people can afford to pay the rate in their niche. People can’t afford that, or in their geographical area, people have low income, it’s not a high income area, people can’t afford it. The going rate is so much less with other practitioners or just et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, all of the stories, you get the point, none of these stories is true, by the way. It’s just stories, totally optional stories that you can choose to let go of at any point. So if you’re having similar thoughts, just decide right now that none of that is true. You aren’t a special unicorn in your area or in your niche. That was the only one that would pay to solve the problem, or better your health. Like think about that. Because really, when I hear these stories, what I’m hearing is somebody saying, Well, I’m the only one I’m the only one with the resources and the wherewithal and the desire to solve this problem. And to invest in the solution, which is what I did, but other people won’t do that. Other people around me can’t do that they don’t understand or they don’t have the resources or they’re not scrappy, or they’re not motivated or they won’t follow through. Really, that’s what’s happening is some judgment of how they are so special, but the other people aren’t. Yeah, you see what I’m saying? Are you thinking that? Do you have any sneaky thoughts like that, just be aware of them. If you do, you’re not especially unicorn in your area or your niche, or any of that. Other people will pay to solve their problem and figure out this information as well. So quit shrinking your future clients. If you have any thoughts like that quit shrinking them quit shrinking their possibilities and their resourcefulness and their capabilities by assuming that they can’t, or won’t invest in solving their problems, it’s not useful for either of you. Alright, so that was just a little tangent, I’m just saying, when someone is low in any of the beliefs, usually they hyper focus on price. Don’t do that. Okay, let’s get into it. So if you are brand new, here’s how you’re going to create your client process. And if you’re not brand new here is how you’re going to audit yours or tweak your client process. Step one, you are going to create your process hypothesis is that process hypothesis, it’s very hard to say that, by the way, I would love you to practice a few times, it’s very hard to articulate that your process hypothesis is what you are going to create. It is your idea of what you think your process could be. Nobody knows exactly what is going to work or what their exact process is going to be long term until they do it. Okay, there’s no secret here. I have heard so many people say I just don’t know how, like, I don’t have a process. And it’s all like kind of secretive. Like, can I confess, I don’t have a process. Well, of course you don’t, you haven’t made one yet. Now, depending on what kind of certification you have, you may have been provided with a framework or a process to bring clients through, especially if you do lab testing, there are many, many, many resources available depending on what kind of certification you have on an idea of a process that you may start with if you don’t have your own yet. So use that if that is going to be a good idea for you, or create your own using the process that we’re gonna go through. But just know that nobody actually has a process in the beginning. This is the secret that’s not a secret, nobody does. The only way to figure out the process is to test and tweak and evaluate. And that’s what I’m going to teach you in these three steps. It is much like riding a bike, you can learn how to ride a bike, you can watch people ride a bike, you can watch videos on riding a bike, you can get a PDF with steps on how to ride a bike, just like a process just like a process to bring people through. But you’re not going to know how to actually ride a bike until you get your butt on a bike and you start pedaling and falling over a little bit. Okay, you can learn how to ride a bike, but you’re not actually gonna learn how to ride a bike until you ride the bike. process creation is exactly the same. You can learn how to work with clients, you can research how to work with clients, you can see how other people work with clients, you can see how other people structure their process with their clients. But you’re not actually going to know how you do it and what your way is and what your unique spin is and what your most efficient best process is, until you actually get on the bike and ride it. Alright, so here’s what you’re going to do, you are going to create a process hypothesis, you’re gonna go through everything that you think that your people will need to know or need to do to get the results that they want. And you’re gonna make a list would put everything on the list at this point, you don’t need to edit it, what is everything that you think that they will need to know or do to get the results put it down? This list can be based on your journey and what you had wished you had known when you were starting out. And maybe you’re only a few steps ahead of your clients, which is totally fine. What were the things that you wish you had known a previous version of you, when you were just starting? When you didn’t have the expertise that you now have that you’re helping people with that you’re teaching to them that you are using to improve their lives? What would you wish that you had known? What is your knowledge now of the problem and solutions, the problem that your people have the solutions that you have to offer? What is that? Okay, there’s no right or wrong here, you don’t have to have personal experience, by the way to help someone a lot of us do. So I’m going to take a leap and say you probably have some sort of personal experience with whatever it is that you’re helping people with. But you certainly don’t have to. I was on a coaching call with a client of mine was very stuck on this about wanting, like feeling deeply called to work in a niche and an area that she didn’t have personal experience. And she would her brain was having lots of drama about this. And I was like, Listen, my obstetrician was a man. He did a great job. He had no personal experience with having babies, he did a great job, it worked out fine. You don’t have to have a personal experience to draw on for helping people. So this is your permission slip. You

24:11
don’t have to have personal experience. But if you do, you can certainly use that to inform this process hypothesis that you’re creating. Not necessary, though not mandatory at all. So make a big list a first draft, this is just your shitty first draft, it does not have to be perfect, but write it out. What are all of the things that you think that your people would need to know or need to do to get the results? What is that? Make a big list? Write it out? What are the things that would guarantee them the results if they do these things? If all of this is included, it would guarantee that they get the results. What does that look like? Now, you are going to then look at this list and you’re going to organize it into an outline in the order that they would need to do the things. So let’s like actually put it in order. And by the way, you don’t have to do this all at once. You can let this marinate over a few days. Does it have to be something that you Sit down at for hours and pour over and you stress about sometimes take a little break, come back to it. And you’ll see things that you didn’t see before you’ll see holes and have more ideas of things to add or whatever that is. But don’t let it go more than a few days. So take a little bit of time. This is not a long process. It doesn’t need to be weeks months. No, don’t overthink it. This is a working hypothesis, your best guess? What do you think this outline needs to look like? What order do you think it needs to be done in make your best guess. Now you’re going to go back after that is done after you have it put in order, you are going to edit this list ruthlessly, and you’re going to remove anything that is obviously added fluff for now. So start with that take anything out that is added fluff that’s like, yeah, that would be great if they knew it, but they don’t actually have to know it. You’re gonna know what these things are. When you look at the list, I think oh gosh, I don’t remember who this was. Was it Mark Twain that said this, I don’t know something about Kill your darlings. And I don’t even know why I’m feeling like I need to say this right now. But I need to say it in in terms of writing. And I think about this with copywriting. I teach this in the mastermind too. When you’re writing copy, you have to be willing to kill your darlings, which is taking out the stuff that’s good that you’re really attached to that you like that you would like people to know, or you would like to say in your copy and kill it and take it out and edit it in service of the best final product. So this is what you’re doing here you are taking out the fluff. Even if it’s something you really want them to know if they don’t have to know it, or they don’t have to do it to get the results. Take it out. You can always add these things back in or test them in the future. But be ruthless right now. In your process hypothesis, be ruthless, and edit down your outline to the simplest, most doable steps that are going to get your people results. Your people want simple. They don’t want to know how smart you are. They don’t want to become an expert like you are. They don’t want to go as deep down the rabbit hole as you are they do not they don’t know. Nope, they don’t need to be wowed by what an encyclopedia you are, and how many facts and figures you can teach them to death. They don’t want that they want the results. And they want them simply, quickly, conveniently, simple, fast, convenient results. That’s what your people want. That’s what every human wants. And it is your job to facilitate that delivery to the best of your ability. So when in doubt, cut it out, you can always add it back in later, you can always play with it later. Because we are going to do an evaluation step and we are going to tweak things later. But for right now, I want you to think what is the simplest, most doable way that they could get these results. Be ruthless cut out the fluff, if you are having this thought like but it would be so good for them to know, blah, blah, blah, blank, fill in the blank, then ask yourself, but is it simple? And is it going to help them get results faster? Or easier? If the answer is no, then I would really recommend eliminating that from the process and keeping it in your back pocket to maybe add in or talk about later on. You really want to err on the side of less. I promise you I have worked with hundreds and hundreds of people I have done this myself many, many, many times, I’ve created new things, I’ve created new processes, and I’ve delivered them and I’ve watched other people do it a lot. And I will tell you 100% of the time, not 99% of the time 100% of the time, as the teacher or as the practitioner, we drastically overestimate the amount of understanding and learning capacity that our people have or that they want to have. What I mean by that is we drastically overestimate the amount of information that we can give them that they actually retain. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. plan on doing less instead of trying to cram more in and overwhelming your people because you want to give them what they paid for and you have these frantic thoughts of but if they pay me I have to make sure that they know every single thing that I’ve ever learned and could go write a book on it at the end of our term together. No, no, no, no, that is not what they want. That’s not what they’re paying for. They’re paying for simple, fast, convenient results, make it faster, make it easier, make it more simple for them plan on doing less and plan on revisiting the basics over and over and over again. Instead of overwhelming them with more information, more information, more information. What I see so often and I definitely have been guilty of this in the past is moving on to the next level information in my process way too quickly before my people had really mastered it which was not in service to them. An overwhelmed client will probably quit do not want to overwhelm your clients and overwhelmed client will probably quit now the flip side of that is a calm supported confident client that’s really good at the basics that really knows what they’re doing that is seeing the wins and they’re seeing their consistency compounding and they’re feeling really confident that client will keep going and will tell everyone about you and send lots of referrals okay so an overwhelmed client will probably quit it calm supported, confident client will keep going and will send referrals and will be very very very happy with their results. So plan on repeating yourself a lot as your your ruthlessly editing this outline, I want you to be looking at it through that lens, how am I going to be revisiting core concepts over and over and over again as part of this process? Okay, I’m sure as you’re looking at your outline it when you do this, you can see where there are themes. There are areas where you’ll be building on basic information, make sure that you have repeated the basic information so much that they are such an expert at that, that they’re comfortable building on it, by the time you’re going to do that, it will probably require that you take a lot of it out, probably going to edit a lot of your ideas out. And that’s okay. Because, as an aside, this is why people will keep working with you, if you work with someone for three months, for example, or six months, and you are really, really thoughtful in creating this process that you’re taking them through for that period of time. And they are feeling really confident at the end of the three months or the six months, even if they don’t have their full results yet. And most people won’t, they are going to sign with you for another three months or another six months, because they are going to feel so supported, they’re going to feel so calm, they’re going to feel like it’s so doable, and they’re going to be able to see the progress that they’re making. And they’re going to want to keep building on that. This is how your practice just organically keeps filling and growing. Without you constantly trying to become an influencer and build a massive audience, it’s not necessary, what is necessary is delivering really doable, repeatable results to your people. And you do that by making sure that you’re keeping it very, very simple. And that you are building on their progress over time, not trying to teach them every single thing that you want them to know, in the three months or the six months, because you’re having the thought that they’re never going to resign with you and that you have to teach them everything in that amount of time that’s going to overwhelm them, don’t do that, you’re gonna go out a way slower pace than you think that you will, I promise. So recap of step one, you’re going to create your process hypothesis on paper, do this on paper, or digitally, whatever, but actually write it down, and then ruthlessly, edit it to the simplest, most basic iteration that’s going to get your clients results, it will probably be uncomfortably simple. It will probably be uncomfortably bare, compared to all of the ideas that you had to begin with, when you are looking at this skeleton process. Okay, that you’re doing it right, if that’s the case, you’re doing it right, because you’re giving a lot of space for them to master what you’re going to be taking them through instead of overwhelming them. And you can always add these things back in, you have these ideas, you have this stuff in your back pocket that you can always bring out when needed. But I promise you, it is so much more valuable to your people and to your business as a whole for you to err on the side of simple and less skeleton outline here. Okay, so that’s step one. Step two, is that you’re gonna go test this in the wild. That’s right, you’re going to go test it on real humans, starting with yourself, if you haven’t already. I’m guessing that whatever it is that you’re bringing your people through, you probably have tested it on yourself before. But if you haven’t, I want you to make sure that you have tested this exact process. And any specific protocols that go with it, whether that’s a specific supplement Protocol, or a dietary Protocol, or an exercise protocol, whatever that is, that you have tested exactly what that is going to be on yourself and measured your results, hopefully, if possible, as you do it, take yourself through the process, look for any holes, or for any gaps. And then assuming that you’ve done that, and you’re comfortable with it, you’re going to test it out on other people. I know this is the good part. Because your brain will have a tantrum, it’s gonna say, but we don’t know for sure if it’s going to work. Of course you don’t, nobody does.

33:39
That’s the secret. That’s not a secret. Nobody knows how their process is going to work until after they’ve done it. After you’ve delivered the process and it’s worked, then you’ll reflect back and go okay, yeah, that was the process that worked. That was the one. But you will never know until you do it. You cannot over plan this. You can’t out research this step of the experimentation process. You can’t you just have to get on the bike and start pedaling and take a leap of faith that you’re going to figure it out as you go. This is the part that a lot of people are really uncomfortable with, they want to see what is everybody else doing? What are the experts doing? What is their process look like. And the bottom line is those people don’t know either. They are just testing and they’re taking their best worst guests. And they are experimenting with it. And they’re tweaking it and they’re trusting themselves to figure it out as they go. So do the same. And trust yourself. By this point, you have a very good working hypothesis of what your process is going to be. That’s going to get your people results based on your own experiences, your certifications, your other experts experiences that you’re learning from other teachers that you have that taught you this information or if you’ve already worked with clients, you have a pretty good idea of what has worked for those clients before. So it’s as good as it’s going to get until you go test it with real people. Real actual humans. I remember doing this I can laugh about it now. But I remember being a sweaty mess taking my first one on one clients in My nutrition practice, I can remember being a sweaty, sweaty mess doing my first restart class that I taught, which is a small group, five week workshop that I taught to nutrition clients. I was so anxious about it. And my prevailing thought was, does this process even work? Even if I do this right? Is it going to work? Are they going to get the results, of course, you’re having the same thoughts. You’re a human, and you are deeply in service to your people, you want them to get the results that they came for. That’s a good thing, that kind of anxiety of hoping that people are going to see the results that they want is a good thing. That’s what’s going to really serve you and your career. So nothing has gone wrong. If you’re having those thoughts. Everybody does. Oh my gosh, I remember my first closing in real estate, way back when so I would have been 2223 years old, something like that. And I had my first buyers. I tell this story in my program. So sorry if this is a repeat for you. But I remember it as if it was yesterday that I somehow got clients who even knows somehow got a client’s they were buying their first house, I was selling my first house. I had never even bought a house before I had no idea what I was doing. We did the showings somehow I figured out how to do showings. Somehow I figured out how to do the paperwork, although I remember that being quite a situation to fill out a purchase screen because I didn’t actually know how to do that. So I had to fake it till I make it through that there was a lot of trips to my broker’s house on a weekend in person. What checkbox do I check? What do I do? I was so nervous. They wanted the house we got the offer accepted Lord only knows how that happened. And now it’s time to close. So with a month has gone by we’ve done inspections, somehow fumbled through the financing got all of this to the point where we’re going to the closing. And it was the morning of the closing. And the other agent, the listing agent called me and she was just pissed. She was very angry. And she said, you know that the title company doesn’t have a package yet. We’re supposed to be closing in three hours, and they don’t have a package. And I mean, I remember exactly where I was when this happened. I was like, What is a package? Nobody has told me this word. I don’t know what a package is. Nobody has ever say went through 90 hours of certification classroom and a very long test to get this license. And nobody has even said that word to me. What does that even mean? So all that to say, of course, we don’t know, until we’re in there. And we’re working with clients. And we’re figuring it out. And it is very imperfect in the beginning. And there will be moments where you get put on the spot with something that you didn’t know you didn’t know. And it’s okay. Because believe me, I know what a package is. After that moment, I figured out what that meant. I never had that problem ever again. I was never caught off guard with that particular scenario. I knew it forever. And I can tell you this story, we can laugh about it. That deal actually did close. I think I just like took a very long nap after that closing was like holy cow, I did it alright, happened. They got the results, they got the house that they wanted, all of us got the results we wanted, it actually worked. How do I make this a little smoother for myself next time, you’re going to be doing the same thing. It’s exactly what’s going to be happening. So nothing has gone wrong. If you’re feeling like you’re a little bit anxious taking this process out into the wild with real people. And if you’re not, if you’re just anxious to go get started, perfect. Don’t borrow any of these anxious thoughts that I’m revealing here. You don’t need them go and test with other people. But if you are feeling some of that hesitation, it’s totally normal. It doesn’t mean you should stop it means you’re on the right track. And it’s all going to get so much better. So just do it anyway. Now, here’s where there’s a decision to make. Do you test your process out with people for free? Or do you charge them, there is no right or wrong, you get to decide. But just make sure that you like your reasons, make that decision and move forward for yourself. Know thyself in this situation. Remember, we started this entire episode talking about the difference between pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain, know thyself, know yourself here, what is going to be more motivating for you what is going to be more enjoyable for you what is going to be a better path. If you can go through the discomfort and uncertainty and messiness of figuring out your process with a paid client, you do that you get paid. And you go, there’s no reason not to, it’s in the best interest of this client to pay you and to have your undivided attention or most of your attention depending on how many clients you’re working with. As you figure it out, that’s actually a good thing for them. It’s not a bad thing for people to be your first client, I want to really just make sure that we’re on the same page here. Being someone’s one of their first clients is fantastic, it means that they’re getting from you most of your attention, and most of you the most that they’re ever going to get, which is a beautiful thing. So if you’re comfy with that, and you’re like I’m going to do it, it’s gonna be messy. I’m gonna figure out my process. I’m gonna go test my my process with a paid client, you go get as many clients as you need, get paid and you go get paid for the research and development phase. Do it I always talk about this paid r&d, go set your premium rate and charge it and figure out how to deliver the process along the way for sure. You can also kind of hybrid here you can also set your premium rate of what you know you’re going to charge in the future after X milestone like after 10 clients or Something like that you can know what that rate is going to be. And in the meantime, you can charge a beta rate, but you deliver your process at the level that you would if you had charged your premium rate, you make a deal with yourself, okay, this is exactly what I would do if I charged this premium rate. And I am going to strategically take a few people through the beta version first. And I love my reasons for that. And I’m going to deliver the exact same way as if they had paid this premium rate, that’s also an option, you’re the boss, you get to decide, there is something to be said, for the psychology of your client that when people pay, they pay attention. So as a general rule, you want your clients to have skin in the game, and be invested and pay. You do when people pay they pay attention, but asterisk caveat, but if your belief is in the toilet that they can or will pay you, or if your belief is in the toilet, that your process will work that your offer is viable, or that you can actually deliver it to them, you may deliberately choose not to charge those first few clients. And that’s totally fine, too. If that’s the case, you’re going to start making offers to deliver this process that you’ve now outlined your hypothesis process, you are going to make a plan to make offers and deliver that to a certain amount of people to X amount of people is that five people is that 10 people, you decide, you’re going to make a plan. And you’re going to love your reasons for it, I’m going to deliver this process to X amount of people for free to generate some testimonials and some case studies and get some data for how my process is working and how I’m going to improve it in the future. And this is a deal you’re gonna make with yourself for a certain amount of time. And it’s not forever, you’re gonna be very specific with how many clients you’re going to bring through. And you’re going to love your reasons for it. And what this is going to do is, of course, it’s going to get you out in front of people, it’s going to get people taking you up on your offer and running through your process. And you are going to get testimonials. And you are going to learn a lot about what’s working and what isn’t working in your process and what you want to tweak in the future, which is step three we’re going to talk about, but what it’s also going to do is it’s going to show you that price isn’t the reason that people do or do not buy, if you have a lot of limiting thoughts about your price, or your client’s ability or willingness to pay a premium price for your services or anything in that realm that has to do with price. And it’s keeping you stuck. And it’s keeping you making excuses. I recommend offering to take on a certain number of clients for free, because it’s going to show you that price isn’t the reason that people do or do not buy, it’s not the price, you are still going to have people that need your help, that are interested that are having conversations with you that seem like they’re very interested. And they don’t say yes, even though you’re offering to help them for free. This will happen. Why? Because price wasn’t actually their objection.

42:50
Hey, no, I know, we want to believe the price is the only reason that people do or do not make decisions. But that is not true. You will have people that don’t take you up on your free offer, why? Either they’re confused about the process, or they’re confused about if it’s the right time for them. Or if they should wait until later they’re confused about that. They’re doubting that they can get the results because they failed before. And so they’re unwilling to try or their belief in themselves is so low that they don’t even want to try for free. Or they’re unclear about some other aspect of the structure or delivery of the offer and how you’re actually delivering the process to them. They’re unclear about it, they’re confused, they don’t understand how it’s going to be valuable. They don’t understand how it’s different than what they’ve done before. Any of these options could be the reason that someone is saying no, it has nothing to do with the price. And you’re going to be able to figure that out. Because your brain will not be able to default to it. See, it’s too expensive. It was too expensive. It was too expensive. They can’t afford it. It’s too expensive. So that is the reason that I would suggest working with people for free. Okay, I want to be really, really clear on this. You don’t have to work with clients for free. You don’t have to that’s not what I’m saying. But would you if it meant you were going to be wildly successful beyond all of your dreams for the rest of your career to do this, would you do that? Would you work with some clients for free to overcome your thoughts about charging, and your thoughts about price and your thoughts about money. Because any limiting thoughts about that are going to be the default reason that your brain goes to about why things aren’t working. And I’m going to tell you, they’re not going to work all the time, you’re going to have a lot of situations where things aren’t working. That’s called being in business in general. And that’s why most people don’t do it or most people quit. But if you can just get comfortable with the fact that it’s not going to be comfortable and there’s going to be most things not working most of the time but the things that do work, you can improve upon and make better and you can turn that little dial and make it better and then you can make it better and you can make it better even while things are not working constantly not working. The things that are working. You can do more of and you could do more of and you can do more of and pretty soon you realize holy cow the things that are working I have created this amazing business and freedom structure in my life, that is more than I could have ever hoped for not because it’s all working right away all the time. No, that doesn’t exist, it’s never gonna happen. Don’t even think that that’s the way it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be uncomfortable, and you’re going to fail and you’re going to be sweaty a lot. But it’s okay. What I don’t want you to do is to quit because your brain keeps defaulting to it’s too expensive, people can’t buy it, people can’t afford it. People don’t want this, people don’t spend money on this, people could go get a book or listen to a podcast and do it cheaper, they could go to x expert and learn this way cheaper, they’re not going to pay me whatever thoughts, those are, are going to keep showing up in your business if you entertain them. So the reason that I would suggest working with clients for free is because it is going to take on those beliefs head on. And you’re going to realize very quickly, that price is not actually the reason because if it was everyone would take you up on your free offer. And I’m just going to tell you right now, they’re not going to because that’s not actually their objection. And that’s not actually what the reason is that they do or do not invest. For most people, they’re confused about something. And if you always are believing that price is the reason you’re not going to figure out what they’re actually confused about. And you’re not going to address those objections and the confusion and you’re not going to refine your marketing process and your sales process and your delivery process to reflect what they actually need to know to make the best decision and to invest with you. So if that’s where your brain is going to all of the money thoughts might be a good idea for you to work with set number of clients for free as you deliver your process, something to think about. Now, sometimes I see clients have thoughts about not wanting people to waste their time. So I do want to talk about this, I can very clearly remember our past coaching call in the profitable nutritionist program with a student of mine who was having this thought and she was like everywhere, she was like, I don’t want people to waste my time. I don’t want people to waste my time. She wanted to charge people for consults, so that only the most committed people got on the consults, they were not going to waste her time, there were a lot of things that she was doing in the structure of her business to make sure that people were not taking advantage of her and they were not wasting her time. And what I was able to show her through the our coaching was that she was ensuring by doing these things, and by having this belief in her people that they were going to waste her time, she was ensuring that she was wasting her own time, because she was spinning her wheels for months, creating intricate safeguards and booby traps against people wasting her time. And she was pushing away opportunities to work with clients to generate data on her process, test out her process to get in there and roll up her sleeves and get her hands dirty, she was pushing away those opportunities, so she was wasting her own time. With this thought I don’t want people to waste my time. So if you’re having similar thoughts about being taken advantage of, especially as we’re talking about working with clients for free, which again, I want to say may not be the path that you decide to take, but it’s an option that’s available, you have to get over yourself, if you’re having these thoughts about being taken advantage of or people wasting your time, I say this with love. But if that is what your brain is going to that people are going to take advantage of of me, you’re making excuses, you have to get out of your own way. And the only way that you’re ever going to get taken advantage of is if you let that happen. So just decide you never let that happen. I don’t let people take advantage of be done. Don’t let it happen. If you choose to work with a certain amount of clients for free, do it willingly and do it in full service to them. And love your reasons for it over deliver to them as if they had paid your full premium price, surprise and delight them and do not go into that client practitioner relationship with a chip on your shoulder. Don’t do it, it will not result in a good experience for either of you. And you won’t be generating true data on your process, or testimonials or case studies from that experience, I guarantee it. So don’t even think about going into a relationship thinking, Okay, well, I took these free clients, but they’re taking advantage of me. And so I’m going to get them done with as quickly as possible, or any version of that now over deliver to them, delight them, okay? Just love them be loving your reasons for working with them for free. If that’s what you decide to do, a thought that I have, that I will share with you and you can adopt this as your own is I think of every client that I serve as an opportunity to win or to learn period, I think that you can adopt that same thought and it would be very useful for you every single client paid free premium, not premium, whatever doesn’t matter. Every client is an opportunity to win or to learn. So if you choose to work with a certain number of clients for free, how do you make sure that you’re going to get at least the amount of value from that experience that you would if you charge them full price? How are you going to set it up so you get at least that amount of value on the back end? There’s no such thing as being taken advantage of you either win, or you learn. Now hear me? You don’t have to work with clients for free. It’s not what I’m saying. Want to say it again, you might choose to and you might like your reasons for it. So would you would you be willing to roll up your sleeves and work for free and test out your process and find out the real reasons that people object or the real areas of confusion that they have around working with you or the results that they get when they work with you or the process that you deliver when they work with you? Are you really willing to figure out what those questions are in service to your future clients and your future business. Because if you are really finding yourself struggling to get paying clients, you might consider doing this, you might consider just taking the objection of money off the table and working with some people for free. While you clear that up in your own mind. Okay, just totally fine. Just make sure that you like your reason, as we know, it’s usually confusion about the details confusion about what you actually do confusion about what the offer actually is, if they’re actually a good fit for it, if they can really get the results. Those are the reasons people buy or don’t buy, not the price. So just want to circle back to that one more time. And I want to let you know, I’ve done this both ways, I have charged the rate that I wanted to the premium rate right out of the gate, I’ve done that the profitable Nutrition has program is a good example of that. I have never discounted it. I’ve never taken people at a beta run. It’s the price $3,000. It’s always been $3,000. That’s it. So I’ve done it that way. I’ve also done beta testing with clients at a very reduced rate. I’ve done this with previous programs that have offered I’ve also done it with one on one clients. I’ve also done it with groups. So I’ve done like the first time I was running a process. I’ve said Okay, listen, you know that you are the beta testers right now, I call it founding members. So you’re like the founding members or the founding clients. And I’ve done it that way, at a reduced price, it was very clear, this is the only time I’m ever going to be offering this rate. And people have taken me up on that. And then I had the opportunity to test my process that way. Okay, I’ve done that. I’ve also taken free clients at the beginning of my nutrition practice, I took some free clients in the beginning to figure out what what my process was going to be what was working for them, what wasn’t? How

51:48
do I teach this the best? How many times do we need to repeat this foundational information was really what I learned, I didn’t know that’s what I was going to learn. But what I learned is we need to repeat things a lot. So I have done different variations along the way of just charging the rate right out of the gate. And just running with it, taking beta clients or working with clients for free. I’ve done all of these they all work, you just have to make sure that you like your reasons for it. Even recently, when I launched the mastermind last year, I knew that I was going to make this offer, I knew that the first time I launched it, it was going to be a $10,000 offer. And so I had my process of went through the exact same process of creating my process that I’m teaching you today I had my outline, I had figured out exactly what I was going to deliver in the mastermind, what the results were that they were going to get. And I knew exactly what that was going to look like. But I decided, and I thought about this for a while. So it wasn’t just you know, like knee jerk up. This is what I’m gonna do. I thought about this, I was strategic about it. But I decided that I wanted to invite a certain number of people to come into the mastermind by personal invitation. Okay, so just to give you some context, this first round of the mastermind, was starting in October 2022, or six months, so October to April. But last January or February ish, I think it was January, I reached out to a select number of people that I knew would be a really good fit for the mastermind. And I invited them to come into the mastermind starting in October. And I made them an offer that if they decided they wanted to be in the mastermind in October, they could secure their spot. And I was going to coach them for free for six months, from April to October, April 2022 to October 2022, for free. So I had several people that took me up on this, we started the mastermind group early with this, I’ll call it like a pre enrollment group. And I coached for free for six months. And I delivered my process and I got a lot of ideas about how to make it even better. And I did exactly what I’m talking about with you. I tested it out in the wild. And I got some really good case study. So by the time I launched the full mastermind, I had case studies gotten I had some data to work with, I knew exactly how it was going to be even better the next round, and the next round and the next round. So you’ve seen me do this, even if you didn’t know it, you’ve seen me do this exact same thing, many different ways. And I’m not doing anything different than you are. I’m making an process hypothesis. I’m testing it in the wild. And I’m deciding if I am going to be testing it at a beta rate, the full rate or for free or some different hybrid of two of those. And I love my reasons for it. And I will tell you, I never looked back and decide that that was a bad decision. I have my own back. I go with whatever I decided I love my reasons I move forward and I suggest you do the same. Alright, so step one to recap is to create the process hypothesis. Step two is to test it in the wild on yourself and with real people either paid or for free or hybrid to generate some data. You want some data you want to know where people are getting stuck. You want to know what is working, what isn’t working. So step three is to evaluate this data that you have now put together. It’s time to put on your scientists lab coat and evaluate what’s working well with your process. What isn’t working well. While and what you want to tweak or change entirely, this is where most people stop, they don’t evaluate, they just listen to their super negative brain, which always will lean towards, it’s not working, it’s not good enough, we will latch on to one comment that one person said, and interpret it as this process isn’t working, they’re not getting results, I have to throw it all away and start over, I gotta burn it all down and start over. That’s what our brains do. Okay, they listen to the one person that’s questioning if it’s working, or saying it isn’t working, or whatever version of that is, and we completely tune out the other clients that are having amazing results. This is just what our brains do, it’s very natural to do that. And when we do, when we what we do that our brains do that period, full stop, but when we don’t realize that that’s what’s happening. And we don’t intentionally bring our focus back to what is working well. We’re always going to be starting over. And we’re always going to be creating a new offer, creating a new program, starting over with a new niche, starting over with a new website, deciding that we need another certification with a different specialty, whatever that is, it’s because we’re just latching on to the bad stuff, the negative stuff, and we’re not evaluating. So I don’t want you to do this, I want you to be very, very intentional, to steer your thoughts back to what is working with your process, as you’re delivering it to real humans and testing it. What is getting results, what is working, that’s what you do. First, you want to take note of all of this. And you can be doing it ongoing as you’re working with your clients, maybe as it’s after every session or every week, depending on what kind of program you’re delivering. Go look at it, where are they getting results? Where are they winning? And where are you winning? Note all of it, your growth, their growth, all of it, be very specific. And then and only then after you’ve looked at what is working because things are working. There are aspects here that are working, that you’re going to build on, you’re not going to just throw the baby out with the bathwater, then move on to what isn’t working and be very, very specific. Do not let your brain be vague with they aren’t following through. Or it’s confusing or any vague thoughts like that. You want to be very specific in this evaluation on where your people are falling off, where they’re getting stuck, where they’re getting fuel confused, and exactly what is confusing them exactly what is getting them stuck. Ask lots of questions of yourself, push yourself to be very specific here be a scientist dig in? What does the data show? Don’t go with your feelings here? Like I feel like it isn’t working? Well? Of course you do. Because you have a human brain? Don’t No, no, no, no, no, no, go with the evidence, get some hard evidence and really dig in here. Where could it be improved? And then you’re going to take that data and you’re gonna make a plan. It’s very simple. How are you going to tweak or change moving forward? What are you going to tweak or change? I recommend very small tweaks and not giant pivots in your process. Okay, I guarantee that your process hypothesis is pretty dang good. It doesn’t need a full overhaul. It needs some small tweaks. How are you going to implement these small tweaks as you continue to deliver your process Samar, make a plan for exactly what you are going to continue to track? And what data you’re going to keep evaluating? And what small things you’re going to change. And then you rinse and repeat, you go execute you evaluate again, over and over. This is the tedious work that most people don’t do. They don’t want to do it. They just listen to their brain say it’s not working, or people don’t like this or people aren’t getting results or this isn’t sustainable. Stop it. Of course, we have those thoughts. Those are just very natural thoughts to have our brains just skew negative, they just do for most of us and for most of the time. That doesn’t mean we need to listen to it or make business decisions on it wants you to actually take the time to evaluate what is working really well. What isn’t, and what are you going to change moving forward? What small tweaks, okay, so that is step three is value weight. Step one, create your process hypothesis. Step two, test it out in the wild. And step three, evaluate some data, hard data, actually evaluate it. As you can see, as we go through this process, it doesn’t matter if you work with clients for free. Or if they’re paid clients, it doesn’t matter. Because what you’re trying to do here is generate data and test your unique process hypothesis that you created. Test it so that you can trust yourself to figure it out, and evaluate and tweak as you go. That’s what we’re doing here. We’re just building your trust in yourself. We’re building more trust in your people. We’re building more trust in your process, and we’re building more trust in your business. Remember those four foundational areas, if your belief is low, in any of them, you’re going to be systematically increasing your belief in it. As you get on that bike and you start pedaling and you start riding it. That’s how you get higher belief to actually do the thing. And you intentionally look for how it is working and you remind your brain that it is working. You’re working, your people are working your processes working and your business is working. If left to our own devices, we will not believe those things naturally. We have to go For the evidence. So that’s it. My friend, this was a long episode, I hope that you get a lot of nuggets here on creating your process, which is going to be unique to you. And you’re not going to know if it’s going to work until you go make it work. But that’s the beauty of it is you could stop being in confusion about that. Don’t even be confused for one minute longer and know that you are going to go make it work. You’re not going to know if it’s going to work until you go make it work. But you can trust yourself to do that. And now you have a framework, make your hypothesis, test your hypothesis and evaluate it. That is it. There’s no shortcut to this that everyone else knows and didn’t tell you. Truly, I promise. You just have to do the mandatory, messy part of experimenting with the imperfect process that you have created. And then building that belief in yourself and your clients and your process and your business as a whole as you go. So get out there, my friend and test your process. I can’t wait to hear about all of the lives that are changed because of your work. Undoubtedly they will be because you’re extraordinary and so are your clients. So go help them. Alright, I’ll see you next week.