Tag: strategy

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E#179 How to Create a Digital Legacy Strategy

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This episode is about how to create a digital legacy strategy

Have you got a pile of online passwords, subscriptions and accounts for your business, and are wondering how to handle that when you pass on? Today, I share with you my own personal how-to guide for what I call a digital legacy strategy, so that you can leave a clear wind-up roadmap for your loved ones.

Background

At the moment I have two elderly unwell parents and my family has been talking a lot about their preparations for end of life. It’s a really difficult conversation to have. But my parents are at that age where they are thinking practically and logically about what they will leave behind. There’s a house, the car, the furniture, bank accounts and all of the household bills etc.

I was speaking about this with my husband and we got to talking about how simple their estate actually is, compared with ours.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* How I came up with the idea
* What a digital legacy strategy is
* Four steps to creating your Digital Legacy Strategy

Living in a digital world, and with me running a largely online business, there is so much more to think about when one is preparing to document their estate.

My husband and I are quite different in terms of our assets. He has a lot of toys and physical goods, whereas I have a lot of online digital assets. He wouldn’t have the first clue about my passwords and how to access those assets, and which ones need to be closed down in the event of my passing.

I realise that unless I did something about this, then I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and their would be subscription payments coming out of the business bank account every month and annually without him even knowing where to start winding all of those things up.

In all likelihood, you will live to a ripe old age and may not feel a sense of urgency about this. But for some people, loved ones are taken away suddenly and without warning.

It’s a serious topic that is worthy of careful thought and attention so that your loved ones know how to wrap up your affairs with ease at a difficult time.

What is a digital legacy strategy?

After having this conversation with my husband, I decided to create a document that would equip my husband to sort out my business affairs and online presence with ease, if the worst-case scenario happened.

I decided to call this document a Digital Legacy Strategy.

It’s essentially a 2-page document that describes exactly what I have in terms of an online presence, how to access it, and what to do with all the pieces.

I created it in under 30 minutes using two tools that I had already been using in my business.

Let’s walk through the process that can help you to create your own digital legacy strategy. It might take you a little longer than me if you’re not already using these tools that I have suggested. In any case, I’m going to provide some tools for you in the show notes so that you can create your own version of this

Four steps to creating your Digital Legacy Strategy

Step 1 Set up and categorise a password database

The first thing that you will need is a password database. If you don’t have one already, there are plenty of options that you can subscribe to online or that may be included with your Microsoft or Internet Security software.

If you already have one of these, then it might just be a matter of tidying it up and updating it

And that’s exactly what I did. I have been using Keeper Security password database for the last five or so years.

So my first step was to open my password database and create some sub folders within it so that I could categorise all of my login details for different websites.

I created the following categories

  • Finance
  • Business
  • Paid subscriptions with auto-renew
  • General

The website links and login details in the financial category are all things like my Internet banking login details, my PayPal account, my stripe account, and all of those sorts of things.

The website links and login details in my business category are all things like my ASIC login details, my Service NSW details, The website where my ISBNs for my published books are stored, my self publishing book subscriptions, and anything else to do with business management and the government

The next category is paid subscriptions with auto-renew. This includes anything from any other category that has an auto-renew feature set up for monthly or annual payments.

The website and login links in this category include things like my zoom account, my Xero accounting subscription, my Vimeo account, the online quiz subscription software that I use, domain renewals, Dropbox subscription, Microsoft subscription, Netflix, and anything else that is paid automatically via a digital subscription.

The final category is anything else that is not set to auto-renew and will expire itself. While it is tempting to think about having nothing on auto-renew, it’s simply not possible in many cases, or it a very inconvenient and takes a lot of time to manage.

Step 2 – set up a digital asset register

If your password database is set up properly you may not want to or need to do the second step. But if you want somebody to be able to remove your digital footprint entirely, then it’s probably helpful to have a list of all of the digital assets that you have online.

For me, I have lead magnets, I have podcasts, I have a YouTube channel and a whole bunch of other things on the internet. By including a link to my digital asset register, my husband will be able to see the extent of my whole online footprint, and he could easily pass it all over to somebody if he decided to sell the business in the event that I pass on.

This is quite a time-consuming step but once you have a clear register of all of your digital assets, it’s just a matter of maintaining and incrementally adding to it.

I said this is an optional step.

Step 3 – write your strategy

The strategy is simply a high-level summary of steps one and two, along with some instructions on what to do in the event of passing on.

You could make explicit instructions for what you want to be done with those items, or you could simply provide some options so that the other person can make the decision at the time.

In my case, I would prefer my husband has the option to do what he thinks is best, rather than forcing him to sell my digital assets as part of my will. At the simplest level, I want to know that he can easily get into and turn off any automatic subscriptions In the event of my passing so that he is not unknowingly keeping up payments on something that’s no longer relevant.

Step 4 – access and update

The last thing I’ve done is to save this strategy in a shared digital folder that we both access regularly.

But of course, it’s no use just leaving it there and forgetting about it. My digital footprint is going to change and evolve over time, so it’s really important that I schedule a recurring calendar reminder to review and update my password database, asset register and digital legacy strategy about every 12 months.

It’s a surprisingly easy task to do once it is set up properly, it’s just a matter of having a calendar reminder so that you do.

Summary

To wrap up what we discussed today, it’s never pleasant when somebody passes on and you’re left with the task of unravelling all of their stuff at a very difficult time.

This is even more tricky and intricate when somebody you love has a digital legacy and you have no idea what that legacy is or where to start in closing it down.

Today I described a concept that I’ve developed to help me clearly express some simple instructions to help my husband if the worst-case scenario ever happens.

The four steps I followed are:

1. Set up a password database

2. Create a digital asset register

3. Develop a digital legacy strategy

4. Schedule a review and revision time slot every 12 months

If you need help with this, please check out the links in my show notes, or hit up my contact page for more assistance.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

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E#174 Your Foolproof 2022 Business Plan

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This episode is about your foolproof 2022 business plan

The start of the year is a great time to make plans. But how do you make a plan that is realistic and will guarantee results?

Today, I cover the three ingredients of a successful business plan that will ensure your success.

Ingredient 1: Start with Strategy

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘plan’? The internet defines a plan as:

  1. An orderly or step-by-step conception or proposal for accomplishing an objective.
  2. A proposed or intended course of action.
  3. A systematic arrangement of elements or important parts; a configuration or outline.
In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* Why starting with a strategy is so important
* How to create a structured, SMART plan
* Reviewing and course correcting

What do you notice about these definitions?

I see that they are all about taking action. And taking action is great, and important….but in the words of organisational theorist Kenichi Ohmae:

“Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.”

In other words, planning your actions is important, but there is a step BEFORE that.

The step is creating a strategy.

A strategy is the overall aim, objective or goal that you want to achieve.

When it comes to your 2022 business plan, you would define your primary aim for the year BEFORE you start the planning process.

I believe the best aims or outcomes are inspirational, realistic, aspirational and measurable. Here is an example.

“By 31 December 2022, I want to have helped 50 women reverse diabetes.”

If you think about this as an outcome, it meets all those criteria.

For the right person, this is:

· inspiring (ties in with a passion),

· something that can realistically be achieved with the right support, systems and effort (the timing and number and content has been done before by others),

· something to aspire to (reversing diabetes), and

· measurable (it has an end date, and a number of people).

So my question to you is – what is the overarching strategic goal you have for this year?

All of your plans will be borne out of that.

Ingredient 2: Create a Structured SMART Plan

This one is essential and it’s where a lot of people go wrong with a lack of detail, specificity and not seeking help. If you’re new at business and/or planning, you will need help with this!

Like the strategy, a structured plan has very specific actions, dates, milestones and metrics so that you can schedule tasks and check that you are on track.

Using the example I just mentioned, we can start teasing out elements of the plan.

“By 31 December 2022, I want to have helped 50 women reverse diabetes.”

In this example we can see that we need two things: a way to solve the problem, and a way to engage the clients.

Firstly, you will need to have a program and/or method for helping people reverse diabetes.

1. What is program or method you will use?

2. Has it been created yet?

3. Do you need to test it/get social proof?

4. Who else might need to be involved to help you?

By answering those questions, you can work out the actions that need to be taken, in which order, who will help you – and you can schedule those into a timeline.

Secondly, you will need to have a channel to find those 50 women with diabetes.

1. What does your market research indicate?

2. Where will you find them / where do they hang out?

3. What is your best marketing strategy that plays to your strengths – e.g. writing, speaking, PR etc?

4. Who can connect you with them?

5. What opportunities are there in your existing networks?

6. What will your marketing plan look like?

By answering those questions, you can work out the actions that need to be taken, in which order, who will help you – and you can schedule those into a timeline.

Ingredient 3: Review and Course Correction

A plan is great, but things invariably change as you progress, so you need to schedule time at least once per month to review your progress, and course correct so you can achieve your goal, or change the goal as needed.

We all find this bit hard because nobody likes changing the goals or goalposts!

Change requires a shift away from what we know and feel safe with, into the unknown.

BUT, as we know through coaching clients, the process of experimenting invariably changes the journey.

Making time to reflect, review, let go of what doesn’t work and change gears, is the absolute key to success.

In the example above, let’s assume that you did all your actions in January to find prospective clients through your networks…..but you drew a blank.

Or perhaps you thought you’d have your program finished by now and ready to pilot, but you haven’t gotten there yet and can’t find any pilot clients.

Eeek! Now what?

Well, simply go back to your plan and review it.

What didn’t work?

What did work?

What other opportunities are there to find pilot or real clients?

Who can help you get clarity on these things, so you can progress your plan?

As you can see, it’s one thing to come up with a strategy and plan, but life and business don’t go according to plan.

Your ability to problem-solve, troubleshoot, brainstorm, seek help or even pivot are what will help you succeed.

Please know this – there is no magical solution to any of these or any other problems. They require focus, attention, and work.

This is the reality of running a business, and you will gain valuable experience not just for yourself, but also empathy for your clients who are going through exactly the same process!

Summary

Today I mentioned that planning is essential for a successful business, but many plans go awry or fail.

The three ingredients for success are:

1. Start with a big-picture strategy

2. Turn the strategy into a structured, SMART plan

3. Review and Course Correct with help in order to stay on track for success.

If you need help with business planning, I have three spots available in January. Click here to book.

Otherwise, you can waitlist for my June Passion to Profit Course where we go through the foundational work behind the plan that is essential for success.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More
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E#147 Being Prepared (Getting Ready)

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This episode is about being prepared (getting ready)

If you are thinking about embarking on a big journey or a big change like starting a business, losing 10 – 20kg, training for a marathon or having a family, or changing careers, then you’re probably thinking that you need to be prepared or organised before you can start.

It’s great to be prepared because it can help you to feel confident, but on the flipside, trying to be too prepared means you may never feel ready to take a step.

As somebody who totally knows this from lived experience, I want to invite you to think about what being prepared creates for you, and how to do it in a way that doesn’t sabotage your success.

In this episode, I’ll talk about 
* The meaning of getting prepared
* When to know you are ready
* What and who can help you

What does getting prepared actually mean?

A lot of people talk about needing to be fully prepared before they launch their business, or to be totally ready before they take action in some area of their life. But what does getting prepared actually mean? It’s like the ubiquitous “I need to get organised” statement that people say. 

When I question my clients on this, they’re often not very clear on what it means to get prepared. They’re often not really sure about what getting organised means or when enough is enough. So I invite you to think about that right now, and to get some clarity around the specific things that you must do to be prepared enough to take action in some area.

I can give you a few ideas to get you started.

In business, getting prepared means you have done enough market research to define a viable niche. 

Logistically you need to have a business number set up, a separate bank account, a LinkedIn profile set up, and to have clarity on a core service you will sell and the benefits of that service.

You need to know what you’re charging and how you will collect money.

You need documentation to run that service, and you need a marketing plan to start reaching customers and building your professional networks.

If you have those things then you are prepared.

Even though that’s a business example, you can follow the same process for life.

For example let’s say you’ve been studying something and you need to know whether you are prepared enough and ready to sit the exam.

So in this case, you might have read the text book a couple of times, you might have answered the study questions, you might have done some practice practical sessions, and you have reached a point where you sense you know the answers when you hear or read certain questions being asked.

On paper, for both of these examples, it looks like you’re organised and prepared.

But when will you be ‘ready’?

So here’s the other half of the equation. Logistically you’ve ticked all the boxes, but do you feel ‘ready’ to take action, in terms of your confidence, your motivation and your energy?

Being prepared is one thing,  but feeling ready is another.

 If you have ticked all of the logistical boxes but you’re not feeling very confident or sure about your next steps or whether they will be successful, then there is some mindset work that you might need to do and some limiting beliefs that you need to overcome before you can actually start taking action.

I see this a lot in students studying health and wellness coaching, but also people who’ve made any sort of change in their lives.

I’ve seen people lose weight in an 8 or 12 week program, and then not feel ready to make lasting behaviour change and wanting to go back to their old ways.

I have seen people get study completed and get everything ready to set up a business, and then back away from it because they lack the confidence in themselves or their knowledge of this skill to start the ball rolling.

Any sort of change into a new direction requires you to change your identity. This isn’t an overnight thing. 

The first critical step to changing your identity is developing the belief that you can become a different sort of person.

This is a hard step, but a very important one. This belief in your ability to become successful is required to find the motivation to get started and to persist, even when things are hard.

You need to draw deep on your strengths and get support, and to create the environment of success to persist and succeed no matter what.

If you’re a long time listener of my podcast, you might recall me telling the story of my motorbike trip across Australia. A key point in that story  is that everybody I told about the coming trip either laughed at me or told me I was an idiot. Nobody was backing me to do that trip. My boyfriend at the time thought I could do it, my two sisters were neutral and said please be careful, but everybody else tried to talk me out of it and told me that I couldn’t do it. Luckily I had enough self-belief that I could ride a motorbike through all sorts of terrain that I had never experienced and get to the other side and return unscathed.

You can see how easy it could have been in that situation to let myself be talked out of the trip. I was terrified about it, having never ridden a motorbike before in my life and only having just got my licence.

But while I was vulnerable to the opinion of all the ’nay-sayers’ around me,  I was still able to imagine myself persisting through the difficult times, using the support of my boyfriend at the time and my mental strengths and skills, and a physical strength program I’d developed and used to get me to the other side.

While this was a physically- and mentally-demanding trip for me with a risk of injury or accident, many of the things that we are terrified doing in life are actually not life-or-death situations.

In many cases, the consequences of failure are a lot less than what we make them out to be.

I had a business coaching client once who booked a coaching session with me but could not take any action until she had spoken to her supervisor at work about her plans to build a business in the background. She couldn’t even bring herself to do market research!

I had a weight loss client who wouldn’t start making any progress into her journey until after her one-week holiday overseas, which was 6 weeks away.

So to answer the question, when will you be ready, I suspect it’s more to do with making a decision, waiting for something to occur, picking a start date, and finding the courage and support you need to take action and get traction with your new venture – whatever it is.

What and who will help you?

In my example of the motorbike trip, I mentioned that I was relying on the support of my boyfriend at the time, my own strengths, and my own physical and mental preparation. 

The question is for you now, what and who will help you on your journey?

What are the character strengths that you have to that will help you through the difficult parts  more easily?

What are the strengths and skills you bring to the project that will ensure your success or at least give you confidence in some areas?

What sort of mental and/or physical preparation will you need to do?

Who are the people you need to rally around you and help you to stay motivated, to brainstorm ideas, to download to, and troubleshoot problems as they come up?

I’ve never heard of any great success being achieved by one person completely on their own. If you know of one, please let me know because I would be very interested to hear that story.

What is your platform for action?

Let’s bring these elements together for a moment and talk about your platform for action. 

Whatever your project is, whatever the thing is that you wish to do, there are going to be some logistical aspects you need to complete to be prepared.

What are those things?  Write a list.

Now, there are going to be some mental or self confidence aspects you need to work on before you feel ready to start.

What is the decision you need to make?

What do you need to commit to?

What do you need to believe in advance?

Why is that important to you?

Finally, there are the strengths and supports you need to put in place as your backstop to help you be consistent and persistent.

What are those strengths?

How will you draw on them?

Who are the people who will help you?

How will they help you?

I encourage you to put these things into a plan with specific activities scheduled into your calendar.

When you have all of your ducks in a row, you will finally be prepared and feel ready to take action and get traction.

Summary

Today, we’ve really dug into the idea of ‘getting prepared’ but behind that, ‘being ready’ to take action.

Whether it’s your business or your life, you certainly need to tick a few boxes but you also need to manage your thoughts, get support and make some commitment to when and how you will take your first steps.

A lot of people give up before they even start, even though the consequences are often not exactly life or death.

The worst that can happen to you is an emotion.

If you can just do enough to get started, then it might free you up to work and live on purpose and do what you were meant to be doing in the world.

I invite you to reach out if you need support for this – it’s exactly the work we do in the Passion to Profit Program.

Ready to get clarity on your pathway to success?

Understanding who you are and what you need will allow your business to thrive! If you’re truly ready to break old habits and get out of the rut I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More
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Episode 93: Client Strengths = Better Marketing

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In today’s episode, I want to show you a great way to capture important information about your clients so that you can learn more about who your ideal client is, who you naturally attract, and how to become more of a client magnet.

There are really two parts to working with clients in a coaching relationship. 

The first part is to help our clients become more self aware so that they know what thinking and doing habits need to change. 

When our clients are more self-aware it facilitates the second main part of coaching clients, which is helping them to experiment with new lifestyle habits and make those changes in a way that suits them, their needs and their personalities.

Coaches use a variety of quizzes and questionnaires to help clients become self-aware. I call this ‘grow’ content because every time a client learns something about themselves it helps them to grow a little.

And one of the main tools that coaches use is the VIA strength test.

In this episode I want to walk you through a step-by-step process of enhancing the professionalism of your practice, and using the VIA strengths test information to enhance your marketing.

VIA strengths test

The VIA Institute on character is an organisation that combines the science of strength with the practice of well-being. 

According to their website:

The VIA Institute on Character helps people change their lives by tapping into the power of their own greatest strengths. Established as non-profit organization in 2001, we set out – and continue to – advance both the science and practice of character, and empower those on their strengths-building journey. That’s why we make our research accessible to everyone and offer the VIA Survey free of charge, worldwide.

 

Every time a client learns something about themselves it helps them to grow a little.

They say that “your character strengths are the qualities that come most naturally to you. They say that every individual possesses all the 24 character strengths in different degrees, giving each person a unique character strengths profile. And when you know your strengths you can improve your life and thrive. The research reveals that people who use their strength a lot are 18 times more likely to be flourishing than those who do not use their strengths.”

The VIA character strengths test is a core piece of strengths-based coaching and it sets the scene for introducing positive psychology into your coaching sessions, and helping your clients create an upward spiral with their health and wellbeing habits.

Enhancing Your Professionalism

As a scientist by training, I’m a strong believer that every time you do something in your business it makes sense to do it in the most professional, replicable, efficient and streamlined way possible. 

And the first tip that I want to share with you today is something that is going to help you build your professional, credible reputation.

You can actually create your own professional account on the VIA website and you can store basic client results in that website. 

Firstly, what that means is that you can give your client a personalized link to the VIA website that has your practice name or business name in the URL.

Here’s how you set that up.

Firstly visit www.viacharacter.org. 

Click on the ‘Professionals’ menu link in the top right of the screen.

Choose ‘Pro Sites’ from the dropdown menu.

Read the information on that page, scroll down and go to the Create Your Pro Site Now button, and follow the prompts.

Now, you can send your clients a unique URL with your business name in it, taking them to the VIA test.

My link is http://melaniejwhite.pro.viasurvey.org

Now, when your clients take this survey you will be sent an email letting you know that they have completed it and you will be able to log into this website and see a list of clients who taken the strengths survey, the date that they took the survey, and you’ll be able to click through to see their results. 

This is all free. 

There are other things that you can get with a paid account but you probably don’t need those things yet.

Know Your Niche, Enhance Your Marketing

Here is the really interesting thing about the data that you collect over time.

I have a couple of coaches that work in my business as licensees for an 8-week weight loss program that I developed. 

Recently, I downloaded The VIA survey data for all of our clients from that program.

Then, I made a spreadsheet that lists the top 5 strengths of the clients who have recently taken the test. And then I sorted them by coach. 

My theory is that we tend to attract people who are 80% like us and I wanted to see if this strengths data reflected that different coaches are actually attracting different kinds of clients.

And the results are pretty amazing. 

For the clients that I have coached recently around weight loss, their top 3 strengths fairness, gratitude and honesty. All of my clients have had at least two of these in their top 3 strengths.

For another coach in my business, all of her clients top 3 – 4 strengths were honesty, kindness, love and humour.

So very clearly the two of us are attracting slightly different kinds of people. Honesty is something that all of our clients have as a very high ranking strength. 

But hers are slightly different to mine. 

I also see that my clients are much more consistent in the top 3 strengths than the other coach, and perhaps that means that she works with a slightly broader range of clients or that her niche is less defined than mine.

What does this all mean, and how can we use this to improve our marketing? 

Well looking at my client list, and knowing that I seem to attract people whose top strengths are gratitude, fairness and honesty, I know more about my ideal client AND I can more likely attract them with sales copy that creates those sorts of emotions.

I can present my offer in a way that seems fair.

I can be open and frank about who it is and isn’t for, and what is or isn’t included.

I can share my gratitude for being able to help others around through the power of their transformation.

This is just a bit of an idea of how you could use this information but it’s really amazing to see these trends and to understand the power of this information.

Regularly checking in with strengths survey results and collating the data in this way might make a big difference to your ability to attract and engage potential clients. 

Summary

To wrap up today’s episode as coaches we like to help clients become self-aware and to use their strengths to experiment with and form new habits.

We use a variety of quizzes and questionnaires to create aha moments and raise self-awareness.

The VIA character strengths questionnaire is a recognised tool that many Health and wellness coaches use.

You can go to the VIA website and create your own professional account, as part of your professional positioning.

Being more self-aware helps our clients to experiment with new lifestyle habits and make those changes in a way that suits them.

In addition to that, you can collate client data in a spreadsheet and identify trends that tell you important things, like how clearly defined your niche is, the common ground between you and your ideal client, and the types of strengths and emotions that might resonate with them in your marketing copy.

I’ve included links in the transcript of this episode to help you get started on getting to know your clients better.

Ready to know your client better?

Quizzes are just one of many tools that can make your coaching business easier and more effectictive. If you’re truly ready to break old habits and make your life easier I encourage you to check out the Habitology membership.

Learn more here:

Learn More