Jade Craven

My Digital Portfolio

jade@jadecraven.com

The ‘Don’t Be A Dick’ Guide To Influencer Outreach

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I have been involved in the blogging industry since 2008. In that time, I’ve seen huge changes in how both bloggers and brands approach influencer outreach. Strategies have become overused and growth hackers have been offering tools that take all humanity out of the process.

What once worked is no longer effective. In this post, I’ll share the strategies and behaviours that will annoy influences and increase the chances that they’ll immediately send your email to the trash.

Overused strategies

Many of the outreach strategies I’ll be criticising can be effective – if done correctly. Unfortunately, too many people are skimming the educational articles, ignoring the disclaimers and advice the authors give and take it to the worst extreme.

Round-up posts

Round-up posts used to be an incredibly effective way to drive traffic and establish authority. It can still be quite useful, in certain niches, where too many people haven’t taken advantage of it.

It becomes problematic when too many beginners in the niche jump onto the trend. Many posts end up being poor quality – with generic editing and little background information – which can lead to the expert ignoring all requests.

Consider Chris Brogans perspective:

Make yourself the reader, the consumer of that “content” for a moment. (I’m glad I don’t have to pay for quotation marks. If you and I were talking face to face about this, my fingers would be sore from “air” “quotes” by now.) There’s no reason anyone really wants to read the opinions of a dozen or so “experts” on anything in particular.

Due to the saturation, it has less impact. The experts you consult are less likely to remember you if you are just one of many asking. It can get to a point where you see all roundup requests as a win/lose situation, one that favours the person making the request.

Additionally, bloggers are more discerning. They don’t want their name tarnished by association if they don’t agree with the principles of others who are consulted for the list. They also don’t want to be associated with a blog that is of poor quality.

The good news? You can still create an awesome roundup. You just have to put more work into it.

For ideas, check out How to Write a Great Round-Up Post and How to write great, data-driven roundup blog posts.

Using an obvious template

In May, Darren Rowse posted on Facebook about receiving an outreach email that wasn’t customized. It generated a lot of discussions, especially as many others had received the exact same email.

Later, Darren shared how easy it is to tell when something is a template:

“Don’t use formulas – even when you fill in the gaps correctly and send the 2nd version you have to realise that as a podcast host I get up to 10 pitches a day (I know other hosts who get many more) from people wanting to be interviewed and in almost all cases they follow the same formula and look very copy and paste.”

Many recipients can even recognize the source of the template, as shown in this Facebook post by Chris Brogan.

The issue occurs when people use these templates with minimal changes, rather than using them as a basic framework for their outreach. To quote from Seth Godin, “the art is to see patterns, but to use them to do something new, something that rhymes.”

Additionally, the fake flattery used in a lot of these templates mean little when the recipient doesn’t recognize you as being part of their community. Many bloggers will question your honesty if you say you are a huge fan but haven’t engaged with any of their content.

This isn’t to say engagement is necessary. Does Blogger Outreach Really Require Engagement? shows how you can successfully reach out to influencers without building prior relationships.

Not properly researching when link building

In a series of tweets, Joel Runyon shared the story of a person trying to claim he was “a more authoritative source on Bulletproof than the company that owns the trademark.”

A representative of a website contacted Joel seeking a link, based on the fact that Joel had linked to content on a similar topic. Joel tried to educate the person: asking whether his site did indeed have more authority and telling him that people are getting sick of templated emails. The representative then subtly guilted him, pointing out that the advice did work and he mustn’t have been offering enough value.

The original person was right. These techniques do work – when you have done proper research. People aren’t going to trust a person who gets information wrong in their first email. This especially applies to the social circle of that person.

As Joel later said,

“All these BS outreach methods don’t take into account that I’m FRIENDS with the people that they’re trying to get me replace their sites with.”

Wrong Mindset

Most influencers are incredibly protective of the community they have spent years building. This means that are reluctant to lend their authority to those who were disrespectful at the outset. Many people now associate an appearance with an endorsement, which means that an influencer has to be more discerning about who they help out.

Here are the main examples I see repeated on social media.

Feeling Entitled That The Influencer Will Share

Paul Jarvis, one of the kindest creatives I know, elaborated on this in Not everything needs to be paid back in full. According to him,

The problem is when people go into these business relationships, thinking solely how they can give X at the start, simply because they need X in return from that person right after.

He later shared an example of how a person sent him four emails asking him to share an interview someone had done with him. They were so persistent that he regretted doing the interview.

Entitlement is a guaranteed way to ensure that a blogger never works with you. Reciprocity should be a bonus and not an expectation. As Nat Eliason said,

No matter how much of their stuff you’ve read, they have no idea who you are or why they should like you or help you, so you have to prove to them why they should care about you. Your ability to rattle off their past works doesn’t mean that you’re automatically friends, and them publishing things online doesn’t mean that everyone who reads them has the right to their time.

You can’t assume you’re entitled to their time, you have to show them why they want to give you time.

Guilting the blogger

Most people will just delete unsolicited pitches due to time constraints, but some will still respond. Often, this is to prevent the inevitable follow up emails.

One technique that is being used by cold contacts currently is guilt. Sol Orwell shares an example in Learning from terrible networking

Sol participates in many business-related networking groups and as a result, gets more pitches than most. In this example, the contact sent a copy and paste response stating that community is about sharing and support.

Asking for the share if you have an existing relationship is understandable, and often expected in many niches. Trying to guilt someone, though, is a surefire way to get marked as spam.

Amber Naslund wrote about four main problems with using guilt as leverage in The Worst Influencer Outreach Strategy Yet.

Being too persistant

I’ve been a blogging recluse for the past five years. Over the past 2 weeks, I’ve received four emails from a person claiming that he found me on LinkedIn and wanted me to share a social media infographic.

I deleted my LinkedIn account years ago. That lack of research, combined with the sheer persistence, guarantees that I’ll never work with him.

Follow-ups are effective, as most of us are busy and emails can get overlooked. Chris Brogan – someone who receives a large amount of bad outreach – recommends that you send “no more than two emails. Ever. If someone doesn’t reply, take the hint. (After the 2nd email, not a 3rd or more.)”

there is a fine line between a person coming across as driven and passionate, compared to someone that is aggressive and uses people. Don’t be the latter.

How To Stand Out? Make Sure Your Pitch Is Relevant

Influencers know the rhetoric. Their audience is even aware of it. This means that they have to be more discerning about what they link to. Someone writes about them? Brilliant. However, outside of the ego boost and social proof, will that post be relevant to their audience?

Showing that you care about a persons time and ensuring your pitch is relevant will make you stand out above hundreds of others. Keep these strategies in mind for when you next ask for a favour.

 

Screw The Tipping Point. It’s All About The Flywheel Effect, Baby.

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In online business, most people fantasize about The Tipping Point. It’s a concept made famous by Malcolm Gladwell in a book of the same name.  It is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.

Many people assume that when their online brand takes off, they’re set. That instant popularity will bring instant riches and everything will fall into place.

The reality is more like the flywheel, which is described below.

“Picture a huge, heavy flywheel. It’s a massive, metal disk mounted horizontally on an axle. It’s about 100 feet in diameter, 10 feet thick, and it weighs about 25 tons. That flywheel is your company. Your job is to get that flywheel to move as fast as possible, because momentum — mass times velocity — is what will generate superior economic results over time.

Right now, the flywheel is at a standstill. To get it moving, you make a tremendous effort. You push with all of your might, and finally, you get the flywheel to inch forward. After two or three days of sustained effort, you get the flywheel to complete one entire turn. You keep pushing, and the flywheel begins to move a bit faster. It takes a lot of work, but at last the flywheel makes a second rotation. You keep pushing steadily. It makes three turns, four turns, five, six. With each turn, it moves faster, and then — at some point, you can’t say exactly when — you break through. The momentum of the heavy wheel kicks in your favor. It spins faster and faster, with its own weight propelling it. You aren’t pushing any harder, but the flywheel is accelerating, its momentum building, its speed increasing.”

Jim Collins, Author, Good to Great

Reaching that crucial tipping point is just the start of your transition to successful business owner. You’ve overcome the main hurdle, but you have to keep pushing that flywheel to reach that certain level of momentum.

During the early stages, you’ll have to work hard to match your previous successes. They start to get easier. Eventually, you’ll reach a point where the momentum is continuing with very little effort on your behalf.

This is what businesses owners should be striving for. It’s not as sexy as internet fame, but internet fame doesn’t pay the bills.

Talkers: The Most Important Element Of Your Traffic Strategy

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There are a group of people that enjoy talking about cool stuff.  If you wanna rock at networking or marketing then you have to ‘get’ talkers – or know someone that does.

Anyone can be a talker, but there are certain types of people online that will relay your message faster. I’ll teach you the different types of talkers, how they can help you and how you can connect to them.

You can thank me later.

The Curator

The curator is a content marketer that finds the best information and presents it in an easy to understand manner.

Rohit Bhargava called it the next big social media job of the future. He described it as “Someone whose job it is not to create more content, but to make sense of all the content that others are creating. To find the best and most relevant content and bring it forward”

Curation, for the most part, hasn’t become a full time social media job but it has become a vital part of many people’s careers. There are sites like paper.li that curate information however people respond best to content that is which is hand-picked by a curator who focuses on a particular topic.

This can be:

  • A list post
  • A regular collection of the best articles for that niche (such as Kristi Hines Fetching Friday)
  • A twitter list
  • A PDF Magazine or newsletter

The information can be presented in many forms – it’s up to how the curator how they share the information. The consistent thing is that there is a focus on quality and that the information is grouped.

Why we need curators:

  • People are busy and don’t have time to filter through, and organize, information.
  • Curators can make more connections between information as they are exposed to a lot more of it
  • Curators allow you to monitor trends across multiple industries easily. This allows you to monitor complimentary niches

Curators are one of the easiest type of talkers to find. Most regularly seek contributions from their community.

If you want to read more about this concept, you can read Rohit Bhargavas follow up post, The Five Models of Content Creation.

The gatekeeper

The gatekeeper is a person that restricts the flow of information. They can work in an official manner, either as a team member or the person that fields the majority of communication to that person, or be a friend that unofficially passes on the best information.

They don’t usually add to the conversation. They have the ear of the influencer that hired them and their biases/opinion may affect how the influencer perceives you.

See, it’s not only the influencer that matters. Gatekeepers also talk privately amongst those in their peer group. Basically, if you piss off a gatekeeper you can really damage your reputation.

We need the gatekeepers to prevent the influencer from being overwhelmed. The alternate is that they will cut off communication channels and that you’ll have to compete against a lot of noise to get attention.

How to get to the gatekeeper:

  • Create great content. In Referral Engine, John says that “great content gets you past the gatekeeper”
  • Be professional. Some people treat the gatekeeper as second class, especially if they are an employee. If you’re rude to the gatekeeper, you can be pretty sure they will warn their peers, and superiors, about you.
  • Make their job easier. Provide all the information they need the first time, and follow up with their responses promptly. Treat them like you would their boss.
  • Let them access review copies. When I was a gatekeeper, people who let me access the product beforehand usually got a quicker recommendation
  • If they turn you down, ask if they have any recommendations. Sometimes a product may not be a right fit for the blog, but most gatekeepers are really savvy. I used to love recommending other sites as it made me, and my boss, look good.
  • Don’t try to be friends unless you actually plan to follow through. I get really annoyed at people that work hard to develop a rapport, and then stop communicating once they’ve got what they want. It’s a gatekeepers job to tell those above them why something is awesome. You’d save so much more time by being friendly, honest and explaining why you want the authority to talk about your thing.

The filter

The filter is someone that goes through the masses of information and finds the hidden gems. They differ from the curator in that they search for one gem, rather than collating multiple resources

The curators are awesome. However, they generally rely on stuff that has been referred to them. The filter has a lot more time to research to ensure that something is high quality. We need them because they are able to put in the time to find the best information that everyone can then benefit from.

How to Connect With a Filter

Connecting with a filter can be difficult. They will get a lot of resources sent to them and won’t have the time to check them all out. Here are the tips that have helped people connect to me:

  • You’ll often find that filters have an inner circle made up of talkers. If someone in my inner circle is impressed by you, I’ll be willing to invest more time into researching you
  • I have friends that are filters within their own communities that I get information from. It sounds complex, but telling them about your new thing may increase the change of the information being sent up to me.
  • In most cases, other people will be talking about you or your thing. Linking to what they are saying may help me figure out

See – it’s like networking marketing. Only instead of getting money, the person at the top gets authority and a lot of information. The higher someone gets, the more they rely on a group of their own filters to save them time on research.

Most people try to get attention of the filters at the top, and that is a good strategy. However, they are very busy. It’s unlikely they’ll be unable to do much with the information. Starting at the bottom can result in more people talking about you and more trust as you’ll have a wide range of people recommending you.

You will have to be up front when you approach people. I, like many of my peers, get offended when someone engages me and has an ulterior motive.  We get pitched a lot and like it when you make our job easier and send us a new resource. Remember: focus on the benefits to their audience.

The connector

Theconnector is a social person that has built a reputation from connecting people and products. They are useful because people seek them privately for their opinions on products.

This is my main talking style. Trust me – the industry needs people like this. They can see tiny connected threads that link seemingly unrelated bits of information. If they decide to help you out, they can shave months off your career by connecting you to the right person.

It’s easy to see a connector – especially if they are also a cheerleader. Some of their connections are public, where the blatantly connect people via social media. However most of the connections are done in private, or via recommendation. This is the best way to identify them is to watch the conversation around them or wait until they try to connect you with someone.

Most people wouldn’t peg me as a connector – they only realize this when they are told. The main reasons I get identified as one is:

  • When someone mentions my connecting skills in a blog post. This is common with the reflective posts after an event, like BlogWorld, or when someone summarizes their blog’s progression for that year
  • When I do a popular list post. Most of the conversation will be about the people on the post, but there is a low level of discussion around the author.
  • When I get a specific referral.

How to Find a Connector

The best way to find a connector is to monitor the conversations in that niche. It is time consuming but well worth it. However, connectors get asked for favors a lot. I’d be very careful how you approach them. I’d suggest you:

  • Do your niche research. It always annoys me when people ask for help when they haven’t put any effort into helping themselves.
  • Ask if they have any recommendations of people you could connect with. Mention your research and ask if there are any complimentary niches or people you haven’t thought of. Show that you respect their time and expertise.
  • Connect them with people in your immediate network. Helping them goes a long way

The connector isn’t the best type of talker to try and connect to but if you do it correctly, it can be a very powerful relationship.

The cheerleader

The cheerleader is someone who is very vocal when they find something they love. They will tell everyone. Danielle Laporte is a classic example. When she finds something she loves, you know about it. Everyone knows about it.

We need cheerleaders. We need people who find cool stuff for the sheer fun of it. We need these people to remind us it is that we do what we do. Now, a cheerleader is probably the least effective talker to connect with unless they share traits with another talker profile.

The best way to get the attention of the cheerleader is via organic networking. If you are referred, provide all the information they need to make it easy for them to decide whether to recommend it or not. Be useful, but not pushy. Respect that they have become successful because they are discerning about product quality.

Types of talkers to be wary of

While this guide has focused on the positive talkers, you must remember that not everyone has the tact and credibility required to effectively connect to them. Be very careful that the people you talk to don’t fall into the following categories.

The collector

These talkers focus on building relationships to increase their metrics. They want more followers so that they can leverage the statistics for purely commercial gain. They’ll position themselves as a connector but do very little genuine connecting.

These are the type of people you’ll see in the press. They often have great reach but very little conversion. Many of the collectors I’m friends with are good people – I value their friendships highly. I’ll just be reluctant to refer people to them lest they become just another impersonal statistic.

The suck up

The suck up is someone who will only talk to you for their benefit. They’ll often come out of the woodwork after you’ve accomplished something amazing.

They are fine people to talk to, but it can be time consuming to constantly question their motive. They’ll ask for favors and advice just to connect with you, and brag about their connection with you. They can tarnish your brand if they try to leverage your trust for their gain. It depends on how credible they are.

Like with the collector, they are mostly good people. You just have to be extra careful about being associated with them.

How To ‘Seed’ Information

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Talkers are the ones most likely to generate conversation. For your ‘thing’ to become mainstream in your niche, they need to be aware of it. The best way to do this is sneezing.

According to ‘Anatomy of a Buzz’,

Seeding is when you give people in multiple clusters direct experience with the product in order to stimulate simultaneous discussion in multiple networks and accelerate the regular adoption process.

Yeah. Lots of big words.

Basically, it’s like high end designers letting celebrities have their clothes for free. Everyone sees it and will start talking about it. They didn’t have to wait for the advertising campaign so they want it now. There is demand, baby.

They’ll give this to different types of people, because they know that people have different tastes and hang out in different communities. Then BANG! The product is hot.

That, my friends, is seeding.

With celebrities, the PR guys mostly care about visibility. Someone just has to be photographed with the product. Online, it is different. It is complex and intrinsic and so much more difficult. Everyone is visible, and social, and a potential talker. How do you know who to seed to?

You could hire someone who does this for a living. Or, you could just read on.

The First Step

You won’t even HAVE to seed your idea if your thing is awesome. You know how I market my list posts? I don’t. I wait for the people on the list to realize they are on it and share it with their respective communities.

This isn’t replicable in most cases. I featured people who, do to the nature of their work, fitted the classic talker profiles. Of course they’d share it. Your work may not have the same level of viral-ness.

So. First step. Increase the awesome factor.

This doesn’t mean you have to add glitter and shiny things. It means you have to add something that will compel people to comment on it. It could be:

  • A bonus thingmabob or a surprise. This works for articles, surveys, whatever. It says ‘We know we took up your time so here, have a cookie’

  • Something funny.

How the sneezers can help you

Trust. They have it, you need it. Here’s the catch: You can’t buy trust. You can buy conversation, but trust is intangible.

Seeding creates a situation where they decide whether or not they want to lend their trust to your stuff. You may get turned down but you only need a few savvy talkers to help you.

Who should I target?

You need the trust. They have the trust. But how do you find the people you want to trust with talking honestly about your thing?

I rely on intuition to tell me who to seed to. I’ll see potential and I’ll just go for it. Sometimes it pays off. Sometimes it doesn’t. Here are the patterns I have noticed:

Nobodies

Influentials are so busy acting influential that they often aren’t power users of products. They try a product for a short period of time, pronounce judgment, and then move on to the next shiny new thing.

Nobodies aren’t similarly distracted. They have to use products for in their job, so they understand what’s needed and what’s good (or bad.)

via Enchantment.

Nobodies can have massive power and are worth paying attention to. But nobodies can just as easily take you for a ride.

How do I know if the ‘nobody’ is worth seeding to?

There are a lot of users and scammers out there. Here is how I tell if the person is worth it:

  • I do a basic Google search. If all the high ranking stuff is extremely relevant and complimentary, I get suss. I wonder if they’ve applied SEO tactics to make themselves look better rather than relying on genuine conversation

  • I monitor the conversation on twitter. I can usually see patterns that give me an insight to their talking style

  • I look at how they talk about stuff they like, and don’t like. I favor those that are fair rather than full of hype

Basically, I look at their overall online presence to get a feel for their personality. However this is only one factor of my decision. The other is their potential.

Some nobodies have the potential to become somebodies – no matter how small. I look for a desire to grow, and to succeed, because I know that the person has the drive to implement the product. This doesn’t just apply to marketing ones.

Some, like me, may have this irrational goal to grow random types of apple trees in a suburban backyard. Some may want to do hikes that last for months.

Ultimately, the motivation to take action is what makes the nobody worth seeding to.

Hubs

In Anatomy of a Buzz, Emanuel Rosen spoke about two different kinds of ‘hub’ – people who talk more than average about a particular product category. There was:

  • Social – those who talk more because they know more people.

  • Expert – those who talk more because they know more about something.

The Expert:

Here we’re talking about the authority bloggers. A lot of you are accumulating a lot of authority so you’d get that they have more responsibilities and less time.

They are awesome because their opinions carry a lot more weight. If they approve of something, then their audience feels assured it is of a certain standard. They also have less time to filter the information to ascertain is it’s worth recommending.

I would seed them, but place just as much emphasis on the gatekeeper. They talk to peers, but they also talk to authorities. If it’s awesome, the authorities will also share it. It is the best way to access both kinds of hubs. I think they are an untapped audience.

The Social:

Go for the social over the expert. They are an information broker between multiple clusters of people. Look at me. I was able to talk launch principles and distribute the information in under-monetized industries such as craft.

To find a social hub, you just have to look for people that fit more than one of the talker profiles – especially the cheerleader.

Conference attendees

You meet all kinds of awesome people at conferences. I have an easy rule. If we form a bond, and they are unfamiliar with my work then I’ll seed a product. Most people are overwhelmed by all the people they meet, and it can take a lot of effort to follow up.

If you follow up and give them a paid product, you are showing that you trust them. You are giving them something that represents your business. They can make a quick decision of whether your product fits with their work. Even if it doesn’t align with their work, they may recommend you to others.

How to increase the chance of people reacting to the seeding:

Using shock and awe

In the Thank You Economy, Gary Vaynerchuk introduced the concept of RCV, or relationship context value.

A few one-time expenses can pay off in a lifetime of loyalty from the people who are touched by the company’s generosity.

It’s a shock and awe tactic but it creates a chemical reaction. “Oh, we didn’t expect this. That was nice. Let’s talk about it!”

A great time to leverage this is after a conference. You’ve made tentative connections and people have made notes to research you properly later. You can make it easier on them by sending a copy of your flagship product – the one that has defined your career.

This means that the second thing they see (the first being you) is the thing that you are known for.

Look for those with listening posts

Most people have generic listening posts. They encourage you to interact on twitter, facebook and via the contact form and assume that will let them stay ahead.

The truly savvy people are creating custom listening posts. Doing this will allow you to become closer to your audiences needs and make you look authoritive.

Continuing the relationship

Sometimes the person you seed to will really enjoy the product and want to touch base.

Do it. Offer for them to email you if they want background information or want to know more about upcoming stuff. Treat them like a VIP press member.

Why Most Bloggers Suck At Networking

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I’ve been doing this for four years. Thanks to multiple pivots, I’ve been at all levels of the success ladder. I’ve seen the good and the bad qualities of A-Listers and newbies alike.

There are some qualities in most digital business owners that are detrimental to our communities. Many times, we are so focused on the success of our business that we forget to focus on the next generation of bloggers.

We’ve developed habits and processes that, in many ways, do mirror multi-level marketing. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with that. However, we are relying on certain practices despite the evolution of our business models.

In this post, I’ll be talking about a few of the behaviours that really piss me off. I’m not singling out any particular person or group of people. I just believe that we should be doing a better job.

People make recommendations based on the quality of the friendship – not quality of the product.

When people talk up a product, they’ll often talk up the person involved. They’ll share a story about how the person has helped them and hint towards the possibility of you having similar success.

Really, who can blame them?

We always show our best sides to those closest to us. We’ll work with them 1-1 and be brutally honest. However being a good friend does not mean you make a good teacher.

Most people won’t check out a product by a mate. They’ll base their recommendation on blind trust. People I barely know have spoken incredibly highly of me when my product was part of an only72 sale, which freaked me out.

I think being an affiliate of a product that is presold is extremely dangerous. I know of examples where people have just gone AWOL. Where does it leave those that recommended the product?

My belief is that networking, and friendships can make affiliate marketing dangerous. People are focusing on their friends, and bottom line, rather on taking care of their community. And, because of how interconnected everything is, people won’t speak up.

People won’t make negative comments about friends products.

I’ve left two negative reviews on Amazon. In both cases, I got emails from the writer that left me guilt-ridden and upset. The second was justified as I wrote a public post about why I disliked a book.

The reality is that bloggers either have to praise or shut up. I know of someone that wrote a positive review of a product but said that it probably wasn’t right for her audience. She explained why in clear and precise terms. She got an email from the product creator expressing his disappointment.

Negative reviews can be dangerous. If you alienate one person, you risk alienating everyone else in that verticle. Heck, you risk pissing off those in complementary niches. No-one wants to piss off the big kahuna.

People won’t publicly say they’ve been ripped off.

I know of several people who won’t ask for a refund because they don’t want to risk annoying the product creator. Everyone talks, and you don’t want to be ‘that guy.’ I know so many stories, especially when a blogger went AWOL for a while and were slack in customer service. I bore the brunt of many frantic emails but I know that there were many stories left unsaid.

In one case, a (former) popular blogger would publicly bitchslap anyone who sent a nasty email. She’d reframe the situation to make it look like she was the victim. No-one would speak out as they believed they’d be next.

If you publicly speak about it, you risk annoying their fans. They’ll be sympathetic and can be mob-like when pulling people into line. Their friends will contact you privately to justify their behaviour.

Granted, I know very few cases of people directly getting ripped off. Mostly, I see cases of people being disappointed in products who are willing to write off the ‘investment’ as a loss.

The ‘anyone can be a consultant mentality’

This is often spouted by people who really, should be responsible. Yes, anyone can be a consultant. It doesn’t mean that everyone should. Some people make lousy consultants and shouldn’t be charging that much. Others can give advice that is downright irresponsible.

  1. Some people should have training before even thinking about offering coaching
  2. If your only ‘business’ has been teaching others how to start a business then you should back right off. You have no right to be teaching other types of businesses unless you have a comprehensive understanding of different business models, markets etc.
I’m all about people teaching others and getting paid for their time. In this case, I just wish people would think more about their responsibility to those they are helping.

The guru effect

People are selling information for success when there only success is selling information to that audience. In many cases, they don’t have the skills to teach people for real business.

Peter Shallard wrote about this in Why being a “How-to” expert will destroy your potential. I wont rehash his advice but I like his emphasis on how it ruins innovation.

I can understand why people do this. There is so much uncertainty and risk associated with creating something new. Being a guru means you get a moderate amount of fame and regular income.

If you are comfortable with this model, fine. Just know that you risk become a one-hit wonder and having to work harder to regain your credibility.

The guru guest posting effect

This little number is a guaranteed way to make me disrespectful. Each year, there are a couple of people who are the guest post darlings. They write at all the A-List blogs and, naturally, increase their audience. They then use this ‘success’ as a selling point for everything else they do.

~Yawn. If that is your selling point, then you suck. It’s so easy to get a post on a top blog. It’s a matter of connections and understanding the audience. Guest posting success doesn’t mean you are talented at other things.

It’s easy to get caught up in the allure surrounding the guest post stars. But you know what? Each year it’s the same tactics on the same blogs. It’s dull, it’s repetitive and only the newbies think that you’re cool. Your peers are just kinda embarrassed for you.

I’m not against guest posting. I think there are a lot of people that are doing it in an intelligent manner. But the wannabe A-Listers that write guest posts about how to write guest posts make me cringe.

The student becomes the teacher

Social proof is everything. If you want to succeed as a coach, then you need examples of people that have achieved something as a result of your training.

Usually, you see a standout person. You give them extra mentoring and access to your connections. This is what people have done with me. You then use them as a case study testifying to your awesome.

The problem with this model is that your success is linked to your coach and his audience. It takes a lot of extra work to break into other verticals, so most people avoid it. People will go for the easy option to boost their success and it becomes this incestuous circle.

Listen – being a student is a great way to network and accelerate your career. I’ve done it and others have done it successfully. But it means you have to learn faster and have a higher calibre of product. If you aren’t ready for the extra work then stay small until you’ve achieved the necessary skillset.

Hyping up a product

There are two main launches going on at the moment. I see people tweeting about them, emphasizing how much the training has helped their business. In many cases, I know that these tweets are inaccurate and that the business owner is struggling.

I’m all for enthusiasm but this is wrong. Ethically, it’s wrong. Don’t do this.

Over to you.

This post may come across as a bit cranky pants but I wrote it because I think we can do better. The friendships that helped our career are the same ones that are stifling it.

We are capable of so much with our businesses. We can help so many people. We can’t if we aren’t doing the due diligence required to protect them from poor quality people and products.