December 17, 2020

“What should I do when The Why Conversation isn’t working?” and more...

In today’s group coaching session, we had a bunch of good questions that touched on topics like:

What to do when The Why Conversation isn’t working
How to start a mailing list for my buyers instead of my peers
Ways to monetize your private library of utility scripts
How to move from technical consulting to strategic consulting
How to decide whether or not you need to start a new website for a new offering
What to do if your clients don’t act on your advice
How do I know whether you am over- or under-delivering (i.e., “when is good enough, good enough?“)
How to transition from full-time employee to consultant without any financial safety net
What to offer at the end of a 3-month advisory engagement
How to manage the client when you are brought in late to the project, and through a third-party
How to launch a paid community centered around a niche software development language

Plus, we did a 15 minute teardown on the first draft of a website home page.

Good stuff!

Here are just some of the questions I answered today:

I need a new “why” conversation. The US Dept of Defense recently published new cybersecurity regulations so I’m talking to lots of prospective new clients. They conversation: Why this? “because I have to” Why now? “because I have to” Why me? “because you’re an expert” So how do I value price these jobs? The value is flipped in this situation, because they aren’t trying to grow their market or improve user experience, nothing positive, rather they are trying not to go out of business. (timestamp: 1m 57s)

I want to start a weekly email newsletter but am stuck on what to write about that would be interesting to my audience (manufacturers who want to optimize their website). I currently write about my craft of web design and development and attract my peers and companies that want me to do the implementation. But how do I attract and nurture a CEO/CMO who may not understand or care about the details of my craft but more the results they provide? (timestamp: 16m 36s)

I am a Google Ads specialist, using a lot of small scripts to automate the work. I am considering a service where people pay for the scripts I created to run my Google Ads agency. Occasionally I sell them as one offs, without support. I have a library of scripts that people are willing to pay anywhere between $100-$1000 for per piece. What business models would you suggest? (timestamp: 20m 4s)

My offerings are purely B2B-focused (high-touch engagements), but I see some market potential in building training/coaching programs targeting end users (includes some interaction/support). What are some of the pros and cons to consider in pursuing a hybrid B2B/B2C model? How could I know if the upfront investment is worth it or if it would just distract me from my core business? Should it be potentially spun off as a separate brand since the positioning would be a bit different? (timestamp: 32m 30s)

Hi Jonathan, can you speak a little about managing the transition from full time employee to consultant without any kind of financial safety net? I’m currently working full time while I build an initial client base. I have a couple of projects that are looking likely to kick off early next year. I’m aware that my time is a limited resource and I feel like I have some careful planning to do around managing executing contracts, managing the day job and moving towards consulting full time. (timestamp: 53m 15s)

Currently I’m getting work from designers that are struggling with development/code on web projects. The issue I’m running into that I’m usually brought into the project after it’s already under way and so I’m operating on a second hand budget/dealing (from the designer). In cases like this do you continue to interface with the client through the designer or would it be better to suggest that the end client reach out directly so you have more control over the project discussion (timestamp: 61m 33s)

I’m interested in re-launching my group coaching program. My gut feeling is that it will work best if there’s a clear focus so the participants feel each others questions are meaningful to them. I help companies make their Elm codebases more maintainable. I also help clients with my open source libraries that I maintain. Should I stick to one of those for the group coaching to avoid diluting it? (timestamp: 65m 35s)

(If you’re curious, you can review the entire list of past questions here)

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Yours,

—J

P.S. Would you like to see a FREE sample of what group coaching is like? Here’s a past session: FREE replay of Group Coaching session