The first time I met Jenny Shih, I was really disappointed.
Not in her. In myself.
A few months beforehand, I’d decided to start my own coaching business. I’d never really heard of coaching before, but as soon as I did I thought, This sounds like what I’ve been doing for free my whole life. I could get PAID for this?
Thinking about what I’d helped people with before, I picked the niche of teaching networking. In my past life, that was what I’d teach 21 year olds who wanted to get into radio, and people had started suggesting to me that other people (who had more money than 21 year olds wanting to get into radio)(which is to say, ANY MONEY) would pay for this service.
I’d been writing a blog for a few months (you can still see most of it by clicking here and people had been saying nice things about it. But I still hadn’t made a cent from the business and had no idea what I was doing.
So when Jenny Shih — who’s free content about how to build your online business I’d been DEVOURING — said she was opening up a few one-off coaching spots, I knew I needed her help. I was excited and terrified.
Terrified because it was the most money I’d spent on ANYTHING, ever! I can’t tell you exactly (because: discretion), but it was a BIG investment for me.
But excited because… I kind of knew how this was going to go.
People had given me really good feedback on my blogs. And my probono clients (aka my friends I coached for free) LOVED what I taught them. I was pretty certain that I was going to get on that call, and that Jenny would say something like,
“You know, Marsha, I don’t really have a lot more to add. You’re amazing. I’ve worked with a lot of people who are new to this, but you’re the best I’ve ever seen — you’re a natural! Let me send you over some clients who’ll pay you vast amounts of money for your wisdom.”
I’m not even totally kidding. With great embarrassment, here is a DIRECT QUOTE from the pre-session form I filled out for Jenny.
(Seriously, I can’t believe I’m about to share with you that I actually wrote this to another human being)(Let alone to JENNY BLOODY SHIH)
“I have this…really strong feeling that I’m made to do this kind of work, and my business is going to be wildly successful…
I hope when we speak you’ll get the sense that I’m not a big self-important, inflated ego type.
But I have this deep-rooted, completely certain feeling that this is going to go really well for me, and be an incredibly successful business, eventually…
Honestly? Mostly it’s just this weird physical certainty in my brain and heart.
Like a limb or an organ, something I can’t help, that’s just there.
I do hope that, during our session, you’ll agree with me.”
(omg! shut up, Past Marsha! what is WRONG with you?)
So, we get to the call. And here’s what Jenny says,
“No one is going to spend you money, unless there’s a specific problem you solve. No one is going to hire you just so that, in about two or three years, they have a great network of people in their world.”
Wait, WHAT?
I was deflated. This was not the carrying-me-on-her-shoulders response I was expecting and hoping for.
But you know what? She was bloody RIGHT.
Thanks to her, I figured out what was the specific problem I solved (helping you build relationships that lead to people promoting you to their people, therefore sending more clients to you), which helped me:
– figure out my niche
– figure out who my audience is
– talk to them in a way that made them go “OMG! I need that!” and,
– ACTUALLY start getting paid money for coaching people
Thank you for reading, for reading, and especially for not immediately running away when you saw what I wrote to Jenny before our coaching session. Jeebus.
You rule!
xx (Yes Yes) Marsha
PS Super keeno and want even more free Jenny Shih teachings? She’s just done an INCREDIBLE 3 video workshop which I watched the other day, and it’s pretty amazing. When I watched it, I actually jumped on my email and sent it to about 4 different friends of mine who I knew needed to see it. You can find it here.
P.P.S. I send out advice on how to tell stories (or examples of good ones) every week to the Yes Yes Family. Want to join plus get my PDF and video guide for the Magic Bullet when it comes to telling ANY story — all for free? Pop your details in below and I’ll MAKE IT HAPPEN:
Leave A Response