Oprah Winfrey said “I have come to believe that we all have a calling as unique as our fingerprint; that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love, then find a way to offer it to others in the form of a service.”
You have amazing gifts, life experiences, training and talents that only you have. It is a matter of cultivating those talents and skills and having a clear strategy and systems to support you in turning it into commercially viable services and products.
You might be in a place where you are not sure where to start to find clients online and have probably tried going around to networking groups and feel like what you really desire is a business that gives you location freedom, where you are able to work with clients internationally and create great value for them through your work online.
In this article, I am sharing with you 5 steps that you can take to start packaging your brilliance and selling high-end services online.
#1- GRANT YOURSELF PERMISSION TO BE THE EXPERT AND BE WELL COMPENSATED
Over the years, what I have seen work, is that you have to become that you want to attract. What I mean by that is, say you are trying to attract the love of your life who will treat you with respect, appreciate you, be supportive, loving, fun and honest; usually when you give yourself permission to have that and then be all these things with yourself first, that’s when you attract that into your life with greater ease.
It is the same in business and building a high-end brand online. You need to become the high-value coach, consultant and person so that these types of clients will be attracted to you. This has a lot more to do with what is happening inside of you than on the outside. Who you are giving yourself permission to be.
Are you giving yourself permission to be well-paid for your expertise or downplaying your brilliance? Are you allowing yourself to be well supported so that you can provide a high level of support for your clients? Packaging your brilliance and being paid for it, requires acknowledging that you are brilliant and worthy of being well compensated. That you are unique and that there isn’t a person on the planet with your exact D.N.A, personality, life experience, career experience and self-expression. That my friend makes you already worthy of millions.
Access my free “Permission to Be The High-End Expert” workbook that will guide you through the process on giving yourself permission to be the expert at this link.
#2- SELL WHAT YOU ARE GREAT AT NOT WHAT YOU CAN DO
Seven years ago when I first started my business, I wasn’t quite sure what area of luxury marketing and brand building I wanted to make my focus. I had a lot of passions and decided to explore them. I did graphic designing, event planning, strategic partnership negotiation, marketing planning, product development and brand strategy. I even started a printed luxury lifestyle magazine distributed at luxury hotels, marinas and yachts.
I realized that though I was good at these things, some brought me more pleasure, felt more natural and created greater results for my clients. I focused on offering the services that I am great at. There is power in focus and this level of focus allowed me to go deeper into a specific area and develop expertise that greatly benefit my clients.
I found more joy in my work and saw the results, as clients recognized me for a specific type of work. Projects, referrals and clients came to me because I focused on a specific problem: helping them become more visible and sell high-end services with a stand out luxury brand. When you go narrow and then go broad instead of going broad in focus and narrow on expertise, the results are amazing for everyone.
What you need to remember is, it doesn’t matter if you do your own make-up everyday, it doesn’t mean this has to become your business, unless that is your passion and desire (learn more about uncovering your desires in this free training). Focus on what you are great at, what can create the most transformation for your clients, commit to developing mastery, learn more than everybody else in that space and get paid for it.
#3 UNCOVER YOUR IDEAL CLIENT
In the past if you had a website with a few products and services available for sale people would buy. Today there are over 1 billion website online. However, that should not deter you from building your dream brand online. It’s actually the good news because that means more of your ideal clients can be reached via the Internet.
Maybe you are feeling that there are lots of people out there already saying the same things or that the market is saturated. That’s where having a clear brand strategy, message, clarity on who you are serving and distinct brand identity will help separate you from the rest.
Your ideal client should be the people who have a problem or desire that your expertise and products are the best solution for. Your products and services should be the bridge between their challenge/opportunity or desire and your expertise (your zone of genius).
These people need what you have to offer, so ensure that you’re not just selling vitamins but offering irresistible painkillers. They also need to be willing and able to pay for what you have to offer and they see the value in doing business with you.
Start with these three questions to uncover your ideal client:
1) Who you can best serve (GENDER, AGE, DEMOGRAPHY) given your skills and knowledge you have, love and are great at?
2) What problem/goal can you help them with?
3) How can you best serve this person?
For more on this you can access my free training here.
#4 MASTER YOUR MESSAGE
When I wanted to move from my 9-5 job to start my own consulting business (and now coaching women all over the world online), knew that having great products was not enough. People need to connect with your message.
It is what will move you from unknown and unpaid, into selling your brilliance and getting well compensated for your amazing work. This is what took me from a cubicle to consultant for award-winning international luxury brands and brilliant women online.
It’s all about tapping into your ideal client’s existing or unconscious world view. What does that mean? Well your ideal client has a way of seeing the world or an opinion both expressed or unexpressed on how things should be.
The job of your brand is to align your brand strategy, message and movement to support or awaken their worldview. For example, Apple democratized computers. They aligned with the worldview of consumers that computers should be easy to use, stylish and accessible to all.
They encourage us to “Think Different” and many of us (including me) not only connected with this message but will argue till tomorrow with PC users that our Apple products are the best.
This is the type of emotional connection you need to make with clients online. Often we do this my tapping into the unconscious mind of consumers by using archetypes. My clients get excited uncovering what that is for their brand because the message and movement becomes even clearer and their ideal clients feel more connected.
The key to remember is that clients already have a way of seeing the world, you need to bridge the gap by aligning your core message to their beliefs (conscious or unconscious) and connect with how they see themselves.
#5 MARKETING YOUR MESSAGE
When it comes to marketing your brand online, you need to do three things:
1) Clarity: Your strategy, messaging and offer need to be clear to your ideal clients. Women come to me because they want to package their brilliance into a luxury brand and create a clear strategy and message that to sell their high-end services online, while having the freedom to work from home and travel the world. Why do your clients come to you? What is your clear strategy, message and offer? Who are you serving?
2) Consistent: Consistency is what will take your brand to another level, creating faster brand recognition and helping your ideal clients connect your brand to certain activities even before they see your logo or symbol.
When your brand is consistent, people feel like they can trust your brand. It shows reliability. This seamless look and feel across all your brand touchpoints, give your clients a sense of ease. People like some level of predictability and they want to stay in love with what they feel in love with. It’s like a relationship, if you dated a guy and he was sweet and the next day began acting cranky and controlling, you would be confused and probably run for the hills. Consistency in your positioning, values and message, shows that your brand is focused and stable.
3) Constancy: This is why celebrities are regularly in the press, social media, on TV or somewhere in front of their ideal clients. They understand the importance of constancy in staying relevant and top of mind as a brand. When you look at a brand like Oprah. She is always visible and consistently present on her weekly show.
It is your ability to stay noticed and seen by your ideal client. However, this must be strategic and well planned. If you don’t have a clear brand strategy, your ideal client is unclear and the value that you offer is not clear, then you may be visible but not sending a clear and consistent message. Once you have clarity done, get out and be very visible.
Leverage the tools available like social media, blogging, podcasts to build regularity and get seen. Use the top two or three social media platforms and tools that will best reach your ideal client. Become a master of at least one of these social media platforms to leverage the growth of your brand.