Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / How to Grow a Coaching Business with Malcolm Reid, Sr.

Transcript

How to Grow a Coaching Business with Malcolm Reid, Sr. · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Have you subscribed to the small biz chat podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast today.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, your host, and you know that our mission here at the Small Biz Chat
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  podcast is to end small business failure.
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  As always, if you are a fan of the Small Bitch Chat podcast, we always ask that you leave us a
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  positive review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
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  Let me introduce my guest, Malcolm Reed Senior.
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  He is the founder of ProGlobal Business Advisors.
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  He spent over eleven years helping more than 1,000 coaches worldwide build profitable, value
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  driven practices.
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  He delivers a proven business in a box, which is positioning systems, enrollment, and
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  delivery, and he also coaches people to operate like business owners.
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  Malcolm, welcome to the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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  Thanks so much for having me, Melendez.
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  Excited to be here.
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  Alright.
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  So jump in.
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  Tell me I mean, you you was doing something before you started coaching business owners.
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  So tell me what tell me a little bit about your background, how you came to create, pro global
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  business advisors.
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  Well, if I go way back, I was born in the slums of Baltimore, and being a business owner, doing
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  it the right way was not part of the journey back then.
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  Growing up, I a product of my environment.
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  I sold drugs, I went to prison, I did all kinds of craziness.
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  And so it put me in a position, Melinda, where I couldn't get a regular job.
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  You know, a convicted felon can't get a regular job.
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  High school dropout can't get a regular job.
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  So, you know, back then I had to get very creative and find ways to make money the right
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  way.
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  And, you know, I'm a firm believer that, you know, where you come from doesn't define where
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  you go, but the lessons I learned, the tenacity, never giving up, moving forward and
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  overcoming obstacles, I mean, it put me in a position where, again, couldn't take the
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  regular job, so I started a business selling snowballs.
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  I was a squeegee kid, I'd be on the corners washing windshields in exchange for money, and
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  so had that entrepreneurial spirit, you know, way back when I was younger, and then it took
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  me to the music industry, somebody told me I could sing one day, I didn't believe them, but
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  I started doing talent shows and opened a record company and things progressed from
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  there.
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  I had a business that burned down back in 1999, I was helping people rebuild their credit, and
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  they took me to the automobile industry.
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  I did not like car salespeople, like most of you, you don't like car salespeople, but what I
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  did is I said, You know what?
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  If I can find a way to make a customer like a car salesperson, I might be onto something, and
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  actually that's what I did for eighteen years, I would go to struggling dealerships and turn
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  them around.
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  But I didn't have a life and I was making money, but I was never home.
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  I couldn't enjoy the house, the family, I always missed the different events with my
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  kids.
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  And so one day I was like, Enough of this.
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  And I walked away.
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  I said, Baby, gonna go told my wife, I'm gonna go be a coach.
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  She said, You're gonna be a what?
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  I said, I'm gonna go coach people.
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  And I started in the franchise industry, helping families navigate the complexities of
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  buying the franchise and I realized something, even though they had all the systems and
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  everything, people were still failing because no one was teaching the business owner how to
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  be a real business owner.
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  They just were good at the thing they did.
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  And that's when I shifted Melinda to really working on the person because the business can
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  only grow to the extent that the person does.
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  And that's really where pro global came into play is like, let's work on the person, find
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  out what they want to do for their life.
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  And then we use the business as the asset to help them get there.
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  Wow, that's a whole lot that you've been up to, but that's good because the thing that we as
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  humans are supposed to do is grow.
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  So let's talk about, you know, coaches, right?
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  Helping people who work with other business owners.
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  What do you think is the number one reason that people struggle as a coach with inconsistent
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  income?
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  It's a few things.
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  The first thing is they don't know how to separate themselves from other coaches.
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  They're just the coach, right?
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  So to the marketplace, they don't know why they should deal with you.
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  That's the first thing.
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  The other thing is most coaches don't really work on the business side of coaching.
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  They just want a coach, right?
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  Because they have a skill, they love helping people.
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  So they lack systems, they lack processes.
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  That's, I see Melinda's the biggest challenge.
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  For example, they don't have a duplicatable, repeatable way of generating high quality
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  leads, right?
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  They work on referrals, or I call it hopium.
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  They're hoping that something comes their way.
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  Well, that's not predictable, you can't scale that.
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  If the coach happens to get an opportunity, they don't have a way, like a system where
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  they're consistently enrolling these opportunities into high paying customers.
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  And then if they happen to get a customer, they lose them after a few months, because again,
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  they don't have a predictable way of generating consistent results.
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  And so that cycle just continues and it continues till either they quit or they quit in
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  most cases.
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  That's what found.
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  How do you help people build that infrastructure or build those systems?
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  You know, because I think a lot of people think that marketing's enough.
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  You know what I mean?
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  The marketing visibility, you know, so and I coach coaches too, so I completely understand
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  what you're saying, but for my audience, help me understand when you say people lack
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  infrastructure and systems, how do you, you know, how, what systems do they need?
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  Well, first of all, here's the thing, they need multiple systems, right?
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  I mean, need a marketing system, meaning a way to let the world know that they exist and what
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  their superpower is.
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  What is that one thing, the problem that they solve that no one else does?
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  But that system has multiple layers, right?
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  It's not about just posting online.
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  I mean, and you know, doing one funnel away as the gurus say, that's not it.
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  I mean, what is the, you can't force your solution down the throat of the marketplace,
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  right?
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  You can only harness a problem that the market already has and they want to solve and they
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  can't find a solution.
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  So having a marketing system is the first thing that's important, And also the right technology
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  that monitors your key performance indicators.
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  The math and the data is really what tells the story, not your feelings.
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  And most people go off of their feelings and emotions.
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  And then you have to have a sales system.
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  A sales system has multiple parts, right?
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  Same with your fulfillment system.
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  Melinda, these are things that, one, most business coaches, consultants, advisors don't
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  realize they need, but more importantly, they don't want to do it.
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  They don't like selling, they don't like marketing, or any of it.
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  So, and look, when I was coaching like that myself, I had these same problems.
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  So you know what I said?
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  Let me just solve it.
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  So we just build it for them, Right?
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  So that's where that business in the box comes into play.
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  We already have failed and we have already figured out exactly what not to do, which
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  helped us to learn what to do.
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  And so sort of like a franchise, but it's branded to the actual business coach or
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  consultant, we've already built every single piece that they're gonna need to run their
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  business successfully so that they can actually do what they love to do most, which is help
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  serve other people and drive the results for that small business owner and their family.
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  So talk about, you know, how the back, so basically you're saying you've built a backend
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  system for coaches.
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  Is that what this is?
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  Everything.
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  I'm talking from their phone system to their billing, to the coaching portal, to their CRM,
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  to their automations, to, you know, a tool that allows them to find multiple 6 figures of
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  hidden revenue in any small business and do it in a matter of minutes, and produce an ROI
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  attached to working with them before they ever ask someone to do business.
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  So, like the marketing systems, the sales systems, the website, we make them an author,
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  like every piece that they need to be positioned to actually enroll people and
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  generate, you know, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty thousand a year clients, and then keep them for
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  years, we've already built it.
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  It's everything.
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  So it's the front and the back end, except unlike a franchise where, you know, the
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  franchise is what's front and center, this is branded to the coach so that, you know, they're
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  the ones who we kind of operate in the back.
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  I see, I see.
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  Now, one of the things that I know you talk about is you said that there's danger in
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  positioning yourself as a guru and that it can actually hurt your business long term.
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  Can you talk about that?
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  Yeah, people are smart.
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  I mean, you know, people don't like gurus.
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  People have been burned so much.
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  I mean, I know I've been burned and I'm sure that your audience has been burned and we're
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  sick of it.
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  We're sick of people just, you know, coming out here telling us all the stuff that they can do
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  and they can't.
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  You know, what people really care about is what's in it for them.
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  That's it.
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  And people can tell, you know, immediately, it takes a few seconds before somebody knows if
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  you're somebody who genuinely cares about helping that person get the outcome they want,
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  or if you only care about yourself.
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  So don't never position yourself as a guru.
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  The way we position ourselves is what is the problem that the marketplace has that they
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  don't want?
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  And what's the solution they're looking for and they can't find.
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  If you can speak that language, that person's listening.
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  Everything else, the hype and all that, it backfires.
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  I also, Melinda, you know, our business, we do multiple 7 figures and social media is not the
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  way we did it.
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  We did it offline.
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  I believe that you should not be online posting and all these things if you can't clearly
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  articulate the problem you solve and the solution that you drive.
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  If you can't do that first, stay offline because you're gonna be just mixed in with all
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  the other supposed to be gurus and it repels people.
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  It just does.
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  So if it's not social media, what should they be focusing on to build trust and authority in
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  the marketplace?
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  Yeah, you know, all of us, we have places that we go where we go to solve our problems.
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  So where's your audience?
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  Who are the people, the resources, the places they go to solve their problems?
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  Who do they trust?
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  And then you put yourself in front of them and that's how you go about solving it.
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  I mean, was on Look, if you go to Amazon, for example, and pick a book, right?
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  People leave reviews.
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  Well, the negative reviews are talking about the things they wish the book had.
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  Solve that, right?
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  So again, groups, you have groups online in all the social media channels where people are
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  going to get specific help.
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  Comment, serve those people.
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  So when you're right there where a person is looking to get the solution and again, you
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  speak in a language, you understand intimately what this person is feeling, how it's affecting
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  them in their life, it's very attractive.
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  People can tell that you know, know what you're doing and that you get them.
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  But you and I both know that since the pandemic, everybody and their mother is a coach
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  now, right?
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  Yes.
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  And there are some people that have, you know, gone to the trouble to go to the international
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  coaching federation and get a certification or whatever.
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  But I mean, there, I almost feel like coaching now has a bad name because everybody and their
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  mother is a coach and, you know, they haven't even been successful and have the nerve enough
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  to be a coach.
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  And so how can we get press?
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  How can we get more integrity in the coaching space?
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  Because I feel like there's so much hype and I feel like there are, my good friend Michelle
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  Snow says there's all these people that are good marketers that pretend to be coaches right
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  out here in the marketplace.
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  And so how do we as people who, I mean, I've been in business twenty seven years, I don't
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  have anything to prove to anybody.
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  My success is well documented on the internet, but there's so many people who don't even
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  bother to Google the people because they like their ad or they like their lifestyle or they
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  like the clothes that they wear or how they pretend that they fly on private jets.
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  Mean and this generation below us really is into that.
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  So how can you as a person of integrity get coaching clients when the bright shiny stuff is
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  what people are drawn to.
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  Yeah, and I agree.
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  I mean, the coaching industry does have a bad name because people that should never be in
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  this industry and they don't love it are out there hurting people.
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  They're taking their money and not delivering.
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  And we all hate that.
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  And that's why, like, it's pro global business advisors, we're business advisors, we're not
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  coaches, right?
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  And there's a difference because number one, most of these people that we're talking about,
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  they don't have systems.
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  Don't have, like you said, make it, they dress it up to look good, but there's no substance
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  behind it.
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  And that's why the people that we work with our clients, the first thing we do is we make them
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  an author.
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  They become an author of a business book that lays out 22 specific strategies that when
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  they're implemented will absolutely grow the small business.
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  So they first have credibility, but then they have the systems and the software, the tools to
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  back it up.
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  So when they engage with the business owner, they're not even asking the business owner to
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  do business until they've proven they've already done the diagnostic, they found them
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  multiple 6 figures of hidden revenue, they've walked through an implementation plan, and it's
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  right there in front of the business owner, so they deliver a lot of value first, and these
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  strategies are no and low cost strategies, so they have nothing to do with increasing ad
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  spend or fancy marketing, these are practical things that's hidden right in front of the
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  business owner that they just don't know and they don't see.
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  And so when you do that and you can prove and show an attached return on that investment
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  before you ever ask them to do business, and you're not doing a hardcore close.
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  I mean, think about it, Melinda, if you see $176,000 of recurring revenue sitting in front
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  of your face and you say, Wow, that's real.
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  And the advisors that says, Hey, well, would you like my help with this, Melinda?
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  That's not a sale.
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  It's a business conversation you're having with another business owner and you're proving to
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  them before you ever talk about doing business that this is real and it's something that can
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  happen.
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  That's how we go about doing business.
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  And I highly encourage any person before you ever hire a coach, consultant, advisor,
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  whatever, if they can't prove it, if they can't prove what they're talking about, run.
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  Use your instincts, right?
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  I agree with that.
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  So if someone is in a coaching business right now and they're feeling very, very overwhelmed,
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  what would you say is the first system they should change or implement immediately to start
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  seeing better results?
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  If they are overwhelmed, then that tells me a couple, one of two things.
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  One, they don't have any systems in most cases.
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  I would say that the first thing that I would focus on is a system for delivery.
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  And what I mean by delivery is being able to get the results that you claim that you can
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  generate.
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  Because if you can do all the marketing, you can get all the referrals in the world, but if
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  you don't deliver the results, it doesn't really matter.
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  And so if you can lock in and really obsess over the results and have a system that way you
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  can like stand on it, you can guarantee if that person follows through and does what you're
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  supporting them around, that they get results, that keeps clients around for, you know, for
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  years, right?
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  Because that's why they hire you, they only fire you when they're not getting the result.
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  So that takes care of the revenue challenge, right?
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  If you're that consistent recurring revenue, then you can fix and start working on those
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  other systems because now you have revenue and you're not stressing over money.
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  I see, I see.
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  All right, so tell me what is the best business advice you have ever received?
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  I was told that it's lonely on this journey, that no one's gonna see your vision and no one
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  is going to be cheerleading for you while you're on the journey.
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  So if you don't really want it bad enough yourself, don't do it at all.
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  But when you're all in on what it is that you see, you know, your dream, your goal, your
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  aspiration, then when you start to be successful, you'll start getting your
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  cheerleaders.
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  Good enough.
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  Good enough.
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  All right.
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  That is Malcolm Reed Sr.
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  He is the CEO of ProGlobal Advisors and their website is proglobalba.com.
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  Alright.
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  Thanks so much, Malcolm.
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  It's been fun.
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  See you
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  podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
• 18:38
  more fantastic information and interviews.
• 18:41
  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
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  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.