Must Your Business Die a Slow, Sad, Painful Death?

The Star Speaker, Trainer, Coach, Consultant Dilemma

You've built a successful training, consulting, speaking business.  You're making good money and wake up energized every day loving what you do. You've spent twenty years establishing yourself and you are now the recognized expert.  You've worked eight plus years on your business transforming your expertise into what is now a systematized practice.  Your customers, audiences, students rave about you.  They wouldn’t go anywhere else.   Better yet, they eagerly refer you to the people they know and care for.  

So where is the problem here?

You have filled your role as the highly-valued, well-branded, face of the business perfectly.  The problem is you’ve filled it almost too well.  Removing you from the business is like removing a vital organ.  You're the heart that pumps blood through your business.  You miss a beat and your business hurts.  You miss a few and the business starts dying.  You stop beating and the business flat lines.

Your enjoy working with your customers and your team.  You enjoy the day-to-day.  You even enjoy the travel and your opportunities to:

• take the stage,
• consult with customers, and
• provide the coaching they want from you.

But you’ve made some sacrifices.  You've shorted your life mate in terms of time, focus and attention.  That beloved spouse of yours has supported you, but it’s NOT the way you would have preferred it.   The business has taken priority for all the right reasons, but you've paid a price.

You're now at a point where you know you need to change.  You need to find that replacement vital organ to replace the critical role you play.  You know it’s not happening overnight.   It’s going to take time and effort, but you know something needs to change.  You need to create that future “YOU” you want for your business, your family - for yourself.

And this future is so much better for other reasons.  It involves giving back.  You’ve learned so much from your experience and there is so much you can share in your church, community, and those you touch with your life.  You have your legacy and it’s not going to be the legacy you want if you keep to your current plan (or lack of plan).

You've already considered the obvious option - finding, training and grooming your replacement.  You know it's not just finding someone with the right aptitude.  It’s not just the time-consuming training process.  It's the re-branding of that person into your business.  It’s the re-introduction of someone else in a critical role in your business.

And, of courses, there is the massive risk you are taking.

What if the person doesn’t work out.  What if they work out and then something unfortunate happens. It could be that what started out as a great opportunity changes and they decide it's not for them.  Suppose something personal happens and this promising person can't continue with you.  You would then be back to where you started.

So here’s another option.  What if instead of looking for someone to replace you, you replaced yourself and what you deliver in your presentations, in your training, and in your coaching with an online e-learning, coaching, consulting alternative.

• You would continue in your role as the highly-valued, well-branded, face of the business.
• Your business is still powered by your expertise.
• You come up with a business model that doesn't rely so heavily on you.

Finding a replacement for yourself has so many unknowns.   An online alternative is systematic.  You and your message stay the same.  The way you attract customers is similar to what you do now.  Your subject matter expertise continue to power the business.   The difference is the medium.

What happens is you make use of private membership areas, online group coaching, proven e-learning platforms, and recorded video presentations. Your challenge now is how best to transform this great content you use today into something that works equally well online.

In part 2 of this article, Why Sell It at $50 When You Can Get $5000, I dig into how to transform your resounding messages for your new online audience.