Attendees love webinars because they can be:

Dynamic.  Webinars are fun and engaging.  Attendees can hear the speaker, watch the slides and interact with the content in a fresh new way.

Interactive and a social event.  Done right, webinars can have a real-world classroom fill mixed with a very personal connection.  Participants can ask questions.  Chat with the speaker, as well as the other participants as well.  Not to mention other social media outlets that can be integrated with the webinar experience.

No pressure.  It's likely that your audience would love to hear more about what you have to offer, both free and paid.  Webinars provide an ideal environment for you to share freely and present opportunities for those who want more to get just that.  You can offer incredible content freely AND offer other webinars for a cost.

Affordable.  Webinar pricing is a fraction of the hassle not to mention the rising costs of travel.  They are even more cost-effective when compared with the costs of a live, in-person event.

Global in reach.  Each online event has the potential to connect with people around the globe, gather them together in one location, and teach.  This breaks down the barriers of location like no other medium.

Another tool in your toolbox.  Webinar content can be refashioned to blog content, ebooks, podcasts, or even a future book.

Eye-opening.  Through your interaction with the audience you may become aware of new needs from your audience.  This is also a key opportunity to test new ideas and gauge reactions to it.

When just starting out or from time to time when you see business slowing down, it’s super important to do the hard thing.  Remember your job is to be of service to others.  That can feel almost like an impossible task when deep down you feel like the one who desperately needs someone to help you.

But if you come to your audience with your needs versus their needs in mind, they’ll feel it.  They can almost smell it.  That’s what precedes pushy sales tactics, grand schemes, elaborate campaigns instead of getting back to the basics of determining what people need and getting that to them.

Fear and desperation cause people to disconnect from you, when what you need is to make deeper and deeper connections.  If your needs are closing in on you and causing you to feel desperate for your next speaking gig, or your next customer, remember at the heart of your business is service.

When your audience senses that you are more needy than them, they will begin to question your judgment and your leadership.

It’s really important to come from a heart of service where you don’t need people to buy from you.  Because when you don’t need them to buy, they’ll likely do so.  That’s what it’s like when your desire is to serve.

The key is, if you are in a slump or trying everything you know to grow, it’s important to keep your heart and your hands open and ready to serve.  This will undoubtedly help not only your income, but your reputation as a business owner.

Do whatever you have to resist the fears that come along with this entrepreneurial journey.  And if that means taking yet another “non-paying” speaking engagement when you really need a paid one.  Or giving away more samples when what really need your product to sell. Give yourself permission to be afraid, frustration, even angry at the struggle.  Then also give yourself the opportunity to give.  Get out in the marketplace.  Give, share, operate from a place of abundance and excitement.  People love that.  And want to connect to anyone who has plenty of it.

Takeaway:

If you’re feeling really needy and desperate be honest about your feelings.  Find ways to calm your fears and infuse yourself with hope.  This will give you just the space you need to uncover creative ways to give to those you’re meant to serve.

Talking to your audience from a place of service allows them to appreciate your kindness and desire to work with you because they don’t fear that all you want is to really serve your own needs, not theirs.

If you want people to enroll in your online class, you need to know the key information they’re looking for.  Here are 5 ways to create a website that enrolls people in your online class.

1. Keep their attention.  To capture the attention of your potential enrollees, it’s critical to get AND keep their attention.  You want to minimize the links, buttons, and attractive distractions.  This gives them the mind space to focus and concentrate on what you have to say.
2. Let them know what’s possible.  The content on the site should consistently remind them of what’s possible once they hear what you have to share.  Remember they want to know if this is the real deal.  Can you really help them?  Do you have their best interests at heart or are you just in it to make a quick buck?
3. Ask them Questions.  Encourage them to imagine the future transformation of themselves.  Ask questions that slow them down and make them think.  Expose the gaps between what they know and what they need to know.  Then lead with your credibility as you explain how you can not only answer those questions, but many others they don’t even know to ask.  Imagine the conversation that is happening in their minds as they’re trying to make a decision on whether to sign up.  What are they struggling with?  What are their doubts or fears in this moment?  As you think of these make a list, then start writing out your web copy to speak directly to what’s on their mind.
4. Open with their toughest issue.  Whatever is their “biggie”, you know the one that’s top of mind and of greatest concern, start there.  Follow it up with what you have to offer - the results they can expect as well as a brief description of how you plan to help them get those exact results.  Be careful to only address their main 2-3 questions, anything more and you may overwhelm and confuse them.
5.  Be clear on what to do next.  I can’t stress this enough.  What do they need to do next?  Give clear instructions.  Don’t overcomplicate this process.  Make it simple.  What do you most need them to do?

Takeaway:

• Grab and keep their attention.  Minimize distraction.  Allow them to focus on the decision at hand.
• Remind them of what’s possible for their lives and how you desire to help them
• Think through the conversation that’s happening in the minds while they’re trying to make a decision.  Find ways to speak to those concerns.
• Define the “biggie” and start there.  What’s the big issue on their minds that needs to be addressed?
• Clearly and simply tell them what to do next.

Are you have trouble finding time to interact and engage with your audience?

If you have a growing business, it might seem overwhelming.  There’s writing to do, emails to answer, products to create, speeches to write and more.  So how do you make time for a task that you know is important, yet your days are already so full?

1. What can you stop doing?

In every one of our lives there are certain things that we do out of habit, not because they are serving us well.  I’m sure you could come up with a small list of activities that steal precious amounts of time. You could be spending that same time doing activities that actually grow your business instead.

These might include:

Answering email multiple times a day

Answering personal phone calls during your best hours of the day

Logging in to Facebook or some other social site

Juggling multiple tabs on your computer at once

These activities are a distraction.

They don’t help you move forward.  In fact, they take over your schedule and make you feel like you’re not getting anything done, when in reality you’ve been busy all day long.

Instead of trying to stop cold turkey, you might try giving yourself certain permissions.  For example, I can only log in to Facebook if I have done 2 audience engaging activities first.  If I have not taken the time to engage with my audience and reach out to them, I cannot access my personal Facebook page to “see what’s going on”.

Then once you give yourself permission to log in, set a time limit for how long you can spend there.  Then it’s back to work

1. Set a daily reminder to engage with your audience.

Just like meetings and events get put on the calendar, daily activities need to be set up as well.

Set a time on your daily calendar, and set up a reminder to alert you.  Google calendar has a feature that will pop-up on your computer or mobile phone screen.  Or you can have it send you a quick email reminder.  No matter what tool you use, the key is to have daily reminders to take even a few minutes to engage.

1. Commit to a time to turn off and end engagement.

Being an engaged and personal author or small business owner does not mean your audience can have 100% anytime access to you.  You must maintain healthy boundaries.  This builds a relationship of respect for one another’s personal time and personal needs.

Taking care of yourself and being emotionally and physically available to those you love and care for at home, while also taking good care of yourself is going to require that you honor a certain time of day when you say- that.is.enough.

Knowing that you have this commitment in place will spur you on to be more focused through out the day when engaging and interacting.

The less you honor your commitment to end engagement each day, the less you will feel productive. No matter how much time you spend working.  You have to make a commitment.

The more you honor this, the more you will feel in control and like you’re running a successful and thriving business.

Takeaway:

- Make a list of the things you need to stop doing.  Jot down subtle time wasters or unproductive things you do out of habit.

-Set up reminders to keep you focused and on task throughout the day.

-Commit to a time to turn off the business and enjoy other parts of your life!