It can be very easy (particularly in the early stages of a training business) to get carried away and spend money on a web site, glossy brochures, logos, business cards and advertising.

I’m cringing now at the memory of spending around £1000 on an ‘advertorial’ that didn’t bring in any interest and about the same again on leaflets that just ended up being taken down the tip.

But the good news is that there are plenty of no cost and low cost marketing methods that you can use that don’t involve digging a large hole and pouring large amounts of cash into it!

The best and simplest one I know is just to make a list of people you know. And I mean everyone; family, friends, friends of friends, past colleagues, other trainers. This gives you a great starting point for referrals and introductions. For free!

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You have probably heard the saying ‘It’s a marathon – not a sprint.’ How many times have you heard that one?

But in the case of freelance training it happens to be true.

If you are expecting to get quick and easy work from going to a few networking events and making a few calls for a few months you are probably going to be very disappointed.

Training consultancy is a people business, when people buy your services they are buying you – and they will only buy from you when they know, like and trust you.

And that process takes time.

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Too many freelance trainers limit themselves unnecessarily by thinking they have to do everything themselves. I

t’s perfectly natural to assume – especially if you have just started out – that it costs too much money to get other people to do things.

But if you want to grow your business and get it to where you really want it to be you have to find ways of contracting out some of the things that other people can do better than you. It will free you up to do the things that you do really well, the things that you enjoy doing and will allow your business to grow and develop.

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Let’s face it, being a freelancer can be very lonely and it can be very easy to beat yourself up when something goes wrong. If you’re not careful you can get on a downward spiral of self doubt – when that happens you may feel like giving up and going back to corporate life.

One way round this is to build up a group of people who you know, like and trust, people that you can be really open and honest with and that you can talk to about your business and how you are feeling. And of course you can do the same for other people too – it works both ways.

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Procrastination can be the curse of many freelance trainers, particularly as many of us work from home with all the distractions that that can bring!

If you are to succeed in your business you need to have a disciplined approach to work, know exactly what you need to achieve in a day and let nothing get in your way.

However, that doesn’t mean that you should be restricted and feel that you should work between 9 and 5 if you don’t want to. One of the best things about being self employed is that you can set your own hours and agenda, it doesn’t really matter WHEN you do things as long as they get done in the end.

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I’m sure you’re all aware of the current trend for creating information products as a way of adding multiple streams of income. It seems to be everywhere at the moment. I’m coming across more and more business owners who are providing products such as Special Reports, E Books, and Teleseminars. This is a fundamental part of my own business.

What’s so great about the concept of information products is the fact that once you have created them they can be sold online without your direct involvement. Of course, you have to spend time marketing your products but once you have done that you can look forward to your orders coming in whilst you are sleeping or away on holiday.

This is a really attractive concept for freelance trainers. Realistically freelance trainers only have around 120 fee earning days in any one year. Believe it or not, once you take out time spent marketing your business, client visits, writing proposals, admin, holidays etc that’s what you will be left with. So, in effect you have a limit placed on your annual income.

Now you may be thinking here this is all very well but what on earth could I create an information product on? What topics would grab people’s interest?

Try this simple exercise.

Keep a diary for 30 Days. Every time you have contact with one of your clients listen carefully to what they are saying about their current problems and challenges.

Or ask them ‘What’s the biggest issue that you are facing right now that you would love to find the answer to?’

Write down all this information in your diary. At the end of the month you will have a topic for your information product. And if your clients want, need and can afford your product then they will buy it.

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When you start your own business it is your opportunity to create your way of working and your own life.

One of the best things about being a freelance trainer is the fact that you are in control. You have complete freedom to do what you want to do. If you have an idea you can just go with it instead of having to run it by countlesss decision makers and work through tedious office politics.

So use your opportunity – think about the work you really love to do, that really gets you out of bed in the morning and work on ways of getting that type of work.

It’s much easier to run a business when you are passionate about what you do and you will find that people are naturally attracted to you because of it.

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Many freelance trainers tell me that they hate marketing.

It makes them feel stressed and they wish they didn’t have to do it. The thought of making a cold call brings them out in a cold sweat. They work themselves up into such a state by the prospect of going to a networking event and walking into a room full of strangers that they end up getting nothing from it or not going at all.

I can understand this and I used to feel like this too.

But if you don’t market your business you won’t have one – it’s as simple as that.

So start focusing on marketing activities that you actually enjoy. As you start to think about all the potential marketing methods that you could use there will be some, I promise you, that you will feel more naturally drawn to than others. Some people absolutely love public speaking and if that’s you – then go for it – use it to your advantage.

It’s so important to make your marketing fun and enjoyable – because it’s such a fundamental part of your business

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Ask any freelance trainer and they will tell you one of the main challenges they have is feast and famine syndrome. You know, that situation when you are either staring at your blank diary wondering how you are going to pay the mortgage this month whilst keeping half an eye on the job ads or feeling desperately stressed out because you are training 5 days a week and can’t cope with the workload.

People often describe this scenario as something that just happens to them, almost as if it’s an inevitable part of being self employed and that there’s nothing you can really do about it. But there are things you can do to avoid it.

The most important action you can take is to develop the right mindset about marketing.

Marketing is an ongoing activity, something you should do every day, not just an afterthought when you are not out delivering training.

So make sure that you plan marketing activity into your daily and weekly schedules.

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Don’t try and be all things to all people. Specialise in one area and put all your efforts into building your expert status. It will pay dividends as it will:

- Steamline and sharpen up your marketing activity – you will be clear
about who your target market is and where to find them

- Enable you to charge a premium for your expert knowledge and skill

- Get clients to seek you out and come to you rather than the other way round!

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