On Friday morning I’ll be running the first of my monthly Trainer Talk sessions. Trainer Talk is an opportunity for freelance trainers to come together to learn, share and collaborate in a live and interactive training session. As it’s run via the phone or web there’s no need for you to leave home or the office, meaning that you can quite easily slot into your schedule. I have been running Trainer Talk Live events for the past 18 months and Trainer Talk seemed like the next logical progression. It’s something that’s been on my agenda for a while now. When I thought about the launch date my first thought was to leave it till January. After all no-one’s interested in anything in December – right?

But then for me – personally – there is a very good reason for NOT putting it off till January.

There is more chance that it will actually get done. I don’t know about you, but it always takes me a while to get back into the groove again in January. It’s not until the second week of January with kids safely back at school that I really feel ready to get back to work again  brain into gear. And in reality this means that anything new I’d be planning for January will slip into February.

So what could you be doing in the next 2 weeks that you had planned for January but you could be doing now? Or do you think we should all just shut down in December?

I’d love to hear your views!

A question I get asked a lot from freelance trainers who are thinking of working as an associate is ‘What’s a ‘good’ training company to work for?’. In fact it came up just recently again on one of my Webcasts.

There are so many training companies out there and when you first approach them it can be difficult to know for sure if they will be a reliable source of work or if you will be treated right! I had a couple of bad experiences myself in my first year, mainly due to companies not paying travel expenses even though they had promised to do so beforehand.

Generally I’ve found that the small training companies are better to work for than the large ones. They tend to have less trainers on their books and so you are able to build up a much better and closer relationship with them. You can end up feeling like you are really part of their team and organisation rather than a nameless associate – it can help to replace that sense of teamwork that you inevitably lose when you go out on your own as a freelance trainer. In my experience and those of other freelance trainers I know, smaller training companies tend to pay more too. Whether it’s the fact that they have less overheads or the fact that they value their relationship with their trainers more I’m not sure, but it does seem to be true.

If you want to work for any training company as an associate always remember that it’s a two way relationship. It’s just as important for you to decide if you want to work for them as it is for them to decide if they want to hire you. Here are some key questions you should ask:

1. What’s the daily rate?

2. Do you pay travel expenses?

3. How many days work can your provide? is it likely to be on a regular or ad-hoc basis?

4. Do you have to design as well as deliver? Are you paid for design? At the same rate?

5. What is the recruitment process? Are you paid for attending any Train the Trainer programmes?

It’s really important that you find out the answers to these kinds of questions at the earliest opportunity, even before you commit yourself to a face-to-face meeting. The answers sometimes may not be what you want to hear but it could save you time and money in the long run.

Here’s another question I had from my recent Webcast on How To Get A Steady Stream Of Clients and it’s one that seems to often come up.

What advice could you give me re pricing strategies?

If you have just started out it’s very important to decide on a basic daily rate and a basic daily rate for associate work and make sure that you stick to that. It’s very difficult to change later on.

Be confident and charge what you are worth. One of the biggest problems amongst new freelance trainers is undervaluing themselves and their services. In the eyes of a potential client cheaper is not always best!

In terms of what you charge there is an exercise in my Fast Track to Freelance Training Programme, it’s also in the E Book How To Launch A Training Business in 30 Days. Going through the exercise will give you a realistic picture of what you must charge to have a sustainable business.

There are also many factors affecting pricing, for example industry sector, whether there is potential for future work and you can therefore offer a package price, or whether you are offering a specialist service which people would pay more for for example.

Q: How do you feel about offering a short lunchtime session to companies who you are interested in as a calling card?

A: For a freelance trainer it’s a good strategy as it gives your potential client a taster and it’s low risk for them in terms of money and time. It also gives you a specific reason to call/email as you are giving them something of value.

However, I think there are dangers in offering too much for free – in terms of your own time – and you don’t want any potential client to get used to free/low value stuff.

Limit the amount of free stuff you do. Decide which type of client would be worth doing this for. Have specific criteria, etc industry sector, location, size of company….You don’t want to do it for just anyone. And then stick to it!

Also be very clear on your objectives for the free session. This should be part of your planning process. Are you going to offer a specific programme to them at the end of it and give them a package price? How are you going to follow it up? Etc etc….

Being a freelance trainer has many advantages and many people (myself included!) love it so much that they never go back to a ‘proper’ job again. However, there are just as many people who head back to the corporate world after deciding it’s not really for them.

Being a freelance trainer can be tough, particularly in the current economic climate with more and more trainers coming onto the market chasing too few opportunities. It’s not for everyone. So, before you take the plunge it’s important to
think about the downsides:

Lack of a ‘regular’ income
There’s no monthly standing order in your bank account and you may have to juggle your cash flow from month to month.

Feast and famine syndrome
You might have weeks when there are not enough hours in the day and others where you have no work at all.

Constant pressure to fill your pipeline
You have to balance delivery against sales time – you are under constant pressure to create your own future.

Feeling you have to do everything yourself
Marketing, selling, finance, admin, web design, IT, as well as research, programme design and delivery.

Money needed to set up as well as sustain the business
Balancing cash flow, marketing, paying out for all those things you used to take for granted in corporate life like self-development and professional subscriptions.

Poorer work life balance
If you’re not careful, you end up working
more hours not less

Distractions of working from home
The friendly neighbour stopping by for a cup of tea through to the dishwasher or those soulful eyes of the dog asking you to take him out for a walk

Slow payers
Not all clients will pay you according to your terms – just have a think how your old company may have paid their invoices!

Loneliness and isolation
No team colleagues to share ideas with or just have a chat to.

Lack of self-motivation
Without a boss giving you deadlines to meet, you have to be disciplined to make those goals yourself!

It’s not my intention to put you off completely, just to give you a realistic perspective on what your new life could be like.

Try working through this Exercise to help you decide:

First write a list of your strengths.
(If you find this difficult to do, ask your partner, friend or colleague for some feedback). Once you have made a list,
think through how each of the strengths you have listed will specifically help you to run your business.

Now consider your weaknesses and challenges.
What are the things that could, potentially, hold you back? What can you do to overcome them?

Make a positive commitment to change.

Write down any conclusions you have reached about yourself. Make a proper business plan, look at the financial, social and further implications.

Then, ask yourself this simple question:

Do you have what it takes to be a freelance trainer?

A few years ago I was sitting having coffee with my friend who had been a freelance trainer for a couple of years or so. We were discussing ways of getting new business and she said to me:

‘You know what Sharon I love the thrill of the chase involved in getting new business but once I’ve got it I kind of lose interest and move on to the next one’.

Even though that conversation was 4 or 5 years ago I’ve always remembered it. It opened up my eyes to one of the traps freelance trainers can quite easily fall into. There can be a constant pressure to find new clients and you can find yourself running round and round trying to get new leads and opportunities.

But don’t forget that it’s so much easier to get work out of existing clients. If you’ve done a great job for them, if you can deliver what they need and they know, like and trust you why would they look anywhere else?

So make an effort to stay in touch. Have a system where you call them once a month or once every 3 months. Send them stuff that may be of interest to them. Just build a great relationship with them. And make sure if that person leaves the company that you find out where they have gone and carry the relationship on there

One of the most popular questions I get asked by my clients is

‘What could I be doing to find more clients and more business?’

9 times out of 10 these freelance trainers are doing all the right things – networking, social networking, public speaking, seeking referrals etc yet they tell me they are still struggling to attract clients.

Once I’ve delved a little deeper into what they’re doing I then ask how often they follow-up with their potential prospects that they meet through all these activities.

9 times out of 10 they tell me rarely, if ever.

This is the biggest mistake that I made when I first started out as a freelance trainer. I’d meet someone at an event and took away their business card. I had every intention of calling them and arranging to meet but either I was too ‘busy’ or if truth be told slightly embarrassed and afraid of being seen as pushy if I made contact.

And of course the more time that went by the more embarrassed I got and the call was never made. Opportunity lost.

If you have a lead you MUST follow up on it straight away.

Warm prospects are always better than cold ones and if you’re following up it’s because you’ve already touched this person once before.  Therefore they are warm and more receptive to you.

If you are out networking and you meet someone interested in learning more about your services that is a lead which should be pursued. If you promised them something during your initial conversation, write it down so you don’t forget it, and then contact them immediately as soon as you are ready and able to deliver on that promise.

If you have a potential client requesting a proposal, email them back with the relevant information. If you don’t hear from them over the next week or so, then take the initiative and follow up with them yourself, don’t wait around hoping they’ll email you first.

Often you’ll find that your proposal is still sitting on their desk or waiting to be discussed with someone else. You know what the corporate world is like!

Your gentle nudge serves as a reminder that it needs to be moved off their desk and a decison made. These gentle reminders might realistically need to happen once or twice more, and then if you still haven’t received the positive response you’d hoped for, it may be time to move on.

BUT that is something you would never had known if you’d chosen not to follow up on the original lead.  So the moral of the story is always, always follow up!

On my Linked In Group – Trainer Talk – on Friday I posed the question:

‘What have you achieved this week?’

I’d been prompted to pose this question by the conversations I’d had recently with some of my clients – freelance trainers who are just starting out or more established freelance trainers looking for new ideas and direction. An issue that seemed to come up time and again was lack of confidence, hesitancy and uncertainty. ‘Am I doing the right thing starting up on my own?’, for example or ‘I think I need to bite the bullet and specialise in this area of training but what if it turns out to be a really bad decision.’?

One of the big differences between the freelance and the corporate world is being on your own. It’s fantastic to have that freedom to take decisions and do what you want to do but you don’t get the regular office banter and team meetings that can be such a great source of encouragement and support. Having other people around you can sometimes propel you to take action when you’re not sure what to do. When you are the business you can sometimes end up just worrying and doing nothing!

Here are some quick tips on how to boost your confidence:

1. Recognise your achievements. Hence my question on Trainer Talk, ‘What have you achieved this week?’. It can sometimes be really easy to overlook what you’ve achieved in a week or to dismiss it as being  insignificant. Every phone call you’ve made, every new contact you’ve met, every article you’ve written…. they are all important as potentially they are all activities that are going to get you nearer to landing a new piece of business. So get into the habit of celebrating your successes, however small.

2. Seek feedback and testimonials. Evidence that you have done a really good job is obviously an important marketing tool and will help you to attract clients but it’s just as vital for your own confidence and self-esteem. Some years ago someone told me about a notice board she kept in her office where she pinned up all the nice comments people had made about her training. I thought what a great idea it was and took it on board myself – and it works!

3. Stop comparing yourself to others. It’s natural to look around at what other people are doing but all too often I hear people say things like:

- She always seems to have loads of work

- Their website is so much better than mine

- He’s earning twice as much as me and he’s only been doing it five minutes

These feelings are normal but they are not really serving you and will just eat away at your self confidence. All of the above may or may not be true but what does it matter?

Concentrate on yourself and your own business. Recognise your own uniqueness. It’s not a competition and I firmly believe there’s more than enough work to go around for all of us to share in!

4. Be proactive and open to opportunities. Don’t wait for things to happen, make them happen! This week I sent out an associate opportunity to one of the trainers on my list. It involved a tender so I explained to her that ultimately it might not lead to work. However, even if it didn’t it was a great opportunity as once a connection has been made between her and this particular training company you never know what it may lead to.

I’d love to have your comments and tips on what you do to give yourself a boost!

Here in the UK the school holidays have just started, seven long weeks of kids being around the house and asking ‘What are we going to do today Mum?’  Most freelance trainers work from home and whilst we must take the opportunity to enjoy spending time with our children,  there’s no getting away from the fact that it does have an impact on your  working life.

Even if you don’t have children you will find that things tend to be a little quieter in August. Your phone may ring less and your inbox may be a little less full.  And when you try to contact anyone you just might get a recorded message or auto responder to tell you that that person is away.

But don’t panic. August is one of the quiet periods of the year, just like December. And the lesson that I learnt early on in my freelance career is that this summer ‘down time’ is natural and normal and there’s no reason to get stressed. Just accept it and go with it.

The holiday period can also be a great time to get ahead of the game for Autumn. Here are my tips for having a productive summer:

1. Tidy your office. Have a clear out of old paperwork and other junk. You will be amazed at how much more organised and in control you will feel as a result.
2. Organise your contacts. Get rid of any business cards that may be lying around your office or stuck at the bottom or your brief case. Enter all the details onto a database such as Outlook instead.
3. Research relevant networking events and draw up a Networking Plan for September through to December. Decide on a budget, get them booked and paid for and put them in your diary now. Making a firm commitment will mean that you will actually go rather than just think about it.
4. Do some block writing of blog articles and newsletters. Just think how great it will feel in September knowing that you have the next 2 months worth of material all ready to roll.
5. Invest in personal development. Book yourself onto a course or read that book you have been meaning to get stuck into for ages. The most successful freelance trainers are those who spend money and time working on themselves and their business. Make sure you are one of them.

Have a great Summer!

When I first started out as a freelance trainer I was really excited, enthusiastic and positive. I was absolutely buzzing with ideas and plans about how to make my business a success and I just couldn’t wait to start putting it all into practice. I felt a little bit anxious – for sure – about what I’d done and the enormity of the tasks ahead but I didn’t dwell on it for too long – I didn’t have the time!

But as time went on and my first few weeks as a freelancer turned into months I suddenly start to feel a lot less confident than I had to begin with. Doubts started to creep in – Had I done the right thing leaving the security of a job? Was it going to work? Would I make a decent living from it?

One thing I’ve noticed from running my workshop and coaching programmes is that this same thing happens to a lot of other people too. And now I call it the ‘wobble factor’.

Why does the ‘wobble factor’ happen? Well, there are lots of possible reasons.

It could be a random comment made by someone else that you took the wrong way, a meeting that you felt didn’t go according to plan, a networking event that you felt was a waste of time, or even your bank statement!

And when the wobble factor hits you self-doubt starts to creep in, you feel a bit less sure of your business being successful, and sometimes you just feel overwhelmed by all the things you have to do to make it work.

Unless you want to be driven back to corporate life before you have barely started you need to overcome these feelings. When you are running your own business self motivation and confidence is absolutely crucial to your success. If you don’t believe in yourself and your business how can you expect anyone else to?

Here are some tips:

1. Recognise that it’s normal to have a ‘wobble’ Just about everyone has set backs in their life and business. Just look at all the successful entrepreneurs who have been bankrupt and bounced back to make even more money! And at all the top sports stars (including my own hero Rafa Nadal) who have been at the top of their game, have been thrown off track by an injury and have had to come back.

2. Surround yourself with positive people and use them to get support. Pick up the phone or meet them for a coffee. Just talking to other people always helps you feel remotivated and puts things into perspective.

3. Focus on what you have achieved rather than what you haven’t. One of the things that works for me is to keep a Success Diary – just write down in your diary every day the things that you’ve got done, no matter how small. Every small action that you take will move you nearer towards your goal.

4. Set yourself small achievable goals. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the big picture. Take things one step at a time and don’t have too many things on your To Do List

5. Ask yourself: What skills do I need to improve upon that will make me feel better about myself and my business? It could be sales and marketing skills, more confident networking or getting results through social networking. Whatever it is, don’t just sit there, do something about it! Investing in and learning new skills will do wonders for your confidence as you will feel more equipped to move your business forward.