📚 Selling Ideas (and Yourself) Without Feeling Icky, Part 1

Over the coming weeks, I want to share what I've learned about selling ideas and selling services.

• I learned most of these lessons the hard way (usually by messing up).
• Since COVID hit and I started my own business, I've also paid good money to learn from pros. Some of them were very good, some of them ... ick.

I'll share the best bits from both.

💡 The Bottom Line?

It's simple:

When you can sell your ideas and services, you can help more people.

Selling may come naturally to some, but for many of us, it's difficult—and if we don't do it, we limit our impact.

That's been my experience, and I spent many years in my 20s and 30s feeling frustrated because I couldn't sell my ideas. What I've learned about selling, since then, has made me a very happy 50-something-year-old coach and consultant.

I suspect it's even made me a better person.

❤️ Why I'm Sharing This

I almost feel irresponsible not sharing this stuff. Smart people often struggle with selling, and that means their best ideas don't spread. My clients have found these approaches genuinely helpful, so I'll be as generous as I can with the details without overwhelming you.

🤔 Why Now?

Two reasons:

1. I've just wrapped up a big consulting gig and I've got space for a few new clients
2. I've learned some valuable lessons about selling that I think you'll find useful

(If you're feeling professionally "constrained" and you'd like to explore ways we might work together, hit reply and I'll get back to you. Either way, keep reading - I think you'll find these lessons useful.)

🎯 Coming Up in This Series

I know what I'm writing about tomorrow, but I'm not sure where we will go after that. We will cover the following:

• The "5 Light Bulbs" method from Billy Bross (I'm a case study in his and Tiago Forte's latest book, Simple Marketing For Smart People!) - perfect for selling without feeling sleazy
• My journey using Models and my AgileTocManagement (🏧) model to sell - honest hits and misses
• How to talk about complex ideas to different audiences (Fun fact: "TOC" means "Table of Contents" to academics! 😄)
• Trust-based Selling - from Charles Green

And, more ...

That's all for now. Hope you're doing well,

Clarke

p.s. If you'd like to talk about coaching, reach out and let's chat.