StoryBrand Your Coaching Business: Turn Your Website into Your Top Sales Employee with Mindy Shotwell

Kris: [00:00:00] Welcome to From Click to Client, where we transform a confusing message into a clear, compelling story that sells. I'm your host, Kris Jones, story brand marketing expert. I'm here to help you attract more dream clients with the power of story.

I am delighted to reintroduce you today to Mindy Shotwell. She is a coach that I've been working with, and she is just a baby coach. She's just getting off the ground with her coaching business. She's had a couple decades at least of work in other industries.

She worked at Nike. She worked at Parametrix. She's had some really big roles in the HR space, and now she's at a point in her life, in a chapter where she's closing the door on being employed and working for the man, and now she's working for the woman and, crafting her own coaching business. So [00:01:00] I always say there is no shortcut through the phase of bootstrapping your business at the beginning.

There is so much learning that goes on in that first year or in those first two years, and no matter how hard you try, It's gonna be an iterative process. Because with every client you work with, you're gonna learn more about who you like to work with. You're gonna learn more about how you can help those clients solve their problem.

And I will tell you, who you think you wanna work with at the beginning of the year is gonna be different at the end of the year. Or maybe it's that same audience or that same ideal client, but the way you solve their problem might be a little bit different than you originally planned. So we're gonna dive in here into what I call the messy middle of Mindy's journey of finding clarity for her own business and her own message.

Mindy: And you probably remember a couple of [00:02:00] episodes ago, Mindy came on here, and we really worked through her five story brand soundbites and her core positioning. So Mindy, I'm gonna put you on the spot here. Number one, welcome. Number two, what do you do? I am a leadership coach who helps people regain confidence so that when pressure is on and moments matter most, they feel that they're making decisions with clarity and confidence.

Kris: Beautiful. And one of the things that we've dug into about your work is as a leader, having difficult conversations or having performance conversations with your team is really uncomfortable, and most leaders dread that, and they don't know how to navigate those conversations. And- They either will put them off or they'll have them in a way that's not as productive as they really wanted it to be.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but that's really one of your superpowers is helping [00:03:00] leaders have difficult conversations. Is that true?

Mindy: Yes, that's right. And it's, it's, to your point, almost 30 years of experience coaching professionally on-the-job managers, to have these conversations in a way that feels, in integrity, in their own integrity and where they are clear on the message that they're sending and, and, can kind of toe the line.

So yeah, it's, it's tough. A lot of people skirt it and put it off or show up in ways that is unbecoming to the organization outside of their own personal brand, and certainly not in service of the employee.

Kris: Mm. Yeah. Yeah, there, there's so many layers to that problem that you could really go deeper into.

when you talk to these leaders, what are they complaining to you about? What are they having difficulty with? Like, in their words, what are they telling you?

Mindy: that they're extremely nervous. They don't know what to say. they don't know how to respond. They don't wanna hurt the person's feelings.

They think they're nice, but they're [00:04:00] not doing the job. Um- They are being pressured by their leadership to have the conversation. You know, for example, they may feel the person is actually in line with where they're supposed to be, but they don't know how to have courageous conversations with their leader, and so now they're being kind of the thumb is on them- Mm

to, you know, trickle down and have a conversation with their, their team that they're, they're not actually wholeheartedly behind- Mm-hmm ... and support. But yet they don't have the internal compass to help navigate those conversations and those situations. So it's not just teams, but it's also the upward ladder-

Kris: Right

Mindy: conversations.

Kris: Right. Yeah. They're, they're essentially sandwiched in between their team member who needs to be addressed, but the pressure from above. So they're like, they're like in the middle of that uncomfortable sandwich.

Mindy: Yes, that's right.

Kris: Yeah. Oh my gosh. So many good directions we could go with this.

So we have worked on your soundbites, [00:05:00] and we got really clear with those.

But what we came together and created was a positioning statement for Mindy that is, "Many managers feel like imposters when addressing poor performance. I help them navigate difficult conversations with ease so they can lead with confidence and deliver extraordinary results." So huge.

And you notice like we followed the StoryBrand one-liner formula, which is identifying the hero's problem and then introducing yourself as the guide with your solution, and then ending with the ultimate success that your hero will have. So the hero's problem, many managers feel like imposters when addressing poor per- poor performance That is a very clear problem.

We're identifying who the hero is and their problem. Then we're gonna introduce Mindy's solution. "I help them navigate difficult [00:06:00] conversations with ease." Notice we've only used a handful of words to talk about her entire solution. This part of the one-liner should be very, very concise, because people really don't give a damn how you solve their problem.

They don't care. They just wanna know that you can solve the problem. And as you get deeper into working with them, yeah, they're gonna wanna know that. But at this level, we're talking about at a high level and not getting into the weeds with the details. So we wanna use language that the brain can follow, and keep it so concise that people can actually digest it without having to burn any brain calories.

So we've got the problem, we've got her solution, and then we're gonna end on success. "So they can lead with confidence and deliver extraordinary results." So we have just literally told a whole story in two sentences. Yeah. We started with the hero's problem, we've introduced the guide's solution, and [00:07:00] we've shown that, that, that hero is gonna find success and avoid failure.

So th- one of the other things that we did, and you'll have to go check out Mindy on LinkedIn, because we did a full-blown LinkedIn makeover. It was better than any HGTV home makeover you've ever seen. It was v- very dramatically, like it went from confusion and, vagueness, I called up Mindy and I said, "What the hell is going on with your LinkedIn?

Talk to me." And so we worked together. Big talk. Yeah, yeah, real talk. And so we revamped it.we created an image of Mindy that felt much more professional. Mm-hmm. We integrated her logo, and most importantly, we used language that is gonna speak directly to her ideal- client. So in the banner of her LinkedIn, we wrote, "I help managers communicate effectively [00:08:00] and lead with confidence."

So if if I'm a manager, um, e- or a leader and I come to her LinkedIn, she's talking directly to me. And I don't know how many LinkedIn profiles you've visited, but most of them are totally blah Or not, there's no graphic, or it's like a sunset, God forbid. Nothing wrong with sunsets, but if you're on LinkedIn, it's r- really needs to be about the work that you do.

Mindy: Yeah.

Kris: Okay. So then we uncovered Mindy's piece Soundbites. These are the five story brand soundbites that every business owner needs in order to capture attention. As coaches and consultants, we love to teach people. We're genuinely, wanting to help people, wanting to teach people, and so we, and we, we also wanna lead with just generosity and a helpful heart, and it all comes from a good place.

But what happens [00:09:00] is we're very eager to teach, that we put a lot of stuff out into the world, and we don't get any response from it. We're like, "I wrote this white paper. I wrote this PDF, and I shared it, and nobody's reading it. No one's giving me any feedback on this." And when you do this, you're educating people, but you haven't yet taken the time to capture their attention first.

Before you teach someone, before you give them information about the work that you do, you have to first grab their attention, otherwise they're gonna stroll on by, and I like to use the metaphor of a house. So with any house, you have the front five steps. Those steps are the things that get your attention, and they invite you up to the front porch.

Your soundbites are those first five steps. Then once we've got their attention, then we can educate and teach and hang out together and have conversation. So [00:10:00] that phase of your marketing is called the front porch activities. You hang out on the front porch, you talk, you teach. You might do it through videos.

You might through, do it through PDF. You might do it through an actual free consult call. But most coaches and consultants don't have any front steps. They don't have any soundbites. So imagine if you're walking down your neighborhood and there's a house with a front porch, but there's no way to get to the front porch, literally no way without, you having to, put yourself in danger to climb up, to scale the side of the house.

So you have to have the front steps to capture attention before you begin teaching anybody or going deeper into the work that you do. So all that to say we totally dialed in Mindy's PEACE soundbites, and we call them PEACE soundbites because they follow the word peace. P for problem, E for empathy, A for answer, C for change, and end result.[00:11:00]

Every hero that you help begins their life in peace, and then they fall into a hole. Thenthey are in the thick of a problem that they don't know how to solve themselves. And so our goal is to get them back to peace, to help them climb out of that hole as the hero's guide. So Mindy's soundbites for P, problem, is many managers feel like imposters when addressing poor performance.

E, empathy. Holding people accountable is hard when you're also doubting yourself. A, answer. I help them navigate difficult conversations with ease. C, change. Become an effective leader. The change really is who do they become, right? Who do they transform into? They, change from an ineffective leader to an effective leader.

And then the end result, what is the happy ever after of their story? They're gonna communicate with confidence and drive extraordinary results. [00:12:00] So each of those soundbites can stand alone to get people's attention. They can also work together to capture someone's attention. So they're very, powerful statements that people remember, people repeat, and they allow you to become known for solving this problem.

So what, we're gonna do today is talk through the next phase of our work. We've done the groundwork, we've gotten clear on her message, we've gotten clear on her sound bites, we've got her story brand one-liner. Now it's time for Mindy to create and build her very own first website.

And so this is no small task to, number one, build your website, but number two, craft the messaging for that website, because when you work with a builder like Squarespace or Wix or WordPress, you name it, all the builders out there come with templates, and all the templates that they offer you are not strategic templates.

They're templates that [00:13:00] by default position you as the hero of your own story. You do not wanna be the hero of your own story because the hero is the weakest character in the story. You want to be the guide. So you basically have to choose a template, then you have to know enough to totally revamp that template to make it your own, to make it effective, to make it strategic.

You gotta manhandle that template and wrangle it into a format that actually tells a story. And so the way we do that initially is through what I call a wireframe. all a wireframe is, is a roadmap to your website. If you were to build a house, you would not hire a builder to just start building the house.

You'd hire an architect to map out the blueprint and map out the plan, then once everybody agreed on the plan, then you would begin building the house, and you'd hand that over to a builder. So a wireframe is no different. It is literally the blueprint for your website, and it allows us to make sure that the words [00:14:00] work really well in black and white.

if the words don't work in black and white, they're never gonna work in a designed environment. So the more time we spend to get the words dialed in in the wireframe, th- the quicker it is to actually build the site and ensure that it's actually gonna work to get you clients. Mindy, any thoughts?

Mindy: Yeah, I would just say that a couple things. The, the, reference that you made, which is in chapter two about, expending brain, brain-

Kris: Burning

Mindy: brain

Kris: calories ...

Mindy: energy, brain calories. that was, that was really helpful to me because I, I could immediately go back, in my mind's eye to sites that I've seen where there's just been a ton of words and I'm like, "Oh my God, I don't have time."

Or there's just a ton of information about the person and I'm like, "Okay, well, but what do you do or what do you offer?" and so that really resonated, so I think that that's a, that was really helpful. and I like that [00:15:00] the framework that we've put together is essentially a deeper dive into the PEACE

Kris: Right?

Right. The soundbites, right?

Mindy: The soundbites, yeah.

Kris: So to kind of orient you, the reason Mindy and I are working together is because she is a dear friend of mine, number one, but number two, she's starting this coaching business, and number three, I have just finished the book called Storybrand Your Coaching Business, which Donald Miller and I co-authored.

And so she is literally going through the book chapter by chapter in real time, and we're working through each chapter so I can make sure that this book is perfectly dialed in for any coach at any phase of business that wants to pick it up and implement these 12 strategies. So the book has 12 strategies to make more ideal clients say yes, and right now Mindy is on chapter two, which is Turn Your Website into Your Top Sales Employee.

[00:16:00] Your website should not sit there online like a bump on a log wasting Wi-Fi. It should be actively working for you 24/7 to sell you, to sell your offers, and to pull in ideal clients without any work from you. You do have to do a bunch of work upfront to make sure it's gonna be, working for you, and so that's really why we're connecting today, and the phase of the book that Mindy is currently in.

So what my clients do is they go through what I call the mining for gold process. Your story is not invented or created by somebody else. It's already inside your head and your heart. It's in there, and those are golden nuggets of your story. the problem is you're just so close to your own story that trying to identify what those gold nuggets are can feel impossible- Yeah

which is why I ask the questions that only I know how to ask that uncover that story [00:17:00] inside of you. And so this is what Mindy has gone through. We've gone through the mining for gold process. I've identified those golden nuggets, and then I polish them up and I get them all shiny and I crafted her wire frame for her.

And I shared the first draft with her, and then she took it and made some changes, so we're gonna walk you through exactly in real time... I haven't looked at it since she made her changes, so we're gonna go through it. You might

Mindy: have some, you might have some- supplemental edits that you wanna make

Kris: too- I'm sure

based on

Mindy: my

Kris: changes. Yeah, I'm sure Yeah It's one of the, one of the most important phases of my process is called collaborate and refine. So because- Yes ... this is your website, it's your business, it's your baby, it needs to be perfectly aligned with you and your voice, which is why this collaboration phase of step two, collaborate and refine, is so critical.

It's so essential because it needs to feel totally like an extension of [00:18:00] you. Okay, so I'm gonna dive in. I'm actually gonna share my screen. If you're watching on YouTube, you can look at the actual wireframe, and if you're listening to this, then I'm gonna... Don't worry, I'm gonna read this out loud so you will not miss anything. So in the, in the first section of the wireframe, I call it the header section I often call it the billboard section because it works exactly like a billboard. If you're going down the freeway 85 miles per hour and there's a billboard on the side of the road that has a bunch of words on it or is poetic or nuanced or complicated or requires brain calories to be burned to understand it, you are not gonna read that billboard.

Somebody paid 20 grand for that billboard to be there, and literally no one's reading it. It might as well not be there at all. Yeah. And that is what happens with most of the websites on the internet. People jam too much [00:19:00] onto the billboard, and then it becomes completely ineffective. Not only that, the brain, if it has to work too hard to understand what you do, it literally is a signal of danger.

our brains are constantly trying to conserve calories, so if your website causes someone to burn brain calories, they will literally bail. and the reason I use the metaphor of the billboard and driving 85 miles an hour is because that is about how quickly people move through your website these days.

Number one, they're on their phone, and so they're scrolling, but number two, And you know what I'm talking about. If you're listening, you know what I'm talking about.

You scroll through the website very rapidly, and so on this first section of your website, they are literally there for only five seconds. So A good test for this is could a caveman come to your website and grunt what you do to another caveman and they're both like, "Oh, yeah.

Get it. We get it." So it's got to be that simple. [00:20:00] So here we are on Mindy's header section, and it says, "When you trust yourself completely, you lead with greater confidence." And then she has a potential edit that says, "Move through life." So are you thinking when you trust yourself completely, you move through life with a greater confidence?

Mindy: Yes.

Okay.Like leading obviously is more congruent with the next sentence.

Kris: Yep.

what do you think about this? when you trust yourself completely, you move through life-

Mindy: And lead with greater confidence

Kris: um-

Mindy: Or you move through life with greater confidence.

Kris: Yep. You move- That's what I was

Mindy: thinking ...

Kris: and then what I'd like to do is pull that lead word down here. Coaching for, leaders and managers who are ready to align head, heart, and body for center... Oh, you've got centered leadership down here. Okay.

This is perfect. Okay. So- Yeah, I like that. Yeah ... the head- the header is, "When you trust yourself completely, you move through [00:21:00] life with greater confidence." Done and done. Okay? And now I understand how is my life going to be better because of this, and I'm getting the clear idea that you're gonna help me have more confidence.

Mm-hmm. You're gonna help me trust myself, and I'm gonna move through life in a completely different way because of this.

Mindy: Yes.

Kris: Yes. And then if, the subheader is, "Coaching for managers." Okay, I'm answering that question, what the heck do you do? What do you do? And so many people don't put what they do in the header of their website.

Just answer the question, what do you do? And it, it seems obvious to you, but it's not obvious to someone who's visiting your website for the first time.

Mindy: Sure.

Kris: Coaching for managers who are ready to align head, heart, and body for centered leadership. So the part that I would push back on here is centered leadership.

Mm-hmm. Um, that's a term, you know what that means, [00:22:00] and that is really meaningful for you, but the general public doesn't actually know what that means. So I might use a different word that it just doesn't cause any confusion at all, that doesn't make the brain burn any calories. So-

Mindy: Clarity?

Kris: I would, I would use a very simple word like, effective or impact- Oh ... impactful

Mindy: would, I would say, um, effective.

Kris: Okay.

Mindy: Because impactful can be good or bad.

Kris: That's true. That's true. It could go either way, right?

Mindy: I've had some impactful leadership- ... and not, not for good.

Kris: Right. Right, right. Yeah. It impacted me in not the best way.

Mindy: Yes.

Kris: So here we've got her header completely dialed in. What do you do? How's it gonna make my life better? And what do you want me to do next? So we're really weaving in, how's it gonna make my life better? That's what the brain always wants to know.

We're, we're communicating what [00:23:00] she does, coaching for managers. Who she does it for, who's the hero? Managers. And managers who are, are ready to align head, heart, and body for effective leadership. So this is a 10 out of 10.

Mindy: I

Kris: like it. Totally nailed it. Totally nail- nailed it. So now what we're gonna move to is, um- The next part of the story.

So Every movie you've ever watched, every book you've ever read, every story you've ever heard always begins with the hero that has a problem they don't know how to solve.

So now that we have just allowed our visitor to know that they're in the right place, we have just bought more time with them. Now they're gonna scroll, they're gonna stay on the page number one, which is the first battle. They're gonna stay on the page. Not only that, we've been clear enough, and we've built enough trust, even though it's just a very quick five seconds, we've bought more time with them.

So now they're gonna scroll down to the next [00:24:00] section, and the next section should always begin with the hero's problem. When we begin with our hero's problem, we help them feel seen, heard, not alone in their struggle. Most importantly, they're gonna be like, "Mindy's in my head. If she understands me to this degree, she's obviously the best one to solve it."

So we're gonna move into that problem section here. The overarching problem is many capable managers dread difficult conversations. Are you struggling with avoidant or disassociating behavior or self-abandonment when the pressure is on? Second-guessing yourself even when you know what needs to be said or done.

Feeling misaligned between what you say and how you act and feel. Reacting automatically instead of responding with clarity and intention. Self-sabotaging in moments that matter most.

Mindy: I love this page because to me, I'm like, "Yep, yep, yep." Oh, I just feel like it's so relatable. All these things [00:25:00] are so relatable,

Kris: that we- They really are.

They

Mindy: really are ... many of us have experienced.

Kris: totally. The, the one that I want to refine or that I'm wanting to rethink is this first one. I'm wondering if there's a way we can say this more simply, because I don't know if they would self-identify as I'm having disassociating behavior.

Mindy: Yeah, I, I, I had a feeling that you would push back on that one.

so my intent was also to have, you know me and my commas, to have a comma after behavior, but I, yes, I understand what you're saying.

Kris: They're gonna relate to avoidant.

Mindy: Yeah.

Kris: So if we've got, "Are you struggling with,"

Mindy: I think avoi- avoidance and self-abandonment is disassociating, so we can go ahead and remove disassociating behavior.

Kris: Okay. Now here's my next question. When you get on the phone with them, are, are they gonna complain about self-abandonment? You might diagnose it as that, but are they gonna use those words?

Mindy: I would say that my [00:26:00] clients use that word, and they say, you know, "All of a sudden I, I go to a different place," or, "I no longer feel my body," or, "I..."

You know?

Kris: Disconnect?

Mindy: Yeah.

Kris: Okay. okay. So, so they do use the word, "I abandon myself," or, "I feel-

Mindy: Yes ...

Kris: self-abandonment." They...

Mindy: Or disassociate.

Kris: They... And they will use that word?

Mindy: Yeah.

Kris: Okay. Okay.

Mindy: yeah. And again, I think part of it too, Kris, is this demographic that I'm supporting at this moment in time-

Kris: Mm-hmm

Mindy: and want to continue to support, are professionals. And so they are, they have a different vernacular than- Yep ... you know-

Kris: Yep ...

Mindy: you know, they're doing- Than

Kris: the general public. Yeah.

Mindy: Yeah.

Kris: You're not, you're not dealing with the general public. So as, as long as you can do the litmus test of, "These are words that I hear come out of their mouth-" Yes

I'm, I'm good with it. I'm good with it. Okay. That's, that's where we w- Often as a coach or consultant, someone'll tell us something and we'll know what it actually means even though they're not using those words. And [00:27:00] so we don't wanna use our diagnosis. We wanna use the words that they're actually using.

Mindy: Yes. So- And I would also say too, two things that you called out. Well, one thing that you called out for me specifically that I'm sure you call out to a lot of clients is we tend to use our vernacular that isn't necessarily something that the public will understand, so it's a really good thing to bring up again.

And-

Kris: Yes. Yeah ...

Mindy:

Kris: The curse of knowledge is what that's called.

Mindy: The curse of knowledge. I love that. It's so true.

Kris: Yep.

Mindy: And you know, as I said, I think that there's, there's a- An education or an exposure level of people that are coming from the professional environment that ... Yeah. And plus, there's, uh, there's a lot more self-help that's at people's fingertips through social media, so I think that there

These words are more ready available-

Kris: Yep ... to them. Yep, totally. Okay. Okay.

Mindy: And I can always make edits.

Kris: You can always make edits. I mean, that's the beauty. We've got the wire frames so we can really get it dialed in, but I, I'm really glad you brought that up because [00:28:00] we need to stop putting so much pressure on ourselves about getting the website perfect.

It is a living, breathing-

Mindy: Yes ...

Kris: tool that- It is ... you can continually hone, hone, refine, hone, hone over time. I- Yeah ... refine my website a couple times a year. Sometimes I go- Oh ... a year without doing that. But it's, it's not uncommon to have a, a handful of conversations with clients and then come back to your website and go, "Oh, you know what?

I'm gonna say that a little bit differently than I currently have it here." So don't feel like I mean, this is one of the wonderful things about building your own website is that-

Mindy: Yeah ...

Kris: you're gonna know how to easily go in there and make a quick word change or a price change or a headline change, and it's not gonna be a big thing, right?

Mindy: Well, and that's a good, that's a good thing to teach too, Kris, is, that it's important to self-audit-

Kris: Yeah ...

Mindy: once a year. You know- Totally ... maybe you Yeah ... once a year go in [00:29:00] and see. Like, is it, does it still hold true?

Kris: 100%. Once a year for sure you should be doing that, and be thinking about the conversations that you've had, the clients that you've really enjoyed working with, the ones that you've really...

that have gotten incredible results for you, the ones that you want more of, and then really hone your message on your website so it's really gonna resonate with them. And I'll tell you, after 23 years doing the work that I do, I'm still honing my message. It is really, like, because either I'll have more clarity about who I love working with or I'll have changed as a business owner.

Sure. And so it's on both sides, things just are ever-changing.

Mindy: Yeah.

Kris: the good news is when you do the groundwork of getting your website clear and strategic, it will work for you, and you won't have to change it more than once a year. You certainly can if you want to, if you have insights, but I do encourage you not [00:30:00] to become what I call a noodler, somebody who- Mm

stays up late night tweaking, tweaking, tweaking the website, because you need to give it time to work for you, and you need to get enough people, enough eyeballs on the website to be able to understand if it's working or not. And sometimes we get so eager to, to troubleshoot it- Mm-hmm ... that sometimes you kind of, like, the more you massage clay, the more it kind of turns into mush.

Mindy: Yeah.

Kris: Okay. Um, the only thing that I would change here is I think I'd like to lead with one of these other problems. So of the, of the four here, what do you think is the most no-brainer? What would you like to lead with?

Mindy: I, I would say second-guessing yourself.

Kris: Okay. I love it And we can even put the avoidant or self-abandonment, um, right below, or sorry, right above self-sabotaging Okay. [00:31:00] Yep, and so that's another thing. So we've got the overarching problem, which is many capable managers dread difficult conversations.

Then I recommend you have three to five bullets underneath that that get into the more nuanced, like the minutiae of their actual problem, and what does that problem look and feel like for them day to day? Yes. So we've totally nailed Mindy's problems section. Many capable managers dread difficult conversations.

Are you struggling with second-guessing yourself even when you know what needs to be said or done? Feeling misaligned between what you say and how you act and feel? Reacting automatically instead of responding with clarity and intention? Avoidant or self-abandonment when the pressure is on.

Self-sabotaging in moments that matter most. So notice you

Mindy: don't have to- I don't know if you'd say avoiding. Avoiding versus avoidant. Are you struggling with avoidant or e- avoidant behavior or self-abandonment? Maybe that's it.

It, either, it's either avoiding or [00:32:00] avoidant behavior, so if you want less words, we could say avoiding-

Kris: I think avoiding is something everyone can relate to. Yeah. And so we've just changed it from avoidant behavior to are you struggling with avoiding or abandoning yourself when the pressure is on?

and that just, that just basically put the cherry on the top of this problems section. Yeah. So we're gonna go through, we have a few minutes left, we're gonna go through one more section of the website. Are you feeling good with this the way it is?

Mindy: Yes, I really do. Yep.

Kris: Okay. And most importantly, when somebody comes to your website, do you feel like they're gonna feel seen and heard and understood when they read these problems?

Mindy: 100%.

Kris: Okay. Great.

Mindy: Based on my experience, yes.

Kris: Yep. Okay, great. We've totally nailed that. That's, I would argue, the one of the most important, if not the most important part of your entire story. When we begin with the hero's problem, we literally open up a story loop, and the human brain [00:33:00] cannot disengage when a story loop is open.

We are pulled in, and we stay engaged until we know that loop has been closed. This is why, when you go to a movie, you can't get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the movie, because the story loop is open, and you need to be there to find out when it's gonna be closed.

Mindy: Mm-hmm.

Kris: So we've opened up that story loop, and very strategically.

And now what your visitor is asking themself is three questions: "What's in it for me? What's in it for me? And what's in it for me?" So we wanna spoon-feed this information to them. Too often, coaches and consultants will bury this information in larger paragraphs of copy. So either it's not there on the page at all, or it's in small font within a larger paragraph.

No one's gonna read a large paragraph. They just won't. so we have to drip the information to these people little by little in a [00:34:00] way that their brain can digest it. So what we wanna do next is we've just articulated our hero's problem. Now what we wanna do is foreshadow success. At the very end of any story, the hero finds success, but we need to reassure their brain that this is worth their while.

So we're gonna spoon-feed that information to them upfront in the success section. And we move into this section with a philosophical statement around what you believe to be true. This gets people rallied around your bigger vision for the work that you do. And for Mindy, we have, "I believe contentment comes from being able to access yourself fully."

And what a wonderful vision that you have for y- the work that you do. And then we have those three, three success buckets, which are find your center, connect your head with your heart and body to stay grounded, especially when the stakes are high. [00:35:00] Build self-trust. Connect to your internal signals so decisions come from alignment instead of anxiety.

Notice we're contrasting the benefit with the problem here to show how good the benefit is. Mm-hmm. Um, and the first one we have, stay grounded, especially when the stakes are high. In this one we've got, make your decisions from alignment instead of anxiety. And then we've got lead with confidence.

Show up as the calm, capable leader others respect and follow and want to emulate. I feel

Mindy: like- I edited

Kris: that I love that. That's- Because- ... that's the ultimate compliment, right?

Mindy: It, it's, it is the three things, right? It's like you respect the person, you, you trust that you can follow them and, and, they're not gonna lead you astray.

And then ultimately when it comes to your own leadership, you're like, "How do I emulate that?"

Kris: And everybody has a leader or a mentor in their life that they want to emulate and that they aspire to become, and what a wonderful thing that you're gonna help leaders become that for other people.

And ... I can just see the [00:36:00] leaders that you work with and the managers that you work with really, really resonating with them. So the other thing that I wanna talk about in this section is the call to action. So we have book a leadership strategy call, and you'll notice she could have put book a call.

She could put, could have put learn more. She could have put, book a discovery call. But we chose intentionally book a leadership strategy call because we wanna show these leaders that this is not just a sales call. They're actually gonna leave with value. This is gonna be worth their time. Whether they hire Mindy or not, this is going to be valuable for them.

Mm-hmm. So, any thoughts before we leave this section?

Mindy: I would just say I, I really feel that these three pages of content, Represent, represent not only the work I do but what I feel a lot of passion and charge around, of wanting to support people and help them get to a place [00:37:00] that they can trust themselves.

I mean, so I love that I'm like, "Yeah, this, I like this. This really is... I really feel like this is capturing me and what I'm after." Mm-hmm. I- the only thing I would say is and I just have to hope that people read between the lines, is I'm applying this to leaders with an organization, whether that's entrepreneurship, whether that's, working for an organization, whatever that looks like.

But these, practices and these ways of working that I help, you build is actually applicable to all areas of life. And so, that's what I would just hope that people, they don't say to themselves, "Well, I'm not a manager or a leader," or, "I'm now retired." You know? It's, it's applicable to all people, regardless of whether you're in a professional life or not.

Kris: Mm-hmm.

Mindy: The end.

Kris: So here's the deal. if we're gonna cast a really wide net, we're not gonna attract- Yes ... the right people. So we do need to niche down, but I wanna tell you and I wanna reassure you that when you're clear on your messaging in [00:38:00] this way, people are gonna resonate with it. I refer to it as the 80/20 rule.

So we're speaking to 80% of the people that you wanna work with. That's good for-

Mindy: Yes. That is fair, yes ...

Kris: there, there are going to be another 20%, I don't wanna call them riffraff 'cause they're not riffraff, but they're outside of this particular manager leader role. They're gonna, they're gonna really resonate with what you're saying.

Or they'll have hear about you and come to your website, they're really gonna resonate with it. Maybe they're in retirement. Maybe they're just mentoring others or they're, they're in a different kind of phase of life or role, and they're gonna resonate with this anyway and they're gonna come to you anyway.

Yeah. So just so you know, like this kind of clarity isn't gonna kick people out of your story. Those 20% are gonna come no matter what. But the 80%, we're really gonna nail, that are gonna come to you.

Mindy: Yeah. And I guess I would just say that it's for the listener that this is something to remind yourself of when you are building your website, that, what Kris is [00:39:00] saying is true.

Because I have to remind myself, it's not that the everyday person isn't gonna wanna work with me. It is true, it's the 20%. And so not losing sight of, who is your, lion's share client? what is that, demographic or, Yeah. So.

Kris: Totally. Yeah. Like for example, I work with coaches and consultants and service providers.

If you work with clients, I work with you to help you get more clients, right? So that's really who I work with. every now and then people will come to me, people that sell a widget or sell some kind of product- Story Brand strategy works well whether you're a service provider or you're selling a product or you're in some other...

Like, story is really universal, so every now and then- Mm ... I'll work with a client who is, is selling a product rather than a service, and it's all good. they, they come to my website, they resonate with my message even though they're [00:40:00] not a coach or consultant. So-

Mindy: Yeah ...

Kris: not to worry.

Yeah. all right. So what we're gonna do next is we're gonna have Mindy back on, and we're gonna continue to work through her website and keep honing and helping you kind of watch the process of how we craft these wire frames together, and how we collaborate and refine and get clarity, and then we get to watch Mindy actually build this website.

So how are you feeling about being in this phase of the process?

Mindy: I'm excited. I, I was just telling Tina, my wife, that I feel like there's a momentum happening now, and I think it's because things are actually starting to gel together. And what's, to, to your point, what's in here and in here, my head and my heart, is now actually being articulated on paper and screen.

And so it makes me excited. so yeah, it's good.

Kris: And what's your plan? What, builder are you gonna use? And are you gonna, block off a day to do it? Are you gonna do it a little bit here and there? what's your [00:41:00] execution plan?

Mindy: Yeah. So I think I'm gonna use Wix. And,I also have thought, well, yes, setting aside a day.

I actually am going to California, soon, and I will be having 10 days by myself. Mm-hmm. Which is a really good time to just get some stuff done. So I'm really excited about that. So, while I would hope to get it done sooner than that, I'm also being gentle with myself because I have other irons in the fire.

So, it just takes time, you know? So I would like to think that I'll have it done in two weeks time, but the reality is I'll probably get it doneprobably, like, end of June, I would say.

Kris: Oh, that's right around the corner. Yeah. And just so you know, like, I just wanna encourage you, because we're getting really, really clear on this wire frame, once you get into Wix, it's gonna come together really quickly, 'cause you're gonna know exactly what you need to do, and you won't have to do the whole second-guessing, figuring it out.

Like, you don't wanna build the plane while you're flying it.

Mindy: Right. I'm just, I'm just so excited. I, I, I [00:42:00] actually feel a giddiness. I feel a giddiness, about seeing everything kind of come together. So I'm just so grateful for you, so thank you.

Kris: Oh, my gosh. Such a joy to help you. Thank you for joining me today, and being open and vulnerable about your journey through the process.

And It's so helpful for people that are on board.

Mindy: Thank you.

Kris: Is your website turning away potential clients? I can help you turn that around. Book a money-making messaging call with me today, and we'll transform your story into your most powerful sales tool. That's all for this episode of From Click to Client. Don't forget to subscribe and follow. I'm Kris Jones, and I'll see you next time