Tad’s Travels | marketingforhippies.com

Tour Stop #2: Winnipeg (day three)

By: Tad | Published: October 6, 2010 · 1 Comment

Morning Yoga Jam Crew

Day three in Winnipeg was so full of non stop amazing things.

Jeff and Beth and I were still basking in the glow of the past two days of sold out events at Hollow Reed.

The day started with a ‘yoga jam’ of myself and three friends. Super fun. We each took turns leading a bit of yoga. For my turn, I led us in an improv comedy game of telling a story one word at a time.

Then it was off to The Tallest Poppy – our caterer for the secret Green Grub and Gather party we were hosting that night.

At The Tallest Poppy, we have made an absolute commitment to preparing our food with love.

For us, “love” means that the food we serve is produced and sourced locally wherever possible. OK, we live in Winnipeg, so in winter, obviously, produce will come from other markets. But when it is available, we will source our food locally. It means that our meats are purchased from Frigs Natural Meat Market, because their meat is raised naturally, locally, and has no antibiotics or growth hormones. It means our coffee is Black Pearl, beans roasted in our neighborhood, with care to ensure that the coffee is always rich and flavourful. Our eggs are free run.

Then we wandered over to Aqua Books for lunch. It’s a super cool used bookstore/restaurant in Winnipeg. I could spend too many hours in bookstores. It’s true.

Then it was back to Jeff’s place to prepare for the party that night.

11ggg2 300x225 Tour Stop #2: Winnipeg (day three)

A Scene from the Winnipeg Green Grub and Gather

Which brings us to the topic of parties – and how they relate to marketing. I did an interview about how you can use parties to market yourself and you can go to read it here.

Jeff and Beth and I invited who we thought were the key hubs in the Winnipeg green and holistic scene. You can view the invite and list of attendees here.

The party started at 7pm and folks slowly drifted in. And then at 8:30pm Beth Martens led us in a beautiful kirtan style, call and response song. And then we did a go around circle where everyone had one minute to introduce themselves. By the end of the circle everyone was buzzing with ideas and possibilities for collaboration. All the while enjoying the incredible food from The Tallest Poppy.

11gggfood 225x300 Tour Stop #2: Winnipeg (day three)

A Mediocre Picture of the Amazing Food From The Tallest Poppy

| Categories: becoming a hub, Parties, Tad's Travels

Tour Stop #2: Winnipeg (Day Two)

By: Tad | Published: October 2, 2010 · 3 Comments

What. A. Day.

My day started off with a massage. I’ve decided this is a great way to start ones day.

After that, I grabbed lunch with my friend Amber at the legendary Mondragon Cafe. Says there website . . .

Mondragon is a political bookstore and vegan restaurant located in Winnipeg’s historic exchange district. The word Mondragon comes from the Euskadi (Basque) town of the same name meaning “Dragon Mountain” in English. Located in Northern Spain, Mondragon or Arrasate in the Basque language, is known for its extensive network of workers’ cooperatives, and has been the subject of numerous books and articles.

Inspired by this and many other examples of alternative economics and workplace democracy, our bookstore and coffeehouse is organized as a workers collective. We have no manager, and all worker members, regardless of starting skill or seniority, earn the same rate of pay. We call ours a “participatory” workplace, after the participatory economic model developed by co-authors Robin Hahnel and Michael Albert, and we feel that this structure is consistent with libertarian socialist principles.

Amber is a realtor and getting into the focus on ‘green real estate’. She’d been at my workshop on Thursday night and we got to talking about this whole niche thing.

As we spoke she tossed out that she was thinking of focusing on ‘single women in Winnipeg’.

“I would focus on that group instead of making ‘green real estate’ your thing. ‘Green real estate’ is how you do what you do but it’s not who you’re trying to reach. But ‘single women in Winnipeg’ is a pretty clear group – with lots of subgroups obviously – but it’s a great start. It meets my criteria for a niche market – a community of people with a shared set of needs and experiences. There’s so much you could do with it.”

As we munched on our food (I got their Dragon Bowl which was alright and she got their Burrito) we explored things you could do with that kind of group to become a hub for them. You could . . .

host a shopping day – rent a bus and show women all the places to shop to get amazing things for their homes at a bargain and meet shop owners
host a series of fun self defense classes for single women
negotiate a wicked deal with a gym or yoga studio for your clients
host relationship/dating workshops
host workshops on ‘how to make your home safe’ (since single women are more concerned about this than single men)
host a ‘how to green your home’ workshop. My sense was that women are more likely to care about these issues.
host a workshop with a local feng shui expert – or get your clients a ‘free consult’ with one as part of the package in working with you.

And so many more things.

It’s what I always find – once we find a niche – there’s an endless stream of ideas.

After lunch, I wandered down to Hollow Reed to receive a consultation from Chad (he’s amazing FYI – book a session if you can).

And then my old friend from Edmonton, Jackie Avent, and I went to the Winnipeg Green Drinks. This was exciting for me because I help to host the Edmonton Green Drinks through e-sage. They host it at this place called the Lo Pub – which is a vegan, local food pub. Pub food – but local and vegan. Very cool. Sadly I couldn’t stay long because I was hosting my second workshop at Hollow Reed that night.

And it was such a great workshop! Again – an amazing group of folks (pictured on the right). The folks who ran The Aquarian (a spiritually and politically progressive newspaper) were there. It’s an amazing thing – it’s already been going for twenty years – they were so ahead of their time. Other folks were into local food, performing arts, yoga, furniture business. A real motley crew.

I invited Beth Martens to sit on the hot seat that night (something I’ve only just started doing with my workshops and I really like it).

I asked her which target market she wanted to jam on.

“People who have someone in their life who is struggling with a serious illness like cancer.”

“And are you wanting to help the person with cancer or the person who’s helping them?“

“Both, in a way. I’m a cancer survivor myself, so this is close to my heart.“

“Okay. Sometimes that can be a good strategy. Sometimes people won’t reach out for help themselves and you need to reach out to the people most affected by them. Instead of trying to sell bride’s a ‘stress relief’ CD – sell it to the bridesmaids. You know?“

I pointed out how incredibly important empathy is in marketing – the ability to speak to people where they’re at vs. where we wish they would be. I invited the group to speak to the typical experience of a caregiver. “What’s it like to be them?” I asked.

The answers came: stressful. exhausting. overwhelming. you can begin to resent the person you love. hopeless – you want to help them more but don’t know how to.

“And if you could wave your magic wand – what result would you most want them to have?“

The answers: peace, a sense of control, feeling connected – not so isolated, understood, a sense of direction and hope, a sense of being okay no matter what happened.

I asked the group what kinds of offers she could come up with for this kind of group. And they delivered a bunch of great ideas:

a spa day or weekend for the caregiver where they could be pampered and connect with other caregivers who were in a similar boat and not feel so alone.
a workshop on how to deal the stress
a communication workshop so they can relate to these people better

“And what would the hubs be? Where would you find these people?“

support groups for specific diseases
other holistic practitioners
doctors

“So Beth,” I said. “Let’s pretend that you were to focus only on this group – and not saying you should – but can you see how this would develop a reputation and help word of mouth? Imagine it, a practitioner is talking with a client and the client is going off about how hard it is to be supporting his wife. And they say, ‘Oh! You need to talk with Beth Martens. She specializes in this.’

This is why having a specialization is one of the top ten things a practitioner needs to become a trusted advisor.

But check out my workshop in a single picture – this is what my whiteboard looks like at the end of my workshop. Pretty much everything I cover in my full weekend The Radical Business Intensive is captured here.

Tomorrow we’re having a secret party! I’ll tell you all about it soon.

If you’d like get cool posts like this in your inbox every few days CLICK HERE to subscribe to my blog and you’ll also get a free copy of my fancy new ebook “Marketing for Hippies” when it’s done.

| Categories: becoming a hub, holistic practitioners, identifying your hubs, Niche Marketing, Tad's Travels - Tags: becoming a hub, empathy, holistic practitioners, trusted advisor

Tour Stop #2: Winnipeg (Day One)

By: Tad | Published: October 1, 2010 · 3 Comments

Thursday Night:

I am in love with Winnipeg.

My old friend Jeff Golfman picked me up at the airport today (arriving from Tour Stop #1 in Calgary yesterday.

And he drove me straight to Woolsley.

IMG 0455 Tour Stop #2: Winnipeg (Day One)

My friend Jeff's loft.

Woolsley is the cool, hippy neighbourhood in town. It’s full of old quaint houses and big old trees that are covering the streets and yards with their beautiful autumn leaves.

I am completely charmed.

Winnipeg: will you marry me?

But, it gets better.

I’m staying at Jeff’s 5000 sq ft. office and loft apartment (pictured on the left). It’s gorgeous and the perfect space in which to relax and catch up on emails. And Saturday night we’re having a secret party here! Woot.

Tonite I led my first workshop at the incredible holistic center that is Hollow Reed Holistic (pictured here). The Hollow Reed started five years ago as an herbal apothecary. It’s run by Chad Cornell (a Master Herbalist) and his wife Nancy Hall and overflows with the best and most welcoming community vibes. Two months ago they opened up a broader holistic center with a group of other practitioners and they’ve got this neat little workshop space.

They’ve clearly become a hub in Winnipeg for cool, holistic things.

Chad Cornell

I showed up earlier today to check out the space and make sure everything was okay – only to be warmly welcomed by Kalee who worked there. And then Chad (pictured to the left) came out of his session and made me some amazing tea blend to help with my cough. Plus this incredibly bitter root to chew. It’s terrible tasting so it must be good medicine!

And then at I led my ‘Marketing 101 for Green and Local Businesses‘ workshop to a packed crowd. We got 30 people in the space – and I don’t think we could have fit too many more folks in there.

I talked about Niche Marketing, coming up with Irresistible Offers, Hub Marketing and Word of Mouth.

Part way through, I invited Chad to come up to the front to be ‘hot seated’.

I asked him to share his ‘top three target markets’ he’d come up with during an exercise before the break. They were:

1) People really into natural medicine.

2) People who are ready to do the work.

3) People willing to pay for the work.

I asked the group, “Which of those is the clearest?“

They unanimously voted for #1 – people into natural medicine.

11winnipeg2 Tour Stop #2: Winnipeg (Day One)

Presenting at Hollow Reed in Winnipeg on Thursday Night

“Numbers two and three,” I pointed out. “Are great as criteria of your ideal client. They’re qualities you’d want in any client. But they’re not ‘target markets’. They’re not communities with shared needs or experiences.”

This is a huge distinction that most people fail to make – they confuse the ‘best client criteria’ with what a ‘niche’ is.

Your best client criteria are things like: they show up on time, they pay on time, they refer people, they do their homework, they refer people, they are open to feedback etc. It’s all the things you expect of your clients.

A niche is something like: doctors, lawyers, backpackers, vegans, Doctor Who fans, Buddhists, Burners, Crafters etc.

Big difference.

A niche is a tribe. The rest are the things you’d want in any client.

So, then we explored the first group: people interested in natural health using my philosophy of ‘Big Circle: Little Circles’ (which I promise to write about soon). I asked the crowd gathered to list all the specific groups that would be into natural healing. And the group delivered: holistic practitioners, yoga students, meditators, folks in the native community, folks in the Indian community etc.

I asked Chad to pick one of those more specific groups. He picked Yoga Studios.

So, we started to explore what kinds of ‘Offers’ he could make to connect more deeply with that crowd.

11winnipeg3 223x300 Tour Stop #2: Winnipeg (Day One)

Presenting at Hollow Reed Thursday night.

Jackie Avent, a friend of mine there, came up with a great idea of him going to Yoga studios to offer workshops on ‘cleansing’ since he works so deeply with herbs. I thought that was a great idea. If he even did one presentation per year at every yoga studio in town – he’d be connecting with a whole new crowd of people. And, if he came up with some sort of ‘next step’ offer for people after the workshop that could get them into his studio that would be great.

That ‘next step’ could be as simple as inviting them to join his email list, or offering them all a free 30 minute consult with him (and the chance to upgrade when they book), or perhaps it would be an invite to another workshop at his space.

And, on the theme of ‘becoming a hub‘ I also offered the idea of his hosting a gathering for all of the yoga studio owners and teachers in town to come to his space for a party or an intentional conversation around ‘how do we get more people in Winnipeg doing yoga?‘. And he could be honest about his intentions, ‘Yoga students are great clients for us – so, the better the yoga scene is doing – the better we will do.’

It was a beautiful night.

11winnipeg Tour Stop #2: Winnipeg (Day One)

The Crowd at Thursday's Workshop at Hollow Reed

| Categories: becoming a hub, identifying your hubs, Niche Marketing, Tad's Travels, Uncategorized - Tags: irresistible offers, niche

Tour Stop #1: Calgary

By: Tad | Published: September 30, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Tad Hargrave and Brendon Lumgair in Calgary

Phew! I just led my first workshop of the tour in Calgary. It went really well (I think).

I love my job.

I was doing my ‘Marketing 101 for Holistic Practitioners’ workshop.

The format of this workshop keeps changing but lately I’ve been spending the first part of the day exploring what I think are the most critical, foundational, marketing things you can have as a service provider and holistic practitioner.

And it keeps evolving. It started with seven things, and I’m up to ten things now. But I think it will stick there. Top Ten lists are good.

I was lucky enough to have Brendon Lumgair join us – he helps hippies create websites that actually get them clients. And that they can update themselves without paying a website designer. It’s the third time he’s presented and my clients always rave about him. Yay for people who make me look good. Woot.

In one hour, those folks left with more know how about online marketing than most practitioners will have in a lifetime.

And he might even be able to join me in Winnipeg! That would be super great. Cross your fingers people.

Tomorrow at 11am I fly out to Winnipeg and lead a workshop Thursday night (and then another Friday and finally one on Sunday).

| Categories: Tad's Travels

How to Sell Out Your Seminars

By: Tad | Published: August 30, 2010 · 6 Comments

There’s a seminar I think you might want to go to. And, if you go, I want to give you a gift worth $100.

THE BACKSTORY: So, I just spent two days with 25 of the world’s leading small business marketing gurus. It was pretty great. More on that whole experience soon.

But, while I was there – I got to connect with Max Simon who was also participating. Max has got about to a decade of experience putting on high-quality live events, and it seems that he’s really nailed the formula for providing unparalleled content AND making six-figures per seminar. His dad is one of Deepak Chopra’s closest colleauges and Max grew up in the biz. He’s participated in and helped organize over 200 live events.

After dinner tonite, Max and I recorded a quick sit to chat about his upcoming program called “Sold Out Seminar Secrets“. Click play and check it out.

Max has put up some really useful free videos about his program. Check them out.

The Six Fundamental Things I Learned From Max About Filling Seminars:

LESSON #1: Focus on the experience. There are so many seminars and workshops available. And there will be more and more every year. And, being real, many with the virtually identical content. So, focus on the ‘experience’ pieces. Who else will be there? What kind of food will be served? Are there any parties included? Morning yoga? What could make it so special? What makes it memorable? If you pick a cool and unusual venue this can help draw people. Don’t focus on the content alone.

LESSON #2: Go Narrow and Deep. The more broad you are about your topic base the harder the workshop will be to fill. A workshop called, “Empowerment for Everyone!” will get a much smaller response than, “Online Marketing for Massage Therapists”. Narrow your focus on who it’s for – this allows you to go deep into tailoring the event for that crowd. Most workshops are Broad and Shallow in their focus. But the wider you go with your topic base the fewer people will come – ironic but true. Focus is power here. Focus on a particular group experiencing a particular problem and promise a particular result.

LESSON #3: Something They Can Finish. Build the workshop around a central result. Some promise of something they will actually accomplish by the end of the event. This will keep your event from just being a data dump. People are no longer satisfied with ‘more information’. They want results. So pick a particular result and then help them achieve that by the time the workshop finishes. Don’t just give them ideas. Give them time to integrate and work with those ideas during the workshop. For example, if the workshop was about how to lose weight – by the end of it they would have created a customized plan, phoned people to build a support team, booked their times with a personal trainer etc. If the result was about financial management – that they would bring their laptops and actually create a spreadsheet of their finances there and a plan for the next 12 months on exactly what they can do.

LESSON #4: Price higher. The lower the price – the less people will come. They’ll assume it’s not valuable. Narrow & deep + higher price + promised result = “Ooooh. This looks good!”

LESSON #5: Do it for them. If your workshop is about helping people describe what they do – give them a bunch of written examples. Give them cookie cutter ‘fill in the blanks’ templates they can use. The easier you can make it for them – the better.

LESSON#6: Give them value before they come. Max has got a lot of ideas on tactics to fill workshops – but you could do worse than doing a video launch. Meaning, offering people a series of three videos that give people not only a sense of the value of the event – but some useful tools they can use right away. A basic format to follow is: Video #1 is the Free Content. Video #2 are video testimonials from past participants. Video #3 is the video where you describe the event (focusing on the experience not just the content). Tell them about the content – but not in detail. More like Chapter Headings. Max has got some videos like this up – check them out.

This is really just the start. Max gave us a 45 minute download on his seminar at the workshop which is absolutely going to improve the way I promote my own workshops. I’m super grateful.

Check out Max’s free Sold Out Seminar Secrets videos. And consider going to his workshop – I think you’ll be glad you did.

MY GIFT TO YOU: If you go – let me know – because I’d like to give you $100 of my time (30 minutes) to help you integrate it – as my way of saying, ‘Thanks for trusting me.’