Got a solid business plan just waiting to be launched, but can’t seem to find the fire to get it off the ground? Business Coach Melissa Lin offers a 90-day program for women who are ready to kick start their online businesses, but need guidance on how to get it up and running to be the best salespeople they can be.
Read on to learn more about her brave decision to give up her promising career as an engineer to pursue her passion for coaching fellow women.
What inspired you to be an entrepreneur?
From a very young age, I was taught that in order to be successful, I needed to check these items off my bucket list: go to college, study engineering, graduate, find a successful job, and marry somebody that can also support me financially. This was all that I knew, so naturally, I did as my parents and teachers advised me to do. I graduated from college with my B.S. in Chemical Engineering, found a nice job with great benefits, and started to build my success story.
The trend I found in my life: as I was getting promoted, my workdays grew longer, my income was barely growing, and my happiness level was shrinking. I had so many things I wanted to accomplish but didn’t see how it could happen in my lifetime. I was the girl wanting to travel six months out of the year, fund charities, start my own charities, and more. My dream bubble was growing bigger each minute of the day, but my nine to five wasn’t. I knew I had to make a change if I wanted to create a different life for myself.
AND I DID THE DARN THING! I started my first business as a side-hustle while in my 9-5. I quickly grew my business to six figures and left my 9-5 to run my business full time – and yes, I was so terrified to leave a job that for 20+ years I was taught was the only way to be “safe and secure” in life. But today I run my own multiple six-figure business as an Online Business Coach for women ready to start, build, and scale their online businesses. I get to serve my clients while working from home, on the couch in my pajamas, or while traveling abroad to Bali and Italy.
How are you making a positive difference in the world?
My mission is to create a bigger impact in the world, through both my personal life and my business. In my personal life, I consistently donate to charities that I feel are working towards a more positive world, continue to invest in my own mindset and education so that I can continue to do more and be more. Through my business, I help women start, build, and scale their online business and in that, I’m able to help them help more people, almost like a big chain reaction.
What has been the greatest positive impact you have seen your clients or customers face from working directly with you?
When my clients win, I win. My mission is to help my clients thrive in entrepreneurship and some of the greatest impacts have been my clients being able to leave their 9-5s, pay off their debt, book their dream vacations, have the resources to give back to the world, and truly stepping into their power, all through their online business which I will was blessed to help them start and scale.
What does being a purpose-driven business mean to you?
Being a purpose-driven business means that we as a company are making a positive difference in the world. We have created core values in our company to ensure that those we hire as team members, those we attract as clients, all align with our core values so that we can all work together to do better and be better in this world. My business sells products and services that we love teaching, we are experts in, and they’re all items that the world needs, which checks the boxes for us as a company in our definition of a purpose-driven business.
How did you pivot your business during the pandemic?
The online space is continuously changing and as an online business owner, I get to be open to pivoting and adapting quickly if needed. When the coronavirus hit, our main priority in our business was to hold space for our clients, team, and audience as it was (and still is) a scary time for many of us.
Inside the business, we restructured some of our programs by adding additional support so that we could hold space for our clients during this time. We added additional team calls throughout the month to hold space for our team members as they are family to me and they are a big part of my business running. We’ve added additional payment plan options for clients and new clients looking to start their online business in this uncertain time. Our priorities are always our clients and team.
What are your top 5 tips to scale a business or use social media to attract new clients?
Here are my top five tips to use social media to attract new clients:
- Connect/Build Relationships. To attract new clients on social media, you must connect with them and show them that you can help solve their problem. How? By sharing things on your social media pages such as: your story, your struggles, your clients’ struggles, how they overcame them, what’s possible for them, etc. Share these items and literally connect with them. Send potential clients messages or emails, start a conversation with them, and create a like, know, and trust relationship with them.
- Add Value Daily. Before a potential client buys from you, they must trust you and see you as an expert in your field. They must believe that you can provide them the solution to the problem they have. The value that you provide is actually your pitch….but your ideal client doesn’t know it yet. By adding value you are:
- Showing your ideal client that you’re an expert in your field
- Providing them a quick, tangible win from your value
- Giving your ideal client a glimpse into what working with you could look like
- Adding this value weekly to your ideal client will help move them through the customer journey lifecycle from lead to paying client.
- Ask for the Sale Daily. On average, humans need to see something 7-10 times before they move forward with their purchase. This means that your service/product/offer that you provide must be seen by your ideal client on average 7-10 times before they purchase too. Your future client can’t buy from you if they aren’t aware of your offering(s). Sell every single day, you are running a business.
- Social proof. As an expert in your field, you get to show the world that you are incredible at what you do! Sharing social proof helps you stand out as an expert in your field and it shows your potential clients what’s possible for them as well. Share social proof and share it often.
- Collaborate. In order to scale your business on social media, you get to serve more people. How can you serve more people? By getting in front of more people and a great way to do this is by collaborating with others in the online space! Host a co-live, interview on somebody else’s podcast, get in front of somebody else’s audience so that you can continue to reach more people each day.
Where can people learn more?Follow me on Instagram, visit my website, or listen to my podcast!