Michael Chu is a fascinating entrepreneur who has created a system that grows and scales any coaching business. It involves eight principles, he calls Freedom Killers, built on non-obvious truths. He helps coaches unlock instant credibility and get and keep clients for life.
By 30, he had 3 multi-million dollar businesses and was a millionaire. In addition to scaling and wealth creation, he’s also a smart investor. He is not dependent on his coaching business to pay for his lifestyle.
His mindset and ability to systemize wealth creation, sales, and create processes to eliminate the need for him to be in the business have set him apart from the rest of the life coaching industry.
Michael shares that he was frustrated with his work, even crying on the bathroom floor, he was so stressed. He was going through a divorce and wanted to make a change in his life. He wanted a different life. So, he founded his coaching business. He was making $2500-$5000/month when it hit him, “Operators get tired. Owners get wealthy.”
He realized he had to go against “traditional” methods to achieve the success and the freedom he wanted for his life.
Freedom Killer #1: “I Need a Bigger Audience to Be Successful”
Like most, you have likely heard that you will secure a certain percentage of leads, so the broader you cast your net, the more money you will make. This is not necessarily inaccurate, but it is also not the only way to increase revenue and ROI.
Kayley George was hitting a $40K a month ceiling after previous coaching and enhanced sales systems. Michael assessed and helped Sarah and her company implement what Michael refers to as “The Harvard Effect.” Together, they flipped the business model to draw the right client to her instead of chasing the clients. She was able to focus on her niche market and charge more for the service.
With this, you don’t have to work so hard to generate so little. You can hit your goals without buckets of leads, conversations, calls, etc. You don’t want to be on sales calls all week anyway. You want to have the most leverage to create the most amount of revenue with the least amount of leads and effort.
Freedom Killer #2: “To get to the next level, I need more new clients”
Michael obliterated this myth by accident. He realized his current pitch was about the short game, not sustainable, and empty promises like, “Hire me for 12 weeks and you will never need a coach again.”
When you do this, he explains, “You’re selling yourself out of clients,and when you can’t deliver, they never trust you again.” So, Michael nixed the short game verbiage, realizing the long game is more valuable, and focused on building a retention plan. With $50K in new revenue and $30K in retention revenue, he hit his $80K a month goal.
Here’s the trick: retention starts before the sale. The psychology behind this all hinges on the reality that success and identity transformation go beyond habits. Habit isn’t the end game. It takes practice to get right.
Freedom Killer #3: ”I have to be a sales expert or spray and pray. This business is too unpredictable”
Michael was sitting and staring at his inbox when he hit a breaking point. He was sending 20 to 50 messages a day, wasting hours without getting the volume of sales he wanted.
The revenue was a roller coaster and felt uncontrollable: $10K, then $3K, then $20K.
“I don’t like instability, I like consistency,” he explains. “I needed to work smarter, not harder. We were waiting for people to come to us and ask to work with us, sending cold messages. We want what I call the warm, gooey middle. I realized I had to find a better way to connect with the right people.”
Michael developed a system to cross the bridge from cold sales tactics to hot leads.
The aim is to identify who you want to talk to and engage in an open and authentic conversation where clients give you permission to market to them, you maintain authority in your field, and practice fool-proof follow-up methods.
Freedom Killer #4: “The selling stops after the sale” or ”I just closed a sale, I need to go get another sale”
Michael was on a one-on-one coaching call with a client, pouring into the call before he knew the client’s program had ended four months prior. The business had fallen apart in the payment process. But the point is, Michael didn’t realize where his client was in the process to guide him or offer value.
He needed to make a shift from the front end of the sales funnel to the back end of the sales funnel and focus on retention. Coaching clients want more, but they don’t always know what they need. That’s why they hired a coach, but people won’t renew if they feel like you’re not there for them or if you don’t care about what they are doing.
Retention sales are about timing, and you won’t know when the right time is for a client without knowing where they are in the process.
Freedom Killer #5: “More offers equals more money”
Michael had just passed earning $10K a month in his coaching business. He was working towards a $30K a month goal, but kept hitting a ceiling.
“I was trying to sell to everyone and was reaching no one. I forced myself to niche down and identify the 4P’s for myself.” He identified the person, problem, promise, and process. “I picked a specific client: a network of marketers/direct sales leaders who wanted to improve their health, energy, and physique, and aligned leaders for their team. I jumped to $40K in 30 days, $50K in 90 days, and $80K in 6 months, grossing over $1.5 million.”
In less than two years, Michael broke the traditional coaching business model by accurately identifying his target market, refining systems, improving client communications, and building a leads and retention profit model that works. Sales went from $10K a month to $80K a month in less than a year, accelerating Champion Development to a multi-million dollar coaching business.
Freedom Killer #6: “Clients will only work with me” or ”Scaling is impossible or hard”
“I was sitting at my desk, and had just completed my third call saying the exact same thing, answering the same question over and over.” This isn’t a good place to be. Not only are you frustrated, but the clients can tell if you are truly present.
“Record, Replace, and Resource” yourself. No one can be you, but you can share the knowledge to give yourself some time back, and scale your business. It’s essential. You can’t grow without doing this. Systemizing the delivery actually empowers you to have more impact on more people.
Freedom Killer #7: “More equals Better”
Most models attempt to leverage quantity to achieve value: more information, more meetings, more connection, more products. It’s done rapidly and all at one time. But this doesn’t necessarily meet a client’s needs or serve the client.
More isn’t always better, especially in the coaching business. It’s the quality you deliver. It’s impossible for anyone to absorb everything all at once. This goes back to the power of building small habits. It takes time. It takes 21 to 58 days just to build one habit. It takes one to two years to build a lifestyle. It takes three to four years to transform.
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.” – James Clear, Author Atomic Habits
Freedom Killer #8: “I am the business. Without me, everything will fall apart”
A lot of entrepreneurs feel this way. They feel they can’t walk away, or even take a break. They tell themselves, “When I get to X, I can have freedom.”
With the right people and systems in place, you can get there faster. Champion Development’s eight wealth accelerators will help you scale and build a sustainable business that works without you. The wealth accelerators include developing a vision, a “CEO Operating System,” a culture, management and teams, creating personal wealth, and finally, an exit.
As a result, you will build personal wealth and discover personal freedom for yourself and within your relationships.
Want more? Watch the full interview about building a seven-figure coaching business with Michael Chu HERE.
Learn more about CEO & Founder Michael Chu and his premier coaching business, Champion Development at: www.ChampDev.com
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