Office Hours: I help entrepreneurs use marketing and sales strategy to create businesses that replace their 9-5 income.Featured

HannahShtein·Feb 07, 2021

Hi everyone! I’m Hannah and I’m a digital marketing and business coach for service-based entrepreneurs (everyone from graphic designers to yoga teachers to financial planners, really any kind of independent consultant). I help my clients start and scale their businesses online, and I specialize in helping women transition out of their 9-5s and take their businesses full-time (and replace their corporate income). Prior to this, I was a recruiter for LA and Bay Area tech companies. I then transitioned into career coaching but found that most people who found me wanted help getting into entrepreneurship, so so decided to listen and made the pivot!I also have a law degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law, and briefly worked in the entertainment industry when i lived in Los Angeles (lots of good stories there, including one about dropping off a turtle at someone’s office to make them sign a contract faster).Ask me anything about marketing your business online and on social media, personal branding, or pretty much anything related to starting and growing an online business!

ElphaStaff·Feb 07, 2021

Thanks so much for joining us @HannahShtein!Elphas – please ask @HannahShtein your questions before Friday, February 12th. @HannahShtein may not have time to answer every questions, so emoji upvote your favorites 🔥👍🏾➕

tinymegaphone·Feb 08, 2021

Your life is rad! Curious about your pivot out of tech and into coaching -- I'm hoping to make a similar move in a few years and am just wondering what that looked like. Did you have a certain number of clients that helped you know it was time to make the leap?

Jolleen·Feb 09, 2021

Hi Hannah,What are some common mistakes that you’ve seen service based entrepreneurs making?

Tessa·Feb 11, 2021

Great question, curious about this too!

HannahShtein·Feb 12, 2021

Hi Jolleen and Tessa! Some common mistakes I see service based entrepreneurs make are: not hiring help to build their business, not having a clear niche + messaging (being too general speaks to no one, e.g. branding yourself as a career coach who helps millennials transition into entrepreneurship from corporate 9-5s will get you way more clients than just branding yourself as a career coach), being afraid to use social media / video marketing, letting impostor syndrome and perfectionism stop them from taking action, charging hourly instead of creating a long-term, transformational package.

TerrieShipley·Feb 09, 2021

Hi @HannahShtein,I’ve been an independent college and career coach (mostly for high schoolers and their parents) for more than a decade and am trying to expand my practice to include another community (from Tulsa to OKC). What advice do you have for starting up all over again/branching out when so much of my business has come from building a network of trusted, word-of-mouth referrals? In particular, what marketing strategies would you consider to be the best bang for my buck? Thank you so much!

HannahShtein·Feb 12, 2021

Hi Terrie! Social media marketing is truly the best bang for your buck, and is pretty much how I get all of my leads and clients for my business. When you have a clear message and show up on social media, your people will find you! That said, there is VERY much a strategy to this, and I highly recommend you hire someone to help with it - the right positioning and messaging makes ALL the difference between booked out business and no clients. I know I'm biased because this is my job, but I did the same thing when I started and it was the best investment I ever made. Feel free to reach out to me if you'd like more help with this or need a recommendation on how to get started.

aneela·Feb 09, 2021

Thanks for the AMA! What are some replicable marketing strategies that you recommend?

HannahShtein·Feb 12, 2021

Hi Aneela! I always recommend social media marketing before pretty much anything else because it’s free, available to pretty much everyone, and optimizes itself for you (when you’re really clear on target audience, offer, and messaging, the algorithm will literally show your content to people who want to buy what you’re offering). In terms of how to go about this, a great approach is to offer free value related to a problem your target audience is dealing with and then make an invitation for them to work with you more closely for a paid offering (to achieve a deeper level of transformation). For example, if you’re a career coach, you could offer a free video training on general job search strategy, and toward the end share with your audience about your paid career transition program, which offers a more personalized approach. Speaking at live or virtual events or getting featured in media are also great ways to get your name out there.

jenebawint·Feb 09, 2021

Hi Hannah, I'm also interested on how you chose coaching as your new career and what you did to prepare for that transition. Did you pursue any of the coaching certifications? I'm currently considering career coaching for the tech industry specifically and for black and brown folks. Any tips or recommendations are very much appreciated

KellyRay·Feb 10, 2021

Same question. And what is a realistic expectation in terms of annual income as a full time independent career coach?

Mbereimani·Feb 10, 2021

Also interested in a response to this 😬

HannahShtein·Feb 12, 2021

@KellyLing @jenebawint @joannarutter @Mbereimani hi ladies! going to answer a few of these in one swoop :). I had zero clients when I started! And I would do it again the same way. It put pressure on me to make it work (in a good way) and forced me to take action. I had been thinking about doing some version coaching this for years - I knew I wanted to make a bigger impact in people’s lives, and because I had felt really lost on my own career journey, when I finally figured out how to create my own path, I wanted to empower others to do the same. However, I had no idea how to create a business on my own, which led to a lot of business plan drafts in my phone notes section and zero action taking. Once I decided it was going to be a real thing, I knew I needed an expert to help me build out the business side of things and have a strategy. I immediately invested in someone who helped me get clear on my niche, messaging, pricing, and other foundations. Once that was in place, it wasn’t difficult to get new clients. I didn’t pursue any coaching certifications, and none of my own coaches (I’ve worked with several who have been amazing) have them either. I honestly learned the most on this front from being coached myself. I also think this helps you develop your own “secret sauce” coaching style, whereas a coaching program teaches a very specific structure to follow. But I did consider a certification, and I know lots of people find them helpful - it’s just a matter of personal preference. But it’s definitely NOT necessary - your experience and personality will speak way louder than any certification, truly. Feel free to message me if you’d like more guidance on starting this process!Your income as a coach can truly be anything. I know coaches who make 7+ figures and ones who make less than $10k/year (regardless of niche / specialty) - it’s just about knowing how to position yourself in front of the right people. Once you do this, it’s not uncommon to make 6 figures+. To give you an idea of how pricing works, charging $1k / month for individual coaching is pretty typical, and group programs (both high level and low level) allow you to scale beyond 1:1 and serve more people (and therefore also make more $ without burning out). Feel free to message me if you’d like to learn more about getting started!

Wenlin·Feb 10, 2021

@HannahShtein I'd love to hear your advice on:1. How you'd do things differently if you could give your old self advice when you first started to transition from a recruiter to a career coach. 2. Which tools you use most often that might be off-the-radar for online marketing3. Briefly, if you'd be ok to share, 2-3 lines about the scenario in you had dropping off a 🐢 to make someone sign a contract faster!

HannahShtein·Feb 12, 2021

Hi Wenlin! 1. Oh my god, LOVE the old self question - I have so much advice for her! I would tell myself to stop overthinking and just start getting out there immediately and talking about my offer, rather than spending months working on backend stuff like my website (unnecessary) or trying to make things perfect. The sooner you get out there, the sooner you get clients. Also, I would commend her for knowing to hire her own business coach immediately - there is a very clear strategy behind this and it will go a million times faster if you have someone help you. 2. I honestly don’t really use anything off the radar, and that’s a key part of my approach - keeping it simple. It’s more about optimizing the simple tools that are available to you (social media, your network) by having really clear messaging and brand positioning. 3. Haha I wish this was my story to tell! It was someone else’s boss, not mine (thank god). A studio lawyer was taking too long to sign Mark Wahlberg’s contract, so Mark’s agent made his assistant drive to a pet store across town, get a turtle, and drop it off at the lawyer’s office with a note about how he was taking too long. It got signed the next day! I think it even got mentioned in a Vanity Fair article a few years ago.

Mbereimani·Feb 10, 2021

Hi @HannahShteinThanks for sharing your expertise today. When an entrepreneur is just starting out and working on their branding, what types of skills should they prioritize first when hiring help? copywriting, graphic design, Facebook ads, SEO specialist?

HannahShtein·Feb 12, 2021

Hi Mbere!! What you hire help for is honestly a matter of what doesn’t feel good for you to be doing, takes up time, and takes away from money making activities in your business. For example, if you’re spending all your time posting on social media and it’s taking away from your ability to have calls with potential clients or creating substantive content for your programming, that might be something to outsource. For a point of reference though, it helps to know what core things to have in place to grow your business, and use that as a starting point to figure out where to get help. For any sort of marketing activities to work, you must have an understanding of who your audience / ideal client is, a clearly niched offer or product you know speaks to that target audience, and messaging that positions it correctly. Honestly, the first help I hired and recommend others hire is a business coach (not just because I am one! Investing in one was truly the best decision I ever made) - they’ll help you get those core things in order and make sure you’re set up to succeed. Feel free to reach out to me if you’d like more guidance around this!

al587·Feb 10, 2021

Hi Hannah, thanks for your time! Do you have any tips for early stage marketing, customer acquisition, and growth - without funding or much of a marketing budget? Particular in the social media space, how can we break through the noise when overwhelmed by big players and influencers? My business is more e-comm oriented in its long term goals, but I'm really hoping to build the community first, and I'm offering a bit of "education" or learning focused content via a newsletter. I'm not sure how to really market this though / get more subscribers.Here's an example of my newsletter: https://revisionary.space/newsletter-archive/issue-001Thank you!

HannahShtein·Feb 12, 2021

Hey Anu! Breaking through the noise on social media is truly about knowing your target audience really well and knowing how to message to them. It's truly that simple, but of course that doesn't mean it's easy. I think you're on the right track when it comes to leading with education. A great way to hook people is to lead with free educational / value based content, and then connect that to a similar paid offer that goes deeper or offers more (e.g. a paid membership that provides more in depth information than your free offer, or additional networking opportunities, for example).

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