Look alive on the internet.

I've recently taken a walk through dozens of coaches' websites and social media profiles. I found many of them are just like me: we tend to forget, ignore, and/or abandon our web presence. I've finally admitted to myself this makes me harder to trust and engage with. This episode talks about why this is an issue and how to fix it without too much work or expense.

Announcement: On May 1 I'm holding my first "Office Hours with Mark". Office Hours creates space and time for my fellow coaches to connect with me and get support. Go to https://mrkbtlr.com/office-hours to opt in for details. 

What is A Podcast for Coaches?

A Podcast for Coaches shines a light on one of the most elegant, underrated business models in the world: one-on-one coaching. Mark Butler hosts the show, and he's been a coach and advisor to every kind of online business you can think of, having helped businesses earning everything from $0 to $25,000,000+. Although Mark believes every online business model has merit, he worries one-on-one coaching is viewed as a stepping-stone business for people who aren't ready or able to scale. But it's not true, and A Podcast for Coaches sets out to show people--through clear teaching and rich, current stories of successful coaches who love their business--that one-on-one coaching is one of the most gratifying and lowest "hassle-per-dollar" businesses in the world.

Hey, this is Mark Butler, and you are
listening to a podcast for coaches.

Today is a travel day for me.

I don't travel much for work
anymore, but I am traveling today.

So, I need a little thing, a little
piece of, you know, like a little plastic

container, because very often when I
travel, I use this pomade stuff for

my hair, and the container is just big
enough that sometimes they confiscate

it, and it's kind of expensive.

So I wanted to get a little plastic
tub thing that I could put it in.

So, I grabbed my digital recorder
off my desk, said goodbye to my wife.

Noted the look she gave me as she
saw me walk out with this recorder.

.
And I came to Target looking for that
and they didn't really have one, but

on my way out, I passed this little 1
rack that had, hold on, don't worry.

I'm being safe.

Silly sense dough for children.

It's like Play Doh.

The little tubs are the perfect size.

So I'm going to take one of these
little tubs, throw away the Play Doh.

And then use it for hair product.

Now, yeah, that's dumb.

It's ridiculous.

Par for the course for me.

And if I really wanted to do this episode
right, I would go home and I would record

Kate's reaction to what I've just done.

The thing is, I would have to narrate
it because you can't hear an eye roll.

You can only see it and feel it deep down
in your soul, which is what I'm about to

experience when I tell her this story.

And so, mission accomplished.

Uh, my hair product may smell like green
apple, peach, or pineapple when all is

said and done, but we got the job done.

. Now, this episode's gonna be
short because it needs to be done

before I get back to my house.

Last week we talked about gritty,
determined people who show up and

publish and engage and they do this
over the course of years and how

sometimes that doesn't pay off in
the way that they hope it will.

And I talked about a specific person
on that episode and I said, and I have

every confidence that she's going to
succeed and to thrive in her practice.

This week it's about , the people
who are more like me, frankly.

Who get excited, and show up for a
while, and then disappear for a while.

Maybe for a long time, maybe forever.

What brought this to my mind is that
I'm in the process of reengaging

with the marketing of my bookkeeping
business over at Let's Do The Books.

A few months ago, I closed it for
new signups for a while because my

systems were not strong enough to
handle the support of existing clients

and the welcoming of new clients.

And then I had to send an
embarrassing email and say, I'm

sorry I can't onboard you right now
and I'll be back in a few months.

Now I feel quite ready actually.

My systems are much better.

My confidence is high and I'm ready
to sign people up for the service.

Let's And so I'm looking for
people to sign up for the service.

So, to get my mind thinking about
how do I find coaches to support with

bookkeeping, I went to the life coach
school coach directory, because although

I haven't been on that website in years,
I knew that that directory existed.

And I imagined that there'd be a
couple of thousand coaches there.

So I went there, and using some nerd
magic, I got all the listings from the

directory and put them in a spreadsheet.

Now don't worry, I'm not going
to spam , I'm not going to send

all those people a bulk email.

Not only because that's gross, but
also because it wouldn't work anyway.

What it gave me an opportunity to do is
to go through lots and lots of coaches,

websites, and social media profiles.

Now don't worry, there's not going to
be any criticism or judgment from me

because these are my kind of people.

What I found was lots and
lots of stuff that clearly

had not been updated in years.

I completely relate.

Between about 2020 and 2024,
for my website at markbutler.

com did not really
reflect what I was doing.

And a person who landed on that website
would have every reason to believe that

I was no longer doing anything online.

And for all they knew, I might
not even be alive anymore.

Same with my social media profile.

Now I'm very accustomed to being
on this side of that equation.

I can sit over here and
say, well, it doesn't matter

that my website is outdated.

It doesn't matter that my social
media profiles haven't been updated.

My practice is thriving.

Things are going great.

I've got happy clients, etc, etc.

But yesterday I had the chance to get
on the viewer's side of the equation.

And I had to admit to myself
that when you find stuff that is

completely outdated, it hurts trust.

And when I say it hurts trust,
I don't mean, oh, I think

this person's untrustworthy.

What it means is I now have to do heavier
lifting to decide that you're trustworthy

and that I should reach out to you.

I have to say to myself, Oh,
well, they're probably like me.

They don't update their stuff, but
I'm sure their practice is thriving.

Etc.

That hurts trust.

What helps trust is landing on a
website or on a social media profile.

And whatever it looks like, it can
signal that the person is alive

and well and still in business
and happily serving clients.

So having looked at all these profiles
and realizing, yeah, these people and me,

we're all the same, it gave me resolve.

To adjust my approach to my online
presences such that I'm not asking people

to do so much work to know that I am
Still in the game now There is a little

caveat on this because I have weirdly
over the years had a few clients hire me

And admit to me later That my outdated
web presences contributed to a sort of

intrigue and appeal almost made me seem
aloof and interesting and compelling.

And, and at that, I just had to laugh.

I, I don't know that I would
recommend that as a strategy.

And I, I can't pretend that it's worked
in any measurable way for my benefit.

It's just something that clients
acknowledge occasionally when

they have come to work with me.

How does that happen?

Well, it probably happens because
they heard me speak somewhere.

So the speaking that they heard
proved that I'm still in business.

And then when they go
to the web presences.

They're able to weave a story that
sounds like, Oh no, he's in business.

He's just so successful and busy
that he doesn't update his Instagram.

I just don't want people
to have to play that game.

I would rather have them land on my
website, land on my social media profiles.

And pretty quickly realize, oh
yeah, he's still doing this,

or he's not still doing this.

I just don't want it to look so dead.

So, what am I going to do specifically?

Well, I've already updated markbutler.

com to, I think, give the
reasonable appearance of aliveness.

These days, I get between 8
and 10 email signups per week

through my website, markbutler.

com.

So my assumption is that that's coming
from this podcast and from other places

that I hang out and that I speak,
but the website is doing its job.

It's making it relatively easy
for people to engage with me.

Now solving the actual
sending of the newsletter.

You all know me, you know
that that's an ongoing battle.

But, they can also find this podcast
through the website, and if they go to

the podcast feed, they will very quickly
see, oh, clearly he's doing stuff.

At least recently, he's doing stuff.

But for all of you, my kindred spirits
who abandon your websites and your social

media profiles for years at a time,
like I said, no judgment, no judgment

for me, what a hypocrite I would be.

I think we can be of better service
to the people who might want to engage

with us by just keeping things current.

That doesn't mean we have to go spend
thousands of dollars on photography

or websites, although we can.

, I can recommend great people
if you want to do that.

But at this point, I'm probably more
likely to go low tech, low cost, and

just make sure that if you happen to
bump into me on the internet, there's

some reasonable signal that I exist,
that I'm happy to be engaging with

my work and with my clients, and
here's how to get in touch with me.

Perfect timing.

I'm pulling into the garage.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go
throw away some children's Play Doh and

replace it with men's hair products.

And with that, have an amazing
week, I'll talk to you next time.