The Craziest Way I've Gotten A Coaching Client

Several years ago I took an online course on creative business strategy, or what’s called “possibility thinking.”

The idea was to learn a new way of thinking to come up with unique ways of solving business problems.

As part of the homework for the course, I had to spend time each day meditating on out-of-the-box ideas to improve my business.

My business goal at the time was to add a few more clients.

Given that my coaching style was unique, I found it challenging to market myself in traditional ways (buying ads, email blasts, or sales calls). I wanted to try something different.

While doing my possibility-thinking exercise I started to reflect on the following:

I’m at home, thinking about finding clients. I bet there are also people out there looking for me.

The problem, though, is how do I find them? And how do they find me? I thought about this for a while.

That’s when I had a unique idea: Businesses post jobs ads every day looking for people to hire. What if I responded to help-wanted ads…and then sold them my coaching services?

I would apply for the job, and then in the interview, lay out what I could provide them, and my terms and pricing.

I thought that was a crazy idea but would be incredible if it worked. It could be much easier than a typical sales process.

So I jumped on Craigslist and started scanning job listings.

I cleaned up an old resume and started sending it to ANY listing that seemed reasonable: Entry level marketing positions, software engineers, even data entry.

Then I waited.

It only took a few hours before I got my first response…

It was for a minimum wage data entry job. They wanted to set up an interview the very next day.

The next day, I put on a suit and drove into the city. As I was driving, I was thinking to myself, “Is this actually going to work? Are they just going to throw me out of their office when I offer them my services in the middle of an interview?”

The closer I got to their offices, the more I felt I had just made a terrible mistake. “I have never heard of anyone doing anything like this ever,” I thought to myself. “This will definitely not work. I’m crazy.”

When I finally arrived, I was greeted by the receptionist and brought into an office, and was surprised to find out that I was being interviewed by both the company’s CEO and its parent company’s CEO at the same time.

I thought this was overkill for a minimum wage job, but at least I had the decision makers in front of me.

The first CEO started by saying, “Well, we looked at your resume and we think you would be a perfect manager for a new marketing team that we’re starting. Tell us a little about yourself…”

I explained who I was, and what I did. They loved it. We made a deal and they hired me on the spot.

And the weirdest part? No one said anything about the minimum wage data entry job I applied for.

This blew my mind. My plan worked even better than I had imagined. And, the money they offered almost doubled my yearly income.

We hear all the time about our lives only being limited by our own thinking. We know that as an idea but rarely believe that can work for us. It can feel strange at first, but thinking up unexpected possibilities to solve problems can change our world in unexpected ways.