This article first appeared on LinkedIn in May 2023
May 5, 2023 marks the second anniversary of registering my business, McEwen Media Consulting, and the amazing journey that followed. This past year I’ve been able to focus on McEwen Media full-time. It’s moved from side hustle to real business, with a team and everything! This week I'm sharing five lessons I’ve learned from the past year.
The best development of my second year building McEwen Media is access to other coaches and entrepreneurs. I spent six months earning my coaching certification through Khan Method Coaching and am still connected with coaches who are also building their businesses.
We are constantly flirting with analysis paralysis. What program can I offer? Should I do 1:1 or group? Should I have a niche or be more general?
The niche question is one I’ve spent the most time with. My 3-second pitch is “I can help you get on TV”. Pretty simple, right?
But in the past year, the broad spectrum of potential clients who want help getting on TV is staggering. I’ve been approached by experienced on-air talent, complete newbies, PR companies, marketing companies, CEO’s, authors, coaches and more.
A lot of people want to get on TV.
Here's the thing about service offerings: they're organic and constantly changing. If you're not updating your offerings, the marketing around it, and how you're providing value, you're not fully engaged in your own program.
This is the energy I brought to our signature program, the Media Mentor Program. I knew I needed a space to house all of the requests I get from people, from getting booked in media, to getting better at social media, podcasts and beyond.
Media is a broad description, but it covers one central relationship: the storyteller (you) and your audience (or followers, or team, or whoever is listening to you and needs to be engaged).
I've created a program where we cover the key areas of this engagement: who you are, what your message is, how best to communicate and engage your audience. We also provide additional information as people get comfortable imagining a media career. Recently we did an entire session on how to engage with brand partnerships (a topic that inspired our next Masterclass, details coming soon).
In the group sessions we cover the broader issues, which is why this program also has a monthly 1:1 strategy session. This is where participants get individual attention on their media needs and work with a McEwen Media consultant to craft a strategy.
I spent zero time agonizing over whether I offer group or 1:1 coaching. Instead, I tapped into the needs of the people seeking my help. What are the common concerns? How can I address that? Do I need to get specific? How can I support that?
With service offerings there are countless options. All of them work. You can spend your time playing around with all of the available models, or you can gain clarity on one thing: who do you want to help and how? The rest will take care of itself.