and life you love. This is Q&A Tuesday and today’s question comes from Leah and she

writes,

“Hi, Marie! I love your show; it offers tons of motivation and inspiration. My Q is

this: Say my friend (cough cough),” friend “wants to become a business consultant.

The problem is this ‘friend’ has no experience running her own business, except through reading/watching/listening

to everything she can get her hands on about the subject. She's passionate about helping

business owners, and she believes she has the know-how. But so what? Does that really

count for anything when she wants to offer business advice and get paid for it?  With

no business credentials to her name, will people really take her seriously?

My “friend” is 20 years old and doesn't have a lot of cash on hand, if that puts things

into perspective. Thanks!”

Leah, I LOVE you for asking this question for your “friend.” And here’s an answer

for your “friend.”

So many people share your dilemma about the integrity factor of teaching something that

you have no real world experience in.

And you gotta know this, no matter what field you’re in - whether you’re starting off

in business or the arts or even being a parent, we all start out at the same place. At square

one with no credentials and no experience.

Doesn’t matter whether you’re self-taught OR you’ve got a formal degree, until you

get out there and start getting REAL RESULTS for people, I agree -- you haven’t earned

the right to be taken seriously. At least not yet.

As for your know-how, it absolutely counts for something. But does it qualify you to

charge money? Not until you take that know-how and turn it into results for real clients.

Those are your real credentials.

What earns you the right to be taken seriously and to charge for your expertise is GETTING

PEOPLE RESULTS. You’ve gotta get your hands dirty and actually do the work.

As Einstein said, and yes it’s a tweetable, “The only source of knowledge is experience.”

Now you may wonder, how am I supposed to get people results when I haven’t had any clients

yet? The answer: CONSULT for free.

So I started my coaching business when I was 23 years old, just a few years older than

you. And I coached EVERYBODY that would let me - for FREE because I wanted to get experience!

I knew that the only way that I was gonna figure out what worked and what didn't, and,

by the way, I had a formal education in this stuff, was to actually have clients and test

things out. And also, build a list of people who said, “You know what? Marie Forleo changed

my life!”  

I was so passionate about life coaching and figuring out how to be the best coach that

I could be that I would work with anybody who would agree to work with me and meet with

me on the phone a couple of times a month.

So, what do you want to talk about this month? You’re gonna have to open up if you want

me to help you. No really, I understand.

So if I were you, I would take the next 12 months and work with AT LEAST 12 business

owners for free and help them achieve results.

You said you’re 20 years old and don’t have a lot of cash. Well this is really good

news, because being 20 is the one time in your life that you probably don't need a lot

of cash!! So you’ve gotta be resourceful and get a job - or 3. And you can coach business

owners in the mornings, in the evenings, and even on weekends.  

At the end of 12 months, you should have AT LEAST six solid case studies of businesses

that you’ve worked with that you’ve helped achieve results.

So here’s the thing, when you start working with these business owners, make sure that

you  track everything. Really get a clear painted picture of where they are when you

guys first start out working together, and then what tangible, specific results you help

them achieve over the time that you’ve been coaching them.

By the time you’re 21, you’ll have MORE than enough real world experience to have

a consulting business that you can be proud of. Plus, if you get any business owner results,

they’ll HAPPILY pay you to keep going.

When it comes to having credentials as a coach or consultant, there are no shortcuts. Learning

is great, but getting real results for real people is where it’s at.

So Leah’s “friend” that’s my A to your Q. Now get out there and do the work

and pretty soon, you will have credentials out the whazoo.

Now I’d love to hear from YOU.

So tell me, what’s your take on people going out in the world and getting paid for advice

on something they have no real world experience in?

Conversely, if you’re a coach or consultant, what did you do to take your learning and

turn it into credentials?

As always, the best stuff happens after the episode over at MarieForleo.com so go there

and leave a comment now.

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Stay on your game and keeping going for your dreams. The world needs that special gift

that only YOU have.  Thank you so much for watching and I will catch you next time on

MarieTV!