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Unknown
Ike Hemingway is a coach that started out, like many others, without having a clear direction on how to help others profitably. But watching credible about her story is that she managed to hit six figures with a tiny channel of a thousand subscribers and an email list of only 150 contacts. All of this with being an introvert in a tiny niche, trying to help a very, very narrow and specific type of people.
00:00:27:10 - 00:00:39:08
Unknown
In this interview, Eko is going to share her approach to business on pricing mindset and how she literally did the opposite of what everybody else is doing to reach her level of success in her business.
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Unknown
And
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Unknown
So I thank you so much for being here. And I know you've been one of our inspiration for the past couple of years.
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Unknown
We've known each other in the business Mastermind and you belonged us away with the results that you had in the what you do. And you know, you've got an amazing story that I love to share with our audience as well. How would you describe what you do and how did it all start? I help Japanese speakers who are struggling in an English environment where they have to speak good English and expectation is really high.
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Unknown
And that was me in the past. So I feel like my business is a place where I am helping my past. Me I moved to the US when I was 23 and I didn't speak English well and then I struggled a lot because one, I didn't know how difficult it is to learn a second language, which is English too.
00:01:57:06 - 00:02:23:21
Unknown
I didn't know how to three especially pronunciation. It was so difficult. So people didn't understand what I was saying and I didn't understand what they were saying. So that's how my life in the US started. But gradually I tried so many different things and then figure out what worked for me. And then later I realized the things that worked for me should work for other Japanese people.
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Unknown
So then around 2016, I wanted to start my own business, and then I felt like, all right, helping other Japanese people would be the way to do it, because that's what I am interested in doing. And also that's going to help others. So that's how it started. That's amazing, because let me be clear, you're not teaching English, which it's what most people would think when they hear what you do.
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Unknown
You don't even teach just English pronunciation. You teach English pronunciation to a very specific type of people that have a specific lifestyle, needs and pains. And how did you find this niche, which is very, very particular and you've been very successful there. So first I actually taught different things, so I had to be taught English grammar and then I hated it.
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Unknown
So it's like, okay, this isn't for me, so I'm not going to teach grammar. And then the second I taught some English conversations and then I'm like, No, I'm an introvert, so how can I teach something that I actually don't do in real life? So I need help with that, right? So I stopped doing that and then I just didn't know how to teach overall English.
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Unknown
Because another thing is that I'm not good at reading. I'm good at listening to sounds, but I have a difficult time with the reading text, so then I cannot teach reading. I started teaching different things and then found out I don't like doing this. I don't like doing this. And then I ended up with just pronunciation. This is just just simple yet very powerful teaching that you're saying Try something out and see what works for you as well.
00:04:11:22 - 00:04:32:01
Unknown
You always say, I didn't like that. So what I admire about you is that you always designed what you do around what fits your lifestyle, your joy, because you want to feed a life that you want to enjoy every day, and also give the best results to your clients. And I love that. What makes you different from all of the English pronunciation coaches that are out there?
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Unknown
Why is your system so amazing? I don't know where to begin with because one thing of being that I started charging more so I'm not competing in the middle market. So cold like average price, people will choose me because of me, right? What I'm realizing is that most people want to charge at the same price as other people are charging so that they will stay in the middle because I don't know how they decide the price.
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Unknown
But I started with the price. But then I decided to charge them more because I value my work and experience. And I truly believe that if I charge, more people, work harder. And then it was true because when I was not charging, enough people dropped out. People didn't practice. People came to the lessons late or sometimes no show, no call.
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Unknown
So I was so tired of it. So after I started charging more, I realized that my clientele changed. I have more serious minded people and they value their time and money. That's because they feel like they are worth taking my coaching. They are. She works so hard and a lot of times their company is paid, so they are very, very serious.
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Unknown
So I started getting those people and when they charge more, I don't need so many clients so I can actually keep track of each client's progress. And that gives me so much joy because I can see how they transform their lives, not just the pronunciation, but how they change their lives. In the US, some clients became a president, a company, some clients changed her career because her English level became better.
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Unknown
Some clients got promoted. Now they speak English more at work, even though they're in Japan. I really have that joy now. So to answer your question, I am charging more and I think we all should do because we should value our knowledge and the skills. This is music to my ears, like you've been so far ahead in mindset just by understanding that, okay, people are not committing, I need to increase my prices rather than having the classical mentality of I must not be good, right?
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Unknown
Which is what most of the people actually lower the prices because of this insecurity by you and the opposite way and said, No, I need people to get results. I need them to be committed. I'm going to increase the prices because I don't want to battle at the bottom of the barrel. I want to have a different class of clients.
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Unknown
And this is so amazing to hear from you because everybody should do it. Like you said, everybody should really forget about what everybody else is doing and find their own pricing to select their own clients. Right. One thing I want to share is that when I did a period of not getting new clients, I raised my fees and I get a new client each time I do it.
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Unknown
That's in the you are literally doing the opposite of what everybody else is doing and it's working. And so I admire you for that, I guess because you're making so much money, you've got a huge audience, right? This is another thing that people strongly believe how they start. They don't have an audience and they think, Well, I'm now going to be a big influencer, so why even bother?
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Unknown
That hasn't been your case, has it? No, not at all. My YouTube channel size right now is like 3000. When I started having more than 100 subscribers on my YouTube, I started having clients. People started contacting me and then I guess I hit six figures when my channel became like 1000 range. It doesn't matter how many subscribers you have on YouTube.
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Unknown
And then my email list still is about 300 right now. When I hit six figures for the first time, I had about 150 people on my email list. So the size doesn't matter. Actually, that doesn't help anything, right? Numbers are something that you can measure, so you tend to focus on it. But when you focus on how well you serve your people, it's not the numbers game, it's rather your service quality and your mindset to mindset to charge higher.
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Unknown
Absolutely. And I know that you're very brutal with your email list as well. It's not just about the pricing. It's about how how engaged people are in your email list. And if they are not, you just clean it out. And because you only want the right people to be in your ecosystem, then you said before you you were an introvert and you didn't even want teach conversation in that.
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Unknown
How do you become a high ticket coach? As an introvert, where does that confidence come from? That's a good question. I don't know, because I actually truly believe my coaching skills. So when you get rejected, you feel like, no, I'm not good enough, right? So then maybe you lower your prize. No, no, no, no, no. Stay true to yourself.
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Unknown
You really believe your value. This is a hard I'm still working on it, but this is how I am telling myself I am good enough and I keep being true to myself so that the right people will find me. So I just wait until the right people find me. So that's how I want to attract my clients. Every time we talk about mindset, I personally feel like it's kind of like this magic that at some point will happen to you because this is what mindset sometimes sounds like, and it's definitely not like the conviction that you have through how you think changes everything.
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Unknown
Let's talk about strategy. What is your strategy? So because everybody saying, I'm pretty sure that she has a funnel, she's got autoresponder, she's got all the fancy stuff. I don't know a team. How do you find clients and what the process of selling your service has actually happened? Now I have my funnel, now I have my sales page set up.
00:10:29:09 - 00:11:01:17
Unknown
But that came later, right? Yeah. First I was just responding. I'm still responding to my client's emails or prospect's questions manually and then meeting them on Zoom and then checking their levels, checking to see if they are the right fit type of stuff. I'm still doing it manually. More authentic, I guess. Yes. You don't need many clients. Like for us in Lady Dancer Tips, we had hundreds and hundreds of transactions every month and replying to every comment would be almost impossible because we had low ticket products.
00:11:01:17 - 00:11:17:05
Unknown
But when you have a ticket as well, you can really take care of your clients. And even doing manually, you don't have to deal with many numbers. So I guess that's a plus. Also, you can see face to face if you want to work with that person, especially when they're going to be spending so much time together. Right.
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Unknown
It's one of the things that one of the beauties of working at high ticket with one person, where you're going to be spending a lot of time and quality time to push that person to their results. Right. I actually stopped offering group coaching in December. Group coaching was my bread and butter when I shared it with other people.
00:11:38:00 - 00:11:58:10
Unknown
They were like, Are you crazy? That's the place where you make a lot of money, right? But I'm like, No, I started becoming bored of it and that's not good for the clients. I want to keep working with clients, maybe one on one. So I feel like I want to focus on a one on one for now, not the group coaching.
00:11:58:11 - 00:12:17:10
Unknown
Before I was more passionate about group coaching, but I guess I feel like I need a change, so I just changed it. I'm learning that money doesn't make me happy. Yes, it would be nice to have a lot of money, but sometimes I have to listen to what my heart is telling me and then I really want to listen to it now.
00:12:17:12 - 00:12:40:14
Unknown
Not ignoring it, but starting working out already. Yeah. I mean, this is what I'm taking in from you is like, follow your heart. Because I've seen big influencers taking a break from social media, shutting down businesses because they've grown beasts of businesses that they don't enjoy working at date, they hate. They have problems with mental health as well.
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Unknown
Yes, you might have built an empire, but if that crushes you, it's not going to do any good to anybody. And I love how you are so in line, so connected with your soul that says this is not right. I need to change something. And I think this is like a good lesson for us, like a retail reminder.
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Unknown
We need to have a little video of God just telling us this stuff every day. Yeah, we definitely need the picture of Iko. They're saying, Simplify, be true to yourself. yes, I'm going to have a T-shirt with it. If you could give yourself your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be? I would say you will be okay.
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Unknown
A lot of people go through a teenager type of experience or early twenties. You know, life seems to be hard and I didn't really have a lot of hope when I was younger. I didn't know what I would be doing in the future and I felt like I was lost. Yeah, I'll tell her that you will be okay.
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Unknown
You will do what you would love to do. Would you trust it, though? I'm sure I am not sure. But inside of me, even when I was lost, maybe I was looking for something that sparks my heart or, you know, whatever. Because I feel like right now I am going back to my authentic self where I'm realizing I'm more ambitious than I thought.
00:14:03:02 - 00:14:28:15
Unknown
So my dreams are becoming bigger and bigger, which I didn't even think it was possible. And then I'm realizing, I can do this. my God, I didn't know I could do this. Realizing that I had so much potential, which I didn't see it before. So I guess I trusted that those days will come and then whatever I want to do now that I feel like I want to do in my heart, I know that will come to me.
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Unknown
So I'm just working what's in front of me every day, one by one, and trusting that, you know, I will get what I am desiring right now. I feel like in my mind, I mean, a mindfulness session here, I just feel soothed, relaxed.
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Unknown
And I
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Unknown
What would you instead say to maybe a coach out there that does not have that conviction?
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Unknown
Maybe they are struggling to find their niche of their offer or what they really should be doing because they're kind of lost. What would you what would you give them as advice? I always get lost, so I can totally relate to them because we always go ups and downs, ups and downs, ups and downs all the time. It's just the rhythm and seasons of life for business.
00:16:05:04 - 00:16:27:06
Unknown
If you go up, you always go down. So it's not just straight going up when they get stuck, which was just two months ago, my health was not so good two months ago. So mentally I'm like, I don't want to do anything. So I go through this type of season from time to time and I'm telling myself, That's okay.
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Unknown
You just now will be okay. So one advice I can give is to keep telling yourself that you'll be okay. Whatever you're going through. It's just a part of the whole process, right? It is not good or bad. Everything is neutral, so you are deciding it's bad, but it's just the season that you were going through. So it doesn't really mean anything unless you give it a meaning, right?
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Unknown
Just stay there and you don't have to give up. That's because your experiencing some downs. Just, you know, just wait till you go up again. We are exactly where we should be. Everything that is happening to us is not it's for us is not to us. And it's so true. It's very difficult to realize, but we always need a reminder.
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Unknown
And thank you for that. Have you got any links you want to share with our audience? Yes. So I'm going to give you one thing which people can learn how they can reach six figures with a small reach and small following. I put my coaching program in information or what I did in one PDF so that people can learn how they can reach six figures.
00:17:37:15 - 00:17:57:06
Unknown
They don't have to have a big following. So I put all the examples in one pdf so they can get that for free. Awesome. Thank you so much. I go for your time. I know you're busy and every time we catch up I feel enlightened again. So much for being with us. Thank you. Thank you very much for inviting me.
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Unknown
And yeah, very thoughtful questions. So I feel like I had a lot of reminders for myself too. Thank you.
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Unknown
And I
