F**k a Funnel, Build a Rocketship 🚀

Read Time: 4.5 minutes

You've likely heard this before: you need a funnel. 

They come with the promise of automating your business and magically bringing you clients on repeat.

The problem is that they are impersonal. Funnels reduce people to numbers. They're based on forcing people down a path and squeezing those still standing through a small hole.

Funnels treat people like cattle. 🤮

Today I'm going to show you how to build a rocketship for you and your clients instead. On a rocketship, your potential clients excitedly volunteer for the ride, enjoy the journey, and the clients who join you for the adventure stay with you for longer. Everybody wins.

Unfortunately, most people never build a rocketship because they...

• Lack any kind of intentional client journey
• Follow what everyone else is doing and build a BS funnel
• Don't understand the difference between a funnel and a rocketship

I'm going to show you exactly how to change that so you can build your own rocketship for you and the clients that you love to serve. 

Ditch the Idea of Needing a BS Funnel 

I'm going to guess that you've been stuck in a funnel before. You innocently gave your email to receive access to some freebie and found yourself on the receiving end of a spammy auto-sequence of relentless emails that felt like they were written by a drone. It sucks.

You can even get unexpectedly sucked into a funnel by accepting the wrong friend/connection request on FB or LinkedIn

Avoid the impersonal automation. Everyone can see through it and it leaves a terrible aftertaste. You don't need a "funnel", you need an intentional journey for your potential clients to go on.  

Create An Intentional Client Journey

Here's the thing: You have a client journey whether you've been intentional about it or not. The danger with not intentionally creating the journey for your clients is their current path to working with you might be bumpy, unclear, or unintentionally aggressive.

I don't think that's what you want.

How do you change that? It starts by clearly communicating how someone can take the next step on the journey of potentially working with you anywhere they come across you and your message. That means on every platform you're publishing, the next step on the path is well lit. You want them to check out your site, download your free workbook, or send you a DM? Make it easy, make it inviting, and make it clear.

You're hoping strangers will come knock on your door to say they want to work with you?

How likely is that to happen if the path to your door is dark and uncertain. Leave the porch light on and set up some garden lights along the trail. There's a spot for you to post a blurb and a link of your choosing on (almost) every platform.

Just because it's labelled "bio" or "about" doesn't mean you need to talk about you.

Use that space with intention to make it easy and inviting for them.

Make it less aggressive.

When you're first starting out, the only option for next steps might be inviting them to DM you or book a call. That's OK when you're brand new. But can you see how that might feel unintentionally aggressive to someone who just came across you?

It's like a stranger telling you to text them or to join them on a date.

Sure, you might be up to it if you're eager or lonely, and it could even be a little exciting. But it can also feel intimidating. As soon as you can, create an alternate option for someone to learn more and dive in deeper that doesn't require sliding into your DMs or booking a call with someone they don't know.

And whenever you do create new steps on the path, apply the same thinking: clearly illuminate what's next if they want to move further along.

Their client journey doesn't start when they say yes and pay you money, it starts the moment they first come across you and your message. 

Create a Rocketship

If you're going to build an intentional journey, I suggest building a rocketship where things are flipped on their head. Instead of trying to push people down your contraption, you're inviting them up into the next phase. Instead of impersonal automation, you're adding personal touches.

It's a pull vs a push.

Where can you add personalization? It can start with your booking link.

I recently scheduled a chat with another coach and one of the questions on their link was "what is your favourite song?". I thought it was an interesting question to ask but knew they excelled at creating experiences. Guess what was playing when I showed up on Zoom?

It was awesome.

Another key aspect of a rocketship is giving people control of their journey. You're not pushing them down a tube, you're inviting them to take a step closer to the excitement in the cockpit.

People are now used to watching whatever they want, when they want, on portable devices. The days of having to wait until next Tuesday at 7pm to see the next episode are long gone. If you're reading this, you're likely able to order ANYTHING online from the screen in your pocket and have it delivered to your doorstep in 24-48 hours.

Heck, if you live in a bigger city like me, free same day delivery might even even be an option.

People expect control over their journey.

They are used to it.

How do you put the controls in their hands? Give them awesome ungated content so they can pursue the path they choose at the speed they want without having to trade their email, phone number, or other personal info.

What happens when you build a rocketship?

The people who join you in the cockpit are Dream Clients who are happy to be there, stay with you for more legs of their journey, and send you more referrals. I heavily scaled back all my content and how much I was showing up online this spring while we were selling our old house and buying the new one. I was too busy.

But my business continued to grow.

How? Referrals! 55% of my clients so far in 2022 have come via referral.

Now go build your own rocketship so you can create better experiences, get more referrals, and help more people.

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When you're ready, here's 2 ways I can help you:  

1.Get the clarity, confidence, and repeatable systems you need to grow your impact + your business in my Impact Accelerator. You get access to all my tools, multiple weekly group calls as part of an intimate mastermind of people doing meaningful work, and 1:1 support from me. Apply here.  

3. Get my best-selling book, Die Before They Do, here.