Training Business
313 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsWant to know how to drive sales and get more training, facilitation and coaching clients? Thinking of becoming a freelance consultant or starting your own facilitation business? Training Business ® is definitely the show for you.
The Training Business podcast helps freelance trainers, training business owners, learning and development professionals, facilitators and coaches like you to start, grow and scale your business.
Every Thursday you get expert tips to help you market your training, facilitation and coaching programs and sell your learning and development services.
Your host, Mark earned his first train-the-trainer (TTT) whilst working for The Walt Disney Company in Florida and his MBA from the University of Ulster. He is an expert sales coach and passionate developer of people, and a former Learning & Development Manager with 17 years of experience training corporates, self-employed and unemployed across 19 countries.
Subscribe to the show right now for a fresh episode each week.
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Episodes
Why you need to think differently about training w/ Jonathan Halls
May 27, 2021 04:00 - 48 minutes - 44.5 MBFascinating conversation today with Jonathan Halls author of Confessions of a Corporate Trainer. Jonathan is a Master Trainer and has developed his own models to help facilitate great learning experiences. I asked Jonathan about how we as learning professionals can flip things around from trainer centric learning to learner-centric learning. What does this mean? It means that we become conscious of the need to step back and step out of the way so that our clients become th...
What’s the learning playbook for the digital age w/ Brandon Carson
May 20, 2021 04:00 - 40 minutes - 37.1 MBToday, we’re talking to Brandon Carson, Director of Learning at Delta Air Lines, author of Learning in the Age of Immediacy from 2017 which focused on five factors transforming the modern workplace; learning technologies like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Brandon’s new book L&D’s Playbook for the Digital Age helps makes the case why corporate learning and development needs to reorientate itself for the digital age and lays out a tactical ‘playbook’ that you can apply in your ...
What will be hot in workplace learning w/ Don Taylor
May 13, 2021 04:00 - 35 minutes - 32.2 MBI’ve no crystal ball. Nobody does but that shouldn’t stop us asking which learning trends will be hot in the workplace of the near future Learning Analytics? Learning Platforms? Augmented Reality? Virtual Reality? Social Learning? More importantly for you, we should be asking ourselves how these L&D trends will impact your talent-development business and those of your clients Today’s guest is Don Taylor, Chair of the Learning Technologies Conference, Chair of ...
How do I create content clients love w/ Joe Pulizzi
May 06, 2021 04:00 - 44 minutes - 40.3 MBMost small business owners don’t think of themselves as content producers but today’s guest Joe Pulizzi, author of the bestselling book Content Inc thinks that you should start thinking that way. Strategy is about knowing what people need to read, hear and think so they want to work you and buy from you. It doesn’t matter whether you are a coach, consultant or trainer. It doesn’t matter what kind of business you’re in. You’re probably already including some kind of blog pos...
How do I produce world-class virtual training w/ Kassy LaBorie
April 29, 2021 04:00 - 54 minutes - 49.7 MBWhen you are running an effectively facilitated remote learning experience, there is all the check-listing beforehand, the technology, the design, the logistics. Sure, you can do that yourself. But is it the most effective use of your time? You might have to look after screen-sharing, comments in the chatroom, polling, breakouts, reactions, late-comers, troubleshooting, email in the background. That’s a lot to handle. When it comes to delivering high-value remote training that can be t...
How we built and sold LogicEarth /w Peter Carlin
April 22, 2021 04:00 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBPeter Carlin co-founded LogicEarth an e-learning company in the middle of a global recession over 10 years ago. It was a difficult time to launch an online education business but Peter saw a massive gap in the market. Working for BT (British Telecom), Peter asked realised that spending on classroom-based training was falling. He asked himself: ’Is face-to-face learning the only option that we can give L&D buyers? Of course not! Fast forward more than 10 years and LogicEarth is no...
How do I go from teacher to trainer w/ Lisa Spinelli
April 15, 2021 02:00 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBMy mother was a teacher. The she became a trainer. She absolutely loved it! And both my grandfathers were teachers. So maybe there is something in my genes which I have inherited that makes me a good trainer and facilitator. One thing is for sure: teaching, training, facilitation are all closely interlinked. Teachers have learned to be great communicators. Teachers have a passion for helping people to develop. Teachers care about the impact that lessons and guidance have on others. ...
How do I make storytelling work in facilitation w/ Hadiyah Nuriddin
April 08, 2021 04:00 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MBAs a facilitator or learning designer, your stories connect you and your subject to your audience. They are about you but not for you according to today’s guest, Hadiya Nuriddin. Hadiya is a storytelling expert and speaks at national conferences on learning and development topics, specifically storytelling for facilitators and quality control & assurance for learning teams. She is the author of StoryTraining: Selecting and Shaping Stories that Connect, published by ATD. Hadiya ha...
How do I speak so people want to listen to me w/Julian Treasure
April 01, 2021 04:00 - 53 minutes - 48.8 MBHave you ever asked your audience how they rate your ability to listen to them? Are you conscious of your ability to listen critically? It’s tempting to do all the speaking as a trainer or facilitator, isn’t it? Often the best feedback I am given is not based upon something that’s come out of my mouth. It’s because I’ve created an environment where people feel that they can be heard and understood. If you want to get people to listen to you, you have to start by listening ...
How to speak so people want to listen to you w/Julian Treasure
April 01, 2021 04:00 - 53 minutes - 48.8 MBHave you ever asked your audience how they rate your ability to listen to them? Are you conscious of your ability to listen critically? It’s tempting to do all the speaking as a trainer or facilitator, isn’t it? Often the best feedback I am given is not based upon something that’s come out of my mouth. It’s because I’ve created an environment where people feel that they can be heard and understood. If you want to get people to listen to you, you have to start by listening ...
7 things I have learned from starting my facilitation business w/Leanne Hughes
March 25, 2021 05:00 - 46 minutes - 42.9 MBLeanne Hughes is a trainer and facilitator based Brisbane Australia She is also an experienced facilitator and host of the #first time facilitator podcast I’ve asked Leanne on the show today to share 7 things she’s learnt since starting her own training business and facilitation business. It’s a great chat! In today’s episode Why you don’t have to stay busy all the time What constructive delusion means Why you need to be agile in your business How to ask for a g...
How do I sell my training business w/ John Warrillow
March 18, 2021 05:00 - 37 minutes - 34 MBAs trainers, coaches and facilitators, we do what we love to do! I have always thought of training as a privilege. Do you agree? You help people to be the best that they can be and you do this through your programs and workshops. But you don’t do it purely because you love it. You train and coach because it makes you money. It’s your business, right? Your business pays the bills and helps create the lifestyle you aspire to. But will you do it forever? When will you take a sabba...
How do I make my remote training radical w/ Joshua Davies
March 11, 2021 05:00 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBHow is your remote training / facilitation going? What are the guidelines or ‘rules’ to move it from standard training to really radical learning? @Joshua Davies is today’s guest and he’s written a book on the subject called Radically Remote. The timing is perfect, now that we as facilitators are delivering workshops from behind laptops, desktops and web cams. When your learners are meeting family, friends and holding meetings on Zoom, you know you have to be different. We can’t d...
How do I use drawing to help my clients w/Hannah Williams
March 04, 2021 05:00 - 31 minutes - 29.1 MBDo you every draw when facilitating OR maybe you get your delegates to draw ? How are your artistic skills? My drawing skills are not the greatest but that’s no excuse not to draw. As qualified facilitators, we know that adults need visual information to learn. infographics, charts, mindmaps, sticky notes, wordclouds: these are all visual tools. You can use them to bring your training to life. But what about livescribing and richdrawing? I had nev...
How do I use Miro for collaboration w/ Isman Tanuri
February 25, 2021 05:00 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBBusinesses now have different expectations of training delivery. Before the pandemic, your clients were happy to pay you to spend a day or a half-day on site with their people, right? But you now have to deliver a training and facilitation experience under a completely different set of circumstances. You and everyone else is behind a laptop screen or camera these days. So because your customers are more open than ever before to remote collaboration, you need to ma...
How do I convert ideas into products w/ Cat Hase
February 18, 2021 05:00 - 32 minutes - 29.6 MBYou are a faciliator. You are a coach. You are a trainer. You are an expert and you know your subject. But do you design your own content? Your workshops? Your programs? Can you design your own content? Can you come up with ideas on your own? Do you need help to translate them into a product you can sell? A lot of us don’t find it easy to come up with ideas and to convert them into reality. I am putting my hand up here! So do you need help wit...
How do I create and share my business values w/ Mark Hughes
February 11, 2021 05:00 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBFor a long time, I have meant to have a guest on to talk about values. Not just personal values but professional values. What are your business and personal values? How did you discover them? Why do they matter and why should you share them? You might wonder what your values to do with your business. The answer is that they matter a lot actually Today’s guest is Mark Hughes who runs his own consultancy in the UK. Mark left the corporate world as a cons...
How and why should I run a virtual round table?
February 04, 2021 05:00 - 30 minutes - 27.8 MBAccording to Gartner only 17% of buyers’ time is spent speaking directly with suppliers. What this means is that the people who buy training, coaching and facilitation do so when you are not there. What they really want is to learn from people who are in the same job as them or the same industry as them. They want to learn from their peers, from industry leaders, from thought-leaders. What if you could facilitate an event where you get to learn exactly what your prospects and their p...
How do I plan 2021 now w/ Annie Clarke
January 28, 2021 05:00 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBHave you plans for your business this year? Are they still in your head or have you written them down? Have you a list of goals and a clear idea of how you are going to achieve them? You need a system to decide your revenue goals, marketing goals, development goals and relationship goals. Annie Clarke of Annies Training Company in the UK has a system which she follows every year. She launched her training business 6 years ago and has seen it grow Annie now has help from virtual...
How we sell Microsoft training /w Sheryl Newman
January 21, 2021 05:00 - 30 minutes - 28.3 MBToday’s interview is with Sheryl Newman, Principal and founder of Appetite for Business, a Microsoft 365 Consultancy and #Training business based in Aberdeen in Scotland. Sheryl’s business has won training contracts for multinational vendors across multiple countries. She won leader of the year in technology in Scotland in 2018 and Business of the Year Scotland for a business more than 3 years old. And Sheryl has been a finalist for the Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Award. ...
How we sell Microsoft training w/ Sheryl Newman
January 21, 2021 05:00 - 30 minutes - 28.3 MBToday’s interview is with Sheryl Newman, Principal and founder of Appetite for Business, a Microsoft 365 Consultancy and #Training business based in Aberdeen in Scotland. Sheryl’s business has won training contracts for multinational vendors across multiple countries. She won leader of the year in technology in Scotland in 2018 and Business of the Year Scotland for a business more than 3 years old. And Sheryl has been a finalist for the Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Award. ...
How do I achieve work-life balance w/ Caroline Laycock
January 14, 2021 05:00 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MBHow do you achieve work-life balance? Caroline Laycock is a trainer and productivity expert. She works as an associate for several brands and manages her own direct clients She has worked with clients such as Dyson, British Gas and Shell. Caroline’s training helps busy people to lead productive lives. As a Mum, Caroline has to juggle her training business with her kids schooling, and domestic life. Not easy. So as a self-employed trainer or facilitator, how do you get things do...
How do I win business with a story?
January 07, 2021 05:00 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBIn a world of digital distraction, your have to ‘stand-out’ from the ‘drown-out’ of information overwhelm. As a business owner, you have to separate yourself from other people’s messages. ironically, the solution to brilliant prospecting - to winning new training clients is not technological or anything modern. It’s a human-skill as old as humanity itself. The good news is that you already possess the skill to win new clients It’s the art of story-telling. Today I'm going to give...
How we built Verus Global w/Craig Ross
December 31, 2020 05:00 - 31 minutes - 28.4 MBToday’s guest is Craig Ross, CEO of Verus Global in Colorado. Craig leads Verus Global, an international training company more than 25 years in business. You’re going to spend some time with Craig and me today as we share what has made Verus Global successful You're also going to find out which lessons Craig has learned including: How important it is to have intellectual property How Verus has attracted Fortune 500 clients How writing books has generated leads an...
How I built Verus Global w/Craig Ross
December 31, 2020 05:00 - 31 minutes - 28.4 MBToday’s guest is Craig Ross, CEO of Verus Global in Colorado. Craig leads Verus Global, an international training company more than 25 years in business. You’re going to spend some time with Craig and me today as we share what has made Verus Global successful You're also going to find out which lessons Craig has learned including: How important it is to have intellectual property How Verus has attracted Fortune 500 clients How writing books has generated leads an...
What have we learned from 2020?
December 24, 2020 05:00 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBHope you enjoyed Eps 118 with Luke Smith of Simply Converting last week. We gave you key tips to understand and use Facebook ads to attract training clients. Today, we’re bringing you the second last episode of the year. This is the third year of the training business podcast. In less than 10 days, it’s the start of another full year, maybe an unpredictable year. Let’s look at what the key lessons from 2020 so you can make 2021 your most productive, happiest an...
How do I use Facebook Ads w/ Luke Smith
December 17, 2020 05:00 - 44 minutes - 41 MBFacebook is everywhere. You more than likely have a FB account. Whether on desktop or mobile, Facebook has ads in your feed. That’s how they make money from people like you and me. What’s it like to be someone who creates those ads? What kinds of ads work on Facebook? What makes a good ad and how to you go about creating one that gets consultancy work to your door? I’ve tried running them before myself - you can do that - OR you can hire an expert. I work wi...
How do I work with a mentor w/ Kay Littlehales
December 10, 2020 05:00 - 38 minutes - 35.3 MBI was thinking about some of the things we haven't covered so far here on the show. What helped me in my business this year is having someone to talk to and also someone to copy or emulate You know what a trainer is and you probably know what the coaches but what about mentoring? What does a mentor do and why would you want one for your training business? Well it turns out that having a mentor is going to help you move forward more quickly than you would imagine. ...
How we are scaling big w/Stephanie and Russell Watkins
December 03, 2020 05:00 - 45 minutes - 41.9 MBToday’s story is different. Why? Many people I have on the show are running a small #training business. Some guests I have had run a multi-person training business I’m thinking of past guests including: JoEllen Grzyb of Impact Factory Grant Cardone of Cardone University Nick Smallman of Working Voices ..and many more But it’s wonderful to chat to two people who are in between Transitioning from a small team to a multi-person blended-learning business earning 10s of millio...
How military leadership helps my training /w Leslie Riley
November 26, 2020 05:00 - 39 minutes - 36.1 MBToday, I get chatting with Leslie Riley, a former Captain in the @US army who flew helicopters I was curious how Leslie's being a former officer and a graduate of Westpoint has helped her grow her #leadership training business. Leslie’s brand is @LeadLikeAGirl and she specializes in delivering leadership through everyday experiences and stories With Leslie’s career to date in the army, in the media as a TV producer and a Director Sales and Marketing, Leslie has more than a...
How I built Train Ugly w/ Trevor Ragan
November 19, 2020 05:00 - 36 minutes - 33 MBToday’s guest is Trevor Ragan of Train Ugly One of my listeners asked me to have Trevor on the show and I can see why. Trevor almost singlehandedly has built a brand around the topics of learning and growth mindset. He was worked with clients such as Pepsi and Ferrari, Microsoft and the United Nations. He has given talks in prisons and schools, delivered workshops and keynotes. But how does he win clients and why does he have two brands in the marketplace? ...
How do I know what clients think of my training /w Andy Edwards
November 12, 2020 05:00 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MBHow often do you worry about evaluation sheets or happy sheets? As a professional trainer you are usually asked to get your training delegates to fill them in. It’s so easy to obsess about the things people say about us or workshops, right? We all want 10/10 or 5 stars etc. But you don’t always get them do you? You can so easily feel depressed when one or two people give you a negative score. But what really matters is whether your training has helped people to achieve objectives. ...
How do I write my first business book w/ Alison Jones
November 05, 2020 05:00 - 38 minutes - 35 MBHave you written a book yet? Would you like to write one? If you are thinking of writing a book, this is the episode for you. Many well-known coaches, trainers and consultants have written a book and sometimes several books. Whilst you may never make the top of the New York Times bestselling business book list, you may find that your book opens up new avenues and helps you to attract new clients. Your business book can help you to formulate your training or coaching system and convin...
How do I use my book to generate training clients w/ Tess Sharp and Keith Jones
October 29, 2020 05:00 - 59 minutes - 54.5 MBIt’s not very often that I have a husband and wife on the show at the same time - last time was with Jack and Patti Phillips of the RoI Institute back in eps 69: Measuring the return on training investment. But today I have Tessa Sharp and Keith Jones, co-authors of Provoke - The Art of Transformative Facilitation - Creating Dynanmic Learning in the Corporate World The material in a book is interesting, often transformative. But the question is whether having one actually generates rev...
How do I use Action Learning w/ Shannon Banks
October 22, 2020 04:00 - 38 minutes - 35.3 MBI was recently online in a Zoom Room as part of a 4-person team putting together a design outline for a workshop for a corporate client. The term action-learning was mentioned and I thought what is that term? I have heard it before, but I don’t know where... and I don’t know what it means. I need to have someone on the show who does. So we have! Shannon Banks is VP & Director Scholarship and Grants World Institute of Action Learning which is based in Washington DC. Shannon herself ...
How we’re building a new training business /w Miranda Cain
October 15, 2020 04:00 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBToday’s guest, Miranda Cain reckons that 2020 has been the right year to start a training business - not on her own but with 7 fellow directors. Miranda was Director of Operations and People for Blue Sky Performance in the UK until it was acquired by international BPO giant Capita PLC. And that eventually was the catalyst for Miranda and her 7 colleagues to set up Elev-8. Great name! Today we're sharing the story of how Miranda and the team started, what they are doing now to build the...
How do I launch my online course /w Denice Whiteley
October 09, 2020 21:42 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MBDenice Whiteley is back for part 3 of our series on helping you set up, market and launch your online course Tons of people creating income from their subject matter expertise. As a trainer, you have this knowledge. So why not put into a product? If you are in the process of planning, designing or just about to #launch your course, Denice’s topic today is going to help. Remember to check out the other 2 episodes. Grab a pen and let’s go! Check out the episode now! #corporatetra...
How I started my communication business w/ Gina London
October 01, 2020 04:00 - 55 minutes - 51 MBToday, guest is Gina London, former CNN Colorado Bureau Chief, Anchor and now communincation training consultancy owner. Clients such as Salesforce, Heineken and Google entrust the development of her senior people to her. Gina made the jump from working for others to running her own business and is now building out her team and bringing others into her business. It's a great story and you’re going to come away with ideas and solid inspiration. Check out the episode now! #corporatet...
How do I create a 1-page training proposal
September 24, 2020 04:00 - 22 minutes - 20.3 MBI would rather get a 1-page training proposal in someone’s hands ASAP rather than take 3 hours to write one then send it via snail-mail. With tools like GDrive, you can share a simple outline which they can see rather than wait several days for the post to arrive. If you get a rough draft in someone's hands - literally the same hour or day - they can give your helpful advice and guidance on how to improve it. That’s what happened this week and I won the training contract. So what cou...
How do I market my online course /w Denice Whitely
September 17, 2020 17:19 - 51 minutes - 47 MBDid you get last week’s episode? My guest Denice Whitely and I gave you a walk through of the technology and steps to help you set up your online course. Today, Denice is back again for part 2. We're going to look at how you can market your online course. This means developing your content calendar, lead-magnets, paid-ads, bonuses and so much more. If you are wondering how to get your message about your course out there to the right people, that’s what today is all about! Check out...
How do I market my online course /w Denice Whiteley
September 17, 2020 17:19 - 51 minutes - 47 MBDid you get last week’s episode? My guest Denice Whiteley and I gave you a walk through of the technology and steps to help you set up your online course. Today, Denice is back again for part 2. We're going to look at how you can market your online course. This means developing your content calendar, lead-magnets, paid-ads, bonuses and so much more. If you are wondering how to get your message about your course out there to the right people, that’s what today is all about! Check ou...
How do I set up my online course /w Denice Whiteley
September 10, 2020 06:00 - 32 minutes - 30 MBWith most training programs being delivered online instead of face-to-face, there is a huge market for online courses, which means a huge market for online course creators like you The part that most course creators fear is the tech. What platform do I use? What is an LMS? How do I host my videos? How do I get paid? etc etc. The technology side of things is a natural source of fear…. The good news there are people out there who can take the tech side of things off your plate. T...
How do I make working from home work for me?
September 03, 2020 04:00 - 35 minutes - 32.7 MBThis summer, kitchen tables, bedroom desks, cafés, hotel lobbies and umpteen other places have become makeshift offices for independent trainers and coaches like you and me. We are now mostly at home and our training clients are mostly at home. Offices have been closed and there has been a radical shift in how we train people. What's it been like for you to run your training business from your home environment? For many of us, it has been difficult. Today, I want to share some ideas on...
How can Loom video messaging help my training business?
August 27, 2020 04:00 - 27 minutes - 25.1 MBVideo is exploding right now. In the absence of face-to-face communication people are looking to technology to come up with cool ways to allow us to connect with our customers with video messaging. You can demonstrate your training products, follow-up with prospects, create testimonials, generate new leads creatively through video marketing and much more. One such solution is the wildly-popular Loom. Today, you’re going to learn 5 ways you can use the power of Loom in your training bus...
How do I hire a trainer to train my programs?
August 20, 2020 04:00 - 29 minutes - 27 MBRecently, a trainer asked me whether I thought she was 'ready' to hire a trainer to train her training programs. So I asked her some questions: Do you know your client’s needs? Does your client trust your judgement? She said yes to both questions. So I said: You are ready. But the question is not whether you are ready. The question is whether the person you going to hire as a trainer is ready. Because this person is going to represent your brand. S/he is going to deliver your training ...
How do I run a training session on Zoom?
August 13, 2020 04:00 - 27 minutes - 25.4 MBHave you noticed how Zoom has dominated training delivery this year? We are in the middle of a 'Zoom Boom' with organisations adopting Zoom as the preferred platform for running training, coaching, mentoring: 1:1 sessions and group sessions. I have run 4 group sessions already this week - all on Zoom. 19 sessions in total in August. That does not include dozens of coaching sessions. How about you? This 'Zoom Boom' is not going away any time soon. It could be the way that we are train...
How to charge what your training is worth
August 06, 2020 04:00 - 53 minutes - 48.7 MBMany trainers nowadays making the leap from employed to self-employed and a problem many have is this little voice in their head saying that I can’t charge this? It’s too much. They will never pay this. If you are making the leap from the world of being an employee to being a self-employed trainer, there is defintley a mental shift involved. You look at your pay-check and tell yourself that you are worth $250 dollars a day. But that’s a mistake when you could be charging $5000 or...
How do I charge what my training is worth
August 06, 2020 04:00 - 53 minutes - 48.7 MBMany trainers nowadays making the leap from employed to self-employed and a problem many have is this little voice in their head saying that I can’t charge this? It’s too much. They will never pay this. If you are making the leap from the world of being an employee to being a self-employed trainer, there is defintley a mental shift involved. You look at your pay-check and tell yourself that you are worth $250 dollars a day. But that’s a mistake when you could be charging $5000 or...
How to use employee surveys to deliver the right training
July 30, 2020 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23.8 MBOrganisations invest thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars, pounds, euros annually on training interventions. Time and time again I’ve seen organisations invest in the wrong things and for the wrong reasons. Very often the people who commission training are not the people who understand the training or benefit from training. We both know that Training often is incorrectly assumed to be the fix for a range of structural and behavioural problems. As training providers...
How do I use employee surveys to deliver the right training
July 30, 2020 04:00 - 25 minutes - 23.8 MBOrganisations invest thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars, pounds, euros annually on training interventions. Time and time again I’ve seen organisations invest in the wrong things and for the wrong reasons. Very often the people who commission training are not the people who understand the training or benefit from training. We both know that Training often is incorrectly assumed to be the fix for a range of structural and behavioural problems. As training providers...