What is to be done? (Apologies to Lenin)

I promised my special reader to explain  why after my blog on 23 June 2023 The Power of Emotional Intelligence: What Are You Missing? I had a gap of some 3 months before I started blogging again.

Here is my explanation:

The first month is easy to explain we were in Europe on holiday and having a great trip.

On my return I was busy organising my first face-to-face training since Covid started in March 2020: I was running two Empathy Selling Seminars for a national organisation  employing over 1300 people; one in early August the second in early September.  The training went very well.  The feedback scores were

Admittedly Administration and Environment scored better than Presentation and Course Materials but out of 5 the scores will still pretty good.  However, I am 78 and tap-dancing for 8 hours/day does knock me out a bit.   On the other hand, it was great to be actually do some face-to-face training and the interaction was exceptional.

So I decided it was time to do rethinking on strategy.

Prior to Covid I had running Practical Emotional Courses as a side hustle.  I had 3 sources of revenue.  A trickle from selling books; good part-time flow running EQ training seminars (say 6 per year; and running EQ coaching programs (say 4-5 people/month).  It gave me an interest along with golf and bridge in my retirement.

When Covid hit I decided to convert my IP into on-line video training programs.  I loaded up 3 courses onto the Teachable platform.  They too are producing a trickle of revenue.  The material is good but I admit the videos are dated.  And even worse there is an a strategic  inconsistency between people skills training and on-line video programs.

Also I had refined the Humm-Wadsworth model into the 7MTF and the more I teach and blog about it the more I am convinced it is the best tool available to quickly lift your EQ.  It is the most practical, scientifically valid, and trait-based people profiling model available.

So how do I popularise the 7MTF?  I came across a presentation by Taylor Conroy.   His thesis was that if you could do a good TEDx talk you then had a readymade contact list of 45 million subscribers.   I drank the cool-aid.in December 2019 and signed up to his program that is now on  thought-leader.com.   After a 2 year hiatus again due to Covid I finally finished the program in December 2022 and started applying with some 60 applications in January 2023 and 5-10 a month since.  After some 8 months of bagels, I then thought maybe I should review what I had done since June 2007 and decide if I should try something different.

Historical Review

June 2007

I started by using an Australian Social Media company, Lead Creation.  They created a website using SquareSpace and registered the name EmotionalIntelligenceCourse.com.  Their strategy was to create two white papers on the website which were given away free and build up an email list using Mail Chimp.

I did look at public speaking but was told by the CEO of largest speaking bureau that while she thought she could get me to gross revenue of A$750,000 a year less an agency fee of 20% I would be working around 200 days a year with 80% of the time outside of Sydney. She advised me that as I was in the fortunate position of being independently wealthy I should not to bother trying build a speaking career.  I followed her advice.

However I did come across a social media  marketing strategy which comprised writing 3 blogs a month posting on my website,  LinkedIn, and twitter.  Then once a month sending out a newsletter saying I posted 3 blogs, containing a cartoon and a useful EQ tip.  I now have a mail list of some 5000 subscribers and 2000 connections on LinkedIn.  I have never asked anyone to comect with me on Linked In.

2017

I then took on Elmo Stoop who was running another Social Media Marketing Company, Vine Digital, as an EQ Coaching Client. He convinced me to switch from Square Space to WordPress as it was much easier to blog under WordPress.

I also tried to get an adjunct position as a lecturer at a Business School in Sydney.  I did get 3 years at UTS doing a venture capital elective and two years at S P Jain on EQ but both ended up being temporary positions despite the number of attendees in both electives doubling.

I was then persuaded to use an agent to place my material as stories in the media.  I signed up for US$10,000 for six articles.  Progress was slow but then suddenly 4 stories did appear.

How raising your emotional intelligence can make you the best salesperson in the room

Christopher Golis CEO Insider February 22, 2023

https://ceoworld.biz/2023/02/22/how-raising-your-emotional-intelligence-can-make-you-the-best-salesperson-in-the-room/

How emotional intelligence can make you the smartest manager in the room

George Nellist Digital World February 23, 202

https://www.digitaljournal.com/business/how-emotional-intelligence-can-make-you-the-smartest-manager-in-the-room/article

Beware of Corporate Psychopaths HR Future Magazine March 2023 edition

https://www.hrfuture.net/talent-management/culture/beware-of-corporate-pyschopaths/

Chris Golis of Practical Emotional Intelligence On Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Uncertain & Turbulent Times

Authority Magazine

https://medium.com/authority-magazine/chris-golis-of-practical-emotional-intelligence-on-five-things-you-need-to-be-a-highly-effective-6b0fdc9ef470

The result was 4 days as the #1 search result if you Googled “Emotional Intelligence.” Number of new clients? Zero.

So I must admit subsequent approaches for this strategy have been rejected.  The latest was for an 700 word article in Forbes Australia for US$5000 by a PR agency.

To gain some academic credibility I authored two formal papers.

The 7MTF: A Practical Tool to Lift Your Emotional Intelligence.  I formally presented the MTF model at the Sixth International Congress for Emotional Intelligence held in Oporto in July 2017.

The Collapse of Arthur Andersen: A Failure of Emotional Intelligence?  I formally presented this paper at the Seventh International Congress for Emotional Intelligence held in Perth in July 2019.

Total number of contacts post the conferences? Zero.

And I cannot tell you how many approaches I have had from people promising to increase the number of contacts and coaching clients.  I am not interested in coaching people internationally as Sydney is 12 hours ahead of the East of the USA and the time window is limited.

Current Situation

I was at the stage of thinking this is a China Egg which is never going to break when suddenly several TEDx organisers put me on a waitlist instead of outright rejection.  So I will keep going with this strategy until another review at the end of 2023.

This blog was first posted on LinkedIn on 2 October 2023

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-done-apologies-lenin-christopher-golis