Coach Tam’s Story

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My name is Tamara Jackson but my clients affectionately call me “Coach Tam.” I am a published author, I am the host of the Top 100 Publishing Secrets podcast, Facebook© Certified Digital Marketer, and the founder of ChristianAuthors.net. I am also the CEO of a mission-oriented company, the 265 Point Christian Authors Network, that helps current and aspiring Christian authors get their God-given message out and to the masses.

Interestingly enough, much of the success that God has allowed me to enjoy is founded upon a book that I wrote in 2013, 265 Point. In the book, I share how I transformed from being a 265 lb. junk food addict to a 155 lb. fitness fanatic appearing on the demonstration floor of the Dr. Oz Television show. It’s part biography, part self-help. I wanted to do my part to end the trend of obesity in America and help others lose the weight and keep it off.

Living my dream quickly turned into a nightmare.

I posted on my author page and didn’t get one like.
I posted on my personal page and only got a “pity like” or two from family and friends.
I desperately tried to build an email list with a freebie but no one signed up.

What am I missing???? That is what I thought to myself. Every. Single. Day.

And so I started to get angry.

Really, really angry.

I even did the ugly, angry “why me??!” cry.

I got sucked into the trap of getting angry and then feeling sorry for myself rather than taking any real action (tinkering around with my website for hours didn’t count)…

Until someone confronted me with the truth.

After feeling clueless about marketing and sales for years, I finally got connected with people who actually knew what they were doing and they pointed out where I was going wrong.

I learned that if people were not buying from me, it is because:

I was invisible to them. They don’t know that I or my book existed. Sure, my family and friends knew I wrote a book, but who else? Sadly, the answer was hardly anyone. I had a big heart and BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals) but that was about it. With a tiny social media following and no email list, I wasn’t getting my book in front of enough people to actually generate sales or make an impact. There was some truth to the “numbers game” and my numbers just were not adding up.

They did not “like me.” Not because I did anything wrong or was a bad person, but I eventually realized that what I heard about people knowing, liking, and trusting you was true. Not only was I invisible to the vast majority of the people I aspired to reach but when I did connect with them on social or even in person, I struggled to strike up a meaningful conversation. I didn’t know what to say or do to establish common ground and show my genuine interest vs. sounding awkward and needy.

I didn’t have enough credibility. They did not trust me as a leader, my solution, or their ability to execute my solution. Again, it wasn’t because I had personally let them down but rather because I hadn’t done anything to prove myself to them. Sure, I had a personal story of transformation and success but that didn’t necessarily mean that I had the skills to coach them to success or that my methods were sound. And even when I was able to get a few testimonials under my belt – I later learned that there was still a haunting question in their minds “but will it work FOR ME?”

The Big Turnaround

My story sounds kind of doom and gloom but I want you to know that after losing tens of thousands of dollars on ineffective strategies I did finally figure it out. I was able to boost my book sales and leverage the concepts in the book to build a weight loss coaching business and open a brick-and-mortar gym. Plus my confidence in my message and my ability to market it skyrocketed.

You are probably wondering, “what turned it around for you?” My answer is simple, not sexy. I do not have a magic bullet or a fast fix.

I found out that the big issue was the way that I presented things. I was not making an emotional connection with my audience. What I said just did not resonate with them on a heart level so no one felt compelled to take the next step. It kind of stinks right?

There is good news. After years of feeling clueless, the lightbulb came on. I had answers. I knew what I needed to do to connect with the people I was called to serve!

I discovered that it is not really about being “popular”. It is about having the right strategy.

When you are able to generate awareness, interest, and consideration on your social media channels in a way that honors God, your impact, influence, and sales will soar.

God did it for me and He will do it for you too. You just have to surrender to the process.

Are you ready to learn how to build your author platform with proven strategies that will help you make connections and sell more books online?

Join me in the Facebook group!

Not long ago, I was buckling under the pressure of everything that was going wrong in my life…

Bad relationships
Stalled career
Finances in shambles
Spiritually disconnected
Mentally drained
and emotionally bankrupt

…and the girl who grew up wearing special “slim” jeans ballooned to 265 pounds, seemingly overnight.

Now on the outside looking in, it would be easy to think that I was…

Lazy
Didn’t care about my looks
Didn’t value my health
But that was the furthest thing from the truth!

I wanted to change. I just didn’t know how. Losing weight and keeping it off was hard.

Once, I experienced some success – losing 40 pounds in 5 months for a friend’s wedding – but not long after the big day, I lost my motivation and the pounds started to creep back on. I decided there was no hope for me and gave up. I thought “this is just too hard.”

But one day in December of 2007 everything changed. I went to the doctor for what I thought would be a routine physical. That was anything but routine. My doctor’s words shook me to my core.

After some serious soul searching, it finally clicked.

By the following October, I had lost a total of 100+ pounds, without:

Surgery
Diet Pills
Shakes or juicing
Expensive supplements
Extreme workouts
or even hiring a Personal Trainer

It wasn’t easy but it was definitely worth it.

Plus, past October, I celebrated 12 years of maintenance, something most people will tell you is impossible.
When I look at my old photos and then look in the mirror, I’m amazed…and thankful.

Thankful that…

I can walk into a room with my head held high
I’m no longer ashamed of how I look
I can walk up several flights of stairs without being winded
I can get out of my car without pain
I can do fun things like whitewater rafting and zip lining

My life is totally different! Oh, and my career and income took off too.

Packed up and relocated to a new city in 14 days

5 big promotions
Salary more than doubled
Earned my MBA
Became a certified fitness professional and health coach
Published a book
Started my own business
and much, much more

When things turned around for me, I vowed to dedicate my life to helping others. I share my “success secrets” in my book “265 Point”, in local and online fitness programs, and audiences nationwide through public, private, and corporate seminars and events. I can’t wait to work with you!

I fell for the lie that if I shared my heartfelt story enough times on social media that the followers and sales would come. It was not nearly as easy in real life as people made it seem in those ads!!!
I was so frustrated from pouring my heart and soul into marketing my book only to get crickets. Know what I mean?
I posted on my author page and didn’t get not one like.
I posted on my personal page and only got a “pity like” or two from family and friends.
I desperately tried to build an email list with a freebie but no one signed up.

What am I missing???? That is what I thought to myself. Every. Single. Day.

And so I started to get angry.

Really, really angry.

I even did the ugly, angry “why me??!” cry.
I got sucked into the trap of getting angry and then feeling sorry for myself rather than taking any real action (tinkering around with my website for hours didn’t count)…

Until someone confronted me with the truth. But before I get to that let me backup a bit and give you some of the backstory.

I released my book in December of 2013 with illusions of grandeur. I just knew that the timing was perfect for my topic (weight loss and wellness) but I just did not know what I did not know.
Let me share some of what I learned after I published. My prayer is that it will help you pinpoint where things went wrong for you.

8 Things I Realized AFTER I Published
1. No one but my mom, dad, aunts, uncles, and a few close friends (I am an only child), cared that I wrote a book. This one was tough to swallow because I was so emotionally invested in my project and my message. But no one else was. How could I get people to care enough to actually click my promo link to check me out, much less buy the book?
2. I had spent 100% of my time writing, editing, looking at book covers, and dreaming about how successful the book would be but had spent zero time on building an audience. So once sales from family, friends, and their referrals (bless their heart!) dried up, it was straight crickets. What in the world do I do now?
3. Constantly posting my book link on my social media profiles was not working. And looking back, I know why. I was doing it out of desperation. I had spent all kinds of money that I was scared I would never recoup. I needed sales and now! But begging someone, anyone to “support” made the whole thing about me vs. them.
4. My market was saturated. There were literally tens of thousands of books on Amazon that provided diet and exercise advice – many of them with 4 and 5 stars and detailed reviews singing the book’s praises. What was going to make someone choose my book over the others?
5. I was a nobody. Now don’t get me wrong, I had a healthy sense of self-esteem and I do realize that as Jesse Jackson would say “I am somebody!” But to those that I’d hope would read my book, I was a nobody when compared with Jillian Michaels, Dr. Ian Smith, Dr. Oz, and the like so why should they listen to me?
6. To my audience, my methods were unproven. Yes, I had a personal story of losing 100 pounds and keeping it off which some people find inspiring and rare, but when someone landed on my Amazon page and read my book description, what evidence did they have that what worked for me would work for them?
7. I had totally missed that the book I wrote was really just a product, not a business. I didn’t realize that in order to make it a successful endeavor, I – like other business owners – need to understand sales and marketing, not just how to write a good story.
8. Readers only care about the answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. If I could not clearly speak to the problem that my book solves (that the reader may or may not know that they have) in a way that intrigues them to explore and learn more, it did not matter how nice my book cover or trailer was. It did not matter how many ads I ran. They were not going to buy it!

The Big Turnaround
My list sounds kind of doom and gloom but I want you to know that after losing tens of thousands of dollars on ineffective strategies I did finally figure it out. I was able to boost my book sales and leverage the concepts in the book to build a weight loss coaching business and open a brick-and-mortar gym. Plus my confidence in my message and my ability to market it skyrocketed.
You are probably wondering, “what turned it around for you?” My answer is simple, not sexy. I do not have a magic bullet or a fast fix.
After working with business coaches and marketing mentors, I finally saw where I was going wrong. The big issue was the way that I presented things. I was not making an emotional connection with my audience. What I said just did not resonate with them on a heart level so no one felt compelled to take the next step. Kind of stinks right?
There is good news. After years of feeling clueless the lightbulb came on. I had answers. I knew what I needed to do to connect with the people I was called to serve!
I discovered that it is not really about being “popular”. It is about having the right strategy.
You cannot be random and get good results. There has to be a strategy that is in alignment with your goals of building an audience, creating trust, and then earning customers. I should add that we do not just want any customers either, which is why getting family and friends to buy is typically a big mistake. What you really want is to get customers that are taking in and sharing your God-given message.
So if you are struggling to build an audience and get sales, the solution is simple. Get a solid marketing approach that focuses on three things:
Building relationships.
Serving over selling.
Adding real value.

How do I know this works? Because I am living it right now.

When the pandemic hit the US in March of 2020, we had only been in our brick and mortar gym location for 6 months. We transitioned everything to online and I just knew that God was going to work things out for our good. This would be our chance to take our unique, faith-based fitness program across the globe! It looked like it was going to happen too. We had people join our online program from several states and even had someone join from Puerto Rico! But in the end, it was not God’s will for us to continue.

Our 8 year run in weight loss and fitness abruptly came to a halt Easter weekend 2021. I got on a Zoom call with my team on April 5, 2021 and made the most difficult announcement of my life: “Effective immediately, all 265 Point Total Fitness programs have been discontinued.” Transparent moment: I still tear up a bit thinking about that day. When all was said and done, I was left with the very same pressing question that you are asking right now, “where do we go from here?” Well it turned out that God was working things out for our good, just not in the way that I expected.

This calls for a little more backstory. I started helping fitness clients who wanted to become authors write and publish books in 2018. Then I went back to school to obtain a marketing certification in 2019. So when God allowed my dream to shatter in front of my eyes, I prayed and asked Him what to do next. He said “focus on what you have left.” That is exactly what I did.

I followed His guidance and put the business acumen and marketing skills that I gained to work. With His help, I was able to double my number of followers, revive our dormant online author community and grow it by 669% in 6 months. We also launched a suite of products and services that now generate thousands of dollars of income per month – without ripping people off by over-promising and under-delivering.

I can personally attest to the fact that when it comes to marketing any Christian product or service, it is all about relationship – with God and your audience. You must connect with the Father to understand His will for you and connect with confidence so that you can create a strong platform for sales. When you are able to generate awareness, interest, and consideration on your social media channels in a way that honors God, your impact, influence, and sales will soar.