The competition for most businesses can be fierce, and what we really hope for is to find our place amidst the many where we can stand out, build a substantial following, and have enough success to do the things we really want to do with our lives. Some of us of course want to be "the wealthiest", "the most well-known", "have the most people talking about us", and more. Yet, I believe for most of us, a more modest dream of time for ourselves, money to pay our bills and have some of the niceties in life, with a group of loyal fans who will always buy from us, recommend us and be part of our "family". I know that's what I want for my business. I don't need to be the BEST. or make the most, or all those other things. What about you?
But I do know that whatever it is we want for our business, it is not going to just show up one day. The articles I read about how "I made $10,000 in my first month" -- well all I can say about that is: Really? Do you have Aladdin's Lamp handy? Unless you're really really lucky, I am sure that's not going to happen to you. Sorry to say, it takes work, and effort to get a business started, and then it takes more work and more effort to keep it running. It's not easy and it's not cheap.
The work that you must do to get your business running is time consuming and hard on the brain. First, you have to understand things like, what is it that I'm providing? What value and benefits do I offer? And here, I'm going to let you in on a little piece of information -- you don't sell washing machines, for instance. You sell a simple way to get your clothes clean, with little work. You provide the person doing the washing with an easy way to protect their clothing so that they look good and last a long time. Get the idea? Benefits and value are much different than the product or service. People buy things that either give them pleasure, or take away a perceived pain. A washing machine is a washing machine is a washing machine. But one of the new gizmos that are becoming "hot" right now, are washing machines that have built in sinks. That's supposed to help with prewashing, etc.
You need to figure out what your goals are and how you're going to accomplish them. SMART goals are goals that provide to dos, and time tables and accountability. For a goal, without a direction to achieve it, will never get accomplished. Once you've got those goals in place you have to work at it to make sure you're moving ahead. If you set it up and then leave it to grow on it's own, it will never happen. I often see people using the visual of growing a garden -- you have to water it, pull the weeds, and consistently check in to make sure that there are no bugs or animals digging around it. The same is true for your business. Focus, focus, focus -- it takes time.
Once you have all of this in motion, your next step is to figure out just how do you get the people to know what you sell, and want it. There's a difference between marketing, advertising and sales. You need to understand the differences and figure out how to make them work for you. When you're just starting out, you are going to be EVERYTHING for your business, and so of course you are going to be the marketer, salesman and everything all wrapped up in one. Get used to it and don't let it intimidate you. You're not going to be able to get a customer unless they know you exist. It's a very important step in the process.
In our next article, we'll talk about more about the marketing and go into more depth with what is needed here. But for now, whatever you call starting your business, you need to work hard at it for it to be successful.
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