You want to join the list of people who are formulating new ideas, backing themselves and their ideas and going out there to kick start their own business, to make their own business and have some control over their working lives.
Let me tell you it is exhilarating, exciting, exhausting and exasperating at all once. Yes it is!
But where do you start? How do you make the first big leap?
The most important thing initially is to identify something that does interest you that will make you money and has a high likely hood of working. Many will say that your business has to be something that you’re passionate about. For the most part, yes this is true and it has been the case for me with my two businesses – but a good friend of mine in the US, Scott Morris says NO you don’t have to be passionate about your business idea or venture but YES it MUST make you money.
Once you have your idea, so some research. Are there already financial transactions happening in this space? Are people making money NOW in this space? If yes, what can you do to make this space better? What can you bring to the market to create more sales, to be a point of difference, to go the extra mile so that your customers and the financial transactions keep recurring?
Let me give you an example. As women, the vast majority of us use beauty products and there are literally millions of choices out there. What is important to me as a consumer is results I get and also that the product is naturally based without any nasty chemicals or additives. This will narrow down my choice, but still there are many choices at my disposal. Quite a few of my friends use a large networking marketing company to sell beauty products and make some income. That’s great. But recently I have started using a product from someone named Bethrene who makes and markets her own skincare range and I love it and I get great results.
Yet there is something that Bethrene does that sets her apart from everyone else and that is that Bethrene understands the customer experience. Bethrene hand wraps her product in tissue paper and ties a branded ribbon around the paper and places it in a box. When I receive this box in the post I’m always excited. Why? It looks divine and it makes me feel special as a customer because I know that Bethrene has done this. Bethrene also puts in a personalized, hand written small card and thanks me for my purchase! Bethrene does this with love and gratitude and I feel it!
This works. I always look forward to my products arriving because I feel special that Bethrene has taken the time to reach out to me. She knows what to do to stand out from the crowd, to let her customer feel understood and it’s working.
So I ask you, what you are doing to be a little different? What are you doing to let your customer know that you understand him or her, that you care and you want them to get great results –whatever your product!
My second tip for today is to try and be niche where you can. Niches work really well as you can be a specialist in a common area and skyrocket your business growth. This is particularly great for large markets such marketing, gaming, beauty products, cafes, consulting, coaching and so on. These platforms can be super-noisy so narrowing in on a niche can have a tremendous positive impact on your business.
This will also help you gain much needed clarity around your ideal customer. Once you have your ideal customer or customers detailed and understood, you can begin to effectively market to them. Another added benefit is that having a niche market means that is much easier to gain media attention and to be the go-to person in your particular area of expertise. But let’s leave those two topics for another time.
