Five Things No One Tells You About Entrepreneurship

Pivotal Five things no one tells you about entrepreneurship

The internet has made the idea of starting a business more accessible than ever before. And that is just what people are doing. However, the journey of entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. Having a marketable product is not enough. Being talented enough to market your services for hire does not mean you know how to run a business. After all, 90% of all start-ups fail within the first 5 years.

Here are some things to keep in mind when you start your business:

1. Entrepreneurship is lonely

If you are like most entrepreneurs, you don't have a lot of capital to hire a permanent staff in the beginning. That means, it will be you and your laptop for a while. No one to help you come up with ideas. No one to reassure that everything is alright when you have a bad day. No one to help you generate ideas. It's just you. Depressing. After all, we're human. We aren't designed to work alone. To counter the bad effects of loneliness, join entrepreneur groups, have some entrepreneurs in your close contacts that you can reach out to when you need a voice of affirmation and encouragement.

2. You don't know what you don't know

I am a scientist. I know how to make the product. Initially, I did not know anything about marketing and advertising. I had to learn. There are plenty of resources on the internet and in libraries to help you along the way. Establishing a relationship with a business mentor will help point you in the right direction on where to get started. It's important have some idea of what you need before you start spending money with paid services to do things for you. How else will you know if you're going to get what you paid for?

3. Your mindset determines your paycheck.

The owner's mindset makes and/or breaks the business. Devoting time, energy and money to your personal development is just as important as devoting those things to process improvement and building a team. Spend time meditating, reading and visit a therapist regularly. Your business depends on it.

4. You will have to hire a team.

Yes, sometimes you will be able to get the task done best BUT you will get more done with help. You are not good at everything. Assemble a team of experts and all you will have to worry about is maintaining your own ability. Your business will grow faster. Two brains are better than one.

5. Your journey is your journey. Patience is a virtue.

In the age of social media, it is easy to start comparing someone else's progress to your own. Do not beat yourself up. You journey is your journey. Do not rush it. Do not compare it to someone else's, especially based on social media posts. Those posts are a snapshot of the highlight reel. You really don't know what's going on behind the scenes.

Yes. Entrepreneurship is hard and not for the faint at heart but when done correctly the rewards outweigh the risks. Connect with other entrepreneurs so you feel part of a community. Build a relationship with a business mentor. Learn skills you don't already have. Your daily routine should include improving your mindset. Hire a team. And, most of all, be patient. Your time will come.

Author:  Iyonna Woods

I am an entrepreneur who turned her passion of health and wellness and laboratory expertise into a profitable business. I take great pride in helping people live healthy lifestyles, physically and financially. Visit http://www.fancyfreellc.com to learn more about our products and services.

5 Questions You Should Ask Every Customer

Constantly seeking feedback from your customers is a great way to learn how to market your business more effectively. If you’ve never done this before, do it immediately as it is one of the best ways to discover what you do that actually differentiates you from your competition.


I can’t tell you how many times I’ve worked with a small business that had no idea what its competitive advantage was until we heard it right from the mouths of happy customers. Seeking feedback is also a great way to get better and plug gaps. I can tell you that if you’re not receiving a large amount of your business by way of referral or word of mouth, you’ve probably got some gaps in your processes.


Below are five questions I like to pose to customers as they can provide a great discussion base for getting at what’s truly important to you and your customers. Create a form and get in the habit of surveying a handful of customers every month. I think you’ll be rewarded with tremendous insight and you’ll also find that your customers enjoy being asked what they think. One word of caution, don’t accept vague answers like “you provide good service.” While that may be true and good to hear, you can’t work with that. Push a bit and ask what good service looks like and maybe even if they can tell you about a specific instance in which they felt they got good service.

1. What made you decide to hire us/buy from us in the first place?

This is a good baseline question for your marketing. It can get at how effective your advertising, message and lead conversion processes are working. I’ve also heard customers talk about the personal connection or culture that felt right in this question.

2. What’s one thing we do better than others you do business with?


In this question you are trying to discover something that you can work with as a true differentiator. This is probably the question you’ll need to work hardest at getting specifics. You want to look for words and phrases and actual experiences that keep coming up over and over again, no matter how insignificant they may seem to you. If your customers are explaining what they value about what you do, you may want to consider making that the core marketing message for your business.


3. What’s one thing we could do to create a better experience for you?


On the surface this question could be looked at as a customer service improvement question, and it may be, but the true gold in this question is when your customers can identify an innovation. Sometimes we go along doing what we’ve always done and then out of the blue a customer says something like, “I sure wish it came like this,” and all of a sudden it’s painfully clear how you can create a meaningful innovation to your products, services and processes. Push your customers to describe the perfect experience buying what you sell.





4. Do you refer us to other, and if so, why?


This is the ultimate question of satisfaction because a truthful answer means your customer likes the product and likes the experience of getting the product. (You can substitute service here of course.) There’s an entire consulting industry cropping up around helping people discover what Fred Reichheld called the  Net Promoter Score in his book  The Ultimate Question.


Small businesses can take this a step deeper and start understanding specifically why they get referrals and perhaps the exact words and phrases a customer might use when describing to a friend why your company is the best.


5. What would you Google to find a business like ours?


This is the new lead generation question, but understanding what it implies is very important. If you want to get very, very good at being found online, around the world or around the town, you have to know everything you can about the actual terms and phrases your customers use when they go looking for companies like yours.


Far too often businesses optimize their web sites around industry jargon and technical terms when people really search for “stuff to make my life better.”


Bonus: I’m a big fan of building strategic partnerships and networks. Another question I would suggest you get in the habit of asking your customer is – “What other companies do you love to refer?” If you can start building a list of “best of class” companies, based on your customer’s say so, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve got a list of folks you should be building strategic relationships with.

Author:  John Jantsch 
John Jantsch has been called the World's Most Practical Small Business Expert for consistently delivering real-world, proven small business marketing ideas and strategies, and this article comes from his Duct Tape Marketing Blog  http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/.

 

The Potential of Change

I have found that in life and in business that if you are unable to adapt to change quickly, things will become very frustrating and you will find yourself lagging behind and eventually, become stagnant and quit. I find myself often reminding people that change is the only constant; and it honestly is a constant that you can count on and oftentimes, you have absolutely no control over when change occurs. So, instead of feeling like a victim of change, let's become masters of it!

 

The Potential of Change - Are You Watching?

Very rarely will things change suddenly. Most of the time change will start as a gradual process that will begin to gain momentum and eventually, become the new constant until it changes again. You see this in sports, fashion, food, music, cultural norms and in business. There are so many people who hate change and for the most part, if you ask them why, they have very little concrete reasons why. Many people will tell you that it changed suddenly! But, if we are honest with ourselves, we saw it coming a long time ago but chose to ignore it hoping that something would prevent it from happening. Guess what? change still came!

Let's try this next time; let's become more observant, let's keep an eye out for any changes that might be occurring. Whether it is in your department, in your organizational structure, leadership, business model, marketing strategies or staff. Let's decide to get ahead of it so we are not "caught off guard". Change is not a bad thing all the time, it is simply change. Look for it, embrace it and then, do something about it instead of trying to fight it. Being observant to ongoing or shifts in your particular niche' or vertical can mean the difference in becoming an industry leader or a "Johnny come lately". Change can really work to your advantage if you have the proper perspective. You just have to change your perception of change.

The Potential of Change - Change How You See Things

"What if it's a bad thing Dave?" "We do not want to embrace bad things Dave!" And you are absolutely right. But let's focus on the type of changes that pertain to our businesses and how we can change our perception of those changes. There had been many times when I thought changes in things like marketing for instance; inbound market sounded like making "Root beer" flavored potato chips and I don't think that will last long! But the truth of the matter is that inbound marketing is one of the best ways to market if you truly want to scale your business and keep and expand your repeat, loyal customers.

Look, there are so many business owners that try everything that comes down the pike and have very little ROI to show for it; so now, when they see or hear about a "proven" marketing tool, they pass. If you read one of my older articles called "You Can't Stop Marketing", you'll see that you can't do that. Things HAVE CHANGED and we need to learn how to adapt as business owners. So many small business owners are resistant to change and wonder why the own their job (they spend 12 or more hours a day and make very little progress).

There are few successful business owners that truly invest in themselves. Rarely will a small business owner to go to a business workshop, spend thirty to forty-five minutes watching a webinar or become involved in their local Chamber of Commerce. These examples are just a few things that we can do that has the potential to pay huge dividends in our businesses but, they will require you to change. I think that many small business owners believe that if they change, it equates to being wrong and they cannot admit to being wrong! Wow! That is a lot of pressure and pride working there. There is not a perfect person on the face of the earth! We learn from our mistakes (hopefully) and make the needed adjustments. Failure should never be the end, it should never cause you to throw in the towel. Learning from our mistakes and making those needed adjustments can be the difference in achieving success.

The Potential of Change - Change What You Do

Ladies and gentlemen listen, being resistant, adapting, overcoming, taking advantage of and looking for the next big thing to use to your advantage before anyone else does, is all a part of how we perceive change.

I really want you to be the best business owner that you can possibly be and to do that will require you to learn how to use changes to your advantage. I need all of you to be as innovative as you can possibly be. Innovation is the key! We have gone from rooms filled with one computer to desktops, laptops, and even tablets. We have gone from using telegraphs to calling the telephone operator directly, to dialing direct, to cordless, to pagers, to massive mobile phones, to phones that fit in your purse or your pocket.

Innovation is a term that the business sector uses in place of change. Invention, Revolution, Modernization, Improvement, and Advance are synonyms of innovation and each word has an element of change in them. Let's not shrink from change out of fear but be the innovators that move things forward! Let's be the ones that are the front-runners, even how we interact with each other. You realize that competition does not equate enemy. The pie is so big and we can actually benefit from strategic (legal) collaboration from time to time. (That's for another article to come). So, can you change? Can you embrace change and become the master of it? Can you be the innovator that I know you can be? Can you change?

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While you're there, be sure to get your FREE Online Reputation Management Report Today!

Steve Jobs on Customer Experience

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How to write an Elevator Pitch

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” ~ Coachfucious

The first and foremost thing you need to do is be ready and ably to sell your product or service in a snapshot. In order to get the clients you are looking for you absolutely need to be prepared to meet with your clients wherever they are and whatever they do. What will set you apart from all the rest of the people in your business is the MANTRA that you will sing to enchant your clients and get them close to you.

This mantra identifies who you are, what you do and why your client will choose you over all the others on the market and is most commonly known as elevator speech.

Before we create one, we will go though the brainstorming process.

There are a couple of tough questions that can be answered before we roll up our sleeves and start creating our client magnet.

1. Who am I? In what capacity I want to serve you?

2. What business I am in? What results do my business promise to you as a client?

3. Who is my client? How does he look like?

4. What makes me different from the competition? Why should the client do business with me?

5. What are the benefits of my customer when buying my product / services?

Those questions, when systemized, don’t look as if they will come out of the page and bite you but when you think about it 90% of the time to come up with ideas is very difficult. Usually this uneasiness to decide on the right answers for you and your business springs from the fact that most of us consciously or not are employees in their business and being an owner of a business is just that – being employed by yourself to perform the job task- owner.

The way to go out of this trap where you end up employing yourself and go into the thinking hat that is only concerned with how to elevate your business the answers will start flowing to you.

Whenever you are ready with our own answers to the clarification questions, you can start writing your elevator speech. This speech you will be able to say wherever you go whatever you do and you will be able to sell your product or service in 30 seconds. And I will show example with my own elevator speech.

1. For whom are you offering your product / service? Who is your client?

Your sentence will start with “for” as in: “For unstoppably determined people”

2. What is it that your customer wants / needs and you are offering?

Your sentence will start with “who” as in: “Who want to live with passion and be financially independent”

3. What product or service you are offering?

Your sentence will start with “the” as in: “The Life & Money Coaching of Tsvetanka (Sue) Petrova”

4. What category does your product or service satisfy?

Your sentence will start with “is a” as in: “Is a walk through into the world of achieving your goals”

5. What is the benefit that your client will receive when buying your product / service?

Your sentence will start with “that” as in: “That is low cost and at the same time high in value because”

6. Who are your competitors and why you are better than them?

Your sentence will start with “unlike” as in: “Unlike others I walk the walk, and talk the talk.”

7. What is the single most important thing that sets you apart form the competition?

Your sentence will start with “our” as in: “Our coaching re-frames circumstances and life situations into possibilities and I help my clients turn those possibilities into opportunities.”

The most important step is as soon as you have your MANTRA ready, chant it as much as possible to as many people as possible and then just happily receive all the goodness the powerful mantra that you just created can bring into your business life.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Get your clients all over the world using THE 3 ESSENTIAL Ingredients to Success at http://www.aheartsdesires.com/        This article was originally published here

 

Marketing Alchemy: 3 Ways To Turn Marketing Expenses Into Profit Centers

 

Are you tired of writing checks for advertising and promotion expenses, month after month, and feeling like you have nothing to show for it? Learn 3 ways that you can turn your advertising and promotion activities into profitable assets, shift from marketing expenses to income, and begin to think of your marketing activities as a profit center instead.

1. Save the money you are now paying to advertisers.

Does the idea of writing checks to yourself each month rather than writing them to someone else for advertising expenses sound good to you? Here's how to make that happen.

When you run a typical ad, you have no idea who has seen it unless they come to your establishment, call you, or buy something from you. In order to make your marketing a profit center, you have to know who those people are and how to contact them.

Don't run another ad unless you can use it to capture the contact information of everyone who sees that ad and is interested in what you are offering. If you are advertising to get new customers, then be sure to make them an irresistible offer in exchange for their contact information. For example, a restaurant offers a two-for-one coupon that is delivered after the contact information is provided. What irresistible offer can you make to your prospective customers that they can't refuse?

You can even test different offers to learn which ones are most popular, and have a record of which people responded to which offer. Is that valuable information to have for your future marketing campaigns? Of course it is! You can just deliver more of what your customers have already told you they want. And as you build a list of those people who have raised their hands, the list you are building becomes an asset for your business.

With a list of prospective customers and how to contact them, you no longer need to run blind ads. You can send targeted offers directly to your list in an email, so there is no mailing cost.

Instead of putting a coupon in an envelope with lots of other offers and hoping that someone will respond, you will be able to send a coupon directly to your list. You can even suggest that they share it with their friends and co-workers who might be interested in what you have to offer. And watch those "advertising" dollars go right to your bottom line!

2. Send special offers to your list that they can't get anywhere else (and cash checks from other business owners that are providing the offers for them).

What's even better than saving marketing dollars? Earning marketing dollars! Imagine how excited your customers will be to get "secret, special deals" that no one else gets! Of course, they can pass those offers on to their friends too, but those friends have to give you their contact information to get the deals!

You can send the offers to your list in a monthly newsletter, an email, or several other options. All can be done at low cost or no cost -- but you won't pay a dime without getting a check from another business owner first to cover the cost.

Send offers for other local businesses (that don't compete with you, of course). Look for complimentary products, or even just products that have a similar target market that matches your customers. If your customers would be good customers for another business, that business can pay you an "advertising fee" to connect the offer to your list.

Partner with local museums or other non-profit arts organizations. Even if you don't earn cash for your mailing, you can likely take a tax deduction -- but check with your accountant so you will know what you have to do to earn the deduction. Just make sure you are getting a "special" deal for your list members.

If you have other business owners who are your customers, ask if they would be interested in having you do marketing for them.

Get in the habit of thinking of marketing as a profit center, and you will see many possibilities for profit.

3. Write a review for your customers that is included in your newsletter or an email, making a recommendation and including an offer.

Start with your customers who are business owners themselves and think about how you can promote their businesses with a review and a recommendation. Then approach the owners of those businesses and offer to provide a review and recommendation of their business (or product or service). In exchange, they will provide an irresistible offer (exclusive to your list, of course) which you will send for a small fee to cover your "expenses," along with your review and recommendation.

This is powerful in marketing terms. This is not just "a shot in the dark" advertising, hoping that someone will respond. Your list members know and trust you, and when you give them your point of view (review) and your recommendation that they do something (take advantage of the offer that is being made), the expectation is that a larger number of people will respond to the offer than if it was just another ad placement. However, the offer must be something that your list members will find irresistible and it should be exclusive, only available to your list.

Jan Sandhouse Hurst is the Authority Mentor and founder of AuthorityMarketingMastery.com. She shows companies how to create marketing strategies and tactics that propel them to excellent results at an accelerated pace, and is known for creative marketing strategies and tactics that position her clients in unique and memorable ways.

If you are not currently sending a monthly newsletter to your list, use her SimpleNewsletterFormula to create a fast path to more customers, connections and cash.

 

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Video: Similar Story Telling

three simple, yet very powerful ways to use similar story.

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Even if I have to stop work, my expenses don’t stop …

HMMM ... that's a point worth considering.

 

Like many self-employed people you have income protection insurance that covers you for up to a maximum 75% of pre-tax income.  This in itself is a sensible approach.

However, such a policy isn't designed to cover things which don't stop even if you do.

What things?

 

Leasing charges on capital purchases.

Bank charges.

Business phone bills.

Wages for employees not involved in generating income.

Rent on business premises.

 

This small listing is not at all exhaustive, but it shows the potential costs you will face if you can't work

To address this, life insurers have developed business expenses (BE) or business overheads insurance (BOI)).

 

How does it work?

It works pretty much the same as  your income protection does.  The same definition of disability applies and you still have an excess or waiting period - two or four weeks - but the full payment period is 12 months or 18 months is the full payment of the insurance used up within 12 months.

A further difference is in how much you can cover.  Income protection insurance is limited to 75% of pre-tax income.  By contrast you can cover up to 100% of your expenses with BE.  To conclude, let's take a small example.

Bill, the electrician has ongoing expenses of phone, lease of his van, accountant fees, wages for his receptionist and other costs totalling $7650 per month.  He can take out a BE policy and cover those thus allowing him to recover without the worry.

 

Author: Paul Herring.

Paul is Principal Financial Adviser at PCH Financial delivering advice on financially protecting your life, your income, your family and your savings.

 

 

3 Keys to Writing Copy That Attracts and Invites (and Doesn’t Feel Sales-Y and Slime-Y)

If you're like so many conscious/heart-centered entrepreneurs, a lot of traditional copywriting probably makes you pretty uncomfortable. (Copywriting is writing promotional materials, nothing to do with protecting your intellectual property.)

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A simple, effective and modern approach to marketing your business

... a simple process that any company can use to break through the noise. It doesn't matter whether you're the owner of a retail shop, financial advisor, swimming pool manufacturer or an inventor with an ingenious product - this powerful strategy will work for you.

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