This 10-day video series honors Independence Day in the States-July 4th–and the determination our forefathers had to be free–by looking at the freedoms entrepreneurial Thought Leaders must claim in order to be successful in business and in changing the world.
In this second video, we look at a freedom a great many start-up Thought Leader entrepreneurs need–the freedom from too much advice!
[youtube width=”640″ height=”480″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxqVZ1xIRNI[/youtube]
Today, we’re moving to the 3rd post in a 6-part series designed to help you determine whom you should be leading. I expect this will be enlightening and helpful to even the most successful service entrepreneurs.
3. Who are YOU? BE your market.
Richard Branson was featured yet again in Entrepreneur Magazine, June 2012, and was quoted as saying, “All startups should be thinking, ‘What frustrates me [as a customer] and how can I make it better? It might be a small…or…a big thing, but…if they think like that, they’re likely to build a very successful business.”
The most relevant piece to our discussion is this: he spoke of the fact that he has always been his own customer. Everything he ever created, from Virgin Records to Virgin Airlines and everything in between and after, came from his own need. And he credits “being his own customer” to his success.
This has now become a topic of conversation between me and my clients who go through my 7-session private program, The Powerhouse Method, looking to build a highly-marketable, one-of-a-kind business. The first order of business is to determine whom they will be serving. To aid in this extremely (for most) challenging act, I tell them what Branson advises: You should be your market. But the converse is equally true: your market should be you. Either who you once were, or who you are now. Do not try marketing to a group you are not. Branson never did. Help those with the same needs you had once upon a time. If you’re frustrated now by how things are being done in your field–close the gap with an innovation and then sell it to others just like you with that need.
When you are your market, and your market is you, you secure one of the most important factors of success in business: credibility. They will listen to you because you are them and have an answer relevant to them. It means you will communicate (i.e. sell) to them like no one else because you speak their language and understand them at a deep level. It means you will design “urgently wanted” programs and products that nail their needs and desires because you know them so intimately.
I have always been my market, and as a result, every one of my programs through the years has knocked it out of the park. I have also always sold quite easily (once I overcame my issues with selling), because I created content *I* would have wanted and that my market (me, in an earlier time) wants and needs.
So, in trying to decide who your market is, look no further than your own mirror.
Last week, June 16-18, twenty incredibly wonderful entrepreneurs gathered in the quaint town of Lambertville, NJ, in the conference center of the Lambertville Inn, with Michael Port, of BookYourselfSolid fame. For pictures, check out my facebook page.
A lot was covered, with everyone coming in at different levels, but I wanted to share with you some of the tid-bits from the weekend. Enjoy…and *consume* them!
1. Target market is EVERYTHING. (I tell my clients this ad nauseum.) As with my own clientele, 85% of the people in the room (out of 20) either had no target market, OR didn’t have a narrow enough one. NEW TIP: you can choose a target market around a common interest of theirs: 2 examples that came up—“golfers,” even if you do not sell anything for golfers, but it’s a strong hobby of yours; or “Christians”—even if you are not selling a Christian item. This is actually a brilliant way to instantly accelerate the “trust-factor”—because you will have an emotional bond with them that is stronger than anything else.
2. Imperative question: What kind of business do I want to be in? How do I really want to spend my day? Do I really want to be on the phone?? Do I really want to do group calls? You answer determines your business model.
3. Information Products—worry less about your price, and more about how many units you’re selling because that is the indicator of how many clients you’ll get.
Must help them “consume” your products with immediate and compelling follow-up.
4. How are you doing with your processes? Like, the steps you go through when doing anything for business? You should have them written down so that if something happens to you, someone else can step in, take over the steps, and know when and where to implement them. For instance—getting out your email newsletter involves a certain # of steps. Write each one down. Then do it for getting a blog post out, etc. TEDIOUS work, but essential.
5. Have you planned out your deliverables for the next 12 months? What you must produce, how much it will cost you, how much it will make you (for each one). Then, break that into 6 month and 3-month deliverables.
6. Look into “live support” software! A window pops up on your screen so you can see when anyone is on your website!! Then you can do and introduce yourself to them and ask if you can help. Cool, huh?! (Ask your web-designer about it.)
7. Put your opt-in box on the bottom of EVERY BLOG POST!
8. Getting lots of mysterious spam lately? It could be because you have your email address on your site with the @ sign. Change @ to this exactly: “at”
9. Some URL’s to check out:
www.Gomockingbird.com—design the layout of your website with this cool tool, and then send it to your graphic designer!
www.Basecamphq.com –manage all of your products. People swear by it. I’ve never used it.
www.Backpackit.com—if you’ve got a team; this is great. People at the seminar were raving about it. Or www.37signals.com that includes the 2 above, plus others.
www.Highrisehq.com–a web-based CRM software that prepares you for your next call, meeting, pitch, follow-up, and sale.
www.Uberview.com—plugin that pulls in all twitter mentions into your blog comments.
www.Solid.ly—(One of Michael’s new businesses): Simple, sound and satisfying daily activities to build your network and get booked solid. It’s in beta right now, so you can sign up to be one of the first to try it!
What from this list stood out the most for you?
I saw Midnight in Paris yesterday (a really fun movie; I
recommend it), so I’m in a bit of a literary mood. I want
you to think of your service business as a novel that you
must write, chapter by chapter. It must have a single topic,
a gripping plot, a meaningful message, an heroic protagonist,
and a villain. It must stay on-point, have clear direction, a
decisive conclusion, a captivating title—and, more than
anything else, it must stir the emotions of its readers.
Writing a novel (I’ve written two in my day, so I do know
something of the process), requires forethought and some
strategy, and of course, it must be written in a linear fashion.
You can conceive the final chapter and write backward, but
the execution must come sequentially. The same is true for
your service business: you must know where you want
your business to end up—“begin with the last chapter in
mind”–but then you must go about writing the chapters
in a specific order, to render a best-seller.
This summer, I am here to help you write certain chapters
of your business. Following is the order in which you should
be writing; you determine which chapters you need the most
help on.
Chapter one is discerning your business’ mission (the decisive
conclusion that your protagonist wants more than anything),
then chapter two is honing your business’ differentiating
edge—how it is different from every other business out there
(thus begins the plot, and the meaningful message that will
stir emotion).
Chapter three heats up the plot considerably as you take that
differentiation and turn it into a marketable package—with a
best-selling title. This is your Signature Program—the program
you will be known for, and that can earn you thousands and
thousands of dollars through repurposing.
Chapter four builds irresistible suspense into the plot as
you design a successful business model: the repeatable system
you will use to get and keep clients. This model keeps you and
your business on-point and moves you systematically toward
your story’s decisive conclusion (the result you promise your
clients).
Chapter five is the chapter of seduction: how you entice
your readers to pull your novel off the shelf and not another’s.
This is the art of language, the essential element of any
best-seller–what you say on the inside flap–your home-page,
squeeze page, post card–to engage your potential client.
Chapter six is the final stage of seduction: the “irresistible
offer” that includes creative pricing strategies and myriad
other incentives to buy.
And finally, chapter seven is the set-up for the sequel: the
information products you must have in your funnel to compli-
ment your Signature Program. What should they be? And
what will make them “Brain-Sticky” enough to entice your
audience to buy them, too?
Every chapter is essential to creating a finished product.
You cannot skip a single chapter.
But it takes time—and each chapter must be done right. To
ensure that he was crafting a true best-seller, Gil, in Midnight
in Paris, had Gertrude Stein herself read his manuscript until
he got it right. Let me be the expert who oversees your
business chapters this summer in my private consulting
program, Camp Brain-Sticky. You can focus on one chapter
or a few.
Go here to get on a free 15-minute call with me to ask any
questions you may have and to see the details of each “chapter.”
Do hurry, though. Only a few slots are available for this program. 🙂