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How Will You Go Into 2021 As A New Business Owner?

Blind or with Vision?

The new business owner often flies blind.

You see this in the questions. "What's working?" "What tool should I use?" "How do I do this?"

These are the wrong questions.

Oh, it's likely that someone will be nice enough to offer you a suggestion in answer. But even if you apply what they say, it probably won't work for you as a new business owner.

Q: "What's working?"
A: They probably spent a lot of time and effort focusing on making their recommendation work. But you think the thing is going to make you money right out of the box. Nope. You'll give up fast and never get there.

Q: "What tool should I use?"
A: Not relevant to your situation. A fit for theirs, perhaps. And they spent the time getting through the learning curve, which I'll call syntax. You won't. Your eyes will cross seeing the thing on the screen, and you'll leave.

Q: "How do I do this?" (eg. How do I use the forum?)
A: Its an experiential thing. You have to invest time and develop your 'ear'. Discernment. My market is not your market. Your market is not their market. Those other, more experienced business owners, have skills, interests and opportunities you do not: what works for them probably won't work for you.

new business owner focus clarity idea picture

What To Expect As A New Business Owner

So what should you be doing as a newbie, then? As we go into 2021, what perspective will best serve you?

1. Be in it for the long haul.

Expect that this is going to be a journey. You are going to have to develop several different skills and learn many things. There are no magic bullets or push button wonders. This is a job like any other, and you are going to have to learn how to do it.

2. Focus on an audience.

Your audience. Who are these people? Know them in detail. What do they want? What do they hate? What do they watch?

If you don't know, or what you offer is 'for everyone', you're sunk.

And most importantly: where are they? Where is your audience, where can you find them? You need to encounter them somewhere, and then work to bring them from there to your own turf.

If you don't understand what I mean... consider the possibility that your audience is on Facebook, in a large group. You have to get your target audience members out of there. Otherwise, you'll eventually (or sooner rather than later) get banned by the group owner. So your job is to make an initial connection in a non-sleazy way, and then interest them into connecting with you personally... and from there, get onto your email list so you can continue to market to them.

3. Have a picture of your business.

So many newbies go blank when they think about a picture of their business. If you can't imagine it, or can't draw it, it doesn't exist. You don't have anything.

A business, every business, has only three main pieces. Draw these out. Fill them in for your situation. Expect that it will take a little time to get clarity on these things (see point #1), but have doing so as a target.

Traffic

Conversion

Fulfillment.

Key Focus Points For You When You're New In Business

Just those three things. If you spend the first few months of 2021 focused on figuring out and being able to clearly draw a picture of your business with those three things, I guarantee you'll be much better off than if you just try to float through and magically get somewhere.

Who's your audience? Where do they come from? That's Traffic.

How will you turn some of your audience into Buyers? That's Conversion.

Conversion can be a sales letter, a video sales letter (VSL), a sales conversation on Zoom or by phone, or any other thing that helps turn an audience member into a buyer.

How do you deliver the result you've promised? That's Fulfillment.

For some people, this is a downloadable .zip file.

For others, it's a membership site.

Some do it by personal or group coaching.

Others go away and design or copywrite or do some other task that has a deliverable at the end.

If you don't have clarity on these, and a resulting picture of your business, you're in deep trouble. You won't know how to focus, and on to what. Everything will seem of equal importance to you, and that is the kiss of death my friend.

If you're planning to be an affiliate marketer, consider the picture:

Traffic is your problem. That's what you're bringing to the table. Where's the audience?

Conversion is the sales letter of your Clickbank seller you've affliated with. Probably a good idea to warm the audience up with an email sequence prior to sending them to that sales page, but there's the main Conversion tool.

Fulfillment is their problem. That's the thing you affiliated with to offer. Up to you to vett that this seller provides what they say they'll provide.

Note that Conversion and Fulfillment are not enough. They are not a business. Yet we see people every day who have set up a Clickfunnels account and page, or got approved for an affliate offer, and think they have a business. No. They have next to nothing. The AUDIENCE (Traffic) is key and that's why I've stressed it here.

Keep these three things in mind, keep striving to learn more and get greater clarity on them, and you'll build a great business going into 2021.

It's not about "what's working"--because what works for you is something you'll figure out as you go, and it'll be a combination just for you.

It's not about "what tools should I use"--because what's relevant to them is probably not relevant to you. And there are no magic bullets.

It's not about "how do you do this"--because, again, you're going to have to figure out your own way. There's no such thing as a Business In A Box. The map is definitely NOT the territory. Get your mucking boots on and get into the marsh yourself. You can't go there by only looking at the map.

Get started on developing that picture. Questions?

>> Jason Kanigan is a business strategist and process improvement expert. Book a time to consult with him here <<

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How To Filter Out Fake Gurus

How can I filter out fake gurus? was a question asked on a forum recently.

Why are guru sales videos and letters so "hard sell"? If they're so great, why do they have a program like this for sale at all? Do they really "take you by the hand" like they say?

I was waiting around on a Saturday night to go out in 15 degree F weather and take someone somewhere. So I told them what the deal is. And I'll share it here with you.

The First Thing About How To Filter Out Fake Gurus

First, getting people to get off their butts and actually DO something, make a decision, buy...that's tough. People want to do nothing. I'm speaking in general terms here. Of course there are plenty of individuals who will go figure whatever it is out for themselves.

So to some degree the sales pitch HAS to be like that. A webinar is a one way conversation. There's no give and take, no personalization. Maybe that will change some day...there are websites now that will create dynamic content based on the user. But for now, it's a "one size fits all" approach. Hence the hard sell.

I get it, but I don't like it. The basis of the business I run is all about having genuine, 1-on-1 conversations with qualified prospects and if they have the problem our client fixes...and they will get real value from that solution...then it's an obvious fit to us all. IE. we don't sell that way.

But for lower ticket, the one way webinar conversation is a valid option. (Look at infomercials, though...even they'll send you to a live call for a $37 product...food for thought.)

pinocchio liar how to filter out fake gurus

How To Filter Out Fake Gurus By Getting What You Want

Second, a lot of why these gurus succeed with this kind of sales effort is that the newbie is looking for CERTAINTY.

Can I share an honest-to-goodness secret with you?

There are only two elements to making money.

Just two.

Traffic

and

Conversion.

Joe Blow's ecommerce success course?

All he's gonna tell you about is how to set up a flow of traffic, and a means of converting some of that traffic into sales.

That's it.

And every other course will give you the same thing. Sure, there might be a lemon twist or a special traffic source or some cool copywriting conversion element this guru gives you the other doesn't have. And that tip might well be worth the $497 or whatever the course happens to be. It just might, if you see where it fits in and you implement it.

All the guru crap, the fancy cars, the mansions, the planes...most of them are rented for the shoot. It doesn't matter. If the imagery is all they have, then you know how to filter out fake gurus. Do they instead demonstrate a knowledge of traffic and conversion?

Most "business in a box" bizopps are marketing lies. Almost all of them. They are not complete. They will show you a piece of traffic or a piece of conversion if you're lucky. And then "...Profit!" Well that part's up to you, pardner.

So look for the elements of traffic and conversion. Look beyond the flashy images. Look at the methodology. Now they probably aren't going to reveal it all to you in the webinar--they might, and say, "OK you could do this yourself but wouldn't it be a whole lot easier if we showed you and held your hand?"--but you should see screenshots.

Instead of desperately seeking and trying to buy the certainty portrayed by the guru through the flashy lifestyle imagery, look for certainty in their traffic and conversion methods. Do you see them in their presentation? (Hint: you're a lead in their traffic flow right now.)

Learn to Use This Basic Tool to Protect Yourself from Fake Gurus

Third, newbies do not want to do math and this is the kiss of death to you.

Get used to doing math.

Simple math: addition and subtraction with a little multiplication thrown in. No algebra (I promise.) But you WILL have to do some math and start talking the language of marketing if you want to succeed.

If you don't, serious marketers will not take you seriously. You will not look, sound, or feel like them. Like recognizes like, and they will move away from you.

Look for the math in the guru's presentation.

Will they personally "hold you by the hand"? Unless you're paying 5 figures, probably not. It'll likely be a video series, maybe augmented by some group coaching where the guru is trotted out once a week to give some theory and do a little Q&A.

But this isn't rocket science. You need traffic to a conversion tool. Qualified leads to your ecommerce site.

Who Is the Source of Success?

Fourth, if you depend on the certainty you have in the guru for your success, you will fail.

The certainty needs to come from YOU.

You will walk the walk. The map is not the territory. The guru gives you a map. It may be a good map or it may be a terrible one not at all representative of the territory. But regardless you will have to walk the territory yourself. You will encounter problems that are not on the map ("Where'd this swamp come from?!"). And you will have to learn how to solve your own problems.

People, even experienced people, are always looking for The One Right Way to do something. The magic bullet. The easy solution. No! Complex problems have complex solutions. Get used to it. I cannot overstate the impact of this idea. There are a zillion ways to accomplish a thing, to be successful. One guru's way is not the only way. In fact, it may not even be the best way. Or it may not work for you. It's just "a" way.

How To Filter Out Fake Gurus: Real Gurus Can Do Things You Cannot

And finally, fifth, the guru can do things you cannot. Keep this in mind. They can do these things, and due to a little concept called The Curse of Knowledge they will have utterly forgotten that as a newbie these are not options for you. A guru can use cash to force their funnel to work, for instance. As long as their price point is high enough, say $497, they can push cash into leadgen and if they break even they're fine. Compare and contrast to the scared newbie, afraid of their own shadow and shivering at the thought of investing $100 in traffic. The guru probably even has a high ticket back end offer to make their real profit on--something the newbie hasn't even considered in their poverty mindset and low money tolerance.

So for the guru, "You just do it!" Not so for you. Even thinking of "it" is out of the question. It's just not an option right now.

I see a lot of offers on Facebook from IM "experts" who just popped up out of nowhere. I've never heard of them before and yet because they have some cash to drop on an ad spend they are now theoretically positioned as a guru. I tell FB I do not want to see that ad and mark it as not relevant to me. I've seen a lot of people come and go since starting in 2011. A lot of "lifetime" products (JV Zoo just halted sellers with that word in their copy) that were here for a short time and then gone. This is one way of how to filter out fake gurus. Look for that track record. Look for a course creator who remembers what it was like to be a newbie. Look for a guru who has a vision beyond fancy cars and planes and homes.

>> Jason Kanigan has been selling online since 2011. Check out SALES ON FIRE, educating you all about ethical and effective selling, here <<

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How To Decide On a Service [Business Newbie Guide Part 2]

How to decide on a service

How to decide on a serviceHow to decide on a service or product to offer with your new business is a question that creates panic in even the most confident mind. What if your choice is wrong? What if your market doesn't want that? What about all the lost time?

As we saw in Part 1, the first step in choosing a product or service is not running around asking everyone, "What's working? What's selling?" but rather to begin by making a list of things you like to talk about all day.

Two Key Questions On How To Decide On a Service to Offer

I'd like to address a couple questions you may have had about this. First, I said having a topic you enjoy discussing as the subject of your business automatically makes you enthusiastic. But haven't I, in the past, declared "Enthusiasm Is Your Enemy"?

Yes, enthusiasm is your enemy--false, oil slick enthusiasm that is the cloak of the unethical salesperson. But genuine enthusiasm? That's your friend. The root of the word enthusiasm means "in spirit", meaning you are in spirit...in the zone, time passes without you noticing because you love what you're doing, and that internal light switch is turned on. Now how does that sound as the core of your business? Pretty smart idea.

Second, what about your marketplace? What if they aren't interested in any of the things you are excited about?

Ah, now we have arrived at the crux of today's message. Take a look at this Venn diagram:

Passion vs Payment

Starting to get the picture?

The Next Step of How To Decide On a Service or Product

The next step in your journey is to find out what problems people have with the topic areas you're interested in that you can solve. These are called "pain points" and I have written about them many times on this site. Here in Part 2, it's time to invest some energy in exploring each of those subjects you've written down. You will be looking for things people say about each topic that confirm there is a problem for you to fix.

You could talk to people in each target market. Book and conduct some information interviews. This is a way to get instant feedback. However, you're also required to get on the phone, which is probably outside of your comfort zone.

Another option available to you for finding pain points is data mining of Amazon reviews. Yes, in reviews of Amazon/Kindle books are buried clear descriptions of what was wrong in the buyers' lives right before they bought--what induced them to go looking for help, and why they got this book...and perhaps even most critically, what they didn't find inside to satisfy their expectation of a solution. Here is the best explanation of how to search through Amazon reviews for pain points I've found.

Yes, this is going to take you some time. Several days, perhaps. Isn't the very foundation of your business worth it, though? Don't you want to get this right the first time?

Here's a video I made to discuss this process in a little more detail:

If you don't find any pain points, either you have an untapped opportunity or no opportunity. Likely you should cross this topic off the list. Start narrowing down the opportunities.

Next, we'll look at how to start getting in front of qualified prospects.

>> Get the latest critical info on unorthodox sales & marketing by subscribing to SalesTactics.org by email or Following us on Twitter. Want to talk to Jason? Click here <<