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.
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 <<