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How Do I Start A Business?

How Do I Start A Business? Here is my answer to a "Can you give me a 10 minute call on How do I start a business" question, from a large group of coaches (and would-like-to-be-coaches). Maybe it'll help someone out here in the wild. Let me explain the process in six straightforward questions you must answer:

Starting a Business: The Positioning Element

1. Who will you help? Identify a target market.

2. What will you help them with? Financials? Strategy? Operations? What's your offer?

I think of this as "taking the client on a bus trip". You pick them up at Stop A. Where is that? And then you take them on a journey and drop them off at Stop B. Where is that located? How is that location/situation better than where you picked them up?

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Hit Your Target Audience by Making Specific Choices and Doing Your Research First.

3. What size of problem are you solving for them?

You can have a number, but it's best to have the client do the math and figure out how big the problem is. You can easily charge 5% of the size of the problem. Maybe 10%. Maybe more, if you have good reason to charge more. This is more formally known as “budget” (which is not “is the prospect breathing and has a dollar in their jeans?”). I have made videos and content on this concept, called “Monetizing The Problem”, for a decade.

Looking around and seeing "market rate" to figure out your pricing is a common and foolish idea that keeps people poor.

The Traffic and Conversion Element

4. How will you find your target client? Where are they?

5. How will you begin a conversation with them, and eventually sell your service? Map this out.

How Do I Start a Business: The Fulfillment Element

6. How will you deliver your service? How will you and the client know when you are done (dropped them off at Stop B)?

These are the basics. You get to choose. You get to choose your customers. You get to choose the problem you solve. You get to choose the size of problem you solve. You get to choose how much you charge. I believe you should choose a target market and a service that you enjoy talking about all day. That way you will be automatically enthusiastic. There must be an overlap between that and what people will pay for, or you will have a hobby and not a business. Many people make this mistake.

Many of your limiting beliefs will impact these choices. Since they are limiting beliefs, you are likely to be unconscious of them.

Final insight: you can outsource anything on the list.

>> Jason Kanigan is an agency growth expert. Book a consultation with him here <<

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You Become Your Customers [As a Salesperson]

You become your customers, so beware!

Most people starting a business have an "I'll take what's available" mindset. They got this from job hunting, and the problem with it is that they're choosing their opportunities from the things they can currently see.

Now we've discussed how critical your Reticular Activating System is when it comes to filtering all that data out there down to the survival-relevant few. That better level of customer is standing right there next to you, but you can't see them because your RAS blocked them out!

The same thing happens with salespeople. They land the new job, settle into their role, and get told by the old hands, "Here's our target market."

After all, it has always been so.

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Photo by Amina Filkins from Pexels

Now if you're an operational excellence guy like me, those are trigger words. Any time I hear, "But we've always done it this way," I get curious. "Oh? According to whom? For how long? Why?"

But especially if you are a business owner, and a new business owner, realize that you have far more control over your target market than you may have realized.

Most people abdicate this responsibility.

They go out into the market and take what comes.

How You Become Your Customers

Price level? We've discussed this for years, how people make up a number that fits their money tolerance.

The size of their standard customer's business? Whatever they encountered first and got accustomed to. Now it's ingrained and "obvious".

How those buyers pay? Are they always 30 days late from the invoice?

And here's the serious problem.

You accept this.

Whatever they give you, you take.

Their behavior alters your behavior.

After awhile, you've forgotten any of this is in your control. It just "is".

They pay 30 days late? Well, now you pay 30 days late. That's just how it is.

You become your customers.

So choose wisely.

Don't take surface appearance's word for it.

Dig.

Get to know your marketplace.

Look for niches, levels, types of customers that aren't readily apparent.

Look for bundling opportunities of products or services, ways to add value, how you can really impress your ideal customer.

Don't simply accept the first thing you run into out there.

You have far more control over your target market choice than you think.

What would happen if you made a list of the desired qualities of your ideal customer... and then instructed your RAS to start filtering for that?

>> Jason Kanigan is a business development and conversion expert. Want Jason's help in defining your realistic, ideal target market? Book a consultation <<

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Expanding Your Influence [Business Newbie Guide Part 5]

expanding your influenceExpanding your influence is a key factor in increasing your business. If no one knows who you are, or what problems you solve, they won't know to get ahold of you for help.

This is why those who jump from shiny object to shiny object never get anywhere. You see them, five years later, still floundering. They haven't stood for anything, and so haven't become known for anything. Don't become that kind of person!

To make this kind of transformation happen, you must prepare to share your message with people.

And the best way to do this is being an interview guest on targeted radio shows and podcasts!

If you have some experience with a niche, topic or marketplace, you have more knowledge about it than many other people. And lots of these people will be interested in learning what you know about! You do not need to be an in-depth expert on a subject to be qualified to talk about it. Just keep in mind your target audience. Who are they? What level are they at? Who are you best able to help? If you're clear with this up front, your audience will self-select and appreciate it.

I know a lot about selling. But an in-depth interview on Fit like this one is simply not something suitable for newbies to the subject. If the listener was an experienced sales executive or business owner, however, this interview would be a huge help to them.

On the lock picking topic, I don't know a whole lot. But I do know much more than the average person, and so it's interesting for me to share some surprising observations that are matching that newbie level.

So know where you're at and who your target audience is before you take the next step in expanding your influence.

Then do this:

Write a Bio Sheet for Expanding Your Influence

Summarize your Why, your background and your promise in a couple paragraphs.

Keep this short; we'll see why in a minute. This is a hook, not a resume.

Include your name, phone number, time zone, a backup communication method (eg. Skype ID), and email address.

Draft a Sample Questions Sheet

Write seven to ten sample questions people at your target audience's level of understanding would have about your topic.

Prepare answers to them, and rehearse! Don't skip the rehearsal. Live on air is NOT the time to be figuring out your response.

Put Them On a Media Page

Save these files in pdf format. If you have a website, post them on a Media page.

Write some text above them explaining you are available as an interview guest. Then invite the visitor to download the pdf files to consider you as a guest.

Now you have a place to refer hosts to.

Now a caution: you will have to update the bio sheet and questions as time goes on. Personally, for example, I am so bored with talking about cold calling. I no longer want to talk about it. I have done that interview fifty times. So after my first year doing interviews, I changed it up. Pricing, business models, and funnels are currently my interests. And the bio and questions needed to be revised to reflect that.

So why are we doing this?

Radio show and podcast hosts are EAGER for fresh, interesting content that is valuable to their audience.

That's why it's vital to remember that you have value, regardless of the depth of knowledge you have. As long as you know more than your target audience, and you're clear about who you are talking to, you will be welcomed as a guest.

Now the reason we created the bio sheet and sample questions is...to make life easy for the host.

They will likely read your bio word for word at the beginning of their show. So make sure their introduction of you is spicy and memorable! The beauty of this is it's completely under your control: you write the words. Get that perception started off right!

And then they will go through the questions you've prepared. They will skip the ones that don't interest them, or that they think aren't relevant to their audience. Keep track of this behavior. If you find a question is constantly being skipped, replace it with another. If another question is consistently being welcomed with excitement, prepare and amp up your answer for maximum effect.

Yes, they may ask questions that aren't on your list. But only one or two questions, probably; the rest, you'll be totally familiar with.

Where to Find Sources of Expanding Your Influence

Google "Podcast (topic)".

Google "Radio show (topic)".

And go to radioguestlist.com.

Choose your targets carefully. Out of a dozen shows I'm emailed about, I might choose just a single possibility to send my information to.

Remember, these people WANT to hear from you...if what you have to share is aligned with what their audience wants to hear!

So don't ever feel embarrassed or shy about reaching out.

Send a quick email to the producer of the show. Explain that you'd like to be a guest on their program. Give at least one good reason why you believe you're a fit for their audience.

Attach your bio and questions sheets, or link them to your Media page. Hey, all the work they want done is already completed! You've made it easy for them. They appreciate that.

When they reply to confirm they'd like you to be a guest on the show, calendar the time. Make sure you show up. Keep that backup communication method handy...you never know when your primary method will crap out.

Have a "next step" for listeners to take. The hosts will give you a chance for a bit of self-promotion at the end: a website listeners can visit, a location they can buy something from you.

Send a thank you note after the show is recorded.

Start using these show recordings as marketing collateral.

Post them on your site, or at least links to them. Write about them. Post on social media.

The more your target market can hear and see you before they ever actually speak to you in person, the more geared they will be to buying from you.

The Next Method for Expanding Your Influence

Once you've implemented everything up to and including this fifth step, it's time to talk to me.

>> Want Jason's help? If you're already making money competently producing a product or service, we could be a fit. <<