Know-How Exchange : Strategy

You've now asked this question five times and in five different ways.

Added to this you've told us about your MBA but I'm wondering if this qualification equips or qualifies you to run a business.

To do THAT, sit down and write out a list of the things you want to do, all the things you don't want to do, all the skills and expertise that you can bring to a specific market sector, and then identify what makes you the best person to serve that niche.

From this, you define your niche: ERGO, you define your ideal buyer. You then flesh this person out. You give them a name, a family, life goals, career details, where they live, what they do for a living, and so on.

Then, you identify their pain.

You zero in on what it is that your product will do to be the miracle cure for their PRECISE itch.

You then address your marketing messages to that itch.
Your messages then proclaim you as their salvation. You become EXACTLY the solution they're looking for.

Then you write a one page business plan, into which you build FLEXIBILITY.

Then you write a marketing plan.

In this document you highlight your main marketing and sales aims and objectives—where you're going to go, and how you're going to get there. This plan then guides you through your first 12 to 24 months.

A huge percentage of business owners NEVER do this, which is why so many of them fail.

This plan identifies primary goals: your main revenue goals. No revenue, no money to pay yourself, the tax man, or your creditors. No revenue, no money to reinvest.

Your marketing plan outlines the number of sales you'll need to make each quarter, each month, each week, and each day WITHIN each overall quarter, and next to each of these you add a column into which you your earnings potential for each quarter over a two year cycle.

This records GROSS revenues.

Next to this you have a column that identifies expenses. ALL of them.

If expenses are higher than revenues YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!

If gross revenues are higher than expenses, congratulations, you are making a profit.

Some of this profit needs to be reinvested into your marketing. This way, your marketing WORKS for you to bring in MORE REVENUE.

This means every piece of marketing's job is to get your message across in the most compelling way in order to drive the sale (based on your supply of great value to the customer).

So the purpose of every piece of marketing is to drive the prospect TO the value, which in turn drives them TO the sale.

The role of every dollar you spend on marketing then becomes to bring in 3 to 4 dollars (or more) for every dollar you spend on getting the message out there.

I know this might all sound a little harsh. Be that as it may, it's REALISTIC, and it's designed to help you flourish, not to tear you down.

To reap ripe fruit and delicious vegetables, you need to have sowed seeds into ground you've lovingly prepared.

To see those seeds sprout and germinate, you need time and a hothouse. Then you prick out the weaker seedlings or you transplant them so that they all have enough room to grow into healthy plants.

To do that, you need a garden and to have a garden you need a plot of land, some decent tools, some decent, fertile soil, and an idea of how to keep the weeds and pests at bay.

And you need to know how to cope with rum weather, drought, storm, flood, frost and the like.

Your business and marketing plans? They're your tools. The fruits of your efforts? They're your sunny days and your holiday weekends. May you use the former to enjoy many, many of the latter.

The absolute best place to find help, coaches, lots of articles and even jobs :

https://www.escthecity.com/

It is a real community out there. Register and go nuts.

Just a word of advise. Listen to your heart, if you do it - do it right which means rigorous planning and non naive business acumen.

ThorstenStrauss.com

Here's a relevant report chock-full of data for you: https://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downloads/2011-...