What is the reason why you want to start your own business, to make some money, to be your own boss?
Sorry to say, but these are not good enough reasons. You got to be more specific.
If you are going into business, you got know how to get out. I mean you should not be in business for the wrong reason in the first place. For example some people may be in business because the lost their jobs, or their boss just fired them, and they have been working for the company for the last 10 years. And they think they know as much about the business as the boss at the company.
Or maybe their parents passed away, and they just kind of take over the family Business, or they couldn’t find a job and they have to start their own business.
So, they got in business without knowing what the business is all about.
Unless you are planning to work until the day you drop dead, you must have an exit strategy. You must know why you got into the business in the first place. What I am saying is this:
What is the purpose of starting the business in the place? What do you hope to get out of your business, and how do you want your business to serve you? Now, that is critical – how do you want your business to serve you? Because most people like I mentioned earlier would get into business because they want to be their own boss or need to make some money.
So, when starting your business, what are you going to do?
Are you going to sell the business for a huge some and retire? Are you going to keep The business and cash out your time, maybe delegating the day - to – day and make a huge passive income? Or will it be a cash cow for you? Or are you going to franchise your business and collect franchise fees like McDonald and King burger?
Or maybe you have bigger goals – you are going to take your company public, who Know?
You need to know all of these things. You need to know how to get on – where you are going to get on, how you are going to get off. That’s what I meant by exit strategy.
Regardless of the business you are in, most businesses operate like a 3 legged stool. You need all the three legs, otherwise the stool falls down. The three legs in a busi- ness are: The product and service, the operation – how do you manage your business? And how do you market you market your product and services?
You can have the very best product and services in the world, You can run the best office in the world, but unless you let people know what you do, unless you market your business, you are not going to have a successful business.
There is a huge, huge misconception among business owners: If you build it they will Come. If you build a better mousetrap the world will be a path to your door. Something Like that, right?
Nowadays, you don’t need a better mousetrap. It is amazing how some entrepreneurs Delegate their marketing to a director of marketing. I mean that’s what brings in the Money!
Marketing is your business.
No marketing, no sales, no business. So, you really should spend time promoting your Business, marketing your products and services, just focus your time on marketing , Because revenue will take care of a lot of problems.
Some business owners do Image advertising Instead of direct response advertising.
Let me paint a picture in your mind. Some sales rep just shows up at your door, and he is selling advertising space in the newspaper, or radio, or trade magazine, or whatever. He is telling you “you’ve got to run this ad 15-20 times to create the top of mind aware- ness. If you only run it a couple of times, it doesn’t work – you’ve got to run it 15-20 times”.
That’s normal advertising, right? Most businesses owners are not tracking it, and they Just tell you you’ve got to keep running it again and again and again.
And here is why – here is the secret. You can cannot multiply zero. If you are not getting a response today, you are going to continue not getting a response, period.
Unless you do or learn direct response advertising – not unless you are McDonald or Coca-cola, I assume you don’t have a few million bucks in your advertising budget to order Image advertising – but you have to do direct response advertising.
That means the advertising dollar you spend is measurable and accountable.
Every dollar you spend has to be measurable and accountable. This is the way you Should look at it. Imagine you have to write a check to the media rep on Monday. The ad has to appear in the publication on Wednesday. So the revenue generated on Wednesday gets deposited into the bank on Friday. So that the check you wrote on Monday clears.
That’s the way you need to look at advertising. If you spend $10, how much are going to get back in dollars – not “oh, I create a top of the mind awareness,”- I love this – “I get my word, my name out there” Image doesn’t pay bills. You need cash, so you must know the return on Investment. Marketing is all maths. It’s not about creativity. If an ad works, keep running it. If it Doesn’t work, then you tweak it, to Improve it.
So, when starting your own business, If you have an exit strategy, an understanding of the Importance of marketing and learn the use direct response advertising. You definitely will avoid some the deadly mistake made by some business owners.
This article was posted on August 11, 2005
