There are two types of business founders in this world:
1. “I see a problem in the world that is unmet, or a solution that could be improved upon”
2. “There are no career opportunities for me; I better get self-sufficient”
There are surely also others but let us over-generalize to get to the point faster.
From observation, those who fall into the first category are natural salespeople for their goods, information, or service. They have an evangelical air about them and are clear about their purpose or “big why”.
Their potholes might include things like not delegating effectively, ignoring important departments of business in favour of selling-selling-selling or the latest shiny object, and hiring people that align with the vision but lack talent and skill. They can also get too focused on what THEY think about the product instead of focusing on listening and speaking to the consumer’s needs.
That is an article for another day.
The second category are the people who may have never felt a calling to be a business owner but were not going to sit around waiting any longer for doors to open, so they built their own door and boldly walked through it.
Their potholes might include not being sure of their niche, resorting to copying the strategy of the nearest and dearest competition, not properly researching the risks or threats in their industry, and focusing too much on installing systems and fancy software before the sales are turning over fast enough to justify it. And they can lack a sense of purpose or end goal, being that they kicked off the business as a means to an end/paying bills more than a means to change the world.
Yes, you are allowed to roll your eyes, but some businesses actually do change the world, or at least a small portion of it.
It is the second category of business owners we write for today, after noting a number in our network fighting a growing fear of “I am still JUST in business, but I have no idea what to focus on to keep it floating”.
However, stick around even if you don’t fall into that category, because the lessons are a roadmap for anyone thinking of founding a business on a shoestring. That is to say – if you fall into category 1, or one day hope to start a business, reverse engineer your plan of action using the following steps as a guide.
These steps could happen in the space of 6 months to 2 years.
Righto.
1. Get a strategy.
This should be in laymen’s terms, not a hundred-page business plan that you never bother reading because the first page alone was over your head.
It should be referred to frequently.
As in, every time you are about to make a decision, you look at the strategy to see if it fits and supports it, or if it is a sparkly distraction that needs to be told “no/not yet”.
The saying “stand for nothing and you will fall for everything” could have been written for businesses that don’t have a clear strategy, because you will end up sold on every course, piece of software, or business coach.
Your strategy might be disappointingly boring. That really doesn’t matter.
So long as it cuts out the distraction and keeps you committed to a path that will eventually sustain a profit, it can be as traditional or mundane as the curtains your grandmother still has.
Your grandmother’s curtains still shut out the night just fine, don’t they?
A good strategy will focus on short and intermediate term growth, not 10 years from now; because why get ahead of ourselves until we are out of the woods?
It will help you see where to personally focus your time and energy each day, and what to outsource from the get-go. Because sometimes it is more productive to focus you/your team on their current strengths, than it is to cut into your KPI’s as you attempt to upskill into the Jack or Jill of all trades.
Now is a good time for a reality check – there is no such thing as a one-person business. Get comfortable with the idea of outsourcing or hiring one-to-one help; it will serve you far greater dividends that trying to juggle it all alone or joining a “cheaper” business program that isn’t customised to you.
Oh, by the way, Zembr can help you get clear on a no-nonsense strategy so you can charge into battle ASAP.
2. Heads down. Sales up.
And more sales.
Don’t stop.
Get out in the field, talk to people, get out of your comfort zone.
Hear their needs first-hand, build real relationships, tell them you are in business doing x for x type of business/person, and to send referrals your way – please and thanks!
Oh, you want to start doing fancy marketing?
I guess we could allow you to… conduct more market research.
Because right now, we are focusing on outbound, outreach, and outstanding sales results.
Get your first round of sales, then focus on getting reorders and referrals – on top of reaching out to new prospects and leads.
Start tracking.
No, not with the latest $$ CRM of all CRMs… there is this free thing called Google Sheets which will do the trick nicely for the small and new baby that your business currently is.
In accordance with your strategy, track things like: ratio of people contacted vs become warm leads, ratio of warm leads vs become closed leads, percentage of customers that reordered, average time it takes them to reorder.
These kinds of stats will help you see what part of the sales process needs improving, which parts are healthy enough to continue as is, and give you the most accurate numbers to forecast and create realistic targets on a daily basis.
Once you have enough orders/clients that it becomes a positive problem, as in “oops we need a bigger team to cope with demand” – then you can look beyond focusing on sales, because without sales you are not in business.
And then your focus, depending on your product type, will be on refining and improving operations, deliverability, service – the things that make it wonderful to keep dealing with you and make people want to tell others to use you.
By the way, if you need help with cold calls or follow ups, Zembr offers the type of telemarketers people actually enjoy talking with.
3. Hire a guy with a tie, frown, and briefcase.
A bit stereotypical; commonly also known as bookkeeper or accountant.
Hire what you need to stay legal, for now – you can get the premium version later.
Oh, by the way, Zembr has bookkeepers to cover all the basics for you.
4. To market, to buy a fat pig.
Finally, marketing gets its day in court.
Not to say you wouldn’t have been doing ANY until now, it just won’t have been a place you were investing time or energy into as though your life depended on it.
It will have been the outreach stuff more than the inbound stuff.
The great thing is, now you know exactly who your audience is (remember all the in-the-field work you did in step 2? And the surveys we allowed you to conduct?), and what they do and don’t want from you.
Instead of novelty marketing from an agency that is bored and wants to spend every penny you tentatively budgeted (“let’s do this fun thing like Apple did, to create brand awareness, which, sorry, is too hard for us to measure”), you are investing in the stuff that will grow your clientele and market share.
You are already confident in your purpose and strategy instead of trying to sneak looks at your neighbour’s essay, because you are now customer-driven from all the relationships you built and questions you asked while on your selling blitz.
Now is a good time to invest in digital campaigns, paid traffic, events, giveaways, automation; to scale your sales.
By the way, Zembr offers marketing strategy, website creation, graphics, brochures, event design… and if you are not sure what you need and in what order, we can take the overthinking out of it for you.
One of our recent realizations was that business owners are often overwhelmed or trying to focus on too many things. They are essentially managers that need managing in order to stay aligned with the strategy they set up. So one of the best investments they could make from early, is hiring a remote EA, and yes, we have them.
These steps are based on our own journey as well as a number of client businesses – whether they were “healthy” or heading the wrong way.
We would love to hear your tips or warnings.
Who knows, it might just help someone sleep a little easier tonight.
There is no such thing as a one-person business. Let Zembr carry the load with you by choosing the service you need for the step you are at. Scroll through our services here or make an enquiry here.
