As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I've seen small businesses at both ends of the spectrum - from the very successful to the very NOT successful (and, of course, a lot in between).
Of particular interest to me has always been the small business marketing challenges of the solopreneur.
You too may have come to the realization that running a successful solo business is a real F.E.A.T. -- and here's what that means to YOU:
Fee - Demand high fees. Right from the get-go. Why? Because if you're a solo business owner, you live or die on your margins. Profits are not optional, they're required for survival. Early on, they help you stay afloat and that's even more important at the outset than later.
Wanna be cheap or affordable? Terrific. But wait til you're successful and your retirement fund is in the bag!
Starting out at the shallow end of the money pool is a fast way to drown!
Enthusiasm - Energy and drive and fun are REQUIRED to keep you going. You won't always be up and happy, but your core enthusiasm is the deep-rooted foundation that will help you get back up just one more time after you're knocked down. Again and again. And again.
You gotta love what you do - or do what you love. This is a decision, by the way - not a circumstance and not a "woo-woo" pile of nonsense. If you need a personal "live-with" or mantra to keep you on track towards enthusiasm in your business, then so be it.
I'll share mine with you if it's helpful:
"Do work you love WITH those you love and FOR those you love."
That's it - pretty simple. But if a project, task, client, or intitiative comes across my desk and it's NOT in line with my personal live-with, I DON'T do it. And you shouldn't take on people or projects that violate yours, either.
Altitude (aka what I call the "Alpha Dog Effect") - Your ambitions and accomplishments ALWAYS gravitate to the same level as that of the people you hang out with.
What does that mean for you? Easy: Hang with the cool kids, successful kids, optimists, drivers, movers, shakers. Seek out the people who are doing more of what YOU want to do more of.
Hang with people who earn more than you - and you'll soon join their ranks.
Make friends with people who are dedicated to bringing MORE to their business, their clients, their prospects, and their marketplace. And you'll bring more to yours.
Do NOT waste a moment of your time with the brokeass losers, whiners, coulda-beens and excuse mongers ("It's the economy, it's the banks, it's the government, it's the weather, it's the market, or my favorite - it's the stupid prospects")
Tenacity - Like a dog chewing on a bone, you have to stick it out.
If you are able to get up in the morning and just as happily work for someone else - you're MUCH better off if you just go do that. Entrepreneurship might not be for you.
If you're like most of us, then you're in business for yourself (and for YOUR specific business) because you don't know how to wake up and NOT do it.
Bust through walls for your business and soon you'll be sitting on an empire.
Not because you read it on some marketing guy's blog -- but because you're on your way to doing it anyway. Long before you landed here to get my encouragement, respect, and congratulations!
