If you are starting in a service based business, here is my personal experience that i think could help you out. Of course, many may have varying opinions but i am up for a discussion.
1) You cannot scale a service based business if you are doing the service yourself. I think it is extremely inefficient and not necessary to do it yourself. If you do the service, you won't have as much time for hussling for business, marketing, and sales. Don't get me wrong, it's great to have the experience in that service, in fact, i think it is very important. Your main positionin in the company, however, should either be to generate sales, manage a sales team, or develop strategic partnerships not be involved in the detailed day to day work. You will not have a business for very long if that is the case.
2) My main source of business is the phones. At some point, you will have to call someone to gain their business. Not many clients are going to call you and just pay you $3000 just beecause they saw you in a youtube video. Will that happen sometimes? Maybe if you have a MASSIVE FOLLOWING, but it will still only happen sometimes. I think video marketing and internet marketing ease the sales process tremendously but I don't think such methods are the end all be all to building a company. Again, they help a lot but I wouldn't rely on them.
When it comes down to it, making cold AND warm calls is the most effective way to get busienss. Now, you can ignore what i am saying like most people that lose their businesses but the fact is that making calls works better then anything. I had a friend who owned a car dealership and he said he didn't like to annoy people with cold calls. Do you believe that? Guess what? He lost his business.
3) Keep your expenses low as possible. You don't need an office right away, you don't need a ton of employees right away.
4) It is always a good plaly to invest in your business. However, you always have to ask yoursef 'is this expense an investment or a waste?'. Do not be one of those business owners who is always afraid of spending money. If you are, maybe business is not the field for you. To grow, you have to spend, it's just reality.
5) Success requires humility. It doesn't require a humble personality. I know some of you will say that Donald Trump is not humble. I am wlling to bet, at one point, he had to get an honest assesement of where he was and that he needed help to grow. I bet you he read, listened to success audio tapes, and grilled successful people like a mad man.
6) Business is $*%&#*@ hard but you have to learn to bounce back from failures. There WILL be times you will want to quit. I had a mentor who once told me that if you havent thought about quitting, you simply haven't worked hard enough. There will be times where running your business will feel like going through a breakup. It will be that tough. There will be customers who take advantage of your newness in business and completely thrash you. There will be times when a 9-5 job looks extremely appealing. But guess what, I promise you, It's worth it. However, if you quit, you will never experience the best part of business.
7) The foundation of your business is leadership and integrity. You cannot keep a client for a long time without integrity. You cannot keep employees or sales rep for a long time without integrity. Always keep your word and always do the right thing. These things will go a long way to establishing a successful business.
8) Always be on top of things. This may be extremely obvious but it's not. MOST PEOPLE are not. ALWAYS BE ON TIME AND ALWAYS KEEP YOUR WORD.
9) HUSSLE YOUR ASS OFF. There are no shortcuts, I promise. Stop finding ways to make it easier for you. SOme say work smart and not hard. I say work smart and hard.
1) You cannot scale a service based business if you are doing the service yourself. I think it is extremely inefficient and not necessary to do it yourself. If you do the service, you won't have as much time for hussling for business, marketing, and sales. Don't get me wrong, it's great to have the experience in that service, in fact, i think it is very important. Your main positionin in the company, however, should either be to generate sales, manage a sales team, or develop strategic partnerships not be involved in the detailed day to day work. You will not have a business for very long if that is the case.
2) My main source of business is the phones. At some point, you will have to call someone to gain their business. Not many clients are going to call you and just pay you $3000 just beecause they saw you in a youtube video. Will that happen sometimes? Maybe if you have a MASSIVE FOLLOWING, but it will still only happen sometimes. I think video marketing and internet marketing ease the sales process tremendously but I don't think such methods are the end all be all to building a company. Again, they help a lot but I wouldn't rely on them.
When it comes down to it, making cold AND warm calls is the most effective way to get busienss. Now, you can ignore what i am saying like most people that lose their businesses but the fact is that making calls works better then anything. I had a friend who owned a car dealership and he said he didn't like to annoy people with cold calls. Do you believe that? Guess what? He lost his business.
3) Keep your expenses low as possible. You don't need an office right away, you don't need a ton of employees right away.
4) It is always a good plaly to invest in your business. However, you always have to ask yoursef 'is this expense an investment or a waste?'. Do not be one of those business owners who is always afraid of spending money. If you are, maybe business is not the field for you. To grow, you have to spend, it's just reality.
5) Success requires humility. It doesn't require a humble personality. I know some of you will say that Donald Trump is not humble. I am wlling to bet, at one point, he had to get an honest assesement of where he was and that he needed help to grow. I bet you he read, listened to success audio tapes, and grilled successful people like a mad man.
6) Business is $*%&#*@ hard but you have to learn to bounce back from failures. There WILL be times you will want to quit. I had a mentor who once told me that if you havent thought about quitting, you simply haven't worked hard enough. There will be times where running your business will feel like going through a breakup. It will be that tough. There will be customers who take advantage of your newness in business and completely thrash you. There will be times when a 9-5 job looks extremely appealing. But guess what, I promise you, It's worth it. However, if you quit, you will never experience the best part of business.
7) The foundation of your business is leadership and integrity. You cannot keep a client for a long time without integrity. You cannot keep employees or sales rep for a long time without integrity. Always keep your word and always do the right thing. These things will go a long way to establishing a successful business.
8) Always be on top of things. This may be extremely obvious but it's not. MOST PEOPLE are not. ALWAYS BE ON TIME AND ALWAYS KEEP YOUR WORD.
9) HUSSLE YOUR ASS OFF. There are no shortcuts, I promise. Stop finding ways to make it easier for you. SOme say work smart and not hard. I say work smart and hard.
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