Address these business problems and level up your growth. Work to improve on these aspects. Realize that most business owners are having trouble with:
1. Knowing Exactly who their target customer is
What is a target customer?
Who your message is catered to. Even though others may be attracted, having a target customer makes marketing and advertising more straightforward.
Why should I know the group I am serving?
If you are creating for everyone, it will be hard to get specific in your copywriting and it will be hard to become an expert in at least one lane. You can be better at this by starting with problems and the need, read this post here.
Then learn what to offer them through research and testing. It’s very important to not fully deliver on your product without testing. Because you don’t want to invest a ton of time or energy into something if people do not want to pay for it or it will not solve a problem for someone.
Looking at your analytics to verify that you are attracting the audience you set out to is confirmation.
When you are just starting, decide who exactly you want to target and create content for them. Verifying that you are attracting that group eventually with analytics.
2. Marketing
Physical marketing
Target customers and where they are likely to be hanging out offline. Could do something grassroots like business cards or stickers.
Why do people have trouble with this? The time, cost, and optimization to execute. One page marketing plan or something small about daily execution. Marketing is an investment for your business.
What works? Do a study and take some notes.
How to execute?
What do you believe would have the most impact?
Do you really understand who your target customers are?
Digital Marketing
Daily action log of what you are doing every day to market your business. Marketing is an every day thing.
Business owners can use their own contacts to find potential clients too— this is known as cold calling since the owner doesn’t know the prospective client personally but will still makes contact with them via phone or email.
Entrepreneurs must have a marketing plan for his business sales efforts too since it’s an essential part of running the company’s daily affairs.
This plan will detail on advertising for new clients through networking events like conferences and seminars or through social media channels like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn pages. Picking which social platform is better for you.
using social media and doing tasks daily to grow your account and nurture relationships with your audience
3. Being more organized in their business
Watching an organization video and executing
A marketing plan must incorporate advertising for his business ventures as well as networking events with potential clients. Writing down everything that needs to be on a project management or sticky note board and then handle tasks one by one or use Getting Things Done by David Allen.
Deciding what you need for your business to run and what is clutter. Taking time on a weekly basis to get organized.
4. Generating critical reports for their business
Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets for developing your own reports which is a handy professional skill to have.
Usung software with reporting features.
Weekly KPIs, monthly KPIs, visual representation of key metrics for your company to grow and review of these.
Something corporate America does very frequently to know the heartbeat of your business rather than guess or go on a whim.
5. Making offers daily
Ask questions, don’t just talk at them. And I made offers to unqualified people, don’t know if you want to do that. Just make as many offers as you can and follow up with those offers.
Listen to the feedback your customers provide to you. And reflect on your offers. Can even consider recording your offers or roleplaying with a friend.
How you talk to people is something to sharpen here. Maybe read a negotiation book or two, one that I recommend is Never Split the Difference.
Best time to contact people
Permission or interruption and both work. But I love the long term viability of permission marketing.
Tracking how many offers you make and trying to exceed that over time. And also improving your conversion rate at each level. Because you may have to set a meeting before you can make an offer.
Becoming better at making offers over time
6. Correctly documenting their accounting
Microsoft Excel is a great entry tool for tracking accounting data. Not something I’m necessarily an expert at this moment but something I am improving in my business systems to bring more clarity to how money flows in and out of the business.
A journal with pen is the more old school way but it beats not having anything.
Hiring an accountant or creating a YouTube playlist to learn more and actually applying what you learned will you make you more effective in business finance.
7. Tracking inventory accurately
Microsoft Excel can be used for this as well.
The goal is tracking the most important things at first while gradually adding additional elements to track everything related to your business.
8. Using timesheets
At the time of this post, I am using Clockify as a manual time tracker. Timesheets help up identify what we are spending our time on and which projects are taking the most time and where we can possibly reallocate our time.
I find Clockify to be more visually appealing then Excel at presenting your time data. You can use Clockify or any alternative to see what you are spending your daily time on and to look at your weekly and monthly reports for a more visual display.
Know where your time is going. It is as crucial an asset as money is to your company.
Refocus to the 20% fhat has the most impact and therefore remove what can be eliminated.
9. Increasing sales
This problem boils down to a matter of more sales training which comes from experience. But I think it mostly comes from a shortage of activity, the right activity. Books or courses can teach you in theory how to sell. However the best way to become a better seller is to learn how to get rejected and to track your rejections and how you improve over time.
Recording numbers and having great managers responsible for encouraging employees and reviewing those key numbers
Also improving the sales process and having it properly documented
Go for no by Richard Fenton and No stats
How I raised myself from failure to success in selling
Tracking your numbers and understanding you are closing rate at each level.
10. Developing or updating their website(s)
Having a domain, I use Namecheap
Paying for hosting is something you should take care of ahead of time. As well as private email if you choose to go that route.
You may just need a simple and working theme then learn how to get feedback and improve it. May need some technical skills or a technician.
As your expertise, your digital presence and resume. Your home base online
11. Creating and maintaining blogs for their sites
Own your own domain. Create content that shows a different aspect of your business. Or perhaps documents more of your story.
Having a place to share your story and the updates of your business on your own domain. Creating content supplementary that helps your customers get what they want.
12. Keeping employees motivated
Helping them get what they want
Really listening to them and treating them like a professional that their work is appreciated and valued
13. How to stay motivated
Save a list of videos that help you stay motivated. When business problems, arise and even life problems then you want to be driven to handle them and stay inspired.
Using Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel or a variation for documents and spreadsheets
14. Raising money or securing free money or securing loans
Fundraising is an option you have.
Crypto
Understanding personal finance and profit for your business not does not just revenue.
15. Delegating work
Books recommend but the skill gets developed from practice, getting out of your comfort zone, and growth. It is something I am still working on in my blogging business model.
16. Get a mentor/ join a group of mentors
Meet someone on Facebook who has what you want to create in your life. Joining or being a part of a mastermind. Joining Twitter spaces of people you respect and maybe webinars. Getting on your role models email list and seeing what they post and how they move is inspirational but you can really take things further in the Direct Messages and then hopping on a phone call.
17.Converting ads & paid promos into sales
Managing ad campaigns and optimizing ad campaigns is a task of all advancing business owners. To learn how to use ads to find your customer s 24/7 and put them into your funnel is a remarkable accomplishment.
Learning how the best do it, implementing, and testing for your own to have your own findings.
18. Managing their time and resources
Paying attention to your bank account(s) with a regular audit.
Every successful business entrepreneur has a solid plan for his venture but it will take time and so you much manage that time wisely.
Plans should include advertising your products and services, pricing methods and customer retention strategies.
A student’s marketing plan must include social media usage as it’s an excellent way to gain exposure to potential customers. A salesperson’s marketing plan must be focused on advertising his products and services to generate sales commissions. He should also use direct and email marketing to close sales quickly.
He can then compile the information from all interactions into proposals that he can sell to new clients in order to earn profits from the business.
Starting up a new business requires planning, hard work, determination, dedication and plenty of initiative on the part of its owners and employees alike.
19. Managing projects and using software to aid
The marketing plan is critical to start and run a successful business. A sales plan is essential to earn profit from the business.
An entrepreneur must have a marketing plan for his business sales efforts. All plans are based on sound judgment, learning and persistence.
We can use software to aid us usually Microsoft Office or the Google platform or even Apple’s documents platforms.
20. Related to assigning the tasks and following up
Pmbok book for project management
4 Hour Work week for creative ideas and possibly some entertainment too
Students who want to become successful entrepreneurs need to put forth the same amount of effort into planning their ventures as they do into actually starting them up.
- Delivering complete projects on time (deadlines and reminders)
21. Organizing customer data – No CRM
Using a free CRM solution and then maybe scaling up and having your own business CRM designed which may be expensive.
A salesperson must have a marketing plan for their sales efforts. This includes creating prospecting lists of potential clients that he can contact directly or via advertising channels like media outlets and trade publications.
Create evaluation criteria so that you can evaluate each potential client based on their needs before initiating meetings or sales calls with them. You should follow up with clients which is known as ongoing selling strategies such as email campaigns or text messages.
22. Developing a clear vision for their business
Writing down where you want the business to go and how you believe it will develop.
Every successful student must have a comprehensive marketing plan for his sales efforts. What you are creating and why. What are you seeking to make happen and by when?
23. Setting up & automating email marketing
Defining all your processes related to fulfilling your product or service from start to finish
24. Getting high-quality media for their brand
This includes photos and videos. It may involve you partnering with someone or creating a list of equipment to purchase over time.
Sharing those photos on your website and social media so that people can see another side to your brand.
Having the right equipment. Seeing what is low cost and working. The scripting may be more important than the production quality.
and sharing those videos on your website
25. Creating a comprehensive standard operating procedures manual
Typing it all up in a word document
Then organizing it
26. Driving more qualified traffic to their website
Learning a bit about SEO and also how to drive traffic organically.
Socials
Funnel plan
value and marketing, desire
27. Spending too much time as a technician and not enough time as the entrepreneur
Spend time thinking and working outside of your business which is easier said than done. The thinking part requires learning, research, and exposing yourself to new ideas.
28. Staying motivated
Some motivational YouTube videos and Playlist. Because its hard to perform when you aren’t motivated. Writing down what you are grateful for line by line
29. Staying focused and limiting distractions
Deep work by Cal Newport
Focus @ Will Playlist, music without words
Limiting distractions and staying in your focused zone for longer periods of time
Timing your focused time
Saying No
Forest app and other substitutes
Habitica
30. Creating a road map & following the road map
Milestones of your company written down
Where you want to go where you want to be and how long do you want it to take.
31. Managing and improving cashflow
Rich dad poor dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Profit first
32. Creating additional income streams
Learning what your options are
Types of income streams
What is related to your current business and what your customers want
33. Communicating
7 levels of communication
High eq and being a leader link
Being a decent human being and treating people well. Serving them.
Looking into a professional group like toastmasters to improve your communication skills and leadership.
34. Setting budgets and financial planning
What do others in your industry to spend on and what do they recommend?
35. Creating a business model canvas / business model
You’re using a tool like Google drawings to map out your canvas. This is a visual representation of what aspects your business is involved in.
Why should focus on business problems and problems in general?
Problems are at the core of discomfort for human beings. We seek pain and pleasure and problems slow us down. Some problems we need help with and some we would be willing to pay others to help us solve.
These are related to business but what about family and mental health
Every industry and every business within that industry has a specific list
if you got something from this, please leave a comment. Thanks for reading!
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