Time taken a Business to become profitable

Businesses built on a shaky foundation.

You see, probably 90% of first-time entrepreneurs get into business, for entirely the wrong reasons.

Most people get into business because….

• They have a passion (be it knitting or karate or whatnot….)
• They don’t like their boss

• They “love” their product or service
• They “always wanted to start their own business” (dangerous!)

Point being…

It’s very, very rare, that people get into business because of smart, strategic decisions and planning.

People start businesses because there’s an EMOTIONAL pull toward the idea of being an entrepreneur.

And all these social media “business influences” are compounding this stupid trend massively.

All they do is emotionally “pump up” the idea that business is “so cool”…”Woo….4-Hour Work Week baby!” without telling or teaching people…

WHAT IT REALLY TAKES TO MAKE BIG MONEY IN BUSINESS!

Thing is….

You can’t eat your own passion! And the market doesn’t really care about you or that you “always wanted to have your own business” (how cute).

Folks….You can’t get into business for your own entirely selfish reasons of “living your passion” or wanting a “4-Hour work week”.

That’s the fastest way toward going broke and to a lot of hard work, frustration and earning pennies.

I know what I’m talking about here….

I started my first business for entirely the wrong reasons.

I wanted to be “the man” in my community, make my dad proud (not joking) and get rich fast.

Dumb. Just dumb.

Not once, did I think about how I’m going to attract customers, or if there’s even a strong MARKET NEED for my business.

And I see this mistake repeated day-after-day, again.

The auto-mechanic who opens an auto-repair shop, because he want’s to be his own boss, entirely blind to the fact that there’s already 24 other auto-repair shops in town.

The martial artist with a black belt, who is “so passionate” about karate and always wanted his own karate school, not even thinking about the fact that nobody in his city wants to learn karate.

Can you see where we’re going here?

Yes? Good.

Because this brings us to the most important lesson, which is worth reading the entire article, as it will save you untold sums of money and time….

Before you spend a ¢ on business cards, on a location, store, incorporating your operation, or anything else business related….

…Make damn sure you’ve actually got a strong enough REASON to exist in the marketplace.

So, with our above examples in mind…

What could an auto-mechanic starting his own shop do, to increase his chances of making a lot of money in business?

How does one actually determine what market to enter and what message to use in that market?

Well, as always, it truly comes down to two important factors for success…

1. Research and committing to due diligence
2. Good ole’ introspection

You want to actually get a realistic picture of the market and then see, whether it is worth it to you, to use your valuable time and your money to get a foothold in that market.

The better you know your market, the better you can also run marketing campaigns and attract customers (The purpose of a business is to attract and keep a customer at a profit. PERIOD).

You want to answer following questions…

1. How many prospects are in your market?

2. What is the number of people that would be “highly probable” to do business with you? (and be realistic here….Many people DON’T with their auto-mechanic, no matter how good your message is).

3. How reachable are your prospect? What print media do they consume? What social media? What newspaper?

4. What clubs or association do they belong to?

5. Are they reachable via mailing lists? (BIGGIE)

6. Do they gather physically in one particular place where they can be reached? If so where and when?

7. Can you actually afford to reach them? I.e. would your marketing efforts be cost effective?

8. How many people have shown in the past, by buying similar products and service to the ones you intend to sell, that they respond to the way you want to market and sell to them?

9. Who else sells something similar in your market? What’s their position?

I could go on and on here….There’s a lot more to get clear about, but this should suffice as for now.

Tell me in the comments, how you’ll implement this and what your takeaways are.

Wish you best of luck.