by Case Lane
In the delightful comedy W1A about management life at the BBC, one of the characters has the useless corporate title, Director of Better.
No one, least of all the holder of the title, knows exactly what the title means nor what the role is supposed to do. The show is a continuous standup play on the triumph of bureaucracy in maintaining employment for well-meaning, educated professionals who essentially do…nothing.
But as uncomfortably true as the antics may be, the laughs will not last.
Even before a global pandemic, those who keep an eye on the economy were already documenting how technology and access to the global market were changing the future of work, and the expectations of society.
The value of every mythological line in the American dream was under scrutiny, and lifelong ideas about the ‘right’ thing to do with one’s life were being unmercifully contested.
In the midst of this, the often questionable journey for the entrepreneur continued to expand online, and created not only a new category of businesses, but an entirely renewed way to view the entire profession.
No longer the dominant road only for status-quo-defying risk-takers, online entrepreneurship opened up to anyone who was willing to do the work, to transform their speculative idea into a product or service for the global marketplace.
The result has been an up-leveled opportunity for anyone to take their place in the global economy through electronic means. This realization changes the game for all those who thought there was no room for them on the Internet money train.
For these reasons you should become an online entrepreneur:
- The Need for Solutions
- The Opportunity to Deliver Value
- You Can Have Any Idea
- You Can Operate in Any Niche
- You Do Not Have to Be an Expert
- You Do Have to Do the Work
- The Reality May Not Meet Your Expectations
- There is Money to Be Made
- There Are People Making Money
The Need
Surfing the Internet is another way to say searching the Internet. People are online looking for…everything…to satisfy their desires across a range of wants related to the most demanded, and most obscure, human needs.
This endless searching has allowed the major internet companies to gather data on consumer desires. And this data is for sale.
While business people have always attempted to ‘know their customer,’ now they can extract that information based on the customer’s own requests demonstrated by their typing, clicking, searching, reading, listening and viewing all day.
This demand-driven activity has not stopped entrepreneurs from considering the innovations people did not think to ask for. But they can just as easily assess demand by creating introductory products, service instructions, or even spin-offs of existing products or services for those who can never find exactly what they seem to want.
In fact, the online entrepreneur does not have to create anything new at all. A promotional video, deftly worded advertisement, or ten minute podcast generates enough data to understand consumer demand for a directed product or service designed to meet the expected need.
And the bottom line is…there is an endless stream of unmet needs across all consumer demographics all over the world.
The Opportunity
Anyone watching internet surfers continuously looking to be fulfilled, can see an opening that presents an opportunity to deliver a product or service to these desperate consumers.
An aspiring entrepreneur can target potential customers through the search engines like Google, social media platforms like Facebook, or their own proprietary e-mail lists, with advertisements, promotions, stories, images, audio and videos designed to encourage a connection.
Any Idea
A person who recognizes gaps in the economy…and fills it…is the entrepreneur. And more often than not the gap is related to an unserved demographic frustrated with never finding products or services that are aimed at them.
The ability to deliver products or services to this specific niche is the cornerstone of the online entrepreneurship opportunity.
The ‘mass’ market is on the decline. Consumers are searching for products or services designed specifically for their exact desires. They want a business that hears their voice, and meets their needs. And the intrepid entrepreneur is often one of the potential customers who has grown tired of waiting for someone else to invent the product or service they keep searching for.
All Niches
Decades of marketing practices aimed at the ‘mass’ market has left a wide-open field for entrepreneurs who are willing to deliver for those who do not currently receive.
An aspiring entrepreneur can immediately be the automatic leader in their field by delivering a product or service from their unique perspective, and using their singular approach.
The nutrition, diet and fitness market presents the typical example of how this works. Until everyone on earth finds a food plan they enjoy, and a health routine they can maintain, for the ideal look they aspire to…there is an opportunity for an entrepreneur to deliver a new nutrition, diet or fitness product.
The entrepreneur only needs to determine how best to deliver the product or service to those potential customers who will become their pampered community.
Not the Talent
For any idea the entrepreneur wants to develop there is an opportunity to approach almost anyone in the world who may be interested. In the most successful scenarios, the entrepreneur builds a community around their product or service, and continues to nurture and cultivate their fans.
But the entrepreneur has to first find these fans, ideally, through the online platform where they are most comfortable.
If you prefer writing, you can become a blogger, and seek to attract your audience by delivering value in the form of interesting articles.
If you prefer to talk, you can start a podcast and organize your value in a discussion or interview, which showcases the product or service you want to deliver.
Similar options exist for using images or being on video.
And if you do not like any of those options, and you just want to be an executive or manager, you can outsource the work to a content creation team based anywhere in the world.
Not an expert
Online entrepreneurs are creators, writers, instructors, influencers, marketers, store owners, coaches, consultants, developers, artists, speakers, photographers, organizers, and some…are experts in a particular field.
As noted in the next paragraph, to be successful, the only expertise one needs is the amount that is generated relative to the work the entrepreneur is willing to do.
The online entrepreneurship field is one devoid of formal credentials. The magic is in understanding the target consumers’ needs and, literally, speaking their language, then working persistently to deliver such sufficient value that these dream customers tell all their friends.
The Work
To create an online business, the aspiring entrepreneur picks an idea, a niche and a platform, and then delivers lasting value. The challenge is…how?
The number of entrepreneurs who have created one product, and took it to immediate success in the market without any changes is probably zero. By default, the entrepreneur must be prepared to adapt and change to consumer demand. The ‘big’ idea typically needs to be refined and molded until consumers respond.
The same is true for the distribution or marketing. A great idea poorly delivered will not find its intended base.
A good product poorly marketed will not find its audience.
A typical entrepreneur is likely to try dozens, perhaps hundreds, of iterations changing one segment after another of the product or service to find the ‘hit’ lurking just over the horizon.
This is where the statistics about entrepreneurship success and failure begin to play out. Those that actually make it are the ones who have the resources to keep trying until one version of their idea survives.
Those who can no longer hang on…fall by the wayside.
The Reality
Entrepreneurship is no walk in the park. Not because the work is particularly difficult, not because the potential consumers are missing, not because the idea is bad…but because the aspiring entrepreneur has no idea what is going to work.
The online entrepreneur has to be prepared to try and try again. From changing a headline on a landing page, to adding just one more email, to responding to every comment on social, to posting a question they never thought to ask before…the key to the game is perseverance.
Many successful entrepreneurs will tell you about the ideas that flopped. But each one led the entrepreneur to try something new, to watch for any signs from the market that the idea was resonating, and to scale rapidly when the most recent fix appeared to be a hit.
The question is: will you be successful before your energy or money runs out?
For those who keep their 9-to-5 while working on their side hustle, the question becomes: will you be successful before you really can’t stand your regular job anymore?
Either way, the only successful players are the ones who are persistent, and do not give up.
The Monetization
Where does online money come from…here’s a short list:
- Advertising and affiliate links on websites
- Private Coaching
- Private Consulting
- Advertising and sponsorships on podcasts and videos
- Direct digital product sales of books, videos, audio, courses and software
- Percentage of affiliate sales from joint ventures selling other people’s products
- Speaker fees
- Physical product sales of t-shirts, coffee mugs, pens, books and more
- Masterminds and conferences
How is the money made from these products?
By marketing to potential customers, and convincing them that the product or service you have to offer, in the form you offer it, will meet their needs.
This is the part where many aspiring entrepreneurs fall short. After locating a potential customer base, and confirming they are searching for the product or service you have to offer, you still have to be able to close the sale.
You have to get them to buy.
So aspiring entrepreneurs must create an incentive for potential customers to look at what they have to offer, make a purchase, spread the word, and come back for more.
The options for encouraging this path are as equally endless as the money spigots…
- Build a social media following by consistently posting online
- Start a blog, podcast or YouTube channel full of interesting content
- Create a website loaded with compelling content, and allow ads and affiliate banners
- Align with existing entrepreneurs in a joint venture (if you have something to offer them)
- Write and promote a book, course or app
- Create and promote other digital products
- Apply as a paid speaker, after volunteering to speak for free and building a reputation
- Set-up an online store and use social media to promote the products
- Tell everyone who will listen what you are doing, and convince them, even if they’re not interested, to tell others…
The Survivors
The Internet is littered with millionaires who are not afraid to tell you about their success. Many webinars begin before breathing to recount the host’s great successes from zero-to-million-dollar paydays, to zero to million follower social feeds, to total domination by learning the ‘one true way’ to do…whatever they purport to do.
They can deliver dozens of testimonials, endless words of public praise, and smiling and delighted successes at every turn. The presentations are slick, beautiful, and hyped for mind-control returns.
These are the successes.
The people behind these numbers are often exactly who they say they are, whether or not the ‘one true method’ they teach is repeatable and can work for others. And any way you slice their story – they have managed to at least get to the point where they can display a life of bling, and get you to listen to them talk about it.
Something went right.
In many cases, the successes did one thing legitimately and consistently correct…they did the work.
They posted every day, talked to everyone they knew, pushed through imposter syndrome, overcame fears, chanted affirmations, read every book, took every course, and continuously applied their learnings until their message clicked.
Keeping in mind all of the above, the aspiring entrepreneur can select any one of those models to emulate, or try to forge a new road. Either way, the fundamentals will not change.
If you have an idea that fills a gap, delivering a product or service to a niche consumer base that wants or needs what you have to offer; through an approach they can find; and you are willing to keep working until your dream customers find you and respond…you will have your business.
You just have to get started.
Case Lane’s latest book Recast: The Aspiring Entrepreneur’s Practical Guide to Getting Started with an Online Business is available now at Amazon.com
The book details the first ten actions to take when getting started online.
Disclosure: Links. to Amazon.com are affiliate links which earn for eligible purchases at no additional cost to you.
The Foundational Actions for Starting An Online Business
by Case Lane
This is Part One of Two posts about my new book Recast: The Aspiring Entrepreneur’s Practical Guide for Getting Started With an Online Business. The book is ten practical actions for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start a business online, live with purpose, and achieve their dreams
In this first post, I’m covering the Foundational Actions, that are often overlooked by aspiring entrepreneurs who just jump right in to the online business arena.
Part One: Recast
When you make a decision to stop doing everything you were supposed to do – college, work, mortgage in the suburbs – and start doing everything you have always wanted to do – you throw off years, maybe decades of indoctrination and start again – as someone else.
An extraordinary moment for an extraordinary person?
Or just the right-of-passage for every entrepreneur?
Historically, most people were dependent on their tribe or community, and could not just walk away. Now you can be individually free, and that’s both liberating and terrifying.
In a steel mill, to recast means melting the steel down and reshaping it into a new form.
In Hollywood and on Broadway, recasting means replacing the original performer with some new.
What does it mean to Recast Yourself as an entrepreneur?
The Consequences of Recasting
In the DVD extras for the movie The French Connection, director William Friedkin talks about the actor who played the movie’s memorable villain. Friedkin had told someone to go to Europe and get the actor he wanted to play a rich French drug dealer named Alain Charnier.
When the actor showed up on set, Friedkin took one look at him and said something like: ‘you’re not the guy I wanted.’
The actor said something like: ‘I didn’t think so. And I’m Spanish not French.’
That bit of mistaken recasting created one of the most memorable roles in one of the greatest movies ever made. Spanish actor Fernando Rey would play Charnier in both the original movie, which won five Oscars including Best Picture, and in the sequel The French Connection II.
Recasting is a Hollywood, and Broadway, reality that is loaded with disasters and successes. But at it’s core, recasting means giving the part to a different actor. On the screen, a new person comes in, and makes the role their own.
When I set out to write a book about getting started as an entrepreneur, I wanted to capture the essence of how you should adapt to your new role – and I called the book Recast.
When you decide to become an entrepreneur, you are recasting the role of your life, from playing perhaps an obedient adherent to the status quo, to someone who lives the life you have designed for meaning and purpose.
And you come out on the other side thinking of yourself differently.
Start Your Recast With Yourself
Start your recast as an entrepreneur in a completely different place than most people…start with you.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs remain ‘aspiring’ because you are trying to jump right in to starting a business without any preparation. Then when you get derailed by relevant details, you stay derailed and do not get back on track.
The Five Foundational Actions
When Recasting, begin with the foundational actions you need to take to BEFORE you launch into your business details. Your five foundational actions are followed by five creative actions.
The five foundational actions are to:
1. Take a deep breath
2. Establish your workspace
3. Gather your tools
4. Remove distractions
5. Set your schedule
1. Take a Deep Breath
Taking a deep breath is shorthand for saying make sure you are mentally, and physically prepared to dedicate your time and effort to your business.
Entrepreneurship is a marathon of endless sprints. You have to be prepared to constantly adapt and change to circumstances, to shift when something is not working, and to double-down when it is.
You want to be able to move forward with confidence and security, and the only way you can do that is to make yourself prepared for the long-haul. So once you have convinced yourself that is what you’re going to do, you need a good place to work.
2. Establish Your Workspace
If you do not already know for sure where you’re going to work, take a moment to walk around the house or neighborhood, and identify your spot. This may sound mundane until you realize that you’ll want your own corner for maybe hours at a time to do business related activities.
Don’t skip this action, and then come back a day later and say you did not do any work because you could not find a good quiet spot to focus.
Take a whole day if needed. Identify several locations that you want to test, but select one to start that’s realistic and suitable for your work.
3. Gather Your Tools
After picking the place to work, avoid sitting down, and getting up five minutes later because you forgot coffee or a pen or the lighting does not work.
Make sure you have around you all the tools you like to use when you’re working.
When you go to work in a corporate job, on the first day HR takes you around and shows you your desk, the break room, the supply room, and so on. Do the same for yourself.
Identify your coffee or water. Get the supplies you like. Even if you’re 100% digital, make sure the electrical outlet is accessible. And you’re not in a wi-fi deadzone.
Although, these actions may sound trivial, these are exactly the setbacks that provide obstacles…and excuses for aspiring entrepreneurs who end up delaying their business…sometimes for years.
4. Remove Distractions
When establishing your workspace, be aware of potential distractions. If you are sharing space, make sure you can work without being interrupted. And interruptions do not only come from your household. You could have external disruptions such as a school bell or trash pick-up that interfere with your video calls.
Also if people know you’re working from home, they will inevitability think you can be on the phone or sign for packages or run an errand – when you’re trying to get your work done.
Removing distractions means letting everyone know you are working on your business, not having a vacation. And you have to be serious and dedicated to this particular action.
5. Set Your Schedule
To finalize your foundational actions, you will create your new schedule. In corporate life, you have a set time to go to work. In online life, you want freedom and flexibility. But you also have to do the work, or delegate to others and supervise.
The most common factor among successful entrepreneurs is the fact that they actually did the work. They created a business, and kept moving forward with their plans.
Create a schedule where you put time aside every day to do the work. You may only have a limited amount to do, or a lot, but establish the time you need to complete your daily tasks.
Account for conflicts with your household or location. You do not want to be scheduling your calls at the same time your child is having a piano lesson.
You want to have a picture of your entire day, and then identify the times within the day that work best for your work.
Summary: The Foundational Actions
Setting up a solid foundation for your business will support you going forward, and make the next part – the creative phase that much easier.
To Create a Solid Foundation for Your Entrepreneurial Dream:
- Take a deep breath and get mentally and physically prepared to focus on your business
- Find a dedicated workspace
- Gather the tools you will need to do the work
- Remove all distractions from people to devices
- Create your schedule that fits your selections
If you take these actions first, before you dive in to your business, you will feel more confident and secure before moving forward.
For the next article: Click Here for the Creative Actions: Part 2 of 2: Recast: Ten Practical Actions for Aspiring Entrepreneurs Who Want to Start a Business Online, Live with Purpose and Achieve their Dreams
Disclosure: Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links which earn for eligible purchases at no additional cost to you.
ENJOY LIVE CLASSES?
Case Lane is delivering a FREE WEBINAR: How to Start an Online Business With An Idea You Champion!
Thursday 10 am PST via Zoom
WANT TO READ THE BOOK?
You can Download Recast at Amazon.com
Get all the details about how to Recast your life, and become an online entrepreneur in this exciting new book!
Disclosure: Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links, which earn for eligible purchases at no additional cost to you
How to Get Out of Your Corporate Mindset When Starting Your Own Business
by Case Lane
Many corporate management-level employees are often hired ‘at will,’ meaning the employee can be let go for any legal reason, and an employee can also leave for any reason – and neither side incurs legal liability.
Yet despite those facts, society insists on referring to those jobs as ‘secure.’
When aspiring entrepreneurs talk about leaving a company job to start a business, they are often admonished to stay in their ‘secure’ job.
Security has come to mean – a place to go every day, a regular paycheck, maybe benefits like subsidized health care, insurance, matching 401(k) funds, and if you work at a Hollywood studio – a free movie every week!
But for many, the ‘security’ comes with a nagging sensation that you are not as secure as you think. When an aspiring entrepreneur walks away, the sensation does not disappear, it remains as a lingering tug determined to pull you back.
The Trappings of Corporate
Back at corporate some time ago, there was this executive, let’s say X, who was upset one day after lunch. X had lunch with Y, and Y had paid with the platinum corporate American Express card. A fact that moved X almost to tears.
Confused?
At this company, the platinum corporate card meant Y had been promoted. Regular management level people had the green corporate American Express card. But the platinum card told X louder than a press release, that Y had been given the recognition demonstrated by the card.
X could not have an intelligent adult discussion about the vagaries of the promotion system, or what was on the lunch menu, because X’s self-esteem and worth were tied to the color of the corporate card.
When you make the decision to walk away, you are not only leaving a job, but also all the Trappings, with a capital ‘T’ that the corporate life provide. Whether you have them now, or can expect to be rewarded in a couple of years, those perks are enticing.
And the best way to get rid of the ideas from your head is to replace them.
Assess What You’re Losing
This may sound counter-intuitive if you are looking for encouragement to quit your 9-to-5, but you have to understand the perks you are giving up by analyzing everything you are about to lose.
Money
The number one benefit is a steady paycheck. Your first hint of panic will come when you realize the money is no longer going to come in from that reliable source.
If you started your business before leaving your job, and already have your second income, you can make this transition easier. You at least have an understanding about what you can expect.
But if you can’t stand your job, and just walked away, then the one thing you have to focus on is replacing your income. Use the need to replace that income as the motivating factor when working on your business.
You may have other financial benefits to replace including health insurance or disability. Over time, you will want to use your new income to cover these potential losses also.
And as for the corporate card, Amex has plenty of business cards you can apply for.
Workspace
Your workspace is about to change. If you had a great office with a view, you may be missing that immediately. In my new book Recast, I write about how setting up your new place to work is one of the foundational steps for getting started with an online business.
You become your own HR, and re-establish a comfortable workspace for yourself. You might not get the view. But you should get the advantage of being where you want to be.
Socializing
Outside of the office there will be no more idle conversations, water-cooler talk, and busy time. As an entrepreneur with your own business, you will be continuously busy, especially in the beginning, and should have little time to miss the easy days of having an office job.
But the other side of office life – exchanging ideas, having meetings, meeting new interesting people – this might be difficult to adjust to. You have to prepare yourself for a life of isolation, solitary decisions and meetings of one.
You can get around these feelings by seeking those who are like-minded to form masterminds, or other groups who may be interested in doing what you’re doing. Try and find an accountability partner who can help you stay on track and focused on your Action Plan.
The key in the entire process is you have to replace the parts of corporate life you like the most with similar support in the online business world. Over time, as you focus more on your business, you will find the memories of your former life fade fast, and your new one becomes more omnipresent and relevant in your every day.
Summary: How to Get Rid of Your Corporate Mindset
You have to slowly replace the Trappings of corporate life with your solopreneur alternatives:
- Salary and other financial benefits come from continuously focusing on the work required to replace the money as soon as possible
- Your comfortable workspace can be established wherever you decide to work
- You can be happy to be rid of idle office time, but desperate to reconnect with people – do that by joining group masterminds or finding accountability partner
You get corporate out of your head by creating a new focus – the value you want to deliver – the product or service that your soon-to-be-discovered community wants or needs.
And once you have changed your focus, you are well on your way to being a recast entrepreneur for the long-term
ENJOY LIVE CLASSES?
Case Lane is delivering a FREE WEBINAR: How to Start an Online Business With An Idea You Champion!
Thursday 10 am PST via Zoom
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Click this link to get your summary and early bird notice of the book’s release.
How to Dominate Your Niche of Niches Online
Part 4 of 4: Be the Automatic Leader in the Niche of Your Choice
by Case Lane
As an aspiring entrepreneur, you may have spent years, maybe four or 8 or 10, continuing your education, putting in hours or days on your chosen skill, or maybe even researching a subject of interest every day.
With the activities you enjoy, and wherever your interests lie, you have more information about the subject than someone who is looking for the product or service you have to offer.
Yet when it comes to thinking about delivering your message online, you may feel uncomfortable. You squirm a little at the idea that you could be someone who could deliver value to others – for money.
Maybe even at your work, there are probably people who are paid more than you; in education thousands of others have your diploma; and in your hobby…it’s a hobby, for a reason. Your daily reality may make you question how you could be a leader on online.
You Can Provide Solutions
Once in the Duty Free store at Los Angeles International Airport, I overheard a discussion between a store clerk and a passenger. The clerk was trying to explain to the passenger that she could not take the bag of stuff she had just bought – alcohol, perfume – with her.
That policy can be confusing for infrequent travelers. Duty Free Stores are promoted as free from taxes. You can purchase products when you are leaving the country. But the store must send the items to your flight, and you pick them up literally as you are walking on to the plane.
The passenger obviously had not bought duty free before so she was confused, and was trying to understand the rules in a language that was not her own.
But I could understand both. Or make myself understood. I had an approach – unique and singular – based on my education, knowledge and experience. No one else can deliver in exactly the same way (no one else was around), the moment was mine to seize.
I could provide a solution.
Of course, there is a risk in providing unsolicited advice. Some people might consider you rude, presumptuous or…not an expert. You may not be their idea of a solution provider, your approach may not suit their sensibilities, or they may not respect the experience you have.
There are many possibilities….
But at the same time, when people are struggling, and they’ve tried other solutions and nothing worked, they still need help.
In my case, I was in a position to deliver a solution.
Where will you be when your future customers come looking online for you, and your potential product or service?
If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, your role is to deliver value to those who want or need the product or service you want to offer. If you have something to offer, the only way your community can learn about it is if you offer your knowledge.
You may find it awkward to offer people your help in a way they are not expecting. But at the same time, if you have the knowledge and a way to deliver it, you can support another person’s goals, and be a great assistance to them.
In the beginning, you may feel imposter syndrome because your position is new and untried. But it’s valid. You have a solution – someone else does not. It’s your opportunity, some would say, responsibility as an entrepreneur, to offer the value you have to deliver.
Summary: How You Dominate Your Niche
1. If you have gone in to business, it’s because you believe you have value to offer. You have business ideas in your head or a solution for someone else’s problem. That value needs to be expressed.
2. Your approach to the product or service is different from others, and it’s an approach you should not feel afraid to deliver. Because your experience, education, expertise – that’s all unique to you, and that uniqueness is what is going to differentiate you and make you the automatic leader.
3. There were automobiles before Henry Ford, furniture before Ikea, makeup before Mary Kay, mobile phones before Steve Jobs, movies before Walt Disney. And you probably do not need to be told why those products became unique when those individuals decided to deliver them.
As an aspiring entrepreneur, you do not have to be creating a global corporation, but you do have to use your uniqueness to attract the customer base that you have created the product or service for.
Online people can be accusatory and critical – but there is a way to ensure those ones are not relevant to you.
You deliver to the people who appreciate your uniqueness, and you ignore everyone who does not.
ENJOY LIVE CLASSES?
Case Lane is delivering a FREE WEBINAR: How to Start an Online Business With An Idea You Champion!
Thursday 10 am PST via Zoom
WANT TO READ THE BOOK?
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Click this link to get your summary and early bird notice of the book’s release.
How to Decide on an Online Platform
Part 3 of 4: Choose to Be Comfortable
by Case Lane
When choosing to launch an online business, you do not want to be phony.
In fact, you are told must be authentic.
Except there’s the conflict. You are being told you MUST be authentic, under the assumption that everyone knows what authentic is.
At the same time that people claim you must be authentic, they also claim you should make videos, or send email, or start a podcast or dance on Tik-Tok.
Aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start a business, and attract an audience, but are turned off by the so-called ‘authentic’ things everyone is saying to do, need an alternative for appearing on an online platform.
The best bet is to pick the space where you are most comfortable.
What is an Online Platform?
Your online platform is the Internet space where you have your online presence – the basis for your business.
Bloggers have a website, podcasters appear in directories, vloggers post YouTube videos. Social media influencers dominate on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter.
You decide which one works best for you by deciding first which form of public expression suits your preferences.
A Presence You Own and Defend
A while back, in Hollywood, one of my colleagues once told me about this incredible idea one of the senior executives had that would change the industry.
My colleague was prone to exaggeration about a senior executive’s idea…especially if it could lead to career advancement. But the executive in question was more qualified than most, and had a solid reputation.
The idea could have been great…
….but, it was terrible.
And to my surprise I told my colleague exactly what I thought of the idea. I reacted against character because I felt passionate about the subject, and had a strong opinion of its viability.
The decision whether the idea would be implemented was not mine to make, but the opinion was definitely mine to express.
The defense of your own approach is even more pronounced online.
Model Your Own Instincts
When you see people online in your target industry acting all the same – being cutesy, dancing, giving shoutouts, swearing and hollering….
You might think that’s how you have to behave to win over people in your potential community.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs imitate successful people because they believe the success can be directly copied.
But that approach rarely works.
There is already a successful person being the original version of who you want to be, so a fake version has a limited chance.
Often a new entrepreneur does not want to behave like the successful person. But does it under the mistaken belief that the community will only respond to the questionable behavior.
However, since you are passionate about your product and service, and turned off by the presentation of the existing leaders in your field, then you may have an opportunity with other members of the community who feel as you do.
No doubt your niche has specific approaches to ensure you are seen by your community, and are communicating your message effectively, but you can modify your approach to ensure you are comfortable, and therefore authentic in your presentation.
If you see a successful person in your industry who is a blogger, but you hate writing, you can either do something else, or outsource the writing to someone else.
Remember, online your marketplace is the entire world. There is likely a community that would appreciate receiving your product or service in a form that it is not currently presented.
For example, today almost every book is released in digital, print and audio formats. Not to mention those that may eventually be made into a movie or show.
The reason you can keep releasing the same story in different forms is because different people want to absorb the same story in the format they prefer.
Select Your Platform Preference
You can deliver your product or service offering on exactly the platform that you prefer.
You have to decide where you add value, and how you want to contribute based on your expertise and skills.
You can also look at your niche the same way. Test the approaches you prefer, and measure your community’s response.
For example, professional NFL football has one community of beer-drinking, screaming, face painters…and another of statistics and analysis geeks from analytics professors and statisticians to college students and the curious who discuss the probabilities of certain plays, moves and scores in every scenario.
The business of data is data tables, analysis apps, fantasy football instruction manuals, courses on how to understand the game, blog, podcast, affiliate for clothes, gear, and food…and more.
You can approach your own passion in your niche in any direction you choose, and find your community wherever they may be hiding.
You can write, talk, film, teach, dance or holler…
Practically everyone is on the Internet, and everyone is looking for their preferred approach to education, information and entertainment.
There is no competition and all fields are wide open because people are constantly searching for their preferences.
When you go online with your business idea. You can deliver as you see fit.
That’s the incredible opportunity that exists in the online space today. And you have the opportunity of a lifetime to take advantage of it.
For the next article: Click Here for Part 4 of 4: How Dominate Your Niche of Niches
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How to Prepare to Be an Expert Online
Part 2 of 4: Identify Your Passion in Your Skills and Interests
by Case Lane
When I was at law school, a few years ago, I realized something no one ever talks about. People were NOT putting their entire lives online on the social networks. The secrets were still very much being kept secret.
You might guess what some of those secrets were, but what’s surprising is that even the benign activities were being self-censored.
For example, if someone had a hobby they thought their friends would make fun of them about, or an interest in an influencer they wanted to follow, but did not want everyone to know they were following, people had to find other groups and places to express this interest away from their main social pages. They created new pages or signed up for other sites under different avatars.
If you are an aspiring entrepreneur who wants to start an online business in a niche no one knows you are interested in, or where you have limited or no experience, you face the same dilemma right?
How can you legitimately declare your passion or expertise to be exactly what you say it is even if you have no experience in your niche?
The Science Geeks Hangover
Have you ever actually seen one of those bubbling plastic model volcanoes? You know the kind that are the staple of jokes on TV show when making fun of a science project.
Those model volcanoes are Science Fair fodder. And at the Science Fair, as you remember, the winners get a blue ribbon nobody sees, and a pat on the back that has no clear path to ongoing success…
Now don’t get me wrong. I love science. I think the Science Fair champions should get the front page of the paper, and be honored at the Super Bowl half-time show.
Those brilliant geeks make the plastic volcano to demonstrate the build up of pressure into heat, steam and gas that EXPLODES into the air, then down on to everything in molten liquid destruction…
It’s super cool! And often easily forgotten…
The State Science Fair is a big deal for some people, but it receives not nearly the attention given to the State Basketball Championships, which is a big deal for everyone.
The science champion will likely receive a free ride to college, and so will the basketball champion.
The science champion may even receive a lot of interesting offers to work in a research lab or at a big corporation.
But the basketball champion knows exactly the types of offers she could receive. The basketball champion already has an absolutely clearly defined road to success that almost everyone knows, and can repeat.
Only the future professional athletes have this clarity…not the biologists, not the musicians, not the historians, not the programmers, and…definitely not the entrepreneurs.
The Value of a Familiar Road
The high school basketball player who has the intention of playing professionally, knows to work to earn a spot on the varsity team, and if not the junior varsity, and at least play intramurally.
The top players may even earn a spot on an AAU traveling team, and compete at multiple levels.
During high school, the goal is to earn a Division IA full ride college scholarship, and if that doesn’t materialize, the player tries for Division II or III with an eye to reach Division I, some day.
While in college, the goal is to try for the NBA, and if not the Development League or leagues in Europe, Asia or South America.
There is also an opportunity to compete for a national team to play in the Pan-Am Games, or maybe even the Olympics.
When playing days are over, the player can start the process again as a coach or team management, first in high school, and then college, and internationally…
…and so they keep going.
Not everyone makes it, but everyone knows what the path is…and has an chance to pursue each possible direction to achieve the next level of success.
The science champion may or may not get a job, may or may not have a promising career, may or may not get to work in their preferred field, and in all circumstances has no clear path to defined markers of success.
There could be annual science competitions, but none have the objective championship declaration like the number of points scored in a basketball game.
The science champion will have to figure things out and accept decisions made by others. They are caught in a status quo of research grants, subjective analysis, and naysayers and unbelievers, questioning what turn out to be their best ideas.
The Opportunity to Prepare
The basketball player can ramp up her own performance, and aim for higher and higher opportunities along the pre-determined path.
And because the basketball player can see the path, the road and the opportunities ahead, she can PREPARE to be a professional basketball player, coach or even team manager or executive, knowing the available jobs and programs, out around the entire world…for life.
Every day the basketball player needs to do more drills, more shots, more weight-lifting and running. Diet can be modified, so can sleep. Hours can be spent watching tape to see not only how the greats play, but also your own mistakes.
The basketball player can always be ready for the next opportunity…
…The science champion has to rely on outside forces.
The aspiring entrepreneur must do both.
Like science geeks, aspiring entrepreneurs do not have a clear road, but like basketball players, you can prepare.
An aspiring entrepreneur can understand the road to follow, and the skills to develop, while declaring a passion around an idea upon which you build your business…and then work directly in that business to achieve success.
And the success is defined…by the objective global marketplace.
The market will tell you if you have won or lost against your definition of success.
Declare Your Expertise Through Your Work
Many who follow the entrepreneurial road are indoctrinated into the science geek’s understanding of life, and allow the gatekeepers to decide their path.
Outside forces define not only the qualifications for your professional success, but also the attributes that would put you on their radar in the first place.
The result is not always satisfactory, a fact that leads many to try entrepreneurship. And when walking away to go into business for themselves, aspiring entrepreneurs can look at the activities successful entrepreneurs are doing, and model their practices.
As an entrepreneur, you set your goals based on the opportunity you see, and you work to achieve them.
The only approval you need is from the global marketplace where you deliver your product or service.
Select your passion, the niche or space – the product or service you want to champion – exactly where you want to make your mark, and you use it to do exactly what you want to do, even if you have no experience.
The key driver for successful entrepreneurs is doing the work. That’s what separates the successful from the forgotten. That’s the only common denominator.
Entrepreneurs can be born rich or poor, finish school or not, go to the formal workplace or not, travel the world or not – and in all cases, the success stories are written by and about those who did the work, and did not give up.
You declare your expertise exactly where you are going to put in the work.
Because your intentions and effort will put you ahead of those who are not doing anything. You can start with zero experience because the minute you get started you know more than the next person who never tried.
If your production and delivery of the product or service resonates with that next person, that person will consider you the expert they want to follow, and you will have your business.
Just like a basketball player, you keep the main goal in mind, while you make adjustments based on feedback and the response you receive from the global marketplace.
While the science geek is waiting for grant money or possible job offers, you are practicing the moves needed to break in to the next level by being passionately involved in your chosen area of expertise.
You have to get ready like the basketball player.
You have to prepare to be a Ready Entrepreneur
For the next article, Part 3 of 4: How to Decide on an Online Platform: Click Here
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Case Lane is delivering a FREE WEBINAR: How to Start an Online Business With An Idea You Champion!
Thursday 10 am PST via Zoom
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How to Find an Online Business Idea…
…That Works for You!
Part 1 of 4: You are in the Internet World Now!
by Case Lane
You are looking at a world where everyone seems to be making money online.
Even if you do not really surf social media or pay that much attention to the online world, you know other people are building financial security and having an awesome time…and you’re not.
And you’re wondering what to do next. Should you join in? Are you missing the future? After all you’re educated and have worked for years and have tons of experience, and you’re wondering why you cannot have the same success, that these overnight online wonders seem to be having.
Then you think again, and wonder about jeopardizing your education, work experience and knowledge by doing something you’ll regret online.
Do you have to be silly? Swear and be outrageous? Do a song and dance like those other people you see? Or can you be serious and spread your knowledge without becoming just another one of those annoying Internet show-offs?
The Value of Online Business
You know, many of us never imagined having to figure out how to earn income online…
We did not see, and did not have to see the rise of technology as a life-altering fact.
For many it was like a fad that would pass…
I noticed this back when I worked in Hollywood, and watched the rise of digital media from physical media (you remember film and tape, right?). Over a couple of years, we were first spurred on to switch from VHS to DVDs..
…but would you believe I worked with a high-paid home entertainment executive who once said, with all sincerity, “I don’t know why someone would want to buy a DVD.”
Maybe in hindsight, when you think about the multi-billion dollar industry that was once occupied by DVDs, you want to laugh right? This guy was making millions, seriously millions of dollars a year, running a billion-dollar division of a mega global corporation, and he honestly had no idea what was driving consumer choices.
That executive could not see the future that was right in front of his face. He probably would not be able to do the same today.
The transition from the industrial age to the tech age is already overwhelming people, including, and maybe especially, those who are educated, and well-off, and think that they and their children are already set for life.
What if they are not? What if you are not?
In 2020, the world changed overnight. We have always lived in a world where we could not, technically, predict the future. But in 2020, the uncertainty is at a new height.
Companies are spending day and night planning for the post-pandemic world. But they’re planning in a fog.
What’s the new normal?
Nobody knows.
Your Opportunity Online
Given the uncertainty around us, we have to react to changes…and learn to react quickly.
In the pandemic economy, essential workers, corporate management …and online entrepreneurs continued to work. Delivering value and solutions to increasing numbers of those who want or need new services and products.
After starting ebook self-publishing while in law school, I decided the best way to learn was to do, and I became immersed in the world of online entrepreneurship and the tech tools and resources available to everyone who wants to get online.
I firmly believe that a great number of us, maybe one-quarter to one-third of the population should be independent, self-sufficient entrepreneurs taking full advantage of technology and the global marketplace to maintain and enhance our security in the global economy.
We should not be living in a world of constant instability.
And even if there is some recognition tomorrow that the global pandemic exacerbated the gap between rich and poor, and we have to do something about it, governments and civic society are unlikely to develop long-term solutions anytime soon.
How long will lasting permanent sustainable viable change take? Longer than you you’ve got.
You are much better off securing your place – by yourself.
Follow a Guided, Tactical Path
The online entrepreneurship opportunity is alive and thriving, the investment is low, and the demand is high, yet many do not accomplish their dream to become an online entrepreneur, or they drop out while trying.
To avoid overwhelm, and help you see through the jumble of information so that you could get your chance in the digital economy, follow a clear path that makes sense to you.
Based on my research, reading, building my business, observing developments all over the world, talking to other entrepreneurs, helping aspiring entrepreneurs, and trying all the various paths myself, I developed a framework you can use to prepare BEFORE diving in to one of the online entrepreneurship fields.
Instead of randomly thinking about whether you could be a blogger or podcaster or course creator, take the cleared path through the noise, and adopt the blueprint you could use so you would know where to start.
Focus on Value
The tech economy both thrills and scares people.
The first post is the hardest, right?
As an online entrepreneur, remember you share value. Your work is important. You provide knowledge, advice or even useful tips from your hobby that other people can find useful.
The first time you decide to put your words online, you may feel a little trepidation.
This fear is normal. The reason is the visibility and permanence that comes with posting. In this current environment, what you say online defines you, and stays part of your legacy forever…as far as we know…
And that’s pretty scary…
So spend time to think through the content you plan to deliver before you post your message…even if you’re still worried.
What will happen?
A variety of people are making money online for a reason. They overcame their initial trepidation to make sure they contributed.
Entrepreneurs have the courage to move forward.
Define Your Personal Goals
Maybe you want additional income, or maybe you are really concerned about your current paycheck or your retirement…
Maybe you want to use the incredible education, knowledge and experience you have built up, and deliver it to a world that wants and needs what you have to offer.
If you can create an online revenue stream for yourself, you have a chance to build your future security, hedge your bets against job instability, and fully participate in the online global economy…
In other words, you can set your own future…and maybe set one for your kids, friends and others too.
This is the future we all have to get moving on together.
That old world Hollywood executive did not understand how the world was changing…
But you do…
…And so do I…
Get the Right Idea
To take advantage of the online entrepreneurship opportunity to make money, be successful, and achieve lifestyle freedom…
Focus on a business idea that:
- Reflects your interests or skills
- Delivers over the platform where you are most comfortable
- Helps you be the automatic leader in your niche of niches
That means…
1. Technology, and the access to the global market you get through technology are not passing fads. You have to recognize that this is a permanent change to our economy and society. And you have to decide if you want to fully participate, by starting an online business, and becoming a contributor.
2. If you’ve come this far, you probably recognize that becoming an online entrepreneur allows you to take the best of all worlds…
…You can highlight your professional skills
…Reach deep into your interests
…And deliver value to those who are aligned with you.
There may be other professions that provide you with job satisfaction or financial security, but they all also likely depend on the Internet. By starting your own business online, you are setting yourself up for the future that is already here and covering all your bases.
3. When you prepare to be an online entrepreneur you increase your chance of success by focusing on exactly what you like to do, and picking the platform and tools that best fit your vision for your ideal life.
You have your opportunity to achieve your vision of Lifestyle Freedom through an Online Business – the 21st century dream life – but without Feeling Fear, Embarrassment or Imposter Syndrome.
You want to be authentic and deliver value as you see fit.
Today, right now, you are living the opportunity to have the life that you truly want. A life on your terms where you add value that you believe in, and that makes you feel like you’re really contributing to build the world you want to see.
Becoming an entrepreneur, being your own boss and having your own business is one of the best ways to take control of your life, and to deliver to yourself your own life dream.
But you have to get started.
Why is it so important for you to move forward with entrepreneurship now?
Summary
1. Technology is our lifeline and upon it we are building the future. So the more you know about having a life online, the better you will be.
2. Being an online entrepreneur means you develop online skills, you learn the tools and resources which now are indispensable in the work world, and you can accelerate your professional development, and improve where you want to be.
3. When you prepare to be an online entrepreneur you increase your chance of success by focusing on exactly what you like to do, and picking the platform and tools that best suit your vision.
For the next article: Click Here for Part 2 of 4: How to Prepare to
ENJOY LIVE TEACHING?
Case Lane is delivering a FREE WEBINAR: How to Start an Online Business With An Idea You Champion!
Thursday 10 am PST via Zoom
WANT TO READ THE BOOK?
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Click this link to get your summary and early bird notice of the book’s release.
What is an Aspiring Entrepreneur?
The two words ‘aspiring entrepreneur’ have their roots in Latin.
Aspire comes from aspirare – ad- ‘to’ + spirare ‘breathe’. The root of the English word ‘aspire’ is to breath. Yet we have come to associate aspire with ambition, dreaming and hoping for an accomplishment.
The idea of being aspirational often refers to the indefinite, those with their head in the clouds. In fact, we even say lofty heights of buildings are aspiring into the sky.
Image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay
A word meaning breathing, the act we need for life, has ended up as a reference to lofty dreams that can be celebrated or ignored. From a root tied to actually staying alive, we have derived a hopeful sensibility to achieve something you desire.
The word entrepreneur, comes from the French, entreprendre which means to undertake. The Latin root is prendere, which means to take.
Would this mean the term ‘aspiring entrepreneur’ refers to a breathing taker – or the breather who seeks to undertake?
Two Words for One Intention
A friend of mine once told me he studied Latin to avoid needing a dictionary. When you look up words, you often find the Latin root, which if you know the definition, means you can define the word.
When it comes to the concept of an aspiring entrepreneur, the Latin root appears to betray a less serious qualifier on the action-oriented French intention ‘to undertake.’
Maybe aspiration alone is not enough.
Entrepreneurs also need ambition, drive and perseverance.
The aspiring entrepreneur who ‘undertakes’ is more likely to transform dreams into actual action. A fact which brings the term ‘aspiring entrepreneur’ full circle.
The entrepreneur part of an aspiring entrepreneur undertakes to get things done. The aspiration part is knowing you can make it happen. The dreaming – breathing part of the definition is the vision needed to ensure a business idea gets into the global marketplace.
An aspiring entrepreneur, who stays aspiring, is the ‘almost’ entrepreneur who has not yet found a path to business success that will work. To get beyond aspiring that entrepreneur has to keep going until the correct road is identified.
Follow Examples
In Wild Company, Mel and Patricia Ziegler’s awesome book about building the Banana Republic stores, they knew they wanted to have a business even if they did not have a specific idea which one. They went out looking for a business that would work for them.
The titans of the early 20th century like Rockefeller capitalized on opportunities they saw growing around them in new technologies for steel and oil.
The titans of the 21st century like Jeff Bezos used the capabilities of technology and the reach of the Internet to build new businesses.
Are You Aspiring?
An entrepreneur who has yet to create a business must decide if activities reflect: Continuous aspiring? Searching for visible opportunities? Or preparing to create something new?
Begin first by considering where you have been. What makes you believe you are an entrepreneur? If it’s the idea that you want to have your own business, that you have a product or service you believe could be of value, or you know you want an independent professional life, then you are set. You are already in the entrepreneurial space.
If you want to be an entrepreneur for the ‘bling’, the money, house, car and publicity, but you do not have a valuable product or service attached to your vision, then you may be stuck in aspiration for some time to come.
It is much easier to pursue your dream and work on it every day, if you believe in it and you care about results and the outcome. You have a great chance to actually have a business if your passion for your product or service is also the fuel that prompts you to put the time and money in to making the passion a business.
It is a lot harder to commit to a plan if you really just see it as a ticket to…nowhere.
Actions for Moving Beyond Aspiration
To get beyond aspiring, make a commitment to a business idea that you can move forward into a business.
Take the time to research your idea, find your niche and community.
Determine where you can add value, and the product or service needs of the community.
And put your research in to action.
Forever aspiring means never doing.
You want to see the results of your dream not just having the dream.
An aspiring entrepreneur is the person who focuses on the hope and dream of entrepreneurship. You can start aspiring, but must transition to actual action to be considered an entrepreneur.
Summary: To Transition to Action:
- Research your idea – determine who wants or needs the product or service you would like to offer
- Talk to people who have done it before
- Identify the value you can add – your niche
- Put your research into action
Take your vision past aspiration, and on to implementation.
Disclosure: Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. I earn for eligible purchases at no additional cost to you.
by Case Lane
When you are first starting as an entrepreneur and manage to put away 15 minutes a day to work on your business, you will likely start by researching more about your business idea.
The purpose of your research should be to find sufficient information to move on to the next step in launching your business. But many aspiring entrepreneurs get caught in analysis paralysis, endlessly researching similar products or services in an effort to understand the competition. But there are more productive ways to spend your time.
When researching:
Investigate your Business Idea
Once you have a business idea, you have to find the information to fill in the gaps in your knowledge.
Most business ideas come from the entrepreneur’s own questions around their likes, dislikes, hobbies, experiences, work and education. Some people have also asked others to contribute to an idea. The origin of the idea is the foundation for going forward and doing your research.
Research Leads to Action
All research should be leading to action. The research provides the details about how you can bring your product or service to your community, then you can begin to take the action steps necessary to make it happen.
Research helps you realize what you need to do. The information can help you decide how to determine what you like or do not like that is already available, to identify best practices and good ideas, and to put together an action plan for yourself.
You want to see what’s going on in the marketplace – if anything – related to your product or service. And this exercise exists even if you have an idea of a product or service that does not exist in the marketplace.
Look at the context and functions for your idea
Looking at the broader market will help you determine the context for your product or service.
For example, there is a saying that if Henry Ford had listened to his customers, they would have said they want a faster horse. The statement is supposed to be profound because Ford of course brought the car to the masses. The masses could not have envisioned a car, they could only envision a faster horse.
But if you look at the context of this example, you see a different story. Consider the functional not literal product Ford delivered.
The customers were saying they want to get around faster. And Ford responded by giving them away to get around faster than a horse. He even emulated the infrastructure needed to manage his new product.
The car needs care and feeding, just like a horse, but this time with hay not gasoline. The product needs to be stored, not in a stable but in a garage. And it must be maintained, not with horse shoes but with tires. Ford actually gave people the functionality of a faster horse – that’s just not what we ended up calling it.
So when you are looking at your product or service, you are looking at the context for how you will introduce the product, and the functions it will perform.
Even if you have invented a new product or service, you still need to research the other products or services that try to address the same or a similar problem.
Go Offline
After all the online research, it’s important to remember there is a world outside where potential customers could be demonstrating the literal or functional use of your product or service.
If you look and touch the real world, you might learn more about what you intend to offer. Go out to see your product or service in live action. You can go to a store and see people shop or ask questions about the product, or maybe just walk down the street to see if your idea evolves based on your real world interactions.
Even if your product is completely digital, consider if the problem you are trying to solve also plays out in the physical world.
Limit Your Research Time
When starting research, Now I mentioned earlier that you do not need to do endless research. You can decide how much time you really want to spend. Part of the decision rests on how your life is currently organized. If you are only taking 15 mins a day to research because you are slowly working up to your available time then it make take you several weeks to put together sufficient information.
Generally if you have one or two hours a day, start with one week, and see how much information you can gather. If you still feel you need more information, go one more week. But do not keep procrastinating or delaying the work.
You are much better off getting started than just trying to keep researching forever.
You will know you are finished when you have enough information to move forward. For example, if you are starting a podcast and you’ve researched equipment and learned how you can do the recording, and where to host the completed file, at that point it’s time to create content.
You don’t need to keep looking at microphones. You can go with the most recommended one and if you don’t like it you can upgrade later. The same is true for the hosting platform or recording software. You can always change your mind after you get started and receive initial feedback on how the process is working.
In general, you are doing research to give you enough information to move your business along, not to have an excuse to delay starting your business.
Summary for How to Research Your Business Idea
- After you have selected your business idea, research is used to determine what you need to do next to take action on getting your business started
- Think about the functional use for your product or service and the context that people will use it, not just the literal use of similar products or services
- Go out into the real world with your research, not just online. Look up how similar products and services are presented in the marketplace
- Keep going until you have enough information to move on to the next step of your plan. A week of 1-2 hour days is a good start. Make sure you stop and move on. You can always change your mind after you have started and tested the results of your decision.
- It’s better to start the business with a little research, than to not start at all while you continue to spend time endlessly looking things up
The key to researching your business idea is to get enough information to move you along to the next step.
The idea as always is to just get started.
How to Get Started with No Audience or Market
If you are an aspiring entrepreneur with no friends, family or colleagues who support your idea of becoming an entrepreneur; or you have tons of friends, but all of them are only interested in partying, celebrities, sports or other things, and nobody ever wants to talk about business, how do you get your business idea out into the global marketplace?.
You may have a business idea in your head, but when you try and share your plans, you get the cold shoulder. No one is going to give you any feedback about whether or not your idea is any good. But you are ready to launch. You have a product or service you want to put out into the global marketplace, but you have no idea how to make sure your potential customers know about you.
How do you get started?
Product Launch
When you start a business you often do something called a product launch. One of the best ways to think of it, is it’s like a movie premiere. The final official launch of a new movie is a big party announcing the ‘product’ is now available for everyone to see.
If you are a billion-dollar Hollywood studio, you throw a huge bash, invite all the stars, roll out the red carpet, tell the press, and bam! your product is launched, and gets mountains of free publicity.
Publicity that comes months after – trailers, bus side posters, interviews in the press, and many other promotional activities have already taken place. If you are a Hollywood studio, you spend money to launch a product and you’re done.
How can your business idea get the red carpet treatment?
But if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur and you don’t have the multi-million dollar budget, how do you get started?
If you would like to hear these strategies, check out the Ready Entrepreneur Podcast Episode 063: How to Get Started with No Audience or Market on Apple Podcasts or wherever you enjoy your podcasts
Friends and Family
Many entrepreneur how-to gurus will tell you to start your promotion with friends and family. If you can get the people around you to try your product or service, and maybe even review it, you can easily get started with immediate feedback and ‘social proof.’
The early support is helpful and inspiring, but really only works best when friends and family are your potential community. If they’re not, the support your receive may not be genuine, as they may not be interested in contributing to your idea, or might provide a half-baked response.
Using friends and family works best for those who have strong, supportive and active friends and family. If you belong to religious groups or organizations that support individual endeavors, you can leverage those connections.
If you don’t have a supportive immediate circle, you have to think like a Hollywood studio.
Publicity
When launching a new product or service, an entrepreneur needs publicity. And you get publicity by creating a compelling story about your product or service, and then telling people who are, or can connect you with, media influencers.
There are many ways to start telling people about your product or service. Start with social media. Develop the message of your product or service and post about it on social media. Different platforms perform differently for this approach.
If you use Instagram and your product or service can be displayed in pretty pictures, then go ahead and post attractive photos. You can also use hashtags to highlight your product or service for people who are looking for something similar. Instagram works best for this because it gives you the popularity of hashtags.
Twitter works in a similar way. Sometimes people search for an idea, or phrase ,and you can lead them to your product or service if you are using a hashtag that is associated with your product or service.
If you use Facebook, you can write a detailed post, with links to your site. However, you may have a more challenging time circulating your posts to others.
If you have some friends or family who you know are not interested in your business, try and get them to circulate your message others by encouraging them to repost or pass it on to someone who may be interested.
Social media allows you to move forward if you have no other resources, and you just want to see what kind of an organic response your idea may receive from the marketplace.
Giveaways
Before a Hollywood studio releases a movie, they let a lot of people see it for free. They hope those people enjoy the movie, write reviews and spread the word to others. You can do the same with your product or service.
You can offer the product or service for free, or offer a portion of it or a companion product that prompts people to just pick up and try your idea.
Free promos have been part of the marketing playbook for years. You may already be familiar with the practice inside your local Costco. There is a reason they are giving out free samples. The store is trying to prompt the customer to buy the whole product. You can use the same tactic.
Depending on your product or service, you have to find the best place to provide your free offer. The aisles at Costco are controlled. But you may be able to find a local event or product fair that suits your style and business intent.
Online you can use tools like webinars, YouTube videos or Internet calls to provide free services that allow people to sample what you have to offer and how you deliver it.
Once you are able to obtain a potential customer’s attention through a free offer, then you have an opportunity to retain them by collecting an e-mail address, and continuing to communicate and follow-up.
Blog, Podcast or Video posts
You can also build your audience through blogging, podcasting and online videos. These platforms can be free to use, and provide you with an opportunity to present a more detailed and thoughtful message about your product or service.
Plan your ‘message’ from the perspective of the customer. What would you want to hear about a new product or service that would peak your interest and stop you in your tracks? You can write a story about your product, or the reason you decided to start your service, or a testimonial from someone else. And if you come up with a compelling idea, you may even be able to leverage other people’s audiences.
Other people’s audiences
If your idea resonates with the audience of another blogger, podcaster or vlogger, you can ask to appear on their established platform. These influencers are often looking for great new ideas for their audience. If you can present your product or service in a way that appeals to them, you may be able to ‘launch’ to an established audience.
But make sure you do your research. Do not approach influencers who have nothing to do with your product or service, or whose audiences would be completely different from your intended community. When you reach out, make sure you have something to offer that’s compelling and interesting enough for the influencer to want to present you to their community.
Most businesses began with no visible market. In fact, many aspiring entrepreneurs were told their idea would not work, and their business will not be successful.
The founding entrepreneur had to reach the people who would be interested in the product or service they had to offer. Ben and Jerry drove around selling ice-cream out of the back of their van. They took the product to the potential customers, and let them spread the word.
Summary:
- You can start your own publicity machine with family and friends if they are supportive
- If the people around you are not your intended community, reach out to social media with your messages, photos and hashtags that appeal to the people you are trying to reach
- You can giveaway your product or service in the arena that is most appropriate, whether that be at a physical event or online. Let people give your product or service a test run, and then become the testimonials for your future promotions
- Use online tools like blogging, podcasting or vlogging to create a compelling message about your product or service, and deliver it to a larger audience
- Reach out to people who have established blogs, podcasts or vlogs and let them know if you have a product or service that may be beneficial to their community. You have to show them how you provide value.
