9 Examples of Short-term Thinking for Entrepreneurs

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this. For the most part, if you are using social media as a way to get your word out you should think in terms of an audience not a list of leads. That’s old school. These days people don’t want to feel manipulated or forced into a sales funnel, and customers don’t want to be sold too. Focus on building an audience and a brand first and then if your outreach is seen as legit customers will come to your door.4. Thinking having a funnel or offer or an email list is the same as having a business. This is similar to point number 35. Selling offers that don’t logically link to other offers. You are building not just a sales funnel but a brand and you want to convey a concept to your customers that include add-on sales. You want to build your offer funnel and let each part lead the customer to the next step.6. Assuming you can only inexpensively get leads and traffic by being on social media. Social media is one aspect of making contacts with future clients. Breaking through using social media because everybody’s doing it. There are of course a number of avenues for spreading your word but rising to the top takes a lot of time and dedication that takes away from other aspects of running your business.7. Having 50% or more of your income tied up in ONE offer or client, and not at least in the process of working to change that. This is just unsustainable for the long-term success of your business. If your goal is to own a business longer term this is something you would have to change.I have applied for work with companies in the past that had primarily on

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e customer for their product but would never take the job because my income was too closely tied to the outcome of the relationship with just one company. It is not secure enough for me.8. Selling “what” you offer instead of selling the benefits. Another term for this is “sell the sizzle, not the steak”. Customers may care a little about who you are but for the most part, they want to know what you can do for them. Many of my early blogs had no specific audience, cuz I just wanted to write about yogic breathing techniques or chestnut trees. These early articles had no specific audience and offered no specific benefit to the reader.9. Making transactions at the expense of relationships. Remember when building a business your goal is to have repeat customers that are satisfied with the “thing” you are offering. Online it may seem that reputation does not matter as much because you do not usually meet your customers in person, but it does matter.These principles apply to any business you may find yourself involved with. The best way to avoid these mistakes is to have a well-thought-out business and marketing plan.If you are not a Medium member and you would like to gain unlimited access to the platform, consider using my <a href="https://chester-beard.medium.com/membership">referral link right here</a> to sign up. It’s $5 a month and you get unlimited access to my articles and many others like mine. Thank you.If you want to subscribe to my email list click <a href="https://chester-beard.medium.com/subscribe">here</a>.</article></body>

Signs You Are Not Thinking Long-term About Your Business

Being a solopreneur is hard work. And there are a lot of ways you can make your work harder if you ignore some simple principles. Having managed a retail business for years and now after being in the tech world working for others I believe I have some perspective to share on how to run and manage a business.

I worked at Microsoft and at a health care company and many small startups as well as owned my own retail business for a number of years. The following are some lessons I have learned over the years that I think are helpful to understand.

1. Setting goals that are outcome-dependent ( for example, make X sales by Y date) vs goals that are not outcome-dependent (write and send 1 email each day that sells something).

2. Being a slave-to-marketing metrics at the expense of all the intangibles in a business that are just as important. There are many aspects included in running and owning a successful freelance or retail business.

3. Building a list instead of an audience. Many platforms allow the sharing of links to other resources not on their platform. Some do not allow for this. For the most part, if you are using social media as a way to get your word out you should think in terms of an audience not a list of leads. That’s old school. These days people don’t want to feel manipulated or forced into a sales funnel, and customers don’t want to be sold too. Focus on building an audience and a brand first and then if your outreach is seen as legit customers will come to your door.

4. Thinking having a funnel or offer or an email list is the same as having a business. This is similar to point number 3

5. Selling offers that don’t logically link to other offers. You are building not just a sales funnel but a brand and you want to convey a concept to your customers that include add-on sales. You want to build your offer funnel and let each part lead the customer to the next step.

6. Assuming you can only inexpensively get leads and traffic by being on social media. Social media is one aspect of making contacts with future clients. Breaking through using social media because everybody’s doing it. There are of course a number of avenues for spreading your word but rising to the top takes a lot of time and dedication that takes away from other aspects of running your business.

7. Having 50% or more of your income tied up in ONE offer or client, and not at least in the process of working to change that. This is just unsustainable for the long-term success of your business. If your goal is to own a business longer term this is something you would have to change.

I have applied for work with companies in the past that had primarily one customer for their product but would never take the job because my income was too closely tied to the outcome of the relationship with just one company. It is not secure enough for me.

8. Selling “what” you offer instead of selling the benefits. Another term for this is “sell the sizzle, not the steak”. Customers may care a little about who you are but for the most part, they want to know what you can do for them. Many of my early blogs had no specific audience, cuz I just wanted to write about yogic breathing techniques or chestnut trees. These early articles had no specific audience and offered no specific benefit to the reader.

9. Making transactions at the expense of relationships. Remember when building a business your goal is to have repeat customers that are satisfied with the “thing” you are offering. Online it may seem that reputation does not matter as much because you do not usually meet your customers in person, but it does matter.

These principles apply to any business you may find yourself involved with. The best way to avoid these mistakes is to have a well-thought-out business and marketing plan.

If you are not a Medium member and you would like to gain unlimited access to the platform, consider using my referral link right here to sign up. It’s $5 a month and you get unlimited access to my articles and many others like mine. Thank you.

If you want to subscribe to my email list click here.