I had a local grade 12 student find me through a press
release I sent out and ask me for some advice to aspiring
entrepreneurs. It was great to see the intitiative, and is
was also rewarding to me that they advice I gave him on this
one question applies to anyone in business now (there were
about 12 questions but I will only share this one right
now).
Q> What advice would you offer to aspiring entrepreneurs?
A> Get going! Seriously, the biggest reason I see people
failing in business is that they overanalyze things and
never take action. Through action alone you find out what
works and what doesn't. Planning will never show you that as
what seems great on a piece of paper typically is very
different in the real world.
By far, the biggest, most important, consider-it-critical,
skill to learn is marketing. No matter how great your
product is - you will fail if you don't do marketing
properly. Learn how to do direct response marketing - the
only kind of marketing that has measurable returns. And if
you can't measure it, how do you know it is working? And if
you don't know if it is working, how do you know where your
best choice for investing in marketing is?
Also, contrary to most marketing classes and books - never
find a customer need and sell to it. Find their wants - and
sell to that. The difference? No one needs a BMW, Hummer or
Mercedes but people want them real bad - and are willing to
pay through the teeth to get one.
Never compete on price. It is a never ending battle that you
cannot win. Someone will always be cheaper than you. Sell to
the higher end where you make 4 - 10 times the profit - for
very little more work than at the low end price point.
Besides - the fastest growing market is to sell to the
affluent - they want premium goods and services - and will
pay for them if the offer and service is right.
Fail lots! You have to fail a ton of times to get what you
want. And the only way to fail is to try. Most people who
try their hands at business end up quitting not far into the
game as they can't handle failure. There are solid reasons
why 85% of businesses don't survive the 5 year mark - and
their frustration with failure I would say is among the top
reasons to close their doors. It WILL take 3 times longer
and cost you 4 times more than you would guess to start, run
and succeed in your own business... but the ride is worth it
and I will never look back.
The biggest gift I can give my kids is to show them the
power of persistence, passion and life-long learning to live
life on their own terms. And the ONLY way to do this, at
least in my eyes, is to start your own business and learn
how to market it properly.
Alan, I wish you all the luck with your project - if there
is anything else I can do, please let me know. Thanks, Troy
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