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BIGBUSINESS
GREATPERSONALITY
ISBN-13: 9781514673775
ISBN-10: 1514673770
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Table of Contents………..……………………………………….........................................................2
Book Description…………………………………………………………………………………...…..4
Preface……………………………………………………………...........................................................6
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………….....7
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………….9
Lesson One………………………………….........................................................................................12
Start a Big Business as an Entrepreneur…………………………………………………………….12
25 Questions for all Young Aspiring Entrepreneurs ………...........................................................14
How to Succeed as an Aspiring Entrepreneur………………………..……………………………20
Use your Talents and Latent Ideas to Enjoy Prosperity……..........................................................24
Find the right skills and build the right personality………………………………………………28
There’ll always be a way forward……………………………...........................................................31
How to plan your way forward……………………………………………..……………………....33
Lesson Two………………………………………………………………………………………….....37
Don’t Underestimate the importance of a Good Startup….……………………….......................37
A simple way to target your audience indiscriminately………………………….........................38
Questionnaire………………………………………………………………………….........................42
Lesson Three……………………………………………………..........................................................48
How Hungry are you for success as an entrepreneur…………………………………………….48
Taking your business planning to the next level……………………………………......................52
Moving into presenting your elevator pitch……………………………………………………….56
What you have to practice doing now is pitching brand…………………………………………58
How to start an elevator pitch by writing …& practicing...………………………………………59
How to take advantage of the … elevator pitch…………………………………………………...63
How to set a tone for business engagement with networking…………………………………...66
You might need motivation to try what you’ve learnt……………………………………………60
Lesson Four……………………………………………………………………………………………73
Do you know why you are afraid of getting out? ...........................................................................73
Where is your starting point? ……………………………………………………………………….75
How to prepare yourself for flight over competitions…………………………………………….77
What you should start trying right away……………………..........................................................79
Unleash your power for success now……………………………………………………………….81
Lesson Five……………………………………………………………………………….....................84
Do you know how best to sell your brand? …………………..........................................................84
The best communication marketing tools to update………............................................................89
General idea of your communication marketing tools so far…………………………………...125
Lesson Six…………………………………………………………………………………………….129
Pitch Don’t Preach…………………………………………………………………………….……..129
Learn the five entrepreneurial success maxims……………………………………......................131
Never stop believing in yourself………………………………………………………………..….132
How entrepreneurs plan for success……………………………………………………………....136
How to avoid mistakes in your plan………………………………………………………………140
Plan and prepare for success with entrepreneurial enthusiasm………………………………..145
Starting to lead by conceiving to achieve…………………………………………………………158
Essential Leadership Defined………………………………………………………………………160
Understanding concept leadership broadly………………………………………………………162
Demarcations in basic leadership…………………………………………………….....................163
Substantial leadership: defined……………………………………………………….....................164
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………171
A great result of work……………………………………………………………………………….173
Copyright © 2015 by Francis Bestman Isugu.
ISBN-13: 978-1514673775 for CreateSpace Edition
ISBN-10: 1514673770 for CreateSpace Edition
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Book Description
GET BUSY DOING SOMETHING PROFITABLE NOW
Key to starting your business is awareness of the market, the
prospect, the demand, the product/service and the best price to
offer for products and services. But this is just too flat to state.
Business is more than a stock of concepts defined and monetized
but more about engagements, interaction, skill, knowledge,
understanding, communication, exchange, values, strategies, plan,
assets, resources, capital, finance, support, sponsorship and
options.
Everyone isn’t going to do the same thing; you aren’t necessarily
going to do what others are doing. There are many options,
choose one, focus on it, plan it out, send it out, set it up, invest in
it, have fun with it, communicate it, localize it, customize it, trade
it, redesign it, package it, project it, promote it and market it.
That’s your option for profit when you market it.
Marketing might be a big challenge for you; most especially,
when you don’t have adequate knowledge and skill, can’t
communicate with understanding and can’t consequently engage
your prospects. But you know your purpose. It’s right to believe
that if your purpose is good enough, then someone out there
would certainly be interested in what you are offering.
In view of that, you have to get yourself out there and find who
that someone is. Meeting someone, you start presenting yourself
and your something, and it doesn’t have to be what and how
everybody around has been presenting.
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You have something new, that’s what you’re communicating and
how you are communicating it is important too. Don’t be afraid,
someone there is already wired to accept your new connection,
with your new something; and, the good news is, if it is really
valuable and unique, because you have explored and veered away
from common offer, then someone will be appreciating it, you
didn’t expect so soon,
Moreover, everything is worth the try; when you have a good
purpose and your purpose is to impress and expand the scope of
the market, or to make a milestone that the industry will find
relevant, or even to disrupt your industry. Whatever your
purpose of getting started is, you should know how profitable it is.
It may not necessarily be among the hot deals, where everyone
has been veering to, because of the money coming from there, in
the industry. It might just be your invention.
And what do you think you are doing with an invention in the
saturated market? You are doing something everyone wants to
see, because people want something new, as a result, it’s not going
to be profitless. For this reason, don’t look down on your ideas.
Come up with something new and relevant to the industry, and
the goodnews is, no one can predict, you might be the first to
profit real big from it, and keep all the profit to yourself, to fill
your pocket more than you nixed and fulfill your duty.
Accordingly, don’t be afraid to start; don’t be afraid to go out
there with your big ideas. Don’t be afraid to come up with
something new, it might be what everyone else isn’t thinking of,
and it might not just be an innovation, it might be your own
invention. Be proud of your ideas and exploit them profitably.
“Big Business Great Personality” challenges you to think of
success as borne by choice, you must start something somehow,
and however you start, don’t forget to think S_M_A_R&T.
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Abstract
PREFACE
Would you prefer to spend your life doing things you hate or you
would devote yourself to a lifestyle that is truly an endless source of
delight for you?
Make the right choice and read this book recommending you spend
your life on what you love. If you love helping others succeed, then
create a business idea that supports your plan and life. Sell your
business idea to people who need your help to succeed. Solve a
problem. Make profit on your solutions. Let people in need find you.
Be devoted to a work that not only is a source of delight for you but
is also a source of joy for all others who benefit from whatever it is
they find you able to help them crack, with your evocative and
peerlessly great business idea.
In “3 Truths Wise Entrepreneurs All learned the Hard Way” an
article published June 15, 2015, Kimanzi Constable wrote about
success saying, “When you are doubtful of success, you can’t get to
a place in your mind that allows you to take the necessary action,
you have a defeated mindset that will keep you stucked.”
(entrepreneur.com)
“
Others share in the benefits of his accomplishments, they enjoy
unmerited privileges from his success and he succeeds to make life
really better for them, to enable them recognize, utilize and create
more opportunities also for others. He is the truly successful man...”
You can begin to realize your potential for true success, if you can
care and think of how to solve the problems of people around you,
and that’s just it. It is with reference to working well enough to own
accomplishments others can become beneficiaries of.
According to J. Maurus (1971), “The man who does the world the
most good, the man who helps mankind onward and upward, is the
man who dreams of helpfulness, usefulness, progress and
improvement, and then gets them materialized.” (Today Is Ours, 16)
It is in relation to taking the initiative to solve one’s own needs
through work, as an entrepreneur, without depending on others for
everything. It is the ability to succeed to show the way to others on
the ideal way to become successful.
You are reading this book because you need a mindlift that will take
you out of where you were stucked, since it happens once and again
to experience self-defeat. You won’t remain defeated and this time
you have to learn to succeed. If you are successful, people around
you will rejoice; because they will be lucky to have you in their
midst.
Hard work is the ideal way to become successful. It’s particularly as
regards putting oneself in the shoes of others and giving them not
only a listening ear, in order to have theirs without asking for it, but,
most especially, helping them find solutions for those problems they
depend on others for help on. Practice this in business management.
Francis Isugu
There’re problems you know how to solve; without depending on the
government to solve them. Offer to solve them for others and they’ll
be interested.
BYEACE Researcher,
byeaceins@gmail.com
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Not everyone knows how to solve their problems, you can show
them how to solve those problems, and they’ll be happy to know you
have knowledge of solutions to their problems. They’ll be willing to
pay you anything they are required to pay for the solution.
Patrick D’ Lima, (SJ.) says, “Merely pointing accusing fingers at
Government officials is not going to improve matters. Things are
going to change in our surroundings only if people take an active
interest in doing something effective and lasting!” (“Preface” in
Look Beyond Your Horizon. 2000:12)
Big Business Great Personality is a timely business book; with a
series of powerful motifs, that’ll motivate aspiring entrepreneurs and
new brand owners to become successful in business: marketing,
management, administration, public relations and personal career.
It’ll help you—the reader—to become a leader, no matter your
position, and so, you shouldn’t only begin thinking like a leader, but,
also, start acting like a leader, a successful leader, a leader of
successful people, inspiring success in even serial failures, to help
them succeed the next time. It is a book for successful people, who
believe they can do better than ever
The Next Time.
INTRODUCTION
With the duties and responsibilities saddled on us, through our place
and role in society, if we don’t do business responsibly and
successfully, we might not be able to accomplish and act upon them.
Business is not new and human responsibilities are not new either.
Man has always had the responsibility to look after the earth, and the
responsibility to develop society or state is accomplished in business.
The first man had to multiply his kind in partnership with his fruitful
wife. That was business; for all kinds of partnership involve a kind
of business. So, man continues to multiply in colonies to accomplish
a primordial responsibility in groups that occupy the whole earth.
Man has a mandate to succeed in his endeavors.
You also have this mandate. Hence, succeed that others can succeed
through you, especially, inspired by your success to also become
successful like you.
To succeed, engage in a business that enhances your ability to
contribute to development of society in large scale. Such a business
is typically a big business, because it is particularly with such that
others can massively make remarkable developmental imputes by
multiplying the efforts to enhance the expansion of the business. The
ageold injunction is: be fruitful and multiply and fill the whole earth.
A big business is one that has the capacity for global expansion to
fulfill the injunction — “fill the whole earth.” So, if you want to
fulfill your responsibility for developing society successfully, you
must either work for a big business so your efforts will count for the
expansion of the business, or you start up a big business that has the
potential of expansion by the multiplication of talents required to be
hired for the production of results that gear towards global spread.
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There is, therefore, no excuse for having the means for starting a big
business yet refusing to do so. Such refusal is tantamount to personal
failure in large scale because a Big business is meant for the benefit
of people and for developing the society. And if you think you don’t
have the means to start a big business, this work will help you realize
you really have the potential embedded in your great personality.
So, if you can’t start a big business because you lack the material
means, you might be excused from starting one, but there is one
thing you always have the means to start, and that is a great
personality. And so, if you can’t start a great personality because you
think you lack money, this work will put it to you that it doesn’t cost
money to start a great personality, so there is no excuse if you don’t
take responsibility for your life now to also start a great personality.
Two things are involved. First, if you can start a great personality
without money, you cannot start a big business without money, but if
you can start a great personality successfully, you will get the money
and personality required to start a big business; because, Big
Business Great Personality go hand in hand. Second, if you fail to
start a big business when you have the means and you also fail to
start a great personality since you always have the means, you will
become a failure in life; because, you will fail yourself and society.
So, do what is necessary to start a great personality, as you will learn
in this work, so that you’ll have the money and required personality
to also start a big business. Succeed. After all, if you fail, no one will
be inspired by your failure. So do not fail, but succeed, in order to be
an inspiration; for others to also work and live for success. If you
want to succeed, don’t doubt that you can do it better this time or the
next time. This book is a guide on “Big Business Great Personality.”
If you have failed before, this is your time to fail no more.
Don’t fail to focus on what you must do to succeed, it is when you
fail to focus on what you must do to succeed that you consequently
fail to succeed. Learn this lesson now. Take action with unwavering
focus; work hard in the spirit of an entrepreneur aiming at success.
Once again, aim your success at starting a Big Business and a Great
Personality; because, this is how to fulfill all your responsibilities.
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Business is not new and human responsibilities are not new
either. Man has always had the responsibility to look after the
earth, and the responsibility to develop society or state is
accomplished in business.
Two things are involved. First, if you can start a great
personality without money, you cannot start a big business
without money, but if you can start a great personality
successfully, you will get the money and personality required
to start a big business; because, Big Business Great
Personality go hand in hand.
Second, if you fail to start a big business when you have the
means and you also fail to start a great personality since you
always have the means, you will become a failure in life;
because, you will fail yourself and society.
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LESSON ONE
Key to starting your business is awareness of the market, the
prospect, the demand, the product/service and the best price to
offer for products and services. But this is just too flat to state.
Business is more than a stock of concepts defined and monetized
but more about engagements, interaction, skill, knowledge,
understanding, communication, exchange, values, strategies, plan,
assets, resources, capital, finance, support, sponsorship and
options.
Everyone isn’t going to do the same thing; you aren’t necessarily
going to do what others are doing. There are many options,
choose one, focus on it, plan it out, send it out, set it up, invest in
it, have fun with it, communicate it, localize it, customize it, trade
it, redesign it, package it, project it, promote it and market it.
That’s your option for profit when you market it.
Marketing might be a big challenge for you; most especially,
when you don’t have adequate knowledge and skill, can’t
communicate with understanding and can’t consequently engage
your prospects. But you know your purpose. It’s right to believe
that if your purpose is good enough, then someone out there
would certainly be interested in what you are offering.
START S_M_A_R&T
In view of that, you have to get yourself out there and find who
that someone is. Meeting someone, you start presenting yourself
and your something, and it doesn’t have to be what and how
everybody around has been presenting.
You have something new, that’s what you’re communicating and
how you are communicating it is important too. Don’t be afraid,
someone there is already wired to accept your new connection,
with your new something; and, the good news is, if it is really
valuable and unique, because you have explored and veered away
from common offer, then someone will be appreciating it, you
didn’t expect so soon,
Moreover, everything is worth the try; when you have a good
purpose and your purpose is to impress and expand the scope of
the market, or to make a milestone that the industry will find
relevant, or even to disrupt your industry.
Whatever your purpose of getting started is, you should know
how profitable it is. It may not necessarily be among the hot
deals, where everyone has been veering to, because of the money
coming from there, in the industry. It might just be your
invention.
And what do you think you are doing with an invention in the
saturated market? You are doing something everyone wants to
see, because people want something new, as a result, it’s not going
to be profitless.
For this reason, don’t look down on your ideas. Come up with
something new and relevant to the industry, and the goodnews is,
no one can predict, you might be the first to profit real big from
it, and keep all the profit to yourself, to fill your pocket more than
you nixed and fulfill your duty.
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Accordingly, don’t be afraid to start; don’t be afraid to go out
there with your big ideas. Don’t be afraid to come up with
something new, it might be what everyone else isn’t thinking of,
and it might not just be an innovation, it might be your own
invention. Be proud of your ideas and exploit them profitably.
ideas, if you don’t start doing something now or because you
can’t find a job? If you can’t find job, are you searching for
job the right way? How are you searching for job?
A big business does not start in the sky but on a solid foundation
known as “entrepreneurship,’ and being a young person you might
have heard these words “Entrepreneur,” and “Entrepreneurship.” But
you may be thinking these words refer to the status and profitmaking activities of a very outstanding class of people in society,
who have successfully earned enough from their active work to
independently set up their own businesses as risk takers.
4. Do you have a resume? How professional is your resume?
Who prepared your resume for you? For a professional
resume that get’s you interviewed call (+234)810-2427-303
or email: fbiproresumer@yahoo.com. Do you know how to
upload your resume online? Do you know where to submit
your resume? Send a resume request now to the email above
to get started in preparing yourself for your ideal industry
work.
While your thought is not wrong in the context of risk takers and
business owners, an entrepreneur is not necessarily a serial achiever,
but anyone who thinks the time is right for him to independently
harness his potentials and utilize the resources at his/her disposal for
the productive investment in a business venture.
5. If you haven’t spent some years working in the industry, and
you are determined to start your own business in it, how will
you bridge the gaps around your lack of experience in the
industry?
I’ll present some focus questions for you to answer first before
moving forward in this chapter. These are 25 questions that will get
you standing on your toes and get your feet wet before taking the
decision to be an entrepreneur.
6. If you have no industry focused skill as an asset, what will
you do to acquire it, in order to start your own business in the
industry? How long do you want to spend on skill acquisition
basically? (You obviously need a set goal on industry
focused skill acquisition to know how long is to be spent.)
25 Questions for all Young Aspiring Entrepreneurs to consider
Are you a young aspiring entrepreneur?
Answer the 25 questions below:
1. Which comes first: industry work or business development?
Why?
2. Why do you need to work before you venture into business?
7. In search of relevant and invaluable industry focused skills
for business development, which industry would you like to
work for? How long will you like to work in the industry?
And when do you want to start working?
8. Working in an industry is about gaining the most knowledge.
If you make a choice not to work, what other option do you
have for gaining the most knowledge on industry?
3. If you would prefer to go into business straight on, is it
because you’re afraid you might never achieve your business
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9. Without working, what’s your next option for seeing what
the industry needs, in order to improve, become more
efficient, more profitable and more effective?
how would you avoid the impending failure associated with
not having enough time for your business? Without having
personal freedom, how’ll you establish control of business?
10. How do you hope to get certain you’ve developed the best
business idea, if you don’t first work? (After all, working is
undoubtedly the surest way to know what works and doesn’t
work, in an industry, which helps in developing the best
business idea).
14. If you are starting your own business without having worked
in the industry for a long time, in order to have relationships
with your perfect clients, how will you manage your time to
focus on developing your business, in such a way that you
don’t spend the most of your time trying to build connections
and relationships, developing contacts, and speaking with
key people in the industry?
11. Without the knowledge of what works and what does not
work in an industry, how else will you know how to improve
and enhance the industry, if you don’t work to know?
12. How much time do you have on your side and how much
freedom do you enjoy? If you want to start your own
business, you need to have time, since this is your greatest
asset.
So, if you are a babyboomer or younger, then how will you
cope against the selfish engagements with caring for a wife,
attending to children, and worrying about quitting your
current job or other things people above 50 don’t worry
about? In fact, if you’re an employee, this might be your test.
As a matter of fact, only retirees over 50 years of age can
boast of having time and freedom for running their own
businesses, since they have quitted active job services,
raising their children to a reasonable age of independence
and are no longer selfish about family and marriage.
13. How will you cope with the selfishness associated with your
age? If you can’t give enough time to your new business,
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How will you connect with people that matter, the people
who should know about your products and services, and with
people who will help you know more about the industry?
How’ll you identify those to include in your network?
15. If you haven’t worked before and don’t have savings from
where you worked, how do you plan to fund your own
business, since funding the finance to start your business is
one of the biggest issues when starting your own business?
16. It’s expected that an aspiring entrepreneur should work first
and have savings with which to make a personal finance to
get started and moving in business.
If you decide you won’t work first, do you have a financial
sponsor already prepared to finance your business startup? If
you don’t have such a sponsor, are you willing to take the
risk of taking out a personal loan or seeking investment in
exchange of some part of your company? Will you accept the
risk of partnership, if your business funding is outsourced?
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17. Wouldn’t it be better if you could keep 100 per cent of your
company by first working to raise your business funding, in
stead of taking the risk to lose 50, 45, 35, or 25 per cent to an
investor, when you cannot fund your own business?
Is it not wiser to work first in the industry, in order to be able
to finance your own company’s startup independently, and
without taking the risky option of sharing the company with
an investor, just for access to credits, and, yet, worrying
about paying back debts, from the start; and even for the rest
of your life, whether or not your business is successful?
18. It’s true that starting your own company gives you the
freedom to do things your way, with a feeling of
independence and self-motivation, but getting to this level
isn’t always as easy as it’s desired.
If you choose to work for someone first, to see how much
intense your longing for financial freedom and independence
grows, but, after years roll by, you still aren’t any way near
financial independence, as you desired, what will you do?
19. “No, I would rather work from the start for myself than work
for someone for many years.” or “I prefer to work for
someone for a number of years, in order to be sure I can work
for myself; when the means to independence are available.”
Which is easier said and wiser: the former or the latter?
20. If you want to start a lifestyle business or a high growth
business, do you see yourself ready for it at this time? How
ready can you ever be without financial freedom to change
things and get them done your own way? How would you
come nearer to financial freedom? What are you planning?
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21. Will you choose now to Work first, in order to start earning
and saving, no matter how little, in order to watch it
accumulate over a period of time, with interests to yourself?
Or, will you set out doggedly into starting a business, amidst
the likeliness of failing, remaining in debt, with accumulating
interest to your creditor’s benefit, while you might lose more
and so may never really come nearer to experiencing the
freedom and fulfillment you eagerly crave in business?
22. How do you see yourself coping with personal expenses, if
you aren’t earning from your work, yet you still want to start
your own business on mortgage, without being able or
willing to cut down your personal expenses?
Will mortgage take care of your personal expenses too, if you
say ‘yes,’ then how will you seal the gap created by this
unaccounted for personal expenses that might frustrate you?
23. Maybe you need to be clearer on this: consider monthly
accommodation expenses being top on the list of personal
expenses, if you’re starting a business with mortgage, how
will you take care of your accommodation monthly
expenses?
Won’t this cause you to spend the rest of your life worrying
about profit for closing the mortgage lacuna? If you end in
maximum loss than gain, will you be so couragegous to farm
instead of yielding to the temptation of turning a scoundrel?
24. You better plan wisely lest worries eat up your chances for
longevity. Remember, besides mortgage, paying the bills also
generates worries, how do you really think you can get rid of
your worries without choosing to work first?
If you don’t work first, in order to easily start your own
business without mortgage, how will you have the capacity to
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focus all your time, money and resources into building the
business of your dream waiting for the proper time to launch?
25. If you haven’t been able to sacrifice 10, 20, and 30 years into
growing someone else’s business, how do you think you can
possibly walk over the lacunae created in the lack of
developed skills, contacts, proper experience and knowledge,
when you’re starting to grow your own enterprise?
Consider the financial risk too, how will you cope with it, if
you haven’t set aside some money for financing your own
business? Do you think becoming an entrepreneur is easy?
These questions shouldn’t scare you if you think you’re ready to be
an entrepreneur. This is because, as far as you are willing to get
creative, then even though you lack funding, you can still find a way
to make the most of your ideas. It will cost money, so you’ll have to
know the right people to approach at the right time for funding
opportunities, sponsorships and endorsements.
But don’t just go out there without first knowing if the time is right.
Find brands and investors who’ll help realize your business vision.
Motivate yourself confessing possibilities like “I can do it,” and start
diving at every opportunity you can secure around you.
Don’t worry about the ‘how’ here, you’ll do this later, but now, get
ready to start your own business, ok?
Having said all these to test your readiness, you can rate yourself at
this point. Are you ready at this time? What makes you think you are
ready? It might be too risky for you to launch your idea now, if the
time is not right; because you are not ready financially, mentally,
socially, intellectually and probably there’s no demand for your idea.
Nevertheless, young people would not need to wait until a certain
age in life when they may be deemed qualified to become
entrepreneurs. It begins from when you are able to nurse the idea of
starting your own business and that is the time to start planning. You
don’t have to first achieve financial independence necessarily, since
entrepreneurship is the surest pathway to financial independence.
If you’ve never worked and do not have savings, then probably
money is the major issue for you, and you’ll have to think about the
solution too. To help you here, look for existing business funding
schemes to offer you the help that is crucial to the success of your
business startup.
So the question is, “Do you have the available resources, to start
thinking like an entrepreneur?” and the answer is yes. You’ve
always had the resources from when you started thinking of business
or chose to independently work to earn the money you will spend.
What you need to find them supporting you is a strong creativity,
plus sound business ideas and a convincing discussion that can bring
in the crucial support you need for funding your business startup. Or
go to the clowd for crowdfunding, but first write your business plan.
It really has a lot to do with earning money. This is conceived in the
concept of profit. But this has over the years been the reason many
young people think it is not yet time to become entrepreneurs. They
think earning money should come first and foremost by employment
before entrepreneurship, but employment isn’t absolutely necessary.
HOW TO SUCCEED AS AN ASPIRING ENTREPRENEUR
Don’t doubt your capability to succeed as an entrepreneur, don’t
throw away your ambitions or set any road block to your ambitions.
You’re going to manage your own business, so every closed door
must be knocked open, go out to secure any logistical, practical and
financial help you can find to realize your business idea.
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Entrepreneurship is the ideal way to start earning the money you
spend. But you can never earn as an entrepreneur until you stop
thinking of monthly wages as the only way to become creditworthy.
You don’t need many years of working experience; you don’t need
to have even worked anywhere before. But you need to have ideas.
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The next question is, “Should you start thinking like an entrepreneur
now?” and the answer again is ‘yes,’ start thinking like an
entrepreneur now that you are young and talented. This is the right
time when you practically have little responsibilities and have little
to lose, if peradventure you make a startup mistake and can’t make
profit immediately. You’ll be courageous to keep trying to succeed.
Now, you know what you already have, and you can start asking
some more business targeted questions like: what kind of business
can I get started with all these potentials around me? Which industry
will this business fit in? How relevant will this business be to this
industry? Which products or services will I offer? Are the resources
readily available? Where / how is the market/what’s the market size?
You need to start accumulating business experience from your own
business startup. This is what will enable you to become that
billionaire you might have ever dreamed of being at an earlier point
in time, and it is practically possible to have this dream come true.
If you have asked all these basic questions, start serving yourself
with answers, and congratulation! With your new business plan, you
have already got yourself ready for the entrepreneurial lifestyle. It is
time to reinforce your decision and here are a little few thoughts to
make you comfortable with your decision to be an entrepreneur.
Keep this picture of being a billionaire before your mind now, and
watch how it inspires you to take your first step to realizing your
potential as an entrepreneur. This first step is the decision to set your
business goals in writing, and the second is to define what means are
available for achieving your set goals. Conceive a business startup.
This is the best time in your life when setting out for a new career as
an entrepreneur can really pay you in less or no time. You don’t have
to wait until you are 41 or 51-71 before considering it necessary to
start your own business.
The next level is to start writing your business plan. If you get to this
level and you do a beautiful job, you are as good as the great
achiever of your big dreams. Do you see yourself getting to this
level?
For a good business plan, you should start thinking in attempt to
figure out how you want your business to help you harness your
potential and multiply your available resources even by 100% now.
What follows is an examination of yourself to identify your available
resources, start from your family, then your level of education, then
landmarks you have already achieved so far, then your dreams, then
your current occupation or aspiration, your ambition and career
projection, then your talent and latent idea/skill you already possess.
Scan your neighborhood, the kind of people you have around you,
the kind of businesses people do around you, then the natural and
human resources available in your environment, region, country and
continent. Write down what you’ve observed so far. Inspiring right?
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Take a look at people within this age range who are deciding to start
their own businesses now, notice that they are trying to compensate
themselves for their hard work, because they have worked so hard
yet are not as financially secure as they wanted to be. They have
gained a vast field of working experience, yet it is not enough to
make them happy. Now, they want something that will make them
happy and all they can think of, to minimize their worries, is to start
their own business. But aren’t they realizing this necessity late?
Yes, they are realizing this necessity late but not too late. But if you
start planning now, you will realize your dream earlier. They would
have started planning when they were about 15 and 35 years of age,
for that was the golden age for entrepreneurship, not because they
could have succeeded on their dream earlier than now, but because
then they would have had a lot of psychological forces to make them
grow their business with much ease and less standoffishness as you.
Notwithstanding, since they have decided to start at last, it’s not a
bad idea, but they will be under pressure to succeed; because, if they
don’t, they will have much regrets than they would have had if they
had started earlier.
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For now, their responsibilities are much, and their concentration on
their business will be low, due to divided attention, and this could
really affect their creativity, due to much distractions.
It’s always ideal to start earlier what one would try to start later. This
means that, the delay in starting a career in entrepreneurship is just
unnecessary. People do not feel accomplished by having many
children, cars, houses, a good job, and so on, they would rather feel
these things are not secure enough until they’ve invested in liquid
assets even amidst real estate wealth.
It is a lesson for you; you need assets that secure your enjoyment of
your liabilities. Hence, start early to decide on a business so that
when you succeed in launching your idea, you’ll live for fulfilment.
Moreover, as a young person, you can be sure planning to own your
business now; when you are within the age bracket of 15-35, means
you will experience a sense of fulfillment earlier than many people
do, which, after working 35 years, still don’t have a sense of
fulfillment until they try starting their own business in liquid assets.
For this reason, your decision to be an entrepreneur now is so right.
You should have no doubts about your future, just follow the lessons
in this chapter and do what you are asked to do as an aspiring
entrepreneur, and you will experience an early sense of fulfillment.
USE YOUR TALENTS AND LATENT IDEAS TO ENJOY PROSPERITY
Youths generally have talents and latent ideas. As a youth, you have
talents and latent ideas. You are a youth; because, you are still
growing to mature self-discovery and adult self actualization.
Your ideas are latent because you’ve not fully expressed them, and
you have talents you have not tapped. Likewise, you still have time
to tap your talents and express your ideas, as far as you are a youth.
In that case, being a youth is not a disadvantage. If you start tapping
your talents and expressing your ideas now, you’ll soon become a
great achiever of prosperity, even before you become a mature adult.
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Your talent is not limited by where you were born and does not
come from your parents but is a gift of God. You don’t need to be
rich in order to have, discover or tap your talents. It is not something
you learn or purchase, even if it is something you discover, develop
and tap. Your latent ideas too can be exploited whether or not you
are rich or poor.
You don’t need to possess extraordinary abilities before you can
explore and exploit your latent ideas. All you need is to be you and
to have a strong determination to succeed. Learn from the great
professionals out there, they were once amateurs. Learn from the
great discoverers, they were not necessarily from a wealthy family or
enjoyed a decent background.
Many a great person never had a great beginning, especially those
great scientists and discoverers of MODERNITY. Their later
accomplishments in life tell the story of how much people change to
be who they would have been thought incapable of being. Their
success was owed to their interest in adventure and individual
initiatives, not so much their parent’s wealth or guidance, which in
many cases they did not enjoy.
With exception of a few scientists like Antoine Laurent Lavoisier,
the acclaimed founder of Modern Chemistry, who is said to have
infused into the body of science a new spirit, his three reports on the
chemical nature of gypsum got him elected to the French Royal
Academy of Science at the age of 25. (Mark the age, he was a youth)
He was younger in comparison with Georges Cuvier who was a
child prodigy. He was renowned as the masterful anatomist after
becoming professor of vertebrate zoology at the Museum of Natural
History in Paris when he was 26. (Mark his age, he was also a youth)
Another nobly born French scientist was Lamarck who became
friend of the philosopher Rousseau, after quitting his priestly
vocation as soon as his father died, and, due to a glandular illness in
the neck, left the military and developed interest in plant life. He was
later renowned as the great scientist who improved classification in
biology.
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By the same token, the most outstanding of the nobly born scientists
was Henry Cavendish who lived in solitude, as a scientist in his
laboratory, amidst great affluence and discovered hydrogen. He is
also renowned for being a shy scientist.
Newton is not also comparable with Andreas Vesalius who at the
age of 23 had been awarded his doctorate in Medicine, and
appointed to a full professorship in the famous University of Padua.
But not all scientists enjoyed a celebrated childhood, or experienced
an estimable early start, quality education and initial success.
Newton stood at the bottom of the class in grade and did not mingle
with other boys even in games easily. He disappointed his mother as
an utter failure in the farm after the death of his step father, when he
was 14.
For your information, Nicholaus Copernicus lost his both parents at
the age of 10. Paracelsus who was illegitimately born of a noble
family lost his mother at the age of 9. Isaac Newton’s father was an
ordinary farmer and died three months before the birth of Newton.
John Dalton attended a one-room school and took over it at the age
of 12 as the school’s teacher, but never succeeded either as a teacher
or as a lecturer in later years. He was not a good speaker.
But something was outstanding in Newton. Despite his unfortunate
beginning, he fell in love with his notebooks; reading, writing and
day dreaming. Newton’s outstanding quality wasn’t appreciated but
was considered a problem to his mother. Clearly, contrary to his
mother’s disappointment with him for being lazy, Newton was
building a scholar’s mindset even after he’s been a failure at school.
Carl Wilhelm Scheele was the most unlucky scientist in his
personality and career; he didn’t have a university education, albeit
he was one of the greatest discoverers, who never got the credit for
his discoveries.
Carolus Linnaeus was born of a poor clergyman in Sweden but
became the founder of the system of classification in science.
The list is endless. These are a few of many great ones who had
childhood crises. Having a childhood like Newton, it was Dalton
who was later immortalized as “the great chemist Dalton”.
Above and beyond, the most notable of the scientists to motivate
youths with high ambitions is Isaac Newton. He was raised by his
grandmother and Uncle George, his mother Hannah’s brother.
Academically, he started out in a one-room small village school until
he was eleven.
He was not a bright student unlike other scientists, like Galileo
Galilei who possessed unusual intelligence as a boy, or Trycho
Brahe who was a child prodigy and joined the University of
Copenhagen at the age of 12.
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He later became the student whom King’s school, where he was later
sent to, was most proud of, and joined the Cambridge University at
the age of 18 — something that had only been a dream for him.
In 1665 he took his B.A degree from Cambridge University. And a
year later he observed the fall of the apple from a tree, in the garden
surrounding his house at Woolsthorpe, which led to his discovery of
the law of Universal Gravitation.
So, a great personality can come from any family, no matter the
economic status of the people in it, whether rich or poor, just as a
sound mind was formed in Isaac Newton, one with childhood crises.
Now you have this awareness of people who have surprised the
world, you too can surprise the world with your talent and latent
ideas. So don’t be shy or timid. Don’t discourage yourself. Explore
and exploit your latent ideas and tap your talents.
From now, whatever good idea you have should not just be let to lay
latent, develop and exploit it, then go out there and get started
achieving your dreams. Finally, don’t be discouraged from investing
in your future. Take one step first and move forward from where
you are right now. Locate your door, make track into your future of
prosperity. If one door remains closed, go to discover the next door.
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Find the right skills and build the right personality
There are no other two ways to knowing you are fit to be an
entrepreneur than these two must-dos: First, find the right skills and
the second, build the right personality. You might be so young but
don’t be so unskillful.
You might be so audacious, but don’t ignore your personality. Have
a flexible personality. You can have all the zeal required for being a
startup founder, but if you lack all the skills and lack the right
personality, there’s no way your startup will survive long-enough.
Have the necessary sponsor and backer for your startup funding, but
if you don’t also have time for yourself to find the skill you need and
build the personality that is proper of an entrepreneur, you will be
risking all the fund invested in your startup. Anyway, no one will
fund your startup who knows you are unskillful and unreliable.
It is with this in mind that I like to emphasize that being an
entrepreneur starts with you, the person, not finance. Get this point
clear.
You are the person to get the right skill, not someone else to run the
business for you; otherwise, you are not an entrepreneur. That’s why
you cannot depend primarily on team building or talent haunting, but
on personal skill acquisition and self development.
Before you invest in your startup, you ought first, as an aspiring
entrepreneur, to invest in your self. What are the skills you must not
lack if you would be a successful entrepreneur?
Start a self assessment seeking to know if you haven’t got the skills
every entrepreneur mustn’t lack. They are the characteristics of the
caliber of people who Clearer Thinking, Founded by Greenberg,
Spencer, described as entrepreneurial materials.
First, every aspiring entrepreneur must not lack the productive
working stamina and ability to function 70 hours every week without
yielding to sleep.
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Second, any aspiring entrepreneur should watch for the optimistic
enthusiasm to succeed.
Furthermore, all aspiring entrepreneurs can predict being successful
if they personally don’t lack the technical talent hiring skill; coding
skill; brilliant idea and excellent operational skill; and don’t lack
public speaking skill.
Thus, an ideal entrepreneur is a charismatic person who can present
the business of the company anywhere it is expected that speaking
for the company in mind should be done.
Albeit this public speaking ability might be challenging, it is an
important personality characteristic for all aspiring entrepreneurs to
develop.
This is a part of the work required for investing in personal capacity
building before trying to found a company. There is no excuse for
lacking these characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.
Assess yourself before deciding to be an entrepreneur. If you lack
the three essential skills: communication, operation and reflection,
then you have the time to start finding the skills you should acquire,
and building your personality.
Start developing your personal capacity. If after doing so, you
discover you are left with the funding challenge, you can then go out
to scout for fund, and then you will need the audacity to put your
skill into use at the threshold of your project.
Commence a project funding campaign. Then your doors will open
for finding funding to move forward. Once you get started, keep
moving forward pursuing success relentlessly and listening for
feedbacks to improve on quality.
These last two characteristics have been researched by Clearer
Thinking and are found to be predominant in all successful startup
founders.
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Now, when you are finally really caught in the entrepreneurial web,
challenges will loom, competitions will flood, and storms will set off
to shut your doors, but you must persist and maintain your focus to
move forward.
As an aspiring entrepreneur with a brilliant startup idea, you must
believe in your idea, so that no matter the discouraging factors, once
you launch your startup, you must remember never to stop believing
in your idea.
Being an entrepreneur means stepping on the arena to compete like a
fighter. So, you will have to be ready for the next round of the fight.
You must fight your way out of the gloomy challenges and do never
let these challenges to knock you down or knock you out of shape.
When you become uncertain about what to do next, you must turn to
information sources, hence to always do your research, so that when
you are no longer able to be clear on your goal, you will utilize
available information to set new goals for yourself.
By resetting your goals, you will actually keep moving forward. But
if you lack sufficient information, especially not listening to your
audience for feedbacks on your products or services, you’ll be
unable to move forward.
As a matter of focus, you shouldn’t be too pushy for changing your
goals, and when you get feedbacks, you should be careful with the
adjustments you make.
Don’t be too swift to adjust, because you have an idea that should be
allowed to succeed. So, you should take your time analyzing
customers’ feedback critically and personally before changing or
adjusting your goals.
If customers aren’t impressed, then research to know why they are
not impressed, seek for more explanatory feedbacks, and address the
matter of the majority’s dissatisfaction or any critical minority
recommendations, appropriately; but don’t just give up on your idea.
Always maintain your focus and always keep moving forward.
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Flexibility is normal, that is why you make adjustments and
moderate changes, because inflexibility is dangerous. So, don’t
misunderstand the concept of having focus.
Focus to the extent that you don’t hastily take actions that make you
lose direction at the risk of regretting doing so too soon. All the
same, keep moving forward. The right personality is that of being an
enthusiast and a success determined person with a flexible focus.
Your startup is a brilliant idea launched because you want it to work,
so give your idea the opportunity to succeed. This is why you must
move forward with a moderately flexible focus. Maintain your focus
as you move forward through adversities that beset your startup.
There’ll Always Be a Way Forward
Have you discovered the next door? Is it also closed? Don’t worry.
Turn your back, back the closed door, and try to face an open door.
There is one door that will aways stay open, that door is your mind.
Whenever the external doors around you refuse to open, go into your
mind and think out your next line of action. Think of something else
you can do with your time to profitably exploit your hiden potentials.
Don’t stay idle because your external doors are closed. Engage your
mind to discover your talents and unlock your latent ideas. Ensure
you don’t hoot facing any closed door, keep searching a way forward
because there could be other open doors. The point is for you to keep
moving forward and not to stampede before any closed door around.
A closed door will cause you to stampede if you keep facing it when
there could be other open doors. Search for open doors out/inwardly.
If moving forward is anything important to you, you won’t focus on
a closed door. Look inwardly, you will find your best way forward.
Have recourse to your talent for a way forward. Tapping your talents
will make it possible that all your doors won’t be closed just at once.
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Even a violent wind of economic repression, corporate downsizing
and portfolio unemployment won’t be strong enough to close all
doors. Always focus your mind on tapping your talent and exploiting
your hiden potentials, for income generation or profit maximization.
Making a plan without making a to-do list is like thinking to act
without taking the decision to take action for interaction, satisfaction
and attraction. To start S_M_A_R&T you need a to-do list. A to-do
list guides you when and how to act on your ideas.
See, whatever is pushing your doors close will not succeed to limit
your progress. You, then, mustn’t limit yourself by refusing to look
inwardly for how to still move forward. Consider, the maxim of age
says: forward ever backward never; so move forward with your age.
Acting on your idea requires such a daily plan. A to-do list prepares
you for your achievements and makes every conceived task a
possible accomplishment. Your idea is such a concept, put it in
standard form of a to-do list and you’ll be set to realize it.
Don’t focus on a closed door, endeavor to move forward to find
other open doors or endeavor to harness your talent by believing in
yourself. If you lack other things, never lack the will to move
forward. Belief in self is the will to move forward. Never stop
believing in yourself. Never doubt what you feel capable of doing. If
you doubt yourself, you’ll fail yourself and consequently fail society.
An aide memoire, your talent needs to be tapped. Plan how to tap it.
If all other doors are closed, you are certainly going to have the key
to open one. The key is with you, so open your closed door. If
peradventure all your doors are closed, there’ll always be a way
forward. Remember to look inwardly for the way forward to success.
You need knowledge of your potentials to move forward when you
meet closed doors before you. The focal point is knowledge. It is the
key to open all closed doors. It is a technique you discover for
unlocking a bar. But this is self-knowledge revealed introspectively.
You need this one thing to tap your talent, swerve inwardly, search
your mind, and don’t hurry to depart until you’ve discovered your
talent. Let doing anything not bother you at this point, just know for
certain that you need focus on your talent henceforth, amidst all your
challenges. Shortly, you’ll connect your talent with your latent ideas.
Be enlightened about your ideas. Any action to be taken to develop
your talent is worth a solid plan. Include such in your to-do-list.
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Great people never fail to plan. A to-do list is an aide to planning. In
other words, the best way to plan your day is to have a to-do list. Use
a to-do list every day and you’ll start living a planned life. But what
are you planning to achieve? Does your talent flow with this idea? If
yes, then start planning how to achieve it now. This is how to start.
HOW TO PLAN YOUR WAY FORWARD
Identify what you want and how you want to achieve it. Then give
yourself a guideline. Make a to-do list as your guide to achievement,
to keep you organized and to order your activities. You now have a
plan to stick with and a dream. Structure your to-do list to reflect it.
A To-Do List is an instrument for setting goals. Setting goals for
your dream business and personality development is what it means
to start S_M_A_R&T, representing each item on your goal checklist.
Start setting goals for yourself today. Goals go hand-in-hand with
targets. Targets are quickly defined priorities that walk you up to
realizing your set goals. So, set a target for yourself after every goal.
A goal can be achieved when divided into simple targets. Start from
top to bottom on your list of targets, as captured in your to-do list.
Begin with your #1 target. What is your #1 target on your to-do list?
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Start S_M_A_R&T: Goals must be
S_pecific, M_easurable,
A_chievable, R_ealistic, & Timebound. Setting goals that are
achievable doesn’t mean there won’t be any setback. Your #1 Target
is to identify what may set you back from achieving your set goal,
and then you make it your priority to address.
In other words, address yourself first. This is your #1 target. How do
you address yourself? Ask a few questions about your set goal: “how
would I achieve this goal? How soon is this goal achievable? Is there
anything I lack that may be a major setback to achieving this goal?
How long would it take me to address this challenge? What do I
need for addressing this challenge? What comes first among the
ways I can quickly start moving forward?”
“Am I ready to address this challenge now? Am I ready to achieve
my goal soon? Yes, if so, I must apply the principle of first things,
by clearing the way to achieving my goal first. Hence, I will begin
from my key way forward; from the challenges to achieving my set
goals.”
Now, do exactly what you’ve said, and you’ll address yourself.
But, achieving your goal as set, to be supported by tapping your
talent, would require you to find help from others. Get rid of the idea
of doing it alone. Whatever goal you’ve set, create a space for people
to play a role in helping you realize it with ease. Get rid of the idea
of executing your projects alone.
Your to-do list contains only the role you will play to move forward
from where you are to where you want to be, but when moving
forward, you will encounter tough situations; when you can’t do it
all alone. You can do it easily, better and faster, with the help of
other people.
Hence, get yourself in the company of people who can help you
realize your goal faster. Play your role and get them to play theirs.
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Go out of yourself to find yourself a suitable group of helpers. They
will facilitate your project to enable you achieve your set goal
quicker.
Get rid of the idea of struggling alone; because, this is a negative
idea that delays your achievement and realizations of set goals,
because it really slows down your speed of moving forward.
If people never help you, there is a point you’ll reach when you’ll
give up, and that is the point when you have to find help any way,
that is right, the last hour help, lest you end in frustration.
Avoid last hour rush for supportive hands, get those hands readily
available through team building and team work, be cooperative, and
collaborate with others.
Your projects are likely to fail when you’ve failed to go out there
and get necessary help. Don’t be timid, don’t be shy, don’t be
fearful, don’t be boastful, don’t exalt yourself, getting help is fine
and good. Don’t raise your shoulders too high lest, if you can’t hold
it up long enough, you’ll be forced to bring it down in shame, and
cover your face when walking into the midst of people who knew
you when your shoulders were raised up there.
Begin with family and true friends, but go beyond these basic
helpers. Still move forward. Move out of your cave. Move into
organizations that share in your objectives. Present your goals and
aims. Appeal to them for support. Show the benefits your project
promises. Don’t stick with only one method.
Speak with people about your project. Draft a proposal. Explain your
side of the deal but begin with the benefits for the people included.
Show the extent you’re involved in realizing the project. Describe
the challenges you face about realizing it alone. Enumerate how
many ways you want your prospects to be involved in your project
and to support your ideas. Mention the benefits to both parties.
Keep talking to more and more people, the more the number of
people you talk to, the more your chances to find more willing
helpers.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
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BIGBUSINESS
GREATPER
SONALITY
It’s about starting to talk and then continuing to talk to people, and
when you have talked with very many people about your project,
you will hear what people also think about it.
Weigh the positive and negative comments in a balance. Don’t be
discouraged if the negative comments surpass the positive ones.
Don’t give up. Avoid the negative people; and look for more of the
positive people.
Don’t despise the fact that you should try to see if some new ideas
could be added to your project’s design and grand purpose. This will
ensure you get minimal negative comments next time, as you talk to
new people out there.
As the helpers start coming, don’t deviate from your goal.
Accomplish it with them. Keep to your promise of benefits. Ensure
every participant enjoys the benefits, and, here, you are an achiever.
Congratulation!
So far, I have been discussing talents with you. You’ve got talents
right? Since you’ve got talent what holds you back? I have
responded from my own perspective to this question, you too can
respond and start working on your talent without letting anything to
hold you back.
LESSON TWO
HOW GOOD CAN A SMALL STARTUP BE? DOES SIZE
REALLY MATTER?
No matter how small your startup is, if you can drive sales with a
target audience of your marketing communication, you can always
toddle to a larger audience of the same needs, hence size does not
really matter.
Here let’s illustrate by counting from 3. This is a fairly small amount
of first sales right? At first you might target 3, then multiplied by 10
after 10 days, you get 30, then multiplied by 10, after 20 days, you
get 300, then multiplied by 10 after 30 days, you get 3000, then
multiplied by 10 after 40 days, you get 30000, then multiply by 10
after 50 days, you get 300000, and also multiplied by 10 after 60
days you get 3000000.
Now your business is only two months old and you have taken your
marketing effort to reach three million targeted audiences, because
of a good startup. At first you had only 3 audiences, now you have
3000000. You can see how the power of 10 can surprise you. How
does it work?
Let’s say you knew only 3 persons, who had interest in your
products or services, and you decided to start your marketing effort
targeting only these 3 audiences, and, after your communication with
them, you generate 3 sales through their response. You are happy
right?
Which of these will you be more likely to do after your first sales?
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1. I will close my business now that I’ve made my first sales, so
I can just enjoy this success and never try again so I don’t
ever fail. Or
2. I will expand my audience reach now that I have already
known which group of people is more likely to respond to
my marketing communication, even if I fail, I’ll keep trying.
Your answer is #2 right? That is what always happens, after starting
your business and you have made your first successful sales, it is
most unlikely that you will stop trying to grow your business, by
reaching out to a larger group of the same target audience.
This means, in order for you to succeed in growing your startup
effectively, you must know who your target audiences or prospects
are, while planning your business startup. Also, you must pay
attention to your marketing communication to your target audiences
and right prospects, as this is your key to a successful first startup.
Here is…
A simple way to target your audience indiscriminately:
You have chosen your products or services; but you have not made
any sales yet, and you know you have to make sales, if your business
must grow. You would subsequently have to find out those who you
are most likely to make your first sales to, and to find out someone
who is your realistic prospect and where to find your prospect.
You will take a presales marketing survey seriously. To do this,
simply make a list of commercial products and commercial services,
and afterward you ask your prospect:
1. Which of these products and services have you used in the
past 7 days? (Name the product(s) or service (s) here
:………………………………………..)
2. Which of these products and services have you used in the
past 14 days? (Name the product(s) or service (s) here
:………………………………………..)
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BIGBUSINESS
3. Which of these products and services have you used in the
past 21 days? (Name the product(s) or service (s) here
:………………………………………..)
4. Which of these products and services have you used in the
past 28 days? (Name the product(s) or service (s) here
:………………………………………..)
5. Which of these products and services have you used in the
past 3 months? (Name the product(s) or service (s) here
:………………………………………..)
6. Which of these products and services have you used in the
past 6 months? (Name the product(s) or service (s) here
:………………………………………..)
7. Which of these products and services have you used in the
past 9 months? (Name the product(s) or service (s) here
:………………………………………..)
8. Which of these products and services have you used in the
past 1 year? (Name the product(s) or service (s) here
:………………………………………..)
9. Which of these products and services have you used in the
past 5 years? (Name the product(s) or service (s) here
:………………………………………..)
10. Which of these products and services have you used in the
past 10 years? (Name the product(s) or service (s) here
:………………………………………..)
11. Which of these products and services have you never used in
the past 10 years to 6 months? (Name the product(s) or
service (s) here :………………………………………..)
12. Which of these products and services would like to afford at
a lower price? (Name the product(s) or service (s) here
:………………………………………..)
13. Which of these products and services would you love to
recommend for a friend or loved one (Name the product(s) or
service (s) here :………………………………………..)
14. Which of these products and services would you never
recommend for a friend or loved one (Name the product(s) or
service (s) here :………………………………………..)
Thank you for your time.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
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Notice that you have not asked the prospect whether he or she would
like your own products or services, probably you have only included
your products or services among the list, may be only one of your
products or services in a list of 10 to 15 products, or, if you are
running a supermarket, you have listed all the products you want to
deal on, so you’ll know how much to make available for your
startup.
Let’s say your prospects are found mostly among bankers, and
pregnant women. Hence, you will first locate a bank in your area and
print only 10 copies of this survey sample questions, with the listed
products or services on a different page, then you’ll give it to the
management, for the staff to fill, over the weekend, so that, at the
beginning of the next week, you’d go in person or send your
mailman to collect them.
6 months …………… (No. of prospects) (No. of products) (No. of
services) remark….. (Name of regular products and services, and
contacts of audience on the demand list)
9 months …………….. (No. of prospects) (No. of products) (No. of
services) remark….. (Name of regular products and services, and
contacts of audience on the demand list)
1 year ………………… (No. of prospects) (No. of products) (No. of
services) remark….. (Name of regular products and services, and
contacts of audience on the demand list)
5 years ……………… (No. of prospects) (No. of products) (No. of
services) remark….. (Name of regular products and services, and
contacts of audience on the demand list)
You compare the response of each banker. And note your
observation in this order:
Recommend …………. (No. of prospects) (No. of products) (No. of
services) remark….. (Name of regular products and services, and
contacts of audience on the inclusive list)
1 week ……………. (Number of prospects) (Number of products)
(Number of services) remark….. (Name of regular products and
services, and contacts of audience on the demand list)
Discriminated ………… (No. of prospects) (No. of products) (No. of
services) remark….. (Name of regular products and services, and
contacts of audience on the exclusive list)
2 weeks ……………. (No. of prospects) (No. of products) (No. of
services) remark….. (Name of regular products and services, and
contacts of audience on the demand list)
Now let’s also say you have designed your survey sample in this
format, as before, but with a provision for responders’ contact info
as shown below.
3 weeks ……………. (No. of prospects) (No. of products) (No. of
services) remark….. (Name of regular products and services, and
contacts of audience on the demand list)
4 weeks ……………. (No. of prospects) (No. of products) (No. of
services) remark….. (Name of regular products and services, and
contacts of audience on the demand list)
3 months…………… (No. of prospects) (No. of products) (No. of
services) remark….. (Name of regular products and services, and
contacts of audience on the demand list)
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Your full name
Your Business name and Tag line
Your phone number and cell number
Responders Name (……………..)
Responders Phone number (……………..)
Responders Email Address (…………….)
Vote of Thanks
Email Address
Your Business Signature
URL to your website
_______________________________________
Fax Number
PS. (State that your recipient may be contacted for a
Mailing Address
Follow- up and a gift pack for his/her generous
Company Logo
List of Products and services
Products
Response, and that his/her contact info will be used to
Reach him, to ensure he receives his/her follow-up
Directly, and so he/she should expect an email or call
Services
From your company (Name) or via email
(Email Address), and that his contacts will not be
Duration
Products
Services
Cost
Volume
Used for any other purpose except as stated above.
Thank him/her again.
Take a second look at this survey sample. Do you take in that,
besides having the response from your responders, there are other
useful information your survey provides? For instance, it provides
you the personal data of your prospect.
Weeks
months
Years
Questionnaire (as above or use table shown)
START S_M_A_R&T
You now know who your prospect really is, and, from his/her
responses to the survey questionnaire, you also now know his/her
financial status, buying power and spending habit, as well as you’ll
know his/her favorites/likes. This helps you when commencing your
direct marketing communication.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
*HW%XV\'RLQJ6RPHWKLQJ3URILWDEOH1RZ
GREATPER
SONALITY
There are various ways to do this. You may upload a sales letter on a
branded email for your business along with asking for your
recipient’s response such as: “call us now,” “visit our office,” or
“click on this link to visit our website,” and this carries the message
on the premium for the product which this particular recipient had
indicated interest in, you now know that he/she has need of the
particular product you are offering him/her, so you will be on
familiar terms with how to craft your sales memo and wait for
his/her response.
In three days time, responses start coming in, your prospects are
starting to make direct orders/enquiries for/about your products as
well as services, and you know this means business has begun.
You’ll have to also begin your first direct follow-up to your
marketing communication.
It is often this first follow-up that leads to sales, and, your
professional approach will open doors for re-servicing of your
prospects now turned into customers. From now, your marketing
efforts will be focused not to be in vain. 3 sales have just taken place
in the first week after your survey. At this occasion, that’s your first
sales. What would you do next? You want to make more sales right?
You’ll target 30 sales next time, and to get 30 sales you have to send
more presales marketing survey samples to more banks, since your
sample prospects are bankers and they are found mostly at the banks,
on working days. You know you don’t have to look elsewhere. So,
you’ll target the banks in your area.
You’ve started with one bank, sending only 10 copies of survey
questionnaire and you got 3 sales in one week. In that case, to get 30
sales in the next 10 days, you’ll use the same approach. You’ll
multiply the number of banks and copies by 10, in order to get your
result multiplied by 10, hence a move from 3 to 30 in 10 days, right?
You will print 100 copies of the same survey questionnaire, and send
10 copies to each bank, on your next target list, and you’ll repeat the
sales process all over. In this round you’re expecting to achieve only
3 sales from each bank, like before.
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BIGBUSINESS
You’ll achieve a total of 30 sales in 10 days, and in the next 20 to 60
days you’ll achieve three million sales, using the same method and
targeting only the same group of prospects. Isn’t this amazing?
You’ve identified who you call your prospects, and you can, at this
time, stock your business for the next six months.
You will notice that loss is minimal when you begin with a good
marketing survey/campaign. Your marketing approach will be direct.
And it works.
First, you’ll contact the bank managers, with a proposal to conduct a
marketing survey in the bank, and your proposal will be approved.
Next, your marketing survey will be collected, and you’ll start
contacting the bankers directly, without going through the bank
managers again.
After the first six months sales by surveys, you’ll address
complimentary letters and mail them to the bank managers, thanking
them and the staff for their generous responses and cooperation.
Your business continues from here, every time you multiply the
presales marketing survey samples by 10 and multiply the recipients
by 10, your result will also be multiplied by 10.
You did this in 3 months and got the same response rate. That means
you now have facts, and with your facts you’ll make your first
authentic or realistic market projection, based on your survey results.
In the next 6 months, you hope to make 9 million sales, in the next
12 months, you hope to make 18 million sales, in the next 10 years
you hope to make 180 million sales.
Of course, this is business boon. You’re very certain your market
forecast is realistic. You base it on your survey’s accurate results and
you haven’t hyped the results in any way.
What’s more, you want to expand your business, you have got a true
and handy market forecast, and you can proceed to comfortably
write a business proposal for loan to any financial institution. You’d
ensure you provide a compelling and attractive business description.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
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Use your market survey to point out the size of your available or
potential market, and present a financial report of concurrent funding
for the past 6 months, including filed tax returns, if you’ve already
done business.
If you have your marketing forecast, as presented above, you’ll
include it in your proposal and submit it to a bank manager, through
the marketing department of the bank. This will be a bank of your
choice targeted to grant a debenture and bond indenture to you, as its
bond issuer, only if, as a credible principal, it has a policy that makes
legal provision for availing either registered bonds or bearer bonds.
If you can do this, and if you can improve on your quality, you can
be sure to remain in business for as long as possible.
Don’t forget, in next to any time, how you started this whole thing.
You had a great idea, you planned it out. You targeted a small
sample of prospects, you made your first small sales, 3 out of 10,
you were not discouraged, you doubled your efforts, and multiplied
your resources, and, for every focused marketing, you got 100%
similar responses, this is the power of multiplicity.
Your starting was moderate
and the risk was very low, and
you kept the risk low for the
next 6 months, you did not
lose. Are you not happy?
Congratulations! You are now
an entrepreneur. How do you
feel about your progress at the
moment?
You can rest assured the bank will be more willing to fund your
business growth after seeing the statistics given, because you have
done the business already and your financial report is accurate.
With this aggressive funding, you’ll be capable of expanding your
business cutting edge to your taste, even in the space of one year,
without changing your prospects, and you’ll make it real big, simply
by maintaining your rapport with your customers, who patronize
your products and services on weekly, monthly or yearly bases, just
as you sorted them out with your survey exercise.
You might still succeed if you do the same survey with three
different groups and scale where your prospects are most abundant,
and after that, you’ll spend your energy serving only prospects that
are interested in what you are offering.
Your business will grow in this way, for the next ten years and you
will remain in business, ever growing, just by making your offerings
available to a focused group of buyers, who are more comfortable
with a repeat deal from you; because they can trust your
professionalism. This works in any kind of business.
It is by so doing that you will experience windfall in your business,
and you will have no fear of maximum loss, because you’ll continue
to go where demand for your products or services is high, and you’ll
make your customers satisfied with your professional approach to
marketing.
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Once
nce the water starts flowing into the
t tank, it’s definitely going to
start flowing through the tap. If the tank is empty, it’s impossible for
water to flow through the tap. The tap and the tank are extrinsically
connected. Fill the tank and keep the pipe open, unlock the tap and
water will flow through it.
Empty the tank and keep the pipe open, unlock the tap and water will
never flow through it. Fill the tank and be sure of this: if the pipe is
open and the tap is open, water will flow through it. It’s because of
the tank that the tap’s taken cognizance of.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
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The connection between the tank and the tap is what you should
always consider as a perfect blueprint of the proper connection
between your business and its size. Size doesn’t really matter. As the
tank matters before the tap so business before its size, have a focused
marketing and you’ll notice how you’ll spread out in next to no time.
He continued saying, “It’s why so few people commit — because
there simply isn’t enough pain and dissatisfaction in our western way
of living to warrant a massive change. We are simply too
comfortable.
LESSON THREE
He tells us more about why he got himself out of his position of
discomfort, saying “For me, it was after a week of pure disgust with
myself and my spot in life. Then, it flipped. I didn’t plan. Or think.
Or go to a seminar. I’d simply had enough, and I committed to
something to get me away from where I was in life.”
ARE YOU HUNGRY FOR SUCCESS?
You like him should try to move away from your uncomfortable
position because you were not cemented where you’re poised right
now, so don’t think you can’t get started. No matter how afraid
you’re about getting started, still start anyway. It’s when you start
that you’ll ever get filled. Start now and you’ll soon get filled. If you
don’t start now, then you probably aren’t really hungry for success.
“No” can’t possibly be your answer here, no matter how successful
you might be rejoicing you already are. Success is a continuous
thing, and, for an entrepreneur, there is never a satisfaction for this
hunger. If you are hungry for success, as an aspiring entrepreneur,
consider how hungry you really are. How hungry are you as an
aspiring entrepreneur?
The hungrier you are, the more uncomfortable you will be just
staying and waiting for a fill. You’ll really have to get out of your
position right now, if you’re really very hungry. That means you’ll
start finding ways to start filling your coffers with the food of
success that all entrepreneurs hunger for. You must be very hungry,
if you’re ever going to get out of that position you are poised in now.
A copywriter shares his story of how hunger made him become
committed to succeed. For him, hunger for success comes as a result
of disgust for life. He narrates his experience saying, “I truly believe
commitment comes from disgust with life because that’s my
experience and the experience of so many others I’ve read about.
START S_M_A_R&T
So comfortable that dissatisfaction or unhappiness isn’t enough to
wake us up. It’s why so many success stories start at rock bottom…
or in the slums… or come from immigrants.
Your hunger for success needs to outdo your longing for security
and comfort. Let success come first and other things will follow. A
hungry fellow is an angry fellow right? In that case, take a quick
look at your situation; are you happy you have not got enough of
what you crave, for the satisfaction of your hunger for success?
You must be angry about how slowly things are moving; especially,
how do you feel? Not earning/making the kind of money you dream
of earning/making wouldn’t make you feel comfortable right? So
you’re hungry and this is making you really angry with situation Ok?
)UDQFLV,VXJX
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GREATPER
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At this instant, channel this anger into taking a radical step to
satisfying your hunger, as an aspiring entrepreneur. What step will
you take right now that will be really right for you to rest assured of
success? Put yourself out there. It’s like you’re trying to make
friends, will you stay behind closed doors and make friends? No.
You’ll have to open your doors, and not just wait for friends to
locate you; you’ll go out to make friends.
In the same way, you cannot be a successful entrepreneur by just
staying at home with the same group of people you’ve always had
around you. You’ll have to get out there and make new contacts,
some of whom will have to be experts to direct you. Others would be
partners in business, others would be clients and others would be
prospects.
Begin by identifying who can help you achieve success in realizing
your business idea. Next, start connecting with whoever that person
is. Nonetheless, you must know what you really want from this
person, what kind of help do you really want to get?
You might presently be in need of financial help. Almost every
aspiring entrepreneur needs help getting financial source for
realizing their business ideas. Consequently, yours will not be an
exception.
You surely need financial help. It could be help to learn the art of
financial planning? It might be financial help to raise capital and this
is in order. So what would you do to find this help?
You need to identify yourself with this career. Begin now to
conceptualize your brand and then attach your name to yourself as
its owner. You have to do this now before moving on.
The more you do this association of a conceptual brand to your
name, until you find the source to financially realize your brand, the
more you’ll stay focused and whet your appetite for success.
Associating your name with your conceptual brand will increase
your self confidence, enhance your determination for success, and
prop you to take all necessary steps to realize your dream without
intimidation or fear.
Remember that: if you have conceived your brand, you will achieve
it if you associate your name with it; and each time you introduce
yourself, in a social networking platform, as well as personal
contact, you’ll make people believe you have a brand already.
It wouldn’t only keep you focused on your dream, but will inform
people about the need to share in your dream. After all, it’s a truism
that: a dream you dream alone is only a dream, at the same time as a
dream you dream with others becomes a reality.
You may begin to hear such questions as, “Where is this brand name
located?” “What are the products or services you offer?” What’s this
brand all about?” “How long have you been in this business?” “How
can I benefit from this business?” or “is there any place for me to do
business with you?” Don’t respond negatively where you hear any of
these questions.
This is where a lot of beautiful business ideas often face their
elimination or scale through amidst uncertainty. Would you rather
abandon your business idea, eliminate your startup capital challenge
or get eliminated? It boils down to the same point at issue that you
really need help. You need money to start your business right?
Give your prospects assurance on the subject of your business, but
tell them you’re just getting started and in a little while, you’ll be
known all over town offering the following products and services
(list what you plan to offer).
Keep on keeping on with your aspiration for success. But before
you’d go out there to start asking for financial support, you need to
be positive. You need to believe in your new career in which you are
hungry for success.
More so, in this early stage, you are working out ways of accessing
reliable financial sources that will facilitate the growth of your
brand, starting with its localization. “Since you asked, do you know
of anyone who might be of help to seeing my brand get out there and
win the competitions?”
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List your competition to illustrate your business type, size and
industry to your prospect, while he/she is reflecting, hence giving
him/her enough time to think of a possible referral for your financial
sourcing.
If he/she has a phlegmatic/melancholic blend, or a
Choleric/phlegmatic blend or even a melancholic/choleric blend.
That’s to say: you can expect a variety of temperament blend of
persons out there will really be eager to support your success.
If you are able to say these words to anyone, rest assured that you
have just got yourself ready to succeed. Anyone who hears you talk
so confidently of something you are still planning will see in you a
great spark of determination, and will be willing to support you, if
he/she is able to render financial or advisory assistance to you.
This sounds good right? Very many people out there will be willing
to help you realize your brand, and since you don’t know who might
be your angel, don’t fail to always add your brand when you
introduce yourself to a new contact for social networking purpose.
Taking Your Business Planning to the next Level
Appreciate anyone who offers you any token of cash or kind, and
don’t fail to keep an appointment. If someone rather asks for a
hangout with you at a later date, that person might spin into a big
client, customer, promoter, sponsor, and a friend or partner of yours.
You shouldn’t leave without asking for a way to contact him/her for
follow-up and enquiry, or for the convenient time for the hangout,
even after it’s been prospected, just make clear in your mind you
don’t come at the wrong time.
When you eventually make a successful hangout with anyone, don’t
forget to remind him/her of your brand and how soon you hope to
get it out there and win at the competitions. Listen to whatever
he/she would have to say.
Accept any assistance offered you, if it is cash, check or referral,
thank him/her, and make a promise to return the kindness. If it is a
piece of advice, also thank the person, besides ask for referral.
Furthermore, ask to keep in touch from time to time.
You’ll always get a response like this: “That’s not a problem… I’ll
see what I can do, and I’ll get in touch with you later…” (If he/she
has a phlegmatic/sanguine temperament blend) or “that’s fine,
contact me whenever…, I’ll be very happy to help you in whatever
way I can.”
START S_M_A_R&T
Be open and honest about what you are doing, but don’t mention
you’re still planning. Just speak in the nature of one who’s ready to
market a product, I mean be sanguine when you’re introducing your
brand. You might be lucky to find someone who is ready to try your
products and services, just because you have presented your brand
alongside your personal profile. How do you respond in this case?
Good enough, this is a big opportunity for you, and you can turn it
into a great benefit for your startup. In fact, if someone is interested
in your product or service, just after your elevator pitch, then make
him a promise to contact him soonest, if only he’d be willing to give
you only his contact, at present, and will be able to pay for the
product or service, as soon as it is made available to him (make a
promise, and let him make a commitment, if s/he is really serious).
If the answer is ok, then rejoice, because you no longer need a
capital or even an office to convert your first business engagement
into sales.
When you have a means of contacting the person, make a promise
also to contact him/her as soon as the product is available, but ask
him/her too how urgently he/she needs the product (assuming it’s a
car to be imported), so that you can cancel any other appointment en
route for attending to his/her need, if it is especially urgent.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
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If he/she says, “in a couple of days or a week,” then thank him/her,
and repeat your promise to him/her. However don’t leave him/her on
the spur of the moment; ask if he/she would love to share some
personal experience of the product, (if he/she’d used it before or
after you provide it for the first time, especially after using it.)
His/her response would be, “sure, with pleasure.”
You’ll also be able to start keeping your buyers’ profile with this
very first sale. Accordingly, while you haven’t launched your
business up till now, you’ve known how to begin to feel comfortable
with reference to having a business idea that shall really sell, because
someone has launched your very first sale in a professional business
setting, even while the business is no more than conceptually ready.
At this time, you’ve succeeded to make him/her believe in your
promise and to see you as an exceptionally professional businessminded person. You can be sure, if you keep to your promise,
he/she’ll not only share his/her experience of the product or service
with you, but will, afterward, promise to call you, whenever he/she
needs your product or service again. And how do you see this?
It follows that, you can know what to include in your business plan’s
market survey; when writing a proposal to any financial source you
are able to identify.
You’ve just made a sale along with, at the same time; you’ve known
your customer personally. You can equally be sure he/she’ll be more
willing to turn in more referrals, if you add “Thanks so much for
your patronage, and whenever you wish to refer anyone to me, for a
similar purpose, here is my contact … I’ll respond promptly.”
There is no better way to leave an impression on your customers
than to make them feel good about doing business with you. You can
always win your prospects’ attention, by being professional when
pitching your brand to them. By so doing, they’ll feel free to try your
products and services.
Nothing changes even when you’ve never sold a product, you can
contact another business which has this product. If you’ll be doing
so, then make an agreement to introduce it to someone who needs it
and to return the credit on trust, which works also if you have no
money to pay for it. Otherwise, you possibly will borrow the amount
from a friend and payback as soon as the customer pays for it.
What you’ve done is not an attempt to swindle your prospect, but a
way of arriving at a valid conclusion that the particular product
appeals to one of your prospects. Consequently, you could consider
finding other people who would be interested in the same product.
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It’s as well satisfactory to remember that: before you go out there to
tell anyone to help you, you’d be supposed to first be always helping
yourself with positive mindset in the direction of your business. You
ought to initiate pitching your brand yet earlier than you trade it.
Don’t be afraid to make someone know this is what you really see
yourself achieving with his/her real support. Moreover, if someone
cannot concretely support you, here and now, he/she can always
appreciate the information you give, that you’ll soon be doing
something relevant in the society with your brand put on the market.
Stay positive and share the idea of your brand, by pitching it always.
Put every new idea you get from this Lesson into practice so that it
would yield fruit in your eventual success.
Business is a risk. There’re lots of risks to be taken, as an
entrepreneur. If you’re not ready to take risks, you might find that,
that is one reason you’re not yet as successful as you want to be.
Even though you’re a sanguine who is risk frenzy, you’ll still see
your loquaciousness and ostentation as a strength that may minimize
your troubles, if only you’d take the risk of starting to pitch an idea.
Therefore, getting out there to say to somebody: “Hello (the Person’s
Name, if you know it), you look good, I’d like to know what you do
to give yourself such a charming appearance or a sparkly sanguine
look. Or maybe, I should guess; you’re a health worker. Hope I am
not totally wrong?”
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And the person becomes interested in you, he/she says in response,
“I am sorry, you’re interesting too, but I don’t know you, why do
you care?”
Now and here is your opportunity to pitch your brand (remember,
it’s only a conceptual brand) but you’d respond saying: “Thanks my
goodness, it’s just my manners, I hardly pass by an appreciable
personality without complimenting his/her good naturedness. I’m
addicted to greeting everyone I admire. I hope you don’t mind, I’ll
like to formally introduce myself?” You’re sounding like a sanguine.
If the person is an introvert, he might be suspicious like a
Melancholic or reticent like a phlegmatic and so ask: “do you always
introduce yourself like this to everyone you meet?” This is a trickery
rhetorical question, just smile and don’t give any response quickly.
The person is already interested in knowing you, and might even be
thinking you’re a journalist, so he/she would then say, “Never mind,
please introduce yourself.” or a similar permission for you to ride on.
Once again, this is your lucky moment, you’ll make this once in a
lifetime impression on your audience. It’s your elevator pitch and the
rule is the same everywhere.
Moving into Presenting your Elevator Pitch
Here are five general points to note when delivering your elevator
pitch:
1. Act in a way that makes your audience know the purpose of your
discussion. In your first line of sentences make your audience
know the importance of your discussion, and so start with
something interesting, something baffling, and something that
doesn’t immediately paint a picture in his/her mind that you have
a sales motive.
as you speak, speak to him like he’s your best friend who you
have no reason to be afraid of his response.
Since he’s actually standing/sitting right before you, it’s an
opportunity to let him know that you have some knowledge about
his/her personal beliefs and to do this, just look into his/her eyes, as
you speak with a tone of loving friendship and concern. But you
have only 15 seconds to make your remarkable impression on him.
3. Let what you say sound like a story about you and your brand
(how you discovered the need people have that you have brought
your brand into their midst as a response and solution to their
problems,) so your audience could even benefit from your brand,
and you mention all the ways he/she can benefit from your
brand.
4. He/she might be thinking of one striking point you have raised,
intuit what point might strike his imagination and clarify it with
emphasis in a way that sounds like you’re answering a question
he/she might have asked you on the subject requiring emphasis.
5. Speak in a simple language making sure there are no technical
terms or clichés that will keep him wondering, “what could
he/she really mean here?” so don’t confuse your audience but
make sure that he/she understands every word you utter, so that
he/she can comment and still ask you questions when you are
done.
Only fifteen minutes and you have got the primacy and recency
effect on your audience. That’s you captivated him/her when you
started, and you enticed him/her when you ended, that s/he’s just
impressed about your personality.
2. Don’t rush what you are saying so that you don’t distract your
audience or embarrass yourself before him/her, so calm yourself
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Congratulations! You have learnt the art of public speaking and you
can start speaking anywhere even without prior rehearsal. All you
need is to be candid about your point. Your point, of course, is that
you want whoever you meet to begin to perceive you in relation to
your brand, even without having a location, a business card, or a
website.
Wait a minute, I’ll like you to know that you must make an effort to
not only conceptualize your brand idea, but basically be able to
explain its purpose to yourself in writing.
You can’t do without writing as an aspiring entrepreneur. If you’re
the kind of person who fears writing anything, then you have to kill
that fear now before it kills your pitching confidence.
If you don’t have any of these, (Don’t worry about what you need
them for; Lesson Five covers everything you need to know about
using websites, business cards, etc.) for now, make sure you have a
pocket size diary with you and a pen, so that you can get your
prospect booked, for a prospective engagement, with his/her contact
information noted, especially name, phone number and email.
You cannot present a good pitch if you’ve never written anything
about your business. It’s an essential part of pitching, or preparing
for one, to know your points, by memorizing what you’ve
conceived, as well as what you’ve written down about your brand.
Notice I haven’t told you to go out there shouting “HELP! Help!
help me!” to anyone. You have not been told to go out with a
proposal to submit to any financial institution making fund appeal.
If you’re ready to memorize your points, then maybe you have to sit
down now, and do yourself this good of practicing how to pitch to an
audience. Here are things you should do as you practice:
The time for that will come, only after you’ve known how to pitch
your brand and you’ve known how to build a contact list by several
successful lead-generating elevator pitches.
1) Answer the question: what is your business name? (If you don’t
have any yet, you can create one now. And here are four rules for
creating a business name:
x First, it should draw prospects to you. For instance, if printed on
a bill board, it should be able to give a sense, to the right
audience, about what’s actually in it for him/her…
x Secondly, it should distinguish your business from any other
business out there, so it should be a name another business isn’t
already having, so that you don’t lose your prospect who might
locate the other business thinking it’s your business. It means
you need a bit of research to come out with a name that is unique
and attractive as well as targeted…
What you have to practice doing now is pitching your brand.
And the reason is this, you’ll have to be able to pitch to a business
accelerator (a company that gives funds to new startups, after
hearing their pitches and is interested in new brands), angel investors
(investors that take the risk of funding an innovative business idea,
with the hope that: if it’s really as good as it is pitched, it will bring
maximum profit and high ROI), and banks, credible financial
institutions for credits, savings, debits or reliable cash management.
Since without mastering an elevator pitch you can’t get fund from
anywhere, it is right that you first learn how to do it, and this lesson
has shown you how to do it in 15 seconds. If you practice what you
have learnt here, then you’re ready to start writing your proposal.
How to start an elevator pitch by writing, memorizing and practicing
x
x
Thirdly, it should describe what you do, such that it leaves no
doubt on your specialty…
And fourth, it should be an easy-to-remember name.
If you have got your business name now, move forward.
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2) Write down your business name. This is the first thing you
should learn to write, and never forget it, as it becomes second
name to you...
3) Answer these three questions:
x
What is your business purpose? You will have a big reason for
coming into business, answer it. And let it be connected with
people who will benefit from your business…
x
How will people benefit from your business?
x
And, what makes your business unique?
Write it down. Literally describe your business as a mission to solve
a particular problem for people who will benefit from it.
Subtitle this “My mission statement” and let it stick in your memory.
Then make a tagline from your business purpose. In other words,
what is the promise you are making to your prospect, some ideal
person, who sees your business name, so that he/she immediately
knows what he/she will benefit from your business.
Your tagline is your selling promise, so it should be creative and just
a simple sentence will do. So, whenever you mention your business
name, what immediately follows it is your tagline. Also write it
down.
Is it a consumer who values the kind of product or service you’ll
provide? Write down a description of this person and his/her needs,
as many as they are, how often he/she goes in search of them, where
he/she goes in search of them and where you can locate persons like
him/her in the society.
5) Now you know what your prospect needs and values or finds
interesting. Of course, you can’t provide all his needs, so making
a checklist of all your prospect’s needs that you have identified,
then mark off all the items you will like to be responsible for
making available to your prospect. Followed by, write them out
neatly under your tagline.
6) Write your elevator pitch from all these points. Your elevator
pitch is what you will have to memorize and so shouldn’t be too
long to memorize.
Review what you’ve written down, it should correspond with this
checklist:
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
Business name?
Purpose?
Mission statement?
Tagline?
Prospects?
Products or
Service?
But your actual elevator pitch should mention your business name,
followed by your tagline, before your products, next to your mission
statement, plus your prospects, and then you end it with you purpose.
4) Answer the question: who are your prospects?
The person you target, for your product or service to sell, is known
as your prospect. Try to know who this person is. Is it a baby, or a
pregnant woman, or a home owner, a business owner, a grocery shop
or a car owner?
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You now have your elevator pitch that anyone can understand; it is
time to practice pitching. To pitch to an actual audience, you need to
have pitched several times to an imaginary audience.
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The simplest way to practice pitching is first with your best friend,
unless you’re an introvert. If you’re an introvert, you can do this
alone by standing in front a mirror looking at your own reflection.
Assuming you’re an introvert, this is a very simple made-for-you
guide to practice pitching. Look into the mirror but you shouldn’t see
you in that reflection, see your best friend who stands in for your
prospect and so becomes your audience.
What would you do? Assume he’s asked you to go on with your
formal introduction. How do you begin? Do this and repeat it several
times until you can’t forget a word of it, after several imaginary
pitching:
“My name is (Mention your full name), resident in (Mention your
residential address) and at home with me, as I speak with you now,
is my Business (mention your business name).
“It is interestingly a unique startup that (mention your tagline). I
offer (mention your products or services), and I am passionate about
(mention your mission statement).
“Anyone who is a (mention your prospect) can actually benefit from
my business. In fact my concern is to (mention your purpose), and I
am happy to meet you.”
End!
How do you feel about this? Elated of course, don’t be nervous. You
have spoken well. And your prospect is flabbergasted. You’re a
professional and he’s happy to meet you too. So smile as he
responds to you saying,
“That’s an amazing introduction; I wouldn’t have done so well, or
even better, in so short a space of time. I am very delighted to talk
with you. I really lack words enough to thank you for telling me so
much about you. And since you asked me first, but have introduced
yourself before me, you’ll still care to know what I do, right?”
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How to take advantage of the Moment after your elevator pitch
What will you say? You won’t say no, because you’ve been waiting
for this opportunity. So make your final impression to make him/her
believe you’re really interested in what s/he’s going to tell you,
rather than look uninterested.
You’ll present the best of you by simply excusing yourself, saying,
“And I hope you don’t mind if I take note of your detail for memory
sake, because I really meet a lot of persons and sometimes tend to
forget who is who.
“I won’t like to forget you since I will surely love to keep in touch
with you again, so you may tell me what you do; I really care to
know (so we can start our relationship from here” (in your mind).)
S/he’s telling you about what s/he does. Pay attention. Don’t write
yet. s/he won’t be unusually slow like s/he is dictating anything to
you. And don’t make him/her feel uncomfortable about you noting
his/her words, like a journalist.
Just look straight at him/her, as he/she speaks, and don’t look
elsewhere. Listen to every word he/she says. Don’t skip one look.
S/he will be impressed by your rapt attention also.
S/he’s finished talking. Don’t note anything yet, because what you
really want to note are a few details (Name, Profession, Phone and
Email, that’s all).
Let your response be, “O my goodness, you spoke so kindly that you
got me admiring you all the time you were speaking. I swallowed
every word from you. I’m so humbled to be favored by your
kindness, to take out, from your time, these costly minutes, to
interact with me.
“I appreciate your personality even greater now than I did before
saying a word to you. You’re such a cool person to call a friend. I
hope you don’t mind, if I address you as my friend henceforth?”
(You’ll become irresistible; no one will refuse your offer of
friendship.)
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“That’s an honour.” S/he’d respond.
S/he’s just going to give you any quality of detail you ask for now,
because you’ve made a wonderful impression on him/her. Don’t ask
for much.
You’ll gently add, “Indeed you’re a worthy friend. When I first
began admiring you, it was your friendly appearance that really
attracted me. I was really admiring the friend I saw in you. I’d
humbly just note down a few details to keep in touch with you
subsequently, I hope you don’t mind?”
“Oh yes, I don’t mind” he/she responds, and you are just left with
this moment to win the heart of your prospect.
You’re writing now and voicing what you write as follows: “your
name… I hope I haven’t forgotten so soon, (write it down as s/he
confirms it’s spelling to you), and your phone… (Also write down
his/her profession after s/he’s finished calling his/her personal call
digits)…
“And, lastly, please your email… (Write it down and confirm
it/show him/her what you’ve written to confirm the spelling is
correct). Raise your face up and smile at him/her, and s/he’s smiling
back at you.
Then say, “You’ve really made my day, and I promise not to take
any more of your costly time. I extremely gladly appreciate your
timely friendliness, and in exchange I promise to keep in touch with
you.”
If you have a business card, hand him/her one now. If you don’t
have, just say “It’s a pleasure meeting you,” but watch his/her mood.
If he/she offers you a hand or clinch, accept it, and act in such a way
that shows that you don’ want to waste any more costly minute of
his/hers time.
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Probably, he/she is longing for more time with you, so don’t wave
goodbye yet. It means you’ve achieved your purpose. Nevertheless,
you shouldn’t stay longer unless he/she asks you to sit for probably a
sponsored drink or snacks, as a show of friendship (it seldom
happens, but expect a surprise at any time.)
Be as free and frank as you can be. Then take the time to ask him
about his/her use and need of the products you earlier mentioned
about while presenting your elevator pitch.
And since he/she has asked for an extension, thank him/her;
furthermore, listen for what he/she says. You’ll still make your
earlier promise to keep him/her posted concerning your business
engagements and relevant information that will enrich him/her.
Once done, say “And I hope you don’t mind, if I start all over to
thank you for every second of your costly time you have shared with
me?”
Surely he/she wouldn’t want to be flattered, so he/she will say;
“please it’s nothing, that’s what friendship demands, (moreover you
asked for friendship).”
It’s time for your last response; while getting set to wave goodbye,
standing, say “and even at that, I must thank you from the depth of
my heart. You are an ideal friend. You have made my day. I promise
to return your kindness by keeping in touch with you. So leaving
you, I won’t forget you a moment.”
Then he or she stands and joins you toddling a short distance before
waving goodbye and you wave him/her goodbye also. That’s all with
him/her now.
But following up will have to be done in a week time or two if you
have given out your business card. But if you haven’t given out a
business card, then after six hours, call his cell phone to thank him
again, and he/she is happy.
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After 28 hours, send an email to thank him/her again. Then start your
proper follow up in two weeks time. S/he’s already comfortable
receiving messages from you.
How to set a tone for business engagement with networking
A good follow-up will seal your relationship with your prospect, and
s/he is soon going to be ordering your products and services. You’ll
have to know how to make that available.
Use this method of conversation in networking and you’ll start your
business without borrowing a dime for it. Try to make sure you are
always talking to the right person. After fifteen seconds you should
know if a person is the right person or not.
The right person is the person who will respond like the imaginary
ideal friend. Don’t waste your time on someone who has no interest
in what you have to say. Just keep moving on to the next person
whenever you have the opportunity to network.
You can network anywhere. You can join clubs, attend new club
meetings, attend public functions, attend social events, join business
group discussions, even do so online, via social media, and just
anywhere, you can meet someone who is interested in what you have
to say.
And wherever that person is located, the rules do not change. Once
you’ve mastered pitching, and you’ve got results, you can begin to
identify other marketing strategies, and also write them down.
(Lesson Five will expose you to all the available marketing strategies
for beating down the pants of competitors in today’s media and
technology driven marketplace.)
At the end of your writing exercise, you’d have got the basic tools
for crafting a powerful business plan.
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You started very well. You have tested your ideas by pitching them
through social networking. You now have the kind of enthusiasm to
take other business risks without which no one could be properly
called an entrepreneur. So you are now a qualified entrepreneur.
Start you business plan. Write an extensive detail of your business
idea with the points in your pitch and with the new marketing
strategies you have considered.
While you considered your marketing strategy you ordinarily would
have researched into similar businesses and how they’ve been
marketing their brands. You’re not copying them, you’re taking out
of their marketing procedure what works and you’re adding
something else that will make it work better.
You’ve not only got a marketing strategy that is reliable and unique,
you’ve also known your competitors, and the fact that you have
added something that will make your marketing work easier and
better, you’ve identified your competitive advantage. Now take all
these elements and write them comprehensively to form your
business plan.
Hence, it’s taken for granted that, at this time, you have studied and
tested the products and services you’re offering, because you have
pitched your brand and you’ve got results.
Your product has been proven to have demand, is timely, valuable,
and important because of its relevance in a particular industry. Thus,
you’ll create a checklist of characteristics sought for in a business
idea, and as you write, put down everything you know about your
business.
You’ll need a management team, make it a good team and do a
financial projection without expecting too much profit as you launch.
What are the aspects of your business that investors will be attracted
to? Consider all of them, and since your business has demand, the
competition might be high or low, but whichever is the case, you
have knowledge of your competitive advantage.
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Finally, consider where you want to locate your business and ensure
it has a low amount of nearby competitors, while you have a strategy
for winning every competition on ground.
Moreover, winning competition is mostly about the quality of your
products and services plus the commitment of your management
team to improving on quality of service delivery, as well as attention
to customers, taking suggestions, treating them well, giving them
value for their money and hearing complains.
Having known this much, it’s time to put all these elements into your
business plan.
Options? Was a university or corporate employee involved or
resources used in the creation of the technology?
Development
Activities:
What
is
the
status
of
the
development of the product or service? What are the near
term activities and key milestones that are required for the
development of the product or service? Are there any key
Alliances necessary?
Business Model: How will the company generate revenue?
Describe your marketing and sales strategy for capturing and
defending significant market share. What are your profit
When writing your business plan, first identify who is receiving it,
that’s your target audience, and then use the appropriate language as
you communicate the following ideas:
expectations?
Managerial and Development Team: Describe briefly the role
of current participants and give their relevant background to
Basic Information (First Name, Last Name, Company, Phone,
Address, Mobile Phone, Email Address, City, State, Zip.)
Business Idea
Description of Products or service and the problem they’ll
solve (your business purpose); Describe what is to be sold by
the company and the customer need for it. State potential
their ongoing involvement in the product development or
proposed company.
Financial Plan: Describe any funding to date, the dollar
amount, use of funds, and the source
Help you will like from your audience.
market size.
This is the general way the opt-in forms for online business
accelerators appear.
solutions to the problem i.e., the competitive products or
If you have provided all the information here, you can start
submitting your business plans and proposals.
Competitive Advantage: What are the current and anticipated
services? Why is your product or service better than the
competition, and why will it be sure to enjoy a sustainable
competitive advantage? Are there any significant barriers to
entry?
Technology Platform: Describe the underlying technology and
Now take this as a working structure when writing your business
plan, despite the fact that if you need further help or review on
writing a compelling business plan or proposal, you may email your
request to inforcopynow@gmail.com and your request will be
attended to.
what needs to be done to develop the intellectual property
position further. So you have IP protected i.e. a patent or
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However, you can get started immediately to move to the next stage
of financial sourcing before launching your business.
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Doing your homework this far, you’ll see that your dreams are
finding meaningful expressions, and in fact, one last word here:
Congratulation! But we’re not done yet.
It should interest you to know that the information I have shared
with you in this chapter is my own personal method that has worked
several times and never failed even once. It is my lifestyle as
professional copywriter.
I grew my copywriting business using this same method, and my
business is a freelance business that I can do from home.
Moreover, since I knew there was no plan for an office initially, I
had to use the same method of pitching, to ward my prospects off
asking for my office location. I had my business card handy & ready.
You might need motivation to try what you’ve learnt
In my case, my home location was equally my office, business has
been done non-locally, I simply started by telling the prospect my
name and my residential address.
Furthermore, since not many would divulge their residential address
to their prospect on a first meeting, it made my prospects long for a
fulltime of discussion with me.
I seemed to trust them, without seeing them as strangers.
This intimacy I established with them, in my self-introduction,
would lure them to trust me and not to see me as a stranger too, and
so, we would both become informal and accept each other.
Afterward, having become so familiar, it becomes easier to discuss
business without each hiding anything from the other or feeling
insecure.
This method of communication helps to make the prospect open
enough to let you in on his private life, as well as it adds to your
knowledge of your prospect. After all, this is particularly why you
are networking, not to sell there and then, but to establish intimacy
with your prospect, one that enables him/her to share his/her contact
and personal detail with you.
You don’t need to be a copywriter, like me, to be able to do this.
After all, I didn’t need to be another kind of business man to be able
to do this.
That’s why, whatever business you’ll be doing, you’ll need to
understand that knowing your prospect is a basic key to selling
anything to anyone.
Knowing your prospect helps you target your communication saves
your time and saves your money, and needless to add, “Your ability
to sell to a prospect you know is the assuring way to start increasing
your available resources by 100% Now.”
This is not a debatable assertion, because your known prospect is in
fact part of your available resources. Your prospect can turn in
referrals to you because of intimacy and trust, and this gives you
more prospects.
Plus that is simply a multiplication of your resources by 100%. 1
new referral from one known prospect is equal to 100% increase in
your available resources. Since 1 new prospect will soon trust you,
based on referral and subsequently make another new referral, your
prospects will continue to increase.
So, if you can identify someone you know who needs your product
and service, that would be the easiest way to increase your available
resources by 100% now that means you can rest assured from this
known prospects to sell many new prospects. At this instant, there is
one thing you must not fail to do: “get out there!”
This method always work when you are social networking. It builds
your self-confidence and makes your testimonials convincing, if you
add any in the form of telling a story about your previous encounter.
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LESSON FOUR
ARE YOU AFRAID OF GETTING STARTED?
The good news is: you are not the only one who has gone down the
road of fears before. Though you are afraid of getting out there, and
that’s fine, you will overcome this fear by the time you get out there,
and the reason you are afraid is because you have not got yourself
out there, and you have not got started in this line before.
Not to worry, once you get yourself out there and get started, in spite
of your fears, you will no longer have any more room for fears in
you, because what you were afraid of you will have successfully
done and passed it.
What’s more, you’ll have to start moving and climbing higher, after
all, if you can start climbing, in spite of fears of the height, you can
get to the top, no matter how high up it is above the ground where
you’re starting or standing right now.
You can begin seeing how you’ll be killing your fears. This should
be a most fascinating adventure; that awaits you, as you get started,
and I promise you will enjoy the fun of playing this game of
skirmishing fears.
In this Lesson, you’ll learn how others started taking meaningful
entrepreneurial risks, in spite of their fears, and you’ll know how to
start taking your own entrepreneurial risks, in spite of your fears.
This Lesson will really equip you with bravado and courage for
getting started as an entrepreneur. Get started at once.
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Before I started writing this book, I was afraid that I might not be
able to finish it and that you might not appreciate it, but I started it
any way, not minding the end point. Then, even after writing, I
feared not finding a publisher. However, I went out in search of one.
Luckily now you can see it’s published, in spite of my fears.
Wait a minute, you haven’t started right? Am sure you want to start
because you are hungry for success. Don’t fear anything you have
not started. Start it first then you’ll know if there is anything to fear
about sustaining it. So I want you to move beyond your starting line
first. That’s why I have prepared this Fourth Lesson.
Another of my fears was that you might not appreciate my style of
writing, if I don’t impress you, skillfully; nonetheless, I chose to start
writing few paragraphs, until I got my first page, then 20, 80, 160,
and 320. Look at the last page now, it has become a huge volume,
it’s made a little sense as I intended, it’s over 103,000 words now.
At the point of reading this Lesson, you should be nodding your
head about getting started immediately. I hope this Lesson meets you
at the point of deciding to start now. Step unto this point and let’s
start our journey to entrepreneurial concept leadership together.
You are reading and appreciating a book I once thought I couldn’t
complete. In fact, I will like to hear your thought on what you have
read so far. Send your personal review, to my inbox, about this book.
My personal email address is francisbestman@ymail.com, and I
will be glad to encourage you personally on whatever project you
might be currently trying to complete.
So send your thoughts to my personal email address. I’ll love to
support your projects too, so that you can also complete them and be
successful, if you think I succeeded.
Currently, seeing my own story of fear, and how I overcame my
fear, do you think there is really anything to be afraid of? Don’t be
afraid of what you have not started. I don’t think if you haven’t
started anything you should be afraid of anything. You should start
first, then you will know if your fears will still remain or not.
If your fears still remain, and you have started, then feel free to
discuss your fears with me also via my email and I will help you put
an end to it immediately. But I believe I am talking to you because
of the business you have not yet started, because this book was
written for you to show you how to start your business and to
increase your resources by 100%.
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Where is your starting point?
This is your starting point, stand here, and don’t move yet until you
hear the command. The command is simply, “Start Now.” Have you
heard it? Yes. I just gave the command. But how do you start? Do
you know how to start? Have you decided what to start with? Have
you discovered where is best to start from?
Do a little speculation now and when you are done, it’s time for
practice, practice, practice. That’s how to start. Start by practicing
what you have learnt from the beginning until now. You’re starting
now, and not later, this very moment of feeling propped is apt for
your starting. You need to be ready. Are you ready? If you are ready,
remember we are starting together. So don’t be afraid, ok?
One of the reasons you see yourself getting afraid is that you are
about stepping the bounds of your comfort zone and this makes you
feel insecure. But the importance of what you are about to do surely
surpasses the importance of whatever security you might be
currently enjoying in your comfort zone.
That means this is as well a mandate to go for something more
beneficial — getting out there and doing something you’ve never
done before. Don’t mind the feeling of insecurity; it will always be
there until you achieve success.
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You’re about to discover that you also have wings to fly. Do you
think if eagles were afraid of falling from the sky they would have
ever trusted their wings that make them soar so high? No. In that
case, you too don’t have to be afraid of failing.
No competition is too big to surpass. If you start now, if you take
flight now, the sky is your limit, and no competition will ever
prevent you from reaching the sky, in so far as reaching the sky is
your goal, and your ambition is kept firm.
It doesn’t mean you can’t conceive of the possibility of failing, but
don’t be afraid of it and it won’t limit your flight to success. It’s only
fear that prevents you from using your wings. Now you must trust
your wings can lift you off the ground and sustain your weight over
the wind of competitions around you.
More to the point, the very wing you need now to fly over your fears
is your ambition. Become ambitious about becoming a champion
and start practicing the tactics and techniques, strategies and
indulgence of champions. You’ll soon emerge a champion. It works
like this. Let your ambition lift you higher than your fears and your
perception will change.
If other birds can fly, why can’t you fly? If other people have been
succeeding, amidst uncertainties, why can’t you succeed? You can
succeed, and, if you trust your wings, you will succeed to fly. You
will fly over the competitions around you and you won’t fail to win
your competitors.
Why not? It’s your first time, but it makes no bona fide difference;
because, there’s always a first time for everyone doing anything
enormous out there. You can also get out there and do something
extraordinarily gigantic; it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time or not.
Just believe you can do what others are doing, and you can do it
better than them. Don’t change or drop this belief no matter what
you see from up there.
Of course, when you start flying, you’ll start seeing things
differently from the way you see things startling you now. In fact, to
your advantage, those high mountains you once feared will give the
impression of being awfully tiny pebbles when you start soaring like
an eagle far above the ground there. Perception shapes imagination.
That is why I say there is nothing to fear. The reason you think those
mountains are too high for you to get to their top is this: you haven’t
attempted flying. You shouldn’t even choose to climb the mountains
again. If you in actual fact want to be definite perception shapes
imagination, then you should better start attempting to flutter over
the mountains. You’ll see how minuscule the mountain appears
when you’re towering high above it. Doesn’t this sweet astonish?
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Fair enough, your perception will change when you get up there. Let
your target be on getting up there and starting to fly. Forget about the
mountains, once you start flying you will soon find yourself perched
over the mountain. And, as you go higher, the mountains will no
longer exist; because, they’ll no longer be over you as mountains,
you’ll go high above them, like an eagle. Become an eagle now.
To become an eagle, yes right now, you have to start at this moment
to push yourself to do something you’ve never done before.
Something like, deciding to go out there and pitch your brand to
somebody for the first time. Have you done this before? It’s your
first time right? So, you have to do it. Take the decision to do it now.
That is still where to start from. There is nothing extraordinary about
doing it. I’ve shown you how to pitch your brand to your prospect in
Lesson Three above, so if you need to be sure of what to say, go
back to rehearse the lines once again, and once you have mastered
those lines, decide where and who to start pitching your brand.
How to prepare yourself for flight over competitions
Take your time first, scale everyone you have on your contact list.
Remember that your known prospect is always a good starting point.
Start with a member of your family, or a friend. But for you to really
seize the challenge, don’t bring your efforts to a standstill when you
get in touch with your friends and family, go out there for new ones.
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Remember as well, it’s, if truth be told, about doing something
you’ve never done before, and it’s particularly on the subject of
leaving your comfort zone. It’s taken for granted that you already
have as much as necessary confidence, to speak with your family or
friends, about your business idea.
Even so, no one knows yet that you have high quality gold. Your
prospect will be the first person to know that you’re a gold dealer,
and since he/she is interested in gold, he/she will be interested in
you. However, you aren’t going out with the gold to show him/her,
you’ll go speaking in such a way that s/he’ll believe you have gold.
Nevertheless, for you to build a new-fangled echelon of confidence,
you’ll have to hit the road out of the comfy precinct of family and
friends and pitch your brand to a totally unfamiliar person. Build the
relationship yourself, and use the pattern given you in Lesson Three.
That’s if you’ll be capable of making anyone you meet crave to buy
your gold, even without seeing it with you, you’ll sell anything. If
you can do this, you’re equipped to tower above your competitions.
Decide without more ado. Where do you want to set out to meet your
first prospect? (Write it down), who do you fancy your first prospect
to be? (Write it down) what is the sexual category of your prospect?
(Write it down, but budge out of your comfort zone. For this reason,
if speaking to a feminine prospect is a supplementary comfy effort,
decide to speak with a male) what about your target age assortment?
Organize your points and memorize them before going out. Make it
a fun. Take part in the role of salesperson without seeming like one.
Glimpse your brand as gold. Spot yourself as a gold dealer, at the
same time as your prospect is seen as a lover of gold. With this
insight, go out there and make your prospect know you have a gold
deal you’ll want him to hear. Is that anything to be afraid of doing?
What’s the point of being afraid? You have gold to sell, and you
know someone who is interested in buying gold, shouldn’t you be
happy to go and let him/her know you are a gold dealer? Of course
you should, don’t be timid.
Even though it might be your first day out and you might be feeling
very insecure going out there, after all gold is extremely precious
and may well be stolen, you’d have to be affirmative that you’re in
truth safe; for you’re not going to be actually involved in the haulage
of gold in boxes like any gold hauler looking around for a buyer.
What you should start trying right away
With nothing to fear, you are safe, just get out there now and talk to
your prospect about your gold. Convince and persuade him/her to
accept your offer. Give him/her reasons to understand why your gold
is the best in the market. And you know what? S/he is interested in
what you are saying. (Gold here implies whatever your brand sells.)
You shouldn’t look nervous, and you shouldn’t be tensed. Be as
friendly as you are in your comfort zone. By so doing, you’ll be
expanding the scope of your comfort zone. You’ll agree this is good
to start and try right away. So go out there and get started now.
Other causes why you might be anxious of going out there and
getting started are: inferiority complex, negative self image, shyness
and telling yourself you can’t do it (self-defeat), or recalling an
embarrassing moment in the past when you tried doing something
unusual but failed woefully (self-pity).
I don’t act as if these reasons aren’t genuine, but I’ll tell you they are
not good enough reasons why you can’t go out there and get it right
for the first time. Remember, there is always a first time. There is a
first time to get it right. This is an opportunity for you to prove to
yourself that you can get it right for the first time.
If that’s true, in order for you to prove to yourself that you also can
do it right, you shouldn’t tell yourself you can’t do it. Don’t
discourage yourself from doing it. Do away with all those negative
ideas in your mind.
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Be optimistic. Paint a picture of you going out there and impressing
your prospect in an exceptionally brilliant and miraculous way.
Don’t doubt your ability, don’t question the possibility. Just confess
it to yourself and keep repeating a positivistic ejaculation like “I can
do it, I can, yes I can do it well, not once, not twice; I know I can do
my best all the time and even now!”
Positivistic exclamations in the vein of the foregone will heighten
your self-confidence; keep repeating them until you see yourself
setting out there and doing well. I believe you can do it. So, join my
faith with yours, go out there to make yourself proud. And one more
word before you’re gone out there: “I am proud of you, because I
know you can make it happen.” Someone now believes in you, ok?
I wish you could see how easy this is and fun too, going out there.
It’s what you do every day, but now it’s for a unique purpose — the
activity is not entirely new. So drop whatever excuse you might want
to come up with. Start expanding the scope of your comfort zone. Do
so by pitching to the prospect you have identified. If you do it once
now, you will have enough experience to do it to a thousand and one
more prospects out there, and this means taking flight right now.
Whatever you have done before, which didn’t work well for you, is a
past and can’t speak for the present. Put out of your mind your entire
negative past experiences. Don’t recall any humiliation of the times
of yore; overlook every past experience of rejection, disappointment
and failure. You’re doing something up-to-the-minute which doesn’t
have any derivation in what happened within what went before.
Focus on the opportunity you have and ignore every opportunity you
lost in the past. It is what you have that is important for your success
not what you lost. So stick with the opportunity you have now, and
know that it takes just a bold courage to get it right for the first time,
as it would take just a timid fear to miss a golden opportunity today.
The opportunity is golden because it has great value for your
success. That is, if you get it right now, you will always get it right
subsequently.
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All the same, if you miss it now, you will still miss it subsequently,
unless you are able to grab courage under your belt and push
yourself into boldly doing something you’ve on no account done
sooner than when you’re learning of it right here and now.
I keep up with my affirmation. It is easy, because it’s all about
adjusting your mindset. Adjust from fear to courage. Fiddle with
your timidity to reveal only your boldness. This is the same thing
you will need in a thousand years to come, if you’ll live long enough
to keep procrastinating a golden opportunity of getting started until
then. Whenever you want to get started, the only one thing that will
enable you get started is bold courage. So get it now and it will stay.
Unleash your power for success now
This is what you must do to be successful, and there aren’t two ways
about it. It’s your power for success which you should not delay to
unleash. What you are simply doing is self-adjustment to the need of
getting started. It is now necessary for you to get started. That is why
you have a business idea.
Since you have a business idea, you wouldn’t just sit down there and
think the idea will realize itself. You are the one to realize your own
business idea. That’s what makes it your business idea. It is first
your business idea because it is meant to push you into business.
Next it’s meant to get you started as a business owner. It’s
something you can achieve as an entrepreneur, make it your project.
What you are setting out to do is what is required for getting your
business idea working for you as your own business. It’s going to
work when you start honing it. You’ll hone it by presenting it to a
prospect that will have interest in it; and to know who has interest in
it, you’ll first go out there and talk to someone.
In short, what you’re going out there to do is essentially an attempt
to launch your career as an aspiring entrepreneur. Become an expert
in your new career.
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We’ve been preparing how to help you introduce yourself boldly.
There is nothing dangerously novel about self-introduction. You’ve
been doing this every day, however, the striking difference now is
that you’re adding extra information and that is about your brand.
Bear in mind that you’re going out there to introduce yourself. Your
business idea should be seen as part of the basics for introducing
yourself; thus, if you have a middle name, learn to suppress it, to
elicit your brand, hope that wouldn’t be a hitch or anything difficult?
Now see your business idea as your middle name. It’s not a big deal
to introduce your middle name right? All you’ll do is substitute your
actual middle name with your business name and tell your prospect
why you are formally changing your middle name, is that difficult?
Usually, after a change of name, you publish your new name and
explain the reason for the change right? So, you’ve got a new middle
name; publish it by announcing it to your prospect. Is that a big deal?
When someone asks you “what is your name?” do you call someone
else to speak for you? Don’t you usually speak for yourself? So it is
nothing strange to go out there and speak for yourself right? Do you
usually get timid to say your name to someone who asks? Then, you
don’t have to be afraid to tell your prospect your middle name.
Since you’ve seen how easy it is to introduce yourself, are you still
anxious of going out there? Yes, I insist, this is what would make
you successful. The more prospects you pitch your brand to out
there, the more your resources are increasing by 100%.
If that’s true, then you are advised to fritter away time no longer in
relation to unleashing your power for success. If it must be done, it
must be started now. You by now have a business idea. It is meant to
usher you into business. Getting into business with bold confidence
is your power for success. Unleash it now. To unleash it, you’ll go
now to speak to someone about it and your business will get started.
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Finally, learn by heart that through practice you will build
confidence and your pitching will become easier. So, it’s all about
practice, practice, practice, like I said before, start practicing how to
pitch your brand by actually pitching your brand. If you can pitch
your brand to just one prospect, for the first time, you can really
pitch to 1 million persons for as many times as you want.
Commit to memory Dale Carnegie’s four essential things that will
help you get the most of your effort to become a good speaker in
public, and to get it with rapidity and dispatch:
o
o
o
o
First: Start with a strong and persistent Desire
Second: Know thoroughly what you are going to talk about
Third: Act Confident
Fourth: Practice! Practice! Practice.
So, stop procrastinating, go out there, take to the air over your fears,
drift above the mountains, and here are my rules to get you started:
Maintain your ambition.
Optimize your confidence.
Stay focused on your dream as an aspiring entrepreneur; eat the food of
success to relinquish your hunger.
Go out of your shell to find food.
Start pitching your business idea.
Start responding to your prospects’ needs.
And get it right now. You’ll surely succeed. Even so, to get a hold of
the timeliest success out of your business, subsequent to getting
started, having an effective marketing toolkit will guarantee your
success by 100%.
You’ll find the whole thing you need to know about getting a madefor-you marketing toolkit in the next Lesson. Check it out promptly,
to back up this guarantee. Read Lesson Five in earnest now, it’s been
written to show you how to best sell your brand to win the
marketplace competition. If you surely want to win, you’d read on.
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LESSON FIVE
CAN YOU COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY? UPDATE YOUR
MARKETING PLAN NOW TO WIN THE MARKETPLACE COMPETITION
It is always easier to acquire knowledge of a job than to start doing
the job, by putting the knowledge into practice. Knowledge of a job
is called skill. That’s the knowledge of how to get something done.
In entrepreneurship, the basic skill you need is communication.
Communication could be simply defined as a way of sending
messages and Nido R. Qubein (2006) rightly observes that “Humans
have a variety of ways to send messages. We “speak” with our eyes,
our facial expressions, our posture, our clothes, our grooming, our
lifestyles, and many other aspects of our persons. But the most
familiar and most explicit form of communication is with words.”
(47) Communicating with words requires certain skills and you need
to acquire the right skill of communicating with words.
If you have acquired this skill, what follows is to put it into practice,
and this is the turning point for even big and old companies. It’s one
of the challenges of building a company, how to communicate with
the right prospect, sending the right message through the right
media. This can be done in different ways, so the options today are
very many.
However, in this Fifth Lesson, I will concentrate my discussion of
communication around use of the latest media, since I have
emphasized on identifying the right prospect in the previous Lesson.
The attempt to sell is known as marketing, while the message crafted
for selling anything is known as marketing communication.
So marketing and communication are intrinsically united. Here what
you will try to identify is your potential medium of communication
to get your message across to the prospect who is interested in your
brand in the market. You will learn to do it yourself, so that when
you have employees who would be marketers in your enterprise, you
can also train them yourself, to save cost of hiring an expert.
This Lesson will make you an expert to market your own brand
whatever it is. You will learn all of the expert marketing strategies
and how to apply them well to meet your marketing need for selling
your brand in today’s technology and media based market.
The fact that you own your company as an entrepreneur makes it
necessary for you to know more about your business than anyone
else should. Knowledge is the key to prosperity. As a business
owner, you cannot prosper if you are not open to new ideas and
embrace changes around in the marketplace.
Today’s marketplace has changed so vastly that if you are not
changing with it, you are definitely not competing to win in the
marketplace. So, to get you changing alongside the changes
technology and the media are bringing to the marketplace, you need
to know all the ways of using the available technology and
marketing opportunity, via different media, to update your marketing
plan.
Since I am writing to you who have just decided to get started in
business, as an aspiring entrepreneur, I hope the content of this
Lesson meets you well.
You will not have to apply everything in this Lesson yourself, but
you will still need to know everything in this Lesson, so that you
know who to hire to execute your marketing plan.
Knowing how wide-ranging the new media of communication is, it
would begin to be very interesting why you need to get out there and
use any of the mottled new media marketing hub to sell your brand.
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So, knowledge is the power to lead, you will lead as an expert in
marketing your brand, and so you will have the tool to empower and
mobilize your marketers, and where a lot of writings will be done,
you will need to hire a copywriter to give you professional
marketing copies.
This Lesson will not dwell on how to hire a copywriter, so if you
will want to include this in your marketing plan, to meet the
challenge of writing effective copy, not to worry I will provide you a
copywriting
toolkit
when
you
contact
me
via
inforcopynow@gmail.com.
So, since I have reserved a spot for you; whenever you need a
copywriter’s service, as you will find out in this Lesson, I don’t want
you to worry about copywriting anymore, that’s why this writing
fear shouldn’t upset you, you can always find my assistance so your
business doesn’t fail because of lack of effective copywriting
services in it.
In fact, the many businesses that don’t thrive to their tenth
anniversary have been mostly those who had no idea of what
effective copywriting is, but that will be taken care of when you are
fully in business and contact me via the email above for help on
getting the best of effective copywriting service, so have no fears or
worries, ok?
Apart from copywriting; which would have been your biggest
challenge, other marketing services can be done by a team of
marketers who you can train with the knowledge you will get about
the various effective and time saving marketing media for selling
your brand in today’s media oriented up-sell competitive
marketplace.
The use of technology here is a better substitute for “fast-track to
innovative marketing strategies,” it is most appropriate to depict the
nuance of change involved in really being a productive brand
marketer today. So it doesn’t mean using any special device but
knowing how to fast-track your communication in the use of media
technology.
Knowing the other options for marketing your brand, using media
technology, will help you to recognize the relationship between time
and effectiveness; in order to make you a knowledgeable business
owner, who’s capable of directing productive marketing in your
company.
And even if you want to go out there or you want people to go out
there for the marketing communication, you will still find this
insight very useful to you as an aspiring entrepreneur. So pay
attention here.
Marketing strategy now has its quadrant that you need to have at
your finger tips. In this quadrant, there are four marketing strategies:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Effective and Efficient
Effective but time-intensive
Choose wisely
Wasteful
You will need to know what makes each of the marketing option a
fit for your marketing strategy; in order to know which options you
should adopt and adapt to your marketing plan.
So, you can also determine results easily, and make budget for your
marketing plan accordingly. Look at the figure below and see what
this quadrant is saying:
These are options that are successfully boycotting traditional
marketing channels or local sales funnels, such that, if you are not
updating your marketing plan to meet these new technology centered
marketing, you’ll be lagging behind:
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Yours is to pick the marketing tool that is best for you, while you
have a comprehensive list and explanation of each of the available
tools here. As you move along with me, don’t forget the above
quadrant, so you don’t pick the wrong tool that isn’t best for you.
The challenge you would have had without this content is not to be
able to categorize your marketing tools. And now you will know that
you have time to check to ensure you are not wasting your marketing
effort.
The previous Lesson had explained the importance of having focus
when networking, so you know how to avoid unfocused networking
which is a waste of your marketing time and effort. Here you will
learn how to avoid other wasteful marketing efforts such as
unfocussed cold-calling, unfocused direct-mail, unfocused/unproven
social media and targeting organizations that “Don’t get it.”
The Best 26 Communication Marketing Tools to Update Your Marketing Strategy Right Now
You have more than a handful of marketing options here. All you
have to do is assess each of them, as they shall be explained here and
pick and choose which one best suits your needs, so you’ll know
how to craft a made-for-you marketing plan at the end of this
Lesson. Every option you will choose is known as a marketing tool.
They do not require the same amount of time, as some will take less
and some too will take more time to deliver result, but what you will
pay attention to, is not only time but also efficiency. You’ll avail
yourself this opportunity to know how efficient each of the available
marketing tool is for you and how soon you want to start getting
result.
Hence, if you want a marketing tool that will deliver quick result,
don’t just go straight into picking it unless you have also seen it as
also efficient. And of course you know, not all marketing tools that
are efficient will cost you little. So cost also matters in picking your
marketing tool.
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Article writing
Business card
Blogging
Case study
Cold-calling
Drilling down
E-book
Email prospecting
Follow-up
Lead generation
Networking
Newsletter
Online job boards
Press releases
Referrals
Researches
Social media
Special report
Strategic alliances
Video, podcast, website
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Advertizing
Direct Mail
Pay Per Click (PPC) and Cost Per Action (CPA)
Public speaking
Trade Associations
Here you have just a list of 26 tools. You can’t just start picking and
choosing until you have understood how each of the above tools
work in marketing. So I shall go from bottom to top to consider how
each of these tools are used in marketing and who you need to help
you execute each of them, just in case you will consider making any
of these communication tools a part of your marketing plan.
You can always customize a made-for-you marketing plan to sell
your brand to win the market place competition with effective
communication at any time. So, pay keen attention to how you can
use each of these marketing tools in effective and productive
marketing, and all you do is project the benefits and Unique features
of your own products and services and see how it works ok? As a
business/company owner you are necessarily a marketer and brand
promoter, all right.
i.
Marketing with Trade Associations
You will be choosing this option only if you have got the right
connection in your industry, because it is an industry specific
marketing channel where the members of your industry organize
themselves into an organization for the purpose of promoting their
common interest.
This is one of those channels where your direct involvement in the
marketing process cannot be excused. This is also a good place to
get immediate results when you have the money to invest into it and
have the upfront time to push your marketing communication by
yourself.
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Other marketing tools are:
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This has to do with public relation, education and networking of the
members of your industry through its conferences and tradeshows.
This is also where the industry news is generated from and published
in specific information dissemination platforms as websites,
newsletters, membership directories and print/online magazines.
So you have some vital resources from your industry at your
disposal when you decide to market through Trade Associations. So
to promote your brand here you will have to feature your brand in
the editorials and purchase advertising.
But, to join your industry’s trade association, you will pay a fee
according to the size of your business, and this would be a rewarded
investment when results starts coming. So, if you consider this
marketing channel to be right for you, add it to your current
marketing plan now and start going out for trade functions with it.
ii. Marketing with Public Speaking
As an aspiring entrepreneur, consider joining service clubs, business
clubs and chamber of commerce, as a necessity, not only for
networking purpose, but for pitching your brand by way of public
speaking. It takes an extrovert to see this as a reliable marketing tool,
and if you are one, then add this up to your marketing strategy.
Offer to speak for 20 minutes in these gatherings and prepare your
speech. Tailor it later to your brand and you wouldn’t have to always
mention your brand over and over again, if you’ve already
mentioned it once.
Since your audiences are already targeted, you should choose a topic
to speak on that is relevant to the group and industry. Doing research
will help you know what and what to also speak on. Keep speaking
on different relevant topics and as you do this, you will be known
alongside your brand. You will gain popularity that will turn in favor
of your brand. So add this up in your marketing tool kit, because
communication via this media is always very effective.
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Having prepared a paper for the speech; with relevant information
for your audience, make it deliverable to as many as will be
interested in having copies of it. So send a form round so that those
who will be interested in copies of your presentation will check the
boxes and identify themselves with their names and contact address.
If you are just starting and you think you have enough fund for paid
advertizing, then consider PPC a good fit. You might not be able to
write the ads, yourself, so you will need an expert to write for you.
Just send your request to inforcopynow@gmail.com and you will
find an expert to manage your PPC marketing campaign for you.
This is another way of prospecting you know. You can always do
your presentation by yourself, but writing a good presentation may
not be easy for you unless you are already a skillful communicator.
If you have chosen this marketing tool wisely, then the expert will
write your ad for you while the search engine will project this ad as a
paid or sponsored search result and it will immediately catch the
attention of your target prospect.
So, contact me about a free consultation regarding writing your
speech, so you can have enough time to study it, and have it well
written to impress your audience who will ask for a free copy of it.
send your request for a written speech on any topic to
francisbestman@ymail.com.
Remember, I am here to help you succeed in your marketing
communication so you don’t let your fears defeat your winning
chances. I will not only send you a well written speech adapted to
your industry and brand, but will also help you with other useful
information that will enable you do a wonderful presentation
anywhere and at any time. So, since I have your back, add public
speaking to your marketing tools now.
iii. Marketing with Pay Per Click
Pay per click (PPC) is one of the marketing tools categorized as the
third tool in the marketing quadrant where you are advised to choose
wisely. The risk involved is high because you spend a fortune to
keep your brand constantly appearing on the search results whenever
prospects search for businesses online. It is very expensive to
manage, but if you have made a good budget for it, it can still yield
great results.
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It can generate a million clicks in a day, if your budget can support
it, and this means huge traffic to your website, and you can be sure
of overwhelming profit especially if your website has also been
professionally written to sell your brand. You may thus gain more
than you invest into PPC campaign.
PPC is a very effective way to generate instant traffic to your
website, so you shouldn’t be afraid of adding this to your marketing
strategy, provided you have made similar investment in having a
professional website designed and web contents written for you. I
highly recommend PPC for any aspiring entrepreneur who is
comfortable with investing in high risk advertising; it will surely
prove to be one of your most effective online marketing tools, if you
can take the risk for it. The essence of PPC campaign is to generate
traffic to your website for sales to take place.
iv. Marketing with Direct Mail
Direct mail is one of your greatest marketing tools. Its effectiveness
is owed to the fact that it is always targeting a particular group of
prospects who have responded to a sales message over the email
before and have bought particular products or services via mails.
Email marketers have built a very effective marketing tool that even
the smallest startup can use to boost sales with 73% of profit from
investment on purchasing a mail list.
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So, if you can purchase a mail list, then go straight to hire a
copywriter in the direct response industry. He is an expert who’s
been trained in writing effective sales copies that are mailed to
buyers on a mailing list. This is one marketing tool you simply
cannot use yourself. So hire a copywriter now, send your request to
inforcopynow@gmail.com if you want to update your marketing
strategy by adding direct mail to your marketing toolkits.
An effective copywriter will craft a direct mail piece for you, along
with an order form, some powerful testimonials and link them up
with your website with a landing page that creates conversion, and
you can rest assured that each time a prospect receives a mail from
your company, and clicks on the action link or button, he/she is
taken straight to your landing page where he is led into making a
final buying decision by filling an order form with his/her
purchasing details, and there your sales will take place at the go.
But you see why this effective marketing strategy is expensive;
you’ll need first to hire a copywriter who understands your company
and knows your products in and out, one who can take your products
to your prospects via a sales letter to be emailed to your prospects.
So don’t be afraid of investing in this marketing strategy, because it
holds the potential of increasing your available resources by 100%
now. There’s no loss to expect here once you have purchased the
right email list.
A professional copywriter will always give you the best sales letters
rated according measurable responses to meet the direct response
marketing industry standard. A professional copywriter does not
exceed deadlines because he/she always delivers his/her best work
on time and even before schedule.
Writing effective sales letters with shining contents for direct mail is
the expertise and specialty of copywriters. You can’t do it for
yourself but you can hire one now, to start using this marketing tool
to promote your maximum profit in your marketing efforts
Marketing with direct mail is not exclusive to big companies alone,
even small companies use this marketing tool to quintuple their
sales. So the size of your business does not matter, what matters are
the kind of products or services you offer and who your target
prospects are.
The common bond between big and small companies using this
marketing strategy is a strong determination to succeed to sell their
products and services to win the market place competition.
You’ll also need to purchase the mailing list, and need to have a
website. But the good news is, all your investments here will be
returned in 73 folds, which means if your investment costs $10,000,
you have a guarantee of $730,000 in return. So, you are gaining
more and should consider choosing this marketing tool if you are
starting a big business.
So, if you also have this kind of determination, then start budgeting
to make use of this marketing tool as quickly as you want to start
quintupling your sales. You can decide to start right now.
Don’t be afraid of the cost, it doesn’t always go too high, and once
you’ve hired your copywriter for one project, you can re-email the
copies to as many email lists as possible even for 7 decades, and still
get 73% interest guaranteed, plus 20% additional saved from reemailing the same copy; rather than hiring a new copywriter each
time you need to send your sales control to a new email-list.
With this marketing tool, you’ll succeed to put your products and
services out there in such a forceful way that you’ll reel your
competitions that do not use this marketing tool, and the good news
is not so many companies use this powerful and effective marketing
tool, consequent upon which they are not doing so well in their
marketing effort.
But you can start using this marketing tool now, and you’ll beat off
the pants of your competition, with it, without ever carrying your
products out, on any trade show.
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So, if you are just getting started in business newly, then you’re very
fortunate to have knowledge of this marketing strategy which gives
you an edge over your competitions.
With the best sales letter written by your effective copywriter, you’ll
be a winner. In fact, there is a big market profit gap in every
company which hasn’t hired a copywriter before.
v. Marketing with Advertising
There are local newspapers and trade publications for advertising
locally, and they accept classified ad and sometimes even articles. If
you would choose local advertising, then consider contacting the
editors and place your classified ad or articles in their publications
for a fee. This will help prospects out there to know what your brand
is about, and they’ll soon start contacting you if you have placed the
right message for the right audience.
The ad space you have purchased would be a good investment if
you’ve focused your communication. Target your audience before
placing your ad in a local newspaper. Remember your USP when
placing ads in a focused media. Communicate what your target
prospects will value; if you are writing an article for advertising,
with advertising in your toolkit, you need to have your marketing
material even when operating on a shoestring budget.
Advertising works when it’s done well, so you need your marketing
material to be professionally prepared so that you don’t send the
wrong message and waste your little money budgeted for
advertising. So consider having your marketing material ready-made
before you start advertising. Hire a professional copywriter to
prepare your marketing material, even when you’ll be using online
advertising with ads such as website banners, in email as well as enewsletter, you still need a professional copywriter to prepare them
in advance. So hire your copywriter now if you’ve decided for this
marketing tool. Email your request to inforcopynow@gmail.com.
Any recorded file in video and audio format that can be downloaded
from your computer is known as podcast. It’s a communication
channel that can be very effective in marketing when uploaded to
your website. The use of videos in marketing online is known as
online video marketing. This is a powerful marketing channel if you
know how to use it.
If, for instance, you are running a local library and you want to give
your distant prospect a feel of what you have in your shelves, you
can decide to record a video tour around your facility and talking
about what you have in there and the value of every collection you
have made, as well as specifying the industry’s needs they serve and
who can benefit from accessing them.
This record becomes a sales funnel, when you call your audience to
action. It’s simple and descriptive; the images are real and live, so
your prospects know what’s in your library for them.
This recording is then made available online for easy download and
your marketing has, thus, been set, not to sell the video or audio as
the case may be, but to sell the content when your prospect takes the
corresponding action after watching or listening to the recording
downloaded.
Here is a tool for promoting your brand. If you are a book dealer,
you can simply record yourself talking directly to your prospect on a
book you want to market, then, you give your prospect a way to get a
copy of the book, either by calling, visiting your website, sending an
email or locating your office.
Within a very short amount of time you can use a video or podcast to
convey very important information about your brand. But you need
to find an expert who is skilled in video marketing to edit your video
scripts for you. The message needs to be well presented and targeted,
and if you do it well you can reach more audience than you initially
thought was possible to also drive sales.
vi. Marketing with Videos and Podcast
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So email your request for a video marketer to
fbiproresumer@yahoo.com for help, if using this tool is your
choice. A freelance video marketer will adapt your brand
promotional direct-mail letter to a video or podcast and it becomes a
very effective marketing tool for you. So get an expert to help you.
This use of video will highlight your products and services in a
professional way that will appeal to your prospect and influence your
prospect toward making a buying decision.
Once you have created an audio or video professionally, you can
then use it in an email especially as a link with web2.0 echnology,
and this increases the click-through rate in your email than any other
click-through driver in emails.
Adding same to your blog will produce a similar result; help your
prospects to know your brand better, and quickly build trust than
traditional written communication. So consider hiring an expert to
help you out now if you want to include this channel in your
marketing strategy. It is one of the most popular marketing strategies
today.
vii. Marketing with website
You must have a website in today’s business world. It’s no longer
optional as before. It’s one of your must-have marketing tools. Like
a printed brochure, a website is a digital sales brochure that’s
accessible to and assessable by anyone in your industry who picks
interest in your announcement of your brand’s web presence in your
website.
You can make all the impressions you want to make with your
website, but whatever the impression you make, you must connect
your website with you USP and target prospects. You must reflect
your industry and what you are bringing in to it. You must highlight
what your prospect’s benefits are, and what your products and
services will do for your prospect.
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And finally, you must call your prospect to take action on your
website. So your website is a tool, almost completely running like an
office, for marketing communication and the same rules apply as in
every communication, where the media is known, the message must
be targeted and the audience must be able to respond accordingly.
You won’t make your prospect decide otherwise but to want to have
what you are offering, so the message must be written in such a way
that gets result effectively.
As a business owner, it’s not enough to design your website, you
need the right message to be put there, and it is best to hire a
professional web writer to write the message for you.
Make a budget for it; otherwise you may make a waste of your
marketing efforts with a website. But, remember, for all copywriting
help, email inforcopynow@gmail.com and you will get referrals to
professional copywriters in your industry.
You need to take web content writing seriously, since having a
website is a must today, for a website is a powerful sales tool for any
kind of business today. With it your ability to reach your targeted
audience becomes very easy, so investing in effective copywriting
for your web content is a worthy and valuable investment. With
good SEO and powerful content, you will reach as many prospects
as you need for driving sales in your business.
So, if your service is library services and book retailing, your
website should tell your prospects the basics about your library
services and available books. Plus, the information on your website
can be easily updated; such that, if you have just added a new
collection of books to your store, or have added an e-library function
to your site, so that prospects who are far away from your location
can still benefit from your services, or you now sell e-books with an
e-store book retailing portal added to your site, you can upload these
detail in your website and keep updating the contents. So you keep
your prospects always posted.
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You choose how to make your site appear. You can keep it simple or
full of contents. But doing all these, your message is what drives
sales, and if that is exactly what you want, hire a copywriter to give
your website a spark of shining and powerful contents for effective
marketing with website. A copywriter for the web is an expert
specialized in making your website standout.
viii. Marketing with Strategic Alliance
Your business sits amidst a number of other businesses, they all offer
one specific service and the other. You may not be marketing
directly to these businesses, but knowing what kind of service they
offer can let you know if you have prospects there.
Where your book store is a business book store, and you have just
updated your collections with the latest business book publications,
it will be a rewarding marketing effort if you write to these
businesses around you to inform them of your new collection and
how to benefit from them. It wouldn’t cost you to spend too much
time writing to unfocused alliances, if you have done your research
beforehand.
In case you need help for prospecting through strategic alliance and
how to write these businesses your product and service control in a
b2b setting, then you need a b2b specialist to help you get the
information you need.
This will be a rewarding investment if you contract a b2b specialist
to provide you with information on strategic alliance, so that you can
focus your communication to the businesses around you and expect a
very good return, especially, where your products and services have
b2b relevance and would interest your prospects. To hire a b2b
specialist, email your request to npgcsmeh@yahoo.com. If you are
in the b2b industry, then consider adding strategic alliance to you
marketing strategy.
ix. Marketing with Special Report
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Writing a special report to be given away at no cost to your prospect
is also a marketing tool. What’s important to note about writing a
special report is that it has to be targeted and contain a subject that is
of interest to your prospect, then you’ll insert a few links to your
product or services in it.
But the report wouldn’t be about you, it would have to be about the
subject that makes your prospect interested in downloading it, only
you’ll create a link between that subject and your product or service
as a solution, or extra information needed to complete the content
and promise of the report.
So when you want to write a special report, consider a topic that will
appeal to your prospect’s interest. It’s this appeal that will make
opening your report a necessary action your prospect would happily
take.
You can use a special report to generate leads and to boost your
brand’s credibility since your brand is offered in your report as a
solution. As part of focusing your report, it should relate to your
industry and should be a source of valuable information to enrich
your prospect. Later, all your reports will add to boost your portfolio
in connection with your brand.
You may print and distribute your report or you attach a link to it in
your email, blog or when attaching an opt-in form on your website
for lead-generation. You can market your report on eBay, and social
media, but doing this your report needs to be of high quality. That’s
the only way you can make a strong impression on your reader. So
hire a freelance report writer to do a professional report writing job
for you. Email your request to franisbabe@yahoo.co.uk.
x. Marketing with social media
Nick Usborne, the author of “How to Make Money as a Social
Media Marketing Expert” wrote an article “88% of Companies
are Clueless When it comes to Social Media” published on
September 9, 2014. Some very important points in his articles
are noted as follows:
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“If tens of millions of people are spending more and more time
on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and other social sites, then it
would be madness for any company not to have a presence
there as well.”
Coca-cola has over 87 million friends on Facebook … Pepsi,
has just 33 million friends of Facebook … less than half. Coke
wins. These are companies utilizing Social Media to build
brand awareness.
Citing Harvard Business Review, Nick presented a study that
shows that “fewer than 15% of companies have dedicated
social media experts on staff … Most companies either have
unqualified employees muddling along, making a mess of it or
they outsource their social media with outside agencies or
freelance contractors.”
Airbnb used social media to not only engage with their fans,
but to collaborate with them. It is an example of a company
using social media to engage with customers.
Presenting another statistics Nick wrote, “According to
Harvard Business Review, 79% of companies in the U.S. are
either using or planning to use social media as part of their
marketing mix.” In addendum he said, “They know they have
to go where their customers are.”
And still more statistics to show from Harvard Business
Review, he added “According to the same survey, only 12% of
companies feel they’re using social media channels effectively.
That’s right … 88% of companies know they are not doing well
on social media.”
That’s not all, buttressing the last point, Nick, in Another
article “6 Ways Companies Benefit from Strong Social Media
Marketing” published on September 10, 2014 goes forward to
present statistics of companies that are really utilizing Social
Media in different ways which include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Building brand awareness.
Engaging Customers
Customer services
Driving Sales
Supporting the B2B sales process
Getting Social through Mobile Platforms.
Blackberry uses Twitter@BlackberryHelp, with almost 1.5
million followers; they’ve built a support network that answers
questions 24/7. It is using social media for customer service.
L.L. Bean is a superstar on Pinterest with 5.5 million followers.
Click on a product image and you’re taken directly to the sales
page on L.L. Bean site. It is using social media to drive sales.
With almost 300,000 followers, Salesforce.com uses LinkedIn
as a content platform to influence buyers and move them
toward a buying decision. It is using social media for
supporting the B2B sales process.
Restaurants, bars, clubs, coffee shops and other local venues
use social and mobile media to attract customers to their
location. They are getting social through mobile platforms.
There is enough already said to show you the rich potential of
marketing with social media. All you need to do is to hire a social
media manager, social media strategist and social media marketer to
plan and organize your social media marketing campaign strategy
for you, because it takes time and a great deal of experience to do it
yourself. So send an email to byeaceins@gmail.com for help on
starting your social media campaign now.
Here is an array of companies doing well on social media:
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Using YouTube, for instance, you can share the videos and podcast
you create and expect as many views as you never imagined, as a
special YouTube report stated that, every single minute people
upload 48 hours of video and every single day people watch 4 billion
hours of video. With this margin, you can be sure your video will be
viewed, and if your marketing is targeted, you can make a lot of
sales from this channel only.
Videos shared through social media will help you connect more
powerfully with your target audience. New options evolving in
social media need to be used to your advantage, so get your brand on
social media and you will join the rank and file of companies
benefiting from social media. With the help of an expert, you will be
able to exploit this effective marketing tool today.
To start marketing with social media, choose the site or channel to
explore and sign up for a free account. Fill out your profile. Get
followers by following influencers. Post comments to get known.
With this tool, you will build relationship with your prospects.
As you maintain your engagement with your prospects, you will also
build trust for your brand. Then use links to drag traffic to your site
and create conversion. So, if you want to step-up your marketing
plan, consider including social media marketing as one of your
marketing tools.
Also you have to do a thorough assessment of all the trends in your
industry; so as to project your brand, to meet with the demands of
the latest developments in your industry. This would help you to stay
on top of the competition in your industry; because, you are not
lagging behind when you are current and updated with trends in the
industry.
Your prospects will also become comfortable with you because you
are meeting up their demands and responding positively to changes
taking place in and around your industry: that affect the mode of
communicating the prototypes of brands in the competitive market
place and business environment.
Now research can equally take a lot of your time and this makes it
necessary to hire a professional freelance internet researcher to cover
the trends in the industry for you. So email your request for a
professional researcher to franisbabe@yahoo.co.uk. This will save
time for you and also guarantee effective marketing. It is a tool that
complements the others, and the sooner you start doing it, the better
you position yourself to sell your brand and win the market place
competition. So add research to your marketing toolkit now.
xii. Marketing with referrals
You might like to ask “what makes research a marketing tool?” It’s a
marketing tool because it relates to your overall knowledge of the
industry where you do your business.
When you know how to use the people in your available connection
you are simply increasing your available resources by 100%,
especially when these people are part and parcel of your prospects.
Referral is one way you make the people in your connections a part
and parcel of your prospects. It is thus a veritable marketing tool, in
so far as it creates new prospecting opportunities for you to exploit;
when marketing your brand.
Unless you are a member of a trade association, research is your
only way of staying updated on happenings in and around your
industry. It’s when you research your industry and discover the
challenges in it that you are able to position your products and
services as the way forward and your brand becomes relevant in the
industry.
Begin with connections in your contact list. Each and every name on
your contact list is a potential prospect that can be exploited to land
you new referrals. All you need to do is a bit of research into what
each person on your contact list does, and likes, and then you send a
personalized message to each person directly, talking about his needs
and you make suggestion to links where his needs could be solved.
xi. Marketing with Research
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The imperative is to excite him/her with your concern and to incite
interest on the solution you hold out; that his/her referrals can
equally benefit from. Thus, before you ask for any referral, you will
show concern for helping the prospect on your contact list, next use
the opportunity to mention your ardor to help others who need you.
This becomes the right spur for requesting referrals from him/her.
Knowing that you are interested in solving his/her needs, your
prospect will become readily disposed to link you up with someone
who could be interested in your offer. Now, if each of your contact
links you up in this way, you have started increasing your available
resources by 100% because one new referral is a warm lead for
another new referral, and so it continues, your contact list grows ad
infinitum.
Accordingly, tap this marketing tool and you will increase your
available resources by 100% now. Referral is in fact the easiest way
to market your brand. Subsequently, make it part of your marketing
strategy to use effectively for yielding desired results in due time.
Your contact list is not limited to only your mobile contacts, but
your email contacts, Facebook and LinkedIn connections, among
others. If you have had former employment, those colleagues who
speak highly of you are part of your contact list. If you belong to any
service club, the members are also part of your contact list and these
are people with whom new referrals can be generated.
Consequently, don’t overlook this marketing tool. You can simply
ask for referrals by stating in a personalized message that you now
solve the following problems because of your new business engagements
and so will be happy to help your prospect and anyone referred who needs
your personal attention. Therefore, start using this marketing tool now.
xiii. Marketing with press releases
Another marketing tool for you to consider is press release, and you
can craft one for your brand right now. Well written press releases
provide strong support for your marketing campaigns.
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Being able to use press releases avails you a free advertising
opportunity for promoting your brand. Plus, it has the potential of
attracting your perfect customer.
In addition, press releases drag traffic to your website, to enhance
your online presence. You become a go-to expert in your industry,
because you know how to communicate effectively like an expert.
But you don’t have to be the one doing all the writing all the time.
Just hire a freelance writer for your press releases. You will have the
best of responses when it is done by an expert whose specialty is to
write press releases for clients. To help you find a reliable expert
wherever you are located, send a request for a freelance writer to write
your press releases via email to inforcopynow@gmail.com.
When an expert writes your press release for you, you are guaranteed
of reaching your target prospects, with your industry focused
publications. A professional will help target your distribution list
accordingly. An expert can keep sending out your press releases
regularly. Although you might know nothing about writing press
releases, an expert can do the job for you and you take all the credits.
So don’t be afraid of including this marketing tool in your marketing
strategy.
Even as you are getting started, a professionally written press release
can help to announce your startup, its location, your products and
services, and you will immediately start making sales because this is
a highly effective marketing tool, and whenever you add up an item
in your stock, update your collections, or improve on product and
service quality, you can announce it to your targeted prospects
through your press releases.
That's why you need this marketing tool more than you know about
it, and that’s also why having an expert doing it for you can really be
a rewarding investment, moreover, you can now make financial
arrangements for the hiring of an expert. Update your marketing
strategy now.
xiv. Marketing with online job boards
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Online job boards also serve a purpose of advertising brands,
because, on the process of posting jobs with free classified ads,
employers get their names on a job board that is viewed by millions
of persons daily. At present, you can use this same platform for
advertising your brand; without necessarily posting jobs.
xv. Marketing with newsletters
You can target your industry with it and the ad will get to your
targeted prospects. You will need an expert to help you do this
effectively, and it’s worthy of mentioning that it’s another avenue
for dragging traffic to your site.
Newsletters work the same way as social media in the sense that you
always offer certain contents that keep your traction with your
prospects firm. You, however, don’t post updates like social media,
in place of updates you write rich informative contents, at least, once
a week or better still once a month. This starts a process of
interaction with your prospects and makes them long for more of
your products and services.
This online job board can bring you very many buyers than you can
imagine. So you will have to state what precisely you are offering
your prospect, a product or service. Don’t just mention it; spell out
the benefits for your prospect. Your prospect should know that you
are talking about his benefits not yours. When an expert is doing it
for you; he takes all these into consideration, so if you do it for
yourself also take this into consideration, and advertising your brand
here is free. That’s why it is known as free classified.
You will add credibility to your ad by including testimonials in it, so
that your prospect can see how the benefits you speak of has been
enjoyed by another and he/she too will want to enjoy it. You’ll also
present your USP here. In other words you are pitching your brand
on a focused network.
But, since you’ll be hiring an expert to do it for you, he’ll know how
to apply the rules of specificity, conciseness and use of keywords.
So, even though you don’t understand the techniques involved, an
expert you have hired will deliver a good classified ad that will sell
your product.
So contact me via francisbestman@ymail.com for referral to
experts who can help you, if you have decided to add this marketing
tool to your wish list or must-have marketing tools. This marketing
tool is as effective as direct mail and also very reliable, especially
when all the technical rules have been followed: like those that apply
when writing your business plan. It requires a technical crafting, and
that is only when it will guarantee sales. So hire an expert on it.
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Startups don’t generally own their newsletters until they’ve built
their mailing list. But assuming you have a mailing list already,
marketing with newsletters is a great tool for you.
Your newsletter can be embedded with interesting links, and the
frequency at which you keep your prospects posted, with great
contents, will enhance a deeper level of interaction with your
prospects, one that can be sustained, because of continuity, over a
long period of time.
The current form of sending your newsletters is electronic, winding
up short articles containing useful information that promote
engagement with the reader. Let’s say you are going to use
electronic newsletters (e-newsletter) you will save more, especially,
since you won’t be printing and posting them by mails. You’ll know
how many readers enjoy your contents, through measurable results,
you can use this tool to also “increase your available resources by
100%,” that is, get new prospects.
An e-newsletter can also be used to generate traffic to your site when
your prospects post it on their own websites: with link back to yours,
even as it could be handed out at tradeshows or be repackaged as
web content for your site: so that your site can be recognized by
search engine. It wouldn’t take much time to produce one either, so
you save time of updating your site contents by writing newsletters,
usually not less than 1000 words.
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But writing one may be a huddle for you if you attempt to write your
newsletter without knowledge of the best writing style and content
management. However, you don’t need to worry about writing it
yourself; an expert can be hired to write for you so you get quality
content. So, if you consider using this marketing tool, request for an
expert writer now via inforcopynow@gmail.com.
xvi. Marketing with networking
If writing is a challenge to you, what about talking? You talk every
day. You talk over the phone; you talk at hangouts with friends. You
talk when you dish instructions out to subordinates. So talking
shouldn’t be a problem.
Virtually all sales today require talking through different media. You
don’t have an option; when it comes to talking directly with another
without an intermediary. When you look someone in the face and tell
him/her he/she is good looking, you have talked. But when you have
to market your product or service, you go beyond mere exchange of
pleasantries and compliments to talking about what you have that
your prospect would be interested in.
Talking to someone about what you offer; for his/her benefit from a
unique product or service, is what networking entails. This is a
marketing tool you just have to add to your strategy, because you
meet new people every day, and each new person represents a
potential prospect until you’ve talked to him/her. Then you will realize
if he/she isn’t interested in what you are saying.
It’s very easy to talk right? So you should be the expert here, and
don’t need to hire another to talk for you. Talking directly with
another person; in order to sell a product or service, is known as
traditional networking. But it doesn’t require carrying your products
and services every time and everywhere you talk. Go back to Lesson
Three, if you skipped it before taking this lesson, and see how to
start and end your talk; when using traditional networking as a
marketing tool.
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Be open to networking everywhere. Don’t target the event, but target
the prospect. Anywhere you find yourself is a right place for
networking, even when you don’t know anyone there.
Be prepared for talking at all times, because your biggest and most
loyal prospect might be among one of those unfamiliar faces you
will encounter the next hour. As a result, start now to prepare
yourself.
Take Lesson three allover again, and you’ll never find talking ever a
problem again.
xvii. Marketing with lead generation
Each time you offer something like a white paper, presentation copy
after a public speaking session, and free enquiry and there are people
expressing keen interest in it, you have generated lead. Having this
kind of people as your target for marketing your products or services
is what marketing with lead generation entails. You can thus pick
this as a marketing tool if you know how to generate more leads
especially through public speaking and website contents.
Generating lead on your website is very easy. All you’ll do is offer a
free report to your prospects while you ask for only opt-in emails in
exchange; which can be collected through an opt-in form provided
for the prospect, then, if you have an automated follow-up system
already developed, you can begin communicating with those on your
email list.
So this is a very effective marketing tool and it’s inexpensive. But
your time and experience would be required to keep in touch with
your email list contacts; however, the same lead-gen specialist
you’ve hired to help you start using this tool on your website or for
your speech can remain with you for continuous lead generation,
while you can focus on managing communications with your
prospects afterward. So, for a lead-gen specialist, mail your request
to fbiproresumer@yahoo.com.
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Your targets will be those on your email list, while new leads are
being generated. You’ll develop a relationship with those on your
list, by regular emails, e-newsletters with snail mail also included for
additional information, soon this starts generating sales.
So you generate leads first, then you develop a relationship with
them as your prospects, you discuss sales with them, as customers,
and sales start taking place on and on. And, the good news is: there
is high return on investment for only hiring a specialist to help you
start using this marketing tool now, without an extra cost on your
part. So update your marketing strategy now.
Marketing with follow-up
If you are using lead generation as a marketing tool, then consider
follow-up as a necessary additional tool. You can’t generate lead that
you’ll not follow-up; otherwise the whole marketing idea is defeated.
Your expert isn’t generating lead just for the fun of building an
email-list for you. You need the lead because you have a product or
service to market, so when someone subscribes for your e-newsletter
or special report online, you don’t just clap or fold your hands, you
have to respond by making those on the email list your friends.
Even after a public speaking session and you have got some names
checking in the boxes for copies of your presentation, follow-up is
necessary. You dial their numbers or email them after sending them
their copies and ask if they were enriched by the contents, and same
too with those who responded to your special report and e-newsletter
subscription request.
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With the help of a lead-gen specialist, you can continue to send
additional information to your prospects: to maintain your
communication with them, and soon you are selling them your
products or services, it’s as easy as that.
xviii.
BIGBUSINESS
Ask if they found the material useful, offer them something extra, in
answer to their questions related to the contents of what they’ve
read, and from there you’ll find those who are asking how to enjoy
your products or services and to pay for them. These are the same
people who will keep coming back to you asking for products and
services, because you’ve built a relationship with them through
follow-up. This makes follow-up a necessary marketing tool. You
should be the expert here.
Update your marketing strategy now, add follow-up to your
marketing tools because it’s a must-have marketing strategy that
determines how much potentials you really have to start increasing
your available resources by 100% now.
Without follow-up, you are definitely going to watch your available
resources decrease to 0% rather than increase by 100%, as a result,
don’t take this marketing tool for granted.
Additionally, to ensure you are adding up this tool to your toolkit,
you should develop a good contact management system for all your
leads to remind you and set urgency to call or email your prospects
from time to time after the first time. Accordingly, you are not going
to have this tool used only once when starting your business, but
with you always, and it will influence how well you’ll succeed to
grow your business with many or few sales.
Using a good contact management system for your follow-up will
help you to have important information about your prospects at your
finger tips so that you don’t forget what or with whom you discussed
last, in order to begin from there the next time, with a short review of
your last discussion when following-up afterward.
No matter your prospect’s needs, the entire idea of following up is to
ensure you communicate regularly: in order not to weaken the
relationship you are developing with your prospect. That’s why you
call and send emails from time to time.
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Hence, always stay in touch with your prospect, with a good followup system, as a marketing tool for stronger relationship between you
and your prospects, in order not to waste any warm lead you have
generated from anywhere, at any time.
I will still advise you to get an expert for your emails, since it
involves professional writing techniques, so that your prospects will
not discredit your emails due to poor quality and unattractive subject
lines. You can get an expert at your service when you send your
request to franisbabe@yahoo.co.uk.
xix. Marketing with email prospecting
The expert you hire can help you in different ways. Your expert can
write your special reports to add an opt-in piece to your website.
Your expert can also write all your emails for you so that it always
appeals to your prospect’s interest by sharing useful contents,
sending monthly e-newsletters, add stories and anecdotes for your
personality to shine, and sell your products and services all at once.
A lot of sales done today are taking place by emails, you may not
know how powerful emails really are as a marketing tool unless you
have started collecting emails, like other companies who market one
product and service or another. There are different channels for
collecting emails, and you already know the most of them, so you
have to focus on collecting more and more emails, as much as you
can collect, at a particular time; through a particular channel.
You can use social media to collect emails, just as you collect
through your website’s opt-in form or networking. The process of
doing this collection of email is known as email prospecting. In other
words, you are using emails to get prospects, and this makes email
prospecting another reliable way to start increasing your available
resources by 100% now. So update your marketing strategy now.
When you have collected emails, you should start building a
relationship with your prospects through regular communications; by
sending them emails on any interesting thing or even randomly; by
sharing interesting articles, photos and other files, you find, with
them; attaching a short note behind them, you will make your
prospects to see you as a go-to person; whenever they need a special
kind of help related to the information you have been sharing with
them, as well as related to the products and services you offer; when
they need them.
You can prospect through email, yourself, or hire a professional. If
you do it yourself, then you need to know how to write your subject
lines in such a way that captures the interest of your prospects. But
you need to know how to write with the rules of writing headlines.
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That’s why you need an expert, so you don’t have any excuse why
this marketing tool wouldn’t be exploited to your advantage. And
lest I forget, your expert can also be responsible for your
autoresponders.
Only an expert can do this better, knowing how to send a series of
automatic quick short transparent emails to your prospects, knowing
how to evoke intimacy with the recipients made to have a sneak peek
inside your business environment, while stirring their interest for
your products and services at the same time.
Furthermore, An expert would know how to display integrity and
honestly build trust with your prospect to compel them to
comfortably do business with you, because only an expert will know
what is of value to your prospect, as promised, and give it to them in
a professional way that they feel helped with their wants, needs,
desires and problems; by the emails they receive. So add email
prospecting to your marketing tools now because an expert is
available to help you exploit this marketing strategy to your
optimum benefit.
xx. Marketing with e-book
If you sell any product and service, then you are ordinarily expected
to know more about it than the average user or prospect.
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You don’t only market; you also experience your products and
services on daily basis.
If your product is a food item, then eat it to have a feel of its taste
and to know how good it is. Study its feature and discover all its
benefits. Know why you are selling it and why it is available in the
market. From time to time, your prospects will ask for some
explanations about what you offer and you should be able to offer
them more than they ask.
But you don’t have to wait for your prospects to ask you for
explanations before you inform and transfer your knowledge to them.
You should be able to assert your expert position confidently,
because you are the one making the product or service available for
the prospects. To assert this expert position, you can consider this
marketing tool as something more than a mere marketing tool, it is
one of the efficient ways to start increasing your available resources
by 100% now. How?
When you write an eBook on something you offer, the eBook
becomes something of a value like what you offer, and sometimes
even of greater value. For instance, if you market tomato, and you
write an eBook on “How Eating Tomato Helps Keep the Body Safe
from the Attacks of Free Radicals,” your eBook is providing
information that your prospect may not have about the product he’s
using.
Besides your prospect will appreciate the information and copy of
the eBook either sold or given away for free, you can distribute the
eBook to others who have not considered adding tomato to their diet
daily, offer them your products with a premium, an added value for
having the eBook, and they are becoming your prospects after
reading the eBook. They are coming in large numbers to buy your
tomatoes, and if you export in large quantities, your products will
sell more wherever your eBook has been seen. Plus, when you sell
this eBook, you make extra income.
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So this marketing tool is indeed more than a mere marketing tool.
Like I said before, it is an effective way to start increasing your
available resources by 100% now. You can write as many eBooks as
possible with your name attached to them, so you become a
published author at the same time. And the good news is: you don’t
have to write it yourself.
You can contract a ghost writer to write your eBooks and sell more
products to more than a million more prospects from at any
destination. Are you considering adding this marketing tool to your
marketing strategy now? Do so, and dedicate one eBook to one
product until all your products have been written about.
You might not have the experience for writing eBooks that will sell
itself and sell a product or service, but there are professional writers
out there who offer freelance ghostwriting services. Why not
contract one of them, and save yourself the hassle and stress of doing
something you are not vested with knowledge to do well? I’ll help
you get the best ghostwriters out there. Send your request to
fbiproresumer@yahoo.com and you’ll find a professional
ghostwriter at your service.
Plus, you can review the drafts before paying for the writing service
and you can do your review and revise the draft as many times as
possible, until you are satisfied with the content, after all, it is your
name that will appear on the front cover, not the writer’s name, and
you can study and digest the information.
Doing so, you will still have enough awareness on its content to be
able to speak on it at any time you are called upon to do so.
Moreover, if you’re not satisfied with what you are getting, you can
cancel the writing deal at any time and contract a new ghostwriter.
So it’s yours to control what you are getting.
Having an eBook written for you will increase your credibility and
visibility as an entrepreneur. People will know and talk about you.
Having many products to write on can turn up the opportunity for
you to not only publish series of eBooks but also convert them into a
standard complete book.
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This will make you the most admirable business owner out there,
because as people read your books and come in search of your
products, they will accord you great respect for giving them the
opportunity to know more about the products they use from day to
day.
Selling your eBooks at a dollar value, you get 100% profit and this
of course adds to your stream of income. Plus there are numerous
online book stores to market your eBooks without stress. You can
use it in place of your special report for lead generation on your
website, promote it on a video podcast and use it for your public
speaking made easy.
That’s why marketing with eBook is indeed more than a marketing
tool; for it does more for you than any other marketing tool can do,
and it’s also why hiring an expert to start working on your first
eBook shouldn’t take you long time to consider.
In that case, add this tool to your marketing toolkit to update your
marketing strategy now.
xxi. Marketing by drilling down
If you are already familiar with the must-have tool of follow-up then
you need to complement it by drilling down as an appendix to
follow-up.
What do I mean? You’ve been following up and it’s made you know
your prospect more, because your prospect has been purchasing a
particular product, as a customer, and you’ve asked him/her about
how he/she solves other of his/her needs.
Bear in mind the one specific question of a need you’ve observed
that you can also solve with another of your product or service, what
do you do?
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You discuss with him/her about other needs and how to solve them
with your other products and services, and soon he/she is asking for
a trial, and soon starts paying for another product or services you
offer.
This is called drilling down, and it is complementary to follow-up.
You should be the expert here, as also in follow-up, so add up this
tool to update your marketing strategy now.
When drilling down, it means you are not closing sales by sending
invoice to your customer, but you’re starting a new relationship at
once that would lead to writing a new invoice, so you are having one
customer who has become so familiar with you that you don’t leave
any stone unturned.
You know he also needs other products, but may have been going
elsewhere to get them, then you take the initiative of asking him/her
about it and you use your premium to drag his/her attention toward it
and influence him/her to make a new buying decision.
This makes you an enterprising and skillful salesperson. So, start
drilling down now after every follow-up, because drilling down will
make you an expert with marketing your own products and services.
xxii.
Marketing with cold calling
One of your powerful marketing tools is talking directly with the
right person, and that is done by calling, and in fact if you use directmail marketing tool, then cold-calling is equally necessary, just as
drilling down is necessary if you use follow-up marketing tool.
That’s because, understanding the power of communication in
marketing will reveal the connection between each and every
marketing communication processes.
When you are cold-calling you should decide the number of calls
you’ll make each day, and you should consider having your own
Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) that enables you to schedule
your call accordingly.
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Purchase this CRM software to help mitigate deadline writing stress
and worries, and help keep important notable and memorable details
about your prospect. You should be the expert here.
This is an example of cold calling. You can use the same marketing
tool to sell your products or services to your targeted prospect in any
part of the world.
With CRM software your list of targeted prospects will always be
handy. Then you’ll need to write a script of exactly what you intend
saying when the call is picked at the other end of the phone, having a
time set for picking up the phone every day. If you pick up the phone
in the morning, preferably, you’ll leave enough time to answer the
phone when your prospect calls back later in the day.
It’s a very effective marketing tool for you to consider and add it up
to your toolkit to update your marketing strategy now. When you
write your script for cold calling, your elevator pitch should come
first, before who you are, your position in the company, and what
you want to help your prospect with.
You sell on the phone the same way you can sell through emails.
You only have to know what to say that will make the sales when
calling. I recall picking the phone; when a company called me, to
sell their professional financial auditors program; for a certification
seminar.
I was invited to attend hence to reserve my spot. I was unable to say
no, I haven’t made a budget for this program that costs $3090 plus
I’ll need a visa to travel out of the country to attend the three days
auditors training program.
The caller had made a very carefully planned cold-calling in the
morning to me, and though the call was unsolicited, the call was
received after which I had to start planning to attend the conference
in order to be certified as a financial auditor by High level Clinic
Institute, offering Master Professional Auditors training in Ghana,
and creating urgency by stating that the program was open for only
10 participants.
The caller began with some key questions to confirm my identity,
and then revealed his identity; and the name of the institute; then he
informed me he had viewed my profile on LinkedIn and considered
calling to know if I will be interested in the program at Master
Professional Auditors training. I then asked what the program was
all about and he explained everything to me, plus information on
venue, date and benefit of receiving a globally recognized certificate;
for practical auditing. I was indeed very impressed.
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With this introduction, don’t just jump into stating your offer,
enquire if you are calling at the best time, and if the answer is no,
ask for when will be best to call back, so you have an appointment to
reschedule the call and move to another prospect.
But where the answer is yes, then ask a few questions that will help
you know your prospect and what his/her present needs are, in
relation to what he/she currently does for a living; this will help you
find out his challenges too, before you proceed to state your offer,
but only if it will be equal to a relevant solution for your prospect,
otherwise, don’t state your offer, politely end the call and continue
with a new prospect.
Thus, you can now start cold calling and make this tool a part of
your marketing strategy now, your interest is on focusing your offer
to your prospect’s needs. But, if you notice this wouldn’t work, it’s
needless to go on to state your offer, unless you’re looking for
referral from your prospect. But don’t look for referral from a
prospect that hasn’t shown interest in your pitch.
xxiii.
Marketing with case study
When you help your customer solve a particular problem with your
product or service you need to keep in touch with your prospect to
share the story of his/her experience of the help you offered him/her
with your products or services.
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In writing a case study, it isn’t your own story but the customers’
story that you are presenting, for new customers to know how
reliable and credible your products and services are, plus your own
credibility in satisfying your customers needs.
You’ll descriptively point out how your customer faced a particular
challenge, then how he/she came to experience your products and
services, which particular product and service, and how it really
helped him/her, as testified, then you summarize the result, so that
your reader can see the percentage of customer satisfaction you’ve
recorded so far, with a particular product and service that can then be
recommended for other customers.
If you don’t think you have the time for using this marketing tools,
then consider contracting a professional freelance writer to help you
out so you don’t undermine the importance of this marketing tool.
Send your request to fbiproresumer@yahoo.com.
Once you have your case study written, you can present it at trade
shows, and during your public speaking at business and service
clubs. You can include it in your newsletters and white papers; you
can add it up to your sales letters proofs, and include it in your web
content, this is what cements your prospect’s buying decision, and
helps to give stronger reason for your USP so you can make more
sales. That’s why you should update your marketing strategy with
this tool now.
Marketing with blogging
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Start interviewing as many customers that have bought your
products and services, customers that are satisfied with your
products and services. Make a story out of all these success
testimonials. This is what case study entails and it serves as a
marketing tool when you show it to new prospects who begin to long
for a similar experience.
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Just keep your eyes down here looking at this tool as a
complementary tool to having a website. That means if website is a
must-have marketing tool today, then its complement is contingent
upon it. Blogging is a marketing tool that is contingent upon having
a website.
Blogging helps build social relationships while your website
converts that relationship to business. So, you are blogging in order
to drag traffic to your website. Blogging is a marketing capability by
which your productive customers can be identified and engaged.
Most blogs are set up for free, so if you already have a site, set up a
free blog now as part of your website, albeit even if you don’t have a
website you can still set a blog to warm your prospects up for your
site in advance, that means you will keep sharing your brand related
informative contents to get your brand known until your website is
set up and ready to start receiving traffic.
Comments from your readers on your blog posts will help you know
their views with which you can improve the quality of your products
and services: to meet their needs. Later, you can start selling to them
as your customers.
Blogging requires you to maintain a frequency of posting something
new every 2 to 3 days. By so doing, you’ll be getting noticed on
search engine, and if your blog is attached to your site, you’ll be
making your site more visible on search engine.
Like social media marketing, you need to know how to write
effective blog posts to get read, otherwise hire an expert to write
your blog posts and manage your blog for you, especially because of
the time required to follow discussions relevant to other bloggers. So
request
for
your
blog’s
manager
via
this
email:
franisbabe@gmail.com.
‘Tis your blog manager who will help to always post new contents
on your blog, as often as is necessary, along with the time
commitment it demands. It’s the job of your blog manager to write
and engage your readers as well as ask for their feedback.
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xxv. Marketing with business card
Creating an extension of your website’s projected image is important
to your marketing efforts. When you meet someone in person, you
shouldn’t leave him/her asking “how may I contact you?” Having a
business card can answer this question before it is asked.
If you don’t have a business card, make one now, and just for you to
know what to add that makes it an effective marketing tool, consider
reflecting the look of your website, on your business card, with your
logo and tagline highlighted on it, then you input your contact
information and your business card is ready, as simple as this.
It wouldn’t cost you much to print, so make one for yourself if you
don’t yet have one, and remember to have it in your pocket so you
can start handing it out to prospects during networking.
Of course, it can generate sales for you, only that it does not contain
a call to action, and that is why you network before handing out your
business card.
So, if networking is one of your marketing tools, then you have no
option but to add business card to your toolkit now.
Marketing with article
Your marketplace needs to be educated with a steady stream of
information and writing articles is a great way of increasing
awareness of the marketplace. Write articles about what your
prospects and customers need and they’ll perceive you as valuable to
them and caring too. Articles do not circulate automatically, there is
need to know the channel through which you are circulating them.
Consider circulating your articles on your website, e-letters,
newsletters, the internet, business journals and trade publications,
and even newspapers.
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The sales will begin when the feedback starts coming in. So, update
your marketing strategy now.
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Since this is communication, the message has the key to every result.
If agreed, then don’t force yourself to write when you don’t have the
skill and ability to write an article that sells what you offer.
Contract a freelance writer for writing all your articles. It’s a great
marketing tool, so request for your freelance writer now. Email your
request to fbiproresumer@yahoo.com and you’ll find one writer
ready to help out. Don’t limit yourself.
General idea of your communication marketing tools so far
Each `marketing tool you will pick is categorized in the quadrant
earlier mentioned. The strategies you have just learnt have started
with the most challenging and demanding to the most comfortable
marketing tool, and you just have to decide which one you find most
appealing to your interest. Once you have made your selections, you
have got the knowledge; you will then have to start practicing.
It’s only by practicing that you make sense out of your productive
ideas. So practice what you have learnt in this chapter and you will
find marketing an interesting adventure in your business
engagements.
In climax, make sure you don’t spend too much of your marketing
time on activities that wouldn’t yield meaningful results. Spend as
much time as would yield as much result in sales of your brand as
intended. And use an effective marketing vehicle to ensure your
results are forthcoming at the right time.
For instance, considering the relationship between time and
effectiveness, to become more productive in your marketing efforts,
by making the time required for marketing more effective, if you
have an existing network, then make sure you tap it, rather than
networking without focus.
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Afterward, go deeper with prospects that are already aware of your
services and make your existing prospects the right target for your
direct mail. Doing this alone will offer you a guarantee of effective
and timesaving marketing. So consider starting like this even when
you have made your picks from the available marketing tools at your
disposal, to yield best results.
You have got a marketing plan alongside an effective marketing
strategy with a selection of marketing tools that are all right for you,
and so you need time to start putting the tools you have selected in
place, that’s fine. You started by identifying your market, here are
few tips to put in your pocket as you start practicing effective
marketing:
Target a market that is exciting to you, that is an industry that
you feel naturally drawn to offer something new with your
products and services.
You have something to bring into the industry, what is it and
what skill do you have to make you a patent owner of what you
are bringing into the industry? How many are your innovations
and skills? List them side by side.
If you have innovations and skills, some others would have
something similar, have you known all your competitors?
Identify and list those who will be your major contenders. Do a
research into your industry and know those already there, as well
as what they all bring in and contribute to the industry.
Do your competitors have their own online portals? Then having
yours is not an option but a must-have. So create a website that
focuses on your industry specifically.
If you have your industry-focused website, you need a flowing
stream of visitors (traffic), how do you want to announce your
website to generate traffic? Plan how to market your site’s
content by making it visible to many visitors in your industry.
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So have a special marketing plan for your website to have visibility
on search engine (SEO). If you need help here, hire an SEO
specialist to help you out. Email your request for an SEO specialist
to franisbabe@gmail.com.
Your industry is an actual field of business; you need to
commence a field enquiry for your industry to have facts on the
rate of changes taking place, so as to strut yourself up for change
and progress as you get started in the industry, without missing
any update. This field enquiry will also open you up to all the
current challenges in the industry.
Your marketing campaign has started, you need to know how to
measure what works, to drive the most enquiry. Work with
experts for meeting up with this challenge of traffic analysis and
response measurement, while your marketing campaign goes
aggressive.
With a good campaign, your marketing can be put on autopilot.
There should be no stopping the flow of traffic. Intensify your
marketing effort and stay monitoring progress. Business is all
about marketing, and marketing defines business as weak or
strong, so maintain a productive marketing uninterrupted by
changes in the industry.
Marketing is like a stream that makes your business whiff
offensively if it’s not flowing steadily. So maintain a solid
marketing plan that keeps the brook of responses flowing
incessantly, and that works with or without your interference
(autopilot).
Finally,
Make your business engagements in your industry a life that is
lived to the full and ensure that you’re enjoying what you’re
doing.
Now evaluate your progress so far by answering the following
questions:
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a) Have you identified your industry, your prospects, your
competitors, your innovative products/services, your skill,
qualification and other available resources to get started? (if you
still have not, do so now, for the last time. and move forward)
b) Have you chosen your business name, is it unique, is it targeted,
does it reflect your specialization and industry?
c) Have you identified your unique selling proposition (USP), are
you really sure what you’ve identified as your purpose can help
you sell your brand easily? How relevant is it to the industry?
Why should your prospects trust and support you as the #1
business before any other, before your competitors?
d) Have you teased out all the ways your prospects will benefit
from supporting your brand? Have you highlighted what you can
do for your prospects?
e) Is your tagline well creatively descriptive, appealing and
compelling and does your 15-seconds elevator pitch
support/derive from it?
f) Have you organized your email correspondence to include your
professional signature, to enable your prospects easily contact
you after receiving your web-based communication?
g) Have you prepared a portfolio to show to potential investors, and
interested prospects?
h) Have you finished setting up your website?
i) Have you started promoting your brand?
Now, there you are ready to go. Congratulations if you have done
everything. And if you have not done anything, don’t wait again,
start doing something about the above list now. Good luck!
LESSON SIX
This Final Lesson is a reminder on everything you have learnt
from Lesson One to Five above. So, pay attention to the salient
points in this Lesson to wrap up this volume.
You should know that there is a market for every member of the
population, and what creates the market is needs. Everybody has
needs, and people are grouped together who have similar needs.
A group of people with similar needs forms a unique market with
unique problems. If people did not have needs, there would have
been no market, and the market is there where people with needs
meet with people who have solutions.
Anyone with a need or problem which you have a solution to is a
member of the market you should pitch to. Knowing who should
hear your pitch before you preach is vital to your success as an
entrepreneur.
The process of looking out for someone who values your solution,
among the needy population, is known as audience test. You should
do your audience test first before going out to preach, by talking
about the person’s needs and listening to the response.
Your target market is where you have people who are part of your
target audience, these are people who have the needs and problems
you have a solution to. To them, you are a friend, and a brother or
sister; when you talk about their needs and problems with them,
displaying a concern for them. They become more interested,
because that is what gets them out of their homes every new day.
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They are looking for someone who knows them; knows their
problems, cares about their problems and has the solution they need.
You are that person, and they’ll know you are that person when you
pitch before you preach. Everyone can preach, so people are not
looking for preachers, they’re looking for problem solvers, people
who care about them, people they can trust for help.
Starting to preach is a wrong idea, no one will listen to you. Starting
to pitch is the right idea, someone will listen to you. Someone is
listening since you’ve said some interesting things about his/her
needs.
Somebody wants to know
what you’ll do for
him/her; before he/she
can do anything for you,
as a result, starting by
telling someone to do
something
for
you,
without first getting the
person’s attention, is a
wrong
communication
approach.
If they’ve known you to be that person, they’ll be more eager to hear
you preach, because they’ve always been in need of someone who’ll
tell them about their problems. That’s what pitching is all about.
They’ve made their budgets already. They need not part with their
cash until they meet someone they can trust, someone who cares to
help them, and someone who has the answer to their questions.
Pitching builds trust, preaching before pitching kills trust at once.
Once you pitch first to them, they’re very much eager to hear you
also start preaching. Sure, they are now alacritous for what they
should do to solve their needs immediately, because they want to be
certain you have the solution. And it’s when you finally preach to
them that they’re starting to part with their cash; since they already
trust you.
You took the initiative to pitch, and so it always is; they won’t ask
you to pitch, so they won’t part with their cash to a fraudster. Pitch
more often to this group of people among the needy population.
To be a concept leader, don’t be a preacher; when you want to start
standing on your feet, be a pitcher, even when you’re out to be a
preacher. In other words, blow your horn as a concept leader before
you beg for attention. Tell people what you’ll do for them (pitch)
don’t tell people what they should do for you (don’t preach).
Even though you plan to later preach to earn your billions, as a
preacher, you start by pitching your preaching idea; before someone
will believe you are qualified to be a preacher.
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You’ll not only twirl the person off; your message won’t make any
impact. The raison d'être is: people do things for their reasons as you
do also. Don’t you do things for your reasons? So also do people at
all times.
Learn the Five Entrepreneurial Success Maxims
“Believe, Decide, Move, Persist and Plan.”
x
x
x
x
x
Believe you can take the risk.
Decide to take the risk,
Move to take the risk,
Persist in moving forward,
Plan how to succeed.
If you allow the overall success in the achievement of your
plan to depend on the support and assistance of others then,
you will succeed to fail only to fail yourself.
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Take this rule with a pinch of salt.
Be independent when you ought to be, and let others in when
you have to receive their support and assistance, especially
when by so doing, you are supporting and assisting them with
your plan.
NEVER STOP BELIEVING IN YOURSELF.
You will always be
confronted by the question
of possibility, such as:
"Can I make it." and let
your answer always be
"Yes I believe I can."
So never say "No, I can't" and you will decide to start and
persist to move unto success. No matter how long the journey
takes or how far the distance is, you will make it to your
destination of success.
It takes a tough decision to start and serious determination to
persist. But note this: if you can start you can also persist, or if
you can move, you can also keep moving, then only time and
distance will separate you from getting results, otherwise you
can rightly assume you have already succeeded to arrive at
your predetermined destination.
This means, you must start with something no matter how
little but not with ‘nothing’. And so, if you think you truly
have nothing, then don't just start moving but start preparing
for the journey.
Preparing for the journey is as important as planning what to
achieve from the journey. Even after planning you may not
start until you have made adequate preparations to start. So,
note that planning does not substitute or dispense with
preparation.
Never confuse the two: making plan before preparing and
prepare after planning, don't forget this. Your first
commandment is "Thou shall not fail to plan" and the second
commandment is: "Thou shall not fail to Prepare" and the
third is: "Thou shall not give up." These three commandments
are essential for your success.
When you reach your exhaustion point, which you prepared
for, there must be provision for rest and recreation. This will
reenergize you to continue your journey. So your exhaustion
point does not mean your terminal, so don't give up at your
exhaustion point, rest and continue your journey after that.
Everything that moves is moved by something and that is
limited energy. At your exhaustion point, when you feel like
giving up, always say "My Story of Success will not be
complete until I reach my destination."
After saying this, find a place to rest and refresh yourself. If
you cannot complete the journey, in a day, you shouldn't give
up, rest, and continue from where you stop, on the next day.
It is vital to consider your exhaustion point before you start,
because, once you start, you will have to persist until you
reach the end.
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Don't kill yourself for a long journey that cannot be completed
in a day, when you reach your exhaustion point and the time
is no longer favorable to complete the journey on the same
day, don't hesitate to rest, to regain your strength, always
think and prepare for this before the journey, then after a
necessary break, either after dusk or rain, continue the journey
with renewed vigor and enthusiasm, on the next day.
Feel free to keep doing this, until you complete the journey.
No matter how much it would cost you, of time or other
resources; always keep moving forward, observe the
necessary pause and breaks for refreshments.
The journey to entrepreneurial success is a risky and very long
journey, it is a journey that would test your persistence and
patience, so it's not a journey you can just wake up in the
morning and embark upon. No matter how important the
plan actually is, you must not just rush into it.
You have to give yourself enough time to prepare for the
journey; where you will take into consideration what you
would have to do to take care of your body and refresh
yourself when you reach your exhaustion point, so that you
will not fail yourself by giving up where you only need to
refresh yourself before moving forward. Just don't give up.
Entrepreneurial success is borderless and indiscriminate; to
succeed, you would definitely reach and cross your
exhaustion point. If you persist, you'll complete your journey.
Reflect also on this point: Everything that begins to move
continues in motion as long as the force that set it on motion is
constant. Everything moves by the action of a force of
movement upon it.
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When a man moves there is a force of motion acting upon
him. A man's force of motion is his will for action, conditioned
by his choice and decision to satisfy and comply with the
demands of necessity, no matter how many they are.
Once set in motion, a man would stay on motion until he
chooses otherwise. In other words, a man will continue to
move, as long as the force of motion remains constant in him.
The point at which a man chooses to halt is his exhaustion
point.
Energy is a fuel for your body. It is exhausted by toil and in
time.
Learn from things around you, including insects and
inanimate. Consider the journey of ants, for instance, how do
ants journey like humans? Their journey is an inspiration.
They journey in company with each other, as escorts to each
other to and fro.
Without grunge, ants journey on healthy traffic condition,
maintaining their lanes, hardly do you find anyone on the
speed lane, hardly are they driving carelessly, overspending
and overtaking each other. They persist and are patient, so
you don't see anyone giving up before the end of the journey.
In case of any breakdown, the other escorts tow the broken
ants back to the base of their colony.
They don't use horns and sirens. They do what is right
applying cautions and self-restraint. So there is no need for
security cameras to watch over them, and no traffic laws or
officers to police anyone. Ants greet each other humbly. Can
we compete? The order on the ants’ journey is beyond human
comportment.
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So take interest in everything around you, as this would help
you be observant and to never lack insight to guide all your
activities. But that depends on how interested you are in the
things around you, and how observant you are.
Split your plan and make each target independent of the
other, giving each a unique basic detail of date, time and
itinerary. This will give you a view of what was the cause of
your confusion with your plan.
Practice the art of universal interest daily and you will soon
become selfless, so that you can start building the cities of the
world around you, with those who care for others. If your
dreams are influenced by it, you will soon achieve the success
that would make others successful, and until then you have to
observe and be interested in everything around you, no
matter how small or great it may be.
Once you have broken your plan into different independent
plans you will realize how relieved you have become. You are
now able to separate formerly clustered targets that were
snowballing into disorder and confusion in your mind.
Remember lastly and never forget this point that: The Journey
to success is not a short and easy one as you may presume.
So, don't give up on your journey to success until you have
reached the end. If ants don't give-up why should you giveup? Learn this lesson of persistence and patience from ants
and soon you will be celebrating your success.
HOW ENTREPRENEURS PLAN FOR SUCCESS
Planning could really be complicated and confusing.
The tendency to upgrade a plan creates a mix up that later
confuses you on what to situate your focus on. When this
happens there is only one way out.
Review the entire structure of the
broad plan, as it currently is. Also note
the different specific targets of the plan
that can make the plan be split into
two or three independent plans then
do just that.
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Now that you have dealt with this indigent factor of
degeneration in your plan, use it to your advantage and you
have new things to achieve from your broken plan.
When confusion sets in because your plan has become
complicated, you will doubt your wit and grit. That means
you have to move outside your own ideas and scout for
solution from other minds.
This is where reaching out to other resources other than your
mind becomes inevitable. You must be ready to spend time
researching, in order to do this with ease. At this point you
must know where to get the help you need. It's not by lending
but by learning.
So don't go about looking for a lender because you will end in
frustration. Refusal to scout for information through quality
research is failure to enhance one's plan.
Always ensure you open up your mind to all the sources of
information available to your reach. Reach out to sources of
new ideas where you can learn how to enhance your plan.
This would prevent the frustration that would necessarily
result when you go out looking for a lender, especially since
this is a shortcut you are trying to take.
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If you cannot be an independent planner, you cannot be a
happy successful person. You will always be slavishly
indebted to people who’ve given you their material support
when you failed to enhance your plan. That is not the way to
assert your self-reliance and self-confidence.
Researching for information is an expression of independence.
The best way to do that is by enhancing your plan with access
to quality information, to learn new ideas from other sources
through research.
Be a learner researcher, while planning, not a lender seeker. If
you are a lender seeker, you are automatically limiting your
minds to new and great ideas to enhance your plan; you are
depending on people who can never enhance your plan better
than your learning.
If your mind can't proceed unaided, then resort to researching
to learn from other sources of information. That's
independence. Be independent in your planning.
There is no end to planning, so even as you are shortening
your plan's scope to specific targets, you understand the
details of your plan better; that you are able to give a finishing
touch to the original plan.
Keep planning. And, with reviews set at every terminal, say at
every month end for a plan that spans through the year, you
will always add new details to your plan with a specific target.
At the first time you start planning, you never have a clear but
blurring picture of the overall plan, so you are only conceiving
a possible architectural design for your success. You would
not be able to define your priority that early.
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You will have to only produce and design a rough sketch of
what your priorities might be, and as time goes on, you begin
to understand the plan better, and this would make you to
add a new line of target to the plan.
By the time you keep doing this, you will think you
understand your plan better, but you are only beginning to
make your plan complicated and confusing.
At first, you won't see any of these complications and
confusions until you attempt to accomplish your plan. Then
you will begin to see the need for simplification.
At this point, the complications in the plan begin to stare you
at the face and you start wondering why it never appeared to
be so from the start. Then you start being confused as you
seek for a way to deal with the complications in your plan.
The reason you did not see it early was because the plan was
still a seedling from the start and needed time to sprout into a
shrub; with diverse branches that need to be trimmed, and it
is the trimming that becomes the implication of reviewing and
analyzing your plan at the end of the month.
So, by the new month you have got two or three separate
plans, and this is when you can choose which one is your
priority. You can then begin to appreciate the growth of your
original plan into the shrub of many branches that needed to
be trimmed off. At last, the necessity of trimming the shrub
has provided for you new plans to live for the next couple of
months and years.
This is the reward of planning. It is really like agriculture. One
seed is sown, then many fruits are produced and harvested
and each fruit brings forth new seeds for another round of
sowing.
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Then you discover that if you hadn't thought wisely of sowing
the initial seed, you would not have become this rich with
fruits and new seeds for another season of sowing and
multiple harvesting.
People have always lived with plans and that has given them
all the riches and achievements they now enjoy. If they never
planned, they would never have anything to enjoy as the fruit
of their labors.
So too, you must plan. Live a planner’s life. Be patient with
your plan. You're planning for the sake of the reward of
planning as harvest after sowing.
How to Avoid Mistakes in Your Plan
When you plan, don't be in a hurry to start acting on it. Give it
time to mature in your conviction before implementing it. The
power of Patience and Wisdom will help you here. View and
review your plan the way you review your manuscript before
posting your essay to your editor.
Mistakes should not be overlooked, so don't rush your plan's
implementation, the way you shouldn't rush submitting your
manuscripts to your editor. Review your plan, the way you
proofread your manuscripts.
You know your manuscripts will never be free of mistakes
when you proofread it alone, so you have to give others to
proofread your manuscripts with you, in the same vein, your
plans should not be implemented until you have slept over it,
from night to morning. Then, even when you go back to
review it, your fancies will still blindfold you from noticing
sentimental errors in your plan.
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This is when you need to show your plan to others by
discussing it with people you trust, without telling them
everything, just to get their own view of it. Then if others
seem to buy your idea and believe your plan will work, you
know you can start designing the second plan for
implementing the original plan.
This is an important exercise you mustn’t ignore. Most times
what you plan is never good enough the first time you
conceive and write it down, if you rush into implementing it
at that moment; you will not be able to avoid discouraging
mistakes. This proves you have not finished planning.
Your plan is still premature and you are still an amateur with
your plan's implementation, and so you need more time to
rehearse your implementation strategy and practice your
implementation technique. This is just why you shouldn't be
in a hurry to execute your plan.
Make the plan solid and proof it with patience. It is just a seed
sown on the soil of uncertainty the first time you conceive and
write it down. It needs time to rustle and sprout into life, there
is a time you must wait for it to mature; and while you wait
you must keep planning how to make your seedlings yield a
better harvest.
If you understand this farming technique of planning, then
you will equally see why you kill your plan's potential to yield
great result; when you don't wait for it to mature before
implementing it. Try the power of patience when planning
and you won't make regrettable and frustrating mistakes;
when implementing your plan.
Every good plan is like a good seed, sown on the field of
uncertainty, no matter how long it takes it to germinate; it
would reach its maturity and yield a great harvest.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
*HW%XV\'RLQJ6RPHWKLQJ3URILWDEOH1RZ
GREATPER
SONALITY
If you cut it before it is really mature, what do you think
would happen? You will only kill its potentials and that's not
good enough for your show of wisdom and demonstration of
patience, because you would have been wasting your time
and resource all along the planning process. Therefore, know
that, there is a time for planning, like sowing, waiting then
reaping.
You cannot possibly achieve everything you plan, at once, but
you can achieve anything you plan one after the other, ie., you
must have one target at a time, and aim at it first before
aiming at another. Achievements are arrows shot in units at
unitary targets in planned units.
Entertain no Negativity in your Plan for Entrepreneurial
Success
Negativity is the first obstacle to realizing your dream. Beware
of the insurgence of negativity against your dream. You
shouldn't let negativity steal the vision of your dream from
you.
Negativity sets in, once you start critiquing the reliability of
your means to achieve your goal, before trying them. You
reject your once grand idea, either because of the cost of
pursuing it or the fear of humiliation when pursuing it.
But know that everybody succeeding through anything today
once doubted the workability of what has now turned them
into successful persons. You too cannot become an expert
achiever without encountering the toughest doubts.
But when you start doubting, also learn to start trusting your
plan, believing in your potentials and making effort to
overcome discouragement or resist dream-killers.
START S_M_A_R&T
BIGBUSINESS
Your most doubt will set in when the most of your friends
express disapproval of your ideas. This is when you will have
to seek new friends rather than stick with old ones. Don’t
depend on approvals or be discouraged by disapprovals.
You will always need friends who believe in you, than those
who incite doubt in you when you tell them about your plans.
Those who discourage you are dream killers, and you would
have to cut them off from your plan, to create vacancies for
new friends who encourage you on your plans, by helping
you realize the dream you plan about.
So, it's not a snippy doubt you will be nursing, but a real
discouraging emotion that threatens the realization of your
dream, which you mustn’t condone. It's common to every
potentially successful planner.
Keep planning in spite of your doubts, don't erase the doubts,
just note asterisks over them and attach rubrics to the
particular means for achieving them.
Let this become indication of urgency for you to try the means
first, in order to be sure it can remain on your list of means;
for nothing suspicious should remain on the list until the
suspicion has been cleared from it by trial and error.
Every suspicious and doubtful means should stay at the top of
the list for urgent trial before you conclude how long it should
be on the list.
This is how to deal with every doubt. For instance, you have
three friends who tell you not to think of studying chemistry
but nursing, albeit your plan is to study chemistry in order to
be vested in knowledge to go into manufacturing stain
removing agents, as you dream of becoming a big business
owner, with your brand of detergent after college.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
*HW%XV\'RLQJ6RPHWKLQJ3URILWDEOH1RZ
GREATPER
SONALITY
If your friends believe you cannot succeed on such a lofty
plan, would you conclude with them that you cannot succeed
when you haven’t even tried to understand why you wouldn’t
succeed? It would be wise you discuss your plan with others
who are vested in knowledge and hear what they will advise
you on how to succeed.
If friends say you can’t succeed, pair with experts who say
you can succeed, and who tell you how you can succeed.
Hence, let that which you would ordinary doubt become your
priority so that you would prove how doubtful or reliable it is.
Don't be afraid of making it your urgent means to achieve
your goal. Of course, it is taking a risk to act when you doubt,
but planning is so important that you don't prolong any
doubt. Every doubt must be urgently acted upon in order to
prove your safety with every means you have on your list.
Planning is adventurous because doubts and fears are always
present and are to be confronted and dealt with as priorities.
The importance of treating doubts and fears as indications of
urgency is to clear-off traffic along the highway to chasing
your goals.
The highway must always be free of traffic like a speed lane or
a runway for takeoff and landing of aircrafts in an airport;
before and after every flight. In fact, it is very important you
set the picture of an airport before your mind. If possible take
a photo of an airport capturing a plane on the run way before
flight or landing on the runway after flight.
Do you see traffic on the runway? If there is traffic can the
aircraft speed before taking off? This is how your plan exactly
is. There must be no lingering doubt to slow you down, so
you treat doubt like a traffic marshal.
START S_M_A_R&T
BIGBUSINESS
A smooth takeoff guarantees a safe trip by 50%, the rest
conditions for safety depend on the pilot of the aircraft. A
competent pilot should be able to confront every hazard at air
with his skills as a trained pilot.
Do you see why you shouldn’t compromise your plan with
doubts and fears? They will appear as you start planning, and
that is when you must be ready to take off as well, by clearing
them off immediately.
You must clear them off at the very moment of planning,
because that is your runway to takeoff into the air of pursuing
your dreams.
The best way to clear off your doubt is by treating them as
indications of urgency to try any means marked with such
asterisks and rubrics.
Once you turn every doubt and fear into an indication of
urgency, you have taken the emergency bold step of critically
accessing the safety condition of your aircraft before taking off
from the airport, to guarantee the success of your flight by
50%.
Doing this always would never compromise your plans. Your
great ideas will remain grand and your obstacles to greatness
will not succeed to compromise your plan. So don’t let
negativity obstruct your chances of getting success with your
available means to pursuing your dream. Moreover, there is
no means that is not worth trying. Clear your doubts.
Plan and Prepare for Success with Entrepreneurial Enthusiasm
Keep on preparing yourself with your understanding of time
management. In other words, keep planning and working on
your plan. This is the art of preparation. The homework you
are required to do is to plan ahead of time.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
*HW%XV\'RLQJ6RPHWKLQJ3URILWDEOH1RZ
BIGBUSINESS
GREATPER
SONALITY
Plan early on what you want to achieve the next second,
minute, hour and day.
Tell us the magic you are using to win the admiration of
people. We are interested in what you are doing, please can
we learn from you?”
This would keep you ever ahead of time. When you know
what you want, the next thing is to plan how to get what you
want. As far as you do this always, in order to use every time
for getting a new achievement on record, you will steer ahead
of every competition, because you have mastered the art of
preparing to win at every competition.
Hearing all these, you can confess you feel proud of yourself,
or don’t you feel like you are a king or queen? Of course,
that’s what you are; because you have mastered the art of
preparation. Remember the words of Louis Pasteur, a French
Chemist (1822-1895): “Chance favors the prepared mind.”
You know every winner is a celebrity after every competition.
This is what this lesson is training you to be. You are
preparing yourself to be celebrated for your outstanding
achievements in the future.
Do you see chance favoring you because you have prepared
your mind never to take chances without a plan of how to
maximize your profits through them? Try to be on the side of
the beneficiary of the favors of chances, not on the side of
those struggling for a second chance to correct their mistakes.
So always stay prepared to win in anything you do. It means
you will learn how to do it better than others, so that; when
you do it with others, you will do it better than others, and
you will be celebrated for your distinguished result,
presentation or performance.
To distinguish yourself in anything you do, you will always
have occasion to do your homework by planning. Be the best
you can be in your preparations and you will be the best
among others in your presentation.
Discover something about what others are doing that others
do not know, and use what you have discovered to do the
same thing better than how others have been doing it. It
would only take a short while and you will hear things like
this from others: “why are you always being the one praised
not us?
How are you doing all these things that make you better than
those who have been doing them before you? Please tell us,
what is your special secret?
START S_M_A_R&T
If they were prepared, they would have avoided those silly
mistakes.
You know how it is in an examination written or a pitch deck
presented without preparation: you get only one chance to
deliver what you know to be the correct points. As such,
unless you prepared yourself for the exams or presentation,
you will not avoid making silly mistakes that would mar your
reputation.
When such mishap happens, you may not even discover your
fault until the time for correction is up. Then you will be the
one begging for a second chance, through re-sitting for a
spilled over subject, or to return to represent your pitch deck.
This lesson is meant to help you so that you will not be on this
side of the casualties of second chances. You should never stay
idle when you should be preparing yourself for success.
Understanding the secret of time management for
entrepreneurial excellence and glorious success
)UDQFLV,VXJX
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Do you want to see people asking questions like: “How did
you do this? Did you have the time for this? Did someone help
you to finish this? Why are you so amazing, and so on?” Then
don’t join others to waste time, don’t copy their attitude of
losing opportunities, you have to make yourself different from
others with your attitude towards time and opportunity.
Manage every moment, second, minute and hour of time well,
for the sake of your opportunity to achieve new things, hence,
note what Schuster says: “Save it, hoard it, plug up all the
leaks, if necessary, stand on your street corner, cap in hand
like a mendicant, and beg all the passers-by for the seconds
and minutes and hours and days they waste.”
You see now that you just cannot to stay idle at any time, you
can’t just be another party freak, movie addict, or social
networking-workaholic. No, these are the same things people
waste their time on every day, who never choose to rise in the
royal brightness of the morning star.
This is why you are going to set yourself apart from people
around you, by doing positive and creative things with the
same time they waste watching sports, clapping at social
events, cheering super stars like faithful fans; while they
themselves fail to let the star in them shine.
Your own star will thus shine so bright; while theirs are
deemed. Let this be so that they too will be cheering you and
clapping at your amazing achievements when you have
become the supreme expert on your career.
Note that this is why you are not going to be wasting your
time like others; because you want to lead a successful and
happy life, as the greatest achiever of the biggest dream in
your time.
START S_M_A_R&T
BIGBUSINESS
Regard every second; minute and hour of time, as invaluable
resources you’ve got; that ought not to be wasted leisurely.
So, never part with your time until you have achieved what
others cannot achieve who waste their time on things that
never let the star in them to shine, but your own star is rising
every day, as you use your time to create more opportunities
for new achievements every day.
And, you will get the praises of every one acknowledging
you, as the greatest young achiever of your generation, that’s
if you do what is required to make you stand out of the crowd
with remarkable achievements. Do you see yourself achieving
this state of glory?
Let Your Light of Glorious Success in the Making Shine: It’s
the Dream of Every Entrepreneur
Dreamers are people who devote their life to a cause. The
cause of dreamers is something that makes them recognized
by people who are affected by their lifestyles.
It implies that, a person can be a dreamer and at the same time
a result chaser. People's profiles reveal their personal
credibility as dreamers or result chasers or the both.
Great dreamers focus on their dreams, for every dream when
fulfilled is accompanied by results. But the result of a fulfilled
dream is not money. The result of a fulfilled dream is
happiness.
Have you seen people who have plenty of money but are not
happy? Do you know why they are not happy even with
plenty money?
The reason is because a result of chasing result does not
produce a result of pursuing dream.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
*HW%XV\'RLQJ6RPHWKLQJ3URILWDEOH1RZ
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SONALITY
They got money as a result of their merchandise, and their
money cannot produce the result of dream fulfillment.
So they cannot be happy with their money because their
merchandise is not their dream. They have not fulfilled their
dream, so they cannot be happy? Do you now see why you
have to pursue your dream and not pursue money first?
Your priority should not be money. Your priority should be
happiness. So when happiness is said to be man's ultimate
end, it means that in everything you do, you must not forget
to pursue your dream.
The fastest way to fulfill your dream is to focus on your
dream.
The only way to enjoy happiness or achieve your ultimate end
is to fulfill your dream.
So, focus on that which brings you to achieve your ultimate
end, and that is fulfilling your dream. Your destiny is tied to
your dream, hence; fulfill your dream in earnest. In other
words, you ought to do what you must, now, to fulfill your
dream.
A lot of persons make the mistake of underestimating the
importance of their dream. They exaggerate the importance of
money over their dream, and this will result in a
compromised dream. Don't compromise your dream. If you
compromise your dream, you will never fulfill your destiny.
Your destiny is along the path that leads you to achieve your
ultimate end. That path is dream. Only fulfilling your dream
brings you to the achievement of your ultimate end. So when
you are not moving on that path which leads you to achieving
your ultimate end, you are deviating from your destiny.
START S_M_A_R&T
BIGBUSINESS
More so, when you are not pursuing your dream you are
deviating from your destiny. If you deviate from your destiny,
you will never live a fulfilled life. It means you will never
achieve ultimate happiness.
Achieving ultimate happiness means living a fulfilled life. A
lot more than temporal satisfaction is at stake in living a
fulfilled life. Failing to live a fulfilled life also means losing a
lot more than temporal satisfaction. The entire purpose of
your existence is at stake, so don't toil with your destiny, don't
compromise your dream.
Focus on your dream. Don't let yourself be distracted from
pursuing your dream. Needs and results which refer to
deficiency or lack in material makeup is the major distraction
from pursuing your dream.
So be sensitive to your deficiencies or lacks; but don't be tied
to them or live to perfect all of them, otherwise you will be
limited by them, and this limitation is what fights against your
ability to fulfill your destiny.
It's actually a very complex issue to deal with, so you don't
have to start creating a problem you cannot resolve.
All Successful Entrepreneurs Are Great Dreamers, Become
One
You work smart when you work hard enough to create spare
time for you to attend to other necessities, events, leisure,
physical activities, pleasures, charity and community services,
without compromising your plan.
This is where you can become a great dreamer. A great
dreamer accomplishes his tasks and is not constrained by
them to be restrained from attending to people who need his
attention.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
*HW%XV\'RLQJ6RPHWKLQJ3URILWDEOH1RZ
BIGBUSINESS
GREATPER
SONALITY
He is outgoing, considerate and compassionate as well as a
companion to people around him... This is how he touches
lives and builds the foundation for his legacies.
You are a great dreamer when you are flexible with methods
of approaching your plan. This flexibility is an attribute of
creativity that is found also in great dreamers.
Thus, a great dreamer is a smart worker sticking to his plan
and still having time for every other necessity, never been
guilty of negligence, but always proving himself selfless and a
friend to the helpless. Here is what makes the difference
between a great dreamer and a shallow dreamer.
The degree of flexibility is what makes the further difference
between great dreamers and shallow dreamers. Great
dreamers are free with applying different methods to achieve
the same or different results. They are not limited by or tied to
a particular method.
A shallow dreamer is hard working but fails to touch lives. He
has time for only his own affairs and sticks with his plan with
such rigidity and firmness that other people do not matter and
are even exploited and oppressed. A shallow dreamer justifies
his conduct with the results yielding according to his plans.
They do not depend on dictation of method by someone else.
They choose their own methods freely and still stick to their
plan. They don't wait until they fail before trying new
methods.
A shallow dreamer is selfish and intolerant. A shallow
dreamer, being self-centered, may be disciplined to the core
but at the same time cold, mean and astute, lacking
compassion and isolated. So, pursuing your dream always
requires flexibility even as you stick with your plan.
You are flexible when you give yourself the sense of control
over your circumstances and know how to slide through your
plan freely.
When sticking with your plan, remember that your methods
of approaching the activities you are trying to conform, to
pursuing your plan, are not fixed. This is where flexibility
plays an important role. You may use one method now and
later another, changing methods, to understand the best
approach to your plan.
This change of method is possible only if you are flexible. But
this too will not be possible unless you are creative enough to
invent and innovate something different.
START S_M_A_R&T
Improving upon their method is what gives great dreamers
the degree of control needed to freely update their plan to
meet the latest method they invent. They always operate on a
higher standard than others doing the same thing.
They always use a superior method, and can combine a
number of methods to enhance their proficiency in doing
what they are used to doing, to master the risks involved
when approaching every new subject in their plan.
Great dreamers are always making landmarks of progress and
improvement faster than others ordinarily assume to be
possible. This enables them to enjoy what they do and create
spare time to attend to other necessities.
They are great dreamers always growing their dreams. They
have growing plans always being improved. Something new
is always added to what they have decided to do.
Great dreamers do not feel burdened by their responsibilities,
but fulfill them with a sense of obligation without mitigation
of their freedom.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
*HW%XV\'RLQJ6RPHWKLQJ3URILWDEOH1RZ
GREATPER
SONALITY
They use their time the best way possible so much that no
time is wasted in idleness.
They are not sensuous or heinous, but give the best of
themselves, to whatever they do to get the best result possible
even when others are competing with them.
Great dreamers don't challenge but encourage competition.
That’s because they are confident in their ability to fulfill their
dreams with or without competitions and challenges. Here
lies the uniqueness of great dreamers.
They are fascinating and motivating. Their competitors are
inspired by their liberality, and admire their sense of
discipline with flexibility centered on their creativity.
Great dreamers are creative, they are geniuses, they are easy
going and don't complain about difficulties around them.
They are always smiling with a sense of conviction that their
efforts will yield the desired result.
To be a gret dreamer, you should stick with your plan with
flexibility and creativity. Shallow dreamers fear being flexible
lest they fail, so they approach their plans unitarily and
fearfully.
A shallow dreamer lacks conviction in his ability to create new
or better method, so he sticks with his plan with only one
method. He is not flexible because he is not creative. He is a
do or die go-getter type of person, hence is not jovial, loving,
and liberal.
He does not want to compromise his ambition so he searches
for shortcuts to everything he does. "Shortcut to success" is his
motto. He wants to succeed by all means, and because he is a
dreamer, he succeeds anyway.
START S_M_A_R&T
BIGBUSINESS
A shallow dreamer is often overwhelmed by his success that
he sings his praise egotistically. He does not want anyone to
rob him of his glory, so he talks about his achievement
wherever he goes. You see him as a campaigner for praises.
That is what he has been fighting for.
He puts all his eggs in one basket, so his ambitions are high
and always he maintains his focus sticking rigidly to his plan,
this effort guarantees his success but not his greatness.
He is not a great person though he succeeds. He often gambles
with opportunities and is stiffened by success, or hardened by
failure. He’s not open to other opportunities, he looks only in
one direction all the time and stakes for things too highly.
A shallow dreamer is a resolute actor working to impress and
nothing more. He does not care about honesty, sincerity,
integrity and dignity, so he is always finding himself deciding
to join the band wagon and staying with the bad gang. He
loves praises, so he is doing everything possible to be
recognized as a successful person.
The fact, however, remains that; even though the shallow
dreamer is successful he is not regarded as a great person. He
does not touch lives around him positively, except
pretentiously gallivanting and presenting himself as a good
person, by self acclamation.
The fact of his success may appeal to many people who praise
him because of his achievement or because he pays or bribes
them to do so, but his personality is not appealing to people;
for his success often comes by taking advantage of chances,
people and privileges.
When a shallow dreamer is working hard to stick with his
plan, he is inconsiderate of people affected by his ambitions
negatively.
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*HW%XV\'RLQJ6RPHWKLQJ3URILWDEOH1RZ
BIGBUSINESS
GREATPER
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His concern is on himself and how he would be successful.
They are fatalistic in their approach so they just can't be
flexible. Anything that comes their way is good enough for
them, in so far as it resembles the right means to their ends.
They are not critical, so they see their fate sealed in the only
available approach they perceive unitarily methodically.
But, common dreamers fail to see the other side of the coin. In
one thing they achieve, there are a million things they
correspondingly and simultaneously fail to conceive as
achievable. This is why fatalistic approach to pursuing dreams
is wrong. There are millions of opportunities out there. Don't
be blindfolded by one.
As you are pursuing one dream, dream of achieving another.
This is what makes great dreamers great achievers. They stick
with their plan to achieve one dream, and at the same time are
structuring a new plan to achieve a greater dream. They open
their eyes and critically approach their plans.
They are not over ambitious or too zealous. They don't want
people to tell their stories when they are present. They don't
want people to praise them in their presence.
Great dreamers are thinking of other beneficiaries of whatever
they achieve. So they are achieving what they dream of
because they want to help people to achieve something
through them. They are generous people. They are altruistic.
They are communalistic. They are commutative. They are
distributive. They are social. They are enthused and intelligent
leaders. This is what makes them different from shallow
dreamers.
Great dreamers go the extra mile to satisfy people's longing
for love. They are friendly and meek. They are careful and
observant. They are active and responsive. They are patriotic
and cooperative. They are sensitive and supportive.
These are qualities that make great dreamers admirable. They
are amiable and enviable. But they don't compete in order to
succeed. They succeed in order to encourage competition.
Great dreamers are not worried about rivals and competitors;
they even support their rivals morally and motivate their
competitors to keep striving. But they do not raise their ego.
Great dreamers are great achievers because they explore the
millions of opportunities around them and introduce these
opportunities to others who may not be seeing them.
They are humble. They have great dreams before them, and
great achievements behind them, yet they live simple lives
that attract people toward them. They live with the common
people in order to help them live a better, happier and more
successful life.
They choose to help people get on their feet with the
opportunities they identify and point out to people. This is
why they are working smart.
Great dreamers come down to the level of the common
people: to relate and interact or communicate with them at
their levels, in order to inspire virtue in them.
They are achieving greater things when people are helped by
them to achieve great things. They are not the grab-it-all kind
of people.
They are not rude or bestial. They are not mean or arrogant.
START S_M_A_R&T
They are not spiteful or resentful.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
*HW%XV\'RLQJ6RPHWKLQJ3URILWDEOH1RZ
BIGBUSINESS
GREATPER
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They humble themselves to the best of their abilities, and they
keep creating opportunities for people to succeed through
them and to lift people to their own levels.
This is true greatness in great dreamers sticking with their
plan freely.
It is with this quality of freedom that time management is
understood. Great dreamers understand time management to
mean great planning.
So when you stick with your plan, manage your time wisely,
so that you can achieve other things yet unplanned.
Start planning for greater achievements. Don't be limited by a
single plan. Keep planning, for planning is time management.
All Successful Entrepreneurs Are Leaders by Their Influence on
Others. Learn To Lead by Your Influence on Others
It’s all about influencing the way people respond to offers. If you’ve
known how to communicate an idea; and how to keep people
interested in the communication, you can make any offer and get
good responses from the people constituting your target market,
people who’ll see you as their leader, and’ll listen to you with trust.
Pitching first gives you the unique opportunity to lead people’s
interest and keep them interested in you for as long as possible.
It doesn’t matter where you’re placed in any society or wing of any
organization; you can exercise influence from anywhere and in all
directions. Learn how to pitch first. Be temerarious.
Do this and you’ll start realizing your leadership aptitude.
You’ll get excellent and great results
because people will listen to your
communication and respond to it,
they’ll obey you, they’ll gather round;
and if you call, they’ll submit to you.
People who know how to keep people interested in any
communication are leaders. You can do it. You can get people’s
attention when you pitch first to them. Be a leader of others’ interest.
Keep them interested in your communication. Then say anything
they should do after it.
Lower animals readily submit to the authority of humans; because,
to every human, the authority to lead lower animals has been given.
And if you have this authority over animals, you also have it at all
times, and you can equally exercise it over other humans. You can
sway other humans, authoritatively, if you are a thoughtful person.
Conceive being a leader wherever you find yourself. You are indeed
a leader even though you do not realize it in any organization, or
even in the middle of the organization. You have to develop your
influence from any wing of the organization or anywhere in society.
People are led by a person who thinks for them, plans for them,
dictates to them, directs them and instructs them. But such a person
must first be able to lead himself by being thoughtful enough to
decipher urgency from necessity, and purposefulness from
usefulness, when deciding what’ll affect the immediate surrounding.
STARTING TO LEAD BY CONCEIVING TO ACHIEVE
You can start developing your leadership skill from the middle of the
organization or even from the lowest level in society, in view of
what you would have been doing if you were at the top.
START S_M_A_R&T
The matter of fact is: you always have the aptitude for leadership.
Note this point immediately: you are always a leader because you
have the inherent authority to give order to lower creatures, to
dominate and control them, as well as to apply same authority in
you to influence the conduct of your affairs among fellow humans.
)UDQFLV,VXJX
*HW%XV\'RLQJ6RPHWKLQJ3URILWDEOH1RZ
BIGBUSINESS
GREATPER
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The foregoing explains why you can make a request with speech or
an alternative form of communication and expect to have your
request granted by a fellow human being listening to you. It is by
virtue of your basic authority, as a human being determined to be a
leader, that you exercise control over the wills of fellow human
Therefore, as an essential leader, you started leading when you
started speaking to your parents who were your first followers, in so
far as they were your first listeners. As listeners, they were there to
respond and act according to your request, suggestion or ply your
entreaty; where command was inappropriate.
beings; when you make a
request, give a command
or call to action.
You had a childish leadership influence on your parents because,
essentially, leadership starts from childhood influence on people. It
can be fundamentally traced to have had a solid and natural
beginning in the act and sound of crying, to evoke the sympathy of
people around.
Essential
Leadership:
Defined
If
you look back,
reminiscent of your past;
you would still be able to
bring to mind when you
started exhibiting your
aptitude for leadership,
you will discover it
happened at a very early
stage of your life.
Crying is a child’s basic leadership influence on others. Even a child
is a leader because a child can influence others to respond or pay
attention to its needs and discomfort, by crying. But it’s not only a
child who cries. Even today, people cry for the same purpose.
Adults cry aloud in public as a strong sign of discomfort over
something happening around them. It is the most available
leadership tool for the weak and tender.
And when the strong also use it in the form of stern and opulent
decoy to criticize an opponent, it becomes the strongest emotional
tool of influence on sympathizers; little wonder women have learnt
to use it to their advantage on men.
Moreover, if childhood cries had no leadership propensity, it would
have been needless to cry, respond to a crying child, or to stop
crying, even as an adult, after a desired response has been achieved
through it. Hey! If you can cry with your products, you can sell them
all. When you pitch, that’s what you’re doing, you are crying aloud.
ncies present themselves in you, as in
Essential leadership tendencies
every human person, even while still an infant, and not only had you
lacked total awareness off this until now, but you can always
remember from hence thatt you started practicing to be a leader
skills
l.
when you were beginning your acquisition of basic language skills.
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It purports that nature; which has made it possible for a child to cry
and decoy people’s attention without saying a word, has not made
crying in vain. Instead, crying has a meaning of fundamental
influence on human beings, as emotional creatures. Learn to pitch
now, and you won’t have to cry about not being able to sell your
brand. Cry now and it won’t be in vain. Cry like a child. Pitch & sell.
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In this beam, anyone who can connect with the emotions of those
around him/her is a leader in their midst, he/she can influence them
to give a desired response. You can do likewise, that’s why you are
learning to be a concept leader, you will need to know how to
influence people around and influence buyers too.
So if a child cries as soon as it is born, it gives a signal that a new
leader has been born among humans on earth. Is this not meaningful
enough? Of course it is. If this is meaningful, then everyone who is
capable of crying and who cried as a child and still cries today, no
matter how old or young, is a leader among others.
Can you cry? Did you cry as a child? Then you are a leader. Yes I
say, you have always been a leader because you could always
influence others around you. You could do it as a child by merely
crying, you had your parents’ attention because you always
influenced them in your childhood.
If you could have such powerful influence then, how much now with
more influence; when you can act and speak in a way people will
feel obliged to respond to your demands?
So take Leadership seriously. You were born for this purpose — to
Lead and lead. Apply the same concept in entrepreneurship, business
management and marketing your brands.
UNDERSTANDING CONCEPT LEADERSHIP BROADLY
As far as essential leadership is concerned, it is indisputable to assert
that you have an inborn aptitude for leadership, even though you did
not realize it earlier than now. Moreover, inasmuch as you have been
exercising that aptitude, by the authority you have always had, to
make requests and state commands, you have always been a leader.
There has been someone listening to you whenever you speak to
another. That someone is a listener and a follower, and if you have a
follower, then you are obviously leading someone, just as if you
have a listener, it is because you are speaking to someone.
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BIGBUSINESS
Don’t forget also that, only human
beings have the speaking ability and
evolve sophisticated language; with
their communication skill.
But don’t confuse being a leader of
humans with being a leader of
lower creatures.
You
lead
humans
by
communicating to influence them,
you communicate with humans
using an acceptable language.
You connect with their emotions using
sing a special communication
device, do this connection in your business,
iness, and you’ll be a winner in
the marketplace, because you’ll connect
onnect with prospects to sell
anything, to promote your brand, to win and stay on top competition.
A leader of humans does not have his
is followers as creatures lower
than him/her, since the followers are primarily listeners of the same
species with natural fundamental equality,
quality, though they could be
older or younger than the speaker leading by words.
Demarcations in basic leadership
The demarcation made here is between essential leadership and
substantial leadership. Essential leadership is the basic aptitude for
leadership present in every human being, by virtue of which every
human being is a born leader.
Nonetheless it is practically expressive in speech. And this
distinguishes humans from animals, because only humans have the
capacity for speech.
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And, since consistency leads to capacity, and every human being
begins from consistent mumbling of words, from early childhood,
during the stages of language acquisition, only humans finally
evolve the capacity for speech.
Other animals never attempt such a consistency and so have no
capacity for speech like humans, and that is why only humans
communicate ideas, values and principles, as expressions of
thought in words of speech. Remember that thoughtfulness is a basic
mark of leadership in every human person, because the person who
is more thoughtful than others is the leader of others.
Alternatively, essential leadership is also known as Leadership by
words. It is the ability to garner followers by having listeners. And
this is done simply by speaking words in a familiar language calling
people to action, or by stating a request or give a command where
appropriate. Essential leadership is a marketing essential in business.
Every human being can do this, by merely saying ‘Come’ and
someone responds by moving forward. Therefore, every human
being is essentially a leader. If you have products to sell, what do
you do to sell all? First, realize you’re an essential leader, and that
someone would listen to you if you speak about your product; go and
speak to someone, but remember, pitch don’t preach, then you’ll sell
all your products, since you can lead with the right marketing words.
You are essentially a leader by virtue of your natural aptitude to lead
as an influential speaker. If you have such an influence, which you
obviously were born with, you have leadership propensity inborn in
you.
Hence leadership starts here but does not end here. Going further,
let’s see the next step in leadership.
Substantial leadership: defined
Substantial leadership is the higher level of leadership where an
essential leader begins to accelerate his performance to produce
results of competence in acting exemplarily.
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BIGBUSINESS
This leadership requires a person to show that he can organize the
way other people behave and respond to a call or support a cause, by
influencing them with his own self organization.
Business managers wouldn’t be successful unless they were
substantial leaders. If you’re managing people in business, you know
what will make you succeed. Show them yourself how to be
productive, how to act proactively and how to work creatively, do
this especially with intensive coaching; tell them to learn as you act.
Once again, this leadership is alternatively known as leadership by
action. And since everyone can act in a way others could be inspired
to act in a similar way, everyone is capable of substantial leadership.
Thus, what is emphasized here is the substance of one’s influence on
others. Every leader must sway a certain degree of influence on
others.
Concept leadership is therefore a unique leadership perspective to
conceive of every human being as a leader. It still does not have to
do with a person’s position of authority in any organization but a
person’s aptitude to garner followers by the person’s quality
lifestyle.
This perspective of Leadership concurs with J. C. Maxwell’s
penultimate and ultimate levels of Leadership introduced in his
“Developing the Leader within You,” which captures the dynamics
of leadership development. They are summed up in this way
“Personhood. Respect: People follow you because of who you are
and not what you represent…; People Development. Reproduction:
People follow you because of what you have done for them.”
(2005:5)
So concept leadership’s second category being leadership by action
or substantial leadership is also actualized in your person because
you can always do things for people as well as act in a way they
admire and want to be like you. It’s just about your lifestyle of
exemplarity and care.
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BIGBUSINESS
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Now this work is going to help you see why you should not
undermine your capacity for leadership. It goes without saying that,
you need not only to speak authoritatively to declare your leadership
aptitude, but you especially need to take action, so you lead by
words and you lead by action.
How will I influence people around me in order to become that
leader who people will always remember for what was achieved
Notice here that, significantly, two things are center of mind when
you hear about concept leadership, and don’t forget them: as a
concept leader:
As you try to answer these
questions, every day, as you
wake, and, every night, before
you sleep, you ought also to
register in your mind the fact
that every quality you will
develop to be the leader you
want to be would be expressed
in these two things, x words
essentially, and x actions
substantially.
1. You are essentially a leader because you can speak and others
listen, and 2. You are substantially a leader because you can act and
influence others to follow your example.
As a human being, you must be able to do these two things, speak
and act for others to listen and follow, and if you are able to do these
two things and get the result of turning listeners and admirers into
followers, then you are a leader.
No one, not even yourself, can change the fact that you are a leader,
because even unconsciously, people are always persuaded by you
when you speak, and they’re also influenced by you when you act.
Hey! This works in business always. Don’t start any business if you
don’t know how to influence people. Business is all about
management and management is about decisions, and decisions are
about leadership and leadership, what’s it about?
Leadership is about influence. So, start developing your influence
right now. Influence the market, influence your prospects, influence
your competition, and just see how it works, you start selling, and
that’s by influence.
You would come to appreciate more about concept leadership as you
ask yourself every day ‘what qualities do I need to acquire in order
to be the most effective and excellent leader of my generation and
irrespective of where I am placed amidst others in my organization,
community and society?
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during my short time with them,
no matter how short?’
Therefore, you are looking at the qualities
effective and
ties of an effecti
excellent speaker and qualities of an influential
outstanding
fluential and outs
performer, because you speak words and perform
lead.
erform actions to le
Strive to actualize your leadership potential.
ntial. To do this yyou are
required to practice the art of getting more positive, competitive,
altruistic, valuable and scalable results whenever you speak and act,
in the midst of people anywhere; irrespective of who they are, how
old they are and how many they are, or anywhere they are placed in
the organization and wherever you are also placed amidst them..
The purpose of concept leadership is to make it obvious that
everyone can be a good leader irrespective of position and placement
in society and to correct the impression that leadership is a title only
accorded to administrative officers and executive personnel, public
officials, top dogs in public and private business settings, people
controlling big offices in civil service, profiteering organizations or
in entrepreneurial enterprises.
On the contrary, leadership is a service for anyone.
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BIGBUSINESS
GREATPER
If anyone is leading, anyone can also be leading, so you reading
should also be leading.
Leadership is for all. Leadership is for the old and the young alike,
for males and females, for blacks and white, without bias of culture,
religion, political, social, economic and regional backgrounds, status
and difference of the people involved.
In so far as you live in a human society; you are a leader by privilege
of your natural superiority over lower creatures, by virtue of your
authority over others, and especially by your influence on those of
your kind.
Be a better leader, because you are already a good leader no matter
what and where you are. You have achieved results so far that are
good by your speeches and performances.
Now do not hinder the potential in you to develop a great personality
as a leader. Move from one level of realizing your natural aptitude
for leadership to another level of satisfying yourself by fulfilling
your social responsibility as a leader.
Congratulations! You are already two levels up the ladder of
leadership, even when you never realized how long you have been
learning to be a good leader. You have learnt speech, that is the first
level, and you have also learnt performance, that is the second level.
You learnt them since childhood from mumbling of words to
crawling and then walking. Expect more Congratulations!
But there are many more levels above where you are now. If you are
still at the level of merely walking and talking, then this is time to
learn new leadership skills as an adult.
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“You can lead
others from
anywhere in an
organization. And
when you do, you
make the
organization better
…”
“Every level of an
organization
depends
on
leadership
from
someone.
The
bottom line is this:
Leadership is a
choice you make,
not a place you sit.
Anyone
can
choose to become
a leader wherever
he is. You can
make a difference
no matter where
you are.”
John C. Maxwell.
Do not think that being a president
of an organization is the highest
level of leadership. In fact, being a
president has nothing to do with the
high levels of leadership. It is only a
position and really has no serious
connection with leadership success.
Here is a unique position that every
leadership position is simply at the
baseline of your aspirations as a
leader. You can start from that
position to lead and you can equally
lead without that position.
So it is not the position that confers
leadership on you, you are a leader
and should aspire for higher levels of
leadership in spite of the position.
According to J.C. Maxwell who
beautifully captures the benefit and
Unique Proposition of Concept
Leadership: “You can lead others
from anywhere in an organization.
And when you do, you make the
organization better … Every level of
an
organization
depends
on
leadership from someone.
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BIGBUSINESS
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The bottom line is this: Leadership is a choice you make, not a place
you sit. Anyone can choose to become a leader wherever he is. You
can make a difference no matter where you are.” (2005:7)
CONCLUSION
Make a Difference. Be a difference maker. Make your marketing
communication different and prove it in how you manage prospects.
Action means doing something that works, something you are
passionate about, something that inspires you to seek and pursue
result. Doing anything with dedication becomes work when it is
taken up as an essential part of personal living for success. A man is
never fulfilled without working for the merit of whatever privilege
he enjoys or is to enjoy.
When he enjoys a comfort he has not worked for, he knows he is
basking in the euphoria of another man’s fulfillment and
accomplishment. Also, he is not to be remembered for enjoying
privileges he doesn’t merit, save for the man who owns the
accomplishment to be remembered. He creates opportunities for
others through work. He solves people’s problems and succeeds.
Work is rewarded based on work's result. And by same result is the
workman motivated. Work's result is the workman's achievement
through work. The quality of work is not measured by the hours put
at work but by the value of result achieved, with the purpose of work
accomplished. The value of result is measurable in grades and
degrees. It ranges from 1% to 100% of result achieved as intended.
In consequence, if the intended result is to sell 3000 products by
directly mailing catalogs, whitepapers or casestudies to 30,000
prospects, and the achieved result is a massive product order from as
much as 3000 prospects, via 30,000 direct marketing new media
improved strategies, then the value of the result achieved is 100%.
Notwithstanding, the value of work is not all that matters, on the
dignity of work, the type of work also matters.
The type of work could be menial or substantial, and whatever type
of work it is, the value of its result is still measurable. The type of
result is the ultimate key of work; which spells the difference
between the types of workers.
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Variation in types of results comply with the value of result, the
quantity of work done, the quality of time spent doing work and the
overall merit of the result achieved from work.
Merit of result is either high or low, but type of result is either great
or small. Merit is not the same thing as type. The focal point of merit
is the character and integrity, skill and experience of the worker.
This influences the expectation and the accomplishment of work.
It is the personality: performance, attitude and temperament of the
worker; that, thus, determines the merit of result of work. Therefore,
a great personality gains high merit after work, merit is satisfaction,
in this context. Build a Great Personality for optimum satisfaction.
On the other hand, type focuses on the difference that has been
accomplished, after merit has been considered. This is why type of
result is the ultimate consideration on the splendor of work, and a
high merit result must be present in a great result type.
Nonetheless, a low merit result must not be present in a small result
type. Even a high merit result can be scaled as a small type of result.
It all depends on the personality involved experiencing satisfaction.
When working for a Boss, the value of satisfaction with work done
can never be overemphasized in results.
What generates positive results is personality certification for
satisfaction: that means, the personality of the worker is consistent
with the requirements of the work done. That’s why hiring managers
state job descriptions, experience and qualifications for vacancies to
determine the applicants’ abilities when screening for job interviews.
Besides, result-oriented work, not eye-service work, is a work that
can be credited on the merit of the worker and the type of result
accomplished, with kind of work, hours at work, value of result and
merit of result also put in perspective, when judging how
magnificent human work can be or is in types of results achieved.
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BIGBUSINESS
The type factor of result of work consists of initiatives taken to
commence a type of work; chiefly for the sake of the type of result
intended. With this factor present, different reward schema could be
drawn for competitive workers.
It follows that: types of result project the stuff the worker is made of,
even without the factor of quality of result taken into consideration.
It is the end point of work when rewards can be awarded to different
workers.
The greater the type of result, the greater the reward awarded; and
the greatest awarded is the worker who achieves the greatest type of
result of work as success. Only a great personality type of worker
achieves maximum satisfaction with work rewarded.
The greatness of result type is what determines the greatness of
reward as success. It’s expected only by a great personality type. It is
thus proper to elaborate on what the greatness of result type consists
in. The ideas of splendor of work and just reward depend on it.
A great result of work
A great result is one that has been achieved by a worker's creative,
innovative, independent, committed, steadfast and consistent
approach to working with initiative. A lot of factors are present here:
Creativity: how creative is the worker?
Innovation: how innovative is the worker?
Independence: how often does the worker take initiative?
Commitment: how interested is the worker in the work?
Steadfastness: how focused is the worker on the work?
Consistency: how diligently is the worker dedicated to work?
Insight: how visionary is the worker?
Intelligence: how smart is the worker?
Contribution: how industrious is the worker? Is the worker
productive and proactive?
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Patience is the hallmark of consistency that produces capacity; it is
the mother of all diligence in the worker. Subsequently, if the worker
has demonstrated a great sense of patience, in that case his capacity
for work commands the reward he deserves to be given him.
At this point the worker is rewarded. Mangers need to pay their
workers in time. Just remuneration is the reward diligent workers
deserve, not excluding gaining promotions and bonus incentives as
leverages.
A case in point, initiative taken during work is the most attractive
quality of a worker. It separates the conscientious worker who is a
thinktank for his organization from others. Notable scientists of
modernity were awarded for the reason that they took initiatives for
researches and experiments to facilitate their new discoveries.
Ability to take initiatives is the hallmark of a great personality type.
Jojo Valliyil, the Editor-in-Charge, Children Digest, captures this
point better saying, “A perceivable common thread that runs through
those great lives is spun from a spirit of adventure in the realm of
thinking and individual initiative in the search for knowledge.” (P.
Gopalakrishnam. A Gallery of Scientists 2005, p.7).
The truly successful man who deserves accolades for his
accomplishments is the man who makes life better for others, and by
whose initiatives more opportunites are created for others. “Big
Business Great Personality” should have helped you become the
successful man who takes initiatives that maximize his earning
potentials. Start S_M_A_R&T and you’ll quickly realize your
potentials for success.
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