understand audience
Market Your Product

Understanding your audience

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Todays’ episode of the Entrepreneur Life asks the question:

Are you in ‘touch’ with your audience?

I spend every week talking with and coaching business owners / entrepreneurs just like you.

They are SO caught up in their business – stuff to do – emails to answer – bills to pay. Well, you know what I’m talking about.

I find they begin to drift away from their audience…they lose ‘touch’ with them and soon resort to ‘convincing’ new people to buy from them.

They try to ‘sell’ their product or service…and try to ‘convince’ the customer WHY they need it.

WHY it’s better than anything else out there.

Here’s a secret…if you’re customers – that is, potential customers don’t have a specific problem and are going out there looking for the solution, you’re in trouble.

You want to avoid ‘building something’ that nobody wants to buy in the end.

So how do you fix that problem?

It’s as simple as asking your audience what they WANT.

What do they truly care about?

What is it they really DON’T care about even though you’ve been promoting it as a huge benefit?

You see, the value you are selling has to be relevant to your audience…if they don’t believe it’s value, there’s nothing you can do to convince them it is.

Does that make sense?

This is where I see so many of my consulting clients banging their heads against the wall trying to invent new ways to convince the customer to buy their product.

It ain’t gonna happen.

Stop it.

go out and TALK to your prospects.

Find out what their REAL problem is.

And then it’s time to reflect on your business or product…

DOES is truly solve that problem?

And what if you can’t IDENTIFY a problem?

That’s even more trouble, right?

Because all you’re doing is pushing a product into the market they haven’t asked for.

“But Joey, they don’t KNOW they want it until I SHOW them…”

Hmm, maybe that works sometimes…and I would think it’s VERY RARE…and you STILL have to have deep pockets like Apple or Coca Cola to market and advertise something to “show” the market.

In marketing there is a LOT to deal with – but when it really boils down to it, it’s NOT that hard to figure out…

Does my audience have a problem – what is that specific problem and DO I have a specific solution?

Do they CARE about the solution and are they WILLING to pay for it?

Because you could have a bad-ass solution, but there are thousands of other similar products or services out there you have to compete with.

That’s not a great place to be either.

Because if you’re selling a bag a rice – what makes your rice better than the rice that’s 10 cents cheaper?

And, Do people really care about that feature?

We have to think in a reverse way – ‘how will this benefit my customer AFTER they’ve used it?’

Is your product ‘better’?

HOW is it better – WHAT will happen when the customer finishes using it?

HOW will their life change as a result of using your product or service?

– That’s the question of the day my friend!

~ End transcript ~

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commitment vs sacrifice
Spark Entrepreneurship

Commitment vs Sacrifice

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I have to say, that after so many years of being a workaholic and spending countless hours building my businesses, I totally would argue there is a difference between sacrifice and commitment.

Malcolm Gladwell says we need 10,000 hours to perfect our craft – believe me…I’ve put in 5 times that.

Think about it – 12 hour days – entrepreneurs can EASILY put in 12 hour days and not blink an eye.

So I’ve committed. I’ve put hours in.

But when I lost my dad in 2001 – I started to see sacrifice and commitment in different ways.

My work ethic and drive comes from being inside an entrepreneurial family…I lived and breathed the blood sweat and tears.

Watched both my parents build a business from literally nothing.

My father was dedicated – committed – driven – whatever you want to call it.

He would do – as ANY entrepreneur would do … ANYTHING to make his business successful.

Sometimes it took extra nights and some weekends.

There’s a popular saying among entrepreneurs that goes something like “do what others are not willing to do for a few years and you’ll get the things others will never have”…

I may have messed up the quote there, but I’m sure you get the meaning..

I lived by that rule for my whole life. Well, most of it.

Trouble is, those ‘few years’ turn into decades. And those decades turn into their lives.

I know because I was headed down the same path.

We keep sacrificing things.

I did it. My dad did it. And there’s tens of thousands out there right now doing it.

Look, commitment is one thing – but sacrifice is another.

IF you are like all of the entrepreneurs I’ve talked with who are willing to do anything for your business…

My question is – what are you WILLING to give up?

For how long?

“As long as it takes” really doesn’t fly with me anymore.

My dad taught me things he never knew he did. Because he was committed. He was driven and passionate.

He believed. Even when there was no structure, pathway or strategy to get him to where he wanted to go.

He just pushed forward.

He taught me what commitment REALLY is. Because we lived it every day of our lives.

Entrepreneurship never stopped at our house. It was a constant in our lives.

At the dinner table, at the office, on a trip to Niagara Falls…

It’s how I grew up – and I’m so grateful to have that same ‘belief system’ he had.

But my dad also taught me something else…

That he DIDNT’ have a life.

Because he was willing to do whatever it took for “a few years”. And he ended up sacrificing his life for his business.

Literally.

Because when Cancer told him in 1998 that he had three years left to live his life, he scrambled to put everything he pushed aside up front as priority.

Vacation – “me” time – family time – and so on.

When I lost my dad, I kept pressin’ on – I told everyone that would listen how I was working for my family.

I began to see the pattern of sacrificing my life.

Holidays, weekends, you name it, I put the hours in to be successful.

And it wasn’t until about five years ago – almost ten years since I lost my dad that it hit me…that we DON’T have to sacrifice our lives.

We are entrepreneurs and we DO have to commit. But we DON’T have to sacrifice.

And I’ll go one step further – commitment is not good enough – to truly live a balanced life without your business taking away your life, you must STRATEGICALLY commit.

And that means you have to know WHY you’re doing what you do.

And all of the rest falls into place.

There’s many things I wish I could tell my dad – and this is one of ’em – to strategically commit – knowing exactly Why and What so you can LIVE today – and not wait for tomorrow.

~ end transcript ~

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Talk later!

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Freedom Friday
Entrepreneurial Mindset

Freedom Friday

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Welcome my friends, my entrepreneurs & my aspiring entreprenuers

today’s Friday as I record this show…a FREEDOM FRIDAY

Which by the way, is EVERY Friday for me.

Freedom Friday is something I began almost two years ago and today, I’m so honoured that it’s slowly becoming kind of a movement. My friends and followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on are using the double F mantra in their lives too!

I originally inserted this one day into my week so I could deal with the ‘chaos’ that comes at us every day.

Rather than deferring the IMPORTANT stuff all week, I deferred the chaos.

Let me explain –

First of all, Freedom Friday doesn’t mean you have only ONE day for your freedom

In fact, when I started doing this, it was actually using freedom in a completely different context.

Freedom Friday was born because I wanted to stop other people’s agendas and urgencies taking over my every day life.

I wanted more structure in my days so I could “get things done”

Ever been there?

If you ask most people how their day was – you’ll probably get “busy” as an answer.

“Chaotic” and “crazy” are other huge adjectives people will use.

I was burning through my weeks letting all of my own urgencies, creative projects and general work just sit because as soon as I would get up, my phone would be on and I’d be attending to the flurry of emails.

I wanted “better time management” – and the funny thing about that is – we can’t manage time – we can only manage ourselves within the time we have.

Think about that…

 

Here’s a related post – The Truth About Making Excuses

 

When you realize YOU have the same time as billionaires like Richard Branson or Bill Gates – and they seem to get things done…then you start looking at how you can do the same.

Forget their money.

Forget their teams and employees.

They had to start somewhere too.

Just like you and me.

So this is where Freedom Friday was born.

It was a day that I “allowed” and “let in” the world around me…I didn’t have anything scheduled – I didn’t have work planned – when the phone rang, I picked it up…I answered emails right away.

And to most people, that sounds like EVERY DAY.

But actually ‘scheduling’ that chaos for just ONE day, put me into complete focus mode for the other days.

You with me?

Imagine how your life would change if it was totally opposite of how it is today…that is, if you’re running yourself to the ceiling every day.

Most people I speak with are DYING for a few moments, an hour of “no distraction” so they can get things done…

As a former work-a-holic I realized I had to create a “no distraction” zone in my life.

And for me it is Mon – Thurs between 10am and 12pm.

After that, between 1 – 4pm, I have everything scheduled – my coaching clients, projects and whatever else I have to get done.

When the phone rings or emails fly in, I have specific times I go check them.

I’m in complete control of my days.

Unless it’s Friday.

And yes, there are odd days where everything go haywire – nobody’s perfect – but I don’t let those days get out of hand or I’m right back where I started.

Then Freedom Friday hits – and that’s when I totally let whatever is gonna happen, happen.

Sometimes I get nothing done…in fact, MOST of the time I get nothing done.

But here’s the great part: I don’t feel GUILTY about it.

And I know thousands of entrepreneurs who feel guilty at the end of E V E R Y DAY because they didn’t get anything important done.

So this is where you step up – where you begin to consciously design your life…and how you want to run your business.

Also, Freedom Friday meaning is gratitude…

It is a way to look back over the past week and be THANKFUL for what has happened.

Yes, the good and the bad.

If you’re living the true entrepreneur life, you have a way of looking at all situations and learning from them…

Regular people don’t – they blame the universe and they usually don’t see the good in situations.

I had a friend tell me the other day “you always see the good in things”

And all we were doing is chatting about how “busy” her Fall was going to be and as she fell into the ‘complaining’ I said “at least your working’.

Can you see the difference of how you can look at things?

Of course, our lives are sometimes hit with really bad news – and we have to deal with it…

But Freedom Friday is something you can use to re-train yourself to begin having more gratitude.

Gratitude will get you everywhere.

When you look back at this week, what did you do that was great? Be happy about it – even if it’s the slightest little thing that moved you a bit forward, be thankful for it.

There are tons of people who begin every week just like they ended the previous week.

IN THE SAME PLACE. Never truly growing and expanding.

That’s NOT the entrepreneur life.

You know it and I know it.

What if something didn’t work out? What did you learn? How are you going to correct and adjust it to keep momentum for next week?

That’s how I begin my Freedom Fridays today.

Grateful for the freedom I HAVE. Analyze what I did right and wrong and look forward to next week.

Then, I let the world “in” – I welcome the chaos because I know I’ll be back in control on Monday!

~ end transcript ~

If you like this Freedom Friday post, please let me know below!

Talk later!

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convince customer
Market Your Product

How do you “convince” a customer?

~ begin transcript ~

So I’m talking to some entrepreneurs about marketing and they were asking me how to ‘convince’ more people.

They told me “people just don’t understand me”

And I really wasn’t surprised because people tell me this all the time.

If you’re thinking: “They don’t understand me”

It’s probably the other way around my friend –

because if you find yourself explaining what you do, or how your product or service is good for someone all the time, you’re in trouble.

Entrepreneurs are notorious for ‘ideas’ that will change the world – and I love that about us.

But the ones that really DO change the world are the ones that are ‘listening’ to their market.

They are tuned into the daily frustrations people have.

They know what problems people want solved.

So they DON’T have to convince ANYONE about buying their products.

Because they’re telling the customer what problems it solves.

When Apple introduced the iPod so we could put 1000 songs in our pocket…that was a “problem” people had.

Imagine carrying hundreds of CDs with you every day.

It sounds crazy today because the iPod is such a major part of society…but the point is Apple tuned into the frustrations every day Joes like you an me had.

We may not have “known” we wanted an iPod, but we knew it was a pain in the butt to carry around our favourite CDs switching them in and out of the “convenient” disc man players that every one had.

If you’re too young to remember the disc-man, look it up and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Geez, am I showing my age here?

So really, “convincing” a customer to buy from you is not convincing at all – it’s about telling them how you, your product or service is going to benefit them.

And how do you know how it benefits them?

You have to be in tune with them.

You have to talk to them – ask them questions about what’s bothering them –

Sometimes they even have a “solution” for you even if it sounds outrageous – and that’s what you want to hear.

Take a look at Staples’ “easy button” campaign.

How many customers do you think told them ” I wish it was easier?”

That could have meant buying a new desk chair, a computer, the right paper or pens…it really doesn’t matter.

If you want “easy” – go to Staples. That’s the message.

So what’s your message?

Are you speaking in the language your customer is?

Another example is from the real estate industry. I’m a very big part of that because I coach many realtors and investors and the question about how to get more people to buy or more people to invest ALWAYS comes up.

The problem is that most of them do not talk BENEFITS to their customers.

Real estate investors talk about numbers and roi and cash on cash and staying power funds…and all the investor wants to know is “what is the risk and how will my investment give me what I want?”

Notice I didn’t say “how much MONEY am I going to make?”

Because that’s obvious – an investor DOES want to know how much money they’re going to make…but what are they going to BENEFIT by making that money?

Same goes for the realtors – I tell them to have a specific buyer or seller in mind to market to because it means you can get very specific with your message.

Rather than saying “I’ll sell your house fast for more cash that Joe blow realtor down the street”

You should be saying “your home sold on your terms” or something like that…

because when people are selling their homes they usually want to be ‘in control’.

Wouldn’t you think that would get you ‘in the door’ for a meeting if you were a realtor?

hey I’m just spit-ballin’ here -I’m not a realtor but if I was, I would be talking to my intended market a helluva lot more to find what frustrates them about selling their home, real estate and other realtors.

And so it’s not about convincing anyone to buy from you – it’s about telling them how you are going to solve a problem they have….

Hope that helps you ! Now go find out what your customer’s want solved…

Like this? Please let me know below!

Talk later!

Joey!

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Spark Entrepreneurship

Are you a victim?

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For the longest time I was a victim – someone who blamed the world – blamed people, blamed my circumstances, the economy lack of money and customers and all of that –  all of my problems & challenges was [because of] something else going on outside of me.

You know these types – these are the people that complain about their spouse “well you don’t really understand how she is – if you did, then you’d know why [insert challenge here]“

Or they tell you how rotten their jobs are or how they wish they could do what they really want.

They are victimized by their own thoughts – just like I was – they’re actually self-imprisoned.  They are giving away their future just like Stephen Covey puts it.

And my purpose is to encourage and inspire you to stop trading your life for something you hate – to stop being that victim.

YOU have the power to change your world – your present world and your future world.

It’s too easy to sit back and say “I’m stuck – I can’t do anything about it – there’s nothing I can do about this situation”

But you can.

You can go out and DO something about it.

As I’m recording this, I’m kinda thinking of the story of Aron Ralston. The  true story of him – he’s a survivor – he was literally trapped under a boulder while he was mountain climbing.

If you haven’t seen the movie 127 hours, that’s the true story rent it.

Because if that’s not a victim of ‘circumstance’ and the ‘outside world’ then I really don’t know what is.

Aaron broke free and while he was doing that, while he was in the process of breaking free…he recalled his life – he remembered his family.

He remembered the fun time he had with his friends.

And he pictured everyone he would leave behind if he just gave up and “lived with it”.

And that’s literally giving up his life – I get it and the analogy’s there for a reason and I’m on a tangent here, but I hope you’re getting the meaning of this analogy.

Because You CAN break free from being a victim –

Whether that’s the physical boulder that’s trapping you or it’s just an analogy of a boulder of life or whatever challenges you believe that are the boulders in your life holding you down…keeping you trapped

You just have to have the drive to do it.

And that’s really  only gonna come from within.

Nothing changes on the outside unless you and me change on the inside.

And most of the world they wanna change their life and have every intention of escaping the very thing that makes them feel ‘trapped’.

But “intent” only the beginning of initiative, right?

Now let’s go back to Aron for a second.  Imagine if Aron ‘intended’ to extricate himself from the boulder…and just stopped there.

The story would have ended in a very different way.

But that’s not what happened right?  (I guess that’s a spoiler alert if you haven’t seen the movie yet but you get my intention though)

Here’s the greatest part about intent though: it means you’ve done some thinking…it means you are looking for solutions to the problem:

” I intend to do this and I intend to do that”.

You’ve actually thought about it and that’s a good thing.

But – as a victim, when we blame the world and we sit back because “it is what it is…”, that’s an intention too.  It’s an intention to sacrifice your life for something you’re unhappy about.

And for me, it just doesn’t sit well.  And for people around the world who are getting up and changing their lives by doing things they would not normally do, it doesn’t sit well with them either.

They KNOW their world is gonna change – things are not going to be as they are – there’s gonna be an unknown variable that we have to deal with – but that is a much better solution than living with the KNOWN circumstances they live in today isn’t it?

A lot of people come to me and want help with moving past their fears and it’s that “unknown” that they’re really afraid of.

Really, when it all comes down to it, what are you afraid of?

“Well, the unknown, what’s going to happen…I don’t know if I do this what’s gonna be the outcome?”

And all I do is to get them past that is paint their present situation in darker colors than they’re used to.

And that’s what you can do as well.

You’re present life is here because of your past.  And it’s staring at you right now – so what I would do is get out the charcoal and trace the outline of what you see – defining the boundaries and cages you have become a victim of.

That you’ve become so used to living in.

And when you clearly define where you are – you can clearly define where you want to GO. And where you want to break free

You’ll see the weak link – where you can actually erase the line and get through.

Isn’t that the truth?

Isn’t that what clarity is all about?

We all want “clarity” of some kind – and I think it begins with knowing where we are first.

~ end transcript ~

Like this? Please let me know below!

Talk later!

Joey

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