EP69: Unlocking the Vault

Welcome back, my friends.

Let me ask you this.

Were you here last week?

I hope so because we are going to pick up right where we left off.

But on the ODD chance you missed last week's podcast/blog post, just click on the link to Episode 68.

Nobody wants to start in the middle.

Not if you don’t want to miss out on any of the good stuff.

Good…

You're still here.

And for those of you who had to go and check out the episode that kicked this off … I welcome you back!

Last week I said…

Today…

The World is different.

Our world is vastly different.

How we think is different than it was just 30 years ago.

Our standards as a people have shifted too.

We all think our WANTS are NEEDS.

For most of us, everything is within reach. There is a store at every corner and online everything is available for a price. Next-day or 2-day delivery is quickly becoming a standard.

So how do YOU survive in this environment?

How do you consistently make sales?

What differentiates you from other online businesses?

Why should anyone EVER Purchase from you?

All good questions!

It is good to have questions.

It means your thinking.

Thinking before doing saves money and time.

Now that we're caught up…

Tell me, how was your week?

Did you ponder on the question I left you with?

“Why would anyone want to purchase from you?”

Did you come up with any answers?

I had some free time to think as well.

The question I asked – well it is significant.

It implies that there ARE reasons why someone may or may not seek to do business with YOU [or your business].

Some of those reasons you may have thought of…

Such as… [let's start with the easy ones first]

• You may not have a website.
• You may not have a blog.
• You may not have a podcast.

Those seem obvious…

To me at least. And I hope to you as well.

Now for the less obvious…

• No one knows who you are.
• No one knows what you sell.
• Nobody cares about you.

OUCH!

That last one hurt!

Like a knife through the heart.

What do I mean - “nobody cares about you”!

I’m sorry, my bad, I should have added: “at least not yet”.

The internet is wildly popular because you can find ALMOST anything your heart desires.

And that is the key to answering my question from last week.

People FIND what they WANT or NEED!

No one is just looking for YOU or your business.

At least not when you are just starting out – right?

They are looking to satisfy a NEED.

So - what do you have that people NEED?

Have you thought about that before – like EVER?

If you're building a sustainable business, then YES, you should have thought about the problems, your community of people, you seek to serve are living with every day.

Some of those problems can be just a mild frustration…

While other, more significant issues frankly need to be fixed.

Do you have a product or service that can and will fix those problems?

And even more important.

Will people PAY to get your solution?

A few months or years ago, would you have paid for a solution to that very same problem?

Would your solution have saved you time, company resources, and, or heartache?

Does anyone else market a similar product or service?

And if so…

Have you looked at it?

• Does it do what it claims to do?
• Do they have satisfied customers?
• Are there any testimonials?

How does your solution compare?

• is it better?
• does it offer similar solutions?
• will your potential customers see your solution as being better?
• do you have testimonials backing up your claims?

Have you marketed your solution yet?

Have you ever given your solution away to a select few to test it in the real world?

Does your product or service, somehow work better, faster, and more reliably, and get your customer back to work, so they can serve their customers too?

Today, we are all just a few minutes away from being in front of our BEST customers.

But…

To do that it takes advertising dollars.

For as little as $5 a day you can start small by reaching out to your market and testing your compelling message.

The best Ads working today did not start out being the best Ads. They started as tests. The marketer tests the market for product viability.

• Do people need what you have?
• Do people want what you have?
• Is the message compelling?
• Does it stop the scroll?
• Will people click to “read more”?
• Do people click to “Learn More?”
• Is the call to action compelling?
• Do people follow through with your suggestions?

These are just a few questions that must be addressed to make an Ad successful.

Some people, that is most people, fail to get traction and just give up long before they ever really get started.

Selling products on social media is a learned skill.

It takes time and patience to get good at it.

But it is doable.

If you have a product that people need, and you think it [your product] would help them succeed at being better - no matter what better means to them - then you owe it to yourself and to your customers to take the time it takes to learn to be good at marketing your product or service.

Because…

As we should know by now - no one is actively looking for you and me and the hundreds, if not thousands of other online marketers that need their support to survive.

Yes…

This is the HARD part of a business that eliminates the most people.

Finding customers.

Period.

If you ask anyone in business, what is the hardest part of being in business, hands down it would be, finding and then keeping paid customers?

But they only come from first finding people. For every customer, you may need to be in front of hundreds of prospective customers. People who have never heard of you before.

So yes…

The hardest part of growing any business is getting people to know that you exist. Anyone who says their startup idea has no competitors is a liar. Everyone has competitors and the biggest one is almost always, "I have no time for you and I want to keep my money."

That’s the enemy.

That’s the struggle entrepreneurs face each day!

Developing a strategy that includes tactics developed to position you, front and center, is somewhat difficult at first.

It is a skill we’re not exposed to in school. College students don’t receive this training either.

This skill is learned by doing. Becoming a doer is vital to the economy of entrepreneurs.

If you haven’t listened to my podcast number 40 - “dreamers dream doers do”, I highly recommend it.

Followed by episode 41 - “du more tu day”.

And then episode 65 - “beyond the dream” will benefit all as well.

I hope each one of you has a good week.

Work hard to put in place a way for potential customers to identify you and your product or service as one they can use to overcome their difficulties.

This only happens by stepping out of your comfort zone.

Learn more about comfort zones in episode 48 - “in search of gold”.

Everything you NEED to become successful in promoting your business is here in the podcast episodes already mentioned.

Except I forgot to mention this one as well. Episode 67: "dream killers - what to do when they come for you?"

This is the 69th episode and I hope it inspires you to do great things.

If you're still struggling, hey I get it, I struggled longer than I care to say. It took me a long time to humble myself and let someone else show me the way before I finally started getting “a clue”.

And, Hey! I’m still working on getting a clue. I’m afraid it is an incurable disease.

Being smart does not always mean you do smart things!?

Doesn’t make a lot of sense unless you are the smart one struggling as I did.

This too you can overcome.

This ends another podcast.

I will see you again next week.

Let me know what you thought!

Otherwise, I’ll just tell you what I think again next week.

You still haven’t figured out that this is YOUR podcast tailored to meet your needs.

With that said, let me know what you need to know!

If it has been done before, I’ll let you know.

Be safe, be well, and return next week.

Bye for now.

James "Still Clueless" Brown

P.S. - In the event, you DO find that once an episode has been produced and posted, that YOU really would like more information, just let me know. Use the Podcast Questions link, click on the link here. Or you can just leave a voice message here.