The foundation for your business

Most new businesses emerge from someone’s skill and a belief that they can help other people doing what they love and are expert in.  But, to grow a successful business you need more than passion and dedication.  You need a strong foundation.

Your bank manager will tell you need a business plan – and they want to see numbers.  The kind of business plan a bank wants is only part of an actual business plan.  It’s all very well working out how many sales you need to make to cover the business overheads and pay yourself a salary you can actually survive on, but who are these people who will pay you for your services?

A comprehensive business plan is built on some essential cornerstones.

1: Your ideal client

Who is this person who needs your help?  What are their current problems that you can help them with?  What is it costing them not to fix them?

2: Your offer

How will what you do address their problem?  What changes will they see when you’ve helped them?  What impacts will this have on the bottom line?

3: Connections

How will you find these ideal clients?  Where do they hang out – online and offline?  What do they read/watch/listen to?

4: Systems

Random action results in feast and famine – not a comfortable lifestyle!  What do you have in place to reach out to your ideal clients, get their attention, get to know them and present your solution to their problem?

This might include networking meetings, social media (and you’ll need a workable strategy for that), content generation, PR and a whole range of other activities that bring you into the awareness of people who will either engage your services or become an advocate for you to others.

None of these things are about your core skill – that’s a given, but without these foundation blocks, your business will wobble and be in danger of collapsing.

They’re all part of marketing – and without a good marketing strategy, you don’t have a business!  Marketing encompasses everything from research and development, market research, produce/service creation, customer service, promotion and sales – in fact, it underpins everything your business does.