Freedom from daily routine. Doing what I want when I want. Improve my living standard. I want creative freedom. I want to fully use my skills, knowledge and education. I have a product/idea/service that people need. I'll have more time with the family. I won't have a dress code. There are good tax breaks for business owners. I'm a Type B person and work best alone. I want to be my own boss. I want to make the decisions.
Now granted, every one of the above is a good reason for wanting your own business. The rub is, that not many people think the process through step by step. There are 7 phases to business planning. They are:
We'll cover all of the above in my next few columns as a Business Basic refresher, but for today let's take number one.
In the Investigation Phase you take a look at yourself and also your business options. There are careers that are suited to personality types, so the first thing you must discern is "Which personality type am I?"
Duty Fulfillers This is an introverted personality who is serious, quiet, thorough, orderly, matter-of-fact, logical, realistic, and dependable. They take responsibility, are well organized, know what should be accomplished and work steadily toward it disregarding distractions. They are careful calculators, and 20% of this group become accountants.
The Mechanics These are also introverts and are cool onlookers. They are quiet, reserved, observing, and analyzing life with a detached curiosity and have unexpected flashes of original humor. They are usually interested in cause and effect, how and why mechanical things work, and in organizing facts using logical principles. They usually are craftsmen, mechanics, or handymen with about 10% becoming farmers.
The Doers These people are extraverts who are good at on-the-spot problem solving, don't worry, enjoy whatever comes along, are adaptable, tolerant, and generally conservative in values. They tend to like mechanical things and sports, and dislike long explanations. They are best with 'real" things that can be worked, handled, taken apart, or put together. About 10% of this type go into marketing or become Impresarios.
The Executives These are another extravert group and are hearty, frank, decisive, leaders in activities and usually good in anything that requires reasoning and intelligent talk, such as public speaking. They are usually well informed and enjoy adding to their fund of knowledge. They may sometimes appear more positive and confident than their experience in an area warrants. They are sometimes called "judgers" and "thinkers" and 21% of this group become legal administrators.
To go into each personality type would be far too complicated, but to give you an idea of the roles that personality types could fall into look at the following list. Beside the categories we covered in depth here are some simply broken down into Introvert or Extravert Personality.
Extraverts are usually: Performers Visionaries The Inspirers Givers Caregivers
The second part of the Investigating Phase is looking at your business options. When choosing the business you want to start consider the following:
Do you like to work with your hands or brain, or both? Does working indoors or outdoors matter? Are you good at math, writing, puzzles, blueprints, installing things or fixing things? What interests you? What are your hobbies? Do you like to work alone or as part of a team? Do you like to plan things, or go to events? Do you like machines, computers? Do you like to drive or operate equipment? Do you like to travel, collect/display things, give/attend shows, or take pictures? Are you small, large, strong?
Make a list of your likes and dislikes. Keep a diary of things you do that relate to business and rate each entry from 1 to 5 based on your interest. Then prepare a list of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and concerns. After doing all that, you should have a list of candidate businesses that are right for you. Then you can make a list of the "candidate businesses" and rate them from 1 to 5 based on your own chosen criteria.
Some criteria could be is it feasible, low in cost to establish, meets my objectives, will make money, there is a niche market of existing customers, or it will produce residual income to name just a few.
By the time you have accomplished all that, you should seriously consider visiting the local chapter of S.C.O.R.E. or your own mentor to use as a sounding board for your plan.
Every business needs to have a unique selling position(USP)...something that makes them different from the competition. There are a multitude of different unique selling positions you could make, and we will explore some of them in a future article. But the First(and in my opinion the Best) way to get people to do business with you is to Personalize your business. What do I mean by that? Well, let's look at some examples of what I call "personalization"
1) Kentucky Fried Chicken-Actually, they have used 2 USPs. First, they used personalization with Col Harlan Sanders. It was "Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken" with a logo of the gray headed and bearded Colonel at every resturaunt, on every bucket of chicken, on every cup of soda, etc. The second USP was the slogan "the Colonels secret blend of 11(or 18 or whatever it was) herbs and spices." Again, they made it personal.
2) Wendys Hamburgers-Originally, the red-haired Wendy was the daughter of the founder of Wendys-Dave Thomas. However, that did NOT really do the job of selling the product. When Wendys needed to really boost sales, they had Dave Thomas, the down home, slow talking "regular" guy, appear in the commercials. Dave Thomas and his picture started appearing in more and more Wendys restaraunts and the sales kept climbing.
3) Lee Iacocca and Chrysler-When Chrysler was facing bankruptcy, their new CEO took the bull by the horns. He immediately dropped his salary to $1 per year and started appearing in ads for the new Chrysler models. He also got involved in things like restoring the Statue of Liberty and other humanitarian efforts. Whatever Iacocca did, it became news! And any time you thought of him, you thought of Chrysler. Needless to say, Sales skyrocketed and Lee Iacocca was considered a marketing genius. He also made himself millions of dollars by exercising stock options that he was given in light of the way he turned Chrysler around.
4) Maytag and the lonely repairman-You can not get much more basic than a washer and dryer. It is just a basic commodity. How can you make selling that unique? Maytag had a brilliant concept-create a repairman that has nothing to do(because, they want you to reason, the product is so good it never breaks down.) Obviously, this is not a real person, but a concept, almost subconcous, that makes you think you must buy a Maytag if you do not want to spend money on repairs.
5) Mcdonalds-They have lots of USPs but the personalized one I want to talk about is Ronald Mcdonald. Again, like the Maytag repairman, he is a fictional character, but he is a clown (happy, fun) and he does good things, like run the Ronald Mcdonald House for charity. Ronald appeals to children and encourages them to want a "happy meal." Burger King has kind of tried to copy this, but their "King" is just a guy with a mask, so you can NOT see his face move when he talks. In MY opinion, this is really dumb on the part of Burger King. They should get a "real" person or just forget the idea.
6) Ken Nugent-"One call, that's all"- Ken Nugent is a real attorney, but he has satelite offices in many major cities. Ken may not even be practicing law anymore, but he is the personalization of a network of law firms. Many people do not like the idea of meeting with a lawyer, especially a stranger. Ken Nugent has put a face to lawyers everywhere. Now they can call and talk to "Ken." This is really a brialliant marketing strategy.
There are countless other examples, but I think the 6 listed give us a good foundation to prove that personalizaton works. So how can You use it in your home business or internet business? Start by asking yourself the questions that your potential customer will ask. Do I want to do business with a nameless corporation? Do I want to be regarded as a number instead of as a person? What happens if I need a product replaced or even a total refund?
How I "personalize" everything I do
To asnwer those questions, I realize that people want to do business with a person-not a "company." For that reason, in my business, every business card, every website, every blog, EVERY resource of my business has my name, picture, phone number, and address. That does two things:
1) First of all, it lets people know I am a REAL person. They can see what I look like, call me on the phone or even know what part of the country I live in. It shows that I am not a stranger and I am, hopefully, on the way to becoming a friend.
2) Because my name is on everything, it helps me avoid the temptation to take shortcuts! In other words, since I do value my reputation, you can be darn sure that I will do everything I can to make sure my customers are completely satisfied when doing business with me. Conversly, a lot of shabby internet marketers hide behind a P O Box and use automatted phone services. I may use these as well, but I am also using my REAL name and picture and not hiding behind a false address.
What this means to you
Since the internet can be a cold, impersonal tool, I strongly suggest you do everything you can to make it more warm and friendly. I suggest that you include your picture, your personality and your individuality into your internet business. Don't just be one of the numbers. Be the unique individual that you are! And, if you provide a good service at a good price, I am sure you also will not just be an internet marketer, but you will become a wealthy marketer as well!
Both Carl Hoffman & John Abbott are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Carl Hoffman has sinced written about articles on various topics from Marketing, self improvement and motivation and Food And Drink. Carl Hoffman has over 20 years of sales and marketing experience. He has many online ventures and author of many articles on sales, leadership and marketing.Visit him at http:/. Carl Hoffman's top article generates over 5400 views. Bookmark Carl Hoffman to your Favourites.
John Abbott has sinced written about articles on various topics from Internet Marketing, Medicine and Web Development. John Abbott, a former radio broadcaster, is a successful Author, Speaker and Business Owner. He helps others achieve success in their own business. He specializes in Real Estate Investing and Internet Marketing. For more information, visit:. John Abbott's top article generates over 165000 views. Bookmark John Abbott to your Favourites.