New Business Startup: Before You Go Into Debt Get Your “Ducks” In A Row

Ducks Quack

I work a lot with small businesses and a lot of my clients are ready to jump in with both feet. They want to do it all. Put up a website, pay for the auto-responder service, publish the newsletter—but the problem is that they have not done the research first that they really need to do or put the thought behind their products, services, and specialties, before spending money on services.

It’s very exciting going into business and it can be such an exhilarating experience coming home from a workshop or seminar with your head full of ideas. But before you get too far ahead of yourself, take a deep breath and just take a moment to STOP. (A good VA should be helping you find ways to save money, not spend more money—sometimes you do need to spend a little money for better results but sometimes it can really be a waste!)

You need to really think about your target audience. Who do you want to reach? What is your specialty? What is your niche? What can you offer that your competition can not? Then you need to work on building your list if you are going to sell something. One way is Google Ads or Pay-Per-Click but that gets very expensive. With proper SEO you can position yourself in Google’s search results so that you don’t need to have Pay-Per-Click to sell your products. Before you get too far in debt online, you can start by attending local networking events and start a low-cost blog (or a free one!) to share your ideas until you’re ready to sell your tangible products. This will allow you to have your contact information online in a place where people can find you and see your “methods” and your line of thought. Another way to gather contacts is of course through social networking. Developing online relationships with people who agree with your train of thought can be a great investment in the long run. Just be careful not to be constantly “selling” in social networking settings.

Once you have thought about who you want to target, once you have established a contact list through marketing locally, and once you have created a few products that you can sell, then you are ready to spend some money on fancy auto-responders, professional websites, and SEO.

After that, it all takes on a life of it’s own.

Happy quacking little ducks!