One of the BIG differences between successful business owners and those who struggle, is preparation. The average business owner doesn’t prepare very well. They want their business to succeed or their marketing to generate bankable results, but they fail to do the heavy lifting beforehand. They fail to prepare correctly, in advance.
Preparation
Last Monday, I launched a new project via an announcement on this blog. Just 7 days after launching Creative Thinking Hub, it has over a thousand subscribers, a Google Page Rank of 3 and more daily traffic than most older sites get. Here’s what people didn’t see: For 8 weeks before the launch, I invested around 100 hours to get the preparation right. I hired 2 designers. I spent money where it was needed and did the right things, correctly.
Conversely, I hear from business owners regularly, who have sites that are over a year old and still floundering, because they refuse to hire the expert help they need and prepare correctly for success. This strikes me as an odd attitude to have toward your own business: Like drowning and refusing to call for help.
Unprepared
There are many excuses why business owners refuse to prepare correctly. These range from those who say they can’t afford it, in a message sent via their iPad from the coffee shop where they blow a grand a year on coffee – To those who have settled for lowering their lifestyle aspirations, to fall in line with their under performing business results.
Ultimately, we have the freedom to start from nothing, prepare correctly and build something amazing. I started off with nothing, as the son of an Irish immigrant family with no connections and no money. I took the decision at age 21 to prepare for success and as soon as I could, I paid for the expert help I needed. I planned well and then worked the plan. It worked. Beautifully. I do the same today, like every successful business owner I know.
In short: Professional preparation is to business, as carbon is to steel. Don’t expect to wing your way to success in the worst economy in living memory.
Let’s work together and grow your business. To find out more click here!
This is bang on the money Jim.
I quit blogging last year, because I was sick of freebie hunters, who wanted free advice from my blog but were too cheap to hire me.
The same people comment on copyblogger and here on your site, askiing specific questions and dicking around, cos they refuse to buy in the expetise they know they need.
How many of those little faces in the boxes ever spend a dime with the blogger? 0000001%.
Props for briinging this up and out into the open.
Martin Cowley.
@Martin. I am researching blog writing right now and noticed the exact same thing. There seems to be a group of a hundred or so people who turn up again and again to grab all the free stuffs. Freeloaders FTW
Hi Martin. I sense your frustration from your comment and to a degree, understand it. It’s my experience that those seeking free help via comments never become clients. I believe none of those you see asking for free advice here have ever worked with me.
I don’t feel the frustration you mention though, for 2 reasons:
1. The only ‘free’ advice I give is via the post itself – I don’t provide free help via comments or email.
2. I don’t write for those who hoover up freebies from the Internet. I write for those who value my advice and who either share my work or have an interest in working with me. This is not a Not For Profit venture, it’s my business.
You asked what percentage actually hire me and yes, it’s extremely small. That said, it’s a tiny percentage of a huge readership, worth almost £150,000 to me last year.
Thanks for the comment.
Him,
Nice article.
I have faced this issue several times. When people come to me for SEO advice, they are in a confused state.
They know they want help. They know they don’t have the time of skill set to learn and do it themselves on top of running their business.
The problem I believe most small business owners face is the thought of giving a bit of control over your business to someone else. Even if that is temporary.
Affordability, trust issues, and a lot of other factors do play a key role as well.
Oops… That should be Jim and not Him… Typo
Hi Adrash. I agree, there are many issues why business owners starve their business of the help they know it needs.
Hi Jim,
So many are trained to get something for nothing. Health care in the UK is free, right? Half the people in the US don’t pay income taxes. In both cases most don’t realize there is a cost. But that is not the case for everyone.
Switch to the online business. Some of us look and understand the risk and reward. Others view it as a job.
We use some ‘free’ software and then expect everything to be free.
I’ve gotten free advice that has been very valuable and paid for advice that wasn’t worth much. I share with others with a little prayer that the recipient will find a way to help another.
Enjoy!
Love your thoughts on why businesses fail.. of course, everything makes sense in hindsight so I’ve learned that sometimes you simply need to know when to quit (a’la Seth Godin’s “The Dip”) or just dive in. That said, perhaps the other side here is that businesses fail when they fail to execute or never “ship”.
This is a concept I’ve come to regard as analysis paralysis. There needs to be a harmony between planning and doing.. too much in one gear and bad things happen (or nothing at all).
What are your thoughts on the “infinite beta” model, whereas you execute, monitor, listen, and reiterate as needed?
I feel that approach works.. but you have to be sure you have the core experience refined before launching fully. From there, additional value can be introduced, no?
…Hmmm, I need to be more careful when typing on my Android tablet. My last name is NOT “Lopea”. Whoops! ;o)