One of the greatest benefits of blogging is getting emails and comments from readers. It’s extremely encouraging and I’m so grateful for everyone who takes time out of their day to read this blog. It’s also really cool when I receive an email from readers in other countries.

I don’t usually share the emails on the blog for a number of reasons. Often, the note is personal in nature or the reader didn’t feel like having it broadcast to the world. I respect that. Today, I received the email below from a reader in Saudi Arabia (how cool is that?!) and was so encouraged and inspired by it that I had to share it along with my response. I’ve left the sender’s name out in case he/she doesn’t want to be named publicly.

The advice is really about how to win in business. It doesn’t matter what path you’re on, I believe these principles apply to everyone.

If you have any additional advice that you would like to add to it, please share in the comments below! I’d love to hear what you would have responded with.

Dear Travis,

I Hope this email finds you well.

My Name is [redacted], Egyptian living and working in Saudi Arabia. I’m a huge fan of your “career path” and I would love to take the same pass, Although, the resources where I live are very limited. I currently work as a Digital Media Manager in a multi-national company and I’m also a PHP developer.

I have some key questions and I believe you have the right answers. My question is how to be like you, to have the same career path, where should I start? What should I study? What are the keys that would allow me to be a good successful business developer and be able to set good business strategies? I actually have so many questions but those are enough for one email

Thank you very much for you time,
Best Regards,

[Redacted]

Hi [Redacted],

First, I want to sincerely thank you very much for your email. It was very special and I am very grateful that you sent it to me.

Second, I think it’s awesome that you want to head down the path of being a business strategist and business developer! It’s an exciting path and, if you really enjoy it, you’ll figure out the best way to make it work for you. While I’m not very familiar with your culture and business climate, I will try to offer you some advice that I believe transcends geography and culture. I hope this helps to get you started on the right path.

Business is all about relationships – we conduct business with people we trust and like. Become the type of person who people trust and people like. That’s the very first step. After that, everything you do should be about helping other people and helping businesses grow. If you have family or friends who are in business, offer to help them find ways of improving their business. At first, you may need to offer them an introductory rate for your services. That’s okay. Ask them if they would be willing to give you a testimonial that you can use on your website as well as refer you to others who may need your services.

Tell people what you are doing and how you can help them. Attend events in your area. When people ask you what you do, don’t tell them that you’re a business developer. Instead, tell them that you help your clients grow amazing businesses (or something similar). Their natural response will be to want to know more and they will invite you to explain your statement. That’s when you can communicate how you do it and tell them more about what you do.

If you are interested in going to school, enroll in business courses. However, I think you can learn a lot more from reading business books. There are some great authors and that is where I learn more than anything else. If you’re interested in which books I recommend, visit this link: http://travisrobertson.com/book-shelf. It has a list of many of the books I’ve read and I continue to update it with more all the time.

I believe this is far more valuable than a university education. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue an education at university. It simply means that your education should not stop once you leave university. You should always be learning and growing. The truth is that I have learned more from the books that I have read than all of my schooling combined.

Much of what I’ve learned about business, I’ve also learned through experience. I study successful businesses to see what makes them successful. I study unsuccessful businesses to understand what makes them unsuccessful. I’ve also worked for both types of businesses and took on leadership roles wherever I could.

I also recommend that you consider sharing your thoughts and ideas on a blog. It’s a great way to demonstrate your understanding of various topics and build credibility within your community. Your clients want to know that you have the ability to understand their needs and provide them with the best ideas and suggestions for their business.

Blogging is a form of teaching. It will help you form your thoughts and ideas more clearly. I always learn more when I have to teach something than when I simply learn for understanding or information. Teaching forces your brain to simplify, synthesize and clarify concepts and information. Blogging is just one of the ways to do this. You could also teach classes and speak at local groups and events.

The final suggestion I would make is to learn to listen for people’s real needs. Often, people and businesses you are working with either don’t understand what they really need or they don’t know how to ask for it. In order to be successful at helping others, you need to be a keen observer and develop the ability to hear the question that isn’t asked. Listen to what people are saying, but also try to “hear” what isn’t being said. This is a skill, but the person who masters it will set themselves apart from others.

I have no doubt that you will be successful on this path. Please let me know if I can help you in any other way.

Sincerely,
Travis

Share Your Advice

What advice would you give this reader? I’d love to have you share it in the comments below.

Below are a list of articles I found interesting this week. If you’ve found some interesting stuff, please share it in the comments below!

Why Did 17 Million Students Go To College? – An interesting look at the number behind college and the value we’re really getting from our educations. It begs the question, “Is college really worth it?”

How to Hire and Work With a Virtual Assistant – One of the guys in my entrepreneur group shared this with us. The next 12 months will find me looking to use a virtual assistant for certain work in my business. When I do, I will be turning to this article. If you’re swamped, but not sure it’s time to hire a full-time employee, consider a VA first and read this article.

The Persuasive Power of Swearing – “Light swearing at the start or end of a persuasive speech can help influence an audience.” Now, I’m not advocating this methodology for increasing persuasion. In fact, I recommend you don’t swear. However, there’s an interesting nugget that points out that it may not be the swearing that persuades people as much as it is the perceived passion for your content that’s the persuasive element. People resonate with passion. Swearing is just one way of communicating passion – not the only and certainly not the best.

Burnout S.O.S.: Increase Your ‘Worth Ethic’ and Save Your Health – Feeling burned out? This post examines how understanding where we derive our sense of “worth” affects our sense of well-being. Noticeably missing from the piece is how faith fits into the picture. But it’s from the Huffington Post, so that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Still a good read.

Setting Up a Social Media Management Center – A fairly comprehensive post from social media expert Chris Brogan. Some of the tools he recommends are quite expensive and there are inexpensive and free alternatives to a lot of them. But it gives anyone an understanding of what needs to be done to create a strong social media presence and manage it effectively.

How to Setup Your First Blog the Right Way the First Time – Not sure this needs much explanation. I know a lot of my readers are working on setting up a blog or are thinking about it so check this out.

EntreLeadership 1-Day – I went to this yesterday with Justin Davis of Madera Labs and it’s a fantastic event well worth the small investment. I’ve been to both the live 1-Day and the Simulcast. Both are spectacular but go to the live event if you ever get the chance. This is not an affiliate link, by the way. That’s how much I believe in this type of material.

Photo courtesy of celinesphotographer

There are a lot of people who talk about “one day” owning their own business. Yet, very few people actually end up even trying it. Why?

Usually it’s because they’ve chosen to believe one or more lies about starting a business. There are 7 common lies that people are telling themselves right now that will keep them from changing their dream of entrepreneurship into a set of goals they can accomplish.

Lie #1 – It’s Too Risky In Today’s Economy

Without a doubt, our current economic situation sucks. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start a business. In fact, starting a business during an economic downturn may be one of the best things you can do.

Why?

• Your job is likely not as safe as you think it is. After all, layoffs increase during times of economic uncertainty. Right? Why not put yourself in the driver’s seat rather than depend on someone else for a paycheck?
• It will force you to prioritize your spending. If you can operate a profitable business in an economic downturn, you can do it during times of economic boom.
• Competition decreases during crappy economic times. It’s sad but true. A lot of companies go out of business in a downturn. Regardless of the reason, this creates opportunity for someone who is talented and willing to work hard to take on clients from failing companies.
• It’s cheaper to start a business during a downturn. With so many businesses going under right now, it’s a great time to pick up needed items at an auction or on Craigslist. You can also negotiate better deals with potential vendors right now.

Here’s a fun fact: roughly half of the Dow Jones 30 were started during a recession. Now may be a great time to start that business you’ve been talking about.

Lie #2 – I Don’t Have Enough Time

How was last night’s episode of Gossip Girl? How insane was that Yankees game? OMG…did you see the preview for the next episode of Glee?

• The average American watches nearly 4 hours of TV per day.
• 49% of Americans say they watch too much TV.
• 98% of households in the US have at least 1 TV.
• 34% have 2.

You have the time. You just have to claim it from the other distractions in your life. If TV isn’t the problem, you may be working too many hours for someone else doing something you hate. This was my problem for too many years. I made a lot of money doing work I didn’t enjoy so that I could buy stuff I didn’t need.

Lie #3 – I Can’t Afford To Quit My Job

Who said you have to quit your job to start a business? Most businesses are started during nights and weekends. Feel like you don’t have enough time on nights and weekends? See Lie #2 above.

Oftentimes, it’s not an income problem that people have – it’s a spending problem. Their cost of living has risen to – or more likely above- their income.

So how can you prepare for being able to quit your job? Here are some things you can do to get ready:

• Save up 6 months of living expenses in a money market account.
• Create a budget for both the business and your household. Figure out how much money your business will need to make in order for you to survive.
• Get out of debt and stay out of debt. It’s a lot easier to start a business if you don’t have to worry about creditors knocking down your door.
• Practice living on less before you have to start living on less. It’s a habit you have to learn. There is not magic “live within my means” pill.

Lie #4 – It Takes Too Much Money To Start a Business

There are a lot of businesses that can be started on less than $1,000, $5,000 or even $10,000 dollars. You just have to start thinking differently about how you’re going to do it.

First, start small and then scale up. You don’t need to go lease a storefront just because you want to own “the best hotdog joint in town.” Instead, start by renting a cart and setting up shop on a busy street in the financial district downtown. Try out different recipes while minimizing exposure. Figure out if people even like your hotdogs.

Then, if things are going well, begin planning for expansion into a bigger market. Figure out how much money it will take to purchase your own cart. Start saving to buy one without financing it. Once you own your own cart, begin socking money away to buy another cart (in cash) and hire an employee to run it. Keep up this process until you own enough carts that you’re making enough money to open your storefront without going into debt.

Too many people use borrowed money such as credit cards, home equity, and personal loans to finance the opening and/or growth of their business. This is stupid. Figure out how to start smaller with less exposure and risk. It will keep you making smarter decisions because you won’t be able to buy things you can’t afford.

Lie #5 – I Don’t Know Anything About Running a Business

Neither do a lot of people when they start a business and it shouldn’t stop you from starting one.

Don’t get me wrong – you need to learn about running a business. But there are a lot of free or low-cost resources available to you:

• Ask friends and family who have started a business to act as advisors and mentors.
• Contact SCORE. They offer free small business advice and mentoring in-person and online.
• Visit your local library and become and avid reader of business books.
• Find and read blogs on business development, sales, marketing, freelancing, etc.

If you’re starting small and part-time as I suggest, you’ll have time to learn about running a business as you do it. It will take a lot of the pressure off of having to know it all up-front.

Lie #6 – I’ll Go Out on My Own When …

…my kids are out of the house.
…I retire.
…I blah, blah, blah.

No. You most likely won’t. Excuses like these are generally made out of fear. Starting a business can be a frightening thought. So rather than admit the fear and confront it, people mask it behind “sensible” statements such as these. They tell themselves that it would be unwise to do it right now.

These statements meet two needs:

• We don’t want to admit we’re scared, so we tell ourselves and others that we’re going to do it…just…down the road. It keeps the dream alive – even if only on life support.
• It makes us sound reasonable in our fear. After all, who doesn’t want to sound reasonable? Nobody wants to be seen as rash or foolish. This type of excuse enables us to lie to ourselves and others while maintaining a bit of self-respect.

Lie #7 – I Don’t Know What Kind of Business to Start

I think that most people have an idea of what kind of business they would start, they just don’t want to admit it in any other capacity than as a fantasy.

What do I mean by that?

Have you ever played the game with friends where you answer the question “What would you do if money weren’t an object?” Of course. We’ve all done it. And it’s fun because it’s “safe.” It’s all fantasy because, of course, money is an object. So we talk about our fantasy of starting our own sports memorabilia store, wedding photography business, bakery, PR agency, non-profit, etc.

The problem is that when we relegate our passions to the world of fantasy, we no longer see them as potentially viable businesses. We assume that something we’re passionate about can’t possibly make money. It just seems too good to be true that we could actually do something we love and provide for our families.

If you know how to answer that question in a cocktail party setting, then you know what kind of business to start. Now, granted, the business may take on a different form than in your money-is-no-object fantasy. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the above steps to make it happen.

Share Your Thoughts

Are any of these lies stopping you from starting a business?

If you’ve already started your business, which lie did you struggle with the most? Should I have added additional lies to the list?

I’d love to hear your experiences in the comments below.

If you run a business, or are a leader in an organization, you’ll undoubtedly encounter large, complex problems. These are the problems that keep things from getting done or act as roadblocks to growth. What I’m going to share with you are five steps for solving those complex problems.

Do these five things and you will have resolution quickly. Skip or change any of them and you won’t. Simple as that.

1 – Involve Only People with Power to Create Change

Anyone can point to a house and tell you it’s on fire. Only a rare few can or will work to put it out. Those are the people you want involved in a meeting about the resolutions. You don’t want people who are adept at communicating problems. Also, just because a person is impacted by a problem does not entitle them to a vote or voice in the solution.

Nobody likes to be left out so prepare to hurt a few feelings. That’s okay. You need people who can walk out of the meeting and act without needing more permission.

You want people of action. Scratch that. You need people of action. Ignore this step and you’ll get mired in the back-and-forth bickering and positioning that will prevent forward progress.

2 – Define the Problem(s) Without Passing Judgement

Sometimes the problems are evident (like a burning building). Other times, the problem is more like an interconnected web that’s tangled and jumbled. Let everyone in the meeting define what they see are the problems.

If you have the right people, this will not turn into a frenzy. If anyone begins to whine, pass judgement on a problem or person, or point fingers, stop them immediately. If they continue, give them the boot. See step 1 above – no whiners allowed.

At this stage, do not attempt to offer up solutions! I can’t stress this enough. A lot of what you’ll hear during this stage are symptoms of the underlying problems – that’s okay. Let the symptoms guide you to the root cause.

3 – Discuss All Possible Solutions

With the problems defined, get the team to start offering up solutions, but don’t pre-judge them. Get them all out on the table first. All problems have more than one possible answer. Listen and observe. Come up with variations of the solutions offered up by others.

Be creative. Think of every angle. The time is over for pointing out the problem. Think about what you can do to fix this.

4 – Ruthlessly Weed The Solutions

Not all solutions are created equal. At this stage, you need to cull the bad ones. Explore the good ones. Pick them apart. But do it objectively. Don’t be married to your proposals. Let them sink or swim on their own merits.

If someone is needlessly getting attached to their proposed solutions, point it out. If the rest of the team agrees it’s not the best solution and the person will not let it go, ask them to leave. See step 1 above.

5 – Immediately Implement the Solutions

If you have the right people in the room and you’ve decided on the best course of action, don’t wait to get started. Don’t wait for meeting minutes. Don’t wait for “strategic initiative” documents that act as large CYA for those who are afraid to ruffle a few feathers.

On top of that, if you wait to get started, people will over-think the solutions. Fear and resistance will creep in. Progress will stop and you’ll have a new set of problems.

Step 1 required that you select people who have the power to create change without additional permission. If you did that, you should all be able to walk out of that room and make things happen. If not, you just wasted everyone’s time.

Wrapping Up

There you have it. Do these 5 things and you can quickly solve large and complex problems. Ignore any of them and you won’t.

Questions: When have you tried to solve large problems only to skip one of these steps? How did it turn out? Which step(s) did you skip or ignore? Looking at how you handle problems, are you the type of person that offers solutions or just points out the problem?

In his book The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, Steven Pressfield tackles the constant battle that rages inside of artists. Art, according to Pressfield, is war. So is trying to start a business.

Have you ever considered the similarities between artists and entrepreneurs? Both are trying to create something from nothing. Both dedicate a tremendous amount of effort toward their craft. Both want to earn a living doing something they love. Both face internal battles against self-doubt and fear.

Only one of them tries to get paid prior to having much of anything to show. Guess which one.

Very rarely will you see an undiscovered musician head to a label and ask for a record deal based solely on an idea for a song. Yet an entrepreneur will head to the local angel investor or VC armed only with a business plan and a hockey-stick-shaped revenue projection.

I know because I’ve done it.

Perhaps we need to approach our craft like a musician and not like it’s a get-rich-quick scheme.

• Successful musicians start by writing music first. Entrepreneurs need to start by creating a product or service that makes money.
• Successful musicians practice even when nobody’s looking. Entrepreneurs need to build their companies even when nobody cares.
• Successful musicians care more about their fans than the labels. Entrepreneurs should care about their customers/users/clients more than pleasing potential investors.
• Successful musicians understand it often takes years to be “discovered.” Entrepreneurs need to understand that even Facebook wasn’t built overnight.
• Successful musicians often carry a day job and practice their craft during the down time. Entrepreneurs need to be willing to do the same.
• Successful musicians don’t wake up one day and say, “I’m a musician.” Some people think all they need to do is change their Twitter profile to read “entrepreneur” and they’ll get funding.
• Successful musicians had to live with constant rejection early on – meaning they had to be in love with the art, not the process. Too many entrepreneurs pick projects based on pipe-dream payouts – not how willing they would be to do it for years with no promise of a pot of gold.

We know this intuitively. The success rate of startups is not a mystery. It sucks. Yet we want someone else to bankroll our idea without having done much more than write a business plan.

It’s time we start thinking like a successful musician. It’s time we build businesses. It’s time we dig in for the long haul. It’s time we pick projects that excite us because of the work, not the fantasy payout. I’ve got nothing against investors. They are wonderful people doing great things. I’m just not going to work for them anymore. I’m going to work for me.

I have a gut feeling money follows passion. Not the other way around.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Please share in the comments below.

Do you want to be successful? I’m not talking about money, though that may result. I’m talking about getting from where you are to where you want to be – starting that business, getting that promotion, landing that new client, creating a new product line, etc.

I believe there are only two skills you need that will make up for any of those you may not have:

1. The Ability to Sell What You Believe In
2. The Ability to Deliver What You Sell

Everything is Sales

The economy runs on selling a product or service for money. Even if you’re a programmer or a customer service rep, you’re in sales. Everything is sales:

• Hiring Managers sell the position to potential employees. You want the best applicants? Sell them on why your company is the best place to work.
• Entrepreneurs sell ideas to potential investors. They hear hundreds, if not thousands, of pitches per year. Tell them why they should care about yours.
• Job Applicants sell themselves to a company. If two people with similar resumes apply for the same job, who gets it? The one who can sell themselves over the other person. I’ve even hired people with less experience just because they convinced me they’d work harder.
• Revolutionaries sell people on why the status quo needs to be shaken up. Every person who’s ever led a movement, first had to convince a lot of people to see things as they did. They sold their vision and ideas.

Bottom line? You’re in sales whether you want to believe it or not. Embrace it. Then learn to sell your ideas, yourself, your business and your dreams.

Deliver on What You Sell

The term “salesman” has taken on a negative connotation. Primarily because so many things or ideas we’ve been sold don’t deliver. We don’t trust salespeople. We think they’re lying. I don’t believe that most salespeople intend to be dishonest. However, I believe most people sell something and then don’t deliver. Delivering takes effort. Delivering takes diligence. Delivering is hard, constant work.

If you can learn to sell what you believe in, then deliver on what you sell – be it an idea, your skill set, your company – you will never be lacking for business or a job. Many people can do one or the other. Only the truly successful learn to do both.

Do you possess these two skills? How do you use them in your pursuit of success?

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working to hire a Brand Ambassador for Ethos3. With a few exceptions, I’ve been shocked at some of the applications I’ve received. One person even wrote a “cover letter” that consisted of the following sentence: “I have a lot of sales experience even though my resume doesn’t show it.”

We live in a time with roughly 17% unemployment. People need work but complain that they “can’t find a job.” I’d offer up this instead: Those who understand that they are business developers for themselves can find work in almost any market.

Business developers create and nurture a network.
Business developers search out ways to use their skills and assets to help others.
Business developers look for creative ways to get new business.
Business developers know they have to clearly define how they can help.
Business developers paint a picture of how wonderful the partnership can be.
Business developers are intentional in every contact they make.
Business developers try to stand out from the crowd.

Start thinking of yourself as a soloprenuer – a one person company – that needs new business. You’re the business developer for You, Inc. Now, get out there and be intentional. Hustle. Want it.

If you haven’t already, I recommend you read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series for the first two pieces of advice given to me by Dave Ramsey during a town hall meeting.

In this third and final article in the series, we’re going to break from the marketing angle of the first two posts and focus on something that is especially pertinent in these economic times.

“Be Prepared… the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.” – Sir Robert Baden-Powell, British Army Officer & Founder of The Boy Scouts

Principle #3 – Create a “Sharon” Fund

Image by noaz. via Flickr

This principle is classic Dave Ramsey, but incredibly valuable none-the-less. The “Sharon” Fund is basically an emergency fund of retained earnings for the business named for his fiscally conservative wife, Sharon.

The principle is a simple – set aside a percentage of your profit in an account that can be used in emergency situations to cover planned or unplanned expenses such as payroll or rent.  Ideally, this fund will be enough to get the company through a number of months (I’d say closer to a year) should things turn dramatically against your business. The best part of having an emergency fund? You don’t owe anybody anything when you use it. There are no monthly interest charges, no collection calls, and you’re debt-free when your industry turns around.

Working in the technology industry, I see this principle violated on a daily basis where companies are built on debt. They live and die by the almighty “burn rate” (the rate at which they burn through cash either invested in, or loaned to, the company).  I can’t tell you how many industry blogs and articles I’ve read lately warning technology start-ups of the coming credit and investment crunch.

Why?  Because insiders know many of these companies have tiny revenue (if any), large payrolls and a business model built on a buyout.  Investors are realizing that, in this market, those companies will need to survive longer than originally estimated, yet don’t have the inherent model to do so.

Admittedly, this can be difficult to do when things are going well. The tendency is to spend every dollar that comes in. It’s hard to imagine the slow times during periods of high growth. However, it just takes a little bit of foresight and planning to prevent heartache and ulcers when things inevitably turn against you. (Did anyone really think we’d never have another downturn?)

Lisa and I have done this personally and we’re going to apply it to our business. I can tell you from personal experience that our emergency fund has kept us from charging up a credit card for things like auto repairs, medical bills, etc. When we use our emergency fund, it’s the first account to get paid back until it’s restored to the amount we agreed on – no questions asked.

Do you have an emergency fund in your personal or business finances? What has been your experience with them? If you don’t have one setup, is there are particular reason? Does something work better for you? Leave a comment below and tell me about your experiences with emergency funds.

For anyone that’s interested, here is a link to Dave Ramsey’s latest book. I highly recommend it.

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness

Before I begin, I just want to express my gratitude to everyone who visited my site, subscribed to the feeds and provided feedback. The response was better than I could have imagined and I can’t thank you enough. Now…on to Part 2!

In Part 1 of this series, I recounted my question to Dave Ramsey at a townhall event last week. Basically, I wanted to know what three pieces of advice he would give to someone starting a business in these economic times. Principle 1 was about the need to define your target market and understand why they are spending money.

Principle 2 – You Must Rethink Your Marketing Message with this New Understanding

“I have a friend who owns a successful window installation business. I asked him how business was going and he replied that it was going great. Stunned by his answer, I asked him, ‘Isn’t there a housing crisis and economic slowdown? How could business be going great?’

My friend replied, ‘I heard about that, I’m just choosing not to participate.’”

-Dave Ramsey

Once you’ve figured out which segment of the market you are going to target and you understand why they’re spending money, you need to take a look at the message(s) you are using to reach them and ask yourself if your message matches their perceived needs and wants in this environment.

Dave gave a great example of companies that are doing this very thing – home construction businesses. Over the last 10-12 years, new construction was big money. However, as new housing construction has slowed to a crawl, those same companies are now marketing themselves as “home remodelers”. In essence, the nature of the work is the same but the marketing message has changed to reflect the change in needs.

Why is this working? Because a lot of homeowners realize that right now is a good time to get a house ready to sell for when the market inevitably turns around. Labor is cheaper, material is less expensive and companies are looking for work. Many homeowners realize the money spent will go further to improving the house than it would have just 5 years ago.

A Personal Story About My Dad

For nearly 30 years, my dad owned a high-end pool and landscape construction business in Los Angeles. Right before he sold the company, the average price tag for a project was in the mid-high six figures – true luxury items. All the work was custom.

During economic slowdowns, the number of people seeking new development shrank while those looking to remodel their pools and yards increased. Normally, that type of business was turned away – the profit margins were lower and there were more “unknowns” to contend with. But when the market cycled, he adapted to changes in demand (even if only for a little while). By doing so, his company would survive while competitors closed doors. And after the market started to turn, business would grow exponentially because he was uniquely positioned to take advantage of the growth periods. Afterall, he was still in business!

Does Your Message Address Changing Demands?

Are you still positioned for an economy that no longer exists? Is your message tailored to needs that aren’t being expressed by your target market? Even if it’s a small tweak, what modifications can you make to your message to better address perceived needs and wants?

Part 3 of this post will be available soon. Subscribe using the links on the right to be automatically notified when it’s live! As always, thanks for reading!