Offline Business-Part2-Low Hanging Fruits
Continuing with my earlier post on mistakes I have made so far and which you should avoid, See here: ( http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...kes-avoid.html) today I would like to give my 2 cents to those of us who are getting started.
We all come from different backgrounds and we have different experiences and even different 'ready-to-buy' markets. I encourage each one of us to TRY AND UNDERSTAND OUR PARTICULAR CLIENTS AND MARKETS. This is because, not all clients are made equal and remember you always have an advantage with certain clients eg your local customers,specific niches
We sometimes tend to ignore ready to buy clients because we have these focused thoughts on who our ideal client would be. I have come to see sometimes, we need to start out where we are and then we improve as we go along
Case in point
When I finished my University degree, I had no business training at all. A friend of mine referred me to an NGO which was offering free training on business management for 2 weeks. During those 2 weeks, we got different speakers in different fields and what I liked most was the fact that most of the trainers were business owners cum managers.
I learnt alot during the 2 weeks, from the various entrepreneurs eg a lawyer who facilitated the legal class, made me understand the various business rules in my country, a lady entrepreneur who had started a very successful organic foods company made me understand the need for ADDING VALUE and recognizing that as an entrepreneur, you have to look out for opportunities to serve.
At the end of the session, I recognized the value that was bestowed on me by the various entrepreneurs and decided that an yea or so later, I would be one of the entrepreneurs who would be teaching the same class
At the end of that week, I noticed that the NGO that had convened the meeting did not have a web presence at all. I proposed to them website design, domain and hosting registration services without knowing how i would do this and a week later, I had my deposit(slightly over USD 500-the contract was approx 990 USD)-Notice the low hanging fruit....
Within one year of doing business-through cold calling, referrals and just 'yapping to friends and family'(low hanging fruits) about what i do(Zero marketing costs apart from many worn out shoes
, I managed to make slightly over USD 10,000, mostly from website design and webhosting+ domain reg.
A year later, I stood in front of the next class just as i had imagined as a speaker - My topic being SUCCESS CASE STUDY.
So, dont just look out for the next hit eg video, local business,seo consulting etc, but start where you are now with your idea and passion and the experience you get from this is more than you will ever learn from books or seminars
To a great 2011 people
We all come from different backgrounds and we have different experiences and even different 'ready-to-buy' markets. I encourage each one of us to TRY AND UNDERSTAND OUR PARTICULAR CLIENTS AND MARKETS. This is because, not all clients are made equal and remember you always have an advantage with certain clients eg your local customers,specific niches
We sometimes tend to ignore ready to buy clients because we have these focused thoughts on who our ideal client would be. I have come to see sometimes, we need to start out where we are and then we improve as we go along
Case in point
When I finished my University degree, I had no business training at all. A friend of mine referred me to an NGO which was offering free training on business management for 2 weeks. During those 2 weeks, we got different speakers in different fields and what I liked most was the fact that most of the trainers were business owners cum managers.
I learnt alot during the 2 weeks, from the various entrepreneurs eg a lawyer who facilitated the legal class, made me understand the various business rules in my country, a lady entrepreneur who had started a very successful organic foods company made me understand the need for ADDING VALUE and recognizing that as an entrepreneur, you have to look out for opportunities to serve.
At the end of the session, I recognized the value that was bestowed on me by the various entrepreneurs and decided that an yea or so later, I would be one of the entrepreneurs who would be teaching the same class
At the end of that week, I noticed that the NGO that had convened the meeting did not have a web presence at all. I proposed to them website design, domain and hosting registration services without knowing how i would do this and a week later, I had my deposit(slightly over USD 500-the contract was approx 990 USD)-Notice the low hanging fruit....
Within one year of doing business-through cold calling, referrals and just 'yapping to friends and family'(low hanging fruits) about what i do(Zero marketing costs apart from many worn out shoes
, I managed to make slightly over USD 10,000, mostly from website design and webhosting+ domain reg.A year later, I stood in front of the next class just as i had imagined as a speaker - My topic being SUCCESS CASE STUDY.
So, dont just look out for the next hit eg video, local business,seo consulting etc, but start where you are now with your idea and passion and the experience you get from this is more than you will ever learn from books or seminars
To a great 2011 people