Newbies…PLAN to fail…
This is a guest post on “Newbies…PLAN to fail…” by Alex R. http://www.netmedia.com.au
Newbies…PLAN to fail…
…if you’ve failed to plan.
That probably sounds harsh, but for the majority, it’s going to be a fact of life. Statistically, we know that over 90% of businesses will fail in the first two years.
NO business, online or offline can survive if you don’t plan ahead and research your product, market and competitors.
We’ve seen a glut of newbies at this forum over the last six months or so, all getting into the same program without investigating the business they are getting in to.
When starting ANY business you must plan and reasearch.
Just because some marketer says that you can make money in IM, doesn’t mean that YOU will.
Think about it…
How can you expect to get the big bucks if you don’t know or understand your market or what you are doing?
How many competitors do you have for the same product/market?
What is your target market?
Do you know whether there is a need for your product or service?
How are YOU going to make your business work for you and be better than your competitors so that you can gain your fair share of the market?
What steps will you need to take to build your business to obtain a reasonable income?
What timeframe have you set for each step?
How much will you need to spend to achieve your goal?
How many streams of income will you need to receive a good income?
What contingency plan do you have if things don’t go as expected?
How are you going to ensure that prospects can find your business?
If you can’t answer just one of these questions right now, your business is going down the gurgler, because you haven’t done your research and have no business plan. What are you going to do about it?
A good idea and good intentions don’t make a business and won’t until you draw up a business plan to show that your idea is viable.
If you enter the IM arena, you must realise that you already have many competitors and unless you start off with something that is BETTER than your competitors right from the start, you will struggle.
A heavilly competitive area such as IM, must be approached with a product that will set you aside from your competitors so that you can get a cut of the pie. This is called your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). The question you should be asking yourself is “Why would people buy from me instead of my competitors”. If you can’t answer that question, you’ve already got a serious problem.
Every day, we see at this forum, questions from people asking why they aren’t making money from their business, and recently posts that some intended to quit IM.
I’ll bet that not one of these posters has drawn up a business plan, researched their market or competitors, done financial projections or set a path they should follow to success.
Every “system, “course” or “program” they take on may have worked for someone else, but this doesn’t mean that it will work for everyone.
It may have worked for the developer with his/her existing knowledge, skill, mindset and determination, but unless everyone else who tries the same thing has similar attributes, you’ve got to make adjustments to suit YOU. How many beginners do that?
I don’t think that any successful marketer or “guru” relies on just one web site or product for their income. They have diverse sites (in some cases, over 50) offering different products or services, yet the expectation of many beginners is that they can put up one site, with hundreds or possibly thousands of competitors and make good money from it.
No-one is going to hand you a million dollar business on a platter so that as soon as you start it, you start making money from it.
Even in the real world, people have been known to buy existing multi million dollar businesses and have them close within two years due to bad management, lack of product or target market knowledge or bad planning.
You’ve got to spend money to make money. If you want to fast track a good income and don’t have the knowledge and skill to do it successfully by yourself, you need a good mentor. Someone who will not only show you what to do, but to explain why, so that YOU understand what YOU are doing. You can’t be taught how to build and run a successful business in half an hour. If you expect someone to spend the time to teach you how to build and run a successful business, expect to pay them for their time.
If you don’t have the money to PAY for a good mentor, the only alternative is to take the slow boat and LEARN about the business you want to build by reading the free or cheap tutorials that are around.
You CAN gain enough knowledge from the FREE literature that is available on the internet to run a successful business. The basic principles of marketing and sale psychology have not changed in the last 100 years. Every course or system that we have seen offered by various “guru’s” is all built on the basics, including Mike Filsaime’s Butterfly Marketing.
If you can understand marketing basics, you have something to work with and to build on. Everything else is TESTING and RESEARCHING your market.
What I have listed here IS the major reason for the failure of most business. The primary reason for writing a proper business plan is that it will show you from your own research whether your business will do well. It will also highlight your strengths and weaknesses so that you can build up your weaknesses.
The business plan obviously is not the only component of a successful business, but it is the main one that will give you the greatest chance of success. There are three main sections to a business plan. The research, the marketing and financial projections.
If all three tell you that your business will succeed, you’ve got a good chance of NOT being one of the failures.
Good Luck.
Alex
This is a great post. I am going to use it to give my business plan a tweak.
A little bit outdated with some of the figures, but the principles behind those comments haven’t changed.
One point I didn’t mention is that every good business person knows when to quit. Not every idea is a winner. Some look good on paper but still may not work.
For the inexperienced, any business venture is a gamble. Just how much of your money are you prepared to lose before you see the idea was a failure…and go on to try something else which may be more fruitful? Use a bit of common sense.
Good Luck
Alex