Hi Entrepreneurial Athletes,
How are you? Which mile are you up to, on your Amazing Race to Entrepreneurial Freedom?
Here are 5 Signs posts to look out for and correct in your business
1. No customers, or reliant on just one customer (no matter the size).
2. Lack of cash in the bank
3. Your clients taking more than 90 days to pay you.
4 not known to your target market
5. Do not know how well you are performing financially, i.e. sales made versus expenses have to pay out.
Are any these an area of concern? If yes, what plan will you put in place to address?
Live YOUR Passion
Georgina
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
12 Key Steps to Turn Your Passion into a Profitable Business
“Find your true passion and do what you love to do…Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love… If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.” Steve Jobs
I soooooooooooooooo agree with Steve Jobs. I have personally said for years that you need to be passionate about whatever you do in life, especially when it comes to starting and growing a business. The road to entrepreneurial and business success is not an easy one and you will need the fuel of your passion to keep you moving, when times get tough!
I will share with you 12 key steps for turning your passion into a PROFITABLE business!!
In my book best selling book The Amazing Race to Entrepreneurial Freedom http://www.theamazingracetoentrepreneurialfreedom.com I use the analogy of a marathon and mile 1 is dedicated to Passion. This is number one step as far as I am concerned for creating and sustaining a profitable business.
1. Identify Your Passion – Mile 1
For those of you who do not know, what your passion is, don’t worry. Here are a few questions to help you uncover what it is:
• If you had to work for one year but could not get paid for your time, what would you do?
• What do you do in your free time?
• What do you talk about non stop about, to anyone who will listen?
• What upsets you that you find yourself constantly correcting or finding solutions to?
• What magazines and books do you read?
• What are you already doing for friends and family for free?
Here’s a quick story…Part of my coaching process, involves clients completing worksheets from time to time. One of my clients would professionally reformat all the worksheets when the worksheets were sent to her to complete after a coaching session. She has an extremely creative eye and loves to give things a new look.
She is now receiving income for her part time virtual assistance services. She works late into the night, providing these services and enjoys every minute of it, because it does not feel like work. And in case you are wondering, yes, I am one of her clients.
The key to finding your passion is that it is something that you do naturally, automatically without effort.
“For many young companies the passion provides the glue…between product and customer.” Passionate and Profitable by Lior Arussy
2. Create Your Vision – Mile 2
What do you want this business to give you? How do you want this business to support your life? As Stephen Covey states in Seven Laws of Highly Effective People, “start with the end in mind.”
Many people start businesses so that they can eventually have more free time, be their own boss, spend more time with family, go on vacations whenever they want etc, but this does not materialise because the business takes all their time. The reason for this, is that when they created the vision for the company, they did not factor in their wants and desires.
You need to define the vision you want for your life first and then create the business to support the life you desire.
Don’t get me wrong, in the start-up years, your business may consume the majority of your time, however with your vision clearly mapped out, you will put things into place eventually to support the life you envisioned.
Having a vision also applies if you want to just earn some extra money on the side from your passion. Define the life you want and then decide on how your ‘part time’ business needs to be set up to deliver whatever your needs are.
Defining a vision helps your business to work for you and not the other way around.
3. Develop Your Business Plan – Mile 21
My experience with clients, is that they become overwhelmed just thinking about creating a business plan, but this does not need to be a daunting task at all. In The Amazing Race to Entrepreneurial Freedom, I take you through a painless process to create a business plan for your new business. There is also a great book called ‘The One Page Business Plan’ http://www.onepagebusinessplan.com/books2.htm which is a very good resource.
4. Clearly Define Your Product/Service and Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – Mile 11
Now that you have uncovered your passion, i.e. what you love to do, you need to be able to clearly define the customer problem you intend to solve and then clearly articulate the solution you have created. People buy solutions to problems, e.g. Oil of Olay solves the problem of aging. Think about it, their adverts show women with beautiful skin, rather than focusing on how the products are made.
Through one of my companies Passions to Profitability, I take the fear out of starting a business and help individuals live their lives and grow their businesses by desire and design, rather than by default!
Once you have clarified the problem and the solution, work out what makes your product or service different and appealing i.e. your USP. For Oil of Olay, they state that their products are ‘scientifically advanced’ and you will see the results in ‘28 days!’
My USP for Passions to Profitability is that I am a qualified accountant, change management consultant, business coach and mentor, therefore when working with my clients, they have access to all of these skills, i.e. a one stop shop for personal and business growth.
A previous client makes cakes for children’s birthdays and her USP is that she only uses natural ingredients and this is a hit with parents.
5. Test the Viability Of Your Product/Service – Mile 12 & 13
An important thing to realise, is just because you have found your passion, is it something people will buy? So before investing a lot of time, energy and money in the creation of your product or service, test to see if you have a market for your product orservice. If possible, sell it before you build, create or buy it!
When Nicole Greene, Managing Director of Dream Life Distributors Limited www.facebook.com/lannel.tt in 2003 decided to start her business of importing high quality 18K gold plated fashion jewelry from Brazil, she secured orders and obtained at least a 50% deposit for the goods from her clients. This gave her the confidence and the data that there was a market for her products. Nicole ensured that she had a viable product, before investing any major start-up capital.
You will need to define the market/customers that you want to attract, age, location, income bracket, life style, etc. Once this is completed, conduct some market research and/or obtain future sales.
While I was working on the manuscript of The Amazing Race to Entrepreneurial Freedom, I was promoting it, so by the time it was published I had customers waiting to purchase it.
6. Obtain Visibility and Build Relationships – Mile 14
You can have the best product in the world, but if your target market does not know that it is available, it will be difficult to convert them into paying clients. You need to let them know you exist!
Find out where your clients ‘hang out’ and position yourself there and build a relationship with them. With the great popularity of social media, your marketing costs can be minimal.
A few examples: place articles in publications your target market reads, visit places your target market goes, offer samples, Facebook fan or group pages, become a member of LinkedIn groups, become an active member of Chamber of Commerce, speak at seminars etc.
Once you have obtained visibility, focus on building the relationship with your potential clients. Take the time to get to know them, see what their needs are and if your product or service is a good fit for them. Once you build the right relationship, even if they do not need your services, they will refer you, which is one of the most effective forms of marketing.
One of my clients, supplies electronic equipment and he has built extremely strong relationships with barbers and mobile phones stores, and now his products are available to these businesses clientele at their establishments.
7. Plan For Your Sales – Mile 15
Marketing alone will not grow your business. Without sales you have no income, without income you have no money and without money you have no business!
Determine how much money you would like to make, then see if it is realistic when you compare the price you would like to charge to that of your competitors and take into consideration the cost of resources to deliver the product/service and also the size of the market.
Remember even though this is your passion (and you may have been giving it away for free before), you are now in business and businesses are created to make money! If you are not making money, then it is a hobby and not a business. A hobby is fine if that is what you want…just don’t confuse the two.
Once your pricing has been confirmed, you can then position it to your potential clients.
When you have built a relationship with a potential client and you understand that your product or service can serve them, then ask for the sale!
• When would you like to start?
• How many would you like to start with?
• What colours would you prefer?
8. Take It a Step at a Time
You may wish to start this business part time while you are still working for an employer. This will allow you to build your client base and still receive a regular income until the business is strong enough to support you and the business. Take the time to save and put your financial security in place. You can find out how to do this in Mile 5 in The Amazing Race to Entrepreneurial Freedom. Set your targets for sales, profits and also a timeframe for when you would like to be full time in your business.
9. Monitor and Manage Your Financials – Mile 24
Once your business is operational, you MUST keep track of your financials (sales, costs, profits, and cash flow; these are the main ones). Create budgets and forecasts and monitor your performance against these.
Hire a bookkeeper, or if this is not possible, maintain the books yourself and at least once per month, review your financial position. Is the business viable? Are your costs under control? Are your sales and costs on budget, if not why? What changes do you need to make to bring them back on stream?
Regarding your cash flow, you should really review this daily, if not at least weekly. Many businesses have gone out of business not due to lack of demand of their product/service, but due to not having cash in the bank to operate their business (i.e. working capital).
10. Have a Good Support Network – Miles 8 & 18
If you do not have it already, create or tap into individuals (a coach/mentor), groups e.g. mastermind and/or networks that have people with similar interests. I would suggest that these individuals or groups are more experienced then you, so that you can learn from them.
I was recently approached by a publishing company in India who would like to publish my book. I was at a loss regarding the publishing contract, however I contacted an attorney I knew and also three people in my network who are authors and experienced in this area.
With this support, I have been able to amend the contract so that it reflects what is my best interest, as well as that of the publishing company.
Also as your business grows and you need to hire contractors and/or employees, ensure that they also have a passion for their work and for your business. Their passion will not only help them to excel, it will also help the business to soar!
11. Keep Abreast of What Is New
Ensure that you keep up to date with what is new in your field, as this is your passion. This should come easily to you, as this is what naturally interests you. By keeping up to date, you can offer your clients the latest information, equipment, service, etc. thus further setting yourself apart from your competitors.
12. Remain Passionate
Continue to be passionate about the business and your clients, as this will enable your passionate business to have sustainable profits.
“Once you find your passion, you will never work again, because work becomes play.” Georgina Terry
“A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.”
Charles R. Schwab
For further support, download FREE chapters to my book NOW by visiting http://www.theamazingracetoentrepreneurialfreedom.com and you can also get a copy of the book on Amazon. http://turl.ca/vfh
LIVE YOUR PASSION!!!!
I soooooooooooooooo agree with Steve Jobs. I have personally said for years that you need to be passionate about whatever you do in life, especially when it comes to starting and growing a business. The road to entrepreneurial and business success is not an easy one and you will need the fuel of your passion to keep you moving, when times get tough!
I will share with you 12 key steps for turning your passion into a PROFITABLE business!!
In my book best selling book The Amazing Race to Entrepreneurial Freedom http://www.theamazingracetoentrepreneurialfreedom.com I use the analogy of a marathon and mile 1 is dedicated to Passion. This is number one step as far as I am concerned for creating and sustaining a profitable business.
1. Identify Your Passion – Mile 1
For those of you who do not know, what your passion is, don’t worry. Here are a few questions to help you uncover what it is:
• If you had to work for one year but could not get paid for your time, what would you do?
• What do you do in your free time?
• What do you talk about non stop about, to anyone who will listen?
• What upsets you that you find yourself constantly correcting or finding solutions to?
• What magazines and books do you read?
• What are you already doing for friends and family for free?
Here’s a quick story…Part of my coaching process, involves clients completing worksheets from time to time. One of my clients would professionally reformat all the worksheets when the worksheets were sent to her to complete after a coaching session. She has an extremely creative eye and loves to give things a new look.
She is now receiving income for her part time virtual assistance services. She works late into the night, providing these services and enjoys every minute of it, because it does not feel like work. And in case you are wondering, yes, I am one of her clients.
The key to finding your passion is that it is something that you do naturally, automatically without effort.
“For many young companies the passion provides the glue…between product and customer.” Passionate and Profitable by Lior Arussy
2. Create Your Vision – Mile 2
What do you want this business to give you? How do you want this business to support your life? As Stephen Covey states in Seven Laws of Highly Effective People, “start with the end in mind.”
Many people start businesses so that they can eventually have more free time, be their own boss, spend more time with family, go on vacations whenever they want etc, but this does not materialise because the business takes all their time. The reason for this, is that when they created the vision for the company, they did not factor in their wants and desires.
You need to define the vision you want for your life first and then create the business to support the life you desire.
Don’t get me wrong, in the start-up years, your business may consume the majority of your time, however with your vision clearly mapped out, you will put things into place eventually to support the life you envisioned.
Having a vision also applies if you want to just earn some extra money on the side from your passion. Define the life you want and then decide on how your ‘part time’ business needs to be set up to deliver whatever your needs are.
Defining a vision helps your business to work for you and not the other way around.
3. Develop Your Business Plan – Mile 21
My experience with clients, is that they become overwhelmed just thinking about creating a business plan, but this does not need to be a daunting task at all. In The Amazing Race to Entrepreneurial Freedom, I take you through a painless process to create a business plan for your new business. There is also a great book called ‘The One Page Business Plan’ http://www.onepagebusinessplan.com/books2.htm which is a very good resource.
4. Clearly Define Your Product/Service and Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – Mile 11
Now that you have uncovered your passion, i.e. what you love to do, you need to be able to clearly define the customer problem you intend to solve and then clearly articulate the solution you have created. People buy solutions to problems, e.g. Oil of Olay solves the problem of aging. Think about it, their adverts show women with beautiful skin, rather than focusing on how the products are made.
Through one of my companies Passions to Profitability, I take the fear out of starting a business and help individuals live their lives and grow their businesses by desire and design, rather than by default!
Once you have clarified the problem and the solution, work out what makes your product or service different and appealing i.e. your USP. For Oil of Olay, they state that their products are ‘scientifically advanced’ and you will see the results in ‘28 days!’
My USP for Passions to Profitability is that I am a qualified accountant, change management consultant, business coach and mentor, therefore when working with my clients, they have access to all of these skills, i.e. a one stop shop for personal and business growth.
A previous client makes cakes for children’s birthdays and her USP is that she only uses natural ingredients and this is a hit with parents.
5. Test the Viability Of Your Product/Service – Mile 12 & 13
An important thing to realise, is just because you have found your passion, is it something people will buy? So before investing a lot of time, energy and money in the creation of your product or service, test to see if you have a market for your product orservice. If possible, sell it before you build, create or buy it!
When Nicole Greene, Managing Director of Dream Life Distributors Limited www.facebook.com/lannel.tt in 2003 decided to start her business of importing high quality 18K gold plated fashion jewelry from Brazil, she secured orders and obtained at least a 50% deposit for the goods from her clients. This gave her the confidence and the data that there was a market for her products. Nicole ensured that she had a viable product, before investing any major start-up capital.
You will need to define the market/customers that you want to attract, age, location, income bracket, life style, etc. Once this is completed, conduct some market research and/or obtain future sales.
While I was working on the manuscript of The Amazing Race to Entrepreneurial Freedom, I was promoting it, so by the time it was published I had customers waiting to purchase it.
6. Obtain Visibility and Build Relationships – Mile 14
You can have the best product in the world, but if your target market does not know that it is available, it will be difficult to convert them into paying clients. You need to let them know you exist!
Find out where your clients ‘hang out’ and position yourself there and build a relationship with them. With the great popularity of social media, your marketing costs can be minimal.
A few examples: place articles in publications your target market reads, visit places your target market goes, offer samples, Facebook fan or group pages, become a member of LinkedIn groups, become an active member of Chamber of Commerce, speak at seminars etc.
Once you have obtained visibility, focus on building the relationship with your potential clients. Take the time to get to know them, see what their needs are and if your product or service is a good fit for them. Once you build the right relationship, even if they do not need your services, they will refer you, which is one of the most effective forms of marketing.
One of my clients, supplies electronic equipment and he has built extremely strong relationships with barbers and mobile phones stores, and now his products are available to these businesses clientele at their establishments.
7. Plan For Your Sales – Mile 15
Marketing alone will not grow your business. Without sales you have no income, without income you have no money and without money you have no business!
Determine how much money you would like to make, then see if it is realistic when you compare the price you would like to charge to that of your competitors and take into consideration the cost of resources to deliver the product/service and also the size of the market.
Remember even though this is your passion (and you may have been giving it away for free before), you are now in business and businesses are created to make money! If you are not making money, then it is a hobby and not a business. A hobby is fine if that is what you want…just don’t confuse the two.
Once your pricing has been confirmed, you can then position it to your potential clients.
When you have built a relationship with a potential client and you understand that your product or service can serve them, then ask for the sale!
• When would you like to start?
• How many would you like to start with?
• What colours would you prefer?
8. Take It a Step at a Time
You may wish to start this business part time while you are still working for an employer. This will allow you to build your client base and still receive a regular income until the business is strong enough to support you and the business. Take the time to save and put your financial security in place. You can find out how to do this in Mile 5 in The Amazing Race to Entrepreneurial Freedom. Set your targets for sales, profits and also a timeframe for when you would like to be full time in your business.
9. Monitor and Manage Your Financials – Mile 24
Once your business is operational, you MUST keep track of your financials (sales, costs, profits, and cash flow; these are the main ones). Create budgets and forecasts and monitor your performance against these.
Hire a bookkeeper, or if this is not possible, maintain the books yourself and at least once per month, review your financial position. Is the business viable? Are your costs under control? Are your sales and costs on budget, if not why? What changes do you need to make to bring them back on stream?
Regarding your cash flow, you should really review this daily, if not at least weekly. Many businesses have gone out of business not due to lack of demand of their product/service, but due to not having cash in the bank to operate their business (i.e. working capital).
10. Have a Good Support Network – Miles 8 & 18
If you do not have it already, create or tap into individuals (a coach/mentor), groups e.g. mastermind and/or networks that have people with similar interests. I would suggest that these individuals or groups are more experienced then you, so that you can learn from them.
I was recently approached by a publishing company in India who would like to publish my book. I was at a loss regarding the publishing contract, however I contacted an attorney I knew and also three people in my network who are authors and experienced in this area.
With this support, I have been able to amend the contract so that it reflects what is my best interest, as well as that of the publishing company.
Also as your business grows and you need to hire contractors and/or employees, ensure that they also have a passion for their work and for your business. Their passion will not only help them to excel, it will also help the business to soar!
11. Keep Abreast of What Is New
Ensure that you keep up to date with what is new in your field, as this is your passion. This should come easily to you, as this is what naturally interests you. By keeping up to date, you can offer your clients the latest information, equipment, service, etc. thus further setting yourself apart from your competitors.
12. Remain Passionate
Continue to be passionate about the business and your clients, as this will enable your passionate business to have sustainable profits.
“Once you find your passion, you will never work again, because work becomes play.” Georgina Terry
“A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm.”
Charles R. Schwab
For further support, download FREE chapters to my book NOW by visiting http://www.theamazingracetoentrepreneurialfreedom.com and you can also get a copy of the book on Amazon. http://turl.ca/vfh
LIVE YOUR PASSION!!!!
Be Persistant!
'The road to mastering anything in life is riddled with "do-overs". You'll have to start again, try again, love again...And in the end, it'll all be worth it.' Renessa Boley
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Everything is falling into place!
'God is so busy, running in front of me, getting things in place for when I get there!'
Georgina Terry!
Georgina Terry!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
What is your dream?
Hi,
How are you?
Today is a glorious day! I listened to Martin Luther's 'I Had A Dream' this morning and felt the POWER and reconnected to my dream, passion and purpose! All doubt and fear squashed! Yes I loose my way sometimes too!!
I am feeling so pumped up!
Life is glorious and everything we desire is waiting for us! We just need to have faith, determination, belief that what we desire is ours and that God/ the Universe is working with us to make our desires a reality!
What is your DREAM?
Live YOUR Passion
Gina
How are you?
Today is a glorious day! I listened to Martin Luther's 'I Had A Dream' this morning and felt the POWER and reconnected to my dream, passion and purpose! All doubt and fear squashed! Yes I loose my way sometimes too!!
I am feeling so pumped up!
Life is glorious and everything we desire is waiting for us! We just need to have faith, determination, belief that what we desire is ours and that God/ the Universe is working with us to make our desires a reality!
What is your DREAM?
Live YOUR Passion
Gina
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
What support/information do you need/want?
Hi Everyone,
How are you this morning? I went for a run this morning and I was thinking of you!
It dawned on me this morning, that I have never asked you what information, you would like to see, hear, read etc. Therefore I am asking you......What information do you need/want to have to help you on your amazing race to entrepreneurial freedom?
I really want to provide meaningful and relevant information for you, so let me know what you want! I am here for you!
Bye for now
Live YOUR Passion
Gina
How are you this morning? I went for a run this morning and I was thinking of you!
It dawned on me this morning, that I have never asked you what information, you would like to see, hear, read etc. Therefore I am asking you......What information do you need/want to have to help you on your amazing race to entrepreneurial freedom?
I really want to provide meaningful and relevant information for you, so let me know what you want! I am here for you!
Bye for now
Live YOUR Passion
Gina
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