How many times have you thought of an idea and said to yourself “I need to start a business around this!”? But you start and stop, sit and stew, or just do nothing. A lot of time we focus on how we are going to execute the idea rather that WHAT the idea is. Or if its even a valid one.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the weeds of how you plan on implementing your idea. Where you’re going to sell. What website you need to make. What the logo is going to look like.

But you’re more than likely forgetting a key step: Is this something that people are willing to pay for?

Your Baby

You need to sit down and specify who you’re wanting to sell to. Specifically, your goal is to finish this sentence:

“Oh, me? I help __________ to __(single group of people)__ which saves them a lot of time and money.”

if you’re doing services or  

“I sell __________ to _(single group of people)_.”

If you’re selling products

You’re then going to fill in the blank of one thing you do to a single group of people that helps them save time and money.

As a business owner, you’re going to need clients and customers. These are the people who are going to buy your idea from you. There really isn’t any way around it. You can’t operate on zero sales. Who doesn’t like sales?

We need to shift our mindset and take a hard look at our own product and idea and scrutinize it. Are we holding onto that idea or product because its “MY BABY!”? Yes, it’s your idea, but let’s take the time to do a little research to see if its a valid idea. Don’t be shy to modify and adapt. We’re going to do a little Market Research.

Market Research is a tool that will guide you to identifying EXACTLY who is willing to buy what you’re selling. Market research will help you find that group of people that your product may be interesting to. I generally break market research (finding and researching your customers) into two sub tasks; finding customers and reaching customers.

You’re going to want to do what is called “market research” to help validate your idea

1. Who, specifically, are you going to be facing (niche, market, clients, customers)
2. What is the problem that you’re hearing the most often
3. What are they willing to pay
4. Is it sustainable
5. Where do they hang out

I talk with Patrick Selby about how he focused on the “What” with a few pointers and what he learned from his mistakes. Check out FHS 19: http://freelancerheadstart.com/fhs-19-market-research-building-product/

Finding your customers, what their pain-points are, and understanding the value of your services is going to give you that head start that you’re looking for. It’s going to help get you out of that feeling stuck mode.

Finding and researching your customers is a shortcut to having people pay for whatever you’re selling. You’re able to accurately know what your customers and clients are willing to buy.

Finding Customers/Clients

That “group of people” piece from up above is now your identified customers and clients. Now we’re going to start identifying where your market lives.

The main tools that I personally use is Reddit.com, Meetup.com, and LinkedIn.com. This is the first step to finding and researching your customers.

Now that you know where your customers are, you can then start to research what you’re trying to sell them. You want to validate what you THINK they want to buy to what they are REALLY willing to buy. This is the second part of finding and researching your customers.

http://www.Reddit.com

Reddit is a forum style website that has millions of users and thousands of communities. One of these communities are going to be exactly your client base. On Reddit’s homepage in the upper right corner, you can search for what’s called subreddits. These are the specific communities where your clients and customers live. Within a few days or hours of using Reddit, you’re be able to identify at least 3-5 subreddits that focus on your niche. This may be one of the easiest places you’ll use when finding and researching your customers.

http://www.meetup.com

Meetup.com is a site that lists communities that line up with who your customers are. You can even find people who have similar tastes, ideas, or industries. Let’s say you’re that web developer that wants to find non-profit animal shelters. You could search “animal adoption drives” or “animal lovers of Atlanta” to find people who have similar interests. Then you can hone in on where and when they congregate. There are dozens of topics or groups or industries that meet all over the world and the States.

http://www.LinkedIn.com

You can think of LinkedIn as a social network for professionals. You can join specific communities within LinkedIn, connect with similar professionals, or target specific people in specific companies. LinkedIn has a very extensive search option that lets you find almost exactly who you’re looking for. You can pay for their premium level account and open up even more options for finding that specific client or audience.

Don’t be downhearted if you think you’re taking a while finding and researching your customers. What you’re actually doing is refining your niche and zeroing in on your customers and clients. I would honestly spend about 40-60 hours of effort to find and research your customers, and in turn, your product. If you can understand what your audience is thinking, what their pains are, and a way to help, you’re ready to position yourself as the expert!

Set Your Milestones

You may have a vague idea of what you’d like to accomplish with your product or service. And count that as good enough. But, each goal needs a plan, or it’s just a wish.

Once you’ve settled on WHAT you are going to be selling and to WHO, you can then slowly look at the vehicle to make it happen. It should be easier now because you know where your customers live, play, work, etc. You’ve gotten over one of the more difficult parts; now focus on getting your things in the hands of your customers/clients.

Create goals and milestones for yourself that can help you gauge if your idea and delivery methods are working. Don’t be afraid to change course when you realize something isn’t working. Your goals should have a something that is measurable behind it.

Say you want to sell T-shirts to concert attendees to a specific band. With your market research, you should have an idea on where those fans hang out (online, offline, conferences, etc) and you’ll be able to target them. Keep track of the performance of your sales when you sell in person, online, through 3rd party, etc. From those metrics, you’ll be able to refine HOW you are going to sell your products.

Now, this is a basic example but you can essentially track everything about your product and its performance. The HOW part. Eventually, you’ll find out a rhythm to what you’re doing and find that sweet spot.

Don’t forget, each goal needs to have a plan on how you’re going to achieve the goal and what ‘success’ will look like. One method in creating and achieving goals is the S.M.A.R.T. method.   

Focus on WHAT then HOW

Your product or service may go through many revisions before you will find if have an audience. Focusing on getting a product created and delivered before you even know if people will care will lose you a lot of time and money. Focus on the WHAT first; will people actually care about what i am offering?

If you find that the answer is “Yes”, THEN focus on How to deliver.

The post FHS 21 Figuring out the “WHAT” appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.

Lisa Treadwell – Boss Lady

Lisa is the QUEEN of pursuing those “What if…” ideas and making them into reality. Lisa is a Senior Business Analysis hailing from Chicago who take challenges head on an isn’t afraid to overcome her fears. Recently, Lisa took on the challenge of becoming a truck driver after many years as a Business Analysis. She planned on pursuing a trucking career to learn the ins-and-outs about trucking to one day own/operate her own logistics company.

She has shown time and time again that pushing through that barrier of ‘what if’ has success on the other side. Her resilience and drive to go after her goals and blaze her own path is inspiring. I talk to her the process and ideas she goes through when she looks at something and says “What if…”, because more often than not, she’s going to accomplish that goal.

Her History

• In the mid 2000s, she was off-on short term contracts
• Spiritual motivation
• Chicago was not working as expected, moved to Charlotte, NC on a whim
• Learned within 6-months did not like Charlotte
  • Finished Masters degree
• Moved back to Chicago, but soon moved to Ga
  • Joined CDC contract
• Epiphany: in order to gain some control in her life, she sought creating a company
• Get license for Trucking to start own trucking company
• Passed license course first time!
• Planned and put into motion to go out on the road for about a year
  • Lasted 4 months: learned a lot in the process
• Shifted goals to focus on Dump-trucks versus 18-wheelers
  • Refined goals to be more specific

What motivates you

• Reduce risk
  • False sense of security with a single company
• Control your income
• Unlimited potential income
• Self motivated rewards
• Long term – End life goals

Suggestions on pushing through the negativity

• Naysayers will be around and you can’t let them get to you
• Can’t let fears stopping you from your dreams
• Spiritual strength
• Looking where you cam from to where you are now
• Being realistic with your goals

Setting goals

• Make sure your goals are measurable
• Short term, medium term, and long term
• Write your goals down!
• Progress up the ladder
• Review your goals
• Focus on what you want to do

When to put things in motion

• Support from friends and family
• Financial safety net

The post FHS 15 Turning “What if…” Into Reality ft Lisa Treadwell appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.

The first (and often missed) crucial step to proper goal setting is to make sure that your goals are well thought out. A lot of people approach goal setting with a general idea of what they’d like to accomplish and consider this ‘good enough’. This does not count as setting a goal; you’re having a ‘wishful thinking’ moment.

Each goal needs to have a plan on how you’re going to achieve the goal and what ‘success’ will look like. One of my favorite method in creating and achieving goals is the S.M.A.R.T. method.   

Specific: The more specific and detailed your goal is, the more likely you are to achieve it. Write down your specific goals and make them visible! Seeing your goals on paper will help you subtly keep that goal in your mind. Remember, out of sight, out of mind.

Measurable: The more you are able to track progress, the more likely you are to succeed. How do you know where you stand if you do not know your starting point or where you currently are? Take stock of what your current situation is and have a metric that you can measure against. Let’s say you have 2 clients right now and you want to get 2 additional clients. THAT is a measurable goal.

‘I want to have more free time’ is also measurable. Keep track of your current free time and go from there. The point is to ensure that your goals have a “right now” and a “Where i want to be” number.

Attainable: Make sure that the goal you are setting is realistic to where you are starting and attainable. Every single person starts from the bottom. No-one starts off being #1 right out of the gate.

Make sure your measurable goals are realistic and attainable. Saying that, don’t be shy to push yourself a little.

Relevant: How relevant is this goal? Setting relevant goals will help keep you inspired and on track to reach your immediate and your long term goals. This also helps you to think deeply about what you are doing and if it is keeping you focused on your own personal ‘bigger picture’.

Building that momentum to achieve your goal is very easy in the beginning. Keeping it going is going to be the hard part! Create a goal that will contribute to your larger goal to keep yourself moving.  

Timely: Setting time limits helps maintain focus on the plan ahead and keeps you motivated and inspired to stay on track. Create small milestones for yourself that helps you gauge the progress on your goal!

Include rewards for reaching minor and major milestones as well. Everyone loves prizes, why not give yourself one for doing an awesome job?

Don’t set goals that are extremely far away or long. Break them down into attainable and smaller goals to keep that momentum going. Want to make 6 figures in your business? Start with 3 figures first then build up! Your accomplishments will seem like a piece of cake and you’ll be able to level up in no time.

Don’t forget, be real with yourself. Don’t create goals that are too far fetched or unrealistic. At the same time, you need to stretch yourself and push yourself to do the best you can.

You can always adjust and adapt your goals to changes of real life! No-one said that your goals are set in stone and CANNOT be changed. No-on said that you can change your goal marker of success. Do what you need to do to ensure that you’re winning!

A goal without a plan is just a wish.

The post FHS 14: A Goal Without a Plan is Just a Wish appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.