To say that there’s a “learning curve” when starting your own business is a true understatement. And sometimes, no matter how manybooks you’ve read, seminars you’ve attended, or coaching you’vereceived, there are still many lessons that you will simply have tolearn along the way.
Since starting my business back in 2007, I have learned many tough, yet important lessons that can only truly be learned through experience.These lessons learned have helped me to become much wiser and moresuccessful today, and I’d like to share them with you. This is part 1 ofa 3-Part series that will discuss the “hard knock life” of anentrepeneur/business owner, and share some useful insight and advicejust for you.
Here are the top 3 lessons I’ve learned as a business owner:
1) Don’t Chase Money, Build Relationships.
This may sound like a no-brainer, but in fact, when you’re starting out,you’re spending a lot of money on advertising, operational expenses,etc. So you have business expenses that have to be covered, and if yourclients aren’t covering them, that leaves you to handle it on your own,on top of your own personal expenses. This reality is one of the majorreasons why most businesses fail within the first 3-5 years. That beingsaid, no one wants to do business with someone that they don’t trust, orwhom they feel is simply after their money, and not interested insolving whatever problem they have, or providing them with greatservice. Additionally, by building a relationship with your clients,they turn from one-time clients, to long-term clients (which of courseleads to increased income for your business over time). Not to mention,happy clients tell their friends, family, and colleagues about yourbusiness, which helps to build a successful and reputable business foryou in the long run.
2) Don’t Chase Money, but Don’t Give Your Services Away either- Although it’s great to offer promotions, specialdiscounts, etc. for your services or products from time to time, it isalso important to keep things in perspective. Sometimes when you’restarting out you think that by lowering your prices you will ultimatelywin, because this will make your customers happy. But this poses twoproblems. One is that, if you don’t have a financial model in place foryour business that will allow it to survive and thrive over time, youare doing your clients a disservice, because your business won’t bearound long enough to help them. Secondly, people tend to place value onthings based on how much they cost. So, if you provide a specializedproduct or service, then your rates should reflect that. When youprovide superb service/products for your clients, they will be happy topay your rate, and appreciate it all the more. Do keep in mind that yourrates/prices should be within reason according to the type ofproduct/service you provide. However, you should never undervalue yourproduct/services in hopes of satisfying your customers, at your expense.This leads me to lesson #3…
3) You can’t please all of the people all of the time. The reality of business is this, there are two types ofclients/customers; a) the ones you can please, and b) the ones youcan’t. Your focus should be on doing your best to provide usefulresources to your clients, offer excellent customer service, conflictresolution, and a pleasant attitude. Give your best to your clients, andthat’s the end of it. Don’t waste energy on those who feel that yourbest isn’t good enough, because chances are, no matter what you do, youwon’t be able to please them. So, do your best, handle your businesswith honesty and integrity, treat your clients with respect andconsideration, and the rest is out of your hands.
Stay tuned for the next installment of this series…Also let me know if there are any specific topics you’d like to see me write about withinthis series. I look forward to your suggestions and comments.
This article added from my blog on Wordpress, http://danceprosusa.wordpress.com.
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