I once commented on having a sense of ‘indignation’ for finding your ‘why’.
If you’ve ever wondered about my ‘why’, this dispatch might give you an answer.
Someone recently sent me an article entitled Black women say goodbye to the job and hello to their own businesses. I don’t believe this is anything new or groundbreaking. Many are either walking away from their jobs or getting forced out of jobs, regardless of their race or gender.
The logical next step for many, then, is owning a business – creating a corporation or becoming a solopreneur.
What do they typically do next? They agonise over creating a ‘brilliant’ business name, a logo, a website (and a business card, if they are somewhat traditional). All the items on that ‘to-do’ list are things I consider to be distractions (aka shiny objects) and (sometimes unconscious) avoidance of the elephant in the room – not having an answer to or avoiding answering this question:
Who will be my first/next paying client?
The truth is that our first/next paying customer doesn’t care about our business name, logo or the existence of a fancy website as much as we do when we start out.
But the new business owner often tells herself:
“When I have a logo/website/this and that, I can start marketing my product/service.”
Instead, I say find your people and start working with them before anything else.
Some might argue that it’s a chicken & egg situation. I beg to differ because I’ve seen so many businesses having wasted valuable time and money tinkering with shiny objects only to realise that was all for nothing.
I help clients work through the fundamentals – who they are first and who their clients are next. Then they launch or relaunch their businesses. They do create shiny objects along the way, though not as a first step like so many other new businesses have done.
If this dispatch stirred something in you, it might be time to make some changes. If you think that change might include working with me, I invite you to apply for a brand audit consult. It’s free of charge but, obviously, it’s not going to be a good fit for everyone. And I’ll only work with you if you’re ready and willing to do the work to succeed.
P.S. Still undecided? If you like reading, most likely yes if you’re reading this, why not try my book How Do You Want to BE SEEN. It’s available as a hardback and an ebook.
