So, the question is: should you give up on your dreams of running a small business and concentrate on running a big business? Starting a small business is the easy part; developing it is a whole lot harder. When starting a business, you want to attract customers who know that they are serving a specific need in the community in return for their investment in your product or service. So, you will want to focus on developing relationships with people in your local community who have similar interests as you. As you are running a small business, this type of customer is thin on the ground.
And yet, small business owners often feel that they must allow people to information about their business. This is a conflict of ethics, because you have a responsibility to provide the most accurate information about your business. The more you give away for free, the more likely you are to attract hoards of customers who cannot afford to give you their information, because you are competing in an economic arena. So, it makes sense that you would want to give away free information.
But what about the people who live in the community with you? They don’t have your number and are looking for a way to find you.
So, how do you keep this from happening? The one thing you must do is keep your word. A lot of small business owners, when they are entering the public markets, tend to give away their contractor coats or information, in hopes that this will help them build a larger database of business patrons. I’m not saying that you should stop giving away your product; I’m just asking that you be more selective about which customers you ask for free information.
The same thing will happen if you stop giving away free information. You will build a much stronger database of people who know you and your business inside and out. Then when you do start to make money, rather than worrying about the bottom line, you will pour all of that extra time and energy into growing your business and determining how to increase your income. It is totally different than the way most small business owners think.
Futility in small businesses is the single most important barrier to successful small business owners. (The second biggest barrier is going to be resistance to taking action to position your business to take advantage of the opportunity. This is where many entrepreneurs give up.) If you are not taking advantage of every opportunity that comes your way, you are not getting ahead. You are still in denial about what will happen if you do nothing. This is what he calls the trap of resistance. You must get your mind out of the mode of simply thinking about the amount of money you would make, rather than actually doing something about it. So, you may keep the Government Casino idea in the back of your mind. But, you will have already written yourself the blueprint for success: the trap of resistance. As much as the trap of resistance is very apparent, it is a deeper, more fundamental problem within your business philosophy.
So, what to do when you blink at a yellow traffic light is suddenly trapped in between red and green? You don’t have a choice. You have to decide which of these two characteristics you will copy in your business marketing:
Dwelling on which number is greater or lesser. (Go ahead, I’ll give you two numbers. This will help you to decide which strategy is best for your business, rather than getting hopelessly muddled up.)
So, if success is going to come from a circular weave, it will not be a very attractive or successful circle. But, if you instead adopt a strategy of going outer and focusing on individuals and types of people that are different from your competitors, you will avoid a fate of failure.
The outer ring of the circus is where your suburbs are located. The people that you need to attract to your business are the people that like your concept. Then you combine the personal with the business. You make a strategy based on the knowledge that your niche is as large as possible, while still remaining personally focused and true to your mission. How you deal with people will be the driver of success for your business. After you have shaped your business to suit your unique personal vision, then you need to attract the people in your community who can best pursue your mission. Your ability to attract highly successful entrepreneur types is in your understanding of Human nature. If you fail to adjust to this Human nature, you will go out of business.
Once you understand Human nature, you will build your business with successful strategies that will bring more people into your life.