My wife and I enjoyed a nice dinner at a new Indian restaurant last week.
The food was delicious.
Their service was excellent.
The price was surprisingly low.
And they'll be out of business in less than 6 months.
How am I so confident about this?
Because they're making the single-most common mistake in entrepreneurship:
They believe that talent is enough.
I'll use them as an example for why that same belief will screw you too if you don't learn how business really works.
First, know this: Anyone can start a business.
Second: Starting a business is not the same as staying in business!
The starting point feels like a massive victory, because it takes a lot of guts to finally do it. And, hey, I'm the first person to celebrate more entrepreneurs in the world.
What I'll never celebrate is the actions after starting a business that lead to the worst form of suffering you can experience in life outside of death and disease. If you think I'm exaggerating, hang out with more entrepreneurs and pay attention.
Keeping a business alive is an immense challenge. Founders are constantly faced with:
- Cash flow concerns
- Finding new leads and securing clients
- Personnel issues
- Keeping clients happy
- Little or no time for anything else
- Massive uncertainty
These are common issues that completely suck to experience. Yet, they're symptoms of mistakes that are remarkably simple to fix if you know how.
We'll start with fixing the most common mistake:
The belief that talent is enough.
You can be the best programmer who ever lived.
You could be the hottest designer in your industry.
You might be an ultra-effective coach that transforms lives.
None of this matters if the right people don't know you exist.
No clients = No business.
You'd think no one would argue this, right? Instead, this simple concept often devolves into Exhibit A for arguments over whether the quality of a product matters more than its fancy Marketing.
Frankly, it's something only amateurs fight over and I find it boring as hell.
I'll make this simple:
Of f*cking course your product or service has to be good.
If you're reading this, there's a 0% chance that you're someone who doesn't care about your clients or customers. And since you truly care, I know you're putting in the time and effort required to be really freaking good at your craft.
It's a given.
What's absolutely not a given is that people will find you simply because you're really good.
At best? You might get referrals—though likely not enough if you don't have a sophisticated Referral Program strategy.
At worst? Your business slowly dies on the vine with nothing to show for it. All because customers with cash in their hands have no idea you exist or don't clearly understand why they need you.
And this brings me back to the delicious Indian restaurant with the unfortunate future. My wife and I were one of only two couples at the restaurant from 6:30-7:30PM on a Saturday evening. This restaurant has enough seating for at least 60 people.
I know what the math looks like on a restaurant operation like theirs, and they are absolutely operating at a loss.
The question is: Why?
What are they doing wrong? Well, I'll just go down the list:
- No visibility
- No excitement
- No story that sets context
- No meaningfully unique offer
- No positive associations
This place is tucked away in a strip mall with low visibility, they have virtually no cohesive marketing with a powerful storyline, they offer nothing exciting or novel in their food or overall experience, they exist in a market with 20+ other Indian restaurants nearby, and they have no brand associations like a historic location or notable people vouching for them.
In short:
They don't own their Positioning in their Ideal Customers' minds.
And this, my friend, is where the vast majority of business owners find themselves.
- They're stuck in the Feast & Famine cycle
- They're screaming into the void
- They're spending too much time trying to find clients
- They're unsure of who their Ideal Client even is
- They're sure it should be easier, but don't know how to make things easier
- They're finding out that they bet on blind faith instead of effective strategies that all successful founders know
All of these are symptoms of the disease known as Irrelevance.
What cures Irrelevance?
You guessed it: Perfect Positioning.
Owning the Perfect Positioning in your Ideal Clients' minds means:
- High-quality clients and their cash flow to you
- You can trade surviving for thriving in business
- You establish authority in the exact market you want
How much better will your life feel when you're able to trade struggling for a business that just works and actually provides you the lifestyle you thought it would?
There's one way to find out.
You could try learning it the hard way over years of trial and painful errors.
Or, you can learn the skill in 12 weeks and use it forever:
Sign up for your call to learn more. I'll walk you through the Program phases and show you the powerful Business Dashboard tool that will change your business forever.
Join the other Founding Members by June 5, 11:59PM ET and receive no-brainer perks that no one else will ever get.
Don't wait around. We've capped the number of students, and spots are filling up fast. We would love to have you in this, but you gotta be decisive!
– Torrey