Your first 3 steps to start your business
You have decided to get organized and to start your business. But what now? Has the business world always seemed a little intimidating?
Perhaps you are a photographer and all you want is to schedule clients and go and take beautiful photos.
Or you are an architect and decided to leave that office job that was draining you, but now you are sitting by the computer anxiously waiting for new leads to arrive in your inbox.
Or you are a psychologist and are opening your first solo practice and do not know how to attract potential clients for special treatments.
I bet you already went on Google to search for things like "How to start my own business?", "How to start my photo studio?", and "How to get clients for my business?"
Can you relate?
I know that you must have had thoughts like:
- "This is not for me,"
- “I shouldn't have quit my job", or
- "It was a horrible idea to give up stability to pursue my passion.”
If that’s the case, don’t worry!
The first thing you need is a plan to help you define the three W’s of your business: what, who and where.
This plan is the foundation of any business. It’s the first step that every small entrepreneur must follow, but, let's face it - most business owners don’t think it through.
You decided to be a photographer, took your camera, and went out telling others that you were able to photograph families, weddings, products, births, and baptisms.
Or as an architect, you sent half a dozen emails to friends informing them of your new business, created Instagram and Facebook pages, and now you’re sitting by your computer wondering what’s next.
But not much is happening and now you don't know what to do. I can tell you that the first three important steps you have to take are:
1 | Decide what services you are going to offer (WHAT?)
That's right. You may want to photograph all different subjects and occasions, but remember: someone who specializes in everything is not known for anything. Instead, I recommend that you start with three services.
If you're a photographer, start with packages of four, six and eight hours of work, for example.
If you are an architect, you could offer designs for small apartments or office buildings, or even hourly design work.
If you are a psychologist, you could specialize in online sessions.
By organizing your services, you will guide your customer to an easier purchasing decision.
I know some professionals who say that they do not want to limit their services and that they want their customers to have freedom of choice.
But it wouldn't be much easier for you to:
- think about promoting only three services?
- write your blog posts specifically about these three packages?
- clearly define your target audience for these three segments?
I'm not saying here that you have to offer three packages forever.
I'm telling you to start with three.
Then in the future they may be profitable enough for you to break them down into sub-packages, or to offer additional services.
2 | Determine who your customer is (WHO?)
How exactly do you do this?
Determine who your ideal customer is: the one you would like to work with if you had a choice.
- Are they a man or woman?
- How old is he/she?
- Where do they live?
- What is their profession?
- What do you like to buy?
- What are their priorities?
- What is their marital status?
- What do they like to do when they are not working?
What do you need to determine this for?
It helps tremendously for you to direct your communication and efforts in order to reach this ideal client.
Note that we always write our posts with female pronouns. Why? Because our target audience is made up of women. More specifically, women ages 30+ who have arrived at a time in their professional lives when they are rethinking whether they want to continue with what they are doing now, or change their lives by pursuing a new career. They are professionals who like to travel and spend their free time with their family and friends.
Defining our “who” (my ideal client and audience), left our focused to write posts on social media and on the blog, define our language, our color palette, our photos, etc. Everything about our branding is focused on the audience we want to reach.
Who are you selling to?
Who do you want to read your posts? Be specific.
If you specify your audience well, you will find it easier to define the three packages we talked about in option 01 and discard what has nothing to do with it.
IMPORTANT: having a specific customer can do wonders for your conversion. Aren't you tired of receiving emails with questions that hardly convert into sales? Maybe it's because you're talking to everyone and not just one person.
3 | Where can I find you? (WHERE?)
Get an address on the internet, better known as a website. Define your style, organize your packages, plan your photos, write your content and create your website (We wrote a post recently that can help you with these tasks.)
When set up your site, remember that there are three pages that cannot be missed:
- About: your customers will love to know a little more about you: both your professional and personal life. People love to buy from people and not from companies.
- What you sell: on this page you will specify your three packages (can be with or without prices; we prefer to include ours, but this is super personal), how your services work, what you do, what to expect from your service , what problems you solve, etc.
- Contact: where your visitors can talk to you. There is nothing worse than looking for this information on the website and not being able to find it. Make your visitor's life easier.
We know that there are many important things that can contribute to the success of your business, but you can't do everything at the same time or right now, so how about choosing just one starting point?
Following these three simple steps (ok, the last one is not that simple), you will:
- Specify what you are going to sell (what?).
- Define your target audience (who?).
- Place your "welcome" mat on the internet (where?).
