Your Passion, Your Story, Your Revenue

How to drive cash flow

Passion is the foundation of any great business and can be the impetus to accomplish things beyond our own expectations. It makes us feel confident. It also gives us the energy and willpower to transform an idea into reality, a reality that will become a story that others would love to listen to. 

Creating a compelling story and brand around your passion and learning to develop the brand into revenue are the keys to success. The Truth About Succeeding in Small Business today is that passion, plus vision and purpose are keys to results.

The Case Study:

Business owners and entrepreneurs can share their visions by learning how to create a business development plan for a new product or service. They are eager to talk about their ideas and what they are doing to grow their companies.

Through my conversations with countless entrepreneurs and small business owners, both young and old, I have found a common thread they say, “I have the best product, service, or idea.” This statement is often followed by: “How can I increase my revenues?”

Writing your strategic approach for a small business or service will help you sort out and clearly define what your business is about. It should include your service’s value proposition and demonstrate your understanding of the market and clients. What are the unique selling points that differentiate your business? If your product is the best, tell your potential client exactly why. 

The Outcome:

While most entrepreneurs have a clear passion for their product or service and can share their stories about why they were excited about their business, few have spent the necessary time evaluating how their story resonates with their target market, calculating the exact revenue numbers they need to sustain and grow their companies.

When trying to understand what’s working and not working in your strategy, the following steps must be employed to generate revenue and achieve results in any company: 

● Do Your Homework – Passion can’t replace research. You can’t know how to market your product until you know the answers to the following questions: “What other products exist in this marketplace? How much do those products or services cost?” and “Where/ How are these products or services being sold?

● Ask Questions – Make a few information-gathering calls to test the waters. Ask potential client’s what factors they consider when determining whether to buy your product or service. 

● Create a Plan – Once you are done with research and data gathering, it’s time to create a marketing plan. Your plan can incorporate steps 1 and 2. Depending on your business, this may involve sending a mailer to potential clients or targeting a list of potential affiliate partners. Regardless of the plan, make sure you have a clear picture of what you want to do and when you want to do it (deadlines included). 

● Execute Your Plan – Commit to executing your marketing strategy and do not allow any operational activities, personal obligations, or distractions to get in the way of implementing your marketing strategy. As a small business owner, what you do today affects what you earn tomorrow. We must stay focused to see results. 

● Evaluate – As new small business owners, we should take the evaluation phase seriously. We must measure the results of our marketing plan in order to understand what needs to change. Waiting until the end of the year to evaluate your marketing strategy puts the business in danger of wasting time and money on less-effective strategies that don’t produce results. 

● Seek Help – If you have trouble with any of these steps, do not hesitate to ask for help from someone experienced in business. No small business owner can be expected to know how to do everything. In fact, even if you have a good sense of what needs to be done, the second set of eyes can offer a different perspective and allow you to make improvements that you might not see. 

Whether it is a business partner, family member, friend, or business coach/consultant, you are sure to improve your efforts with a little help!