Tuesday 12 November 2013

…The Rest of the Story… The Learning Curve


Your EI has run out, and you have taken out early retirement.  So, now you at least are earning $300 a month…woopee!  (They take 30% off for early retirement.)
However, that is not going to pay the bills, Right?  You do have some savings, but that will not take long to burn through, so that is why you have started your own business…Right!
Remember, “Nobody wants you”.  You have sent out tons of resume’s and when you finally got a response, they offered you a little above minimum wage?
Hence, begins the largest learning-curve of your entire life!
You have come all this way in life and have all the wonderful expertise, experience, wisdom and knowledge only to find that it is not enough!  What do you mean!!!?…It’s not enough?!!!
Here are the “goods”.
You now live in a different age… the internet age.  Everything is high-tec.  You need to be engaged with things like email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.   Oh yes!  You will also need a website/blog site.
No, I don’t mean you need to “get married” to them, however, you will, at times feel like you are.   Tee-Hee!
“How much is this all going to cost me?” you ask.
Probably your house and your first born…J  Not really!  There is light at the end of the tunnel!
Now that your brain feels like it is going to explode because of hyper-expansion, take a deep breath.  Relax and take it all in a step at a time.
Breathe…   Breathe…
Most of establishing your online presence can be FREE!  That’s right…absolutely FREE!  It will cost you some time, however.  Here are some simple steps that you might want to take in order to get started.
  1. Start with one thing at a time.  Have you ever tried to eat an elephant?  Well it seems insurmountable when you look at the huge monster of the whole animal, but if you were to eat it one bite at a time, it would be easily consumed.  (It might take you a few years.  Just the same, I think I’d like my well done, thank you very much!)   …I digress…
  2. Ask yourself  some key questions about your product or service that you intend to offer in the marketplace.  Who are your potential customers? Would it be businesses or private individuals who would purchase from you?  Where are your potential customers located?  For example:  If it would be businesses that purchase from you, then you need to concentrate your efforts through those social media forms that cater more to B2B (Business to Business).  The social media that would apply first would be LinkedIn, then Twitter, then a Facebook Page, and a website.  Oh, yes…and email…we must have email…Oh!  You do have email.  Great!  You are off to a good start.
  3. Pick which of the media you want to engage with first, and work on it until you can understand it and use it with ease before adding something new.   All too often I see people frantically getting all their social media profiles set up at the same time, and they end up confused, or taking even longer to get themselves established with their online presence.  Hence, more customer absenteeism.
You thought you were busy before, eh?  Wait until you hear “the rest of the story.”
The Marketing Mentress
www.marketingmentress.com