Posts Tagged ‘Entrepreneur’

Economic Turbulence – How to keep your Head Above Water with a New Venture.

It’s been a while since we last posted here at Foilball. Personal responsibilities have taken over for the last few months. As I am sure many of you can relate, we have felt under the gun over the last year with the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, economic crisis, and more often than not just the little things in life that slow you down.

It has been a challenging time for American and global economies. We have pushed and pulled ourselves in every direction looking for change and the promise of a new tomorrow. Many of us have taken to the solo route, using our skills and abilities to push forward during these turbulent times.

What can you do to stay afloat in today’s kill or be killed atmosphere? We read a ton about people popping up with home business, get rich quick schemes, infomercials, “as seen on TV” ads, etc. How do we decipher what really works and what is just another scam hitting the ever growing e-shelf of business.

Here are a few steps to protect you against the arsenal of rip-offs, internet scams, and get rich quick methods.

1. Use your head – Nothing beats common sense. If it feels too good to be true it probably is. I was watching an infomercial on Internet Millions the other day and I said there has to be a catch here. First off, if these guys are making so much why are they selling their secrets, even more so, why are they selling them for $30 on TV? Most of these skits are selling a product that is making these people the millions they are talking about!

2. Hard Work – The sound of making millions at the press of a button is quite alluring. I press plenty of buttons every day and I can attest that there is no easy way to get rich. All the people I know that are well off or have above average incomes worked damn hard to get there. Nothing beats hard work and persistence. Find something you love and stick with it! Many people turn their dreams into reality.

3. Research – Watch out for people asking you for your hard earned money whether it is a small or large investment. Most reputable business ideas have proven business practices that got them there in the first place. Think twice when these websites and salesman are doing just that selling you! Is it hard to believe that you can buy your financial freedom for a small purchase of an e-book? Sounds too good to be true… usually it is. Do your research and if you are genuinely interested in a new business take the time to dig deep and find the right methods that have worked for other people.

You may have notices that this post doesn’t tell you what to do but rather how to approach a new business. Having the right mindset in your next venture might just save you a long drawn out headache in the end. As with any business using common sense, hard work, and doing your research can indeed yield you better results than jumping off the bridge into a new project you know nothing about until you make an investment.

Quick and Easy Steps for Creating a Guerilla Marketing Business Plan

These days every business needs to have a solid marketing strategy to make it anywhere. If you don’t know where to even begin you should start with creating a high level marketing plan that gives you and your customers the direction they need.

The great thing about a Guerilla Marketing Plan is that it shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes to create. If you go beyond this then well you are probably including too much too early. You can accomplish most of your plan in one sentence and I will show you how.

GMP’s are creative, high-level, targeted, marketing outputs that drive results for your business.

Creating A Guerilla Marketing Plan

Each piece of your plan should be accomplished in one sentence. This keeps your plan concise, clear, and obtainable when it comes time to put it into action.

1. What is the purpose of your marketing strategy?

This is the action that you wish your customer’s to take. Statements like; click on your website, call a number, go to your store location.

2. What is your competitive advantage?

This is the why. Why will your customer’s take the action you described above? Explain your advantages here. What do you offer that your competition doesn’t?

3. Who is your Target Audience?

What customer’s are you trying to reach? This is focus, specific, and as narrow as possible.

4. What will you use to accomplish the above?

What mediums will you be using to market to your target audience that drives them to complete the overall purpose of your marketing plan? Keep this within reach as budget, time, and effort are all apart of the equation.

5. What is your differentiator or positioning?

Do you offer the best pricing, best service, best user experience, etc?

6. Who are you?

This is the part where you tell them about YOU. Your identity is one of the most important pieces as it creates buy-in with your customer. We are an honest reliable electronics retailer with over 1000 satisfied repeat customers.

7. What’s your budget?

Let’s all be realistic, if we had the money to market in all the best spots we would be doing it. Setting a budget keeps things real and gives you clarity to what you can reach as far as your goals.

In about 7 sentences you should have your marketing plan ready to go. I read this strategy in Entrepreneur magazine and have applied it to another business I am working on. It has really put things in perspective and helps to keep your vision inline with what your capabilities are. Jay and Jeannie Levinson are the writer’s of Startup Guide to Guerrilla Marketing and I believe most of this originates from their book, I suggest you check it out.