How do we address this? Turn uncertainty into considered risk. How? We find evidence to confirm that there’s need in the market for your business.
Was I addressing a market need?
The answer: kind of yes … kind of no, not really.
In 2019 the mission of AMotherBrand was the same: to help more mothers build businesses they love that work around their families & thrive.
So far, so good, all my market research said there was a need for this sort of support. ☑️
However... it also revealed that they wanted targeted, trust-worthy training. Was I intending to provide this? Err, no. ❌ At this stage, my intention was to build a free platform that featured a searchable directory, was powered by advertising revenue and offered useful curated articles. I didn’t know how I could curate training, so none was planned. What was the big lesson I was learned here?
*I was focusing on what I wanted to provide, rather than what my audience actually said they wanted or needed. I also had the wrong business model, which was holding me back.*
Outcome? October 2019 I discovered that the correct business model for AMotherBrand was a Membership site. Suddenly everything was possible.
April 2020 I joined TRIBE, the world’s leading training on how to create a Membership site and I learned how to make it all happen. AMotherBrand as we know it, with targeted expert-led training, was brought into being. 🙌
Mistake #2 – (STILL THE SAME MISTAKE – DIFFERENT GUISE)
December 2020
I co-created a course with a brilliant expert with complementary skills. Neither of us had ever created a course before. We hired someone to create a sales page for us, but the resulting page was vanilla. It didn’t speak at all to the life-changing training we were excited to share with people.
I decided to rewrite the whole thing myself. I searched for guidance.
Life changing lesson I learned?
*Write the sales page first, work out what your audience really wants, then create it.*
Don’t create a course based on what you want to teach and then try to sell it. Provide what your audience actually needs and will buy. Obvious really. Outcome?
I rewrote the sales page (it’s now kick-ass) and then we re-wrote the course.
Here was the same mistake and the same lesson again: Give the market want it wants & needs, not what you want to give it.
Intuition versus market research
I sometimes hear entrepreneurs talking about building businesses based on ‘intuition’ alone and although I believe we should trust our inner ‘knowing’ and go with our gut, I also believe it’s essential to do thorough market research. Market research reduces our risks by showing us that we’ve got an audience who’s willing and excited to invest in it our product or service as soon as it’s ready.
Are your products and services based on what the market wants, or what you want to give them?
I highly recommend you invest some time talking to your ideal customer and finding out what they really want and need. This is so key. I’ve got a module on it in my upcoming course, Passion, Purpose & Profit. No matter what type of business you’ve got, you’ve got to make sure you’re investing your time and energy in something that people will buy.
* Have you made the same mistake as me in the past? * Or had to make the same mistake a number of times, before you really got the message?
HIt reply and let me know, I'd love to hear ❤️
|