Use Your Experience to Build Your Business
Because of my experiences and exposure to businesses and their owners, I have to address the issue of ideas. For some strange reason, it appears most business owners feel that their success depends on the best idea at the time.
And they change their direction as frequently as the ideas come. I feel we need a reality check.
We all have good ideas and you do, too. But you also know that your ideas don’t always work. I say, “Ideas don’t work, good plans do.” That’s right, ideas don’t work, good plans do! When has anyone ever had a good idea without a good plan be successful? Well, it is impossible. Another thing is there is no such thing as a bad idea. Maybe the idea doesn’t fit what you want to do at the time. Maybe it isn’t exciting enough. Nevertheless, there is no such thing as a bad idea. They come from poor planning and communications.
How many ideas have you had flop because people didn’t understand it like you? You were pumped up. You may have even taken the responsibility to handle everything yourself, but little or nothing happened. You just couldn’t get enough energy behind the idea to make it work.
This is a very common and costly problem for a lot of businesses, especially when it comes to marketing. Business owners are so used to reacting to situations that it has become a habit to jump from one idea to the next without any real thinking or planning being done. We all know what planning is. And we know how it works. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it. The interesting thing is that all business owners are good planners at one thing or another. Perhaps they don’t give themselves credit for being a planner. If you have to carry inventory, you’re very careful about planning your purchases. If you’re a manufacturer, your process of producing goods is probably very scientific or exact. Even the service business has to work very systematically. Then why is marketing done so carelessly, when we know the importance of being thorough? You are using a plan, whether it’s written or not, every day to get the most out of your time and money.
Marketing requires an up-front investment in your business’ future, no different than a piece of real estate. Like real estate, if you develop it, the value increases. You must understand and accept what marketing is and does for your business to receive the full benefit of it. And that comes from constant planning of new ideas with the information and experience you are always gaining.
I understand that it is easier to work with what you know. But we all know that the rewards of being in business come from learning to do it better. With each year you’re in business, your knowledge and experience grows. So why is it marketing is such a mystery still? Maybe because it hasn’t received the attention it deserves. Maybe your marketing plans have gotten lost, or maybe you just never thought to sit down and review why and how you’ve made it this far.
There are unlimited benefits in planning your business’ future. One is you’ll learn you have to build it through marketing. It will keep you focused. It will help you learn new ways to get new customers. You’ll even learn how to keep your current customers. You’ll gain better control of your business and maybe learn to spend less while getting more. You certainly won’t have to struggle with getting people excited about your ideas when they’re well thought out.
Planning your marketing puts the full power of everything you have behind your ideas. And the better you plan, the better the results. You’ll know exactly what to expect and will always be ready for surprises. That alone is worth the effort.
