Once upon a time my wife and I ran a preschool. Our preschool accepted infants. In the entire time we ran that preschool, not once did we ever see a walking baby.
However, the Internet seems to be full of promises to get your infant business on its feet and ruling the sandbox faster than you can click a PayPal button.
If you believe everything you read (and if you do, please step away from the keyboard before you hurt yourself), you’d think some entrepreneurs have uncovered a secret magical get-rich-quick formula and if you send them enough money, they’ll share it with you.
Just as an infant can’t ignore the vital steps in growing – picking up their head, learning to crawl, flipping over, standing and then walking, your business cannot afford to shortcut the growing process.
Yet business owners, especially online, often wish to skip their baby steps.
A toddler isn’t born walking. Neither is your business.
Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, McDonalds. If your business is printing its own money, it wasn’t started yesterday. Like a toddler, a business sometimes needs to fall a few times before finding the mobility needed to keep themselves fluid. Mistakes lead to ingenuity, ingenuity leads to innovations, innovations lead to success. Speed through these and you are likely to crash hard into the wall of diminishing returns.
My first steps and fall
Our preschool had a waiting list that ran half my height (I’m 6‘3”) within three months of opening, but that’s only because I’d learned from my earlier mistakes. Before the preschool, I owned a successful flower shop. I believed I could put a cart on every corner until I controlled the city. I expected each one would blossom, just because the mother store was in full bloom. Well, things didn’t work out quite like I planned.
Running without well developed muscles, I fell hard and lost it all.
The desire to skip our steps is strong enough when it comes to brick and mortar business. On the web, that feeling is amplified with each new ‘instant success’ we hear about. Every other webpage promises a wealth of passive income and that siren song can be tempting.
There is one thing most of these promise makers have in common (at least the successful ones). They’ve been building their businesses for a long time already. They studied what worked, learned from those before them and in most cases, innovated when necessary.
There are no easy steps.
Few, if any, huge fortunes are amassed overnight.
There is no ruby encrusted staircase ascending to the zenith of success, and no guru has ever downloaded a zip file full of magic that multiplied their monies while they slept.
They achieved success the same exact way you can:
They identified a legitimate need in the market that they could service.
They developed content that spoke directly to their target market.
Then refined that content to gently pull their target into a loving embrace.
Then continued to bond with their customers by giving them value without solicitation.
Then, and only then did they produce an offer for their prospect’s consideration.
Don’t forget what you knew as a toddler. Crawl with your prospects, then walk without falter all the way to the bank.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Too true Sean. Let your points serve to remind people the importance of baby steps, the neccesity of falling on your butt, and the need for patience. There are no quick fixes, yet the marketing machine makes it easy to forget that. The style of marketing you hi-light, and that targeted at kids and ‘unsure’ parents a true pet peeve of mine.
As you know, I started my business this past school year. We made our share of mistakes but learned a lot on the way. I just hate that those mistakes cost us some significant dollars. In spite of that, we still did better than expected our first year out, even allowing us to expand a bit this year. As far as this year is going, the phone is ringing!! :-)