Business Brainstorm
I love to go it on my own. Be in control. Take all the credit.
It saves me from having to depend on anyone. Which is just a fancy way of saying no one is depending on me.
It also saves me from having to manage anyone. Which is also just a fancy way of saying I’m afraid to lead.
Growing my business over the last 5 years has meant that I’ve slowly pulled back the layers of resistance in asking for help, collaborating with others, and forming a team. I’ve run into roadblocks, confronted frustration, and finally opened up to getting the support I needed.
But nothing has cracked me as wide open as the process of opening a downtown, brick & mortar business.
This week, I’m opening the doors on a mini-coworking space in Astoria, OR, called CoCommercial. There will be a core group of 8 members, a wider network of day users, and a community full of workshop leaders & event goers.
It’s a giant step toward “we” and away from “me.”
Opening the space has required sharing my vision and asking for what I want from numerous people. I’ve had to negotiate the lease, get neighboring businesses on board, and hire local contractors. I’ve had to talk with my partner–an extremely vulnerable discussion–about helping with the initial phase of workshop bookings. And I’ve made difficult decisions about who & what I would invest in.
This would have all been impossible for me 5 years ago. Maybe even 2 years ago. And not just because I wouldn’t have had the money or the right location then. But because I couldn’t see past my desire to be on my own and in control.
I’ve started to realize that so many of us are drawn to microbusiness because of those two things: the desire to only have ourselves to blame and the desire to have all the control & take all the credit.
Venturing into microbusiness is an important personal lesson in self-reliance, a lesson that so many of us need after breaking free from a world of paychecks, micro-managing managers, and paved roads to “success.” But it’s possible to be self-reliant to a fault.
Once you’ve cleared your own path, are you the only one that can travel it?
So many opportunities have been lost because I’ve been unable to partner with the right people, people who were asking for my partnership. So much time has been wasted because I’ve tried to maintain complete control over every project. So much money has been left on the table because I wouldn’t give up control of systems I had no business managing.
So much goodwill has been squandered because I couldn’t just say “Here’s where I need your help.”
I’ve gotten so much better in the last 2 years. But all signs point to this venture continuing to push me toward a mindset of community/team/network-powered growth. While CoCommercial isn’t designed as a real revenue generator for my business, I believe that the lessons I’m learning and the personal growth I’m experiencing will lead to massive changes in the areas of my business that do generate revenue.
Where I saw brick walls before, I’ll see launching pads.
I wonder if all the microbusiness owners I know, support, and love would break through the same internal barriers, what amazing projects could they complete? What daring initiatives could they put out into the world? What new solutions could they innovate to serve others?
The fact is that community is the greatest resource you have for bringing big ideas to fruition. Forget money, forget infrastructure. Heck, you can even forget your “list” (but I don’t recommend it).
Ask for what you need. Think beyond your own capabilities. Create plans that depend on others.
Pair your idea capital with network capital and watch the return on your investment.
Art of Earning, Business Brainstorm
Coffee can cost you 69 cents, $1.29, $3.25, or even $6.99…
…and I’m just talking a simple cup of joe, not a latte or cappuccino.
The same is true of life coaching, web design, weight loss programs, yoga classes, virtual assistance, or any other New Economy service or offer.
Price is relative. Price tells a story. And pricing is a decision to be made, not a hole to fall into.
Coffee can teach us a lot about pricing
How much should a cup of coffee cost? And what does that have to do with how much you should sell your product, app, program, or service for?
The first answer is, it depends. The second answer is, everything.
The price of a cup of coffee is influenced by a lot of factors. And one of the factors that influence it least is the material cost of the beans.
Even expensive coffee beans tend to be relatively “cheap” (with a few notable exceptions).
The factor that influences it most is perhaps the different markets it’s sold in. You can get coffee almost anywhere, and where you get it influences how much you expect to pay.
Grab a 64oz Big Gulp of coffee at a gas station and you might pay 69 cents.
Pick up a 24oz coffee at a fast food chain and you might pay 99 cents.
Sip on a 16oz coffee from a specialty chain and that’ll set you back a little over $2.
Or, sidle up to the brew bar at high-end coffee establishments and that cup of coffee might set you back $5-7 (yes, I’m still talking about brewed coffee, not espresso).
While there is certainly a difference in the cost of the materials, overhead, and labor at these establishments, the price of a cup of coffee is influenced as much by the conversation you share with your barista, the environment of the shop, and the people you expect to meet there.
The same dynamic is at play with digital products and most services. While there are hard costs that influence price, most of the price is subjective and based on many factors that have nothing to do with materials or overhead.
Meaning influences price to a huge degree
The price of coffee is also largely dictated by what the product means to its customers.
Gas station coffee is a necessary evil, the solution to the problem of working too many hours, too early in the morning. Fast food coffee is a convenience, a simple pick-me-up in the middle of a hectic day.
Specialty chain coffee is a predictable luxury. Brew bar coffee is an experience all its own, a ritual, a little slice of heaven for the connoisseur.
If the local specialty shop started charging 69 cents for a cup of coffee, it would be jarring to your consumer mind.
You’d ask, “Why?” and you’d expect an answer about a promotion. If they just exclaimed, “Well, that’s what it costs,” you’d start to wonder, question its quality, wonder about the people running the place.\
If you price your products or services discordantly from what your customers expect to pay, you’ll leave them wondering the same things.
Whether too low or too high, the price of your product is suddenly something that makes people uncomfortable. And uncomfortable people don’t buy.
If your product or service promises a big life change or meaningful transformation, the price should be fit into that context.
To make sure you’re putting your customers at ease with both the experience of your product or service and the price you’re asking them to pay for it, consider these questions:
- What do you want your product or service to mean to your customers?
- How do you want them to experience your product?
- What does your customer expect your product to mean to them?
- How does the set of features you’ve arranged for her add up in her mind?
- What other products, services, or solutions might he be relating to your product?
Pricing is largely a chicken & the egg scenario
And too often, business owners play chicken.
You don’t have to price your products like a gas station prices coffee. You can choose to have a more refined aesthetic, offer a more distinct point of view, cultivate a more demanding clientele, create more favorable positioning–and charge more.
It’s your choice.
Don’t believe that these factors are out of your control. If there is any part of your business that you believe is negatively impacting your ability to set the price you want, take control and change it.
Adjust your brand or positioning, change marketplaces, rework your network, invest in design. Create an experience that really means something to your customers and results in a sustainable, profitable price for your product.
Make your customers comfortable with both the value your business is creating and the price you ask your customers to pay. And then have a cup of coffee.
Business Brainstorm, Customer Perspective Process
Your product isn’t just about filling a need but creating a new source of meaning in your customers’ lives. Beyond that, the connection between what is meaningful to the creators of a brand and what is meaningful to the consumers of its products create something that transcends the transactional.
In his book, Design-Driven Innovation, Roberto Verganti writes, “people do not buy products but meanings.”
Simon Sinek famously asked, “Why do you do what you do?” as a way to position your brand and lead the market. But I find that two more effective questions are “What does your product mean to your business?” and “What does your product mean to your customers?”
When your brand is grounded in meaning, you can create the messaging, merchandising, and marketing that tells a story that customers can really buy into. Click to tweet!
Further, when your business can imagine ways to innovate on the meaning of your product, you can create new products that aren’t just different but true game-changers.
Below are 5 brands that really know what value means to their customers. They measure their success in meaning and consistently make decisions based on representing that meaning in their customers’ lives.
Starbucks
Starbucks is a gimme. They trade on ubiquity and consistency while capitalizing on the ever-growing love of craft coffee.
The white & green paper cup represents a known quantity, in the best way possible. Starbucks customers know that inside their cup is the same beverage they always drink, whether in Seattle, the suburban jungle, or the regional airport.
They’ve taken steps in recent years to shore up this consistency. With the launch of the Verismo home brewer last year, Starbucks is hoping customers want to take this meaning home with them, too.
Evernote
I’m a devoted Evernote user for one simple reason: it means I never have to forget a great idea. Evernote knows this. The headline on their website right now is “Remember everything.”
They know that’s what their product means to their customers so they’ve made an effort to build out the application on every platform. They’ve also incorporated new features like reminders and shortcuts to make sure great ideas never pass its users by.
Moo
Moo specializes in easy-to-create business cards. But beyond that, what they really create are conversation starters. The very nature of the product–its customer photos and slick design–give its customers something they can be proud of and something they can use to spark discussion.
For Moo’s customers–budding business owners–that could mean the difference between paying the bills each month or not. That business card isn’t just a way for people to contact them, it’s the key to starting a relationship with someone who could be a lifelong customer.
Copyblogger
Copyblogger specializes in “tools & training to make your content work for you.” After teaching copywriting, blogging, and content marketing techniques in its popular blog for many years, Copyblogger launched several software tools that supported its key content strategy. For the Copyblogger team, it meant no longer relying on the increasingly difficult prospect of monetizing content or selling information products.
But for their customers, the move to software meant making it much easier for them to actually put all that great Copyblogger advice to use. Instead of creating content no one was consuming, their customers could find ways to connect to more readers through search, build more effective landing pages, and have better converting websites. And what does that mean to their customers? More money, less time wasted.
Megan Auman
It’s not just big businesses that understand what their products mean to their customers. In fact, small businesses might even have an easier time. Designer Megan Auman could sell her jewelry on its features & benefits: it’s made from recycled steel, weighs next to nothing, and is insanely durable. But her tagline tells a different story, one that really means something to her customers.
Megan Auman products are about “making a statement every day.” For her customers, that means feeling their best no matter whether the day’s outfit is a t-shirt and jeans or their favorite little black dress. In fact, Megan calls her signature line the “little black necklace.” That’s value that immediately means something to her customers and changes the way they approach jewelry.
No matter the product or service your business offers, it means something to your customers. Understanding that meaning–what it looks like, feels like, even smells like!–is the key to making the marketing, product development, and sales decisions that will make your business hum.
Art of Growth, Business Brainstorm
Part of understanding the way your business works is understanding the costs associated with the way it generates revenue. For a low overhead business–most online or service-based businesses are–costs can be an afterthought.
How much does it cost to hop on Skype with a client? How much does it cost to produce an ebook or a teleclass? Beyond initial investments in design or tools, there is little monetary cost and almost none in terms of distribution or production.
But it’s a mistake to discount the softer costs of this work.
What are soft costs?
They’re the costs that can’t be measured in money. Soft costs could be felt in time, energy, or reputation.
Soft costs are the ones that eat away at your lifestyle, your relationships, and your personal satisfaction.
While the work you produce might be profitable financially, is it profitable energetically? Relationally? Temporally?
In 10ThousandFeet, we work to make sure each business is investing in creating products and services that are profitable across the board. We measure all the costs. We consider whether revenue streams are really worth the soft costs they demand.
Can you reduce the soft costs of your current revenue streams?
Soft costs often add up when a revenue stream demands you to exercise one of your (or your business’s) weaknesses instead of leveraging one of your strengths. That happens when you try to create a service that doesn’t fit the way you like to work or when you create a product that’s popular but not suited to your creation style.
Where are you losing profit to soft costs based on your business’s weaknesses or working style?
Soft costs also accrue when you make a decision that’s either out of integrity or out of alignment with your brand or big idea. It doesn’t even have to be a “bad” decision, it could just be unexpected or a little confusing for your customer base.
Where have you incurred soft costs due to decisions or directions you’ve taken in your business?
Sure, you want to optimize the bottom line just don’t forget the soft costs in your calculations.
Business Brainstorm, Customer Perspective Process
One of the chief mistakes I see vision-driven entrepreneurs (that’s you, right?) making as they try to build businesses, market their products or services, and grow a community of loyal customers is that they confuse “buy in” and “buy now.”
Knowing the difference–and when to use each–is key and your business requires both to truly thrive.
What is “buy in?”
“Buy in” is how you engage your clients around your vision and purpose. It gives them a big picture taste of the what’s-in-it-for-me and it often points to how they are connected to other customers and community members. “Buy in” excites, motivates, and catalyzes. It brings people together. It rallies a small army to work toward a single goal.
Narratives are the stories that infuse our life with meaning. The narrative of business matters greatly, not only to the business community, but to every human being alive.
— John Mackey, Conscious Capitalism
The “buy in” for your business creates meaning and ties a community together:
- What stories give your business meaning?
- What ideas or mission will your customers want to buy into?
- What vision drives you as a creator and your customers as consumers?
“Buy in” gets people on board but it won’t get them to “buy now.”
What is “buy now?”
“Buy now” is a small step that brings your customers and stakeholders closer to making your vision–the “buy in”– reality. It’s a task to be completed, a milestone achieved, a question answered. It’s the job to be done and the result of its accomplishment. It’s concrete.
“Buy now” represents a marker on the journey between the present and the promised future. It delivers stick-to-your-ribs value to an acute need. It’s not “quick fix” but it’s not so big & dreamy that your customer can’t realize why she needs it now instead of later.
It’s the “buy now” that so often my clients get stuck on. In an effort to make their businesses appear as benevolent as possible, they spend all their time and energy–and their customers’ attention–on the “buy in.” That creates amazing amounts of goodwill, a chorus of well wishes, and many pats on the back but it doesn’t create much in the way of dollars and cents.
Your “buy now” must address a real & present need, desire, or question that your customers are already thinking about:
- What are your customers googling today?
- What do they discuss with colleagues or friends?
- What would they like to be easier, more convenient, less expensive, or more effective… right now?
Use “buy in” when you’re gathering people to your movement or when you’re trying to get your base excited about an idea. You might do this in blog posts, videos, or emails between launches or at the beginning of a launch cycle when you’re actively trying to garner attention.
Use “buy now” when you’re writing sales copy or calls to action. Use it in content towards the end of a launch cycle to prove your product or service can deliver results. Use it as you develop new products & services.
Your business needs a healthy dose of both “buy now” and “buy in” to get the results you want: more impact and more sales. But is it getting the most bang for its buck?
Big Thinking, Business Brainstorm
Warning: What follows is a lede you probably never expected to see in a business publication…
In the last 4 months, I’ve found myself in a position to give online dating a go. I’m merely a dabbler, but the process has left me wondering about what lurks in the murky depths below the “matching & winking” at the surface.
When I initially wrote my profile, I made it big and bold. I used words like “ambitious” and “driven.” And I reasoned, if a guy is turned off by that, he’s not the right guy for me.
And that’s not untrue.
But it’s not the whole truth.
The whole truth is that ambition and drive are characteristics that don’t often lead to attraction. I don’t just say that because I’m a woman. Those same qualities in a man might mean he’s prone to workaholism or keeping relationships at a safe distance. Not exactly sexy.
Four months into this little personal experiment and I can say I’ve come to one conclusion.
I put “ambitious” and “driven” at the front of my profile for 1 reason: I wasn’t as serious as I thought about trying to attract attention. It made it easy for me to say “There are no good men on this site!” or “Men just can’t handle a woman like me.”
This week, I came across two resources on online dating that piqued my interest. First, a book by the founder of eFlirt Expert, Laurie Davis, called Love at First Click. The second was a Wall Street Journal article called “Hacking the Hyperlinked Heart.” Both are about online dating strategy. They’re based on loads of personal experience and gobs of research.
Last night, I adjusted my profile. I followed the advice in the WSJ article and toned down the work stuff, concentrating on what I like to do when I’m not working. I talked about being driven by curiosity instead of ambition. I led with my love of travel, lattes, and wine. I talked about cooking and eating out.
It was true. It was sincere. And it felt attractive.
Then I messaged a few guys, winked at a few more, and ate dinner. In the span of a few hours, I had more activity on my profile than I’d had in 4 months.
It’s a good (re)start. No telling where it will go from here, but I feel like I’m taking myself and my goals seriously, all the while not allowing myself to blame anyone else.
“What does this have to do with business?” you might ask.
I’ll tell you. Many business owners nowadays do and say a lot in the name of sincerity, authenticity, and transparency. Sometimes this takes the form of blatant over-sharing, but it can also take the form of not following through on a big idea, not polishing their sales copy, or simply ignoring solid practices because they want to do it “their way” in an effort to be different for different’s sake.
Just as I wrote my dating profile in a way that allowed me to blame the guys, many business owners choose to operate in a way that allows them to blame their potential customers.
“They just don’t understand the value of what I do.”
“If they can’t handle my honesty, I don’t want their business.”
“No one is looking for what I create.”
When you choose sincerity without a care for strategy, you set yourself up to lose. Click to tweet. Maybe that’s what you’re looking for. Though, I’d put my money on the cause being your fear of true success. It’s not that you’re trying to lose (who does that?), it’s that you’re fearful of succeeding.
You’d have to serve the big client. You’d have to write the book. You’d have to create the life-changing program.
You’d have to put it all on the line despite the uncertainty of the outcome.
Sounds pretty much like dating to me…
Strategy and sincerity are not mutually exclusive. The question is: Does allowing sincere communication to fit within a strategic framework make it less true?
I wholeheartedly believe it does not.
On the contrary, allowing strategy to be your framework for relating sincerity means you have a much better chance of actually communicating in a way that allows your customers to see the whole picture, understand how your business can serve them, and make a true impact in their lives. Best practices, tried & true techniques, and definitive strategy work because they shed light on what we share as human beings.
When you inject your own personal truth into a framework of strategy, your truth comes in contact with our most profound sources of connection. You can do the good you’re meant to do through your business because you give your potential customers the best chance of being attracted to what your business has to offer.
Like so many aspects of business today, it’s both/and, not either/or. Choosing to engage both sincerity and strategy is a winning combination.
But, business owner beware, if you start combining sincerity and strategy, you might actually have to go on a few dates.
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More praise for The Art of Growth
“What I appreciate about Tara’s work is that she smartly, succinctly, and intelligently lays out a path for the entrepreneur to leapfrog some of those steps that can lead to burn-out and abandoned dreams.”
— Jennifer, via Amazon
“…the value here is not just in the amazing concepts and philosophy Tara describes, but in the practical how to that’s woven in.”
— Anne Samoilov, Launch Strategist
“Your new book #artofgrowth is jammed packed w many layers to digest, consider + work with! So, thorough and thoughtful!”
— Teresa Capaldo, coach for the creative and soulful
“…truly opens your mind to what is possible.”
— Tat, Mum in Search
Click here to grab your copy.
