29 Jan Getting Started in Business
Good morning. Good afternoon. Maybe I should even say good evening. Whatever time is it, wherever you are in the world right now, hello and welcome. Thank you so much for joining me for today’s YouTube update.
Merry Christmas. No, no, no that’s not it. Wait. Happy New Year. No, no, something is still missing. Hey Happy Birthday everybody. What animals need oiling? Mice, because they squeak.
Okay. We’re off to a bit of an odd start here, but I want to give two points to you that you can actually use to improve things in your business. Very simply, they are this. Number One; we want to work real hard at our businesses to make sure that the content we provide, the videos that we record, the things which we write, actually have an evergreen content to them. That simply means, if it’s Christmas time, you don’t want to be saying, “hey, it’s Christmas” to everybody, and then end up looking like the Grinch, when later on someone plays that video and it’s no longer Christmas.
Same as birthday time. Same as Happy New Year time. Same as Hanukkah time, or whatever. When you create especially good products, you want to add an evergreen factor to them. So talk principle. Talk strategy. Try and stay away from particular how-to, like this website, that website, and those websites. I mean, remember the days of overture? Remember goto.com? If you’ve only been in business a short time, you probably don’t remember them.
The simple truth is this. Not every business that you’re not rushing into right now will be in operation again in a couple of years time. So evergreen means talk preferable. Talk philosophy. Talk strategy. Talk things which will be the same today as they will be tomorrow, because there is a success principle that you can apply to your business now over the next five, ten, fifteen years. Okay. That’s number one.
Number two. This is a question which I’ve had asked to me many, many times over the last few months. I don’t know why it’s come about more and more often. It just simply is. But people are asking me. They’re new in their business and they want to know, “Paul, how do we get started?” What do you mean you don’t know what to do when you’re starting your business? They want to know how to get started and what they should be doing first. I mean, we’ve got a website, we’ve got a product and we’re starting to get people there and we’re doing this, and we’re doing this, but it doesn’t work for so many people. Why? Simple reason. You have to ought to have a shit load of money to put into the top of your sales files and get people there, or you have to have an existing big list, a big database to put people into the top of your sales file and convert them into customers.
So then, if you don’t happen to have a bucket load of cash, and you need to get people into the top of your sales file, then the easiest way to do it is with a list. So there are two different things you can look at here. Number one, you can use your own list. Or number two, you can use somebody else’s list, joint venture marketing, and build your own list from there.
Here’s the thing. If you’re getting started in business and you don’t yet have a good solid list of your own, guess what you should be doing this Christmas, this birthday, this New Year, this month, next month, last month, the one before, the one coming, the next one, next weekend. It just goes on and on and on. Guess what you should be doing? You should be building lists.
So if someone comes to me and says, “look Paul, I’ve got a great idea and I’ve got my website out and I’ve got my product out but I’m just not making money”, I’m saying to them, “well, tell me about your list. Show me the numbers.” You need at least 500 people on your list, 1,000 better, minimum, absolute minimum, and you build that list and then you market to that list. Now, what do you market to that list? Do you market to them, your product?
Your service? Sounds like a good idea and yes, it is a good idea; but, I’m going to make one suggestion so if you listen carefully will make the biggest difference of all in your business this year. Here’s what I want you to do.
I want you to stop worrying, stop thinking about what it is you want to do and begin asking your customers what it is that they want you to do. Do you understand the difference? Can you see how important this is? Imagine it just for a moment. You stop doing what you want to do in your business and you start doing what they want you to do in their business. Do you think you’ll have results? Imagine this. 500 people on your list. You email 500, probably only 10%, maybe 15% if you’re lucky will respond. Maybe even five, but let’s say 50 people respond. You ask them, “what do you want on this type of product, this type of service?”, whatever it is you’re offering. And 30, 40, 50 people reply and say, this is what I want, do you think it would be a cool idea to give your customers what they want or should you stick with your original idea, which is probably something a little bit different. What’s a good thing to do?
This is a no-brainer, an absolute no-brainer. So that is my key tip number two. It simply comes down to this. I don’t give a damn what you think about your business and what you think about your product. I want to know what your customers think about your business and your product, because every single thing that you do should come from them.
Here’s the thing. If you’re getting started in business. If you don’t yet have your own list, you should do absolutely nothing else for the next one month, two months, three months, my goodness, however long it takes to get those 500, those 1,000, those people into your database and then start asking them what they want. Because that is the key to business success. Think about it like a focus group of some sort, a focus group that you have 100% access to that will tell you the truth about your business, about your product and how you can make money through the internet online.
Oh boy. That’s something I’d pay for. So there’s my top two tips for this year, for this month, for this forever, go make some lists for your business now. Paul Barrs from Paulbarrs.com, Internet business training, signing off. Have a fantastic day.
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