Have you ever met a successful entrepreneur or a thriving business that didn't have a clear direction?
I suppose not. Profitable and attractive businesses always have clarity at the center. Clarity in what they offer, who they serve and where they want to go.
If you feel like you're drifting or trying to define your business in the dark, read on for four tips to help you focus on what drives your business.
One:Decide who you DO NOT want to work with
If you believe you must serve all the breathing people on the planet (or even in your zip code), clarity is far, far away.
If you try to please everyone, you will end up pleasing almost no one.
A great way to find out who your business is the right fit for? Decide who you definitely don't want to work with. It can be fun. Make a list of all the traits that would make someone difficult, unpleasant, or unable to work with. Now target your business to attract the opposite of what's on your list.
Two:write down your goals
How can you create clarity if you don't know which direction you want to go? Goal setting can get boring (trust me, I'm not always a fan), but it can also be incredibly helpful when done right.
Try to set overall goals for your business. For example, let's say I'm a professional photographer. Here are my goals:
1. Travel several times a year for work and visit new countries
2. Get my work published in a national magazine
3. Teaching photography to armatures and amateurs
Once you have defined where you want your business to end up, you can measure all your current activities against them. To see if an opportunity/project/anything fits your business, ask this question:
"Will this directly allow me to accomplish one or more of my overall goals, or will it allow me to achieve my goal(s) later on?" »
Of course, running a business means making a profit, and sometimes making a profit means dealing with less than ideal situations. But just taking the time to figure out whether or not something is where you want your business to go can bring incredible clarity – even if you have to make sacrifices from time to time to stay afloat.
>Three:Choose your “why”
Companies that have mentally ill clarity are often driven by one important thing:their “why”.
Knowing what you do (“I sell iPhone apps!”) is not enough. You need to know why you're doing it ("I want to help make people's lives easier and more productive").
If you can nail Why you are in business, you have a powerful start to finding clarity in all other divisions.
Four:Sum it up in your copy
The copy you have on your website, blog, social media profiles, and all of your marketing materials is absolutely essential to telling your business story to your prospects.
It shouldn't be an afterthought – it should be the foundation of building your business. Displaying copy that tells the story of your business in a compelling way means you can let people know what your business is about and attract the kind of customer or client that matches your business.
Your Turn:Can you sum up what your business does and why you do it in one or two sentences? Drop it in the comments below and set your business up for exceptional clarity.
Photo credit :plantoo47
