Discover the tactics they DON'T teach you about starting your own business!
Did You Know?
Over 50% of Irish Start-ups fail within 4 years?
Don't be one of them!
With the right supports, the success rate for Start-ups can be pushed to over 70%!
In this book, you will find many of the tools you need to minimise business mistakes, reduce risks and convert your business plan into a solid and successful enterprise.
There are many "nuggets" throughout the book to help make it easier to read. It is written to be easily understood and whether you are starting a business or already running one, this book can help make your journey a little less bumpy and help you to reach viability faster.
It is mistakes that delay our success, so avoid them!
Make your entrepreneurial journey easier and a LOT more profitable a LOT sooner!
About The Author:
Peter Cronin
Peter Cronin started his first business at 14, and has been an entrepreneur and business owner ever since.
Driven by a desire to change the world one business ata time, he has made, and learned from, all the mistakes!
He has been mentoring start-ups and small business since the early 1990's.
Snippets From The Book:
Who is my Customer?
I’ll start this section with a question. If you don’t know where you are going how will you get there? You are reaching out to a customer. They are the first stop on the journey. What makes most businesses vulnerable is that they have no idea who their customer is or, in the more extreme cases, if there is a customer at all. They just take the money from hoever comes through the door without really trying to connect with the customer. Surely we want to move that customer from a one-time shopper through to a repeat customer and on to a raving fan of the business. I believe………….
NUGGET:
If there is a gap in the market,
is there a market in the gap?
NUGGET:
Every business that wants the customer to spend
the same money as you want, is your competitor.
Start Up Minus 2 Months:
The Milestoness From The Book
Milestone:
Year 1 Business plan completed
Website & Marketing materials ready
Key Customers identified
Marketing plan initiated
Measured By:
Wallchart to Graph it in place
Domain name, Logo, business cards
List created, Contact method decided
First 10 preferred prospects contacted
Available funding and support boil down to these primary sources:
Enterprise Ireland
(if you fit the criteria – which most start-ups do not. The state recognised this and set up LEO’s)
LEO – your Local Enterprise Office
DEASP – Your local employment support
Revenue (https://revenue.ie)
Other state supports
To stay up to date, always check the referred websites.
An image of your business will emerge whether or not you do this. If you do it this way you control that image. People see what you want them to see – your business in its best light.
This feeds your marketing plan. This plan can be a combination of many different methods. Your choice of methods should be the things that you have tested and found to work effectively.
When I work with a business the strategy I fear most is a classic mistake represented by the two pictures below:
It is very common where people haven’t thought it through. They just put out a website and some publicity and promotion material and hope the phone will ring.
It is commonly called ‘Spray and Pray’. It is not a marketing strategy it is a promotional strategy. I will go as far as to say:
It is only really marketing when there is a clear, measureable, prolonged result required from the activity.
Nugget:
Ask for the money.
You earned it.
You need to use AIDA:
AIDA is of course an acronym.
Attention
You need some kind of headline, attention grabber, like the object in the envelope that causes the reader to become curious. Each line should make the reader want to read the next line (how am I doing?).
Interest
Now that you have the reader’s attention you have to hold it long enough to bring their attention to the actual content sufficient to make them want something from the interaction. In a flyer for example, it might be an offer, in an e mail, something to get them beyond the fold in a flyer and the bottom of the screen in an e-mail.
Desire
This happens once you have peaked the interest. It might just be a desire to know more so often the writer leaves something important out. This forces the reader to the last stage.
Action
This is what you actually want them to do. Go to the website, where the text is also written with AIDA in mind so it is leading them to a buy decision or a call now.
Nugget:
The best businesses don’t try to create a demand.
They see a demand, or need, and provide what the customer wants.