Deciding whether to take your passion into a profession is no easy task. One does not exchange predictability for uncertainty without good reason. Your passion is definitely a good reason to decide on being an entrepreneur. But it’s not enough. Passion has to be matched with confidence, skill, and also hunger. Entrepreneurship requires commitment and follow-through, otherwise known as leadership. Moreover, successful entrepreneurs, more often than not, reach the heights of their success because they are of great service to a specific group of people. In this blog post, here are the critical questions you have to ask yourself before deciding to go solo!
1. Are you solving a specific problem?
Solving a specific problem comes down to having experienced a challenge or difficulty, overcoming it, and gaining massive transformation as a result. People don’t buy products and services. They buy transformation. If you haven’t yet solved a specific problem in your niche, keep looking for answers to the core things that caused the most challenge and struggle for you. Chances are, others have the same issues. These are in fact huge gold mines of opportunity because they inform you where specifically your insight and services are needed most. When you’ve mastered a skill, and you have the confidence to back it up, your communication will be specific and direct, and people will establish trust in you and what you’re saying. This is one of the fundamental building blocks of good marketing. Ask yourself, what do you do very well, better than most people? Too often people end up following a general and not specific passion, and then they find it extremely difficult to make money in it. This is why you have to set yourself up for success by creating a very clear vision about what you do that can actually make an impact, help someone see things differently, and inspire action and change.
2. Is there an audience for your business?
Your audience is a unique combination of people who resonate with you, your message, your energy, and your vision. Your perfect audience is, in essence, you! If you’ve figured out the main problem that you’re good at solving for people, the next thing you have to consider is: is there an audience for this problem? If not, that’s okay. You can create one. However, the very first step is to join online communities like forums, groups, or social channels where people who have the same problem would go to ask questions, engage, produce content or start discussions. Before starting any passion-based business it’s imperative that you tap into existing communities, or expert communities in your field, to see what people are buying, why they’re buying it, and how they’re buying it. Pay attention to the main words your audience uses. These will inform you what’s important to them. Who are your competitors? What content is performing well and getting lots of engagement? Do you see patterns in what people in your industry are doing? Have you seen the wording on their ads? Many people who are much farther along than you, have likely already invested a lot of time and money into audience research and development. Learn from this!
DON’T HAVE AN AUDIENCE? TRY THIS!
If there’s not an already established audience or community for what you have to offer, a great tool is google analytics. I’ve used this for years to determine markets. The keyword planner will give you insights into how many people search for a specific word. For example, if you have 300,000 people a month searching for wardrobe management and 20,000 searching for personal styling for lawyers, which keyword do you think will give you a better audience? Personal styling for lawyers! That’s because this is a niche. A niche will always outperform a more general audience. Do your research and pick your audience strategically!
3. Are you prepared to invest in coaching?
Ask yourself where you’re still struggling, hung up, or not excelling at the top of your field. Be honest. Then it’s time to find someone who has already overcome your hurdles. The truth is, more than likely, that there is someone out there who is already doing what you want to do, except they’re doing it better. I’m not telling you this to discourage you, quite the opposite. When you partner with and train under the giants in your field, you accelerate your success by following their thinking patterns. These days, there is nothing more valuable than learning from people who have already done the heavy lifting, and paved a path that others can learn and grow from. If you are not part of a business coaching or entrepreneurial program, join one now. This is an absolute must. With coaching or mentorship, you not only get strategy, and accountability, but you generally accelerate your success.
4. Are you willing to change your beliefs?
Beliefs create a mindset, mindset creates opportunity. In addition to investing in professional business coaching, it is also essential that you invest in personal development. When you are growing and evolving, everything you do will also grow and evolve. The human mind is pretty predictable. It is much more comfortable being safe. This illusion of safety is a huge hurdle when it comes to entrepreneurship, which is all about risks and failure. Every entrepreneur knows that the only way to learn is to do. For this reason, it’s important to get clear on your thinking patterns. Do you have a lack mindset, struggle with self-worth, are you easily stressed, discouraged, let down, or afraid to fail? These are essential things to get clear on because at one point or another you will inevitably be asking for a sale, a partnership, or other opportunities. When you know where it is that you normally hold back, you’ll know what you need to work on.
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