Let Leaders Lead!

If you are like the many people who have realized that they need additional income, you're excited and full of passion about starting a business, being successful, becoming financially stable, and obtaining your goal of living a new lifestyle with the freedom to do whatever you want to do when you want to do it.

All of that is great except you have to learn how to successfully build relationships in order to build your business. How do you or are you going to do that? Are you willing to sacrifice your dignity, character, and your credibility just to make a buck?

Take a step back and decide what problem(s) you have the expertise to solve and who you want your ideal clients to be. So I'm asking you, "Who do you want to work with?"

You Make The Call

You're an entrepreneur and you make the call as to who you do or don't do business with. Step back for a moment and ask yourself these questions:

• Ø Why do I want to leave my job?
• Ø Am I tired of dealing with certain types of personality every day?
• Ø Are the people I see daily speaking my language?
• Ø Am I the stranger in my crowd now?
• Ø Are my values being compromised
• Ø Can I make a change

This is your business and you get to choose who you want to hang out with. You build relationships.

Personally, if I can't have a cup of coffee or share a meal with you, become friends over the phone, get to know a little about you, and see if we have common ground, then we will not be entering each other's circle. After working over 42 years of my life, the last thing I want is to be around someone that I don't have anything in common with just because they have money and can pay for my service. Is it really worth it? You make the call.

Targeted Marketing

Is there such a thing as a perfect client or a perfect pool where buyers hangout and are ready to purchase certain items?

Fishing would be good if we could find that fishing hole! My answer to that question would be yes and no. Why no? Well, let's think about this for a minute. You hear on a daily basis that you should advertise or market in your targeted marketing area. Does this mean that there is a physical place where people are waiting to spend money or is this a place where people are looking for you and are ready to throw money at you because you have the real "goodies!" No!

Now I will answer yes! Yes, your perfect client or the perfect pool is where there are people who you want to do business with. These people are searching for a solution to their problems. You've chosen your niche and you've discovered that you have a service or a solution to solve the problem(s) that the people who you want to work with are having. Your perfect client(s) are online asking the "how-to" question in the search engines. They are in social media groups; like minds stick together in places where they discuss their problems and are able to come to some resolution.

There are several places and groups on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn where you can find forums and groups of people who are looking for solutions to their problems. I'm basically saying, you have to put some effort into your research and find the best "fishing hole" for the fish that you're trying to catch!

Why?

Are you trying to sell yourself or are you discussing the features, benefits, and what your service or product can do to solve your potential clients' issues? If you're talking about yourself to potential clients, do you think they are listening? Some might be listening but most want to know what you have that will cure their pain, help them start a business, get out of debt or anything that they desperately need.

When you began your business, think back as to why you started. Did you start your business just to make money and get rich? Did you start your business to get out of debt? Or did you start your business because you recognized that you had a solution to an issue or problem that seemed to be a common issue that people were online trying to find the solution for? You had been through this thing, found a way out, and at that moment you said to yourself, " I don't want anyone else to have to go through this." You had a solution and at this point you found your purpose in life.

It was at this point that you became passionate about helping others solve a particular problem and you found yourself unable to sleep, up at nights, and talking about this newly founded passion to everyone you met. At that point, you were talking about the benefits of your business and why you were the person to work with. Your passion came over as caring and you had empathy for the person who was going through that same issue. The important thing is that the people who you had a chance to share with knew it.

Trust

There's one thing that tends to change everything that you do. Stephen M. R, Covey wrote, "There is one thing that is common to every individual, relationship, team, family, organization, nation, economy, and civilization throughout the world. One thing which, if removed, will destroy the most powerful government, the most thriving economy, the most influential leaders, the greatest friendship, the strongest character, the deepest love."

He goes on to say, "on the other hand, if developed and leveraged, that one thing has the potential to create unparalleled success and prosperity in every dimension of life. Yet, it is the least understood, most neglected, and most underestimated possibility in our time."

That one thing is trust.

Conclusion

Simply put, trust is confidence in an individual or organization. It is other people feeling good about relying on you. Its value can hardly be overstated. Trustworthiness is the universally accepted test of good character,(Alexander Green, 2011).

Are you willing to sacrifice your dignity, character, and your credibility just to make a buck? So I'm asking you, "Who do you want to work with?"

"AlwaysProgress!"