I’m a father of 1, soon to be father of 2 and I know where I would rather spend the majority of my time in every 7 day week, and it’s not chasing down customers and trying to get more sales, and nor do I do that now.
But it wasn’t always that way.
“Doing The Hard Yards”
I used to get home from my day job, my corporate job, have a shower, have some dinner and walk straight back into my rented apartment room on a very very cheap makeshift desk that sagged in the middle after about a week of me using it. It was $10 from memory and I think it was probably meant to be a temporary picnic table.
It has a thin padded top, probably some cheap foam under a fake leather, vinyl, soft plastic type material on top = very low quality stuff.
That was my desk and home set up, with a laptop on top. I would start work there again for the second time that day… learning, trying to get website ideas built and launched.
Trying to figure out how to get customers and make money online. Most nights I’d sleep at about 2am, wake up the next morning breakfast, shower, pack my lunch, I’d make myself a couple of sandwiches to keep the costs low… I’d drive to work – do the corporate thing for 8 hours, drive back to my rented apartment or “condo” if you call it that, and do it all again.
I was on the top level of a 3 story block, it was an old brick building with no lift of course. So 3 stories up and 3 stories down every day.
I’m reliving this for you now because I want to say that:
- I’m very glad I put in the long hours and years back then when I was not married and did not have kids. Because… I don’t know if it would be possible to start over again and learn it all by myself. I don’t know. And:
- After 15+ years, I figured it out and I’ve drawn the map for you and for other business owners.
Who Is This For?
Just like every business owner should, I focus on a particular target market. My time speaking to parents who are also business owners, because that’s who I am now.
If you’re single with no kids, or if you’re 65 and your kids are looking after themselves (firstly congratulations) but also the Customer Mountain map I introduced to you on the previous article will work just as well for you too (go back one episode and listen to that if you haven’t already).
I know that I wanted to spend more time with kids and family than I want to work 65+ hours a week, so that’s how I’ve set up my business – but also without compromise. Which means, I didn’t settle for a lower average annual business revenue so that I could work less.
I’m all about reaching goals but still working smart and working less.
There’s no reason you can’t have a growing business and spend less time working in it. It’s not easy, it took me over 10 years to figure it out (i’ve been in the game for almost 16 years now) and then put the finishing touches on it, but I’ve done it and I’m here to help you do the same.
7 Home Truths For You
In the last article I outlined the Customer Mountain Map, if you haven’t already, go back and to the previous post and read that after this one.
Now you know the basics I wanted to tell you the truth about a whole range of things that you’ve probably come across and fought with during your time as a business owner. A lot of these, not everyone will agree with – and that’s fine by me.
I know they will benefit from just considering that maybe what I’m saying is the truth here.
Ok here’s some home truths for you:
- You’ve probably heard that to be successful online and in business generally, you need to: “Be online and be everywhere” (THIS IS NOT TRUE – TOTALLY FALSE).
- Someone who had their own interests in mind has probably told you at some point that you need to: “Spend more money on Ads then your competitors”. (THIS IS NOT TRUE).
- If you think you need to invest big and bet the farm to make sure you have the best product on the market. (THAT’S NOT RIGHT. I’M NOT SAYING YOU NEED TO PRETEND YOU DO EITHER).
- Is it important to invest in design, logos and packaging? (NO – NOT CORRECT).
- If you think that you need to stay on the cutting edge and always have the best technology or be first in the market with something… (THAT’S NOT TRUE EITHER).
- You may believe that it is 100% critical to be a master of Facebook Ads. (NOT TRUE, FACEBOOK ADS IS A GOOD OPTION, BUT IT’S NOT YOUR ONLY OPTION).
- A belief that was probably more common 5+ years ago (but still widespread today) was that you had to be on the 1st page of Google (100% FALSE).
Do you believe with 7 above?
Print this out and stick it on your wall. Save this picture and post it to your Facebook feed, see who agrees and doesn’t agree – that will be a good experiment. You’re welcome to tag me too: @mrcraigmarty
For years I chased all these internet marketing and business myths (and others too) only to fall short of my big goals time after time after time.
The amount of attempts I had would have been enough to even just “get lucky” if some of the above were even somewhat true.
What’s True For Business Growth at the End of Every Day
I outlined the checkpoints that customers go through on their journey to becoming your customer and I’ll say again here that it’s the same for every industry.
The short and simple version just to remind you of the checkpoints is:
- You need to find the right people.
- Help them understand the lay of the land a bit and at the same time get to know you casually and informally.
- Invite them to get more detailed information when they are ready and create a deeper bond with you at the same time.
- Give them a good reason to become your customer.
There is much more info on each of these stages in the previous post and I need to give a little warning here, don’t underestimate them for being too simple – I explain why that’s an important warning too in more detail in the previous post also.
I have an online class that I hold to go deeper on all these points and share more about how my business is set up and how I do it. I hold it especially for business owners who want to get a more set and forget, structured customer winning marketing system in their business, so that they can spend less time working in their business and more time with their kids and family – that’s what I’m all about.
If you would like to join the next class, you can get a free ticket by registering at the link below:
Ok, I’ll talk to you again soon.
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Ok in the next post I will talk through a case study for you that shows how to get 3x as many sales with one simple thing that more than 95% of businesses give up on…
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