YOU.
You do.
YOU emerge … in some new way.
I don’t like the storms while I’m in it … in fact I kick and scream at them, moan and groan.
But every time, I find something new about myself that I love, appreciate, cherish.
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Warning: I could be popping your balloon with this post. But it’s truth I need to hear often. And it could go under “Ideas Suck, Reason #1095.”
Great businesses don’t start with great ideas.
They start with great needs.
Too often I hear about someone’s “great idea.”
We think we are Genius Inventors.
But ideas are a dime a dozen.
(I’d bet you someone else on a planet of 7 billion+ has already thought of it, and likely doing it.)
What I’d rather hear is entrepreneurs taking about are the great needs they see and hear and touch and feel.
The best entrepreneurs are the Empathetic Explorers.
The best find, discover, unearth needs of their people, their community, their tribe, their nook in the world.
They FIRST do the tough work of asking and listening and observing and iterating on that formula.
If you want to build a great business,
start with empathy, not ideas.
The best products I’ve had in my entrepreneurial career (full-time since 2008) weren’t ideas … they were discoveries.
Watch and observe your people.
Start with the GREAT needs you see and hear.
Go looking for frustrations, pains, challenges, aspirations and goals.
Find the common themes in it all.
THEN … build the solution.
Ideas are the obvious after-the-fact byproducts of empathetic listening.
Do this … and your entrepreneurial journey will be easier and authentic and real and built on a solid foundation.
At least that’s where I try to point my compass toward.
One of the biggest problems most businesses have with content marketing is creating and publishing content consistently.
I have this exact problem with my entrepreneurial projects as well.
I know I need to blog … I know I need to have lead magnets behind my email subscription forms. I know the value of good search engine optimized content to drive and build my businesses.
In my head, I know all this …
But the reality is … it’s tough to do all of that.
My wife Lindsey recently launched a service to alleviate this problem for me and other businesses like me via Content Journey.
She’s got a couple of packages designed to help you in whatever stage you’re in …
- Ready to just start producing content? That’s the Visibility Path
- Ready to take your content production to the next level? That’s the Consistency Path
- Ready to become a full-time publisher and really build your audience, more traffic and more engagement? That’s the Mastery Path
Whatever path you’re on, Lindsey and her team is your guide to deliver great SEO content for your website (and social channels).
Go book a consultation today and get started on your own Content Journey!
Most entrepreneurs focus on the top line and bottom line. And understandably so. It’s what I did for 11 years.
But the one aspect most of us don’t focus on to our detriment is business value and strategically working to increase.
Knowing your company’s worth isn’t just for those seeking to sell their businesses right now …. but because, my partner Jeff and I believe, it’s better perspective to build and grow a business.
Think about it … if you build a business that is valuable to an outside party, you’ve likely built it with top line and bottom line in mind but also with a view to the market and competition and a host of other levers that creates a more valuable business.
A valuable business, a sellable business is a better business for the entrepreneur (even if you don’t plan to sell it anytime soon).
All of this is what we’re calling the Business Value Mindset … and why we’ve rolled out our new Business Value Academy to support smart and savvy entrepreneurs who want to get ahead, stay ahead and in the process maximize their most valuable asset.
Included in the membership is our Business Value Guide and Calculator course so you can learn how to value your own business and pull the levers to make it better for you.
Plus, twice a month we’ll be holding online meetings to talk about obstacles and challenges …. and to offer resources and insight to build better businesses — more valuable businesses.
Next week Jeff and I are hosting a kickoff webinar to talk about the Business Value Mindset and hope you’ll join us.
And in the meantime, go check out what we’re offering at the Business Value Academy.