How I Will Be Rich

Joe and I were having this discussion yesterday about how powerful the momentum of something can be. I’m talking about in business, in blogging, in pretty much anything in life. Think about it in terms of blogging. When you have a blog and you are real small and no one knows about you, that’s when you can use the most help. That is when you want people back linking to you and talking about your blog and your posts. Once your blog sees some success and things are already really rolling, that’s when people want to back link you and talk about you. So when you can really use the help the most, it’s the hardest to get and when you really don’t need the help anymore, it’s when it’s most abundant. It’s funny how things work that way.

Think about the rich and famous. When they go to a restaurant, they probably don’t even have to pay. The restaurant wants them to be seen there. Now if a homeless person who is starving walks in to the same restaurant, what do you think is going to happen? They are going to get kicked out because they can’t pay. The person that needs the most help, can’t get it and the person who needs absolutely no help eats for free.

This same concept can be applied to business as well. Joe and I are in the process of setting up a powder coating business (A process for finishing metals) and we are struggling to find resources for the material and the equipment that we need. We can’t get favorable pricing, it’s hard to source the equipment that we need, and who would want to do business with a little start up like us? We’re not proven yet. The shutter company that we work for, on the other hand, has been in business for over ten years. All of our vendors give us favorable pricing, we basically do business on nothing but word of mouth now and everyone wants a piece of it now that things are cruising along.

So we’ve got this upstart business that no one knows about. We are the low men on the totem pole for our vendors, we’ve got to prove ourselves to customers and we’ve got to get some momentum going behind this company to really succeed. How do we do this?

Here’s some ideas to really get things rolling in a new, unproven company:

1. Write a business plan. I think this is one of the most important things you can do. It is also one of the most overlooked things. If you have a business plan, then you’ve already mapped out the whole process of how you will succeed.
2. Set up a website. Create a simple website that includes pictures and a description of what you do, some personal info about yourself, contact information and possibly pricing (Depending on the business).
3. Send a letter of introduction to as many potential customers as you can. In a powder coating business, this means custom motorcycle shops, custom truck shops, trailer shops, commercial builders and any other companies that have a need for painted metal that we could potentially land long term contracts with.
4. Fake it until you make it. This is a term I hear Joe use all the time. It may be a psychological or a self fulfilling prophecy type thing. Think of yourself as bigger than you are. Pretend you are the Donald Trump of your industry. When you talk to people, you want them to think you are a somebody who is already successful. If they think you are successful, they will probably also think that you are good at what you are doing.
5. Make business cards. This is a simple and cheap way to get your name out there. I think Joe found a place where we can get something like 1,000 business cards for $5.00. You can’t beat that. Once you have them, hand them out to everyone. Hand them out to people who may not even be in need of your services. If someone asks them if they know someone that provides the service, maybe your name will come up.
6. Become an expert in your field. This is very important, not only when people start asking you about what you do but for promotion reasons as well. Just like in blogging, you can write articles on your area of expertise for other sites and then throw in a link or contact information. This will send people to the web’s expert on subject.
7. Use Craigslist or other free classifieds. This is easy enough and it’s free. Post your services or products on a free classified website. It’s probably not the best marketing but it will generate some business.

Let the effects of these various ideas all generate a buzz. Once some business starts coming your way and you get a reputation for good quality and good service, word of mouth will come in to play. From then on, it’s a snowball effect. Starting a company and generating a buzz can be easy and cheap. Hopefully some of these ideas will get you pointed in the right direction.

-M

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