« Finding Your Dream Job | Home | L2Internet - My New Project »
Entrepreneurs - It’s about the consumer!
By James | May 9, 2008
I have been talking to many people who are interested in working for themselves. They wish to start a business of some sort for what I assume to be the same general reason: to have freedom and a chance to become rich. Every day more and more people are becoming aware of the possibilities and wonders that come with owning your own business or working for yourself. You don’t have to be at work at a specific time, you don’t have to call in sick or late, you don’t have to rely on co-workers and employers to guide your income.
There is one problem I have noticed among people like this. They want to be an entrepreneur but they want to achieve this by doing a hobby. As a successful entrepreneur, you can certainly have freedom to do what you want and it enables your business to reflect this, but you have to understand that it’s very rare that anyone makes a full living on just playing around. For example, you may enjoy graphic design but you probably wont be very successful if you try to sell stuff that you create out of your own head. People would only buy graphics that have value to them, like a logo for their own company.
You must realize that entrepreneurs do a lot of work that they don’t want to do. While they may be passionate about their work, they don’t always get to do whatever they want with it. You have to shape your business to please the consumer- not just yourself. So before you try to market your passion, make sure it can be shaped to be valuable to the consumer. If you enjoy writing, make sure people can gain something from the writing rather than just ramble about your own personal life and problems. Make sure the consumers can get something, like inspiration, entertainment, or advice.
One good aspect of consumer based products is interactivity. If you’re offering a service or entertainment for example, people love to get involved with the product. Have a look at the Top 50 Young Entrepreneurs Under 30 and see what they have in common. They all have user-based websites with fully interactive features. They aren’t blogs or galleries, they aren’t a collection of stories or articles, they are networking, gaming, and community based websites.
Now I’m not saying you need a complicated interactive web site to make money; like Sean Belnik who apparently made $42 million selling different kinds of chairs. The more value you provide to the consumer, the more successful you will become. If you can do this while providing a fully interactive sales environment, your success will be even more greatly rewarding.
You must base your business around Them, while still enjoying yourself.
Topics: Other |