Build A Viable Business
Lisa Larter
I help entrepreneurs and business owners develop and implement marketing strategies in support of their business goals. Passionate about helping entrepreneurs grow.
Back in January in Thought Readers, we read and discussed This is Marketing by Seth Godin and in the book, he spoke about the smallest viable market.
He also spent a lot of time focusing on the long tail, the niche market, and the smallest viable community you can serve in your business, opposed to trying to serve everyone.
While reading, the question that came up for me was this: what’s the definition of viable?
Here's the important thing:
If you own a business, making enough to get by isn’t viable.
Paying yourself less than a living wage isn’t viable.
Not having a few months worth of operating cash flow in the bank, isn’t viable.
Barely surviving, isn’t viable.
Please don't avoid learning the financial aspects of your business. As a result, you'll end up serving the largest non-viable market and living on the verge of bankruptcy. I don't want that for you.
If you want to have a viable business you need to:
1) Understand what financial viability really means to you.
2) Learn how to sell your products and services at a fair market value, priced for profit, not to break even.
3) Know who your buyer is so you can serve the most viable market possible.
In a previous blog post, I spoke about a woman who wanted to buy my dishwasher for less than $50 and expected that I had cleaned the inside of it too…
Stop serving the largest least viable market. You’re better than that.
And if you don’t know how to do this, I can help you.
The next Roadmap workshop is coming right up on May 28, 29 and 30th, and it’s never too late to readjust your business strategy so it makes financial sense.
My mentor told me years ago, if everything you do doesn’t scale to $100k within 18 months of starting, drop it and do something else.
Leave me a comment and let me know, what’s your benchmark for viable?