7 Key Factors Between Business Success and Failure!

I have started and built more than half a dozen successful, and very different businesses including: A national chain of karate schools, an ad agency, a consulting company, a software company, several magazines, a speaking business, an online horse training business, and a sportswear company. What’s more I still had time left over to write over 40 plus books!? The majority were a success generating six figure plus incomes every year since my late twenties. Thus providing me with the financial success to follow my passions, and take several months of vacation every year for over three decades.?But there were failures as well.

The Failures

I had several ventures that never made it, and lost plenty of money, like my audio catalog business, gold plated cutlery, and my auto dealership where I specialized in cars no one wanted to buy. Looking back on these diverse enterprises there are some common traits to all of them that should be of use to any entrepreneur.

Here are some key factors the successful businsses all had and most of the failures did not:

1.?????A Single Dominate Way to Reach Your Potential Market Easily and Cost Effectively.

My first business was a Karate school in Irvine, California. Back in the late 80’s The shopper/Pennysaver was a weekly printed rag of local offers direct mailed to every home. I consistently got over twenty new students a from my weekly ads.

When I wrote my first business manual in 1991, I hit six figures in sales year one by buying a mailing list of martial arts schools, and sending them an 8 page direct mail letter. As I produced more and more products, I started my own magazine which I direct mailed monthly to the same list. Ads from other vendors paid most of the costs and allowed me to advertise my products for free!?

When I switched to selling franchises two-day seminars in major cities was the ticket. It was also the key to the rapid growth of my ad agency in the golf business. I did seminars in over thirty states and several other countries.?

Three times I was able to partner with large organizations who recommended my various products like a turbo charged referral system. Referrals are always good but seldom come in enough volume to grow rapidly. Forming a strategic partnership with a larger organization can fix this problem.?

I generated a million dollar increase for several resorts by solely focusing on growing a huge email list and that was the key to my online horse business. That and partnering with a superstar?J??Linda Parelli.?

Yes, you should try every means of reaching potential customers but if you don’t have a single dominate, and cost-effective method life gets hard. I have cried, “He with the biggest database wins” for twenty years and with the rise and fall of social media it’s just as relevant today. Always remember you don’t own your Facebook page, Twitter account or Google rankings!

My three business failures broke rule one, you don’t have to look any further.

2.????A reliance on old-fashioned long copy sales pitches.

As a student of Jay Abraham and Dan Kennedy I have always been a fan of the long copy sales pitch. The method has been very good to me, from filling $1500 a seat seminar, with an 11-page email to 20 pages landing pages for a single book. Most people in marketing todays will advise against this approach, but they never made $150,000 in a weekend promoting their own event either?J

Once your long copy pitch is done you can also cut it into chunks and use it as a drip email campaign. You can also turn your long copy sales letter into a video as well for those too lazy to read. Try also to get the same response from a shorter sales pitch, but never miss out on trying the long pitch first. A great sales pitch is no longer or no shorter than whatever it takes to tell everything you need to tell, about your product to have the best possible chance of making a sale.?

Most people miss out key benefits, fail to tell an interesting story or create a sense of urgency trying to be brief because people tell them no one will read their sales copy. The fact is the more you tell the more you sell as long as your copy is interesting to your prospect.?

3.?????Strong Content Marketing?

Content marketing has been a huge part of my marketing since the late 80’s where my maxim has always been engage, educate and entertain. Then sell. I have used lots of how-to material in all my successful ventures. White papers, blogs, email newsletters, LinkedIn posts, video and audio seminars. To be effective the content must have a strong title and be problem/solution in nature. The only sales pitch should be at the end where you offer additional resources or solutions.?

4.????An Attitude of Kaizen Constantly Looking Outside Your Industry for Innovation?

The vast majority of businesses in any specific industry operate on a very similar basis. Their sales, marketing, pricing and product look much the same to the typical customer.??Therefore, copying what others do is highly unlikely to produce any breakthrough results. Look what they are doing outside of your industry and bring it back.?

I gamified my karate schools with achievement patches an idea stolen from the cub scouts. This produced a new lucrative and consistent source of revenue, patches and dramatically increased retention between belt testes.

I saw monthly business services aimed at dentist and chiropractors sort of sales and marketing in a box. By copying this idea, I created my Masters Club program for martial arts schools, which at its peak was doing $100,000 a month.

In 1998 when I started my ad agency, I saw that almost no one in the golf business was not using the internet “our customers are not on the web” they said. I built over 3,000 golf websites while other agencies where still focused on print ads. Same was true with the social media revolution the golf business was late to the game.??

Last year when we launched Happy Horse Happy Life community we combined horse training with motivational content, delivered in an easy-to-use magazine style format using text and video unlike anything else in the horse industry. We hit 1,000 members in just 90 days!

What ideas can you bring back from other industries to revolutionize yours?

5.?????Easy Entry Easy Upgrade?

From my first business my strategy for customer acquisition was always to make it really easy for people to sign up, with little or no commitment then upgrade them, and upgrade them again. It worked in my karate school, worked in my website business where I went from $295, $495, $795 then eventually $1595. It worked in my online business $19, $99, $499. In fact, this concept has worked in all my businesses. Make it easy to get started then add more value and people will gladly pay you more.?

6.?????Don’t Let Your Business Suck Up Your Life? Have Systems

On average I have taken 3-4 month’s vacation, a year, for the last three decades. Business systems are critical to buying you more time, time you can focus on life or the creative or money-making aspects of your business rather than the mundane. Document your process for every aspect of your business. Run your business like a franchise even if it’s only a flea market stall. The most important of these will be your sales system for nothing happens until a sale is made.?

Spend at least half a day a week working on your business not in it. Make your business so easy to run that a 12-year old, could read your systems manual and run it successfully. Don’t be a slave to your business sucking up your life make your business facilitate your life.?

Read the original E-Myth by Michael Gerber?

7.????Review Your Results Daily

Know your numbers, number of leads, number of sales, conversion rates, the status of your pipeline and anything else that is critical to the operation of your business. Reviewing your results daily lets you know early on when problems are coming. A couple of days with no leads can quickly turn into a bad week or a bad month. If you look at your results daily, you can spot this trend early and nip it in the bud. Perhaps a 48 sale to get cash flow back on track, a buy two get one free or some other promotion to get you back on track quickly.?

I see too many entrepreneurs working way too hard and floundering. Life is too short to make all the mistakes on your own, learn from the success and failure of others. Things change fast but fundamentals if they change do so very slowly. These concepts have worked for me for thirty years even if it took half that time before I figured them out. Apply them to your next venture and short cut your journey to success.

Generate income while you sleep from your knowledge. Check out my Million Dollar Laptop Course ($1495 value, totally free, no strings attached to my readers) At?www.LifeWellLived.expert?or if you feel like paying $1495 that’s ok too click here?https://yourmilliondollarlaptop.com/