Life, Business and the odd Curve Ball

Life as a solopreneur can be a bit hectic. Even manic sometimes.

I've previously worked with business partners and franchisors and suffered the pain points.

I prefer to be in control.

But when it's all on you, sometimes you get a curve ball or two that knock you off course.

Let me explain what happened....

Product or Marketing first?

It starts with an interesting debate about what comes first, the product or the marketing.

It's an interesting dilemma faced by many businesses.

How far should you develop a product or service before you start to market it?

We even had a panel debate about this at The Guildford Business Hub around 8 or 9 years ago.

• Do you do a minimal amount of product development, then test market it? Or,
• Do you have a near-fully tested product before you market it?

I've typically sat somewhere in the middle.

Have enough of the product defined so you can sell it. Then enhance or further develop the product as the marketing generates interest and sales.

It's a just-in-time model.

It can be applied to the marketing campaign as well as product development.

That's what I did.

I had a product with a few customers and started to generate leads with a new marketing strategy using Facebook ads.

The initial campaign

I used a lead magnet to generate leads, It was a free copy of my Profile Assessment Workbook. I split-tested several graphics and settled on the best-performing one - see the image below:

It has generated over 350 leads at a reasonable cost per lead.

Each lead went into a follow-up sequence. To get the campaign underway as fast as possible, I only wrote the first couple of emails in the sequence. I then added more as leads went through the sequence.

But then came the curve ball(s).

My divorce kicked off. Suddenly I had to gather lots of information and get involved with court submissions. It was all quite overwhelming.

Leads were dropping off at the end of my email sequence. Instead of just-in-time, I was just out of time.

I then had a major system change to manage at the local Samaritans branch (I had planned for that) and a burst water main at the branch (that wasn't planned!).

My time evaporated (unlike the water in the cellar).

If it's to be, it's up to me!

Why am I telling you all this?

As a business owner, everything in my business is my responsibility.

I decided to take the just-in-time approach with the marketing campaign. This time I got caught out. Next time I'll build in more contingency. I'll learn the lesson.

I can't control the impact of the court timetable or the burst water main.

But I can control how I react to those events.

I can control how I re-engage with those leads that have gone a little cold.

A new campaign

I am launching a new campaign for those 350+ leads. Today!

I'm going to tell them the story of why they haven't heard from me for a short while.

And I'm going to offer them a free trial of my Linked Business Mastermind as a thank-you for being patient.

It's just-in-time for them to make changes to their LinkedIn profiles so 2025 will be their best-ever year on LinkedIn.

You're probably not on that list of 350+ leads so won't get that campaign. But if you want to know more about the offer, click on the image below.

The moral of the story

As a business owner, you can't control what life, your ex, the Chancellor or international events throws at you.

All you can control is how you react to those curve balls.

Here's to a resilient and successful 2025.