Why business building is just like a science experiment…

I tell my clients all the time…

Your business is not meant to be cookie cutter.

Truth be told…business is more of an experiment. Especially, when we are creating something that hasn’t been created before.

Fun fact – every business that is created hasn’t been created before because there are new people and experiences involved in each.

Let’s put this in terms of what we’re taught in school, and with science experiments.

We’re taught the scientific method. There are 6-steps (although most of the time I break it down to 4; as the first 2 steps I do automatically before I decide to continue with an experiment). Here are the steps:

• Ask a Question
• Background Research
• Hypothesis
• Experiment
• Analyze Data and Make Conclusions
• Communicate Conclusions/Findings

In online marketing I’ve learned that we don’t need all the steps of the scientific method and I’ve recreated this a little so that it makes sense for the online space.

Hypothesis – you’ve discovered something in your research (sometimes this is a ‘why is this not working statement’) and now you know you're on to something. Example: I wonder if I created a funnel that nurtured my past clients with new information I have, if it would reengage them in my next product launch?

Experiment – with your hypothesis you now have a question, and you need to see if it works. There’s no attachment either way to the outcomes, we’re just testing something to see if it is something worth pursuing. I could go on about how to run the experiment for the best results, but this is going to have to be its own newsletter article. Example: You decide to put your past clients on an email list specific to them and create two emails with action steps to your new information. You set up tracking and metrics within your systems so you can see the results.

Analyze Data (and make a conclusion or a new hypothesis) – because this is a mini-experiment you may not have all the answers to make a conclusion. Most likely, you’ll have enough to form another hypothesis. Example: After two emails, you find that most didn’t open them within 24-hours. In fact, it took a little longer. And action steps weren’t taken on the first email, but on the second email there were 25% that did. That tells me that the information in email 2 seems to be more relevant to my past clients, and so I need to run a new experiment.

Continuation (instead of communicating conclusions) – this is where we continue in the direction the experiment dictates, we do. Example: Now that I know what is more appealing, I’m going to create a continued funnel with more information on this subject and focus on this marketing angle for past clients.

The idea is to keep you moving forward and in a way that is productive to business growth. Yes, in some cases there will be dead ends and the need to backtrack, but the beauty of this approach is in the detachment of the immediate outcomes.

If we know we’re moving in the direction of the bigger picture outcomes, then everything experiment we run in our business is just a building block.

And when everything we do is building to something greater, we start enjoying the process more and set the stage of letting go of the ego mind and chatter.

So have some fun, ask questions, discover new ways of doing and being in your business and open yourself up to the possibilities ahead.

There is not one business owner I’ve met, whether they are just starting or have achieved multi-million-dollar status, that has their process all figured out. The ones who stick around, and the ones who achieve what they want to achieve, are the ones who enjoy the process, who run experiments, and who measure their steps and wins along the way.

Want to run your own experiments in your business, but don’t know how? I’d love to hear more about what is keeping you stuck! DM me with questions. I may even feature your question in one of my podcast episodes of Light at the End of the Funnel, set to relaunch in just a few weeks!

Until next time,

Danielle

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Danielle Fitzpatrick Clark is lovingly referred to as America's favorite Digital Disruptor. She doesn't just live, breath, and sleep digital marketing, she embodies the constant shifts and pivots needed to create long lasting businesses in the online space.?

Her company?Influence Builder?is all about bringing the human element to the online tech and digital space. Specifically focused on helping the lesser-known experts and thought leaders, Influence Builder shows them how to break out of the noise, create powerful platforms, and thriving businesses, so they can spread their mission and message to the world. This is the bridge where disrupters disrupt and build?with authentic influence.