Have you ever noticed that there are a number of really important things in life for which people rarely take classes in advance? Somehow there is an unspoken, understanding that if there is a decision to start, success will follow! Often starting your own business falls into this catagory.
People put their time and energy into graduating from training programs or they spend hours designing a marvelous product. This is the fun part of getting ready to open a business. People work very hard at these things very willingly, often spending considerable time, effort and money in the process.
The next thing that people willingly do is actually set up their business: finding and decorating an office, choosing a domain name, purchasing equipment, creating that first business card! These are things people do willingly because they are fun and get you closer to opening your business doors.
A startling number of people, however, never think to do a competitive or demographic analysis before they open their business. I didn't! I started my first business as a psychotherapist without giving any consideration at all to the fact that my city (Boulder, Colorado) had more helping and healing professionals PER SQUARE INCH than any other city in Colorado! Like many others, I believed my product or service was needed and wanted, that I was good at what I did, and that (without thinking about how) my services were going to sell without much effort.
It is in that moment of shock when small business owners understand for the first time that they are going to have to "sell" their product or service that Marketing Introverts become born. Marketing Introverts are generally intelligent, friendly, competent people, but to-a-person they have great feelings of resistance to doing marketing and sales.
Marketing Introverts look backward at all the time, effort and money that they have already invested, then look forward and realize that they still "have to" master essential marketing and sales skills, and can become very dismayed!
If, on top of everything else, they also have some negative beliefs about salespeople, the dread, resistance, dauntedness, and fear can start mushrooming out of control. There are some who buckle under this challenge and fold up their new business. But even if you are a dyed-in-the-wool Marketing Introvert, losing your dream business doesn't have to happen.
Those who meet the challenge are able to buck up after that first shock. They say to themselves, "Okay, I want to do this kind of work so I will learn what I need to learn, and do what I need to do, in order to have the business of my dreams." This kind of marketing introvert has a good chance of turning his or her situation around. Success comes from a willingness to learn those essential business skills, start using them out in the real world to find your clients, and an ability to work with yourself to go from "marketing introvert" to "marketing professional."
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Dhyan Atkinson is a business skills trainer, consultant, and coach. She specializes in working with small business owners who love their work but have a hard time finding clients, including Marketing Introverts! Her programs teach essential business skills and provide coaching support as business owners go out to find clients. Visit her website at: http://www.SatisfactionByDesign.com and her blog at: http://Marketing4Introverts.wordpress.com
this was a well written, interesting article with many good points, and questions one needs to answer. thanks for sharing, and i hope you continue writing,
» left by Dhyan Atkinson from Boulder, CO (53 days 23 hours ago.)
Sue,
Thanks for writing. And thanks for the welcome to SearchWarp! I have been writing an e-newsletter and articles for my website for a long time and have just started reaching out through article directories. Your welcome was very encouraging!
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