What Does Your Business Do?


By Anthony Hernandez


At this point in the business startup (or reinvention) process, you should be clear about your life’s mission. Your next step is to determine what goods and/or services your business should offer that will best contribute to that mission. Never forget that your business must exist to serve your needs, never the other way around. Far too many entrepreneurs trade the “oppression” of the 9-5 workday for the “freedom” of the 6-midnight at a job they can’t simply walk away from. You don’t want to be in that position.

Resist the temptation to offer too broad a spectrum, especially in the early stages. Focus on doing one thing extremely well instead of many mediocre things. I’m not saying you must only offer one product or service. You should, however, make sure that everything you offer falls into the same narrow range that will greatly simplify your marketing and management. Keep in mind that the actual things your business offers are almost afterthoughts compared to the many things that must occur for the business to remain open. For example, if you are opening a bakery, then the actual baking will be a very small part of keeping your doors open every day. Every variable you add to your offering mix ha s an exponential impact on management.

So you’ve determined that your business is the right one for you to be in and have settled on a suitably focused range of offerings. Now it’s time to look at the other businesses in your area that offer similar things to determine how your business will stand out from the competition. This process involves the following three steps:

First, get out a blank sheet of paper and a pen (I strongly recommend doing this by hand instead of on a word processor). On this sheet, list every conceivable benefit to customers of doing business with you. Don’t confuse benefits with features. What’s the difference? A feature is a “what” (a bell or whistle). A benefit is a “so what”, (what customers get from doing business with you). Be brazen! Hey, if you’re not your business’s loudest advocate, who will be?

Second, examine the competition. If you’re opening a traditional “brick and mortar” business (storefront or office), then take a good look at your local area. If you’re opening a virtual (online) business, then your search must be much wider (nationwide or even worldwide). Each of these businesses offers benefits, many of which duplicate yours. Find and eliminate these duplicates from your list, which will soon bear an almost painful number of scribbles and deletions. Fear not, because this is a good thing. In fact, it’s a very good thing.

Third, look at the remains of your once-proud list. If you did your job correctly, then most of your work will be obliterated. How can this be a good thing? Take a closer look and you’ll see a few things that you haven’t deleted. This is what sets your business apart. This is where you are going to hang your management, marketing, and planning hats. This is the foundation upon which your business will be built or rebuilt.

What about you? Now that you have the raw blueprint for your business in hand, you need to start thinking about your ideal life (the life you’d live if freed from all constraints) and life’s mission and start figuring out what your role in this business is going to be. How will you balance the three competing forces of forward-looking visionary and dreamer, present-day technician who actually does the work, and backward-looking manager who constantly tries to apply some logic and order to the whole endeavor? Chances are very strong that you are a technician, a very grounded live-for-the-moment person who loves doing whatever your business does (such as baking). I’ve lost count of the number of people who tell me “I’m a _______, not a businessperson!” The time to start defining your role in this business is right now. If you are in business or are thinking of starting a business and you have not read Michael Gerber’s The Emyth Revisited, then I urge you to run, not walk, to your nearest bookseller.

By now, we’re fairly far along in the process of defining your business and how it fits into and serves your needs. Notice that I haven’t talked about a business plan yet. Starting with a business plan makes the whole effort revolve around the business when it should revolve around you, then around your customers. Next week, we’ll start talking about how to make sure your business revolves around its customers. Stay tuned!

Anthony Hernandez is a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Association Business Coach with over 20 years of business and marketing experience. To learn more about Anthony and the services he provides, visit him on the web at Coach Anthony (http://www.coachanthony.com/index.htm) and The Enlightened Savage (http://www.theenlightenedsavage.com/). Anthony lives with his family in Ashland, Oregon.


More Resources

Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting

More Management Information:

Related Articles

Your Biggest Problem in Business? Work Ethic
US Work Ethic Issues and Lack of serviceWell many of us are getting upset with the lack of service these days and no one cares and somehow we have all lowered our standards to the fact that getting good service is not to be expected, but rather a nice surprise if it ever does occur. Many great companies have derelicts, under achievers, cry babies, and people which could really careless and this is causing a rift between the best customers and businesses.
Micromanagement and Delegation
Recently I had a long discussion with a friend of mine about Managers and managing. She is a former HR Manager for several major companies and was bemoaning the fact that training for managers has been cut back so significantly in recent years and that managers no longer receive the type of help, guidance and assistance that they received just a few short years ago.
Learning To Let Go
If you have the entrepreneurial spirit (which clearly you have!), you probably have a tendency toward being a control freak. I know the feeling well -- "No one can do it as well as me, so I'll just do it all!" While this may seem to be more efficient than trying to bring someone else in to help out, it's actually more time-consuming in the long run.
Delegating Responsibility
Too many managers waste both time and energy performing tasks an employee could perform just as well, thereby lowering productivity while raising operating costs. The answer to the problem is easy-delegation.
How to Attract and Retain the Right People
If you're one of the many executives struggling with finding and keeping the right people to propel your business forward, you'll find these insights helpful.If you're frustrated by trying to motivate people, work instead to develop a company where people are self-motivated - where they do things because they want to.
5 Creative Evolutionary Leadership Niche Strategies!
I have a short story to share with you about an importantskill many leaders need to develop, use and perfect.Life is a journey.
How to Delegate More Effectively
Do this simple excercise, and transform your life.First, Make a list of recurring "to do's".
Know the Source of Business
One of the first questions we ask a prospect or new client is, "How did you get the business you have so far?" Some can answer exactly. Others aren't as certain.
Managing Rebellious Employees
Surveys of executives reveal that many companies fall short of their profit objectives due to "people problems." Research for my Absolutely Fabulous Organizational Change book found these "people problems" fall into two "r" categories: rebellion and resistance.
How To Get What You Really Want
As a small business owner, entrepreneur or independentprofessional, it's important to make plans. It's also important to have the time to let things happen.
Difficult Employees-Poor Performance - 10 Tips for Dealing with it in the Workplace
I personally struggle with the term 'managing people' - because I firmly believe that people cannot be managed - only processes and systems can. How many times have you heard it said - "Why won't my employees just do as they are asked?"Despite all our best efforts at 'managing', we have very little control over other people's actions, including the people that work with or for us.
Dividing The Loot
It is when the going gets better, that the going gets tough. This enigmatic sentence bears explanation: when a firm is in dire straits, in the throes of a crisis, or is a loss maker - conflicts between the shareholders (partners) are rare.
Good Idea Generation - A Process
It seems incongruous that good idea generation can be a process or that a process may lead to insight. However, if you examine the behaviour of people who regularly generate good ideas - such as creatives in advertising - you will find that common patterns of behaviour do emerge and it is possible to make insight more likely.
Overcoming Perfectionism
Perfectionism can get in the way of building or marketing a successful business. It can prevent us from moving ahead quickly or from taking advantage of business opportunities.
Innovation Management - smart people dont necessarily produce great ideas
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation.
What Every HR Manager Should Know About Hiring Productive Employees
The characteristics of job applicants have a strong influence on whether or not they get hired. Their characteristics also indicate the level of their productivity.
Top 5 Services Your Company's Accounting Department Should Outsource
Accounting is one area which every company has to maintain but mostly not part of their core business. It is also one of the areas that keep changing every year and the company has to aggressively keep up with the changes in the tax code.
Executive Performance -- Whos to Blame for Incompetent Managers?
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal raised the question: Who's to blame for inept managers?The answer, of course, is the superiors who hire or promote them -- but not because they intentionally select or retain poor performers. Every leader knows that his or her own success depends on putting the right people in the right positions.
Work Environment Tidbits
Color is a big factor effecting all indoor environments. Since most of us spend many hours each day at work, the coloring of the space has a big impact on us.
Building Bridges of Communication
Building a 'bridge of understanding' between parties is fundamental if your business communication is to succeed. If you are a consultant to a client, or a salesperson attempting a closer relationship with your customer, here are five techniques that help achieve just that.