How to Successfully Transition From Passion to Passion in Business [VIDEO]

Nathalie Lussier is a blogger, an award-winning entrepreneur, an international keynote speaker and the the creator of a wildly popular free 30-Day List Building Challenge program for entrepreneurs ready to scale. She built her first health blog into a site that now boasts over 750,000 yearly visitors and more than 1 million page views.

As her blog grew, viewers and clients began asking how she expanded so quickly. This interest led to the creation of her second business, a six-figure consulting company offering digital marketing training products. Her current focus is on her growing software startup AmbitionAlly, which she co-founded with her husband. I sat down with Lussier, who went from college straight into entrepreneurship, to talk about how she keeps transitioning from one successful business to another.

Stay passionate.
For Lussier’s first business, her blog, she credited passion as a big factor in her success. She then transitioned into a passion for helping her clients, followed by a passion for helping other entrepreneurs.

I think it can be argued that there are founders who create in an industry they’re not passionate about, but they are passionate about something in business. They may just love building or love serving people or love creating jobs, etc. You have to have passion about what you’re doing in order to go the distance with your ideas.

Master marketing.
Lussier quickly added that passion alone is not enough.

“Learning marketing helped a ton. If nobody knew about my blog, it would have never gone anywhere. So, really learning about how to blog properly, how to actually write for the kinds of people I wanted to reach, that was the biggest ‘a-ha’ for me.”

Brendon Burchard told me the same thing when I interviewed him a couple of years ago. He is an author with a message, but to get the message out he had to become a marketer. Take the time to learn best marketing practices for your product or industry in order to follow your passion successfully.

Meet a need.
Lussier has always been very intentional with her content and her products and services, and she advises you do the same.  


“The first time I tried to launch a course in that space, it was very generic. It was, you know, ‘Set your self up for success!’ ... once I talked to people, and I found out what their biggest stumbling blocks were -- they kept saying over and over again, ‘I have cravings, I can't deal with those.’ And so that's why I decided to call my course, ‘Cure cravings forever.’”

It’s not enough to have great products or ideas or content if no one wants to read, watch, or learn about it. To know the needs of your audience, you need to actually engage your customers. “I did send out a survey, but most of those came from one-on-one conversations. “

Before you start a service business or create a product, spend the time asking questions and gathering data to make sure you will have a demand for your creation.

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Take care of your customers.

From her one-on-one coaching, to her web design business, to her current digital product offerings, Lussier prioritized communicating with clients. She also made sure she was managing their expectations and offering them great customer service.

“Tons of little things, like project management software, helped us a lot ... having meetings with clients and making sure that they're clear with that we're, how things are progressing behind the scenes. And these are little details, but they make a really big difference to that client.”

Don’t be tempted to phone in customer service and satisfaction in this digital age. Online reviews and social media word of mouth are crucial to your success.

Use your existing experience.
If you’re changing industries or products or business models, resist the urge to reinvent the wheel. You can find a million webinars and online courses, but stick with what you really need and realize you already know a lot.

“Don't discount everything that you've done to this point; use it. There's probably gold in there,” she explained. “I see this a lot with people who are leaving corporate. They say, ‘Okay, I was a lawyer but now I want to start something completely different and everything I've done so far is not useful,’ which is not at all the case, right? There is so much -- managing people, communication -- so much that you can use in your new step forward in your career. It's more of a mindset thing, but I think that that is something that has been huge for me.”

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com

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3 Signs You Are Your Own Worst Business Enemy

It's hard to be objective about ourselves but if we really pay attention our colleagues will reflect how we are perceived and what it means for the business.

Sometimes, it’s hard to get out of your own way.

Entrepreneurs and business owners have to keep all the trains running on time, as well as figure out the next place they’d like those trains to go, metaphorically speaking. It’s a huge, complex job. So it shouldn’t be a surprise to realize that in many cases, the problem behind an under performing company is the boss.

How do you know when it really is “just you,” though? We human beings have a notoriously difficult time being objective about our own behavior and choices.
So, try looking for the following signs in the people and circumstances around you.

1. Your employees seem unusually tense or flat lately.

Has the camaraderie vanished? Is the workplace one big collection of really bad moods, most of the time?

Of course, the boss’s mood can infect the entire office. As the leader of your team, you set the example and the atmosphere, and your employees follow your lead.

Getting along with others, both inside and outside your company, is imperative for success. If your employees and customers sense a negative change, then it’s worth examining your behavior. These signs could be symptoms that you’re becoming a toxic boss.
To address this, first make sure you’re acting with integrity and in accordance with your personal values. Next, make an effort to demonstrate empathy with your employees. You don’t have to agree with every single point they make to do this. Respect their boundaries and try to see the issue from their perspective.

Finally, make sure you listen deeply. Employers who simply command and demand compliance find themselves stuck with the “toxic” label all too quickly. Instead, be curious about your employees’ perspectives and problems. Ask open-ended questions to get them to tell you more, and listen to what they say.

2. You feel deeply frustrated with your employees.

Are you feeling unusually impatient around new workers? Do you find yourself snapping at experienced workers over small annoyances or accidents?

If so, there could be some deeper issues at play.

Insisting on perfection, or even just on competence in an unreasonable amount of time can eventually sour your entire workforce and drive away valuable employees. You’ll have a hard time attracting and retaining talent if you create an awkward, uncomfortable or outright hostile environment.

Instead, try practicing a “talk-down” method on yourself. When you feel your impatience or annoyance growing, mentally talk yourself down from these emotions to a state of greater calm. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• On a scale of one to 100, how bad is this, really? 
• What’s the worst that can happen here, realistically speaking? 
• If that happened, how would we respond? 
• Is this more important than my relationship with my employees? Or my reputation?

In most cases, reflecting on these questions helps you keep small issues in check. You’ll also want to give some thought, however, to whether there’s a bigger issue just beneath the surface. Using smaller problems as a diversion from the bigger ones provides an effective distraction from tackling life’s larger challenges, but doesn’t do much to help us solve underlying issues.

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3. Minor projects are infinitely refined and “perfected” but your company hasn’t come up with a strong new idea in ages.

One of the most common ways entrepreneurs become their own worst enemies is by focusing too heavily on things that don't deserve so much attention. For whatever reason -- be it fear of failure, fear of success, or something else altogether -- people fall into the habit of spending too much time perfecting existing projects when they should be thinking about what’s next.

Not giving yourself enough time to create and innovate is one of the biggest ways to become your own worst business enemy. Your primary job as the business owner is to create that overarching vision for your company, and then work with your team to figure out how to achieve that vision. If you’re not even allowing yourself the time to do so, you’re fighting an uphill battle without reinforcements. After all, no one else can really do this kind of work for you.

To combat this tendency, try keeping a log of your time for two weeks. Track your time in fifteen minute increments to help figure out where you’re spending the majority of your attention and energy. Then carve out uninterrupted “CEO time,” and schedule it as if it’s a firm appointment you cannot reschedule or miss. Give yourself at least three hours a week to work on new ideas for your company.

Takeaways

It’s hard to be objective about our own behavior and surroundings. Instead, use your colleagues, employees, and environment as a mirror to reflect back to you the reality of how you are perceived and the ways that perception is impacting your business. Then take the appropriate action to mitigate those challenges.

Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/
Image Credit: Eric Herchaft | Getty Images



ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Stay Connected with WNFP!

5 Common Issues in the First Year of Business and How to Avoid Them

It’s no news to any entrepreneur that the first year of business is a tough one. Navigating the ups and downs of being a business owner can be difficult but also incredibly rewarding. With the 5.7 million SMEs that exist in the UK, almost all of them have run into similar issues within their first year of business. The good news is that 5.7 million SMEs have worked through these issues, with many turning into seriously successful organisations. We’re here to explain the most common issues start-ups will run into in their first year of business, and how to best prepare for meeting them head-on.

No Business Plan

With a lack of experience and understanding, first-time entrepreneurs can often find themselves up and running without a proper business plan. This can lead to a lack of direction in the business, resulting in poor decisions and bad communication. You may have all the ideas in the world but you still need a formal document that will become the foundation of your business.

A carefully constructed business plan will help you test your initial idea in the market and as a result, can save you time and money. It also allows you to solve your future problems in advance by planning out the details of your business over time. If things should go wrong, your business plan will offer you guidance in helping to work issues out and keep working towards your ultimate goals.

Trying to take on too much

Owning a business is stressful and no one is good at everything. It’s difficult in the first year when money is tight and you have to do most of the work alone, but try to avoid burning yourself out.

Hiring staff is an option but if this isn’t feasible then having an advisor will definitely help with trying to take the load off when the stress starts to mount. Be realistic about the work that you will take on in your first year; you might be keen to take on as much work as possible to keep the invoices coming in but you must be realistic at what is physically possible. It’s easy to get carried away with ideas as a new business owner but remember it is more important to do one thing extremely well than it is to try to do everything.

Bad Management

An organisation is nothing without its employees and if you’re lucky enough to be in a good position in your first year to hire, you must also manage them correctly.

Taking on too much work also applies to your employees. It is a common misconception with small businesses that because of the size of the company, employees have to ‘give 110%’. This can result in employees being placed under too much pressure to do multiple jobs but only receiving one wage leading to a poor workplace mentality and high staff turnover. Be honest with who you hire from the get-go, make sure they are fully aware that because of the size of the business, extra work will be likely but they will be rewarded as a result of it.

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It is also important to make sure that your employees have clear boundary lines. Set them objectives and targets like you have in your business plan, make sure they’re accountable for any shortcomings and rewarded for any time they go over and beyond. After all, if they’re helping you succeed as a business owner, they deserve to share in some of that success too.

Financial Problems

The most common fatal mistake for small businesses in their first year is running into financial problems. New business owners often have a lack of understanding about business financing or underestimate how much money they require at the start-up stage, which can have businesses failing before they’ve even begun.

Use your business plan to ascertain how much money you will need for your first year of business; weigh up your costs and realistically forecast your income so you know how much you will need to succeed.

One of the common issues businesses can run into in the first year is with cash flow. Lack of experience in managing this and delays in payment of invoices from clients can be disastrous for a start-up. It’s always best to look into business financing while compiling your business plan, so you can be prepared should the need ever arise.

Understanding legalities of owning a business

Getting your head around the legalities of being a small business owner can be complicated but when you consider the consequences, is well worth your time.

Knowing and understanding advertising laws when conducting any marketing activity is imperative. You must be truthful and not misleading with your campaign, and comply with anti-spam laws, and privacy laws concerning storage of customer data.

Intellectual property laws are another common oversight of small businesses. If you are creating a product or service from scratch, you will have to check that your offering is not conflicting with another business’ IP and that you protect your idea effectively. Not abiding by these laws can land you in some trouble with pricey lawsuits as seen in the high profile Cambridge Satchel Company vs Zatchels case.

Finally, your legal responsibility to your employees is very important. You must understand employee rights such as discrimination, harassment and termination. Health and safety laws in the workplace are also important to the wellbeing of your employees and your business. You will be subject to a hefty fine if you do not comply with these standards.

Source: https://www.business2community.com


ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Stay Connected with WNFP!