You took the time and effort to follow your dreams and start your own business. That passion and love you have for what you do can cost your pockets and your time IF you don’t know your “clients, consumers”. No business owner wakes up and says “HEY” I want my business to be shut down in a year or within the first five year but if you lack knowledge about your intended market, clients and you place limits on your business then you are hurting your growth. You have to have the mindset that you will plan to be effective and know how to serve your client. Are you ready to open your doors for business? Let’s look at some tips that I use to help my client’s implement in their business.

Do you know your clients?

You can have the best product and or service in the world but if your intended consumers aren’t interested in that product/service. You have just wasted your time and money. For example, one of my clients that I’m working with is in the process of opening a home based bakery and she had a list of items she wanted to carry. Instead of taking the risk of getting a lot of ingredients for all of these items she wanted to carry and could possibly not use. We conducted a survey for her “potential” consumers to fill out so she could see what they exactly wanted. The results would show her what she needed to carry and what she could leave off. This cut back on spending unnecessary money and it assisted in building a relationship with her “potential” consumer. I highly suggest that every business get feedback from their “potential” consumer.

Are you on niche overload?

Many people have their own definition for what a niche is. However, I define niche as your specialty. What your business specialize in. It’s the factor “niche” that made you begin your business in the first place! After working with my clients and observing other people and how they run their business. You can tell someone who has no idea what their niche is. They try to accommodate everyone and everything. This means they are hitting and missing on business opportunities and revenue. You should first focus on developing your one “niche” and then creating streams of other “niches” that come from your first specialty. As you develop your first specialty you will see other opportunities to expand your brand. But, you must first be consistent!

Don’t limit yourself!

Don’t sell yourself short by limiting what your business offers. I’ve noticed that some business owners become comfortable once their business is growing and they have perfected their specialty. Instead of creating additional services from that brand they stay stagnate. You have to grow as your clients and consumers grow. A great example of a business not limiting themselves would be a business that I had a chance to work with Canaday Designs www.canaday-designs.com she has been able to meet the need of a small, medium or large business owner. By putting a three tier system in place to service the needs of her clients. This is how you should think as a business owner. How can I stay in my lane but extend my services that I currently provide to a larger audience. These are just a few of the things you need to put into place in order to ensure you are meeting your consumer and or clients needs to the best of your abilities. Shivawn Mitchell http://shivawnamitchell.com www.thebeautyboudoir.com Email Questions: info@shivawnamitchell.com