Never Get a ”Real„ Job (27 page)

Support the locals
. Does your town have a favorite sports team? Are there major political or economic events affecting your area? Getting in sync with your community can put you on the map with local influencers and help you to build a loyal base of local customers.

If you live in a town hit hard by recession, perhaps you can offer a “blockbuster recession special.” If the local little league team is on its way to the state championships, maybe you can donate a portion of your sales toward equipment, travel, or lodging expenses.

Become part of the fabric of your community. Tie your marketing efforts into your local community’s activities and events. Do something that larger competitors can’t: care about the little guy. Give back, but look for ways to get back as well. Remember, your goal shouldn’t just be to be seen as a nice guy; you also have to concentrate on converting your fellow community members into loyal customers. Feel good about what you’re doing, yes, but don’t let your compassion guide you into blowing all of your time and available funds on being a do-gooder.

Scratch lots of people’s backs
. Consumers in your niche marketplace are also consumers of other like-minded businesses and service providers. Connecting with these other businesses can offer you direct lines of communication to even more consumers without the need to spend capital up-front.

Find partners that either benefit from similar clientele or that can enhance their bottom lines by offering a cross promotion to their consumer bases. For example, a florist might connect with caterers and wedding planners to offer them a percentage of sales generated from referrals. A house-cleaning service might consider a mutually beneficial package deal with a dry cleaner whose market also consists of affluent customers who like convenience.

Whether you build partnerships based on gross revenue shares or commissions, link up with complementary, noncompetitive service providers whose existing customers fall into your niche marketplace—and make their customers your customers.

Get real about social media marketing
. I have news for you: People aren’t going to magically flock to your Facebook Fan Page. Nor will you have 5,000,000 followers on Twitter—ever. And if you think social media is going to make your business an overnight success, think again. In reality, when you open up shop in the social media world, absolutely nothing will come out of it; not a single person will care about your profile except you.

Social media is meant to be used it as an amplifier, not a campaign unto itself. It’s supplemental, not the whole ball of wax.

Failed social media campaigns are those that are too intensely focused on trying to get hoards of followers—instead of appealing to the enthusiasts and brand ambassadors who truly care about your brand, and are willing to spread the message. Whereas effective social media strategies support larger marketing objectives—and avoid becoming time-draining, life-consuming tasks.

Look to build and foster relationships online by providing valuable content in a voice with which your users can easily identify. Get to know your audience before you bombard them with wall posts and status updates. Tailor your brand’s communications to each network; become aware of the language, phrases, and key terms of the social media platform you’re working on before you engage its community. And whatever you do, do not spam users with excessive direct messages or marketing speak.

Rally prospects behind a cause
. Linking yourself to a charity, relief effort, or local fund-raiser can win over big followings while simultaneously doing some good. Your efforts may include giving a percentage of sales away to a nonprofit organization, or helping those in need by offering your time or services.

Choose a cause that not only makes you feel good, but also fits your brand image and matches your niche market profile. A dog-walking service that works with an animal hospital makes sense, whereas a cleaning service teamed up with an animal hospital might not. Whatever cause you support, be sure to follow through with the goals you set forth. Speak to members of your charity and see how you can tie into its community and vice versa. Clearly state your intended contributions in all of your applicable marketing materials and communications.

I’m warning you, though: using cause-marketing just to further your agenda will come back to bite you in the ass later. Loyalists and enthusiasts will hunt your brand down and make your life miserable if they find out you’re doing wrong by their mission. So feel good while generating profits, not pickets.

Conclusion

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

So, how do you feel? Pumped? Excited? Empowered? Think you have what it takes to make it on your own two feet? Are you salivating at the opportunity to duke it out with the titans for market share? Counting down the minutes until you tell your boss where he can shove his TPS reports?

Well, good, but that’s not enough. Now comes the hard part: Actually
doing
it.

This is the moment of truth—the moment when you decide to get in the game or remain on the sidelines. Reading this book to deconstruct and rebuild yourself was a great first step, but it was just that: a first step. The trick now is to make sure it wasn’t your last step.

I won’t lie to you. It will take
a lot
of hard work to maintain your enthusiasm, persistence, and passion for your entrepreneurial ambitions. It will take even more work and discipline to stick with it for more than just a few days or weeks. But at the end of the day, all that matters is your answer to this question: Do you want to be an employee—or seek employment—to benefit others—or be self-employed to benefit yourself?

If you find that you’re not up for the challenge, just do what most start-up book readers do: Nothing. Put down this book, forget everything I’ve taught you, and continue your life as it exists today. Hide behind excuses like “It’s too hard,” “I don’t have enough money to get started,” or “I’ll get started one day”—and go on collecting paychecks or searching for a “real” job.

There will only be a beginning if you choose for there to be one. No one else will start your business for you, or force you to keep your promises to yourself. Every day that you fail to take immediate actions to materialize your entrepreneurial goal is just one more day you’ll remain a slave to the “real” job—whether you have one or not.

Bottom line: If you want to be an entrepreneur, don’t just talk about doing it;
do
it. If you want more out of this life, fight for it. If you crave freedom and fulfillment, chase after it with your full mind and body. If you yearn to snub the antiquated social norm, get off your ass and make it happen!

Am I rooting against you? No. I
hope
you go on to build the business of your dreams and credit this book as one of the reasons for your success. However, I’d be doing you a disservice if after all of this, I gave you an undeserved pat on the back and congratulated you just because you can read at an eighth grade level.

So what are you waiting for?

Start now.

Not tomorrow. Not next week. Right now.

Be part of the select few who will actually take this moment to change his or her life and get out of the system that is strangling your future before it’s too late.

I leave you with these parting words of inspiration that a fellow entrepreneur once told me: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Be afraid to have never failed.

Be afraid of living with regrets for the rest of your life.

Be afraid of letting others dictate what you should be afraid of.

Be afraid of putting other people before yourself, never earning what you’re worth, or losing your entire livelihood in an instant without any say in the matter.

Be afraid of waking up at 50 and realizing that your career has been nothing more than a patchwork of dead-end “real” jobs with nothing to show for it.

Finally, be afraid to live out the rest of your life as a mere dreamer rather than a doer who dreams up what’s next.

Reading time is now over. You’ve got lots to do—and you’re already behind.