Jake:

I'm going to "lift a few things out of your post and them comment on them...

*I came here searching for ideas and direction.

*I have tried and researched many different types of ideas and business opportunities.

*I market bird hangers,

*I am technical recruiter (for a living),

*I rehab homes and rent them,

*I am pursing waste consulting (reducing companies disposal bills)

As I read through your post, I couldn't help but notice how many of these things you do involve you actively doing something to get people to come to you.

You persue waste consulting opportunities, you recruit, you market bird hangers, you look for tenants for your rehabbed homes.

*I am still not happy or have found my niche.

Maybe you need to stop chasing all the things and do something where the people come to you.

Back in March I wrote a post called "Some days I feel an urge to dig holes for a living" and you can read it here:
http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl?read=7440

Let me quote from that post...

...Throughout our lives we try lots of things - sports, hobbies, skills, etc. And we don't let 'fear of failure' stop us - even if we know we won't be any good at it.

So why should it suddenly stop us when it comes to business?

I don't think it does.

The answer is contained in what I wrote at the beginning of this post "I'll experience an undirected, unfocused BURST of action-enthusiasm... that would have me shoot off and dig a hole for money if...

someone should happen to call me and ask me to come dig a hole."

Think about it...

No customer generation. No quotes being given. No sales talk. Just servicing a customer who calls you all on their own.

Ask any tradesman who does repeated sub-contract work for the same contractor. Ask them if they prefer doing the sub-contract work (which usually means the contractor calls them and gives them the new 'job') or getting and dealing with potential customers all the time to find the few real customers.

Ask any lawnmowning guy if he prefers servicing regulars who are on a schedule - he just turns up and does the work - or if he prefers going to see potential customers to give quotes.

From birth we pretty well have everything handed to us on a silver platter. Sure we may have to bug mom and dad to get some things. But we learn that this works and how to 'play it up.'

At school we are spoon-fed everything. Even assignments are given specific topics from specific sources.

We then get a job and are told what to do and left alone to do it.

Then, as Michael Gerber says, we have en entrepreneurial seizure.

But after years of 'doing what we are told' we find the new road ahead hard. We must now generate the customers who will tell us what to do (what they want to buy, etc). But we don't like that bit. We just want customers to come to us out of the blue. And because that's often not possible we then look for shortcuts. An easier way to generate customers without actually having to deal with them.

We often hear 'do what you love and the money will follow' and 'figure out a way to make money from your hobby.' And people try this and it doesn't work.

WHY?

Because when it's a hobby it's their choice. They control it. But as soon as customers come into the picture, then it stops being about what you want and more about what they - the customers - want.

The photographer who loves landscapes suddenly finds themself taking photos on commission. Photographing things they have no interest in because it's what the customer wants. Their creativity - the very thing they enjoyed about their hobby - is gone. And it becomes annoying - like a passenger telling you how to drive.

The person suffering from an entrepreneurial seizure wants customers handed to them on a silver platter. The hobbiest wants customers to buy what they have already created and to also have those customers handed to them on a silver platter.

Door-to-door sales got you down? What if the leads to pre-qualified people are provided to you? Not so bad then, is it? You might even do it, wouldn't you? (you would probably prefer them to have already made up their mind to buy from You and your visit is just to fill out the order form)

The difference? The pre-qualified lead is already half sold AND handed to you on a silver platter.

Cold calling on the phone. Same thing. But returning a call to someone who has left a message enquiring about your widget is different. And even better if the person who left the message just wants what you're offering without the baggage of quotes, questions, etc. ...


You may be impatient... because things aren't moving ahead at a speed you would like them to. Could it be possible though, that your impatience is more related to a feeling of frustration because you keep chasing everything instead of letting customers come to you?

Everyone has heard, by now, that it's best to sell what people want and not what they need. - The idea being that people spend money on what they want and not what they need (buying beer instead of paying rent, for example).

In a sense that is true. But it also means, you are trying to convince people to want your widget.

The advice is then to find an already existing market where people are buying these widgets and then enter that market.

And that is good advice.

But there is another angle to this...

When does a want become a need? And when are people forced to spend money on this want-turned-need? Is it a long-term want/need or a short term want/need?

Dien touched on Solving Problems as one way to come up with "opportunities." And seeing problems can be a skill in and of itself. Because sometimes, the problems are short term... only last for a day.

Let me give you some examples so you can understand what I mean by short-term problems and long-term problems...

Shelter is a want/need that is long-term. The tenant want/needs a place to live. Once they have found that place - which solves a long-term problem, their immediate problem of finding a place is gone for quite a while.

During the rehab process you have short-term want/need problems. Painting, cleaning, yard, etc. Once these short-term problems have been taken care of, you won't experience them again for a long time (hopefully).

There is another related problem revolving around this shelter...

The deposit - if the tenant doesn't have it, do they get it from a place that lends deposits?

No-one considers looking into Deposit Loans UNTIL they WANT/NEED one. Then they go looking - no need to talk them into it.

No-one searches for gas while the tank is full. But as it gets near empty, you want/need gas. Then they go looking - no need to talk them into it.

No-one cares about the ferry across the river until they need to cross in the morning to go to work. Then it becomes something they really want/need. They go looking - no need to talk them into it.

This would appear to be the whole reason for any "repair" business. Just wait for the person to want/need the thing repaired (their short-term problem solved). They call you.

Of course, you have to let them know you exist. But you don't have to talk them into wanting what you have to offer because they now NEED what you offer.

It's the difference between Selling Air Conditioning and Repairing Air Conditioning. In one situation there is a salesman/customer interaction and a yes/no buying decision to be made (The A/C might be something nice to have - want). In the other, they just need it fixed (there is no "should we / shouldn't we? decision to be made - need).

In one case you have to find the people and sell them, in the other, they go out of their way to find you.

Hope this has given you something to think about.

Michael Ross


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