BIG mistakes entrepreneurs make...

> Pehaps the best advice I've heard about
> growing a profitable business comes from
> Scott Bedbury who spent several years with
> both Nike and Starbucks as each company grew
> to unbelievable size. This is from his book
> "A Brand New World" ...

> "Start with a great product or service
> that peple desire and that you can sell
> profitably.

I'd like to alter that just a tad...

Start with a product or service people desire and that you can sell profitably.

It does not need to be a Sethism "remarkable" product. It doesn't even need to be "great". Nor "very good." Even if it is just "good" your business can grow quite well. (Not everyone wants the best. Some are quite happy to save a few bucks and settle for good.)

You don't even really need to be different. You can be just like every other business in the same industry. For instance...

Say there is a total market of 1,000 people for some service you provide. Lets also assume each of these customers uses your service once a month. And that with you, there are 9 other competitors - 10 of you all up. It just so happens you each have 100 customers paying you $25 per month - $2,500 a month in total.

If just one other business comes along to join the competition, there is still room. If each of you lose 9 customers, the original providers will have 91 customers and the newcomer will have 90. Your income will be $2,275 per month. Slightly less than original, but not enough to send you bust.

Will you be able to grow and expand?

Probably not. Then again. You may not want to.

And that's the basis of my bug bear with the Sethism of "remarkable." Mayhaps the majority of business owners do not want to take on the world? Maybe they are quite happy making the amount of money they are making.

Maybe your natural-like product makers don't care for world domination. Maybe being as large as Estee Lauder is not really something they want to aim for. Maybe they have no interest to be as big as Revlon.

Besides that. The Sethism "remarkable" is also an after-fact thing.

It is easy to say such-and-such is remarkable... after they are remarkable. But not before.

We must be careful not to look for reasons to make a business fit the Sethism "remarkable."

Anyway. All that really matters in the end is...

are you making any money?

If not... if your business is not self-funding... if you aren't making the money you want your business to make... you need to ASK yourself WHY? And what do you need to do to increase sales/turnoever and profit.

You say there is no proof anyone wants those natural-like products. But someone must, right? Someone has been buying them for seven years, haven't they?

Who is to say how long it should take this business to grow to its fullest?

Is there a customer list? Is there a drop-ship program?

Not every business within an industry can be the Sethism "remarkable."

Michael Ross


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