http://thecaffeinateddesignstudio.com/lessons-learned-from-a-failed-business-part-two-waiting-until-we-launched-to-decide-our-target-market/ I make you look awesome. Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:49:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://thecaffeinateddesignstudio.com/lessons-learned-from-a-failed-business-part-two-waiting-until-we-launched-to-decide-our-target-market/comment-page-1/#comment-54 brooke thomas Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:55:21 +0000 http://thecaffeinateddesignstudio.com/?p=309#comment-54 Great post! I survived a failed business too and even though I spent $50,000 I didn't have (grrr. SBA loan. I second your "invisible money produces invisible results" take on things) and a hefty portion of my sanity- I learned a hell of a lot more than I would have getting an MBA (and spent less). The lessons were hard won, but are now being very thoughtfully applied to my current business. Which is, not surprisingly, faring much better. Great post! I survived a failed business too and even though I spent $50,000 I didn’t have (grrr. SBA loan. I second your “invisible money produces invisible results” take on things) and a hefty portion of my sanity- I learned a hell of a lot more than I would have getting an MBA (and spent less). The lessons were hard won, but are now being very thoughtfully applied to my current business. Which is, not surprisingly, faring much better.

]]> http://thecaffeinateddesignstudio.com/lessons-learned-from-a-failed-business-part-two-waiting-until-we-launched-to-decide-our-target-market/comment-page-1/#comment-43 Jennifer Rodriguez Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:33:58 +0000 http://thecaffeinateddesignstudio.com/?p=309#comment-43 Excellent post, Rachael. So many people (me included!) underestimate the value and necessity of identifying a target market and then building your business around their needs rather than your expertise. I made this mistake for years in my business and it severely limited my growth. I simply could not attract enough clients to get beyond the part-time freelancing stage of business and it was so frustrating and I felt like such a failure because I could see others in my industry charging more per hour than I was and I knew my work was of better quality than theirs, so why couldn't I make this work? Because I was trying to be all things to all people. I thought every small business owner using QuickBooks was my potential customer. So so so wrong. My business did not begin to bud until I let go of the notion that I could be everybody's bookkeeper . . . until I made a firm decision about who my ideal client was and made it my mission to provide the services and solutions they needed. You are 100% right, Rachael. No matter what stage of the game someone is in, you can pretty much never go wrong by stopping and taking the time to truly zero in on who it is you are trying to serve. Excellent post, Rachael. So many people (me included!) underestimate the value and necessity of identifying a target market and then building your business around their needs rather than your expertise. I made this mistake for years in my business and it severely limited my growth. I simply could not attract enough clients to get beyond the part-time freelancing stage of business and it was so frustrating and I felt like such a failure because I could see others in my industry charging more per hour than I was and I knew my work was of better quality than theirs, so why couldn’t I make this work? Because I was trying to be all things to all people. I thought every small business owner using QuickBooks was my potential customer. So so so wrong. My business did not begin to bud until I let go of the notion that I could be everybody’s bookkeeper . . . until I made a firm decision about who my ideal client was and made it my mission to provide the services and solutions they needed. You are 100% right, Rachael. No matter what stage of the game someone is in, you can pretty much never go wrong by stopping and taking the time to truly zero in on who it is you are trying to serve.

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