What Online B-Schools Can't Teach You - How To Launch a Passion-Based Business

Women are launching new businesses at one and a half times the rate of men.

But, women entrepreneurs are more likely to bootstrap their money and time to lauch a passion-based business (unlike their male counterparts), thus increasing the risk of running out of both before reaching a sustainable success.

Whether you bootstrap or have the solid backing of investors, how you spend your time and money in the first two years of launching your passion-based business will set the foundation for your success in the years ahead.

When I launched The Great Do-Over mentorship and coaching business four years ago, I had 25 years of B2B product development, product management and marketing experience behind me. But, I wasn’t nearly prepared for launching a consumer-based business in an online marketing and delivery world.

Launching a passion-based business requires more than a website and a list. All the rules of good product development and marketing still apply, AND you need the added knowledge of the most current and effective ways of attracting, retaining and delivering to customers in an online, connected world.

New software platforms emerge almost daily and customers adapt quickly when marketing schemes become standard practice. (How many times can you watch a 4-part video training and not know the high-ticket sales pitch will come at the end? Not to mention the endless marketing emails around a launch… and don’t get me started about affiliate promotions… but I digress.)

The problem with most online business schools and marketing gurus is they take a cookie cutter approach to their training.

One size does not fit all.

They teach what worked for them. It doesn’t mean it will work for you.

If I have learned anything in the last four years it’s that one size does NOT fit all in the online marketing world.

Their results are not likely to work for you for any number of reasons – it’s not appropriate to your business model, you don’t have a large enough following to have a profitable launch, or what many new entrepreneurs miss, it’s the wrong phase in your growth cycle.

Without a critical eye, you can end up spending tens of thousands of dollars on coaching and training that is not useful – money that would be best spent investing back into your business.

Taking a page from old school product development and marrying that with new marketing techniques and platforms will give you a solid foundation that is poised for growth and will be able to sustain iterations in products, pricing and promotions.

Here’s a basic product development framework for any passion-based business.

1. Discover – for those who are seeking but don’t know, the first step in launching a passion-based business is to discover your passion. In The Great Do-Over Retreat, our focus is personal alignment. After years in the corporate world, many need to re-focus on their own desires and passions. Manage the mindset and learn how to make measured decisions and deal with fear and resistance head on. Adopting healthy practices caring for the body, daily meditation, goal setting, managing mindset are basic foundations of success when building a business. Discover…

What is it that I am most passionate about?
What gap exists that I want to fill?
What population of people do I want to serve?
What is my “Why?”

2. Vision – If you already have a passion you want to pursue, I still recommend step one to stay in daily alignment. But if you have already completed a Great Do-Over Retreat, then this is the place to start. Vision is all about your ideal client. The mistake most passion-based entrepreneurs make is starting with their passion for the product instead of the customer. In this phase you answer the questions:

Who is my ideal client? This is not a demographic but a psychographic. You need to literally get into the head and habits of our ideal client to be able to align with her desires and needs. The more specific, the narrower your target, the better.
What is the gap? What is it that your ideal client desires, but isn’t being fulfilled?
What is the solution that my client would pay for? It’s important to get both the solution and the pricing right. Price too low, and it lacks perceived value, price too high and no one will buy. Your ideal client will literally build your solution for you if you ask the right questions and create your product or program based on her answers.
What are my brand pillars? What does your company, product or program stand for? What is the value your ideal customer will receive from doing business with you?
What is my core premise? What is the belief/need/desire/problem on which your solution is based. This stage is required for your ideal client to say, “this is made for me.”
What is my core offering? What is the product/program/solution that you are offering that fills this defined gap.

Your ideal client will tell you exactly what she needs, how she wants to consume it and what value it has to her if you ask the right questions.

3. Plan – The planning stage is what is skipped by many passion-based entrepreneurs – especially with newly certified coaches who now have a coaching certificate but have no idea how to launch or grow a business. Key steps in the planning phase are:

What is my business/product/program? Avoid launching more than one product to one clearly defined market or you risk splintering your time, attention and dollars before one gets traction. Define one product/program to one defined ideal client segment.
What is my revenue plan? Pricing? Even if this is brand new, you must have a revenue plan and forecast. How do you intend to sell? Direct? Indirect?
What is my launch and promotion strategy? Successful businesses use a multipronged approach with online and offline marketing through speaking events, social media, email, advertising, content strategy and SEO/
What technology infrastructure will I require? (Keep the testing phases small, simple and cheap. Wait until you build success before investing in complex CRM tools like InfusionSoft.)
What is my funding strategy? Whether debt, equity or other infusion of cash, bootstrapping will leave your with dwindled savings and maxed out credit. There are more avenues than ever for women entrepreneurs to get business backing.
What is my staffing plan? What resources do you need on your team? Do you hire? Or outsource? I recommend the new mega virtual assistant providers who can get you access to vetted talent for design, development and marketing and you pay as you go.

3. Launch – The day you have dreamed of is finally here. It’s time to launch your dream business. The most critical activities in this phase are:

Which technology, platform and service providers will I use? It’s time… where will you build your website? What will power the back end? What providers will you use for payments? CRM? Web conferencing? Calendar scheduling? Web analytics? Program delivery? (e.g. learning platforms)
What is my visual brand? What words and images will attract your ideal client and visually represent your value proposition and market position?
What is my primary social channel? Successful entrepreneurs pick one primary social channel to reach their ideal client and expand to secondary channels over time.
What is your my strategy? Is it an online funnel? Speaking to sell? Online or offline ads? It’s time to turn on the spigot and get those leads rolling.
Where is my next round of funding coming from? Make sure you are tracking your business analytics, adapting your strategy and telling a solid story to new or repeat investors.

An increasing number of women are jumping off the career track in their mid 40’s and 50’s. There is success after corporate life – just bring all of your well-honed business skills with you when you jump into the entrepreneurial pool.

If you’d like to know more about how to launch a passion-based business, join me for a one-hour workshop “From Passion To Prosperity – How to avoid the three most dangerous mistakes made by new women entrepreneurs.” Thursday, March 23 and Wednesday March 29. Find out more here

Deb Signature