What happens when you realise your path is entrepreneurship rather than employment? Lindsay takes up the challenge and shares an account of her journey as it unfolds… 

It all comes down to THE SELL:

• A clear product
• With clear benefits
• And a clear USP – how it differentiates from the rest.

I’ve had a few pitch meetings recently. Everyone interested, everyone keen – orders not yet placed.

This morning I had a call with a very wise and successful Irish lady who was the queen of online learning in her day.

She told me that it’s a HUGELY competitive market. That she knows people who fall in love with their ideas, thinking they’re different from all the rest, and end up quitting 4 years later.

Yes, we know it’s competitive. (I’m starting to feel the cold shower).

“No-one will read your stuff”, she said. “It’s all about the sell.”

Of course, she’s right.

It’s so difficult to stay objective and see it through the customer’s eyes to be able to provide the clear sell. I find myself explaining it, dressing it up, getting deep into it – rather than fitting what I have, simply to their needs.

And it’s also about GETTING to the sell. She told me to stop focusing on the product, having coffees with people, making the website nice.

“Target 10 companies in your area who you’d like to have as your customers. Go to the top (it’s not the Manager who really cares). If you can sell to them and scale up with them, that’s the litmus test”, she explained.

So, I’m giving myself to the end of the year before I re-evaluate if I can really get this massive snowball rolling. I do not want to slave away for 5 or 10 years and find I’ve wasted a heap of time and energy, despite the mini-wins so far.

I’ve found someone who knows the market, has loads of contacts, is totally commercial-savvy, and is expert in presenting stuff. Unusually, she has some time on her hands and is going to critique my materials and advise on the sales.

While I’m hoping the seeds I’ve already planted over the past year come up, I can line up my targets, get my pitch organised and FOCUS.

And by the way – here’s that recording of my talk at DisruptHR the other week: https://vimeo.com/257500097?ref=tw-share.

Mirror Mirror – the process that accelerates social alignment in teams for improved performance and innovation. By enabling a better shared current reality between people with a shared goal, they make better, faster, more satisfying progress: www.mirrormirrorhub.com

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