Karen Skidmore's Kick-Ass Blog | CanDoCanBe

If you were a washing powder which would you be and why?

No, this is not an audition for Blind Date (been there, done that!!) but actually a great question to ask yourself to help you market your products or services.

I am re-reading Michael Gerber's "E-Myth Revisited" again - something I recommend everyone who runs their own business to do at least once every 18 months - and I have just read the chapter where he introduces the Entrepreneurial Model.

He writes: "The Entrepreneurial Model looks at a business as if it were a product, sitting on a shelf and competing for the customer's attention against a whole shelf of competing products (or businesses)."

What he means by this is that it isn't your actual product or service that is critical to your business success, but the way that you offer it to your market.  If we go back to my question "If you were a washing powder, which would you be and why?", you soon realise that the only difference between all the washing powders out there are the way that they are marketed.

They all wash clothes, but to compete on a shelf at Tescos or Waitrose, a washing powder has to stand out from all the rest.  Tough, when you think about the brand loyalties that most consumers have, often passed on from their mothers (or fathers if they did the washing!)

So, stop focusing on your product's/service's features and start thinking in terms of the benefit you offer and how you get this message across to your customers.

Book Review - The E-myth Revisted

This book has been around for many, many years.  And it was actually recommended to me many, many times before I actually took the bull by the horns and read it.

And, boy, was I glad that I read it.  I finally realised what everyone had said about this book – and I got it!

Michael Gerber is an American speaker and runs a small business consultancy “empire”.  And like many of these American books, you may need to ignore all the Americanism!  It is an essential read for anyone who wants to run a business and not get trapped by actually having a job.

The story of the book essentially explains how to run your business like a franchise (not necessarily make it a franchise – just run it like one.)  MacDonalds is described as one the most successful small businesses in the world, and it is these principles that you can learn about which can turn your business around.

I know it certainly turned my business around when I read it for the first time in December 2005 and I have gone back and read chunks of it again and again.  This is definitely essential reading!

For more information click here E-myth Revisited

Book Review - The One Minute Millionaire

The first thing I have to write is that if you are able to ignore the obvious Americanism of the whole book, this is a fabulous mind-set changing book on money.

A clever book, it is written as a fictional novel on one page and a practical step-by-step lessons learnt on the other page.  And it really does work well together.

The essence of the story is of a Mother who has her children taken away from her on the death of her husband.  She makes a bargain with her in-laws that she will raise $1 Million in a very short space of time.  She finds a Mentor by pure chance who agrees to help her do it.

If you are looking for a quick fix to make money, then this is not your book.  But if you want to explore how your beliefs and mind set can affect your potential, then have a play.  Don’t take the book seriously, listen to the lessons behind it and have fun doing it too.

I was recommended this book by a business colleague of mine, Christine Clacey and was so pleased to have been introduced to it.  I read it from cover to cover in a matter of days!

If you are interested in more information, click on the link below:

The One Minute Millionaire

 

Blog Wild - Here I go!

Wow.  I have just finished "Blog Wild!" by Andy Wibbels and I am hooked.  I have now realised why I wanted to explore this world of blogging and how easy it actually is.

This book takes a simple step-by-step approach on what blogging actually is right through to how to start one, as well as including ways to promote your new blog.