There Are No Business Hacks.
Here’s what you really need to do to succeed.
As soon as anyone knows you run a business, your email inbox and DMs will be bombarded with messages from people telling you how you could…..
- 10 x your sales by sending ‘high converting’ emails to your customers. (“Click here and we’ll show you how”).
- 10 x your social media followers. (“Take our influencer mini-course now!!”)
- 10 x your sales by getting your website on the front page of Google (“with a few SEO tricks only we know about”).
I could go on but there’s no need. If you’ve been trading for more than a month, you’ve seen enough of this stuff already.
They vary in their approach. Some will play on your fear of failure, others a different flavoured insecurity — your fear of missing out maybe, or your sense that everyone else is doing better than you are.
If you’re anything like me, there will plenty for them to take aim at.
When feeling desperate, it can be tempting to give one of these schemes a go. Promises to help you jump ahead, give you the shortcuts, and show you the hacks. Tempting.
I’m not going to pretend that I’ve never been close to taking the bait.
Take a breath though and you’ll remember that things which seem too good to be true are just that. Deep down you know these things are not worth your time, let alone your money.
What you should do instead?
Like I said in the title, there are no hacks. That’s good news. Here are some things to consider instead.
Expect to be in it for the long haul.
Chances are that if your business is going to be a success, it’s going to take longer than you think. It’s just how it is for the vast majority of companies out there. However amazing your product is, it’s still going to take time and there will be ups and downs along the way.
Of course, there are a few outliers that outperform everyone’s expectations, but they are rare. That’s why they make the news.
Luck
I’m not sure I believe in luck as such, maybe it’s more about timing. Sometimes you will be doing the right thing, in the right way at the right time and that will resonate with a group of people and lead to a burst of rapid growth.
That’s great — but difficult, if not impossible to sustain, let alone repeat. Enjoy the good times, but don’t expect them to last forever.
Having said that, being creative and trying things out will likely lead to you ‘getting lucky’ more often. Even so, innovation needs to be well thought out, measured, and part of a coherent strategy.
Keep it simple.
When feeling desperate, do you thrash around, trying to find something ‘that works’? It’s easy to lose sight of what you’re good at, or what people know you for. Don’t lose sight of things that are most important to your customers.
You need to have reliable methods of bringing back your perspective to what matters.
There are lots of ways of doing this. Write down what your business does, how it does it and why. Make sure that everything you do aligns with this vision. Get the people around you to speak up if they think you are drifting.
Make plans, and stick to them. Execute.
Don’t pay anyone to do things you know nothing about.
There are a few exceptions here, like accounting, or legal work for example. Otherwise, you should know at least a little about everything that happens in your business.
You need to know enough about how something works so you can check that someone else is doing it right. Otherwise, it’s handing over money and hoping for the best.
There is plenty of easy-to-access, low-cost (or free) information out there. YouTube, local business support services, blogs and more. You’ll be amazed at what you can find out, given a bit of time and a clear focus.
Once you know a little, you are in a much stronger negotiating position and you’ll find it easier to figure out whether you are getting good value for money from contractors/freelancers and the like.
Ask for help.
All local authorities pay people to help small businesses. It’s good for the local economy. Find these services and ask them for their help. Listen to what they have to say with an open mind and act on it when you need to.
These are free services, and they exist to help you succeed, they’re not selling you anything. If you do need to outsource something, they’ll even help you find the right person for the job.
I’ll say it again. Find these people and work with them.
Persevere.
If you work hard and focus on solving problems for your customers, you will be doing most of what you should be doing.
The tough bit is that a lot of it happens slowly. Sometimes it takes a long time to see results. Even then, it’s not always clear in retrospect what it was that helped get you over the line.
There are no hacks. If there were, I’d tell you, I promise. I’m hoping that you’re hearing this with relief, not disappointment.
Building a business is hard, especially in the beginning. Be authentic, keep going, work hard and if you can, have fun along the way. It’s not going to happen overnight, but if you believe in what you are doing, and you get help along the way, you’ll get there.
So, from now on, when that offer lands in your inbox, mark it as spam, hit delete and don’t give it another thought. Get on with the real work instead.
