Overcoming Key Challenges When Starting Your Own Business

by | Oct 11, 2024 | Newsletter

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The top three challenges new entrepreneurs face—and how to tackle them.

by Ryan Rhoten

Welcome Patrons. 🥃

I’m seeing more and more career professionals leave the corporate world to pursue entrepreneurial dreams. I remember those days. If you think you’re ready to embark on starting your own business, know that it’s both exciting and daunting or, in my case, downright terrifying. I wondered if I was making a mistake. If you’re at the same crossroads—ready to start your own business—then this week’s pour is for you. Based on insights from the personal branding quiz, there are three big concerns you may have about making the transition: clarifying your niche and offer, promoting your business, and finding your message. So, pull up a barstool because I’m gonna break down each challenge and offer some actionable advice on how to overcome them based on my experiences.

1. Clarifying Your Niche and Offer

One of the biggest hurdles in starting a business is identifying exactly what you want to offer and who you want to serve. Without a clear niche or direction, it will be hard for potential clients or customers to understand why they should choose your business over others.

Your niche is your unique space in the market. Your offer is the solution you provide to your target audience within your market. A lack of clarity in either of these areas can lead to confusion and dilute the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

When you’re starting out, it’s tempting to cast a wide net to appeal to as many people as possible, but this often results in a weak and unconvincing value proposition.

Action Steps:

  1. Identify your strengths and passions: Reflect on your skills and experiences to determine how to use your strengths best to help clients. As part of The Brand Messaging System™️, I have clients use the Ikigai exercise described in a previous newsletter to help guide them with this step.
  2. Research your target audience: Understanding the Obstacles, Objectives, and Objections of your potential customers is crucial. What are they struggling with, and how can your offer provide a solution?
  3. Craft your offer: Once you’ve identified your niche, craft a clear and compelling offer. Make sure it addresses a specific problem, follows a defined methodology, and provides a tangible solution for your clients.

2. Find Your Message

The next challenge is articulating your business in a way that’s clear and compelling. If you can’t communicate this concisely, it will be difficult to attract and engage your audience.

Clarity is key. When you have a clear and concise message, it becomes easier for others to understand—and share—what you do. Clarity builds trust and credibility with your audience.

Action Steps:

  1. Create a positioning statement: How to create a positioning statement is beyond the scope of this email, but essentially, you need to create a statement that captures what your business does, who it serves, and the value it provides.
  2. Align your messaging across all platforms: Ensure your website, social media profiles, and any other marketing materials consistently reflect your brand message. This cohesion helps build a strong, recognizable identity.
  3. Refine and test your messaging: Pay attention to how people respond to your message. If your audience seems confused or uninterested, tweak your messaging until it resonates with the right people.

3. Promoting Your Business to Reach a Larger Audience

Promoting your business is the next big challenge. Many aspiring entrepreneurs find it difficult to know where to start when it comes to marketing and spreading the word about their business.

With the overwhelming number of marketing platforms available today—social media, email marketing, SEO, content marketing, and more—it’s easy to feel paralyzed by the options.

Do not try to do everything at once or be everywhere at once. This will dilute your efforts and lead to burnout. The key is to focus on building a consistent presence where your audience spends the most time.

Action Steps:

  1. Focus on one or two platforms: Instead of trying to be everywhere, start with one or two platforms that make the most sense for your business. For example, if you’re a visual brand, Instagram or Pinterest might be your best bet. If you’re a consultant, LinkedIn will be more effective.
  2. Develop a content strategy: Start by defining your content categories and the associated topics. Then, create a plan for the type of content you’ll post and when you’ll post it. Consistency is more important than frequency—post valuable content regularly and engage/interact with your audience to build trust.
  3. Leverage word-of-mouth and referrals: Don’t be afraid to leverage personal connections and ask for referrals in the early stages, as they can go a long way. Reach out to your network and ask for support or referrals. Your job is to find clients.

Starting your own business is an exciting but challenging journey. By clarifying your niche, offer, and messaging and promoting your business strategically, you’ll be well on your way to building a successful business.

These are just a few of the essential steps that can make all the difference in your initial business success. Like any good drink, it’s all about getting the right ingredients in the right mix. If you’re not getting the desired results, you may need to change up the recipe with new ingredients to get things just right.

Last Call: Key Takeaways for Starting Your Business

Clarify your niche and offer: Identify your strengths, research your audience, and refine your offer to solve a specific problem.

Define your message concisely: Create a clear positioning statement and ensure it’s aligned across all your marketing channels.

Promote strategically: Focus on the platforms that matter most to your audience and be consistent with your content.

By following these steps, you can confidently navigate the early stages of building your business, ensuring that your brand stands out in a crowded marketplace.

Features: The Stuff

We love our features, however, let’s be clear, when we talk about features, we’re referring to what your product or service is or does. The chair, for instance, is this color, has these dimensions, or distributes weight evenly.

Bad messaging leads with features.

But, hey, I get it. You’re proud of your service and what you’ve built because they showcase what you offer—but here’s the catch: your audience will not care as much as you do.

Think of features as the raw ingredients in a cocktail; yes, they are essential, but not enough to make someone order it without knowing what’s in it for them.

For example, if you run a leadership coaching program, a feature might be the 45 videos in the program or the program lasting six months.

While important, these features describe what your program is and NOT how it helps (that’s next).

Action Steps for the stuff:

  • Create an Ingredients list.
  • Identify all of the features of your service.
  • Note the features that distinguish you from the competition.

BTW, I’m not saying you shouldn’t use features in your marketing; you shouldn’t lead with them.

Benefits: The Spoils

So, you’ve got your features identified in an ingredients list. Next, you need to turn them into something meaningful. That’s where benefits come in.

A benefit provides tells your customers what they will be able to do, feel, or have because they hired you. Benefits explain why the feature matters and how the value proposition is achieved. Benefits are the transformation your customer experiences by using your product or service.

Benefits help your customers visualize how their life improves, so connecting the dots between what you offer and how it impacts them is essential.

The chair, for example, has a seat that is so comfy, you can sit there for hours without getting a sore bum.

For your coaching program, a benefit could be 1:1 coaching or website copy revisions (both of which I do as part of The Brand Messaging System™️.

Action Steps to Translate Features into Benefits:

  • For each feature, ask: “So what? How does this make my customer’s life easier or better?”
  • Frame benefits in terms of customer outcomes—what do they gain?
  • Be specific about the improvements they’ll experience.

For messaging, benefits sit in between your features and value proposition, connecting your features to your value proposition.

Value Proposition: The Solution

Your value proposition is the distilled essence of why someone should choose your brand over the competition. Your value proposition must be tied directly to your customer’s goals.

It’s the promise you make to your audience that captures both the features and benefits, typically wrapped into one compelling statement. The chair might enable you to meet the right person or call an Uber to get home.

Your value proposition communicates why your customer should care—and pay.

Think of it like the signature cocktail at the bar: it’s not just the ingredients or how it’s made; it’s the feeling and experience your customer wants when they place their order.

Your program’s value proposition might sound like this: “Our personalized leadership coaching helps solopreneurs scale their businesses with 1:1 coaching and website revisions that resonate with your ideal audience.”

Action Steps to a Strong Value Proposition:

  • Link your features to the benefits they enable.
  • Match the benefits to the outcome your customer will achieve.
  • Write your value proposition by telling prospects how their lives will be better.

The Last Call: Key Takeaways for Sharpening Your Brand Message

Turn your frown upside down and do the same to this list. Start with your Value proposition. Highlight your service’s benefits, then link features to the benefits to show how your value prop is achieved.

Craft a value proposition: Identify the transformation your clients achieve and how it links to their goals.

Identify your benefits: Show your customers the benefits of using your service.

Jot down your features: Note the raw facts about what your product or service is or does.

When you nail this down, your messaging will become the perfect drink that they can’t wait to sit at your bar and order over and over.

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help.

1 Brand Messaging OS:  Join over 100 founders and solopreneurs and create your own brand messaging operating system (BMOS) and bring clarity, focus, and alignment to your audience, message, and offer.

Imagine not worrying about what to say when asked, “What do you do?” Or not worrying about needing to get another job because your leads have dried up. If that sounds like something you need, the BMOS may be for you. Schedule a call, and let’s chat.

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