Imagine sending out a mass email telling your clients that you’re quitting and closing down shop. You explain to them that you’ve decided to move on professionally and that you would no longer be available to work on their projects. Can you sense the hesitancy in pushing the “send” button? Can you imagine the nervous and worried expression that would be strained across your face? This is exactly what I did in early 2007 when I stopped doing graphic design and website development.
I was in a transitional period in my life where I wanted to teach entrepreneurs more and design less. I wanted to make money for my thoughts, experience, and wisdom and I just couldn’t do that designing logos and fliers. Some of my clients understood my position and others were really worried as to how they would keep their projects afloat. I had to explain that “when God is ready for you to move into new territories . . . you gotta drop everything and move.” When you get that feeling then you know it’s time to reposition yourself for success. Last week, I explained how to do just that within your career. Today let’s explore what to do when it comes to your business.
Why reposition yourself in the first place?
The whole goal of repositioning yourself is to #1 – maintain the success you’ve attained and #2 – make strategic moves to become more successful. Pretty simple, wouldn’t you agree?
As a graphic designer I had plenty of clients but I didn’t have a sense of fulfillment in what I was doing. I got more joy in teaching entrepreneurs how to market themselves and how to use the web in advertising their businesses. I wanted to make the change from graphic designer to business coach. In order to do so there were a few things that I had to do.
Leave the extra baggage behind!
As I said, at the start of this article, I had to drop a lot of my clients in order for me to move on and get to the next level. I know what you’re thinking, “Rod, why wouldn’t you just keep them and offer your new services to them?” For the most part, these were established small business owners and churches outside of my target market. They just needed someone to design their fliers, logos, and work with their website . . . they didn’t want me to tell them how to be successful. So why bother? It’s better to leave extra baggage behind than let it slow you down if you’re trying to move. If you hold on to it, you might end up damaging it unnecessarily during the move. And that’s just a pain in the butt. So leave it! Here are a few suggestions on what to do once you’ve “left your baggage” behind;
- Keep in contact with your clients and maintain a referral network. This will allow you to pass new business to them and get business from them no matter what new product or service you’re offering.
- Don’t totally leave them in the dark, make recommendations of other vendors that can possibly take over their projects.
- Maximize social networking to keep in touch. I use Facebook to maintain business relationships and create a greater sense of community among my peers.
Money DOES Grow on Trees, Shake Your Tree of Creativity!
Feeling lead to speak and consult I had to create new products, services, and totally revamp my offerings. I didn’t look for affiliate products to sell or network marketing products (Most of you know how I feel about network marketing anyway). Instead, I created new products and services for my target market. The first was an audio book called, “Leadership Wisdom from Proverbs” which you can download for free here. I started a seminar series which I derived from the content of the audio book. Both were pretty successful and I knew that I was were I was supposed to be professionally. Here are a few tips on creating products and services for your repositioned business;
- Do some research to find out what your market needs. Use tools like Twitter, polls, and surveys to listen and organize information for your benefit.
- Don’t just look for other people’s products to sell, look within your own talents, skills, and abilities. I made my audio book from my computer with software I already owned, you can too!
- Think outside the box! Come up with a combination of products or services and judge which ones will produce the best return on investment.
- Don’t totally discard your current offerings of products or services. You might be able to tweak them (add and subtract portions) to fit your new business model.
Take the iron out of the farmer’s hand and brand yourself!
Even though I turned over a new business leaf I still had people calling me to do design work for them. The phone conversations were pretty interesting, “Yes, I used to do graphic design, no, I’m sorry, but I won’t able to do that for you.” I had to stick to my guns and you will to. The best way to get your message across without hurting feelings is to brand yourself (or in this case, re-brand yourself). Personal branding gives you the power to control people’s perceptions of who you are or what you do. Here are a few basic tips to get you started;
- Set up your name as your domain (website address) – notice that The Success Center’s web address is rodkirby.com, I assure you that this wasn’t by accident. My thinking is, when people want to find success, they’ll find me. It’s got nothing to do with my ego and everything to do with how I want people to perceive who I am and what I do.
- If you’re already using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook change your posting strategy to reflect who you want to attract. If you’re repositioning yourself to be a lawyer, find useful tips, articles, and things in your life to share that reflects that. You can read up on using Twitter for business here.
- Revamp your website or start a blog dedicated to your “new self.” Give people one dedicated place to connect with you, buy from you, or engage with your new “identity.”
Marketing isn’t Dead if you do it right!
If you’re going to position your business to be successful in a new market you’ve got to maximize every available tool to get the word out. This may mean investing in traditional avenues of marketing or giving your time to social media. Do whatever works for you. Here a couple of tips to help you make it through;
- Narrow down your social media tools to the ones you’ll invest the most time in. Having a wider range of tools and profiles only disengages you with your market and wastes time. Here are my Top 3 Social Media Tools for Business.
- Re-design your marketing materials to reflect your new brand and distribute them at conferences and events. Be sure to include your social media outposts so that people can reach out to you no matter what platform they’re on.
- Plan on attending industry events and conferences to enhance your profile, grow an email list, and make connections. Check out AllConferences.com for events listed in industry or area.
When in Doubt, Seek Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding
Whenever you’re in a transitional state of your life, your decisions will have an impact on your business. Whether it’s positive or negative will be determined on the quality of your decisions. So, go into your quiet space and pray for the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to make quality decisions.
Luke 11:9 says,
So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace!
What else can be added to this list? What is your current position with your business? Do you feel like you’re being successful or is it time to reposition yourself for success? When I stopped designing and started speaking and coaching I knew that I had made the best decision for my life. Since that time things have grown, changed, and I continue to reposition myself and my business ideals.
I keep referring to my friend Latara because she actually gets the idea behind repositioning. She understands it and it’s exciting to see other people who “get it.”
LaTara Ham-Ying said,
As for me, I am continually in a repositioning mode because as an entrepreneur I believe that we must always be looking for something new and evolving so that your business stays fresh. As you evolve, God gives you new insight into what you need to do for your business.
Flickr image by Alejandro
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About the Author
Rod
