With today being Memorial Day, it got me thinking about the gift of gratitude. Not just for those whom have given their lives in the service of our nation, but thanks in general.


Before I move on with the point of this post, I do want to say thank you to our armed forces and those whom have given their lives. Without you, we wouldn’t be as strong of a nation as we are today with the opportunity to do as much good as we do. So, please accept my humble appreciation.


Gratitude is an excellent gift because it gives to everyone involved – the person that is grateful and the person or persons that they are thanking.


Being grateful is a powerful state of mind. It alters your thoughts and your actions in a multitude of positive ways.


Hopefully, you’ll take a moment and think about the other people in your personal and professional lives whom have given you their support, their insight, and their giving, resulting in all of the positive attributes in your life today.


Is there a family member or friend that has helped you along the way? When was the last time you sent a simple, spontaneous note to acknowledge and thank them?


Are you in business with a partner or do you have employees? Would your business be as successful as it is today if they weren’t helping you with your vision? When was the last time you showed your appreciation?


What about your customers? When was the last time you thanked them for trusting you with their business? What about your vendors? Have any given you service greater than simply filling an order? They deserve a thank you, too.


For those that are truly grateful and express it genuinely with spontaneity, you will experience greater support, greater insight and greater giving from those around you. You will experience greater fulfillment and a sense of joy in who you are and what you do.


So in between the hamburgers, hot dogs, deals at the mall, war movie marathons or whatever else you are doing to enjoy this day (and I hope you are enjoying it), take a moment and think of the people that help to make your life what it is. Send them a note, give them a call, reach out and give them thanks … they deserve it. And in return, I bet you will have a happier day.


Before I go, I want to thank you for continuing to support The Solopreneur’s Guide. I appreciate you signing in your email, reading my posts, leaving your comments and checking out my new site, Small Biz Break. Happy Memorial Day.

All the Best,

Doug Dolan
The Solopreneur’s Guide
Small Biz Break

Starting a new business requires focus. Without focus, you can find yourself wandering around looking for answers to questions that you don’t even know if you should be asking.


Wait, what? I’m not sure I even know what that means. Very confusing, right?


OK, focus. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression:

K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple Solopreneur

I think my Small Biz Break partner, Maria, came up with something superior as the mantra for our business and ultimately our customers:

“Simple, Spontaneous, Success”

Keeping it simple is a good strategy, but do you know how to apply simple appropriately to your start-up? There can be a big difference between simple for you and simple for your customers.


For example, you may decide that you want to create a small business that is simple (i.e. “easy”) for you to manage, but in the process, you don’t think about what’s best for the customer and remove any real or perceived value for them. On the other hand, you may have an excellent idea with tremendous value  (i.e. “complex”) for your target market, but to keep it simple, you need to figure out how to reduce it to its most basic form.


Both of these scenarios can lead to “Difficult, Demanding, Defeat” if you don’t know how to apply this philosophy to find the right balance. Plus, simple is only the start. When you know how to put this idea into action, you will have spontaneous ideas resulting in success.


Luckily, there is help if you need it.


“Simple, Spontaneous, Success” is what Maria and I created with our Small Biz Break Solutions Center, consulting and business writing services.


If you are struggling with starting or growing your small business, take a simple step, be spontaneous, and contact us so we can help you achieve the success you deserve.


All the Best,


Doug Dolan
The Solopreneur’s Guide
Small Biz Break

This is the last post of the series (10 of 10) discussing the essential steps for launching a successful, sustainable solopreneur business. If you missed the disclaimer post, it is helpful if you take a minute to read it before going forward. Here’s the link to the post.


So far I’ve covered the following sequential steps:


1. Define Your UVP and Prime Prospects

2. Perform Your Market Research

3. Create Your Business Plan

4. Square Away Your Finances

5. License, Permits, Certifications and Legal Structures

6. Develop Your Products

7. Set Up Shop

8. Launch Your Marketing Campaigns

9. Turn Prospects into Customers


Now that you’ve started selling to customers, not only will you need to get new customers, but you’ll want to keep your new customers loyal for future business opportunities. If you’re unsure why a repeat customer is a benefit for your business, let me give you some of the positives they represent:

A. The process to attract a prospect and convert them to a customer is often more time consuming and costlier than getting repeat business from a current customer.

B. The longer a customer is purchasing your products and services the less likely they are to switch to a competitor.

C. The more times you service a customer, the easier and less costly they become. You will learn their nuances and be able to provide the products and services they want, when they want them, and how they want them.

D. Long-term, multiple purchase customers have a greater trust in your offers making them more likely to purchase higher margin offers and supplemental items. Additionally, they are more forgiving. If you do make a mistake, they are more likely to give you another chance.

E. Long-term customers make great advocates for bringing in new business. They are your best source for testimonials and increase your company exposure through word of mouth.


So how do you create a loyal customer?


1. Make good on your first sale.
You will have difficulty getting a second sale if you don’t deliver as promised on the first. Did you hit your delivery date? Did your product or service do what you promoted? Was the customer satisfied? Did you ask? Did you follow up right away?

If you give them a great experience the first time, you have an excellent opportunity to service their future needs. And always remember to thank them for their business.


2. Stay in contact.
Depending upon the length of time in between needs, make sure your customers don’t forget about you. You don’t want to simply push offers on them. If you do, your relationship will solely revolve around the deal of the day. Stay in touch through providing educational updates of value focused on their needs and wants.


3. Provide exclusive offers.
A customer has given you their money and trust. Thank them by giving them exclusive offers. These offers can include an early release of a product or a service, a discount, a special training seminar – anything that gives them an advantage over others in the market for taking that leap of faith by giving you their business.


4. Give them something more than the best price.
Typically, lowest price is the weakest competitive edge. Most customers seek best value for the dollar. When you converted them from a prospect to a customer, they may have mentioned that price was their biggest concern. Chances are they wanted to minimize their risk by giving you a chance. If you failed, they wouldn’t have experienced as big of a loss. However, as you prove yourself trustworthy and get to know your customers better, you will often find they rank value as a higher priority than low pricing.


5. They’re not just a paycheck, they’re people.
People do business with people. Get to know your customers, their names, their likes, their dislikes, their hobbies, their personalities … and without being overbearing, give them the opportunity to get to know you.


6. Get them involved in your growth.

All customers start as target prospects.

A percentage of target prospects become customers.

A smaller percentage of target customers become advocates supporting and promoting your business.

And a smaller percentage of advocates become partners.

An excellent process to keep a prospect through the process to becoming a partner is to get them involved in your growth. If you plan to create a new product or service, get their input. Let them get involved in reviewing and testing pre-release versions.


7. Stay consistent.
Regardless of your type of business, inconsistency of service and quality is often the best way to give business over to your competition. You set expectations with the first sale and through future promises. When customers return, they have a preset expectation of their experience. Unrealized expectations result in disappointment. Some customers will be forward enough to let you know if they are dissatisfied. Most new customers, however, will simply take their business elsewhere.


Thank you for reading through this series. I hope you’ve found it helpful. If after reading any of these posts you have trouble applying these concepts to your business, please write to me at thesologuide@gmail.com. I would love to help.


All the Best,


Doug Dolan
The Solopreneur’s Guide

This is post 9 of 10 in a series discussing the essential steps for launching a successful, sustainable solopreneur business. If you missed the disclaimer post, it is helpful if you take a minute to read it before going forward. Here’s the link to the post.


So far I’ve covered the following sequential steps:


1. Define Your UVP and Prime Prospects

2. Perform Your Market Research

3. Create Your Business Plan

4. Square Away Your Finances

5. License, Permits, Certifications and Legal Structures

6. Develop Your Products

7. Set Up Shop

8. Launch Your Marketing Campaigns


Now is the time to turn your prospects into paying customers. If you are at this step and you’re wondering “Who can I get as a customer?” then you need to go back and take another look through steps 1, 2, 3 and 8.


Let’s start with the premise that you are going after “good” prospects. What defines a “good” prospect? The answer to that will vary depending upon your business and your business model. I define a good prospect as someone that is truly wants or is in need of the products and services I’m offering and is more than just a paycheck. I wrote a piece, “Defining a ‘Good’ Prospect” in my last series that further details a “good” prospect.


There is the danger at this early stage for you to stray from your plan and chase after anyone willing to give you money. While a plan is a living document and you should test the waters around your focus, don’t stray too far from your core competencies. You can quickly find yourself chasing your tail, wasting time and money chasing business instead of attracting and capturing it.


Once you’ve zeroed in on your prime prospects, take these points into consideration for converting them into customers:


1. Get in front of them frequently.
Statistics indicate, in most cases, you will need to “touch” a prospect 5 – 8 times before they warm to the idea of buying from you. And it may take them another 10 – 12 “touches” before they actually buy. Yes, these numbers can vary by industry, but don’t frustrate yourself with the goal of selling all customers on the first interaction. Yes, you want to move the prospect forward to a sale, but nobody likes a pushy, desperate salesperson.


“Touching” a prospect can include ads, emails, phone calls, face-to-face meetings, articles, blog posts, samples … anything where the prospect gets a better sense of who you are, what you offer and if you deliver on your promises.


2. Ask the right questions.
Effective selling requires more questions and less statements. “But, wait Doug, I sell online and I don’t actually speak to the customer …” you say. You have other opportunities to question your customers. This will usually happen in your market research, your marketing campaigns and on your site guiding prospects to a sale.


Did you do any surveys ahead of time? Are you polling people on the Internet and on your site? Did you research to see if other businesses performed surveys and polls of your target market? Do you participate in any forums where your prospects ask questions?


By asking the right questions, you can determine if you can meet the prospects’ needs instead of wasting time, you can determine the best solution you have to offer to meet their needs and you can guide them to a sale by taking control of conversation.


If you don’t know what questions to ask, I recommend you get a copy of “Asking Questions, Winning Sales” by Stephan Schiffman.


One basic rule to remember is if you find yourself making more “I” or “we” statements than asking “you” questions, you need to change up your focus and conversation. The only way to really know what your prospects want is to ask.


3. Be a good listener.
If you take the time to ask question, don’t waste your prospect’s time and your opportunity by not listening to their answers or dismissing them if you don’t like their responses. A prospect gives away (either directly or indirectly) their needs in their answers. Keep your ears open.


4. Give more value than what they’re paying for.
Although I believe this is always true regardless of how well known you are within the industry, this is especially true when you are just starting. You need to build momentum. You need to build a buzz within the industry. You need to start gathering customer testimonials and referrals.


Giving more doesn’t always need to cost more. It can include you giving discounts for a limited time or giving special bonus products and services as part of the bundle. However, it can include discounts on future products, PLR (Private Label Rights) products, insightful information you’ve created, discounts on joint venture partners’ products, and other items of value that cost you little to nothing.


The worst scenario to be in is to have to lower your price to close to nothing because that’s equivalent to the value your prospects believe you’re giving. If this is the case, take a look at your offer and your product or service. Are you not promoting your product in the right way? Could you bundle more of the low-cost, no-cost items mentioned above to make the deal more attractive? Did you create a valuable product or service to begin with according to your market research? Are you focusing on the right target market?


5. Ask for the business.
Don’t believe you have a product that will sell itself. I have been in sales, business management, ownership and consulting for a number of years and don’t know of many (if any) products that sell themselves … in the beginning unless it was a multi-national, branded corporation that spent millions on pre-sale marketing (think Apple and the iPod).


You may have a product that your market needs. Unless you’ve done a tremendous job in your pre-launch marketing to build up the buzz like major corporations do, you still have to ask for the business. Chances are that you are unknown to your market. It will take you hustling for sales, asking for the business and asking for testimonials before you may hook your market.


Asking for the business comes after you’ve asked your prospect the appropriate questions, zeroed in on their need, created a proposal matching their need laced with more value than they are paying for (creating an offer they will have a hard time refusing) … and then asking for the business.


This applies to selling online, too. You can still take a similar process as the face-to-face scenario with the copy on your site and the functionality you offer to let them feel in control of their buying decision with a call to action that they can’t refuse.


If after reading this post, you are still struggling with your sales, leave me a comment or drop me a line at thesologuide@gmail.com.


Last up in this series for successful, sustainable solopreneur businesses is, “Keep Customers Loyal”.


All the Best,


Doug Dolan
The Solopreneur’s Guide

This is post 6 of 10 in a series discussing the essential steps for launching a successful, sustainable solopreneur business. If you missed the disclaimer post, it is helpful if you take a minute to read it before going forward. Here’s the link to the post.


So far I’ve covered the following sequential steps:


1. Define Your UVP and Prime Prospects


2. Perform Your Market Research


3. Create Your Business Plan


4. Square Away Your Finances


5. License, Permits, Certifications and Legal Structures


Today’s topic discusses the creation of your products. When I use the term products in this post, realize that it includes services, too. In some solopreneur businesses, your services may be your only products. For example, as a copywriter, I offer services to small businesses, but I still have to “create my products”.


If at this point in building your business, you are still questioning what products you should develop, you need to take a couple of steps back. Your primary problem either lies in the fact that you didn’t do enough market research, you let competing products scare you off or you’re trying to have one product service too many needs.


With sufficient research of the market place, you should see what need the market has not satisfied by current solutions. At the same time, simply because someone else offers a similar product doesn’t mean you shouldn’t develop your own version. Can you create a better product? Do you need to create a similar product to round out your total solution offering? Your total solution offering may be a variety of products and services. If so, don’t try to create a one-size-fits-all and does-everything product.


Here are 8 key points to consider when developing your products:

1. Does it pass the “so what” test?
What need are you satisfying in the market? Whom are you satisfying a need for? How does your offering satisfy their need better than the competition? Where is your objective data to prove that anyone wants what you are selling? Does the market prefer quality to low price?


If you create a product that you think the market will love without seeing objective evidence (polls, surveys, other similar successful products, reports, etc.), then why are you creating it? This may sound simplistic (and it is), but I have consulted with more than one solopreneur who developed a product they loved and, therefore, thought other people would love it, too.


2. Can it easily be copied?
Do you have an opportunity to create a barrier to entry for the competition with your product? You may choose to take legal steps through copyrights, trademarks and patents through the US Patent and Trademark Office or you may decide your barrier to entry is your skill set. Can you deliver the product in a different and better way than the competition based upon your experience and skill?


If you create a product that is easily replicated, it doesn’t mean you can’t make money. However, unless you have some other advantage, you are putting your business at high risk of working harder to make less money.


3. Check the competition, again.
Unless you’re able to launch a business within a week of doing your market research, you should go back and check the competitions’ offerings during your development phase. New competitors may have entered the market or the current competitors may have launched a new product. How do these new offerings alter your products?


4. Stick to your budget.
Simple enough – you have a budget (for time and money) in your plan; stick to it. Unless you are able to raise additional capital or can justify delays, you need to get your products to market to make money. Don’t overcomplicate the design, delaying your launch while the market gets hooked on competing products.


5. Pre-sell when possible.
It is possible to have the market pay you for your development. When launching your marketing plan, pre-sell your products by offering a limited time discount for delivery of your products at a later date. This will bring in cash to fund your development, plus it gives you a good sense if the market is truly interested in what you’re developing. A strong indication if you are on the right track is people voting with their dollars.


If you do pre-sell, you have to give a date for delivery and stick to it. If you don’t, you will lose customer confidence, harm future pre-sale opportunities, give money back (that you may have already spent) and possibly even loose a good customer … for good.


6. Do your products integrate with your plan?
When creating your business plan and goals, you may (and should) have created an identity and goals … other than revenue goals. You may have created goals focused on market penetration, sales volume, imaging, and awards. Will the products you develop work in concert with building your brand and hitting your goals?


7. Is testing necessary?
If this is your first time developing a particular product, you may want to test it out to on a select group before releasing it to the mass market. Depending on your market focus, your test market may be friends, family, mentors, other entrepreneurs or if after you’ve launched your business, a select group of customers. Does the product perform the way you promised? Better to find out testing it on people you trust will give you honest, insightful feedback before potentially burning customers.


Are there any customer or legal requirements for testing? If you are servicing the hi-tech industry with a new design, do customers or legal entities require testing by third-party, independent labs for quality assurances before you can introduce your products to the market?


8. If your product creating is complicated, record the process.
Efficiency in time and money are imperative when developing your products. If you develop rather complicated products, record your process so you can minimize time, money and errors when developing future products.


Next up in the series, “Set Up Shop”.


All the Best,


Doug Dolan
The Solopreneur’s Guide