The 15 business tips the experts use to win – are instrumental if you want to design the life and business you love… and create the income, lifestyle and freedom you want. Some of these tips I learned from the school of hard knocks – learning what to different when I failed. And others I role-modeled from successful entrepreneurs that were already winning in business. There is nothing wrong from learning from failure, but it is much easier to build a successful business when you role-model the success of others… it costs less money, and saves a lot of time. Learn and implement the 15 business tips the experts use and grow your business now.  Once you read this blog, you will realize how simple it is to achieve success.

The 15 business tips the experts use to win are:

1. Embrace the inner voice and pit in your stomach

Being an entrepreneur, you do things and you might not know why you are doing them. But you are being spurred on by some voice within you that you hear that says to do this or go here. The entrepreneurs who have the guts to listen to that voice, and the courage to follow their dream are the ones who win. Doing so, you will have to jump out of your comfort zone. If you don’t feel resistance on a daily basis, the pit in your stomach, that means you are not expanding enough. Get excited when you have that pit in your stomach because it indicates you are jumping – pushing your limits, and growing.

2. Choose business opportunities in growth sectors

Look for business opportunities by watching for trends, such as what is hot and what is not. Every product or services has a lifecycle – they grow, mature and die; you must look for businesses in the growth area. In the growth stage, the public is starting to become aware of the business, competition is not overwhelming or intense, and profit margins tend to be rather high. When things get to the mature area, there are not too many new customers coming in, the marketplace becomes very competitive, and it is a little harder to squeeze into new positioning. You also want to avoid the down cycle. It does not mean you cannot enter any one of these lifecycles and be successful. It’s just that a growing segment of any product or service is the best to consider for launching a business.

3. Measure progress and adjust actions accordingly

In designing the life and business you love, you need to take a step back now and then to see how far you have come and where you are headed. At first, measure week by week, next month by month, and finally year by year. Financial reports are one thing, but success is also measured by joy, fulfillment and giving back. Many psychologists will tell you that money is not the prime motivator for entrepreneurs. Be sure you are asking yourself the following questions often:

• Are you on the road to achieving the goals of financial and emotional freedom?
• Is your lifestyle shaping up the way you want it to be?
• Do you enjoy what you are doing?
• Is your work a labor of love or is it pure labor?
• Do you help others with all your wealth?

4. Be resourceful and hire the skills you need to succeed

Part of the beauty of being an entrepreneur is you do not need a degree or MBA and in a lot of cases you do not need a high school diploma. You can hire a consultant or accountant; you don’t have to know how to do the books to run a business. You can hire almost any specific expertise you need. But what you do need that only you can provide is the vision, the idea, and perseverance and resourcefulness to see the vision through… you don’t need an education for that, and they can’t teach that in school.

5. You don’t need a lot of money to start a successful business

How much money do you need to start your own business? It varies. You can start a business with virtually nothing, and you can start a business with hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are a lot of successful people, people who today are worth millions of dollars, who started their business with very little -less than $500. It is more than the money you need; rather, it is the idea and the viability and the enthusiasm and the perseverance to take your plan and see it to fruition.

6. Getting investors for your business

People don’t like to talk about how to get financing for your business. Why? Because it is scary. They don’t believe they can get the money they need. The key to getting money is you believe 100% in the value you will be adding to people’s lives, and your investors believe 100% that you will pay them back no matter what. You need to show you can produce revenues and pay back whatever you are going to borrow, from whoever the lender.  Unless you have this confidence in your gut and can demonstrate it to others, you will not be able to raise the money – it’s that simple.

7. You need some skin in the game 

You must be prepared to contribute to your business and sacrifice some personal stuff to get the money you need. If you are not ready to risk some capital, why should an investor? Your resources may include cash savings, cash or loan value of an insurance policy, equity in your house, or stuff you can sell. I know one couple who raised the $2,500 they needed to start a small business by cleaning out their attic and garage and selling it at garage sales. You need to do what it takes to succeed.

8. Building a brand is critical to your image

You need to choose a compelling name and logo for your business, and it must be professional. Don’t pick a name that fails to tell the public what the company is and does, and logos that do not look professional. I think this is a big mistake. I have seen businesses fail for this reason only. I urge you to develop a name, image, and brand that telegraphs your company is professional and what your business is or does.

9. Promotion is the essence of business success

If you can’t get people’s attention, get them to know who you are, understand what is unique about you, and how you can benefit them – no matter how great your product or service is – your business is never going to succeed. Promotion is how to grab people and move them to action., It’s not enough to just know their needs but, even more, learn how to trigger those needs to a point where people have a sense of urgency. People will do things faster out of a sense of urgency vs. importance. You have to become a master marketer and persuader to give people a sense of urgency. Additionally, always deliver more than what people expect as a guaranteed way to create a promotion program people will always remember.

10. Toot your own horn to grab attention

We were all told as a kid that it was rude, impolite and egotistical to toot your own horn, and if you’re good and work hard, you will be rewarded without having to run around to gain attention to yourself. A lot of people were taught the same things in childhood and it made them reluctant to advertise, promote and make noise about their business. To be successful, you have to be very creative and assertive about bringing yourself and your business to the attention of the marketplace. The good news is you don’t have to spend tons of money to do that, and you don’t need a college degree or years of experience in advertising. Most of the marketing that works for most business is common sense-based and can be done with conservative expenditures.

11. Develop a unique selling proposition 

The heart and soul of the right message are commonly called the unique selling proposition. It’s the statement of what you are, do, or offer that distinctly differentiates you from your competition. You can create yours by figuring out the answer to this question “Why should I, your prospective customer, choose you versus any other competitive option available to me?” You need a unique factor in your marketing message. It will not be fast or easy to get this message to insert into your business positioning. The message also has to have credibility and believability. It must be authentic.

12. Social proof is critical in an era of skepticism and cynicism

We have seen much deception and scandals over the years including great leaders and corporations. All have a cumulative effect on the people you must ask to trust you. As a result, you must never assume you are believed. Instead, you must prove your case. Use customer testimonials and strong guarantees. Your message must also include a desirable benefit or offers. You will do well by remembering this marketing axiom – WIIFM. This means your customers are all tuned into the same station, WIIFM, which stands for what’s in it for me. The better you answer that question; the better results you will achieve.

13. If you’re marketing to everybody you’re selling to nobody

Remember your right message has to get to the right person.  Advertising can be expensive unless you have precisely targeted who is going to read it and who is going to respond positively to it. You want to direct your marketing efforts to where your customers are already looking. Before you spend money, spend time to see who is most likely to be your customer. You need to know where they live, what they read, watch and listen to, and their preferred social media platforms. Advertising has become much more personalized.

14. Use advertising headlines that cater to people’s needs

Headlines are the most crucial part of an ad. What makes a great advertising headline is one that stops people in their track and tells them what you are going to do for them. It must pique their attention and tell them how they are going to benefit – maybe to be healthier, wealthier, more beautiful, smarter, how you are going to make their life easier, how they can look ten years younger. All these things appeal to their self-interest.  These stop you in your tracks and make you want to read more and do the same when you have the right messaging for your audience.

15. Innovate new marketing ideas daily

You have to make sure you are always promoting. Don’t get complacent. The good news is most of the competition is asleep. By that I mean most are coasting, not innovating, and are tolerating mediocrity. They are not servicing customers, and are not delivering at the level they could. It is the surest way to zero cash flow and failure in business.

Come up with two new ways to make things happen in your business every day. You need to promote and apply at least one new way to build your business every day. If you do that every day, you are going to have 30-60 new promotion tactics at the end of just one month. Most of them will be lousy – that’s fine. All you need is one or two great ideas to take your business to a whole other level and pass your competitors. Lead the way, blaze a path, do the unexpected, promote like crazy and reap the rewards.

CALL TO ACTION: Learn how to start your own business in the digital economy

Click the links to get access to tips, tactics, tools and training to start to designing the life and business you love in the digital economy.

• Access free training. Get access to the same digital entrepreneurship training I used to develop my online business. This 4-part workshop series will introduce you to how realistic it is for YOU to start a profitable online business from scratch! This special offer is available to you through our ZAGGTIME Digital Academy and our partners at Six Figure Mentors. Click the link to sign up and get free access to your workshop training http://tidyurl.com/myy8eh
• Join my free coaching community. If you have not already done so, join my ZAGGTIME free coaching community to get up to date newsletters and access to many other great resources and tools to design the life and business you love. Click the link to join now https://zaggtime.com/join-our-community/
• Join my Facebook page. Join my Facebook Group called the LIFESTYLE ENTREPRENERUS Source “to learn how to cut through the B.S. (the fears and limiting beliefs) holding you back and ATTACK your opportunities (create the income, lifestyle and freedom you want). Click the link to join now https://www.facebook.com/groups/1134273866589283/
• Contact me. Email me at [email protected] or text me 306-570-7321 to arrange a free one on one consultation to discuss your digital entrepreneur dreams

With these free resources we teach you exactly how to become a digital entrepreneur.

What’s more, taking charge of your life destiny is also the first step toward creating the income, lifestyle and freedom you want.

So go for it. You’ll thank yourself over and over again.

I’m looking forward to helping you leap from where you are into a life a business you love.

WAKE UP – Birth a new YOU – and live with NO regrets!

Stay healthy,

Doug Howorko – “the lifestyle entrepreneur” & founder of ZAGGTIME

ZAGGTIME is the source for Lifestyle Entrepreneurs. We are a team of business bloggers and lifestyle enthusiasts impacting the world by sharing inspirational and practical insights for creating the income, lifestyle and freedom you want.