The trouble with creative entrepreneurial business owners is that they jump from one thing to another without fully exploring the thing they started and bringing it to fruition. They get bored, lose their mojo and go looking for new thrills.
It could very well be that you are sitting on a gold mine but you’ve only just scratched the surface. Maybe you’ve been at this a while and the gold is right under your nose but you’re not seeing it.
Owning a gold mine is all about digging deep in the right place and finding a rich seam. It takes hard work and perseverance and if you’re doing it correctly, it should pay off.
If you’re going to find the gold in your business, cover any of these bases and you’re on your way to having a gold mine. The more of these you have in place the better.
Your products, service and business should:
- Be something highly desirable
- Be in high demand
- Be in a narrow but deep market
- Be appealing to affluent buyers
- Be able to guarantee results
- Provide Social Proof – people like it
- Have a perceived difference
- Have raving fans
- Be easily marketable
- Be easily delivered
- Not be reliant on specialists
- Be remarkable
- Be able to flex and change with times
- Not be financially dependent on another industry
- Not be highly regulated or over compliant
- Have little or no waste
- OR produce a waste product that is valuable
- Already be being bought in large amounts
- Be replicable and scalable
- Be profitable
- Be something that runs out, wears out or goes down the sink
Let’s go mining in your business
Step 1. Offer Something Highly Desirable
Whatever your product or service it must have customers who already want it or something like it. It’s very hard to sell a product that no-one wants or needs – even if you think it’s fabulous.
Gold-mine businesses are not always the originators; often they’ve just tapped a seam of desire for something that gets people out of pain or into pleasure.
Step 2. Know your customers like the back of your hand
Get up close and personal with your ideal customer. Make your business all about them and only them. Don’t try to serve everyone, you’ll spread yourself too thin and the business will be a nightmare to run.
Be the best in your industry for that type of customer. Get a reputation for it and protect it.
Step 3. Pick the Gap
If your business has stalled and you’re looking for some fresh ideas then go back to the list above and get the creative juices flowing. You probably already have something that needs looking at from a different perspective.
Look for an idea whose time has come – if you’re at all creative you’ll have a brain full or a notebook full of ideas. Look for things that could fill a current need. If enough people have a big enough problem and you have a better than average solution you could be on the way to the bank with a big gold nugget.
For goodness sake, do the research to find out if your “thing” is saleable in big enough quantities and for long enough to make you one of those rare breed of business owners who do actually strike it rich. Do NOT skip this step!
Step 4. You absolutely MUST do the numbers
Here’s where 80% of business owners start to lose interest but if you can bust your way through this you will succeed and you won’t have to go through a painful bankruptcy to learn the lesson. It can be done on paper first.
You need to know how much it will cost to get this product or service to market with built-in profit – and not be paying yourself with leftover scraps you cobble together after everything and everyone else gets paid.
If you don’t know how – ask me, I eat this stuff for breakfast.
Step 5. It must be something you really enjoy
It would be even better if you loved it and were passionate about it because it’s going to take a lot of stamina to get you through the ups and downs.
And remember if you’re doing it all alone, you’re doing it wrong. Business is a team game – you most certainly don’t have all the genius for every part of the business so you need to find others who have a piece of the puzzle that is their own special field of genius.
You don’t have to make them business partners – they could be outstanding managers and employees – as long as they are doing what they love too.
If you think your business is a gold mine waiting to happen and you want a fresh pair of eyes to take a look at it we should talk.