3 ways to SAVE your business from failing

If your business is on life support, today I'm going to share with you the 3 ways to save your business from failing. Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. I believe in entrepreneurs, and I recently got a question from one of my YouTube subscribers— love you guys— Amy, who wrote in to say, "I own a small photography studio and it seems that conventional advertising is not working and I need to generate some revenue fairly quickly to support my lease. I applied for loans, but because I have a terminal heart condition, no one is willing to give me the money out of risk I might die. What can "Can I do to save my shop?" This is a great question, Amy. Thank you so much for writing in. I feel the stress and the angst and the despair and the genuine desire to want to make this business work. And so here are the 3 bits of advice that I would have to help you save your company. Number 1 is live within your means. This is a little bit of tough love, but if you can't afford the lease for your business, then maybe you shouldn't have a shop. One of the biggest mistakes that most entrepreneurs make is they start spending money before they're making money. Anybody can spend money. The trick is to find customers, start making money, and start building a business around them. And then you expand when you can afford to expand. Now, losing a shop doesn't mean you have to close your business. You can do what you probably should have done in the start, is out of your home. Start small, build a customer base, get revenue coming in, make sure you can pay your bills, and then expand. And the last thing you want to do is take out a loan because now if the business doesn't work, they're going to come after your house. So cut back on your expenses, and that may mean losing the shop, and go out and get customers so that you have a profitable business. Number 2 is pick a niche and form alliances. Listen, there are tons of photographers. There are tons and tons and tons of photographers. What makes you different? You've got to pick a niche that you excel at, that you love. I love dealing with these kinds of people, and then express it in every communication that you put out there. So if you're writing a question to me, I'd love to hear you say, "Hey, I'm a photographer and I specialize in taking pictures of athletes." That gives me a lot more context to help you, because if you're just a general photographer, there's so much competition and it's really hard to stand out. So you wanna pick your niche and then form alliances with people who can help you sell into that niche. So an example is a buddy of mine named Richard, who is a celebrity photographer. He has a website called You Gotta Love, and he specializes in photography for celebrities. He's worked with acts like Lady Gaga and high-profile rappers and musicians. And then he forms alliances with people who are already selling to those musicians and celebrities. He'll work with music agents and he'll work with music labels and he'll work with people who represent these stars already. They have a big client pool that they can potentially introduce him to, and because he is the expert in that field, he's likely to get the business. So pick a niche that you are really good at, that you really wanna target these kinds of customers, and then go form alliances with people who have complementary products and services that can introduce you to their clients. And number 3 is provide amazing service. You're a service-based business, and the number 1 way that service-based businesses grow is through referrals. You should be able to build a $300,000 business just on your own and just through referrals. And that comes by providing amazing service. After somebody does a photo shoot with you, what extra value can you bring them so that they can't wait to go and tell their friends about you. As an example, the guy who shot my wedding was named Brian, and he's got a company called Tarsy Pics. He went way over and above what was expected of him. He came the day before the wedding and took shots of the setup. He came with us throughout the whole day of the wedding. He took pictures not just of us, but of every single guest that came out to the wedding. And then he made baseball cards for us, personalized to each individual who came to the wedding. He went way, way, way, way, way above what I expected from a wedding photographer. And as a result now, every time I know somebody's getting married, I say, "You gotta go work with Bryan." I even made a video thanking him for his amazing work. Doing your job and providing good pictures is not enough. You have to overdeliver like crazy so they can't wait to go out and tell their friends about you. So live within your means, pick a niche and form alliances, and provide amazing service. And believe. For those of you watching, I'd love to know how you live within your means, how you got your business from the bootstraps up, and how you overcame those early obstacles. Leave it in the comments below, share your story. I'd love to hear it, and it can also help inspire other people who are going through that same problem. And if you like this video, you want to see more, don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter and the channel. Thank you for watching. I'll see you soon.