Top 3 SUCCESS Tips Every Entrepreneur Must Know

Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. Welcome to another edition of Ask Evan. Today we're going to be continuing our challenge series and I'm going to be answering a question from one of our Telesocks Business Facebook fans named Jory, who wrote in about his business asking, "Hello, do you have any info or helpful advice to boost a home-based business, please?" I have advertised, offered promos, called clients, but things seem to have shifted a bit. What else can I do, or is it just a waiting game?

Thank you.

So thanks for the question, Jory. A great question that a lot of home-based and startup entrepreneurs go through. Starting a business is one of the hardest things that you're ever going to do. It's always going to take longer than you think it will, but congrats on getting it started, and here are 3 tips to help you grow to the next step.

#1: Hustle while you wait. Thomas Edison once said, "Everything comes to those who hustle while they wait." It couldn't be more true for entrepreneurs. Building a business does take time, a lot more time than you ever thought it would before you started up. But you can't afford to just wait. You have to keep taking action while you're waiting on other people to get back to you. Do something every day to grow your business, and pretty soon those small steps will turn into giant leaps forward. Here's an example from Joyce Clyde Hall, who was the founder of Hallmark. The success of Hallmark as an internationally recognized company is a testament to Hall's hard work. Beginning with the days where Hall would take the train by himself far out into the countryside to see if there was any interest in his cards, Hall recognized the value of taking action even where it meant nothing more than often tiresome legwork. According to Hall, I don't just like to sit around and wait for something to happen. It's more fun making it happen. I figured I wasn't as smart as some of the other fellows, so I had to work twice as hard. Number 2: Partner up. One of the fastest ways to grow a business is to find someone who's already selling to your target market and partner up with them. It doesn't mean you have to give up equity in your business. Just find a way you can help each other out. Maybe they get a commission. Maybe you can help promote them, or maybe you have a skill that they need and you can trade. Partnering with your direct competition usually doesn't work, but think about where your customers go before they buy from you and after they buy from you. Those are businesses that you need to partner up with. They sell complementary products and services to the same people that you serve. Make a list and start reaching out. Here's an example from Ty Warner, who was the founder of Beanie Babies. In the spring of 1997, Warner made his first venture into conventional marketing when he joined up with McDonald's for one of the most successful promotions ever in the history of both companies. For 5 weeks, McDonald's customers would be given 1 of 10 Warner toys with the purchase of every McDonald's Happy Meal. Smaller in size than the original Beanie Babies, these toys were called Teenie Beanies. Warner explained his decision to partner with McDonald's was to exploit the potential for reaching new markets. According to Warner, "We really did it to expand our product to children who wouldn't be shopping in upscale shopping malls." We saw McDonald's as the best avenue to get these kids to see them. Number 3: Get to know your customers. Part of the appeal for many people who start home-based businesses is that they're trying to create a semi-automated new income stream. Especially when you're first starting up, you need to invest your energy to get to know the people who are buying from you. How did they find you? What other needs do they have? Are they happy with what they bought from you? The more you get to know them, the better you'll be able to serve them and build your business. Providing excellent service with a personal touch will also lead to more referrals and repeat purchases. Take the time to call all your customers and get to know them and why they're buying from you. Don't pester them, but be a resource and show you care, and they'll reward you with a steady stream of business. Here's an example from Dave Thomas, who's the founder of Wendy's. In the early days, Thomas spent all his free time visiting as many hamburger stands and restaurants as he could in order to learn what what he could from them and use that knowledge to his advantage. No detail was too small to look after. From the food, to the service, to the atmosphere inside a Wendy's, Thomas wanted everything to be better than the best. Thomas made customer satisfaction his number one priority and focused on quality in order to ensure this. According to Thomas, "Whether you sell hamburgers or computers, we're all in the customer service business. Our goal must be to exceed our customers' expectations every day.

Thank you for joining me for another edition of #AskEvan.

If you like the video, you want to see more, please give it a thumbs up below. It makes me want to do more of these videos for you.

And I'd love to hear what you have to think. If you have some advice for Jory, or if you have your own question for your business, maybe we'll profile you in one of these challenge posts. So thank you, and we'll see you on the next episode. ¡Gracias!