Seven reasons why your business is still struggling

Founder and CEO of Passionbiz Academy James Karundu (pictured) explores why no matter how much you work toward reaching your entrepreneurship goals, you still feel like you’re barely treading water and is hit by failures.

Your business idea targets everyone

People tend to think that because they have a passion for something, they should target everyone, which becomes a pitfall for their business. Identify a target group. Target a motivated market, which means people who are already actively on the lookout for the solution you are offering. In addition, target people who have the money and are willing to pay for what you are offering. People who are specifically in transition tend to make the best clients. These are people, for example, who are doing something for the first time. Examples are first time mothers, people leaving employment to get into entrepreneurship, people at a crossroads – like for those students wondering what universities they can join abroad, there are people who offer that information at a fee.

You lack the passion for that industry

Find out what problem you can solve, what toothache people have that you can provide a cure for. For example, I personally have always been good at math. It comes very easily to me, but there are students who really struggle with it. I harnessed my passion by offering tuition services in math and English, which led to me becoming the lead instructor for Kileleshwa and Nairobi South Kumon centres, which help children improve their math and English. I am also passionate about helping people, so I harnessed that and became a mentor for people who needed help with motivating themselves and harnessing their own passions for business.

Your marketing message is all wrong

The whole idea of harnessing is marketing yourself so that people know about you. You need a compelling marketing message. To create that, you can use the XYZ formula. X represents the target group, Y represents their problem and Z represents youramazing solution. So that is: I help X who are struggling with Y and I help them get Z. For example, my marketing message can read: I help business owners who are struggling to grow their business and I help them learn how to get clients and make money.

You don’t know how to sell

Marketing is about getting out there, which you can do through many forms, including social media. However, you also have to know how to sell. You can be a good marketer that does not know how to sell. Selling is being able to convince people to part with their hard-earned money. Money will not flow until you become a good sales person. You can learn this by practising, so that you learn how to do it. Other ways include having a call to action, by having the courage to be upfront. That may be by asking for the order. For example: Are you taking one or two? Can we get you one today? That takes practice. You can make selling easier by creating offers, like a September or October offer. Most people are not motivated to take action and tend to procrastinate, which is why even big companies like Safaricom are always having offers. It gets people to take action on what you are offering.

You value your wares incorrectly

Because a person’s passion is usually something that they do easily, without much effort and that they love, they tend to think it is not all that great, and inadvertently undervalue it. This means they end up undercharging for their services and do not make the amount of money they really should be making from it.

Your business is cookie-cutter

Think about what clients are actually looking for in line with your passion. Do not sell solutions that people can easily go to YouTube or Google and find. Create original solutions, not recycled ones, as clients are looking for unique things and ways of solving their problems.

 You fly solo

When you are starting out, you need help and mentorship. You need someone to guide you and help you learn the ropes of the business. When starting out, most people have internal challenges that they need to overcome, both within themselves and within the business. Without a mentor or a coach, these challenges can spell doom for the business.

James Karundu is the founder and CEO of Passionbiz Academy