We all love our business gurus. I’m the same as any entrepreneur, I regularly keep up-to-date with blogs, read Kindles and listen to podcasts from successful and internet-famous business types.
And, why not? These people would charge a small fortune for business coaching but you can get the benefit of their knowledge online for free.
Except sometimes the advice they give isn’t the best. It may be good for those like them but it might not be for the rest of us.
Why? Well, what is a “business guru”? A business guru is someone who has gone further in a shorter amount of time than we have. And, sometimes for that reason, their understanding of the challenges we face is limited. This is why it’s beneficial to seek a variety of perspectives and tailor advice to fit your individual business context.
One valuable resource in bridging this gap is listening to diverse viewpoints, such as in a Patrick Dovigi interview. Dovigi’s insights provide a practical perspective from someone who has navigated the complexities of building a successful business with a focus on real-world applications. His experiences can offer a more grounded approach compared to the sometimes idealized strategies of business gurus.
By incorporating advice from a range of sources and applying it thoughtfully to your own situation, you can develop a more comprehensive and practical business strategy that suits your specific needs and goals.
When running a business, it’s essential to recognize that the challenges you face are unique to your situation, and generic advice may not always apply. That’s why it’s so important to seek guidance from professionals who understand the intricacies of your industry, goals, and obstacles.
A tailored approach to business strategy can make a huge difference in how effectively you navigate competition, growth, and decision-making. You may need to adjust your methods based on real-time feedback and insights from those who have a comprehensive understanding of your business landscape.
For entrepreneurs looking to build a solid legal foundation and protect their business interests, it’s wise to visit PBL Law Group for business lawyers. Their expertise can help you address crucial legal matters like contract negotiation, intellectual property, and risk management.
With the right legal advice, you can ensure that your business operates smoothly, safeguarding both your current operations and future growth opportunities. By combining practical advice from a variety of sources with solid legal counsel, you can craft a well-rounded strategy for success.
In today’s competitive business environment, protecting your intellectual property, ensuring compliance with regulations, and mitigating legal risks are critical for sustainable growth. Without the proper legal framework, even the most successful business ideas can be vulnerable to disputes or costly setbacks.
That’s where a knowledgeable law firm, like Rowady Law, can play a pivotal role. Their expertise in business law helps you navigate complex legal challenges and ensure that your agreements, trademarks, and patents are properly safeguarded. With a proactive legal strategy, you can avoid potential pitfalls and stay focused on your business’s core objectives.
1. “Niche down”
We’re sometimes told to “niche down” or pick a small market to dominate rather than to be too generalist. (And we’re usually told this by someone who has very broad appeal). Every time I’ve niched down it’s been a disaster and every time I “follow my bliss” and do what I want (write about anything and everything here on the blog, for example) I’ve seen my greatest successes.
I tried to niche down in my ill-fated podcast to solo web designer/business owners looking for clients and I was bored out of my mind after episode 9.
My advice: create a business around what makes you happy, that’s your niche.
2. Create an Avatar
An avatar is your ideal customer. You’re meant to spend ages thinking about their age, sex, job, town they live in (hint, it’s in the US), and likes/dislikes. I’ve always thought this was a complete waste of time.
I’m so delighted that my products are sold all over the world and are popular in countries like India and the Philippines. Would that have happened if I created them whilst thinking about Jimmy, 32, a carpenter from Boise, Idaho, who likes baseball?
My advice: start creating content that interests you and, if people like it, there are your avatars.
3. Get a visual brand
I see a lot of people struggling with this. People think they need the perfect brand with the perfect logo before they start something. This is the worst advice ever.
You will never get things perfect so you should never wait for perfection with your brand (either brand name, logo or, even, domain name).
My advice: just get started with your name (firstnamelastname.com) or any domain. Build your brand by creating great products or services and worry about perfecting the visual brand later.
4. Charge monthly recurring not one-off payments
In terms of online business, monthly recurring revenue is sometimes seen as the holy grail. I was seduced into this way of thinking during my membership site launch where my monthly membership level was instantly unpopular with my customers.
My advice: You have to provide monthly recurring value if you want to charge monthly recurring fees. If you can’t continually provide value and your product is a video course, for example, then a one-off payment may be a better bet.
5. Continual launches
A lot of internet marketers’ income comes from launches. Launches involve a lot of work, constant product creation and can cause “launch fatigue” amongst the audience.
Often the seemingly most successful internet marketers appear to be launching their latest product almost every month. For me, they seem too desperate and lack credibility as a result of continual launches.
My advice: put your products on Udemy where you can receive monthly recurring passive income and not have to bother with continual launches (or marketing or anything else, for that matter).
6. Avoid Udemy
I’ve almost given up on this one. Internet marketers will tell people to avoid Udemy because “they sell courses for $10”. For starters, you can opt your courses out of the $10 offers and the same internet marketers won’t blink when they tell you to put your best video content on YouTube for free.
My advice: Put good stuff on Udemy where you have an audience of 6 million, a finely-tuned marketing machine to do the promotion and constant launching (in a way that won’t induce “launch fatigue”). Put great stuff exclusively on your site to sell at high prices. But, hey, if you don’t want to listen to me, that’s fine!
7. Outsource
Outsourcing and building a team is essential to growing an online business but it is often portrayed as the silver bullet by internet marketers.
My advice: Don’t outsource until you’ve started making money with your business. And, even then, proceed with caution because outsourcing is a skill and, like any other skill, it takes practice to master.
Don’t get me wrong!
As I said in the beginning, I avidly follow advice given by people who’re doing better than me in business.
But, remember, the best advice comes from your peers that are a little further along the path than you rather than from the over-achievers.
You can do it
Don’t let the over-achievers dash your self confidence. Everybody loves to say that they’re right and you’re wrong. They may not always be right.
You can do what you want and be successful on your own terms as long as you question everything that you are told.
100% agree with everything! High time somebody debunked all that nonsense.
Hey Tim, thanks for the comment.
Hi Rob,
Thanks for giving the great information. I really liked your first point “Niched Down”. They are overused words. I feel uneasy whenever i hear these words from people.
I always think if you can do lot of different things and do them well then you should target all of them. Some of them will definitely work by law of averages.
Thanks
That is the most believed of all of them, Kulwinder. People often say that if you try to be all things to all people you end up being nothing to nobody. But I agree with you because we can do a multitude of things well and, if you can provide value, that’s going to be good for some people. Thank you!
Great Article Rob,
Its good to know that you do not have to stick to a “niche” to succeed. I know I don’t want to be tied down to any one thing. I like writing the content that I enjoy, not necessarily what is popular. This are great words of encouragement for those like us.
Exactly the same with me, Rob. Great names think alike! 😉 I like to write about all sorts of different things and, even if it means I get less Google traffic, at least it means I don’t die of boredom!
I tend to agree with you Rob, although this seems to be a change for you, as in some of your previous articles that I read, and also in some of your e-books, I got the idea that you thought you needed to appeal to a niche market. Did I mis-interpret this or have you changed your mind on this?
I fully agree that the best advice comes from a bit more advanced peers.
It’s this “relatableness” factor which makes you think: “Well, I can do it too.”
When the guru is preaching, I listen to it like a fable, something not real.
True, Michal. Gurus are overrated! 🙂
Very interesting Rob. When you say don`t niche down, how do you approach keyword selection?
To be honest, Mark. I don’t really think much about keyword selection at all beyond the absolute basics. I didn’t think of it at all whilst thinking of this title: “7 Online Business “Rules†You Need To Stop Believing Right Now!” this is obviously a “click-bait” title designed to do well on social media.
However, an example of a headline where I did put a little thought on keyword selection for would be: “Udemy Alternatives For Selling Video Courses Online” – here I did no research, I just guessed what would be searched for on search engines. (I do get a bit of traffic from “Udemy” searches on Google but not a lot).
I didn’t think much about keywords for the title of this whole site “Rob Cubbon | Creating An Online Business Brand”.
But at the end of the day, my income is not very dependent on Google traffic so I don’t bother about it. If anyone thinks I can improve my traffic with some different titles, please let me know!
This is Awesome advice! I wish I had read this 10 years ago – I have tried and failed at fitting into the IM mold – finally focusing on what excites me and makes me feel happy and like myself 😀
Wow, Megan, that’s so good to hear! Go, Megan! 🙂
Well said. That’s the way Rob. Read, and listen, to learn, not to follow. Do what you want and be a leader in the process. Go Rob, go. Yeah. I love it.
some great advice as usual Rob Cubbon. I think taking onboard what gurus say is great but not necessarily right for your particular persuasion/skill/product/service , so its important not to take every bit of advice as gospel.
Case in point (I’m ignoring your point 1) For me getting a niche appears to bearing some fruit (early days so far). I’m specialising in e-commerce (woo-commerce) now as seems to be a good area (gaining some ground), as I found competing in general web design (doing it all) was so fierce (due to the large number of competitors).
Hi Rob,
Excellent 😉
I have 1 piece of advice that will help you not follow these rules, or any rules, at times: follow your intuition. Example; at your nudging, I published more eBooks after my initial release almost a year ago. I felt a strong SURGE, no not urge, but SURGE, to publish eBooks weekly. So I ran with it a few months back. It’s just a knowing, you know? Like, when you pick up a cup of water to drink, you know that the cup will reach your lips and the water will flow down your throat, well, that’s how I feel with this eBook thingee. 31 books/eBooks in, and all is well.
It’s SO easy for me, and it’s freeing so many folks, that I don’t even them at them as eBooks. Just fleshed out blog posts or eBooks started from scratch, all sharing exactly what I have done to Blog from Paradise. Maybe I’ll become famous one day, or not, but I just care about freeing a ton of folks along the way. And breaking a ton of rules like yourself 😉
Fab post!
Ryan
Absolutely right, Ryan, you’ve got to follow your intuition – especially if it’s a strong intuition. I don’t take any credit from any nudging (or any FB message I may have written to you) about Kindle. You felt the surge and, boy, did you pick up the ball and run with it!
It’s been a real pleasure to watch you progress these last few years. Before you did Kindles, even before you did e-books, even before bloggingfromparadise.com – you weren’t handed anything on a plate but you did everything off your own back. You followed your passion. You had belief in what you’re doing. As you say, you’re “freeing a ton of folks along the way”.
Keep going, my friend. I can’t wait to see what you’ll come out with next.
Great post and It is often difficult to continue to come up with fresh, unique and interesting ideas for your blogs. You have shared some great business rules here.
Thanks for share.
Tell me about it, Tushar, I manage to do a blog post every week – but only just, sometimes! Thank you for your kind words and welcome to my blog!
Hello Rob,
Before I believed the advice to “niche down”, I had 3 topics in mind. Then I thought perhaps I needed to focus on only one. But my intuition always said “three”. Now, I believe you. Thanks for those supportive words.
Shankar, India
Thank you, Shankar, always follow your intuition. 🙂
Hi Rob,
Thanks for giving the great information. I really liked your first point “Niched Downâ€.
My pleasure, Preeti
For sure I will Christine! Thanks for your nice Post