Do what you love. Make money.
These days we are living longer than ever and remaining vital into old age. Aside from outliving our significant others, most of us are outliving our savings and need to supplement our retirement income. Many of us have even outlived the corporate world and seek employment that would give our lives meaning.
Maybe you’re already thinking about starting a business to make money doing what you love. I run across news stories about people who have made millions with a simple idea. However, we must be smart before we invest valuable time and money and ask ourselves, “Is there a market demand for our passion?”
Regardless of whether our business is going to be digital or brick and mortar — we have to seek the answers to these questions by doing market research.
Is there a market for your passion?
Maybe you’re a writer and you also have a passion for art and you love doing research and solving problems. You may want to start a website design company. It would be a perfect melding of your interests.
Your services would be in demand since every business needs a new website, updates on their existing website, or maintenance services. There are also add-on services such as search engine optimization, blogging, and various forms of digital marketing that you could offer.
You could eventually sell courses, templates, and affiliate products. In this case, there is a market for your passion.
Who are your potential customers?
One of the most important factors is to have a good understanding of your target market. This will determine the way you brand your business. Your value proposition, your brand images and colors should be targeted to appeal to your target market.
Lucky for us, the advertising industry has spent billions of dollars doing this type of research. You can apply their findings for free.
When determining your target market, you should take the following into account:
- Age
- Gender
- Income
- Location
- Occupation
- Level of Education
- Familial status
You can build an “ideal buyer” model based on your knowledge. If your audience consists of well-educated women over 50 with a good income, then words like “exclusive ingredients”, “coveted product”, “indulgence” and “ageless” would go along with luxury packaging in colors that will appeal to over-50's.
Determine how big your market is
It’s important to decide if your business is going to be local or global. Understanding the size of your market helps you to determine how much earning potential you have.
Learn how to communicate your value to your clients
These days, it’s important to not just build websites, but write search engine optimized content that helps Google understand what those pages are about.
Your background as a writer allows you to tell your clients’ stories on a website in an interesting way while making the content all about what they can do for their own clients or customers.
Identify your competition
Surprisingly enough, there are many business owners that can’t identify their direct competition. Make valid comparisons of your product or service. Only compare with the like.
Determine your’s competition’s strengths and weaknesses
Take a look at your competition and study their website. See how clear they are about their messaging. Check out their customer service. Examine their products or services — read their reviews, use their services. See if they are using social media or ads effectively.
What can you do better than your competition?
Where can you shine? Which areas can put you ahead of your competitor? Maybe a better product, better customer service or better pricing. Your ability to write excellent search engine optimized content can be your superpower. Perhaps you can brand your customer’s websites to appeal to their targeted demographics.
Chances are, if you are able to answer these questions, you may be ready to start thinking about monetizing your passion!
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