Five Years of Relative Obscurity

In 2002 I moved to San Diego. I knew nobody here but nursed my existing East Coast clientele while getting established.

Three years later I was on the Poway Center for Performing Arts board, working side-by-side with Morgan Stanley financial advisor Liza Pille. I lamented that despite being in business eight years, my consultancy was stagnant.

Liza advised that my experience wasn’t uncommon. “You need to be in business here for five years before people know who you are,” she counseled.

Sure enough, as if someone threw a switch, demand for my services rose considerably almost the moment we passed our fifth anniversary in Southern California.

I forgot about this until last week, when Write Away Books hit the five-year mark. Despite our initial lofty expectations, it took until this point for our little company to gain serious traction.

And what of the promised contracts, speaking engagements, social media and networking? All seeds planted and now — finally — bearing fruit.

Probably 20,000 new businesses start annually in San Diego, half of which will fail before five years due to inadequate capital, poor management, lack of market demand and economic conditions.

Yet I consider Liza’s words and wonder how many owners giving up might reconsider if they’d had someone more experienced whispering in their ear, “You can do this: it just takes time.”

You, too, may occasionally be frustrated and tempted to give up in search of a steadier paycheck.

THIS BELONGS IN EVERY BUSINESS LIBRARY!

Now available in paperback and on Kindle!

Don’t!

Instead, revise your business plan to reflect not only what you currently sell, but what your customers are telling you they want you to sell.

Do a SWOC analysis to determine your current strengths and weaknesses. Then set your sights on freshening up your branding to best reflect who you are and where you’re going as a business.

Analyze what marketing has been working for you and repeat the successes. Try tweaking your creative efforts and jettison anything that doesn’t work. Boost your social media, including reaching out to appropriate chat groups.

Do some public speaking. Test new markets. And stay in touch with everyone.

Because you never know who may want to buy from you if they know how to find you.

Bottom line: Don’t be afraid of trying new things. Sometimes, achieving success just takes a little time.

With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.
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Learn more at www.writeawaybooks.com.