The key to being a great business leader does not lie in the degree or degrees that you have hanging on your wall. It lies within your ability to lead and formulate a solid plan, as well as your ability to implement that plan successfully.
So, does that mean I should not think about attending college at all?
A college degree can be a valuable asset, especially for a young mind, and going to college can often make the difference in whether or not you are successful, but you have to remember that your degree isn’t everything.
Just ask these 100 entrepreneurs who don’t even have a college degree, let alone an MBA. Now, you likely won’t become the next Andrew Carnegie, Richard Branson or Coco Chanel (most of us won’t), but that doesn’t mean your lack of a degree prevents you from founding a successful business.
You most certainly don’t have to spend over a hundred thousand dollars to gain a fancy degree in order to do so, either.
You can actually get started on forming your business right away. All you need to begin is a solid plan.
I highly encourage you to start with a strategic plan. In the Freebies tab of the Business is ART website, under Featured Resources is a 1-page strategic plan template that will get you started. Chapter 3 of my book Business is ART walks you through it.
But once the strategy has been developed, a next step is to put together a business plan. The difference is that the strategy looks out over an extended period of time and is designed to close the gap between reality and vision. But the Business Plan defines how you will manage day-to-day over the course of a single fiscal year.
There is also a template available for download on the Freebies – Featured Resources page of the Business is ART website and it is discussed in Chapter 6 of Business is ART.
Formulating a business plan is one of the most critical steps in achieving success, no matter how you define it. Research shows that business plans increase your chances of success by up to 50 percent.
From finding out what makes your business different from the competition to building the structure of your business by writing it all down on paper, planning will have you thinking about the short and long term future of your business.
Even without an MBA, or even a college degree, you can still act on your great business idea.
So Should I Go To College, or Not?
It’s best to look at college as you would any other business expenditure. It is an investment that can pay off or waste your money. There are things that you will learn and people you will meet in college that you might be unable to find anywhere else.
For me personally, meeting and interacting with a wide variety of people was worth the investment. There is nothing more educational that a room full of diverse people discussing the exact same topic from different perspectives that you can otherwise only imagine.
The value of a college degree depends on who you are and what you make of it. Just remember that with a solid strategic and business plan, like the ones outlined in Business is ART, your chances of business success increase exponentially.
Out of all the business tools in an entrepreneur’s arsenal, the ability to attract and retain customers is arguably the most important. After all, without customers, your business is nothing more than an empty void. You can stand inside of it and scream at the top of your lungs, but no one is going to hear you, let alone care what you have to say.
Just like running a business, attracting customers can be considered an art, and just like most art forms, it must be handled with tact. If you are too timid, your message won’t reach any potential customers. If you are too heavy handed, you will frighten people away in an instant. So what can be done to reel them in?
Modern consumers are far more informed than ever. If you think that engaging in chicanery is a great way to bring in the numbers, you will soon find out what it’s like incur the wrath of the consumer.
No one wants to have their time wasted with false promises. If you waste their time, they will only assume that spending money on your product or service will be a waste as well. With so many options on the market, customers have more choices that ever. Remember, they are looking for a reason not to give you their business.
Potential customers are out there. You just have to bring your message to them, find ways to engage with them, then let them come back to you. This is the essence of inbound marketing.
Your customers have particular interests that align with your values, and they are constantly reading material related to your industry. It is up to you and your marketing team to create content that will grab their attention.
It’s never enough to consistently attract new customers to your business, the real money comes from retaining your client base and having customers return to you of their own volition.
Because retention is usually cheaper than attraction. The money that you put into attracting new customers with ad campaigns and other forms of marketing is significantly more than the cost of good customer service.
Sometimes it can even cost up to six to seven times more to attract new customers.
Plus, returning customers spend more, a lot more. Returning customers are known to spend up to 67 percent more on transactions. Simply put, new customers are always wary of companies that they don’t trust. Once you earn their trust, you are far more likely to earn their business again and again.
If you are in the hardware business, is it more worth it to attract a college student who needs a screwdriver to hang a picture on his or her dorm room wall, or a contractor who needs a constant supply of tools and materials?
When engaging with your customers, it is important to identify niches in the market where repeat customers reside, then engage with them. Don’t treat your marketing like a shotgun blast that is meant to reach as many people as possible. Instead, treat it as a precise targeting system that locks onto high value potential customers.
The best way to retain customer loyalty is to listen to what your customers have to say. Don’t dictate to them what they want. They will tell you, directly or indirectly, what they expect from your company as well as your product or service.
If you keep them happy, they will always return.
Customer loyalty is important, but it is not the only facet of running a successful business. With the Business is ART book, you can learn all the tools you need to succeed in your industry. Better yet, you can also download the BIA software to keep your business on the path of success.