Every entrepreneur dreams of scaling their business. If you’re a small business owner, chances are you’ve looked up strategies online that would help you expand your business from being a side hustle into something that gives you a full-time income.
Daniel Doyle Pleasantville photographer who recently opened up a new studio, understands how it is like to be a small-time photographer. He recalls the sleepless nights he spent thinking about marketing and growth strategies to expand his business. With much consistency and dedication, he is now running his business from scratch, giving him a full-time income.
Be clear about your long-term goals.
Many entrepreneurs jump in the bandwagon without being clear about their business objectives. According to Daniel Doyle Pleasantville, it is important that business owners should have a vision of how they want their company to be. As an entrepreneur, do you want to be the go-to retailer of women’s fashion in your community? Do you want to be the authoritative figure for busy people who want to be fit?
Whatever your business is, you must have a clear vision of your end goal. This will help pave the path to set your short term goals.
Be specific about your short-term goals.
After projecting your vision in the business, it’s time to do the dirty work and set specific short-term goals. For example, a business owner may have the long–term goal of having a monthly revenue of $10,000 a month on his dropshipping business. In order to achieve this long-term goal, he should map out the steps needed to reach this number.
If he sells $50 items where he earns half as a profit ($25), he should be able to sell 400 items a month. From this calculation, he can set out various strategies such as joining larger online marketplaces, going to Saturday fairs, and promoting his business online. If the long-term goal is the destination, the short-term goal is considered the staircase towards it.
Be willing to learn from others who ‘made it’.
Daniel Doyle emphasizes this to new entrepreneurs who may think that they ‘know it all’. He recalls being in a position where he’s losing profits from his first studio in Pleasantville. He realized that he needed the mentorship of those people who already were successful in their business. Thankfully, he sought help from his long-time friend who already owned a creative agency for a couple of years.
This is where he realized the importance of branding, producing high-quality images, and appealing to the market by riding with the trends. Through the mentorship, he was able to grow his business and he uses this knowledge to mentor new entrepreneurs as well.
Be ready to accept challenges.
Another thing that Daniel Doyle learned from his entrepreneurship journey is being ready to accept challenges. He doesn’t consider things that don’t go his way as ‘mistakes’, but rather an opportunity for growth.
As he adopted this growth mindset, it was easier for him to bounce back from setbacks and rise up again to the challenge of making his business grow. According to him, it wasn’t easy at first. He had to consciously re-program his mind to always look at the bright side of things and be proactive in solving problems rather than being reactive.
Be willing to adapt with the times.
A lot of businesses went bankrupt because they didn’t keep up with the times. For example, retail company Sears didn’t attempt to reinvent their business model. They chose to remain mostly in physical stores while Amazon kept on growing.
The unwillingness to adapt to the times eventually falls out of consumer interest. This leads to problems in market demand, loss of profits, and eventually the closure of a business. Just as the growth mindset is discussed, do not be afraid of changes. Change can sometimes be crucial for growing a business.
Through these strategies, Daniel Doyle succeeded to become a business owner having a full-time income. He encourages entrepreneurs to keep these mindsets at heart in order to replicate his success.
