Most budding entrepreneurs aspire to build a successful business. Turning a great idea into a profitable business is their primary goal. Every entrepreneur wants to be successful. However, building a successful business is a daunting task. An entrepreneur will have to face many uncertainties and endure hardships to succeed in business, as many self-made millionaires will attest that the road to success is full of ups and downs.
Hence, aspiring entrepreneurs and start-up owners are fascinated by how self-made millionaires reach the top. What did they do to create a profitable business? It is intriguing to discover their roadmap to success. One thing is sure, building a profitable business needs sheer determination and a lot of hard work.
Please do not feel distressed about it since serial entrepreneur Shelley Willingham is here to help. Willingham is a multi-business owner and a leading business strategist. She can help aspiring entrepreneurs to create a profitable business. All they need to do is follow Willingham’s strategies for success.
From Corporate To Entrepreneurship
After completing her studies, Willingham started her professional career not as an entrepreneur but in a corporate role. She used to handle sales and marketing of a company. It was not until several years of working in a corporate environment that she realized that she needed to jump on entrepreneurship to succeed in life.
Willingham started her journey to entrepreneurship in 2000 when she founded Creative Strategies Unlimited, Inc. Her forte revolves around business strategies. That is why it is the focus of her first business. The consulting agency helped small and medium-sized companies create the marketing and sales strategies suited for their business. After three years, Willingham decided to close the agency and started something new a few months later. It gave birth to the National Organization for Diversity in Sales and Marketing. Her new business still revolves around developing marketing strategies. But this time, the company maximizes the rising purchasing power of consumers in crafting effective marketing strategies. For eight years, the business went on smoothly until the 2007 financial crisis devastated the company. Willingham sadly closed the business after losing most of its major clients.
Despite the setbacks, quitting entrepreneurship was never her option. Willingham once again gathered herself and started from scratch once more. In 2017, Willingham began Vision and Passion International. It is a business that focuses on business owner empowerment through coaching, business events, and speaking engagements. She did not stop there. Early this year, she started a digital marketing and brand activation company named Douglas Alexandra. She will also launch the women’s movement, Pretty & Powerful, by next year.
Identify The Right Niche
Willingham said that there is so much competition nowadays. The business landscape has now become a sea of brands competing for consumer attention. “It is essential to ask yourself what your strengths are and what you can offer to consumers,” she said.
Willingham said that aspiring entrepreneurs need to know what they are good at. Then, they should determine if there is a market for that niche. Afterward, they need to find out some essential details about their audience. What are their spending habits and preferences? What are the audience’s pain points, and how my product can solve them? The narrower and more specific the identified niche, the lesser the competition.
Listen To Customers
“If you want to be profitable, you need to listen to your customers. Any feedback from the customer needs to be evaluated. Customers’ opinions are vital to your business. They are the lifeblood of your brand. Without them, your business would not survive,” Willingham explained.
She said that aspiring entrepreneurs should be open to customer criticism. Treat them as ways on how to improve a product or service. “Today’s business is all about making the necessary adjustments. Customer feedback serves as an opportunity to tweak your product or service to suit their needs,” Willingham noted.
Leverage On Social Media
Willingham said that as entrepreneurs, they need to think of a long-term plan for their business. It is essential to plan so they can prepare their business. What do they want to achieve, and when they aim to achieve it? Thinking long-term allows entrepreneurs to focus their efforts on the necessary things.
“Your plan is your road map to success. Hence, you need to be clear and specific on what you want to achieve so you can also identify the specific efforts that you need,” Willingham said. Thinking long-term is preparing yourself for the road ahead. The road to success is full of roadblocks. If an entrepreneur is not ready, he might lose his momentum towards success.
Implementing The Right Business Strategy
Another critical factor in creating a profitable business is developing the right business strategy. It is the roadmap to success that can give entrepreneurs the direction for their business. The right business strategy is the overall umbrella wherein the marketing activities, business operation, and other activities are anchored.
And when it comes to business strategy, Willingham is right here to help entrepreneurs craft the right business strategy. Throughout her career, she devised the strategy for success to help entrepreneurs obtain their business pursuits and run a profitable enterprise.
To learn more about developing the right business strategy, visit her website
https://shelleywillingham.com.