Financial Future

by Stuart Lisonbee

There is something that I have talked about on several occasions here on this site, as well as in the Doba newsletter. In fact, it was one of the very first things I talked about shortly after joining Doba a couple of years ago.

Even though I’ve discussed this before, it’s always worth bringing up again.

I want you to ask yourself a question regarding your business. Are you unique? And what is unique about you or your business?

If somebody were to ask me that same question in regards to Doba, I would say that we offer access to more products and more suppliers than any other drop shipping service.

This unique thing about your business is what marketers refer to as your unique selling proposition, or USP (I covered this in part in the June 2004 issue of our newsletter, and referred to it as the unique selling point in the October 2004 issue).

Your unique selling proposal is how you separate yourself—in the eyes of your customers—from your competition. In essence, it’s the reason you give your customers to buy from you rather than the competition.

So what is your unique selling proposition? If you haven’t given it any thought before, what would you like it to be? If you said, “To have the absolute lowest price,” you should do some more thinking. That is one of the worst USP’s you could possibly have.

Having the lowest price simply means you make less money, and that cut in profit affects more than just your bottom line. It affects all aspects of your business, such as the inability to provide good customer support (because you can’t afford it), develop new and innovative tools for your site, conduct usability tests, and so forth. Your business will begin to appear more and more like a fly-by-night store rather than a legitimate company that can instill trust in its customers.

There’s no way around it. Running a business costs money. Running a business well costs even more money. Don’t let your business go under trying to be the low price leader. Instead, find a unique selling proposition for your business and do that one thing better than anybody else, or better yet be the only person that actually does it!

Here’s a personal example of a unique selling proposition I came up with when I ran a retail computer business. My USP was to offer home delivery and setup of newly purchased computers. Furthermore, I would offer on-site tech support.

I never did it because it simply cost too much. The solution was to charge for it. But I never did that because I didn’t think that anybody would pay for it. In a world where every computer reseller offered free support over the phone, why would anybody be willing to pay for on-site support?

Well, have you ever heard of Geek Squad? The founders of Geek Squad had the same idea I had. The difference is they actually implemented their idea. Now they are running a successful and thriving business. And a big reason for their success is they found a unique selling proposition that would elevate them above the competition.

The lesson here: don’t be afraid to be unique! Embrace your uniqueness and watch your business grow.

Read some great examples of companies that have successfully marketed their USP.

We all wish to be successful and yet somehow we seem to be missing the target. In this article we will show you how to become more successful in all your endeavors.

Success often eludes many people. Like the inevitable pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, people set their hearts on following their dreams only to wake up disappointed.

Disappointment can be crushing to people. They sit and wonder what on earth they did wrong. They may have a strong belief in that pot of gold, but a dream alone cannot make your visions a reality.

You may have read a myriad of books and followed all the rules and imagined yourself as the successful person that you want to be. Your vision may be crystal clear and that is a good thing. The Bible says, “Without a vision the people perish”. The problem remains that envisioning yourself as successful is not enough.

What are your dreams?
What are you hopes for the future?
Have you ever written them down?

If you could be anything that you wanted to be and go where you wanted to go, who would you be? What would you be like? Where would you be living?

I want you to take a few moments now and write down the answer to these questions. Be as specific as you can so you can visualize these things as being true today. Crystallize these ideals in your mind.

Don’t cheat here, this is an important exercise, now go and write the answers down on a piece of paper, or better still in a book. You can call this your Dream Book to Success.

Now ask yourself this question: What do I need to do in order to live the life I dream of?

What do I need to do to make my dreams a reality?

The first step is to make sure you do not put off the vision too far in the distance. Don’t live on tomorrow’s sunshine. At the same time, don’t expect to have a change overnight. There is no magic pill that is going to bring about your dream. There is no easy road that will bring you to the Emerald City.

Someone once said “the road to success is filled with hard knocks” and this is reality.

You CAN achieve your dreams only if you systematically prepare yourself to receive them. You also must believe that you CAN receive them.

Henry Ford said, “If you think you can you can, and if you think you can’t, you can’t”

If you believe that you CAN achieve your dreams then it’s time for you to start planning on how you are going to make your dreams of success come true. Don’t let fear sabotage your thinking. If you have faith, you can move mountains! Sometimes though a mountain must be moved a piece at a time.

This takes planning. No amount of wishful thinking will get you what you want. Your vision may be crystal clear but with out a plan it’s just a dream. You need to plan your life in order to get the results you wish for.

You need to set goals for yourself. I know, you hate the thought of setting goals, but unless you put it down in writing and give it a date, it won’t happen. I can guarantee it.

Do you see yourself as slim and sitting on a beach somewhere? Well if you need to lose weight, dreaming isn’t going to make it happen. You must write down your goal for losing weight.

In order for my dream to come true I must lose __________ pounds. This is a good start. Now visualize yourself standing in front of a mirror weighing your perfect weight. Doesn’t that feel good?

This is your target, your dream, your vision. Now ask yourself, in order to reach that goal, what steps do I need to take today. Is it reasonable to say to yourself that you could lose 10 pounds a month? Too much? How about 4 pounds a month? Can you make a decision to yourself to lose 1 pound a week. In a year that would be 52 pounds! If you lost 2 pounds a week that would be 104 pounds! See how much you can do by breaking your goals down to bite size pieces. Your mountain can literally be moved piece by piece, or pound by pound in this example. Voila ! Success!

There is nothing mystical in making your dreams a success. In every situation you can do it piece by piece until your mountain is moved and you achieve Success.