Building a business around your dream client means that you’re developing a product, service or experience that serves the needs of your dream client. It means creating a business which is designed to make them happy and then making them happy. A common misconception is that when you start your ideal business you’ll find your dream clients magically appear. No, no, no. You need to create a business around your ideal client and then you’ll attract them.
Identify Your Dream Clients (And Avoid @#&* Clients)
Your dream client is somebody who has the means to pay for your services and products, wants to pay for your services and products, and can refer others to you.
To find out who your dream clients are, ask yourself the following questions:
- Who do I love working with?
- Who do I love helping?
- What is it about them that I love so much?
- What kind of person would have a blast if I helped them?
That’s how you find your dream clients. If you can answer those questions, then it’s pretty likely that your dream client looks like the person who you describe. The problem with businesses is that they attract people who don’t actually want to buy your products or services. The people who don’t want to buy from you are your @#&* clients. You need to identify those kinds of people now, before you begin developing your dream business, because you don’t want them as customers. If they come along, then that’s fine, but you don’t want to spend your time trying to convert them.
Finding your dream clients means creating a business that attracts them and then making sure that you get paid for it.
How To Create Your Dream Business (Step By Step)
Now, before we get into the nitty gritty of the steps to take to build your dream client business, there are two things you need to know. You don’t get anything that you don’t get for yourself. You don’t get what you want by wishing for it or hoping for it or dreaming about it. You get what you want by working for it. If you really want to build a business that serves your dream clients, then you need to do the work.
The other thing is that there are no shortcuts or quick fixes or easy ways to success. Success is a journey and the journey is part of the reward. It’s not all or nothing. You don’t have to do it all right now, but you should start now and keep going until you get there.
Now that we have those two things out of the way, let’s dive into the 9-steps you need to take to build your dream client business.
Step One: Create A Business Plan And Start A Blog
A business plan is your vision for how you want your business to operate. It’s not a document that you fill out and file away (which is the most common reason people do it) but a living document that you use to guide your business. Business plans come in many different shapes and sizes, so whatever template you choose for yours, just be sure to use it as a living document and not just a piece of paper.
A business plan can be broken into six sections incorporating parts of the 9-steps outlined below:
I. The Executive Summary
II. Mission Statement
III. Core Values & Beliefs
IV. Products Or Services Offered
V. Marketing Plan (or how you’ll attract your dream clients)
VI. Operations Plan (how you’ll deliver your products or services)
Note: This is not a traditional business plan you might learn in a graduate marketing course. We’re not going to go over the business model canvas (at least not yet, that is for another day), pricing strategies, or go-to-market plans. I want to keep this as simplistic as possible for those who want to get started part-time and FAST.
As you move through the six sections of your business plan, you’re not just filling in the blanks. Instead, you’re taking time to think about what you want your business to be and how it will operate. Then, when you get into your blog, that vision will come out in your writing. Your blog is your online business card, but it’s also more than that. It’s the place where you put out your ideas about what you want to create and who you want to do it for. You can read more about why blogs are so important for small business owners here. As you’re writing your blog posts, you’re thinking about who your dream clients are and how you can help them. You may not have the perfect solution to their problems yet, but every time you write a post, they’ll get to know what they can expect from you.
Step Two: Set Your Pricing And Stick To It
The next step to building your dream client business is to set your pricing and stick to it. People are always asking me how they can charge more for their products or services, but that’s not the right question. The right question is how can you charge what your products or services are worth. Unless you’re in a brand new business that hasn’t attracted any customers yet, then your pricing is probably pretty close to what your dream clients are willing to pay. It might be too high or too low, but it’s probably close. If you’ve been pricing your products or services incorrectly, then there are two things you need to know.
The first is that it’s okay to mess up. The second is that if you want to figure out what your dream clients are willing to pay, then you need to ask them.
If you’re not getting enough customers, then the reason might be because your pricing is too high. If you’re getting too many customers, then it might be because your pricing is too low. Either way, there’s only one solution: ask your dream clients.
Price discovery for clients is purely market dynamics and generally is going to be impossible to determine the levers needed to pull all the time. However, it is possible to get a reasonable idea and make some general assumptions to find out what your dream clients are willing to pay. To do that you’re going to have to try a few things:
Identify a target customer. Ask them how much they’d be willing to pay for a solution that solves their problem. If it’s not enough, then ask them if they’d pay more for a solution that solves their problem faster. Repeat until you get the price point you want. Setting your pricing can be hard, but it really is worth it when you find out how much your dream clients are willing to pay for what you offer.
But wait, there’s more!
Now that you know how much your dream clients are willing to pay for your products or services, you can also use this information to figure out what price points they’re willing to pay for specific features. Then you can create a pricing table that shows them all of the different products and services that you offer and the pricing for each. This is what we call a value ladder, and I’ve written about how to create one for your business here: How To Create A Value Ladder For Your Small Business.
Step Three: Figure Out Your Marketing Plan
Now that you know your pricing, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to attract your dream clients. This is the part of your business plan that will get fleshed out in step four, but for now just think about what marketing channels you’re going to use to reach your dream clients. This is the point where most people get confused about what they need to do to start a business. They don’t know whether they should start a blog or write articles or create videos or whatever. The truth is that you don’t have to do all of those things right now. You just need a plan for how you’re going to reach your dream clients.
Do you have some kind of expertise or background or experience? What specific problem can you solve for your dream client? Do they have a desire that needs to be fulfilled? Do they have an itch that needs to be scratched? You don’t have to figure out the details of what you’re going to do right now, but you do need to think about how your business can help them. Once you know what problems you want to solve, then it’s time to figure out how you’re going to market your business. What marketing channels do you want to use? How are you going to reach your dream clients? What are the problems that they have which you can solve? What are they currently doing to solve those problems or fill those needs? How can you do it better?
Step Four: Create A Marketing Plan (And Actually Start Using It)
Now that you’ve identified your dream clients and figured out how you’re going to reach them, it’s time to create a marketing plan. This is something that will change over time, so you don’t have to get it perfect the first time. But it is important to take the time to think about what you want your business to be and how you plan on doing it. Otherwise, you run the risk of just winging it or just throwing whatever comes to mind into your marketing plan.
Instead, you want to create a marketing plan that works for you and your dream clients. That’s the only way that you’re going to get repeat business. If you want more help in this area, then check out my post on how to create a marketing plan that gets results.
This step requires some pretty robust planning and I’ll hit on this in a later post(s).
Step Five: Create A Sales & Promotion Plan
Once you’ve got your marketing plan in place, it’s time to create a sales and promotion plan. This is the part of your business plan that will get fleshed out in step six, but for now just think about what you’re going to do to sell and promote your business. Remember that the only way that you’re going to build a business is if someone pays you for something – either an hour of your time or product. So think about how you’re going to market to your dream clients and how you’re going to sell them something. Do you want to sell products or services? Which ones? How are you going to reach your dream clients? What will they be compelled by? What problems do they have that need solving?
Again, don’t get too caught up in the details here. Just figure out some ideas so you can move forward.
Step Six: Build A Sales & Promotion Plan (And Actually Use It)
Now that you’ve got your marketing and sales plan in place, it’s time to start actually putting it into action.
The biggest problem that I see with most people who start businesses is that they focus on the marketing and not the actual sales. They’re more concerned with building opt-in lists and creating content than they are with actually building a business that brings in money. You need to get your business out there. You need to actually start selling it.
Nothing is going to happen without sales and promotion. If you want a business that earns money, then you have to sell something.
Step Seven: Create A Management Plan & Hire Your Team (If Necessary)
Now that you’ve created the first six steps of your business plan, you need to take a step back and think about how you’re going to manage everything.
Not everyone is cut out to be running their own business. There are some people who are just meant to be employees. They’re not the kind of people who like to take charge and make decisions. They’re more comfortable following orders than giving them.
If you fall into this category, then you need to start thinking about how you’re going to manage your business. What are your management strengths? What are your weaknesses? What kind of people do you need on your team to make sure that everything runs smoothly?
There are lots of different business models out there. You might want to hire employees, outsource work, or manage everything yourself.
The important thing is that you figure it all out before you start building your business. Otherwise, you’re going to waste a lot of time and money on something that doesn’t fit your personality or skill set.
Step Eight: Create A Legal Plan & Get Your Business Registered
If you’re going to run a business, then it needs to be legally registered. Otherwise, you can’t get paid for your work.
If your business is not registered, then anyone who hires you could later come back and sue you for whatever they want (or nothing at all). And there would be nothing that you could do about it.
The best way to protect yourself is to register your business with the right government agencies.
Every country is different, but you need to register for things like taxes, employees, and business licenses.
For example, if you’re in the U.S., then you need to register for a federal tax ID number, a business license in your state, and possibly other things depending on your industry.
If you don’t know where to start, then I recommend checking out my post on how to register a business in the U.S. It will walk you through all of the different things that you need to do to get your business started.
Step Nine: Create A Financial Plan (And Actually Stick To It)
The final step of your business plan is to create a financial plan. This is the part where you figure out how much money you’re going to need and how you’re going to make it. You need to know how much money you’ll need to get your business started, where it’s going to come from, and what kind of return you’re going to get on your investment.
When I first started my business, I didn’t actually know how much money I needed. So I spent a few thousand dollars on things like my website and logo and business cards, all of which were a complete waste of money because I didn’t really think about what the costs would be if my business failed.
That’s why it’s important to figure out how much money you’ll need and how you’re going to get it. Otherwise, you run the risk of making a huge, expensive mistake by trying to build a business before you have the funds available.
Bonus: I created an exclusive cheat sheet for my email subscribers. It lists out all of the steps that I’ve talked about in this post and gives you a checklist to make sure that you don’t miss anything. To get your copy, just enter your email address below:
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Conclusion
As you can see, there’s a lot that goes into building a business. Some of the steps are more important than others, but they all need to be done if you want to start earning money.
The good news is that you don’t have to do all of the steps at once. You can work on one step while you’re working on another step.
The important thing is that you take the time to plan your business before you actually start building it. Otherwise, you run the risk of wasting time and money on something that doesn’t make sense for you.
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Finally, if you have any questions about building a business plan, then please leave a comment below. I’d be more than happy to help you out.
