Launching a new business is challenging. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), nearly 1 in 5 U.S. businesses fail within the first year. While some people may not have a sustainable business plan or idea contributing to their failure, you don’t have to be a statistic. There are several reasons why you may not be attracting clients and making enough money to sustain your business, and here’s why.

If owning and operating a business was easy everyone would do it. It’s not for the faint. A startup requires dedication, commitment and sacrifices. From experience working with my clients, it’s always around the 3-6 month mark of launching their business that they want to quit because they aren’t receiving the results they anticipated they would. They would rather throw in the towel and quit because they are losing money daily rather than take a risk on themselves and win in the long run.

Quitting on something you’ve invested time and money into tells me you are not serious about your vision and you did not plan accordingly. Imagine being a potential customer or client of a business that is on the verge of quitting or going under? Trust me, those potential customers/clients can sense when you are not fully invested into your business and that is why they are not investing into your offering. If you don’t believe in your offering why should they?

Where new business owners lose momentum is right around the time that it takes to build brand loyalty. I call this the “brand loyalty” quarter. It’s when you are building your brands authenticity and trustworthiness to attract clients and customers who will eventually convert.

I train my clients to strategize their business quarterly in the initial brand building phase so they can project their goals and track them. It also gives them something to work towards. I tell each of them not to expect ANY results before 1 year. This is because you are building sustainability and profitability. If you want fast results entrepreneurship isn’t for you. Not because you can’t receive them, but because if you are not ready you will not be able to maintain the supply and demand you create.

All that said, when you are building a new business your business plan needs to include the following quarters:

Quarter 1: Brand Identity. This is where you will establish your mission statement and vision. Brand pillars, branding, marketing strategy, funnels and overall business plan.

Quarter 2: Brand Loyalty. In this phase you will ignore money and work for credibility. Your goal is to attract eyeballs on your business and tell everyone who and what your business does. Even when it’s black and white people can still be oblivious to your offering. That’s why you have to tell them at least 7 times for it to sick aka “the rule of 7.” Prepare to be repetitive. Once these people see what you stand for and trust your brand they will follow, convert or share your product, service, offering with others. This quarter is for you to really get to know your ideal target market and understand your clients buyer personas and pain points.

Quarter 3: Funnels. Now that you have a trustworthy brand and you have established a loyal audience you can begin selling. Sales does not always translate to monetary offerings. You can give free valuable tools to eventually upsell to paid services/products. You can push funnels to create brand awareness and attract new followers and engagement. Last, this is your time to organically push your services and products. To get your feet wet and test out your offering through market research. You may not attract any buyers but you will generate leads. Leads are just as valuable… get those newsletters ready in Q3!!

Quarter 4: Consistency Is Key (or king!). Continue to consistently share rich, valuable content and tweak anything that isn’t/hasn’t been working. As you consistently push your pillars, brand message (mission/vision) and offering, you will start to watch your audience come to you by the end of the quarter. Be sure to get testimonials when those sales come in!!

Back to our initial statement, you are not attracting the right clients/customers and selling because you are quitting too soon because you don’t have a strategy implemented and don’t trust your own brand. Launching a business requires a financial investment, time, business plan and strategy, marketing and advertising, and organic selling. You wouldn’t invest into something you didn’t trust and neither would a stranger invest into you because you told them to.

Get clear on who your brand is and who you are marketing it to. Get inside the minds of those people and answer their specific questions and concerns. Nurture the relationships you make and grow them into paid customers and clients. Just remember, you are always once choice away from a different life. Don’t give up on the dream you had when you started. It might bring you the life and brand you’ve always wanted.

If you have specific questions about your branding or business and need assistance reach out to us at: info@monikafreeman.com. We offer a free 30 minute brand consultation.