Death by Shark Bite

The other day CNBC had a Shark Tank marathon and because I absolutely love the show (who doesn’t?) I was hooked for a few hours at least.

There are more lessons than I can publish here. But one was clear:

After watching entrepreneur after entrepreneur pitch their ideas to the 5 opinionated investors, I came to a conclusion, The average small business is not actually a business; it’s simply an idea and maybe a hobby.

How can I say that?

Because according to the U.S. Small Business Administration,

67.53% of small business owners earn less than $25,000 per year

Pathetic right?

No one can comfortably live off of less than $25,000 a year, not in the U.S. for sure.

The real question is, are you part of the 67%?

If so, that means you can’t support yourself, let alone a family. And you probably have to work a side job (maybe a couple) and borrow, beg and steal from family or friends just to keep your head above water.

And if you don’t have a family yet, then you’re probably working so many hours that you’re wondering if and when you WILL get around to cultivating a real life around work.

Sound harsh?

Yes, I know. But what’s even more painful to me is that the average business consultant or counselor will make you think you need more marketing to increase revenue.

Well, this is only half true.

Why Marketing Won’t Necessarily Save Your Life (or your business)

For many of you, all the marketing in the world will still leave you dead in the water, because your issue is not marketing (or not JUST marketing). The main reason why you’re not selling is because your product or service is the wrong price, is being positioned improperly and/or is being packaged in a way that actually repels potential buyers.

In other words – your model is broken. Here are 4 ways to tell that your model is broken. Identify which of the following is true for you.

1. You use discounting and sales to move products or services when you need extra cash.

2. You tout that you have the highest quality service (or product) at the best (as in lowest) price.

3. If you’re a service provider, most of your work is done trading dollars for hours (in other words, via an hourly rate). If you’re a product-based business or retailer, you use some special formula of a few dollars above your cost to set how much to charge.

4. You really believe your service or product is FOR anyone, you just can’t seem to convince EVERYONE of that fact.

If you answered 2 or more of the above statements as TRUE for you, then your business model may be belly up.