You end up juggling so many tasks when starting your business that you overlook one crucial thing.
I did exactly that when I got started. It wasn’t until I took a marketing course that it hit me: I hadn’t thought through what my clients really wanted.
How could I possibly make this mistake?
You sometimes focus so hard on the task at hand you miss crucial elements, even a person dressed in a gorilla suit.
Let’s go on a quick aside. I promise it will be worth it.
Some very clever scientists devised experiments in the early 2000s to dive into our ever fascinating mental wiring. They created situations where people had to focus very intently on a task. Then, they sent a person dressed in a gorilla suit to wander through the scene.
They discovered that 50% of the people who watched the scene did not see the gorilla. Seriously, 50%. The Invisible Gorilla was born.
What these creative scientists discovered is our tendency as humans to ignore information right in front of us especially when we are deeply focused.
You’ll get tunnel vision easily when getting started.
When I was starting my business, I was so focused on my very long to-do list: studying my coaching curriculum, completing the core requirements for certification, coaching clients, and developing my website. All while working full time.
It was in a marketing class that I mentioned earlier where I came to a dead stop. I opened the pre-work for the class, my eyes landed on the question, “Who is your ideal customer?”
Up until that point, I had spent less than an hour thinking about this question. I felt a huge wave of horror as I realized I had forgotten the most important thing in my business – what my clients wanted most.
Obviously, you should start with your client first…
…but this is easy to forget when you believe there is so much to do. The pitfall here is to let yourself get too side-tracked from doing this.
Here’s the kicker: the sooner you start, the more strongly rooted in your clients’ wants you will be.
There are some great tools to help you paint a vivid picture of your client.
The most straightforward is the customer empathy map. To get your started, I made you this template along with instructions.
Don’t worry about doing an exhaustive analysis at the beginning. You can always start and come back especially after testing your ideas with prospective clients.
Keep your client front and center of your business.
It’s easy to get hyper-focused doing one thing after another and forget your client.
Revisit your customer empathy map at least once a month to keep them front and center instead of letting them drift through the scene in an gorilla suit.
Check out Common Mistake #2
Click here to learn how you can escape the “I don’t know how to…” spiral.
To your success,
Pierre
Certified Professional Coach
Entrepreneurship comes with bumps—some you can’t avoid, but a lot you can.
I put together a short guide: The 5 Common Mistakes Business Creators Make (and how to avoid them).
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