John Maxwell once said, “Fail early, fail often, but always fail forward.” 

While there’s some controversy about whether this is a good mantra to live by, reality is, as a new small business or nonprofit owner, we are going to fail in some areas!

And let me tell you, this enneagram 1 perfectionist does not like failing. Even in the midst of many successes, the critical voice in my head sees the one failure, or the thing I could have done better. When you’re wearing every hat imaginable from accountant, to designer to saleswoman, failure at times is inevitable. 

Like Maxwell says, however, fail forward. In the spirit of that advice, here are my top 3 small business failures of the past year and what I learned from them.

1. I didn’t narrow down to a specific niche market

   All of the online business owners I admire told me about this one, yet somehow I still managed not to implement it successfully. “The Riches are in the Niches” as one of my business role models Pat Flynn has famously taught. It was even part of the curriculum of the amazing website business course I invested in from Paige Brunton before getting started. 

   My problem was, I was so desperate to get any clients, that I didn’t want to turn anyone away and have to choose a specific type of client for my Squarespace website design business.

   I also wanted to offer every service imaginable related to communications and marketing, until I could figure out where the money was and what was most needed. To be honest, I didn’t even know what kind of clients I wanted to work with. I was taking all kinds of work from all kinds of people—some that paid well and some that paid not so well. 

   The silver lining from this mistake I made however is that after working on a plethora of projects, I now know who is a dream to work with and who is, shall we say, not so dreamy to work with. 

   This year, I’ve narrowed down my niche to a specific offering and a specific type of client—doing the projects I love with the clients who are a joy to work with. It means I may have to say “no” to some things, in order to say “yes” to other things.  

2. I didn’t take the time to learn about my target audience

   This one goes hand in hand with choosing a niche. You would think that was a “duh Michelle” thing to cover when starting a business. But when you are itching for clients and want to cast the net out wide, especially in the design world, it’s something that can easily be overlooked. 

   
   What I failed to realize is that by not knowing my target audience—their pain points, needs and language—I was unable to market, design and write to these small business and nonprofit leaders specifically.

   I couldn’t provide the most value possible, because I didn’t know what they needed the most! As a result, I missed out on cutting through the noise and reaching that specific target audience I was aiming for. Thankfully, half way through the year, I invested in a copywriting course that helped me zero in on my true target audience. I identified the type of “client” I wanted to work with, did one-on-one interviews with many of these women, and was able to get in their heads! We got to the nitty gritty of what they truly needed, the things they were Googling and how I could serve them best. This gave me immense insight, helped me hone my offering and most importantly, use language targeted specifically to this audience. 

3. I wasn’t consistent with my marketing

   As a result of the first two failures mentioned above, my marketing naturally suffered. I started out positive and full of ideas, and a few months in, wanted to throw in the towel! (Anyone else? Can I get an amen?). I knew in the back of my head, be consistent Michelle, keep plugging along, but it gets more and more challenging when the results aren’t what you think they should be.

   
   Because I didn’t choose a specific niche for my small business, and I didn’t understand my audience well, my marketing became scattered, irregular and frustrating.

   Blogging is not as effective when you don’t have a specific audience you’re blogging to. SEO on your website becomes difficult when you don’t have a specific niche to extract keywords from. And the list could go on.

   
   While I haven’t perfected or nailed all of this down yet, I’m learning through trial and error, by educating myself and by trying to remain consistent.

   
   
   What about you? Whether you are a service based or product based business, or are striving to get donors for your nonprofit, have these areas been struggles for you? Do you know what your niche is and have a clear mission? Have you been able to get inside the heads of your dream customers or donors? Has your marketing been slacking? 

   
   Shoot me a message if you want to chat about these pain points! I would love to hear from you and see if I can help. Email me at michelle@perspectivestudio.co.