When tough times hit, people tend to play it safe, trimming costs down to weather the storm, but if we learned anything from the recent upheaval the economy faced during the pandemic, it’s that opportunity lies in wait around the corner for the brave and innovative.
Many businesses have thrived during these wild times, capitalizing on dynamically changing conditions, rising needs and gaps in the market, demonstrating that there will always be a need for a service or product, and the most adaptable and opportunistic of us can benefit from this need.
This is one of the lessons taught by Business Startup Strategist Rolande Sumner, a retired US Army Veteran, founder and CEO of Life After Service Transitional Coaching LLC. After completing her service in 2015, Rolande created a life of abundance and success for herself through her multiple business ventures, and learned that she could empower other motivated women to shorten the learning curve of their own journey to success.
Rolande’s LASTCo Business Launch Prep-School program has helped other women to create authentic, faith-based coaching practices that provide them with the foundation for emotional and financial freedom they crave, with her clients reporting 4-5 consistent figure months following their program completion.
In wanting to continue the work she does providing faith-centered programs that uplift women, Rolande has shared some tips on how to not only survive during a recession, but to thrive too.
Exploit Market Weaknesses
There are plenty of coaches that can provide similar services, but there is only one you. One unique you with your own personal skills, strengths and perspective. Use your perspective to find out where your market is lacking, and capitalize on it! By targeting these niches and diversifying your offers, you can differentiate yourself from your competition and establish yourself as a leader where others wouldn’t even have thought about exploring.
For me, it was leaning towards other veterans and servicewomen. Although I personally always felt drawn to business and entrepreneurship, I knew plenty of people that didn’t know what they wanted to do after they left, or struggled to integrate back into civilian society. My skills and my perspective let me connect with and address their needs, like you can too.
Honor Your Budget and Your Time
Investing resources into developing systems and processes that respect things like your time, money and energy is not just about saving in the long-term; it’s also about setting yourself up to scale, and allowing yourself to be flexible within your business to where your attention is needed the most at any given time. There are plenty of things that you can automate in your business that will free you up to focus on other things, stuff like emails, booking systems etc.
Strategically hire support in aspects of your business where you need it, whether its hands on deck to handle back-end systems, or its sales outreach to boost up. On the flipside, you can reduce costs where redundancies exist. All of this is a balancing act that you need to measure with your own resources.
Execute!
Don’t get stuck on creating a 100% perfect strategy before you launch a service or product, or you might find yourself stuck in an endless state of limbo. Get to work and execute! By letting go, you are freeing yourself up to learn more effectively through action. After you’ve launched your service or offer, you can gather valuable data on what is working and what needs iteration, and take it all on board to improve your business. These are lessons you would have never learned if you kept worrying about what-ifs and didn’t execute!
Focus on your target audience
Pushing back a little bit on an earlier point, diversifying your offers can be amazing for you if you find a niche that works within your reach, but don’t panic and jump around chasing “get-rich-quick” schemes to bring in quick cash. It’s important to eliminate unnecessary distractions and focus on the big picture, serving your target audience.
Connect with Rolande Sumner through the Life After Service Transitional Coaching website, and check out her LinkedIn and YouTube social media pages to learn more on how you can build an authentic coaching business that serves your audience and offers you the lifestyle that you’ve dreamed of.
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