The Rebelpreneur Manifesto

8/8/2019 The Rebelpreneur Manifesto

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Fight Mediocrity!The Outlandish Rebelpreneurs

Manifesto!


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Purpose, Focus andPassion: Be on the Power

Diet for your Business


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Purpose: Form the foundations for your success map

Getting into business is answer to survive the tumultuous economic scenario for thenew age individual. With growing economic insanity and uncertain global socio-economic scenario, entrepreneurship still makes its own style statements. It holdspromises for the enterprising individuals and companies who would invest time andeffort to ensure that they do what they ought to do to have the competitive edge, toserve better and to retrieve profits.

It isnt even rocket science.

However, we still dont see this kind of success everywhere. We dont seeindividuals or companies making it big. Instead we have decaying financialstatements, eroding bottom lines and bail-out scenarios.

What do you think the reason would be? There are many in fact, but one of the moststinging ones out there is a gaping, wide-eyed and jaw-dropping lack of focus.

The lack of focus problem is the root cause for most businesses not goinganywhere. No, I dont mean Hey, we know what are doing here. We were supposed to sellwidgets kind of focus; I mean the needle-tipped, syringe sharp, laser-like focus.

It isnt very hard to develop focus like that because for most businesses, the core onwhich the focus must be on boils down to the following:

Providing great products and services Make your offerings simple but still unbelievable Deliver Value Delight your customers without them asking for it. Give a surprise (who doesnt love them?) Give your customers a feeling that they really got more for the money they

put on the table.

Seems simple enough, doesnt it? At least you are not being asked to do anythinglike implementing expensive software and do software coding, write programs andthe like. No one even spoke about extending an IPO (Initial Public Offer); talk to aninvestment bank and help your company to float shares in the market. We weretalking about things a high-school student can understand.

Ironically, simple things are like eels, they are hard to catch and extremely slipperywhen you do try to catch.


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What gives? What must you do?

Have a Well-defined Purpose!

Why are you in Business? If I hear you saying that you are in it for the money, youarent getting anywhere near it.

Funny, but true!

If you started out for money and wealth alone, your business is doomed to the backissues of your yellow pages and nowhere else. The purpose of your business, amongothers, has everything to do with where your business is destined to be. The

purpose, though, isnt even a secret that has been held down to a few ultra-glorious,super-prosperous companies. Its all there for you to see. You clearly know, forinstance, why Google is so successful. How about Wal-mart?

One thing is for sure: Sam Walton and Googles founders didnt start out for money.Neither did Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Michael Dell. Each of them started outthinking that they would provide value to their customers using a service/product,they thought would change the way people do certain things -- Dell has literallychanged the way people brought computers and even before that Bill Gates hasgiven a computing platform for everyone in the world. Walmart changed the wayyou shop and shop for less. McDonalds ensured that you get the same fries and burgers whether buy in Troy, New York, Brisbane, Australia; Delhi, India or Madrid,Spain.

Need more examples? Starbucks has changed the way you feel at a coffee shop andexperience coffee. EBay has single handedly pushed e-commerce. Amazon broughtabout the worlds largest book store ever, which no physical store anywhere canmatch its offerings.

Do you see a common pattern emerging? Do you see they their purpose reallywasnt money? As an Interesting aside, none of them started with any capital in thereal sense. Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Dell specifically, didnt have any officesto start from. If you read the chicken Soup for the Entrepreneurs soul book, youwill come across hundreds of other people who started out that way.

It all started as a pure, compelling and consuming desire that shook their very souland made the founders of these companies do miracles. A fire in the belly, that cant be assuaged even today.


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Heres the idea button: You are there for money and creating wealth and there is nodenying that. But money is shy, discreet and like a little girl: you cant coerce her tocome closer. You have to draw her to you. Seduce her to make her believe that youare worthy of it.

The way you do that is to:

No matter what business you are in, you will focus on doing the best you can toensure that your clients are super-thrilled to have you has their partner. Everythingfrom how you greet them; your personality; your marketing collateral; yourprocesses; your systems; how you deliver your business; your sales and up-keep ofpromises -- everything matters. If your receptionist is harsh when greeting acustomer, you will lose your customer. You dont keep the promises you make, youlose your customer.

In fact you will stand to lose everything!

As Paul Gorman Says in his book The Game of Business and How to Play it , ThePrimary Purpose of any enterprise -- Huge, medium or tiny -- is to provide thehighest degree of service, value and result to every person or organization thatinquires of you, asks for advice from you, and buys or invests from you.

Once you put your service first you could then keep in touch with all thosecustomers you had already delighted with your products and services by callingthem once in a while, leave a message, send an email or send a direct mailer just to

thank them. Perhaps, you could ask them as to how they find your services or if theproduct you had sent in works flawlessly?


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Tell me if they dont find that incredibly delightful. Arent you really giving it your best shot? You are doing more than anyone else could possibly do. If you just do thisconsistently enough and make sure that your clients/customers are falling in love

with your business, then and only then, will you see profit windfalls. An avalancheof wealth is all yours to take only if you do this right. Ask for money first without

doing any of the above mentionedprotocol and see how money scurriesaway from you, never to return again.

Laser can cut diamonds; Focus can cutthrough business blues

Once you have a purpose, it is time totake it for a hair-cut. Well not literally.Having a purpose is a great start, but it

just needs some fine-tuning. After youdo that, it is time to focus.

Focus is nothing but just a little bit ofmadness, an entrepreneur needs to have. Is this madness? Am I losing it completely?Not at all! By madness, I mean a relentless pursuit of the purpose mentioned herein,with a modicum of craziness to stick to your guns while you are at it.

You see, it is so easy to say things like My purpose is to ensure that I deliver myconsulting services to my clients with an hitherto Unmatched service standards,great commitment, and honest-to-god mindset such that my clients walk away withtears of joy, each time they partake my services.

But the reality is that this doesnt happen all the time -- maybe because you just hada bad day, your car broke down, an employee quits, your Venture Capitalist backsoff on the last minute, you tried cold-calling and you faced rejection multiple times.See what I mean? Days arent chalked out of fairly tale story books. They are here on,Planet Earth, were, things are forever trying to find equilibrium -- an ephemeralsense of balance, at least.

On the other hand, your business wont take off if you dont surmount theseeveryday problems -- small or big -- and ensure that you still do what you just stated.

Paul Gorman Says in his book The Game of Business

and How to Play it , ThePrimary Purpose of any

enterprise -- Huge,medium or tiny -- is to

provide the highestdegree of service, value

and result to every personor organization that

inquires of you, asks foradvice from you, and buys

or invests from ou.


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What helps?

Focus.

So simple, yet so profound; So easy to nod heads but so difficult to achieve ; havingan undulating focus calls for a super-human effort, a steel-like desire, a burning needto achieve what you had set forth for. It calls for perseverance, patience and a firmconviction in your goals.

Employees quit ; recession looms ; economy is unstable ; people scoff and joke atyour ideas when you go party; your peers dont even come close to thinking the way

you do; your business partner doesnt understand your vision and merely laughs itoff; your spouse is frustrated that you barely come home; your social life is rottingaway; your employees put up a protest and almost make your life miserable; yourlife seems to be consumed by your business; you havent got a dime in your walletand you came close to being crushed under the weight of your own lonelinesssometimes; you must have felt like giving up a zillion times.

In spite of you being crushed this way, and no matter what happens -- nevergive up.

Passion

You have a purpose and you now have a focus -- this is just getting better and better.Perhaps, you will need some Nitrous Oxide for that acceleration? How about a rushin the progress your business ought to make? Why not ensure that whatever you aredoing, you will want to do more of that? How do you ensure that you be at your bestperforming levels at all times?

Passion is the venerable answer!

Passion is the fuel for your focus. This is the engine that can drive your success tounimaginable levels. It can bring out the best in you, no matter what you choose todo. Passion is a renewable, ultra-clean and an abundant source of energy which has been designed just to fuel YOU.

You dont get passion at staples.com. You dont get it in your neighborhood mallsand you certainly cant borrow it from anyone. It has to well up within you. It has to be borrowed from the extremely abundant reservoir of energy and power your mindpossesses.


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Delving into your inherent strengths and bringing out the very best in your is adirect after affect of being passionate about what you do; thats whereentrepreneurship, begins to make sense.

See, a job is something you took because you had to and you needed this paycheckat the end of every month; you have mouths to feed and bills to pay. But you arentnecessarily passionate about what you do at work.

Entrepreneurship has an underlying flavor of passion within, because it comes fromchoice. When you start a business, it has always been recommended that you startyour business in spheres you are passionate about and know what you are doingand then you dont start for the money.

If you are a teacher, you love teaching and you would like to spread knowledgewhile helping other people achieve great things -- starting a tutorial, e-tutoring oreven consulting could all be great business for you to start. Since you love what youdo, you are focused enough on doing something very specific and well-defined andyou have the passion to keep you going -- money is waiting to be piled up in your bank accounts. You get the drift, dont you?

When you love what you do, passion comes automatically. When passion comesthrough, it is easy enough to stay focused and have a purpose. These are complexhuman dynamics and they are slated to remain that way. The best we can do is to tryand understand that this strong interplay between these three traits makes for agreat, show-stopping entrepreneurial material and is secret-but-secret formula for aroaring success.

These traits hold good for anyone who has got anything to do with wanting to besuccessful in any endeavor -- sports, politics, Business, science and technology etc.

The Reading Room and Resources

On the way to your success, you will meet Mr. Learning Curve -- The brash, out-spoken, extremely proud and very repelling but also very learned, strict andunbending trainer (Very popular and incredibly effective master). You might hatehim, but you will benefit from him. Your success is guaranteed 105%. Here are a few books he recommends that would help you get started on setting this mindset:

Think and Grow Rich By Napolean Hill The Beautiful Mind By Sylvia Nasser Its not about the Bike by Lance Amstrong and Sally Jenkins

Banker to The Poor By Muhammad Yunus Direct From Dell By Michael Dell


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Made in America by Sam Walton

Motivation -- The Starting

Point for your BusinessSuccess


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Entrepreneurs, artists, professionals and people of all sorts in various walks of life

are just one step away from success. The only thing that stops most people from atidal wave of success and achievement; a lifetime of glory and wealth is just a fewmuscle movements to take action , which in turn requires a tremendous amount ofwill power and motivation.

It all starts in your cauldron of positive thinking within your brain, where littlethings add up -- frustration of a 9-5 job; tyranny of your boss; the irritating equatedmonthly installments and a lifelong payment cycles for your mortgages -- to get youto move towards certain actions that will chalk out your future.

Little things do add up, dont they? You might lose steam; competitors might just betoo competitive; product or service is going through a lean buying cycle; attritionproblems; financial crunch; external factors you cant place your finger on and whatnot.

The Mind conditioning you need to be able to Live to get to the red Juicy Carrot(Your Success)

Only certain character traits -- from you, reflected and percolated into the depths ofyour company -- can help bail you out of all of this.

One of which is Motivation -- a raging fiery desire to make it through; to see it to theend; to surmount whatever would be thrown on you. To be motivated, there arecertain character traits that will define a successful entrepreneur:

A compulsive, relentless and an insatiable desire to get going, no matter whathappensAn entrepreneur, by design, is a pure capitalist at heart; a perennial risk-taker and arainmaker. Rewards entrepreneurs accrue over time, after sustenance, are a lot morethan any aspiring soul can seek to get. But all of this comes at a cost -- a wave ofproblems might wash you away sometimes and if you have survived for anyamount of time, you would have surmounted it all. It takes fire within you -- acompulsive, almost maniacal and humanly impossible desire. I am talking about the blazing flame inside your stomach; that relentless and tireless voice in your headthat literally screams into your face and conscience and reiterates the fact that Dowhat you must do ; You are meant to do something different and I am better off being on my own . You got to have this insatiable desire to develop your businessand take responsibilities for your own life.


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An unquenchable thirst to become wealthy

In spite of the prevalent social stigma attached to earning wealth -- linking this to being greedy and almost anti-social-- this is a primary motivation for most people.Lets not fool ourselves and ignore that fact. Of course, this should not be your only guide-post while charting the course you would be taking for your business. Heresthe fun part, the really successful business owners really do begin to get it at onepoint (you will get it now! ) that money automatically follows when you have sound business practices, great products and services and appropriate systems in place.You dont run after money (wasnt that the primary reason why we look at

entrepreneurship such that money begins to work for you? Instead of the other wayround? )

A bottom-less appetite for risk

One stark difference noticeable in most successful entrepreneurs and ordinary folkswith a mundane day job is the risk-appetite. Entrepreneurs are fearless, reckless andthey behave just like children do. They have an inane ability or would havedeveloped the ability to absorb any negative ramifications that might occur whensomething goes wrong -- ideas dont work; ideas back-fire; money is lost; deals gosour and partners or employees sometimes walk away on you. All of this is has beenan investment on the entrepreneurs part and each time the entrepreneurs haveinvested, they took a risk. Risk-taking ability, by far, is the most distinguishing factorthat separates the men from the boys; women from the girls. Do you have it in you?Are you willing to develop it to a level that makes you successful?

A creative problem-solving, calm and composed head on the shoulders

You cant afford to be throwing tantrums -- this was something you could have donewhile working somewhere. You dont whine like a baby anymore and as if this isntenough, you have to be thinking on your feet, forever. You will have to solve real-life, and more specifically, business problems which will make or mar your future.You need to be innovative; have boundless imagination; a knack to think quicklyand rationally; and never losing your composure, no matter what happens.


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Decisiveness

Heres another one of those things you wont find elsewhere -- The ability to decidequickly. This comes entwined with the risk-appetite that we talked about earlier, but has a charm of its own. All successful entrepreneurs have no choice but to bevery decisive. They need to make decisions solely based on their experiences,information, situational experiences or sometimes they need to do it just on the basisof raw - confidence and gut-feel. This trait basically leads to action and as Imentioned earlier, taking action is half the battle won. So, even in the worst scenario,the entrepreneur is well-ahead of the pack simply by virtue of having decided.

A Willingness to learn and to be well-read

One of the best ways to motivate you is to read up on some amazing biographiesand auto-biographies. Look at a cross-section of any self-made millionaires or anywealthy persons profile and you are likely to notice that all of them have a penchantto learn new things. Be it something that has got to do with their business orsomething that might be their weekend pursuit, they do it incessantly. If you arewondering as to why they might want to learn new things, it isnt any rocket science.They do it to keep themselves well-informed, well-read and because of the sheer beauty of the fact that learning makes you a winner.

Humility and Character

Good character and humility is the cornerstone for success in business. When youare about to sell something to someone, it is YOU who is going to be sold first.Having said that, what makes you think that you would be doted on if you areabusive, rude and rustic by nature? Successful entrepreneurs are humble people,almost always accessible and approachable. If you ever did a sales call, you willrecall that these top guns are the easiest ones to grab an appointment from (even ifthey are busy) and the gnomes( the middle level managers and gate-keepers, nooffence meant! ) are the most difficult to approach. By making yourself humble andfull of great character, you are opening your doors to a world of opportunities just by being congenial.

Self-motivated, determined and driven

No one became successful because someone else wanted them to be (of course, youhave well-wishers, but thats mere wishing; not pushing!). To be a successfulentrepreneur, you will have to be self-motivated, not wait for things to happen but


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rather be able to make things happen and be self driven. Your obstinate refusal togive up on the face of adversity is going to mark your successful business career.How deftly you manage to propel yourself during your inevitable and muchwelcomed lean phases is going to the determinant factor for your success.

Motivation: The price you pay for success

The process of motivating oneself is an ongoing affair; it is the price you will pay forsuccess. You cant expect to be maddeningly successful if you dont keep yourselfmotivated at all times.

Being in a motivated state is like being on steroids; being on a high. It is important to be on that state because of the fact that you will have road blocks and you will need

to saunter around them all the time. The only way you can do that is to be super-charged. The only way to solve problems and be persistent is to have the ability tolook at the horizon and keep going -- no matter what.

When you are starting up or in the course of running your business, you will becritiqued, admonished and even rubbished. When you get out there trying to getsome leads for your businesses, your honor will be questioned. When you try to sellyour products/services, they will be compared indiscriminately to those of yourcompetitors.

You will face problems all the time. There will be days when you would get into adeadly vicious cycle of self-questioning. You will doubt if your decision of wantingto start or run a business has been a sane one or not. If you were made of anythingless harder than steel, you might even give up and go back to just the place you hadalways wanted to be away from -- the corporate, cushy 9-5 job.

There are times when your partners will bite on your back when you arent looking;your staff can embezzle funds; your accounts can turn into bad apples and your business just looks like a huge complicated mess.

Your family might not understand your goals, tribulations, aspirations andproblems. In some cases, they might not share your ideals and might be asenthusiastic about your next merger or the fact that your company is going public.

In short, life can suck. Businesses can like black holes that can suck everything in. Itis a marriage that can go bad.

However, if you took care and stayed motivated enough and if you persevere andhold on to your beliefs things will look better. If you stand your ground and battlethese seemingly frustrating problems, nothing can take your success away from you.


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The law of attraction -- supposedly the holy grail of success, wealth and glory --states that the nature conspires to get exactly you ends up thinking about (whether itis positive or negative).

6 Ways to Stay Motivated: How to keep your carrot Red, Juicy and mouth-watering.

Have a strong reason for doing the do: Why are you in Business? What makes youtick? What are you going through all this for? What is it that you want? Whats yourstory? One of the best ways to keep yourself motivated to know where you need togo and keep your mind fixated (have a monomaniacal obsession) on what you want.A friend of mine used to say If you need something badly enough, that something

will beat a path to your door.

Pep-talk

You might think it is crazy, but most of the famous athletes do it all the time. Somesuccessful entrepreneurs do it too -- they all talk to themselves, as if they were theirown motivators. They would tell themselves to keep going where they ought to bepushing themselves; they would implore themselves to keep them afloat theturbulent seas; they would pamper themselves when they achieve something; theywould pull themselves out of their own misery. They would do all of this by justtalking to themselves. Its called pep-talk and it works like a charm because it is self-imposed, effective and personal.

Staying focused by using Post-it notes

There is something amazing about Post-it notes -- they can intrude into yourpersonal space and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it but thrown themaway. But heres the kicker: even while throwing it away, you would read whats onit; thats the deal maker. If you could write some famous quotes, snippets of wisdom,punchy statements that can pull you to do something -- that little bit of reading canhelp to motivate you tremendously. The post-it notes can be anywhere -- in your bathroom; on your computer screen; books and tapes, wherever -- and you will findyour daily dose of sticky inspiration in these little pieces of sticky paper.

Staying with Supercharged Groups of People

You are often known by the company you keep. Not just that, you are often inspired by the company you keep -- provided you stay with super-charged groups of peoplewho have nothing else on their mind by success. Just like you, they must be on thesearch to find something great and worthwhile to dedicate their lives to. The least


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The Unique SellingProposition -- Have

Reason, WillSucceed


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Look around you -- right from the time you wake up until the time hit the pillowagain, you are bombarded with messages of all sorts (thousands and thousands ofthem). Most of these messages will not even be remembered. Now if the messagethat had to reach you had cost money for the message sender, it would be a sheerwaste of money, dont you think?

Marketing Scenario? Bleak! Why? Your Business lacks the flashy Red UniqueBeak, thats why.

Heres a typical business scenario: You want to start a company; they come togetherand roll one out; they set-it up, operations begin; perhaps they find a fewclients/customers too. Bang -- the tire goes flat. You are stuck in a vacuum. You dontfigure out why customers dont tear their clothes to get near your products andservices and while you thought your business should have rocked, it now sucks. Itsaps you off your energy and it would make you feel like going for that easy 9-to-5 job again.

Heres a little statistic that really stands out. While about 85% of an average familysneeds are met and satiated by about 150 products. But you know well that there areat least about 50,000 products and services at any given point of time.

Whatever happened to them all?

Ignored, sometimes avoided even.

That explains the plight business face. Competition suddenly feels like this giantfearsome, grotesque monster that can kick you out of survival. Suddenly you wouldfeel that the very thought of running your business can wreak havoc with yournervous system.

Why does this happen? You thought everything was going well for your business,why this sudden turning of tables?

The fact is that your business has nothing in it for the customer. It is addeddeadweight to scores of similar businesses out there. Take a gander at the yellowand you would scratch your head as to whom to approach.

Businesses dont stand out.


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Their ads dont stand out.

The messages in there are not compelling enough.

David Ogilvy, the founder of an advertising agency called Ogilvy and Mather , onceremarked that a product should be able to sell itself and not be pushed on to thecustomer. If you arent making a product or delivering a service like that; you mustseriously consider why your business exists.

It all leads to a central marketing concept: Unique Selling proposition. In a nutshelland in everyday language, it means What have you got that others havent got?

What makes for an incredibly focused, captivating and business leading USP?

A message or proposition that can monopolize your prospects mind!

I know it is easier said than done. The trouble with most of the businesses out thereis that they have a me-too approach and there isnt anything distinct about theirofferings and on top of that, their communication to the rest of the world about whatthey have to provide in the form of products and services leaves a lot to be desired.

Theres nothing wrong with the monopoly -- at least not if you are trying to grabyour customers mindshare. The offering (your product or service) along with themessage using which you wish to communicate your offering must be captivating. Itmust hook your recipient for life. It must have something that can knock on theirheads and say Hey, look here, I bet you havent heard this before.

Here are the steps you need to take to develop a USP that can make your customersswear by your business:

Modify your product/service Offerings

You have been making products or rendering your services for some time now,havent you? It is time you brought about a change in the way you do business. Ifyou havent and if you are just starting out, youd still have to know this: take thecore product or service that you deal with and think of anything else you can do toit. Here are a few examples as to how you can add a USP to some common productsand services

a. Writing Services: Why should a business claim that it is a full-servicewriting company? After having priced your services much higher thanthe competition (which is rampant, by the way), you would addediting and proof-reading; designing e-book covers, white paper start


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pages, landing pages and other such miniature graphic works for free;you could then consult on how content should look like on a clientsweb site; you could help them market their website on the Internet (if ithas anything to do with e-commerce).

b. Real Estate Business: If all you did was finding your clients pieces ofland or find them homes to live in, you might know that this is anotherarea where you would face plenty of competition, not withstanding theprevailing gloom within in the industry. What must you do? Dont just be in Real estate business -- be in the business of making people live in onethe most expensive investments they will ever make in their lifetime -- theirhomes. Why not consult them on how to decorate their homes; howabout landscaping for a reduced fee? ; how about having a bevy ofprofessionals like plumbers, electrical technicians, carpenters and

others on your part-time roster so that you clients can treat your business as a one-stop reference point for all things to do with landtracts, homes and commercial buildings?

c. IT Programming and Web Design Businesses: There are a mind- boggling number of service providers (individuals and businesses)rendering these services. How do you think you must develop yourUSP? Why not provide a Money Back Guarantee of some sort -- dontpay if you dont like; How about charging them 10% lesser than thecompetition and delivering the work with 10% better quality than thevery best and with a 10% faster turn around time? How about givingthem a life time support for the web design/ Graphic design/programming code? For instance, you might have designed a simplestatic page for a client, but later you realized that the client will be better off with a dynamic site, complete with a blog -- why not just doit right away with your clients consent? Wont that delight yourclients?

The above mentioned businesses and the USP ideas are just examples of how someeveryday services can be made exemplary and hence be made to be firmly etched ona customers mind.

Grabbing mindshare of your customers can be the key to untold levels of success foryou and your business.

Overhaul your marketing plan

Take that marketing plan out which has been gathering dust until now and overhaulit a little. See where you have been following your competitors and doing what theyhave been doing. If you caught yourself following them 100% percent, youd beguilty of being me-too. Now that you have realized that, it is time to move on.


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Think about your target market, where are they? What do they do? Why do they dowhat they do? Where do they hang out? When do they have their self-defensemechanism turned off? Can you reach them with your unique offering during thesetimes?

As you keep thinking, you could list out all possibilities and do a self-brainstorming(you could take help of your marketing team or perhaps the entire staff on this: moreideas, the better).Could you think of new ways to market; new ways to reach yourcustomers. For Starters, you could think of the following:

If you start an online business or begin to work online, the whole world is yourplayground. For now, assuming you are a brick-and-mortar business and if yourtarget market is youngsters through-out United States; male and Female; ages from

21- 48 and are all gadget lovers; where do you they hang out? Have you thought ofeverything? (You could do this with any geographic location):

Bowling alleys -- Can you advertise anywhere here? Have you thought of thepins? The floor boards?

Restaurants -- with permission from the restaurant owners, why not sponsorthe napkins with your unique message, Business name and logo on it? Howabout the tumblers? Cutlery? Plates and Dishes?

Pubs and Discotheques -- Lets say you sell tech gadgets and you know thatyour clients end up in pubs, why not give them discount coupons for them toavail discounts when they hang out. Imagine the word of mouth effect here;you distribute a tiny book of coupons to these young customers and wouldusually buy drinks with ( they remember your business name); they wouldsponsor drinks for their friends and boast about the discount coupons theypossess ( now the friends will hear about it)

Coffee Shops (Starbucks?) -- Starbucks has a lot of telecommuters workingon their laptops and sipping coffee while they are seated for hours there. Youcould think of advertising within the coffee shop, the napkins (just as therestaurant example); the straws, the coffee itself (have you thought of namingand sponsoring a coffee rendition with your business name? I wasconsidering a drink like Martins Martini or something which could begiven away complimentary for meeting certain conditions.

University Events -- How about hiring a bunch of enthusiastic youngsterswho can do the rounds in the Universities and colleges throughout thecountry and exhibit your products. Demonstration makes the customer touch,feel and experience the product and has a high conversion ratio. On top ofthat, we are hitting them where their defenses are low and they tend to be atease while they have nothing to lose. In case you havent forgotten, we stillhave a unique selling proposition and a great product/service offering which


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is unmatchable compared to your competition. At least, we are getting there,arent we?

Be Bold and Outrageous

To be conventional is to be like a Nice Guy in dating parlance -- he would neverget the women, but the jerks always do. If you have been doing things in a certainway you would have gotten something out of it all. However, if that somethingisnt what you are looking for, then you shouldnt be doing what you were doinguntil now. Sounds logical enough, but humans defy logic most of the times. Weknow it is time to do something else, but we dont. We dont do it because we would

uncomfortable.

Comfort, for humans, is nirvana.

The key to make your product/service offering through a message, conveyed in yourUSP is that it must be bold and claim to do things your customers would kill for.Perhaps, you could take it a bit further make and turn this offering into anunbelievable, almost insane offer.

Case Studies

Reliance Industries in India started a revolution by offering mobile handsets and atariff which was perhaps the lowest in the world (it was an unbelievable offer forIndians too). Literally transforming the way mobile business is done in India,Reliable Telecommunications today is a global leader going by the sheer size ofgrowing subscriptions and revenues.

Dominos Pizza -- I know, this one has been waxed in all the time -- had an earthshattering response to its 30 minutes to deliver or its free USP. Thanks to its USP, its brand got etched on shelves all over the world and although, others have quicklyespoused similar USPs in the market, Dominos is remembered for its USP.

Walmart, claims to deliver the Lowest prices ever. Thats a USP, isnt it? It is sodedicated to this single promise that it sometimes incurs the wrath of its ownemployees (by paying them less and doling out inadequate insurance packages);dominating and forcing its vendors to charge less and never splurging on expensivehotels and Airlines, while its executives are busy deal-closing through-out the world.


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FedEx, was first thrashed as a useless idea. It was never meant to be. However, ithad an outrageous claim of being able to deliver packages overnight. Remember theinitial ad campaign that came out like When it positively, absolutely has to be theretonight. To this day, FedEx continues to deliver.

Dell Started out with something no one else has thought of and it had nothing to dowith the computer itself. They pioneered the concept of e-commerce only model.They rendered their products online for customers to buy and also their customerservice. A new way to do business in the computer Industry, dont you think?

Examples abound. Some businesses make all the money. Remember ParetosPrinciple? Commonly known as the 80/20 principle -- in this case, 20 percent of allthe companies in the world now rake in 80% of the consumer wealth and profits.

So, where would you like to be?

Pump Up The emotional Volume

You do that by necessary focusing your offering, your message and your businessaround consumer needs and not your business needs. List out benefits Instead ofwasting expensive real estate on your ad space by listing out a string of features; hitthe emotional button on your consumers; pump up the emotional volume.

Humans respond to their needs first. Your message must have this piece of truthcaptured. It must have an answer to the obvious, ever present question: whats in itfor me? As long as your message doesnt communicate this, you arent inching intoyour consumers brain.

How to Arrive at Your USP Really?

We have discussed the importance of USP and why you must have one. We hadeven discussed what goes into developing your USP. However, we are left withwhat we really need to do to get our USP alive and kicking. How exactly do weformulate one? Here are some ways:

Us Vs Them Method

Make a complete list of all the benefits you provide for your customers and thenmake a similar list for each of your competitors. You can now strike all the benefitsthat are in common with your proposition and theirs. If you have anything left onyour list, they would hereby form your core benefits that form the foundation foryour USP.


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Pain Killer Method

Heres another great way to come to define your own USP. Check out your product/service and see if it solves any problems for your customers. Does it make them lookgreat? Does it make their room cool or hot? Is it something that uplifts their image inthe society? Does it save their time?

The core essence of this method is to solve your customers problems. How does

your product or service alleviate this pain? How exactly?

People wanted their packages to be delivered quickly, overnight. FedEx found itsUSP there.

People hated to see their pizza arriving Soggy and wet; distasteful and cold.Dominos found a pain killer here.

People love shopping for less. Walmart Had found its Holy Grail.

You get the drift, dont you?

Of all Business, Why buy from you?

If you could kindly step aside, detach yourself from your own business for a whileand then ask yourself this question, it would surely help you think and devise agreat USP for your business.

There are lots of real estate agents available locally, why should I consider your services?

If you had answered to that question by saying I am hardworking; punctual; I amcommitted; dedicated; enthusiastic etc, you will see why most people dont get theirUSP right. You are answering exactly what the consumer doesnt want to hear. Shewants to know what is in it for her, so why do you waste time raving and rantingabout you?

You could have said:

I would help you find your dream house in a whopping 65% lesser time it wouldnormally take and then I would also do all the paperwork for you; I would finalize


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the property details; do the legal work and then deploy a bevy of professionalswhose services come highly recommended from us for your home needs (we donttake a commission from them and they have been highly scrutinized forprofessionalism.

After everything, if you are unhappy with our service or if you like to discontinueusing our real estate services for some reason, best known to you, we will offer a100%, no questions-asked, money back guarantee.

Now, that sounds like a great offer, doesnt it?

All you have to do then, is to answer that question for your customers Why theymust buy from you?

Ask, and you shall get

One of the simplest and often overlooked methods to really arrive at your USP is tostop guessing, over analyzing and thinking too much and rather just go out thereand ask your customers. If you could find a way to ask a lot of your customerswhether they are happy with your products/services or not and then ask them ifthey would have been thrilled if you gave them anything more.

You would get loads of responses out of which you could see if you can implementany of those suggestions.

Elevator Pitch: The Official USP Messenger

Can you get me a dumbed down, quickie version of what your business is all about?There is a reason why its called as The Elevator Pitch -- whatever you mightpitch should be short enough that anyone listening to you in the elevator has toget what you are up to -- crucially, they must be mesmerized by it. This shouldtranslate to the fact that your elevator pitch must not only communicate what youdo, but also how you are different from others (The USP).

When you get your USP right, an elevator pitch would be easy to fabricate. It is just amatter of putting it all in words.So for example, if you were in a real estate business, you wouldnt want to say I ama real estate agent. Thats boring.

You might want to say I help find my clients find their dream homes, make it easyfor them to obtain it, live in it and even help them sell it again later.


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If you are a Computer Security Consultant, you would want to say I helpindividuals and companies save all their precious data, confidential information anda lifetime of business secrets by helping them find the best solutions to help protecttheir computers and networks from being attacked or stolen

If you are a marketing consulting business, you would want to say I pump myclients profits while I bring in more sales by creating sale force; developing newchannels; streamlining and automate their lead development. I bring in the food forthem while I take a bite at it, myself

The key takeaways about the Elevator Pitch are the following:

An Elevator Pitch Must

Be Short, unique and Interesting communicate your USP Be worded in a simple, conversational manner. Not try to sell anything, even though it is called as a pitch.


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1_____________________2______________________3_______________________

You will notice that you wont get this anywhere else!

Conclusion

Your desire to start a business online or to work online, to telecommute or to become afreelancer is a just one, a noble and an admittedly daring one. However, just dreaming aboutit wont help.

You know that as much as I do! Its time to buckle up! You got to do what you got to do.

Entrepreneurs who have set out in this journey have had no excuses to look back and sayI shouldnt have done that , assuming they did everything right. It might not be possiblethe very first time you try. It might not be a success initially, but like I had mentioned

before, you have won the battle already by having taken the big step and by movingahead of the pack.

Starting on your own requires grit, strength of will, abundance of raw determination anda sense of purpose in life. You will begin to have all of these as you set forth in your

journey of riches.

I hope that this report kicks up the energy a notch higher and haul into the trajectory ofsuccess. I pray that you wake up and smell dollars. It takes grit, determination, consistency,efficiency, pragmatism, and high levels of productivity.

I know that you have it all in you.

Whats stopping you soldier? Where is that war cry?

I am available on email for each of you personally just send in an email and I will strive toanswer it.

I hope this report serves you well!

While you are contemplating, why not:

Read our blog at Rebelpreneur.com Join us on Twitter Become a Fan at our Facebook Fan Page Sign-up for our Fabulous but still FREE e-mail course on some hard-hitting truths

about making money online.

Passion will serve you well, go ahead and bring it on!


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The Rebelpreneur Manifesto

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