New to sales and marketing? Starting a business? Here's help!

Welcome fellow solopreneur!

I created this blog for two reasons: to share what I have learned over the last 25 years of self employment, first as a freeleancer, later as a business owner (yes, there's a difference); and to continue my own learning in the art and science of finding and keeping valuable customers.

I have come to realize that of all the factors that can make or break a fledgling enterprise, sales and marketing is the area that has the most impact. In fact, if you look at any successful business, marketing is the driving force. You can figure out accountancy later, you can modify product lines and service particulars as you go, but without effective marketing leading to closed sales, your new startup doesn't get to live long enough for other ingredients to be improved.

Sure, you can crash and burn a business any number of ways, but very little you can do as a bootstrapper or solopreneur will have as much to do with your success as effective marketing, and very little will sink your little ship of commerce more surely than ineffective marketing.

The odds are against you.

I came across a daunting number when first starting out - only 5% of new businesses survive 5 years. And the main reason all those businesses fold is simply too little cash flow to keep going. That problem has a simple solution. Sell more. Not necessarily easy, but simple.

That's what makes this knowledge so critical, especially now, during this prolonged recession. Alarming numbers of people have lost their jobs, and for many, the best option for future prosperity is to take matters into their own hands and support themselves through their own ingenuity - to create their own security through self employment.

For those already in business independently, the downturn has turned the pressure way up. It's time to figure out how to do more effective marketing and close more sales, for less outlay, and in a hurry.

Whether you are starting your own business out of desparation, because of a long held dream, or you are getting serious about wearing the sales and marketing hat in your one person business, I want to help you get results fast.

Now you can take the short cut to success.

I have learned a lot over the years, tried lots of things, wasted plenty of time and money on non-starters, and have finally established a couple of niche businesses that support a very comfortable life style.

The knowledge that got me here is not rocket science. It's simply a long list of things that work and don't work, things to try, ideas to adapt to your situation. Instead of taking years to figure it all out on your own, learning the hard way, you get to take the short cut.

Welcome.