You hear people talk a lot about starting their first business, and making a living outside the rat race. We all want good things in life from the house, cars and all the glamorous things that come with that. Business owners are all working to build their income, network and clientele.

At the end of the day, it’s all about Being Consistent, Being Knowledgable, Being Aggressive that transforms into growth. I’m always sitting down with business owners asking them where do you want to be in the next 3, 6 or even 12 months from now?

Most will say that they want more customers coming through the doors, because we need to be able to compete with the stores around the block. They’re continually thinking of ways to steal that customer who may be looking to shop at the competitor’s store. Overall, everything they do comes down to competing for that next customer’s money.

So, what can you do as a business owner to always place yourself in a position for success, and build your business?

1. Being Consistent

If you’re running ads in your local paper, which you’re giving out coupons so customers can cut out and redeem. Then, I would say that no matter if the turn out is not going as planned,  continue to be consistent with it. Maybe there is an issue with how you worded the ad that really didn’t gain the attention of the customers.

Many business owners give up over time on growing their business when they see the hard work behind it. They stop greeting customers that come through the door just because they lost faith in marketing. Being consistent is all that I’m about when growing my business and those clients around me.

There are three major things every business should be doing daily…

1. Studying and researching their market
2. Building that online presence
3. Networking with other businesses

Studying and researching your market is all about knowing your competition, and understanding the customer base. You want to know if the business around the corner has a website, if they do then you might want to get one also. Plus, you need to know how many customers are looking for your services, because if you don’t then it will be hard to compete no matter how good your product or services are.

I’m all about dominating your local market by building that online presence. What I mean is that your business name, brand, website and logo needs to be found on every major place online. My customers, your customers are all hanging out online waiting to be served. So you need to be on all of the social networks such as Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook, just to name a few. Next, is to make sure your website content is on localized content that can be found through Google searches.

Networking is the key to any business success out there in the online or offline world. Let’s say that I’m working on a new book about “real estate marketing,” which I am, as me writing this post. Then, I will go out and network with every single person in the real estate niche. Now, some of these people will  be investors, realtors, brokers and just pure real estate bloggers. The key is to network with people who have an audience where you can put your business in front of them. Offline business marketing goes the same way, which I talked about in my local store marketing post that helps you understand how to network the right way.

2. Being Knowledgeable

Educating yourself in your industry needs to always continue no matter how successful you are. You want to keep reading, studying to be able to keep up with changing times. You must know your industry in and out, so that there is no question that someone asks you that doesn’t have an answer.

This is how I’m in my industry of online and local marketing. For over 14 years now I have been educating myself everyday and night by reading tons of books at Barnes and Noble and Books a Million. Staying there for hours to read as many books as I can so no stones will be left unturned. Now it’s all about taking that knowledge, and going out to help local businesses and individuals all across the world. So, make it a priority to continue to educate yourself, because if you’re not, then I bet the business around the corner is.

3. Being Aggressive

Sometimes you must be pushy to get through the crowd of people who are just not being productive. What I’ve seen over the years of coaching sports is that the kids that are aggressive enough most of the time dominate. Now, that kid doesn’t have to be the most talented or the biggest kid, he or she must only be equipped with a willingness to be successful.

Being aggressive with your business is pretty much the same avenue if you look at it from a different angle. You may have two businesses that are pretty equal when it comes to the services they provide.

So lets take two donut shops..

One shop is on one side of the street, and the other one is right across from it. Both shops open up at the same time, and closes at the same hour. But one of them have a greeting chant as the customers comes through the door. One of them collect names and emails from their customers to send them thank you cards, birthday cards and holiday letters.

Plus, this same shop goes out of their way to give big time discounts from 20% to even 50% off your next purchase. They are being what I call aggressive with their marketing, and not waiting for the customers to make the move. They’re making moves controlling their business growth, and this forces the arms of the people who are looking for donuts to come into their place of business. Just by them being aggressive, it just over shadows the donut shop across the street and chances are they’re losing massive amounts of business because of this. So sad huh

Comment Time: So tell me are you being consistent, knowledgeable and aggressive? Comment Below