Building a sustainable, profitable business is not easy. Business Plans are everything. How long do you plan on running your new business? Do you plan on selling it? Where will you buy your supplies? Who are your competitors? Will they try to smear your name or brand? How will you handle marketing, sales process and any angry customers? How will you respond to supply chain issues?
Most startups do not make more than 1 year. The reason is because they did not have a proper plan in place, or even a Plan B, Plan C, etc for those "what if's".
It doesn't matter if you plan on selling a product, or a service, planning ahead for every possible scenario is imperative.
How many businesses on HIVE have we seen come, and go?
It's nice that you want to "Onboard new users to Hive!", but how do you plan on keeping them here? Do those users get to interact with someone famous? Do they earn a little bit? Are they made to feel WELCOME and hand-held for a short time til they get acquainted? Have you shown them a Community or two where they can chat with like-minded folks?
If you bring new users to Hive, please chat with them a bit, at least for a week or so. You are welcoming them to a new home where they can hang their pictures on the wall and feel welcome.
Give your customers, new users, a couple $HIVE to play with too, maybe loan them 10 HP for a month so they can play around with their profile and post.
Interview them a little bit and ask the new users what they enjoy? Taking photos? Try Liketu. Streaming or watching streams? Try Cast.Garden. Writing? Try Ecency. Gardening? Join permaculture, homesteading or sustainability communities.
By making someone feel at home, they are more likely to engage and provide their own value to all of Hive.
If we're not giving users a few reasons to hang out and come back, then they won't even tell a friend about your business.
Word of mouth advertising is what you always need to aim for. The typical "marketing" speak, and "we're gonna do this" and "we're gonna do that" speak just turns people away these days. Avoid the tech jargon too. Marketing your business with words like "web", "blockchain", "dapp" and "crypto" literally chases away the general public.
Market your business for what it is. What the general public, or even my Grandma would want from you. I've said this for years: Is your product "Grandma-friendly". If not, try to adjust your verbage and visuals a bit. Look at the UI on Liketu for example. It's minimalist, great use of color, just a few buttons to click and short, detailed explanations of how to use their product.
That is how you make your business "sticky".
Lately, it seems like capitalism has gotten a bad name. I have my personal theories about that, but I will ask the naysayers this: If you make friendship bracelets and you have rent to pay, then you probably want to make a profit so that you can make more bracelets that people can buy from you. Right? That's capitalism.
My Kids and I like to play a boardgame called "Cashflow 101". It teaches the importance of learning how to avoid expenses and liabilities, spend your income on assets and things that will generate income, and read Balance Sheets and Profit & Loss (P&L) statements.
If you can't afford to make any more of those bracelets, why is that? Check your expenses first. Is the cost of the string too high? Are the charms too expensive? Are your helpers actually helping? Do shoppers like to steal the bracelets from you?
💡 :: I hope these tips help you build your business and existing businesses to trim the fat as they say. Hive is one of the best places in the world to launch your career!
