Well, I am taking the plunge and jumping on the blog wagon. This is my first post so hopefully I don’t bore you all too much.

I guess I should start out by telling you a little bit about myself. My name is Tracy Collins, I am 29 years old (will be the big 3-0 in about a month and a half) and I have been in business for about a year or so. Well, actually I started my business in July of 2005 and got my first client January 2006.

One of the toughest things that I have had to overcome running my business is marketing. I always went by the, if you build it they will come philosophy. Boy, was that ever the wrong thing to believe. Anyways, I have since realized that in order for me to build a successful business, I need to pull up the old boot straps and start marketing myself.

One of the hardest things that I found was finding a niche market. I really didn’t know of anything that I was passionate about. I knew I liked doing all the secretarial tasks (I’ve known I was going to be in this type of business since I was 12 years old), I just couldn’t find anything that I wanted to focus on. I have since figured that out as well and since I found something to focus on, it has been a lot easier.

I can’t emphasize enough how important having a niche is. Once you find a niche, it will all get a lot easier for you. You know where the target hangs out, you know what they read, you know what they need help with and it just puts a whole new perspective on things. Now, you can’t just say hey I am going to target authors or coaches and think that they will come to you because that just doesn’t happen either. You have to find out what magazines they read, what forums they are on, and then start advertising in the magazines and getting to know them via online networking. Trust me, it will payoff eventually.

When I say, get to know them via online networking, I don’t mean go into their forums and say I can do this and this and this to make your life a whole lot easier. You need to get to actually know them, their passions, their personalities, and you need to give to get. Trust me I know that as well.

I am a member of Ryze and have been for awhile. Unfortunately, I don’t participate as much as I would like to. Anyways, when I first became a member, I thought hey I will go in and tell people who I am and what I do and the business will just start rolling in. That’s not the case either. I learned very quickly that you need to go in and get to know those people (there are some really great people on there) and maybe you will get business and maybe you won’t. Sure, I have gotten business from there but it was only after I got to know the people first.

Okay, I will get off my soap box now. For somebody who doesn’t like marketing, I can’t believe I wrote a whole post on it. Oh well, if it helps one person then I did my duty. So until next time, thanks for taking a look at my blog hopefully it helps you out and gives you some insight on some of the trials & tribulations that go into running your own business.

Tracy Collins

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