MaineBusiness.com

The Lessons of our Independent Lives

The Portland Press-Herald recently carried a story with the headline: "Selling? She'll Find Home's Suite Spot." The main topic of the article is about Paula Jalbert's current business, staging homes for sale. But what I really found interesting was her colorful professional history that lead to this current endeavor.

She had her first business when she was 25. Since then she's had several different kinds of businesses from owning various retail stores (cards, furniture and gargoyles) to managing a spice shop in Road Town, Tortola in the BVI.

We all do what we do based on where we've been. Take Paula's story; she's owned several different businesses, worked in a number of different environments and they have all taught her lessons that she uses today. One key lesson, and one we should all take to heart, was from her earlier experiences; running retail businesses selling "products". Today she leverages that experience in her staging business by thinks of the homes she stages as "products" rather than simply real estate. She considers the target market (the most likely buyers for a particular property), and what decor would appeal to them most? The décor the buyer prefers isn’t a factor.

Consider for a moment; what your thoughts were the last time you were working on your website, a brochure, post card, or some other marketing project for your business. How many of you made a decision on a color, type font, picture, etc. because "you liked it"?

I'm working with Peter, a portfolio manager in Boston and we're discussing websites, BLOGs, writing for publications, etc. He says to me, "I really like the color combination of yellow and red. Let's do something with that." Well, that's fine that he likes yellow and red. Companies that are targeting Peter should take that into consideration. Peter, on the other hand should be more concerned with what women between the ages of 40 and 55 with non-real estate investible assets over $250,000, living in the Metro West area of Boston (his ideal client) would like to see representing their trusted investment advisor / manager. It may be yellow and red, but I'll bet not.

We "independent" professionals value our independence. That's why we chose self-employment or run our own business. A friend of mine says that as far as he's concerned, "working for someone else is the worst case scenario." However, it's important that we are not so independent that we loose site of who we need to keep happy in order to stay independent.

Take a minute and think about who your best clients are. Now consider your website, your office decor, your marketing collateral, your wardrobe (yes, wardrobe), etc. Is there a disconnect? Is what you have in place based on what you like or what will speak to your ideal clients? Be BOLD and be honest. Look for opportunities to improve your image / your brand in the eyes of your ideal target market.

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