First of all, congratulations on having your own business. There are millions of companies, small and large that were all started by one person and a vision. Some of the largest companies are traded publicly. Little bits of their company are sold to investors, so someone can raise capital for operating. Most small businesses aren’t publicly traded. Or privately traded for that matter. But most business owners will hold stock for other companies. Most people that have stocks, actually have pieces of a lot of different companies. They’re investing their money in other companies in the hopes that they will do good enough to return some profits.
But we all have our very own companies. We have unlimited earning potential, and we are in complete control of our return on investment. We know if our companies are worth the investment. We are the reason our companies succeed or fail. So why don’t we invest in ourselves more?
Credit: Joel Lamb
You and I both know, that if we take $100 and invest it in the right marketing piece, that could potentially earn us $1000 in business. That is an incredible ROI, something you can’t find in a publicly traded company unless you are incredibly lucky and have 30 years worth of time to wait. So why are so many of us looking to invest in other companies before investing in our own?
I’m guilty just as much as the rest of the business owners out there. I always wanted to diversify in order to have the safest portfolio. But I’m not in control of any of the companies I hold stocking. I don’t have a say in their success. But I do in my own company. Once I understood that fact, I changed my investment strategies. Our companies are just like little ATMs, if done right you can pull money out of it as much as you’d like. Maybe thinking of your small business as a xerox machine would be better. If you put one dollar in you can make 10 copies and pull $10 out. You’re in control.
Sometimes business owners are scared of getting printed ads. EDDM, flyers, brochures. They think the stuff is too expensive. But think of the money you’re losing by not doing it. I can do a successful EDDM campaign and lockdown tens of thousands of dollars in new business within just a month or so. An EDDM piece printed and shipped can cost under $.30 apiece if I did a 10,000 piece mailer sending to the same people three times, I could realistically make $10,000 on that one campaign alone. And that is with a smaller average ticket size. With bundling and up selling you can earn even more. That is a 300% return on investment.
Say I buy full color commercial packets folders. Even if I go balls to the wall, and spend $10 per packet, I could potentially earn tens of thousands of dollars by handing out one packet and closing a commercial project. Maybe I land a property manager because my awesome brochure and project folder. Now I am earning multiple properties every year, every six months maybe even every quarter for the next 10+ years.
Remember, in all of this your competition may still be using carbon copy forms. Maybe half sheets of paper hand scribbled. Heck maybe they’re writing their bids on a napkin. This is easy to compete with. It’s easy to show the value of choosing you subliminally just with an awesome bid form, brochure, or business card. I know someone who spent about a dollar a card for his business cards. I have to say as crazy as that sounds, it is one of the most amazing pieces I have ever seen. When he hands them his business card that is laser cut foil embossed and matte satin with a gloss, people understand that his company is serious. They know the quality of his company just by his business card!
People are scared of printing. They’re scared of the cost. The good news is those people are your competition. Start doing awesome print work. Start doing those EDDM campaigns. Make your company look so absolutely out of this world professional. And now you are standing on your own pedestal. Print is not dead. You can’t be scared of it. You just have to invest in yourself. Once you do, you will never look back.
WCR Nation Podcast – Hosted by Jersey Josh – 862-312-2026
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