Does this describe you?
- You’re a “Baby Boomer” woman in your 40’s or 50’s
- You’re unhappy with your career
- You’ve got experience and talents you want to use to help others
- You want control of your financial future
Have you been dreaming about, longing for, wishing you could start your own business? Are you afraid you don’t have the time, energy, money or smarts to make a go of it on your own? Do you think you’re ready to be your own boss, but you’re not sure if you can handle it? And you don’t know where to go for help…
The Business Startup Success Club consulting program might just be the answer you’re looking for.
Before I get going too fast, let me assure you that what you’re about to read is not a typical sales letter. In fact, it’s not a sales letter at all. I’m not very good at writing sales letters and I don’t especially like them. The main reason that it’s taken me soooo long to get this page published is that I’ve been searching for the best way to let you know that I want to help you.
Oh, I’ve studied a lot about marketing and I know a fair amount about sales copy, headlines, bullet points, opt-ins, and all that sort of stuff, but it always feels so unnatural when I sit down to write and try to follow the so-called conventional wisdom of on-line marketing strategies.
Do you really care about whether I use a Comic Sans font or Trebuchet? Whether I have audio, video, text, or a combination? Does it matter to you what color my navigation tabs are? (If you answered yes to any of these questions, I won’t mind at all if you click away from this site right now.)
Are you interested in using your time, energy, and money effectively?
Would you like to have a support system to help you with your business startup?
If that’s what you care about, then please keep on reading. I’m not gonna try to sell you anything. I’d really prefer to be able to talk to you personally, and if you’re interested in doing that after you’ve finished reading what I have to say, please get in touch with me to see if we can arrange to do just that.
For now, though, I’ll just write a few paragraphs as if we’re sitting down together over a cup of coffee and I’ll try my best to explain to you what I have in mind for the Business Startup Success Club.
As a CPA who specializes in working with single owner businesses (solopreneurs), I’ve seen first-hand the struggles that newbies have and the mistakes that they make. I want you to learn from the experiences I’ve had and that my clients have had and help you avoid wasting a lot of time, effort, and money starting YOUR business.
Did you notice I said that the Business Startup Success Club consulting program might be the answer for you? I think it’s gonna be a great program, but it’s not for everybody. In fact it’s probably the perfect answer for only a certain kind of person. That’s why there’s a selection process for entering the program and not everyone who applies will be accepted. You’ve got to be ready and committed to taking action; otherwise your investment will be wasted. That’s not the result that either of us want.
If you’re looking for a quick way to make a lot of money on-line, this is NOT it. Starting a business with a strong foundation is usually a lot of hard work. No matter how good the program is, I can’t guarantee your business will be successful; that depends entirely on you and the actions you take.
Knowledge alone is NOT what makes a successful business. You actually have to take action to implement what you’ve learned.
That’s precisely why I want to develop the Business Startup Success Club consulting program as a combination training/mentoring program to accelerate your process and help take you from the thinking/learning/worrying stage to the knowing/acting/doing stage. As a charter member of the Business Startup Success Club consulting program, you’ll get the tools and support you need to be able to transform yourself from a wishful thinker into a business starter.
I’ve seen too many people fall for too many Internet scams, get rich quick schemes, fake gurus. I’ve worked with a lot of clients over the years and because I’ve done their accounting and tax work I’ve been able to see just exactly what they’ve spent their money on and how that’s related to their business success (or not).
I’ve seen folks start businesses with little planning and large cash outlays that unfortunately didn’t translate into many sales. They spent hundreds and thousands of dollars on expenses like rent, furniture, equipment, product manufacturing, and advertising, often with little market research. They had dreams, hopes, and special gifts that the Universe begged them to share with others.
Now I’m a big believer of going where Spirit leads—heck, it’s the name of my corporation, for gosh sakes…but I think you still gotta pay attention to what the marketplace tells you. And in order to do that, you have to ask questions and then listen to the answers.
If you don’t…well, you might find out that you’ve produced a product or service that not enough people want to buy at a price that keeps your business afloat. Lots of us have learned that the hard way, me included! But there’s really no reason to do it the hard way anymore.
Today’s technology includes plenty of free (and low cost) software and services that make it much easier to do market research. You can build web sites, conduct surveys, and prepare launch strategies that will actually tell you what your customers want from you and how much they’re willing to pay. And you won’t have to spend big bucks to make that happen.
Are you still with me? Have you read every word (almost)? Good. Because in order to set up your business properly, you’re going to have to read/listen carefully, follow specific instructions, and pay attention to details. If you’re used to scanning material in search of bits and pieces of useful data, then please think carefully about whether you have the desire and discipline to learn and adopt some new habits.
If not, that’s OK. It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. It just means that the Business Startup Success Club consulting program might not be the best one for you. We’ll be covering topics like business structures, tax regulations, bookkeeping systems, and other areas that use precise definitions that can make huge differences in your decision making.
I don’t mean to scare you. My students and clients will tell you that I’m known for being able to make difficult subjects easy to understand and that I have a lot of patience. I just want to make sure you know that it’s still gonna take work on your part. (Be prepared to do your homework)
In the Business Startup Success Club consulting program, not only will you learn about business organization, accounting, taxes, and technology, you’ll also actually get to see the practical use of the marketing concepts that we’ll be discussing. You’ll be on the inside watching the process as it evolves. You’ll get answers to your specific concerns and support for your startup efforts, at the same time as you help shape the topics, instructional method, and lesson sequences for those who follow.
In return for your help in development and tweaking, charter members of the Business Startup Success Club consulting program will get lots of extra personal assistance and mentoring as well as some pleasant surprises and special freebies along the way. Because of the time commitment I’ll be making to you, I’m going to have to limit the number of charter memberships to 10 women.
If you research the market for similar coaching and training programs, you’ll find that many of them cost the equivalent of $150/hour for group sessions and $175-200 (sometimes more) for individual sessions. Three month packages typically run between $1000-2000 for up to 10 contact hours.
The exact design of the Business Startup Success Club consulting program hasn’t been determined yet because I want the charter members to be able to have a say in what works best for them. Together we’ll decide on how often and when we meet and the mix of individual and group activities. We’ll meet via phone and on-line and communicate by email in between regularly scheduled sessions.
We’ll work together in a fairly intensive fashion for the 90-day program which is designed to empower you to start a successful business and take control of your financial future. I expect we’ll be in contact for a total of around 20-25 hours.
The value of this program is well over $3000 but I want to give charter members a significant discount because they’ll be helping with the course organization and providing lots of feedback about the training material. That’s valuable input that will benefit all future members. Charter members will also receive more personalized attention during this initial phase.
Your investment for charter membership in the Business Startup Success Club consulting program will be $650 per month for three months or a total of $1950.
Do you want to quit worrying about…?
- Internet scams, get rich quick programs, and fake gurus
- Protecting your assets
- Keeping startup expenses in check
- Paying for medical insurance
- Setting up and using a PC to keep “the books”
- Paying taxes
- Creating a web site
- Finding competent help
- How and where to get started
If you could learn…
- How to choose the best business for YOU to start
- How to find and work with a small business attorney and CPA
- How to test your market without spending a ton of money
- Options for self-employed health insurance
- How to set up an easy to use record keeping system
- How to manage and minimize your taxes
- How to create a web site and blog
- How to get ongoing support and mentoring
- A step-by-step approach to organizing your business
How would you feel then?
If you’re interested in joining this program, I encourage you to apply early. While I won’t necessarily be taking the first 10 who apply, I will be scheduling interviews in the order that applications are received. Shoot me an email to request an application and include a brief description of why you feel that this program is for YOU.
I look forward to speaking with you soon.
P.S. The current plan is to kick off the program on May 19th. If you’re interested, you need to contact me by May 6th so we have time to chat, discuss schedules, and complete a few set up tasks so we’re ready to roll on the 19th.