Most new businesses fail. That’s what the statistics say, and that sounds really scary, doesn’t it?
Yet, I don’t think it’s as scary or mysterious as it seems.
Let me illustrate with some examples that popped up in a google search:
Example 1: An online business that promises a host of virtual services (incl. writing, editing, social media and tech support and design). They have one person on the 3-person team who is all about IT and webdesign. Sounds pretty good right? But then in scrolling through their site on mobile, various elements get “stuck”:
- The page doesn’t show properly: part of the text is blocked by menu items and there is a pop-up that won’t go away.
Does that scream “hire me” to you?
Example 2: An online business that lists editing and proofreading as a service. Yet, their own site is full of grammatical errors. It’s clear these are non-native speakers, which is fine, but you have to know your true expertise!
To me, this spells not only:
- “they can’t edit” but also
- “they are overconfident and don’t know their actual abilities”.
Of all the things on their list that they might be excellent at, none seem credible anymore because who knows what else they are lying about!
Example 3: A business that offers a non-salesy webinar promising actual, actionable content. Then said webinar happens and it really is little more than a long-winded sales-pitch. What’s more, there is no promised “strategy”. Rather, they are promoting a product that allows you to make that strategy happen (and spend lots of time on the ins and outs of how to use said product).
Clearly a winner? Not only did they not deliver. I never want to see this biz’s face again!
The take-away:
You don’t need to be excellent at spelling and web-design to get clients.
My site has typos, for sure. Yet, I don’t offer editing services. My work does not promise perfect text. Plus, making a grammatical error in a coaching call won’t affect the quality of said coaching call. Not unless my language were to become so garbled that a client wouldn’t understand what I meant at all.
Focus on the service you deliver, and make that stand out. Everything else is secondary. When you do that, you’re already doing better than plenty of “established” businesses out there!
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