So I thought starting a list building service (ListGenies.com) would be the silver bullet that gets me rich quick - that absolutely every business needs, every day, all of the time - an email list! I can just contact every business and say 'hey - you need a list right? Its 2018!' and boom. Sale.
How wrong I was.
The thing is, and it only became apparent after 6 months of sweat and tears, that buying cycle is an actual thing.
"Life is like a river," as the Buddhists say, and I can't agree more.
So, at what stage, at what point along that river, is another living breathing person located that they need you in order to go on and continue flowing? Where is that brief moment in time where you will be the most important part of their day?
I am sure you have heard this countless times over, and honestly, I don't think it helps the budding entrepreneur:
"Figuring out your target audience requires some serious 'taking a step back' and looking at people who you think will need your services/product."
THIS IS NOT HELPFUL!!!!
Because, it doesn't show you how to EXACTLY do that - how do I do that?! Where is this magical grove that we all step back to and ponder inquisitively into the abyss of unknown answers? Did that help anyone ever?!!
A mentor of mine from the Momentum Accelerator in Israel, Tamir Berliner (Creator of Xbox Kinect), said to us one meeting:
"The answer is always why". [Tweet This]
This is also a familiar theme in Viktor Frankl's book, Man's Search For Meaning if you've read it. (If you haven't, what are you waiting for?)
You tend to get a lot of 'gurus' explaining that you need to 'add value' - really, you need to add meaning.
The only way you can figure out your target audience is if you actually and relentlessly keep asking why, like a 3 year old child, at every stage of a potential client's imagined life-journey. [Tweet This]
You have to map out a journey with reasons why someone will need your product/service and prove your assumption - (must read: Lean Start-Up Methodology) - only then, proceed with your venture.
We were lucky enough to figure out our target audience after 6 months just before tanking. Up until then a large amount of ad-budget was spent more on experimenting with people we thought were our target audience as opposed to selling to people in our actual target audience.
Good luck and feel free to write to me any questions about your experience.
PS:
If you are an early stage start-up, I will give you 100 potential users of your service for free.
Ben
Founder at ListGenies
Ben@listgenies.com