I was gonna, then I didn’t -- Learning to take my own advice

I was going to quit working at the radio station. I had it all planned out in my mind, when summer hit I was going to head home and start providing childcare again – as I did 10 years ago when my eldest son was an infant. In a rampant case of “Do as I say, not as I do”, I ignored most of the logical business advice that I’ve dispensed over the past 6 years as a promotion and marketing consultant.

My first mistake was not conducting any market research. Instead of turning to hard facts, I relied on perceptions and anecdotal evidence. Everyone I talked to thought there was a need for quality childcare in Whitecourt, especially with the only daycare closing down last fall, but I didn’t do any research to back it up.

Lesson Learned – You can’t judge the ultimate success of any business on perception. There needs to be a genuine need for your product or service in order for it to sell.

I failed to create a marketing plan. Of course, I have some great excuses for avoiding the process, but by failing to plan, I failed to utilize enough of a marketing mix to be successful in finding the clients within the timeline I had set for myself.

Lesson Learned – There are two lessons here. One is that planning is an essential part of building business. The second lesson is that you must use a variety of methods to reach your target market. Marketing is often a case of the sum of the whole having a higher value that the sum of the parts. In other words, using a variety of marketing tactics provides much more leverage than using only one or two.

I went in without enough passion. By neglecting to acknowledge my true interests, I didn’t develop enough of an enthusiasm for the business I was attempting to launch. My interests really are more about the promotion and marketing of small business than for providing childcare. I can do it. I’m good at it. It really doesn’t rock my boat though.

Lesson Learned – If you aren’t into what you do with all of your heart, the chances of success become slimmer. The idea behind a product or service may be solid, but if you lack a true zeal for are doing, you aren’t going to put in the effort and make the necessary sacrifices to achieve your goals.

Ultimately, I’m thrilled to pieces that I was able to pull back from the decision to leave XM105. It was a decision made out of fear (the fear of not being able to afford childcare for my own children over the summer), rather than one of a true desire to return to the daycare mom lifestyle. With a little creativity, we ended up with a compromised solution that provides for a win-win scenario for everyone involved and I’ve learned that no matter how much I know it doesn’t do me a lick of good if I don’t apply it.