Businesses exist because they solve a certain problem or fulfil a certain need. Period!
If you are considering or already building your own business, what is the problem that you can or want to solve?
What need are you fulfilling?
Answering this question with great detail is critical for creating a successful business and a product or service the customers are truly appreciating.
To help you elaborate on this topic, let’s dive into what our needs as consumers are and understand what we truly value.
Human needs
What consumers truly value is difficult to pin down. But customer researchers and psychologists have identified universal building blocks of value, described in this Harvard Business Review article, called the Elements of Value.
This model traces its conceptual roots to Abraham Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” and extends it by focusing on people as consumers: describing their behaviour around products and services.
The elements in a pyramid are arranged in four categories of needs, with “functional” at the bottom, followed by “emotional,” “life-changing,” and then “social impact” at the peak.
For example, Netflix outperformed traditional TV service providers with reduces cost, nostalgia and variety.
These are the ways that we humans experience and express value.
With this knowledge, we can be more precise in answering the question:
What is the need that your business is fulfilling?
Pick one value that your business will represent and be consistent throughout your messaging and the customer journey to attract the people you want to serve!
Your Ideal Customer
Another way to get more specific on what need or desire your business is solving is to think of your ideal customer. Who do you want to help? Who do you want to spend time with?
Imagine your ideal customer (aka Customer Avatar) and describe him/her in as much detail as possible.
Focus on the most pregnant needs he has or problems that he is occupied with.
For example, my company provides online business education and the main need I am fulfilling for my ideal midlife customer is reducing the risk of him/her staying unemployed due to age discrimination.
Reducing risk and making money are the functional needs, but equally important is the self-actualization life-changing need. Once my customers learn the technicalities of digital entrepreneurship, I support them in building their own business centred around their interests and passions.
To me, the ultimate way to self-actualization is through doing what you love and getting paid for it abundantly.
More on exploring your ideal customer with a template can be found here:
>> Creation of your Ideal Customer: Step by step <<
Building a business for the people you want to serve is a guarantee to earning money with what you love doing!
Conclusion
Once you have identified the need your want to focus on you will be able to create a business you want to work in.
In addition, by putting the effort to understand your ideal customer, you are creating the vocabulary and means to clearly communicate the value your business is creating.
These two elements are the fundaments for creating and maintaining a successful business. A business with happy customers that value your effort and are willing to pay for your products and services abundantly.
Join me in this Facebook group and share what is the problem that you love solving. Let’s continue our conversation and support each other with starting and growing an online business. One that you love working in!
Speak soon!
Learn more about the opportunities of creating an online income stream. Achieve financial independence and freedom to live life on your own terms!
>> Click here << for a list of books that recently influenced me profoundly and are today part of my body and mind.