Episode 364: 10 Valuable Questions to Succeed in Business
In this episode, Adam and Steve provide quick and valuable questions and answers on 10 topics about entrepreneurship and business growth. From starting a new business to handling competition and building a strong team, Adam shares practical advice in rapid-fire responses. The episode is a dynamic exchange of business wisdom delivered in a concise and actionable format.
Adam shares advice on starting a new business by encouraging fast action and resilience in the face of failure. He emphasizes the importance of understanding and targeting the right audience, mastering the skill of sales, and staying motivated during tough times. Additionally, he touches on handling competition, effective marketing strategies, work-life balance, raising capital, and building a strong team.
Show Highlights:
- Taking swift action and embracing failure is crucial when starting a new business.
- Understanding and targeting the right audience is essential for business success.
- Sales skills are vital for entrepreneurs to thrive in the competitive business landscape.
- Staying motivated during challenging times requires feeding the mind with positivity.
- Building a strong team involves aligning everyone with the business vision and goals.
Links Mentioned:
Get your Business Growth Secrets SUCCESS PLANNER for FREE and profit like a pro: https://adamstottplanner.com/free-book47315172
Adam’s website: https://adamstott.com/?el=Pod
Watch the Episode on Adam’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/adamstottcoach?el=Pod
Connect with Adam on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adamstottcoach/?el=Pod
Join Adam’s network on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-stott-coach/?el=Pod
Coaches, consultants, and business owners – lower your marketing costs, increase ticket prices, and get more high-ticket clients: https://3daybrandbuilderworkshop.com/start-here?el=Pod
Transcript:
Please note this is a verbatim transcription from the original audio and therefore may include some minor grammatical errors.
[00:00:00] Adam Stott: shotgun business. That’s what this episode is all about. Uh, Steve is going to ask me a ton of business questions and we’re going to answer them in 20 seconds per question, giving the best fastest business advice that you can get. Let’s jump in.
[00:00:20] Hi everyone. Welcome to shotgun business. We’re going to try something new today and something vibrant today where Steve Our head of client success is going to ask me a ton of shotgun fast questions on, uh, on business. Right? So he’s lined, lined them up. We’ve got 20 seconds. So he’s in charge. We’ll see if we can do it.
[00:00:42] We’ve had no rehearsal. No, we’ve had no practice. We’re just going to see how this rolls out. And I’m hoping it’s going to become a super valuable episode. Hopefully a little bit of fun for everyone that is watching. Let’s jump into this episode of Shotgun Business on Business Growth Secrets. Kick us off, Steve.
[00:00:58] What we got, my friend?
[00:00:59] Steve: Okay. So loads and loads of questions coming in, which is great to see. Uh, hence the shotgun approach. So I’ve got 10 questions here. And I’m going to keep you to time, which is normally very, normally very, very difficult, which is normally tricky. Um, so we’ll jump straight in. So I will, uh, start this once I’ve read the last word, like the game show.
[00:01:21] Okay. So number one, what’s the best advice for starting a new business?
[00:01:25] Adam Stott: Best advice to start a new business, take action fast. Um, just go out there and get it done. Be okay with failing. Because you will fail, you’ll fail at everything, you’ll get things wrong, you’ll mess up, but the most important thing is you getting up again, and going again, and be okay with failure is my first bit.
[00:01:44] Steve: Nope. Yeah, well that’s alright, that was 20 seconds, it just wasn’t quite as clean as I would have liked, but then
[00:01:50] Adam Stott: we’ll go with that, right? Perfect.
[00:01:51] Steve: So the second one, how do you find your target audience?
[00:01:55] Adam Stott: First of all, you have to do a deep dive on who your target audience is. So you need to understand who’s the best buyer of your products or service.
[00:02:02] Once you understand who the best buyer is, you then have to go and find them. Best thing to do is who’s already gone, go find Facebook groups with a man, go on LinkedIn, use sales navigator, go and connect with them and find them that way.
[00:02:14] Steve: Perfect. Well, Pretty much we could go
[00:02:19] Adam Stott: further on that, but that’s, uh, that’s a nice one for you.
[00:02:21] Steve: Awesome. So number three, what’s the most important skill for an entrepreneur?
[00:02:27] Adam Stott: Sales.
[00:02:28] Steve: Sales. Do you need the other 18 seconds or?
[00:02:31] Adam Stott: Well, if you want me to just, if you want me to justify it, I just think that every successful person I’ve ever met in business, you know, I’ve done 350 podcast episodes with millionaires, billionaires, A listers, celebs, successful people, all the ones that are most successful can sell.
[00:02:47] Steve: Perfect. Look at that. Didn’t even need it. Um, okay. Number four, how do you stay motivated during tough times? Good question.
[00:02:55] Adam Stott: Yeah. I love that question. Um, I’m feeding my mind. every single day. I remember that tomorrow’s a new day. I’ve had so many tough times that I kind of just go into a process that I go, you know what?
[00:03:08] Tomorrow’s a new day. And then I feed my mind again with positivity and that’s how I deal with it.
[00:03:15] Steve: Perfect. You’re doing pretty good at this. Okay. Right. Number five. What Well maybe we’re
[00:03:22] Adam Stott: doing all like this, aren’t we? I quite like this,
[00:03:24] Steve: yeah. This is the new format. Okay, number 5. What’s the biggest mistake new entrepreneurs make?
[00:03:29] Well
[00:03:32] Adam Stott: that’s actually quite You can have the 18 seconds. Um, biggest mistake. No, actually it’s quite simple. I don’t speak to enough people, spend too much time planning, not enough time having conversations and actually speaking and promoting their product. That’s the biggest mistake.
[00:03:49] Steve: Awesome. So you didn’t need it?
[00:03:51] No. Good stuff. So, uh, number six is how do you handle competition?
[00:03:57] Adam Stott: I don’t.
[00:03:59] Steve: Again, you need the other 18 seconds or not? So
[00:04:01] Adam Stott: good. No, I don’t focus on anyone else. I focus on myself. I’m a big believer of focusing on yourself. Um, I think that, you know, so many people go out there, they say different things. You just, just ignore it.
[00:04:14] Focus on you, make you better. That’s the game.
[00:04:16] Steve: Perfect. That was spot on 20 seconds as well. Well done. Um, number seven, what’s the key to effective marketing?
[00:04:23] Adam Stott: Knowing who your client is and knowing your client better than anybody else. If you can really, really get inside a client’s mind, understand their pain, understand their fears, their challenges, and you can speak to them in a way they’ve not been spoken to before, they will know that you’re for them.
[00:04:43] Steve: Perfect. Awesome. Uh, number eight, how do you manage work life balance?
[00:04:49] Adam Stott: I do now manage that you asked me a couple of years ago, but I don’t, but I do. I make sure I pick up my little boy, uh, from school. I spend the weekends with him. It’s very important to me. The way that I manage it is when I’m at work, I’m at work.
[00:05:04] Don’t bother me. When I’m at home, I’m at home. Don’t bother me. That’s the game. That’s how I do it.
[00:05:09] Steve: Perfect. Um, number nine spot on as well. Number nine, what’s the best way to raise capital?
[00:05:18] Adam Stott: First way, if you’re early as you, you have to go to people, you know. Because the banks and other people are not going to give you money.
[00:05:24] So first of all, friends and family, as you grow, you got to build a good relationship with your banks. Uh, you’ve got to start to build a financial track record. Uh, and, and that’s how you do it, you know, to start with, it’s a big question. Stop. That’s a big question. Right. But you know, I could talk with, maybe we’ll do an episode on that because raising money and raising finances, I can tell you inside out.
[00:05:46] Raise tens and tens of millions of pounds for businesses. Um, and it’s a big question, especially to answer in, answer in 20 seconds. But, uh, the bottom line is the people that know you, Are going to be your first funders initially and your credit is going to be your first funders initially
[00:06:00] Steve: perfect So number 10 last 20 seconds is how do you build a strong team?
[00:06:07] Adam Stott: Uh, you build a strong team by getting everybody to buy into where you’re going what the vision is get everybody singing off the same hymn sheet and get everybody’s goals aligned. It’s not a 20 second question, but there’s a start.
[00:06:24] Steve: Yeah, perfect. It was a 19 second answer. So that was pretty spot on there.
[00:06:28] Well, I
[00:06:28] Adam Stott: knew I was running out of time on that one. So 10 really, really good questions. We’ve got more, are we? We’ve got 10 more. Oh, we’ve got 10
[00:06:34] Steve: more? We’ve got 10
[00:06:35] Adam Stott: more. So hopefully you enjoyed that episode of Business Growth Secrets. Tell us what your favorite question was, uh, in the comments. Was there a question that you really liked or an answer you really liked or an answer.
[00:06:45] You want to see expanded, you know, go and tell us in the comments. And of course, if you’re enjoying this show, there’s two ways that you can help this grow. And there’s two ways that you can support Business Growth Secrets. Way number one is you can go and click the three dots and share this with somebody that you know that is a business owner.
[00:07:03] That needs help growing their business. And a way number two is the way that podcasts grow is through reviews. So if you’re on iTunes and you can go and write us a review, that’d be truly appreciated. And it’s just a way of us, you know, really seeing that you’re enjoying this. The more you enjoy, the more we record, the more good reviews, the more excited we get, and the more we all want to grow together.
[00:07:22] So. Help us out today by going and sharing this with somebody special or giving us a review so we can see the podcast grow and keep bringing you lots and lots of value. Hope you’ve enjoyed today’s episode of Business Grows Secrets and I’ll see you on the next one.