Essential Marketing “Group of 1”
It’s all happening! I started my own business and Essential Marketing Group is now OPEN. It’s just me for right now, but I did it!
I spent months researching and learning and planning. I made lots of decisions, big and small. I got so much advice, both requested and given against my will. (Who does that, you might ask? More people than I had hoped, I’m afraid.) And even though I felt so prepared the day that I put in my notice at work, and the days leading up to that last day with insurance and a steady paycheck, I’m scared every single day that this won’t work. So just like the apparent sadist that I am, I googled how many start-ups fail and the results were (drum roll please)…90%. 90% of startups fail, most in the first 5 years. I’m sorry, what?!? I didn’t have the heart to google what that stat looks like during a global pandemic. I don’t want to know.
So I sit here recalling a lot of conversations over the last couple of weeks. When people found out that I had quit the job I had been at for over 18 years, almost every single person said something along the lines of “Oh my goodness! Are you scared? Excited?” I really wasn’t too scared. But looking back now, I see that they probably had already read this statistic and knew that the odds weren’t in my favor.
But you know who didn’t ask me if I was scared? My family and closest friends. They know me and what I am capable of. They know that I will end up in that 10% that succeeds, because failure is never an option on the table for me. This is what I think about when I start to get scared. I have a lot of people in my life that believe in me and what I can do. Why wouldn’t I trust that they know best?
You know what else is scary? Big goals. I started off with a big goal, Essential Marketing GROUP. I could have been Mandy Morville Marketing or another form of solopreneur like most consultants, but my goal is for this business to include a lot more people as soon as possible. My dream is that a group of amazing marketers all over the U.S. will come together to support small businesses with their marketing needs in their local communities, sharing ideas and helping each other come up with the best strategies for each business that they support. I, and eventually we, will be better as a team and our clients will be better for it!
I believe in writing down your goals in a public place so you have some accountability. It’s easy to let yourself down, but much harder to let the people who support you down. Here are my goals for this business, both short and long-term.
3 months - Make as much as I was making at corporate job per month 🤞🏼
6 months - Hire 1st employee - could happen faster if everyone is willing to turn their heads on child labor laws
1 year -
Have 6 employees - 1 Assistant and 5 Marketing Consultants
Over 5,000 Instagram followers - Well on my way to building my brand
2 years - Launch Masterclass with fully online learning platform for small business marketing
3 years - Have Marketing Consultants in at least 25 states
5-10 years - Be in all 50 states - National brand recognition
There will be some smaller goals here and there added and I’m hoping that I can shorten some of these time lines, but this is where I’m starting. The only thing that won’t change, and you can mark my words…Essential Marketing “Group of 1” won’t be that way for long!
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