Building Your Business Recipe

 Building a business is a lot like cooking. Cooking isn't easy for everyone, in fact most of the great things in life are down right hard.

I love the smells that cooking fills my house with. 
I love the feeling when a proposal is approved.
I really love the feeling when my clients are happy because we bring them new business.

Not every strategy or recipe is the same. What goes into your business recipe?


Your strategy recipe guides you. 

Their are a lot of ingredients that go into a business. For example:

• The business plan. What are you selling and why are people going to buy from you?
• What makes you unique?
• What is your mission? Making money had better be only one part of it, or you will get burnt out fast.
  
• What is the added value?
  
• Where does the initial money come from?
• How do you pay your employees, get your business started, or purchase all the equiptment and pay your rent?
  
• Who are the talent and what do they need to perform?
• Your web designers if you are an interactive agency, they need a computer, internet and software. 
• Your sales staff if you are retail and the vendors.
• Bartenders, a manager and waitresses if you are a bar plus the liquor, the license, and a building.
• If you are a farmer you need land, farm equipment and sometimes a hired hand.
• Pilot's need a plane and a pilot's license. If you own the plane you also need insurance and for it to get a ridiculous amount of check ups and overhauls.
• These are just some basic examples, you need to dig A LOT deeper and really figure out everything you need to run your business to make your talent successful.
  
• How do people learn about you and your company?
• This is where I come in most of the time. This is a big part of the money recipe.
• Public relations - Newspapers, Media, TV, Magazines
• Trade shows
• A website and search engine optimization
  
• Pay-per-click
• Social Media
• Billboards
• Other advertising
• Word of Mouth - Meetings, business cards, friends of a friend, happy clients
  

Not all recipes are good.


Some recipes are incomplete. Other recipes will make pancakes when you wanted cookies if you don't read into the title and only see the description of delicious, sweet, round and fattening. What a farmer needs to sustain his business is not the same as what a pilot needs to keep flying. The industries are different. When you are comparing apples to oranges remember they are both delicious, good for you and fruit but if you put oranges in your apple pie (and no apples) you wont get the desired outcome. Which is why you need to plan ahead and is often why people fail at things like social media. If you go to one meeting about web design or mobile marketing do you really think you are a designer?

The best recipes for business are often unique and made by you.

Recipes are great, but despite what that header says you often need guidance. Don't build a business without wise counsel. Sometimes it is best to stick with what you do best. One of the best lessons I've learned in running a business is that I can't do everything. My goal is to hire rockstars, that love what they do and help all of us make a living doing it.

You'll get farther if your recipe has the right ingredients.

If you don't like the taste of peppers, it may spice up your pasta and you'll just pick around the peppers. If you add sour milk to your cereal you're probably not going to like it. I'd never eat moldy cheese in my sandwich. So why would you insert bad talent into your recipe? If you don't like the initial ingredients, don't put it into your recipe or it will probably ruin your whole meal.

I hope these parables helped you think in a new way about your business. I'm sure at the very least it made you a little hungry. I'd love to get your feedback. What goes into your business recipe? Let me know if the comments or find me on twitter @DesaraeV

Photo Credits Valenties Day Recipes by elana's pantry 
The Ugly ChocChip Man by Vernon Dali
Big Toe Eats His Bedtime Sweets by mwboeckmann
Devils Food Cupcakes ginnerobot 

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Thanks for reading!

--Desarae A. Veit
Agency Couture