Start. Use. Do. Small business marketing philosophy for today
Tennis legend Arthur Ashe motivated himself with a philosophy that seems almost definitional for independent business owners today.
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can,” Ashe famously stated.
This mindset is what propelled him to reach for ever-increasing success.
Start where you are.
No matter where you are in your business marketing efforts, that is a good starting place. Offer yourself the grace to understand the marketing moment you are in. You certainly have hopes and dreams of increasing your revenues to a certain size this year. You will achieve this goal if you consider the moment you are in as your true starting point and visualize the strategic, specific ways you can get to the level you want this year. You can absolutely do this. Yes, you might have to think creatively and try some different approaches to get you to your sales goal. By accepting your starting point, you can more readily define your marketing path for the year.
Use what you have.
Ask yourself what resources you have that you can use to grow your business. Small business owners often are discouraged by what they perceive to be a lack of resources to build audience, increase revenues or share essential messages and product benefits.
Learning to efficiently use the resources you have can open or deepen channels you need to grow. Get to know what resources your public library offers, check in with your local chamber of commerce to devise ways to promote your business in your immediate community and reach back to voluntary business organizations you maintain memberships in to promote your business.
Each of these actions will offer free or low-cost opportunities that will encourage you to use what you have and strive for greater business success.
Do what you can.
Every day is a new beginning. You as a business owner must embrace the start of each day as an opportunity to grow. You, your staff and designates can achieve a lot if you adopt the mindset of doing what you can each day. In an age of rising AI dependence, you can also count on the very real need for human judgment and decision-making. You as a business leader have tremendous influence over the your direction your business will take. By doing what you can, you maintain control, you can chart the course of your enterprise’s success.
I’ve recently witnessed several local business closings that made me sad. They were each very well regarded and the local community valued them. Each added a lot to the local business community. For different reasons each of these businesses elected to shut down, to close completely, leaving a vacuum where a thriving business once existed.
What’s interesting to me is how much local consumers mourn their loss and how difficult it is to replace their presence. Had they adopted Arthur Ashe’s mantra they would still be in operation and very desirable as businesses that could be sold to a next generation owner. In each instance, I heard the owners say they wanted to retire, they wanted to stop working or running the business. They had simply run out of steam and ceased to exist.
Running a business means facing complexity daily. This reality is one that’s omnipresent for every business owner and leader. How you approach the unexpected and the challenges will impact the degree of success you earn. Ancient philosophers have said that beginnings are difficult. They are!
Step up to the daily starting block, feel yourself gaining momentum and you will succeed more than you can imagine. Your local community wants to cheer for you.
Everyone truly wants to live in a community where businesses are thriving. As you read this think of today as the first day of the rest of your days marketing your business. You have more resources within reach than you realize.
The beloved Nike tagline says it best, “Just Do It!”
• Rebecca Hoffman is the founder and principal of Good Egg Concepts, a strategic communications and brand marketing consulting practice serving clients across the Chicago region and nationally.