Ep. 124 – The level of success you achieve and how quickly it will happen depend on how you started your entrepreneurship

His objectives are achieved by creating digital products designed to offer people solutions to the many common problems they face.

Roy holds an MBA Degree in International Business from Cass Business School, London, and the Certified Diploma in Accounting and Finance from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). He also holds a BEng Degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Liverpool and a BA Degree in Spanish & Latin American Studies from the University of London. Roy is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. He is also a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, London.

How Roy’ entrepreneurial journey started

• My real interest is digital media and using digital media for marketing purposes. Originally, I set my company up to exploit my own know how, skills, and business contacts.
• I was focused primarily on consultancy work and to an extent, I still am, but I recognized that the problem with consultancy work ultimately is you’re providing a service 1 to1. So, it’s very difficult to scale that up. Whereas, marketing digital products through digital media, you have the opportunity to serve 1 to many. And the thing about the internet and online marketing is that websites give you a global reach, and they are always open; you don’t need premises, you don’t need an inventory, and your overheads are fairly low. You do have to maintain a website obviously, or a number of websites. I amgradually moving away from pure consultancy to create digital products and offer solutions to my target customers, based on my own knowledge and experience.
• My background is in the telecom industry, the international telecom industry. Also I realized that I know a lot about the telecom sector, which has really helped with things like developing websites and so on. Over time, you learn an awful lot about an awful lot. You develop skills when you’re running a business. I was previously the CEO of a national telecom operator; when you run such a business you learn an awful lot about people, marketing, sales, and general business.
• Tailoring your product as a solution to customer’s problems, I realized I could harness my wider knowledge to create digital products and make money online. So I started by creating websites offering or targeting specific solutions for people. The first website I created was a self-help website; I called it ‘Wit and Wisdom’. Part of it was humor, but mostly it was intended to inspire people that were self-improvers, people who wanted to better themselves, but weren’t quite sure how to get started.
• People use the Internet for two reasons: to be entertained, and to solve problems. My focus is on solving problems, so, I’ll identify specific problems and create a niche website around the specific problem, trying to offer solutions and information that would help to address that problem. And in doing so, I’d make money by advertising or through advertising, through affiliate sales.
• Essentially, I take questions, like ‘How to improve low self esteem’ or ‘How to find the right job for me’, and I create answers that I hope will help people and as part of that I offer resources. This is where I make money, in terms of affiliate sales, by offering resources that would help them, so for instance, if they’re looking for inspirational audio programs, then I would point them in that direction by providing links to those resources, and I would ultimately make money through affiliate sales in this way.

Roy’s best advice about approaching customers

• Any business starts with trying to see the world through the customer’s eyes. Put yourself in their shoes; try to understand their pain points and how your products will alleviate those pain points.
• The key is that your product must solve problems for customers. If you’re trying to make a sale to me, as an individual, for example, I’m always much more impressed if you thought about my Explain to me how your product might help me alleviate or eliminate a problem, reduce a pain point, remove a headache. I believe all of those things are important. I think that, in terms of approaching customers to make sales, the key is to catch a buying intent. One of the most inefficient means of selling is cold calling. On the other hand, if you can capture buying intent, you’re much more likely to get a warm customer who will give you a better chance at making a sale.
• It all starts with the customer: what the customer needs, what the customer wants. And the customer doesn’t always knowwhat they want. There’s an old saying: You can’t forecast the number of people who will walk across a bridge by counting the number who swam across the river. People who wouldn’t have dreamed of swimming across the river will think, ‘Hang on! I can walk across that bridge!’
• It always starts with the customer.

The last successful entrepreneur I would like to talk with in this episode is Deepak Shukla. Deepak started his entrepreneurial journey from his mother’s home. He learned about his customers’ needs and built a very successful agency focusing on SEO. In addition to the agency, Deepak became a very meaningful influencer in the social media world.

Deepak Shukla