7 reasons to talk publicly about your business

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A story from personal experience about the benefits of being honest about the adventures of an aspiring entrepreneur.

Almost a year ago, my partner and I decided on an adventure: to open a coffee shop in six months on a bet and make it a plus. Since then, we have had many adventures: we opened two coffee shops, ran away, I went to make my own - and we talked about all this publicly. And this turned out to be our most successful business decision.

When we started building a business, I started a Telegram channel "Brewed a Business" and began to throw in there how we make decisions, how we cope with formalities - settlements, contracts, accounting - and also laughter and tears. We were not afraid to publicly make mistakes and ask readers for advice. This is how the reality business turned out: some follow it as an adventurous series, others read it as a course for an entrepreneur. We quickly gained the first 4,000 subscribers, who also became the first guests of our coffee shop.

Today I will tell you why it is profitable to talk about your business openly.

1. You are loved

When we started building a business, we divided it into two stories: on the Telegram channel, they talked about business and money, and on Instagram, about coffee and people. We thought that Telegram would bring partners and investors, and Instagram would bring guests to the coffee shop. But it turns out it works differently.

Our first point was quite simple: a counter inside a cheese shop, even without a sign. On the first day, 150 people came to us - subscribers of the channel, we earned 26 260 rubles. For comparison: usually a new coffee shop with a sign on the first day earns 1,000–1,500 rubles, and in the first month it comes out to 40 checks a day. People come to us from other districts of Moscow and even from other cities.

It turned out that it works like this. You talk about boring things - about revenue, about purchases - but you also share your experience, emotions, fears. People see a real person behind the business, and that works better than photographs of perfect coffee creams.

If you talk openly about your business, people become attached to you. Marketers would call it “loyal audience”, we call it “ours”.

2. They help you

We started our business from scratch and didn’t know how to do anything. If you only knew how many mistakes we made, how we ran into obstacles that we ourselves invented! Subscribers are interested in how those who do not understand anything about it build a business. And of course they want to help.

If we don't know what to do, subscribers throw hundreds of tips. You need a car to move - there is someone who can give you a lift. You need to hang the shelf - Michael will come with a drill. We have already opened three coffee shops and found only one room through "Cyan", the other two were offered by the channel's subscribers.

As soon as we began to share our experience and emotions, subscribers began to share with us - advice, deeds, things. We were no longer alone.

3. You are offered special conditions

When the channel gained 4,000 subscribers, providers and services realized that this was all their target audience. The channel is small, but targeted: almost all subscribers are entrepreneurs or those who plan to become one. Many companies want to talk about their services on this site.

As a matter of principle, we do not advertise on the channel, but we tell about our experience. If the bank offered favorable terms, we will tell you about it. If, on the contrary, we do not like the service, we also talk about it. Suppliers and services began to offer us their services with discounts so that, if we like, get free advertising.

4. It's easier for you to find partners

If you talk about business openly, everyone understands what to expect from you: what you are capable of, what rules you play. Deceivers and schemers are afraid of publicity and stay away from you. But like-minded people quickly find you and knock with suggestions themselves.

Andrey from the coffee shop "Coffee inside" teaches us how to make the counter ergonomic

I think it usually takes an entrepreneur a year or two to build a reputation and become famous in his market. We did it in two months. We had not yet managed to do anything special in the coffee business, but all our colleagues already knew us. The publicity made us visible - it helped to break through.

5. You have an incentive to move forward

Everyone in business has bad days, weeks, and months. When everything goes wrong, you want to hide under the blanket and wait it out. But if the business is public, then you need to do something every day. You can't just shut up as potential partners, investors and employees are watching you. If you stop, you will not only lose money, but also your reputation. This is how publicity makes you move forward all the time.

Even if you still don't know where to go next, the next day you come up with a way out. Show must go on.

6. Disciplines you

In business, not everything can be done according to the rules (if you understand what I mean). But if the project is public, you try to clean the dark closets as quickly as possible. You realize that not only your friends are watching you - there are some who are waiting for you to make a mistake. This is very disciplining.

7. You develop a small business

It seems to me that small business in Russia is so weak that entrepreneurs do not compete with each other. We are fighting not with each other, but with the environment: with large corporations, with bureaucracy and with the fact that Russia has a low level of consumption. The more businesses spring up around you, the better off you are. If you help small businesses in general, then you help yourself.

If you build a business in public, you show others what it is like. It will inspire someone: “When you read your channel, it seems that everything is subject, that you yourself can be the same,” - this is a response from one of the subscribers. As far as I know, a small May & May coffee shop opened right in our footsteps. We root for them very much!

And you, on the contrary, will dissuade someone. One of our subscribers said that he was planning to open a coffee shop, "but when I read how much hemorrhoids there was, I gave up this venture." Well, this is also a result: we can say we saved this guy a million.:)

It is difficult to talk about your business: there is no time for this, it is difficult to find the words, and in some things it is difficult to admit. But I'm sure that telling is a good way to earn a reputation, find people and get help.

Leave a link to your business channel in the comments - I will definitely subscribe, we will be friends.:)