Aligning Short-Term Needs With Long-Term Goals

IMG_2481When you’re an entrepreneur, you’re driven by passion. Creating a successful business is about more than having a great product or service idea. It’s about pouring your energy and time into accomplishing a big, audacious goal. In the process, your dream is going to regularly collide with the realities of life.

After all, we have to support ourselves. We have mortgages to pay, bills to take care of and groceries to buy. The challenge then becomes aligning those short-term needs with your long-term goals, allowing you to accomplish everything you’re looking to achieve. Continue reading

Ep. 042 – Consultation With Pam, Part 5: Putting It All Together

300x300In this episode, Tom concludes his one-on-one consultation with author and burgeoning entrepreneur Pam. As an author without an established following, what’s the best use of Pam’s time and effort? Should she reach out to publishers directly, or should she invest her resources in building an audience through other channels, such as ebooks and blogs?

Tom and co-host Jason Pyles explore this topic with Pam, and tie up a few loose threads from earlier in the conversation. Continue reading

Ep. 041 – Consultation With Pam, Part 4: How to Tell Your Story

350x350In this episode, Tom continues his one-on-one consultation with author and burgeoning entrepreneur Pam. This is part four in a five-part series discussing Pam’s efforts to turn her passion for writing into a full-time business.

Tom is joined by fellow podcaster Jason Pyles as they explore Pam’s professional goals, including the importance of sexual abuse advocacy in her writing, and her challenges in preparing a book proposal for publishers. Continue reading

Ep. 040 – Consultation With Pam, Part 3: Sharing Content One Day at a Time

350x350-2Welcome to Episode 040 of the Success in Business Podcast with your host, Tom Ryan. This episode is the third portion of a five-part series where Tom coaches Pam the author about marketing her book and her business ideas.

The broad scope of this show consists of Tom teaching Pam the author how to accomplish her mission of inspiring survivors of abuse by sharing her thoughts and experiences in small, daily doses.

But more specifically, Jason and Tom talk to Pam about the benefits of writing a daily blog to help further her cause through multiple channels. Then Tom chats with Pam about accomplishing what he calls a “big, hairy, audacious goal.” Next Tom talks about how the seed of an idea begins to grow into additional aspects and extensions of your business. Continue reading

Ep. 039 – Consultation With Pam, Part 2: Polling Your Target Audience

350x350-3Hello again, and welcome to Episode 039 of the Success in Business Podcast with your host, Tom Ryan. This episode is the second portion of a five-part series where Tom coaches Pam the author about marketing her book and her entrepreneurial endeavors.

Tom discusses how Pam can get feedback from her target audience by simply polling them and asking for their opinions. Then Pam shares some passionate opinions about her feelings on the punishments handed down to individuals who are convicted of child abuse.

And Tom talks to Pam about how there is an advocacy angle to her business. Tom explains that Pam’s approach toward reform with the judicial system might be more effectively handled indirectly through raising awareness rather than a direct approach. Continue reading

Ep. 038 – Consultation With Pam, Part 1: Defining Your Target Market

350x350-4Welcome to the Success in Business Podcast, Episode 038. This show is Part 1 of 5 episodes titled “An Entrepreneur Consultation With Pam the Author.” These next five podcast episodes constitute a series that is derived from one, full-length, sit-down consultation that your host, Tom Ryan, had with an author named Pam.

In this first part, Tom asks Pam to explain the inspiration for starting a business with her art and her writing. Pam mentions that a book called “The Courage to Heal” inspired her to want to write her own book about her life experiences in hopes of helping other people who have endured a similar ordeal.

Tom also talks to Pam about identifying the various objectives that she has for her book, and he describes how useful it can be for an entrepreneur to express his or her purpose aloud.

Next Tom places Pam’s goals for her book into a business context. He discusses the importance of identifying who Pam’s market will be for her book. Then Tom talks about finding out more about the people who make up Pam’s target market. Continue reading