Don’t be fooled by New Year New Me- January is when you put in the groundwork- it’s work for the long term and not quick results.The work behind the scenes that people don’t always see. It’s often what separates a business that keeps changing direction from a business that grows steadily. It’s the time to reevaluate your purpose and work on your clarity and confidence- something that we all need to boost occasionally.
Clarity
Clarity is being able to easily and quickly explain what the business does in one sentence. It also means knowing what the business isn’t. That’s something that really matters, we’ve seen it before where our clients trying to serve everyone or be everything- often ending in serving no one well.
Clarity has 3 parts:
- The problem. What does the business help someone solve, reduce, improve, or make easier?
- The deliverable. What does the customer actually receive, such as a service, a product, a session, a package, a booking, or a delivery?
- The result. What changes for the customer if they buy from you?
Something to remember is, if your ‘offer’ can’t be explained simply, customers struggle to trust it. Knowing what you do- and who its for can also help you to know where in the market you sit- helping with things like marketing, promotions and prices, all really important things.
Something to ask yourself is:
This business helps [who] to [do what] so they can [benefit].
It won’t be perfect on the first try. That’s fine. The point is to try and start getting a picture onto the page, where you can test it,and improve it and in time see if you were right or wrong!
Know your customer in real-life terms
Lots of our clients describe their customers in broad categories. Something we’ve seen is that their business gets clearer when their customer feels like a person, not an idea. A real customer is just like you or me- they have a routine, pressures, preferences, and limits. They’re trying to solve something quickly, affordably, or with less stress. They’re also making choices based on trust.
A small way to start is to create one example customer that your business is built for right now. Not your dream future customer and not everyone or a group who might buy one day. Create One real person.
Ask yourself:
- What’s going on in their life that makes my product useful?
- What do they care about most, is it price, quality, speed, values, convenience, or feeling understood?
- Where do they already buy? online and offline?
- What would make them choose my business, not because it’s perfect, but because it’s the right fit?
When your customer is clear in your head- or on your paper, the answers become easier to write, and you’ll also hopefully find in time that product development gets simpler, selling feels less awkward and marketing stops being a performance and becomes a straightforward explanation.
Where does confidence comes from
Confidence isn’t a personality type. It’s built through repetition. It grows when you take small actions, see what happens, and adjust. It grows faster with the right kind of support because it’s easier to stay steady when someone helps you think clearly.
That’s why we combine clarity work with practical ways to test and learn. Mentoring is one of the single most powerful things you can do to support your success. A mentor can help you refine an offer and sanity-check your next steps. Workshops put you with others who like you have goals, dreams and determination and help turn ideas into plans as well as building a network fro support nad encouragement. Lastly markets, where founders have a low-risk way to see how customers respond in real time.
Confidence will be the chair that you’ll have to fall back on a thousand times throughout your journey. It’ll help you keep showing up when a post flops, when a pitch feels scary, when pricing needs to change, or when life interrupts the plan.
January isn’t about forcing confidence. It’s about building it from the ground up, through clarity and action.
Self-guided work
1) Your clear offer
Write your draft sentence. Keep it simple.
This business helps __________________________
to __________________________
so they can __________________________.
2) Your real customer
Write five lines about one customer.
Who they are:
What they’re trying to solve:
What they care about most:
Where they spend time:
Why they would choose you:
3) Your confidence action
Choose one small step for the next seven days.
Examples
- Speak to two potential customers and ask for as much feedback as possible
- Test your products at a market or pop-up- we have our Thrive market which is a perfect testing ground
- Write a simple price list- be honest and make sure that you are considering all of your costs
- Book a mentoring session- again, this is one of the very best things you can do to increase your chances of success
- Attend a workshop- we run them frequently covering things from starting a biz through to procurement and AI. Watch our socials or sign up for our newsletter to take part.
Targets to complete before February
- A one-sentence explanation of your business or product, written and saved
- One customer profile in plain language
- One clear action to complete in the next seven days
- Contact Tree Shepherd to explore mentoring, workshops, and markets
- Get ready for February’s theme, structure and set-up
