64. Which one of these four business types are you?
Written by Julia Bickerstaff // September 18, 2012 // Daily Juice // No comments
I do love a category. I like to know where I fit in the scheme of things. That’s not to say I like to be categorized, or shepherded, but having a bit of clarity about who I am has helped me to make much needed short cuts.
Let’s take clothes as an example. I’ve finally worked out which box – figure wise – I fit into. I now don’t have to try on a rack full of clothes to know that Shift dresses just don’t do it for me.
In a business sense a category is useful too. The internet is heaving under the weight of business information but much of it may have little relevance to my or your type of business. When we know what sort of business we are, we can quickly discard stuff that’s not going to apply to us.
It’s even more useful when we are listening to other people talking about their businesses (or when we are being given, um, advice). When we know our type we can filter what’s being said and quickly work out whether it applies to us. Or not!
I’ve found it useful to think about businesses like this:
- Producer – you are a producer if you make something (like cakes, jewellery etc) or if you design something and get it made for you (like the gorgeous Lipsticks designed by Cindy Luken of LUK beautifood ) You might sell your product retail, wholesale or a bit of both.
- Retailer – you are a retailer if you sell someone else’s product. You might be an offline or online retailer but what you do is “curate” a collection of products for your customer
- Doer – you are a doer if you sell your time. So if you’re a bookkeeper or a marketing consultant, a chiropractor, hairdresser, personal trainer etc, you’re a doer.
- Crowd-finder – you are a crowd finder if you build an audience and sell that audience to advertisers or affiliates. If you blog and get paid by advertisers you’re a crowd finder.
You may, of course, be a combination of types.
- If you are a hairdresser who also sells products you’re a Doer/ Retailer combo: Doer first, Retailer second.
- If you are a dress designer who also sells another business’s jewellery then you are a Producer/Retailer combo: Producer first, Retailer second.
- If you are a Producer of cosmetics but have a number of concessions in retail outlets then your are a Producer/Retailer but you might actually be a Retailer first and a Producer second (see this tip)
- If you are an interior designer who not only gets paid by her clients to select furniture, but also get’s paid a little kick back from the furniture supplier then you are a Doer/Crowd-finder.
To make the Daily Juice blog (and the up-coming Kitchen) easier to digest I’m going to start referring to these four business types. That way you’ll be able to sift through the information here a little quicker.
Remind me, how does this make my business more profitable?
Ever bought a new car and then been surprised by the number of cars there are like yours on the road. Or been pregnant and been astonished how the world is suddenly full of pregnant women? It’s our amazing brains at work. Once we give ourselves a ‘label’ our brain seeks out similarly labelled examples. When you give your business a type your brain will subconsciously filter and find info useful to your specific business type, rather than all businesses. Magic!
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