Purpose Driven Experts: Crafting Your Local Service Legacy

Hello and welcome to my manifesto.

You might be wondering “What on earth is a manifesto?, and why is one needed?”.

In normal words that can described as ‘who you want to serve and how you want to serve them’…

Isn’t that why politicians are ‘Public Servants’…

I won’t be going any further down that rabbit hole…

So in the context of service…

This is my ‘planting my flag’ moment if you will. I’m creating my own little world and inviting others who want to build theirs here too.

You see, if you’re running a local trash can cleaning service business like me…

And, if you’ve been around for longer than a few weeks, you’ll have realised that the landscape has changed for us since the birth of the internet, how we used to do business and attract customers has had to evolve.

And it’s getting harder, we’re busy enough trying to run our own business day to day without having to keep up to date with the digital revolution that is changing so fast and pulling the rug from under us at what seems like a weekly basis.

So we know how we do business has changed, sub-consciously we know we need to adapt and introduce new methods of attracting prospects and customers to us, but there are holes in our knowledge and our understanding of this new world.

And because of this, we are wide open to the charlatans in this world who want to take advantage of these holes in our understanding…

In our own area of expertise there isn’t anyone who can pull the wool over our eyes, we can see tham coming a mile off…

But in this new area, we are floundering, and that makes us easy prey for those who want to exploit our weaknesses…

I don’t know about you, but if you’re anything like me, you’re being bombarded with calls and people wanting to sell you their latest fad or gimmick because (in their words) ‘you’re simply not cutting it’ when they do a search engine search for your profession plus location.

Is this happening to you too?

The internet is not brand new anymore, the need for a website is not some revelation to you…

But if you’re like me, you’ve probably been bitten by some website designers who’ve flogged you a website promising ‘money will be falling from the sky’ once they build it for you…

And what happened? crickets… am I right?

Yes your site is floating around the internet somewhere, but not anywhere where your customers have found it.

Which then leads to the next area we have holes in our knowledge…

How do get found on the search engines?

Stand up the next set of people looking to take your money promising ‘we’ll get you on the first page of Google’…

Fortunately, I’ve been around the block a few times…

Yet I realize that it can be so confusing, and without knowing the full picture of what’s required, it can be so easy to be seduced by these companies and be left bewildered and confused, and your pocket and bank account a little lighter each time.

Real talk for a minute, there’s a lot of BS merchants out there who’ll tell you anything to get you to spend money with them, and there’s some who mean well, but they don’t know your business well enough before going into their sales pitch.

You see, when the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail… (read The Law of the Instrument)

And that’s the case for them, they have their tool, tactic or fad and they try to shoehorn every local business into it, regardless of if it is a good fit.

Yet, as you’ll know with your business, there are several solutions to each problem, but that doesn’t stop some of these merchants saying their solution is the only answer for you.

Did you ever get a jigsaw puzzle as a present?

I got several as I was growing up, each progressively more challenging. I remember constantly having to refer back to the image on the lid of the box for guidance.

Can you imagine trying to solve a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle without looking at the image on the lid of the box?

It would be difficult, wouldn’t it?

I use that analogy because that’s what some merchants try to do when pitching their wares, they don’t know the inner workings of your business, they can’t see the full picture.

For example, I receive a call a week from companies offering to rebuild my website, get me on the first page of Google, improve my ads on the social channels, I could go on… and oooonnnnn!

The problem is, they don’t ask me what my goals are or what my strategy is before launching into a pitch.

That’s like trying to solve the jigsaw without seeing what it should look like when it’s done.

So, after building my first website in 2004, and having the many arrows in my back over the years, with the many ups and downs of a learning curve, I’ve learned the skills to compete in this new world.

And I want you to see the whole picture.

That is why I wanted to create a little corner of this world that could be a safe place for local service business owners, where they could be sure they were getting the right information for them… If you want it…

You see there are some local service business owners who are not prepared to change with the times, to evolve with the new era we are working in.

This place is not for them…

Unfortunately they’ll find themselves getting more and more frustrated at how ‘it shouldn’t be this way’, the truth is we can adapt and win or stay stagnant and lose.

It’s a choice we can make…

For example, we all love the way we can order an Uber that will be with us in 3 minutes, but not if you’re a taxi driver.

We all love the fact you can vacation in lovely areas at a bargain price or even rent out our own place with AirBnB, but not if you’re a hotel or B&B owner.

Change and disruption is here to stay, but hasn’t it always been that way with examples like the coal (fossil fuel) miners vs wind or solar, or petrol cars vs electric?

The internet is simply accelerating this change for local service business owners, and you can stay ahead of this disruption… if you’re willing…

I hope this resonates with you. If so, welcome home.

Please reach out at anytime, I read every email.

Continue to Part 1: The New Sandpit

– Mark

As a Purpose Driven Expert, you have complete control and ownership over your world, with the freedom to determine who resides in it, how you communicate with them, how you serve them, and how you make their lives infinitely better by being a part of your world. For a full definition, visit my Purpose Driven Expert page