Over the space of just 2 years, Raimonda Jankunaite has established a thriving community of 200,000 women in business from across the world. As the founder of The Women in Business Club, her ambition is to share the secret sauce for succeeding in business. This has led her to educate, inspire, and support thousands of female entrepreneurs globally. But it wasn’t something she originally set out to do…
Raimonda, who has been building businesses since the age of 21 and has two degrees – in law and business – said that her lightbulb moment came at a time in her life when she least expected it. She was feeling depressed and deflated after her refillable water cooler business and a crowdfunding business hadn’t worked out as she’d hoped. She was certainly not looking to start another business.
“The turning point came for me in 2017 when commuting across London for networking events, I spotted a gap in the market for a support and learning network to help female entrepreneurs thrive in business. A few months later, I hosted my very first all-female event. It was a huge success and the women wanted more. We now have a growing international following of 200,000 women across the world, have created opportunities for international collaboration, and are helping women become leaders of tomorrow.
“When I founded Women in Business, everything changed. It ignited a passion in me to help other women succeed in business, break down the barriers they faced, and become the leaders the world needs right now. We’ve recently seen a huge step in the US with the appointment of Kamala Harris as vice-president-elect, but there’s still a long way to go in terms of gender equality in business and leadership. In 2021, I want women with a dream to feel empowered to build their empire – believing that it is all possible. I want to stand up and say: there are no more women leaders, there are just leaders.”
From start-up business owners to those who are already on the road to success and are looking to scale and grow, Women in Business Club is a global membership club and support network for female entrepreneurs from all sectors in business.
From hosting virtual workshops to in-person experiences on topics like personal branding and confidence building to money and sales, Women In Business Club has many options for personal and business growth.
My top tips for business success in 2021, by Raimonda Jankunaite
After the unpreceded year of 2020, the new year symbolises a year of hope and new beginnings. Here Raimonda Jankunaite shares her top tips for setting up your own business in 2021 and achieving your dreams:
1.Identify the gap in your market
When starting a business we often fall in love with our idea that we want to pursue. However, it doesn’t always mean it is going to be the winning formula. Have you considered what the market actually needs and are they willing to pay for it?
I always encourage entrepreneurs to go out there and have those crucial conversations with potential clients or customers to determine if their idea or solution is going to fill a gap in the market and solve a prominent pain for a client or customer.
2. Know your potential customers
Knowing who you want to help is the key to successfully communicating in your marketing. So many business owners focus on creating a product first before considering the client or customer. I always encourage people to get to know your customers first, and determine a niche that you want to serve. This will help you create more relevant content and write better sales copy that will resonate with your buyers.
Focus on solving a pain for one specific niche or target audience and communicate the value you deliver consistently. Over time you will find that your message either lands with them and attract clients and customers or you may learn that you need to adjust something. Stick with one simple problem and solution that you are going to be offering.
3. Is your product financially viable?
Very often we are afraid to price our products or services for what it is really worth, thinking that we need to start low in order to attract our customers. The truth is, your price determines your value. So if you under-price your services or products early, you are positioning your business in a specific market.
This builds perception of your brand or product that is very hard to change after. So before you launch, take time to figure out your price point and your strategic positioning. Think about your end goal and see if it meets your expectations. Crunch your numbers and build few different scenarios of how many sales you need to make in order to make your business financially viable. There is no point in running a business if it does not create financial liquidity in your business.
4. Start before you’re ready
You may feel the fear of taking your product or service to market and think that you are not quite ready yet. The most successful entrepreneurs do not wait for everything to be perfect before they launch. In fact, you can launch your product before it is ready and use customer feedback to improve and adjust.
I would encourage anyone to launch or test the market before they are ready so you don’t waste any time building a product or service that no one wants. Customer feedback could be far the most valuable information you could get as early as possible before you invest any more time or money building it.
5. Turning cold leads to raving fans
As you begin to generate interest in your product or service launch, you need to have a plan of how you are going to nurture your cold leads into warm prospects. Are you going to be using email automation when you launch a business online? Or perhaps a Facebook Group? Or other means of consistent communication, where your prospect can build trust. Most people expect sales to roll in as soon as they make a post or send an email about their product or service.
Truth is, it could take weeks and even months to turn your followers into buyers. So you need to be patient and put yourself into the shoes of your customer and ask yourself, what would make me want to buy this offer? How can I create trusting long term relationships with my followers in order to serve them? What do I need to do in order to create a conversion event for people to buy? Do you need to consider a launch or run a sales webinar?
6. Your visibility could be leveraged
Running a small business means having a limited budget for marketing and advertising, that means you have to think outside the box when it comes to getting more eyes on your products or services. Why not consider building collaborations, speaking to other businesses or entrepreneurs who have a bigger reach and see how you can leverage each other’s reach?
Partnerships like this could bring you a whole lot of new audience, grow your authority and help your message travel further for little to no money spent on advertising. So spend some time looking into your ready existing network of connections and see where you may be able to open conversations for collaborations. Be intentional and specific in what you hope you achieve from it and what you have to offer to those who may be willing to partner with you.
When you come up with a win-win scenario, speak to your identified partners and initiate a collaboration.
7. Get some support around your business
Being an entrepreneur can be lonely at times. It’s nice to have someone there to bounce ideas off and have someone who has your back. But more than that, collaborations are a huge deal when it comes to creating a successful launch online. Receiving an endorsement from already established and respected figures in business is a sure-fire way to establish your credibility and tap into new audiences.
For more tips to help your business thrive in 2021 visitwww.womeninbusiness.club, or join hundreds of other women within the Women in Business Member’s Club Today and get access to over 75 hours of expert-led training workshops, workbooks and other bonus content – as well as supportive community that has your back.