Your Business My Business

                                     written by Czar Richards for Ari Communications

There is a saying that goes: “No battle plan survives engagement with the enemy.” This is also true regarding business plans. When I started my business a few years ago, it was because my book publisher went bust. I was disappointed but not surprised. The Great Recession left no business unscathed. The government, of course, downplayed it to avoid a panic but to many of us it was clear we were teetering toward another Great Depression.

Confident in my abilities as a writer, I decided to create a publishing company of my own rather than seek another publishing contract and so I created Ari Publishing.

Since I had established a pretty good readership, I figured my followers would simply transfer their allegiance to Ari Publishing, but there was a problem. They didn’t know aripublishing.com existed! What’s worse, I didn’t know how to tell them, because  I didn’t know anything about marketing or website building or back links or any of the essential skills necessary to create a successful online business.

So I had to learn. And frankly it was a tedious, exhausting, time-consuming process.

Because I was spending so much time researching and learning the fine points about online business, I didn’t have time to write. And if there is one thing you learn quickly as a writer, it’s that your readership wants product.

And a steady stream of it.

And another fact is that the Great Recession took a lot of people away from their regular purchases. For example. Before the recession hit I had the entire TV programming package. Cost something like 175 dollars a month. Same with my mobile phone set up. Another 120 a month.  Now I just have the standard packages because I discovered I really didn’t need those expensive upgrades

But not only did I cut back on my regular purchases, my book buyers cut back as well.

So I adapted. I started advertising to professionals. Doctors, lawyers, financial planners, real estate brokers etc. and offered them a way to increase their professional reputation by having a book published.

It is an established fact that those who have a book published in their field of expertise are considered the experts. People like Suze Orman, Wolfgang Puck, Dr. Phil and Donald Trump became household names following the publication of their books.

But that brought about the need to acquire another set of skills. It came to my attention that professional people had no idea how to promote themselves on the internet. Their websites were clinical and off-putting. Their content was bland and their templates all looked the same.

So my team and I learned website design and construction, started creating logos, edited videos, had spokesperson presentations created. Hired voice-over professionals to give product pitches and turned those bland sites into sites worth a second look. In a short period of time we became the “go to” company for internet marketing needs.

And apparently the marketplace began to notice because my business was changing again. As the internet continues to become a more powerful marketplace, brick and mortar businesses are seeing the need to get their businesses online whether they sell anything online or not. This also goes for social media. Because if your business doesn’t have a Facebook page, it isn’t likely to be taken seriously.

So now the majority of my income doesn’t come from writing books (although they continue to sell quite well) the majority of my business comes from improving or simply building online businesses for my clients. So now I have a successful business.

It’s just not just the one I thought I would have.

And that’s the take away from my experience. Many people start an online business and quit because they don’t have instant success right away. Online business is no get rich quick scheme. It’s a real business that can make you a good amount of money. You just have to discover what business people want to be in with you, not what business you want to be in with them.

I thought I was building a publishing business, what I was actually building was a communication business. And so Ari Publishing grew into aricommunications.com

People look at  www.aricommunications.com website’s design and say WOW! I want something like that. Or watch its video presentation and say, I can use that too! And the more they peruse our site, the more products and services they find that can benefit their business.

And that’s the point because our motto is: Our Business Is To Make Your Business, Better.

 So stop by aricommunications.comand see what products and services can best benefit your business.