Market Research and Why You Have to Have It.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

This video is the introduction to my next video on "How To Do Bookkeeping the Easy Way Part 2".

I made this quick interlude of a video to briefly explain how I was wrong about you and offer you some insights into the importance of market research and why you have to have it.

My name is Karley Beadman. And this channel is all about helping ladies small business owners with finance, business and marketing strategies to help these ladies build a strong brand.

The bookkeeping spreadsheet that I have used myself in my small businesses for many years now has really struck a chord with so many ladies in their small businesses.

There are now over 1200 Ladies and two men who have downloaded and are using this simple bookkeeping spreadsheet and, to be totally honest with you .... I never knew that people weren't doing their bookkeeping.

I only found out that bookkeeping was on the back burner for lady startups when a lovely lady in a Facebook group asked if anyone had a bookkeeping spreadsheet they were willing to share.

I commented that she could have my spreadsheet.

I went into Facebook later on that day, and 255 ladies requested the spreadsheet from me within that one Facebook post thread.

Within a matter of days, my SPAM folder in Facebook Messenger was filled with even more requests for the spreadsheet.

From their messages received, I assumed that a few people had a shoebox full of receipts. But as my inbox continued to fill up with more and more requests for the spreadsheet, I realised that bookkeeping is a skill that new business owners forgot to learn.

This just shows that we, as the marketers in our own firms, make assumptions about our target market.

Of course, we can't help ourselves; we make assumptions about everything because we naturally and lazily see things from our own bias perspective.

So when we start a business, and work in our business, we inevitably continue to make assumptions.

We create products and services that we genuinely believe will either solve a problem or bring delight to the market. But it is only through rigorous market research, that is listening to our customers, that we can either confirm our assumptions are not.

Yes, my friends, it all starts with market research, especially if the demand is there. And then ...with a combination of other strategic insights, tools and actions, we can, and only then, can we build a strong brand.

I need you all to know that if we start a business by creating an offering, no matter how small that offer is, it must satisfy the unmet needs and wants of an identified and rigorously segmented target market.

So I had the product, the bookkeeping spreadsheet and then, from customer feedback, I went and augmented the product because my assumptions about lady startups were wrong.

As I stated, I assumed everyone did their bookkeeping in some form or another. I was wrong about this. Most new small business owners do indeed have a shoebox full of receipts. I assumed that everyone knows how to use Excel competently. I was wrong about this too. And I also assumed that most small business owners were registered for GST. Yes, I was wrong again.

So armed with this new knowledge, I customised my spreadsheet to delight two different segments in my target audience. So now, when you go to download the spreadsheet from my web page, you will see two spreadsheets. One is for ladies who are registered for GST, and the other spreadsheet is for ladies who are not registered for GST.

If you have already purchased the spreadsheet or have the spreadsheet, please, I need you to go to your email inbox. And there you should find an email from me to instantly download the spreadsheet to your computer. If you haven't received an email from me with the link, please email me. For all other ladies, please go to the link in the description and please use the promo code EDDIETHECAT. Please know that the goods and services tax spreadsheet is formatted for Australian residents. If the sales tax is not 10% in your country or jurisdiction, please email me your sales tax rate and I will adjust your spreadsheet for you.

And a quick little edit here. I have now made a third spreadsheet for ladies the world over that excludes the Australian financial year, so you just put in your own financial year, and this spreadsheet also excludes sales tax. So you can calculate your own sales tax.

The bookkeeping spreadsheets have been a work of love for me because I want you to have an easy tool for you to do your bookkeeping the easy way and without the reoccurring monthly expense of accounting software and hideously high bookkeeping fees. And really ....why waste money on accounting software and bookkeeper fees month after dreaded month? .... When you can do it yourself with my spreadsheet.

I even tried to make the spreadsheets a little fun because if you're not having fun, right, then what's the point?

Okay. ..... . for those of you who have not seen inside the first edition of the spreadsheet, I do really still need you to go back and watch PART 1 of this two-part series because that first video is filled with pearls of marketing wisdom to help you build a strong brand.

So in PART 2B of this "Knowing Your Numbers" series on YouTube, I will be walking you through the Not Registered for GST Spreadsheet. But I will still be touching on the BAS spreadsheet throughout the video....

And I look forward to teaching you bookkeeping, budgeting, how to set up your business bank accounts, how to pay yourself out of your business and other things that you really need to know to meet your tax obligations as the owner of your beautiful brand.

I look forward to seeing you inside "How To Do Bookkeeping The Easy Way, Part 2b".