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This is a question that many people struggle with when trying to launch their businesses. In this post, I will show you how to conduct market research and get the information you need to make informed decisions about your business. How to learn who your target audience for your business is and what they want? This is a question that many people struggle with when trying to launch their businesses. In this post, I will show you how to conduct market research and get the information you need to make informed decisions about your business. 1. Research is Essential What Is Market Research? Market research is an investigation into who your target audience is, what they want and how much they are willing to pay for it. It also includes an analysis of competitors' prices and products as well as a look into trends that could affect your business in the future. Why Do You Need To Conduct Market Research? Knowing who you are targeting for your business and knowing what they want is important because it saves you time and money from trying to sell something no one wants or needs. -Knowing what competitors are charging for their products or services, as well as how much profit they are making allows you to adjust your prices accordingly so that you can compete with them successfully. How To Conduct Market Research? My top recommendation for beginning researching your specific trends for your business is to start with secondary data, this would include data gathered from your geo-location, economic trends, infostructure information, and current spending habits from citizens in your location, whether online or virtual. Then push further with researching where your business/business idea stands in the current market, this is part of the SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats) or the CREST analysis (Competition, Regulatory, Economy, Social, Technology). This requires researching different keywords and longtail keywords, listening to word of mouth in your community, and being open-minded. After gaining your secondary research, you can begin by collecting primary data. This is classified as data that is yours and specific to your situation. A great way to begin is either through word of mouth, if you have a customer or a potential customer ask them questions about what they value, what they wish to see, what they didn't like, and what they did like. It doesn't have to be complicated! To gain a more thorough understanding, however, I personally enjoy creating surveys or Google Forms, there easy to create and allow you to have a straightforward visual of how people are responding to the questions. You can make as many questions as you like, and with a variety of different forms but remember to be concise and limit the number of questions to ensure people won't feel overwhelmed and stop halfway. 2. Target Market = Consumer Persona Consumer persona is incredibly helpful in understanding who your target customer is but digging deeper to understand what makes them click. The persona begins with understanding your target market, a group or segment of customers that have similar characteristics that are most likely to buy your product or service. Target Market There are four major components to figuring out your target market: Geographic: The location(s), whether it's a storefront or online only. Demographic: Family size, religion, gender, age, ethnicity, education, income, and job. Psychographic: Lifestyle, personality, values, interests, goals, opinions, and attitudes. Behavioral: Purchasing Behavior, occasion-based behavior, purchase reasoning, customer loyalty. And I personally always add the additional category of media habits due to the importance of understanding where to advertise to connect with that target market most effectively. Media Habits: What platforms do they use (Facebook, TikTok, email, radio), when do they consume most of their media, are they part of community groups, etc. Once you understand this plus combining your primary and secondary data you'll be able to mix hypothesis with fact. Which in return will provide a thorough basis to do your marketing, however, the longer you do business and the more you listen you can fine-tune the target market till you see it best fit. Consumer Persona In this step, you combine your data and target market into a semi-fictional consumer. It may sound odd, but it's done by companies around the world so be sure to not skip this part. There are platforms that help you create the consumer persona, such as Hootsuite, which is very helpful and a time saver. The above examples of personas were produced by MyInternetScout.com. As you can see from the example provided, you're creating a story of the customer to understand them better. By understanding who they are you can understand what would appeal most to them, what time is the best to send out a newsletter, what style they enjoy, or what they value most. By understanding these factors you can create better promotions, social media content, website experience, color, and branding experience, and more. Ideally, by starting with research and taking the time to analyze the target market you'll be able to make a customer persona, that will help you twice fold in connecting and making more valuable relationships with your customers.

It can feel incredibly daunting to understand where you fit in the world, what you can provide or change to make the world a better place, or find a career that not only pays well but will be something you are excited to do every day and be passionate about. I was in the same situation, feeling lost and confused while trying to discover what to pursue as a career and in my life. In today's blog topic, we are going to explore different questions, suggestions, and ideas to leave you with a new perspective on finding the answers to your question. Let's begin 1. What Are You Passionate About? This may sound simple, but really dig deep to understand what you are passionate about and question it! For example, for myself, this was a tough question because I had so many passions that excited me from cooking, arts, business, and psychology but when I stopped with that I didn't get any resolution of what this would mean as a career. So, diving deeper into why I love those things is key. Since I loved being creative and thinking outside the box, I realized that meant doing the same job day in would likely become very tedious for me because I would likely crave more variety in my career, that's when I discovered Marketing and realized I could mix creativity, psychology side, and business side together. So push further into your passions and understand why those are important to you, this will begin the elimination of certain jobs that totally do not work for you. 2. Are You a People-Person or Do You Enjoy Working Alone? Do you crave social interaction? Then working in an office cubical by yourself all day may not be up your alley. Introverts, extroverts, and ambiverts have their own specialties and disadvantages to certain professions, take some time to learn which you are. 3. Take The Time To Work And Volunteer At Different Jobs After I graduated from high school with zero clue about what I should pursue, so I started working different part-time and full-time jobs. With each job, you gain you’ll learn something about yourself, what you like and dislike, what you are good at, and what you need extra time specializing in. Don’t dread working at different jobs during this stage each job you’ll be able to take away a skill and lesson that will help you realize what you want. 4. Figure Out What Are Your Naturally Strong Points and Weakness Although, It's wise to work on your weakness, don’t ignore what you are naturally more inclined at, it's a strength for a reason, so find careers that need that strength. For instance, I have never been great with math, therefore, I knew I would never want to pursue a degree in something like accounting. Take a moment to think about what you have been able to pick up quickly whether a physical skill or technical specialization. It’s also important to note that these strengths don’t have to be hard skills like coding, or being a personal trainer, but can be soft skills too. Business requires a strong aptitude for soft skills just if not more than hard skills. So don't discredit your soft skills either, especially if you're just starting out these are great additions to highlight on your resume. 5. Take Courses Online That You Think Could Be A Potential Career Pathway Take advantage of free or affordable priced courses online in subjects that interest you, no matter your age you can always learn something new, and if you are stuck in finding a career pathway using these tools will give you a realistic idea of what the professionals in that field need to know and do in their work day. 6. You Don’t Have To Be Locked Down To One A lot of the stress you gain from finding a career to pick is thinking that you stuck with that decision for the rest of your life but that simply isn’t the case, so don't fret you have unlimited opportunities if you look outside the box. Don’t worry about being locked down to one career, many career pathways have educational requirements that can be used in different fields, also. For my marketing degree, I learned business, finances, economics, and more, all these specializations would allow me to go from a market focus job to somewhere in between.

Confidence is what everyone, whether they admit it or not strives for. Confidence is the key to bringing and accepting challenges, love, new adventures, happiness, and more into your life. However, many of us struggle to love ourselves and have the confidence to speak our opinions in a crowded room. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school that my mindset shifted, and it was the first step to gaining the confidence I have now. Let’s dive into these quintessential confidence-building steps that will skyrocket your confidence and make you feel like the ultimate badass in the room. 1. Rethink What Confidence Is To You What is your goal for growing your confidence, the finish line, so to speak, which you would want to become one day? Each person has a unique perspective of what confidence is to them, take some time to discover what yours is. Take inspiration from confident women around the world, make a vision board, research the traits that make those people confident, and try emulating those traits to see if they work for you too. The goal is to encourage your self-confidence to grow but not to change. 2. Praise Yourself The Way You To Others It's important to take pride in who you are and what you accomplished. When I was struggling with my confidence I would stand in front of a mirror and take a close look at myself and force myself to say positive compliments about myself, what I achieved, what I went through and overcame, my physical appearance, and my personality. As simple as this may sound it was a big step in pushing my confidence to the next level once I believed and was happy to do the exercise. Remember to say the statements out loud with conviction! It's more about seeing how great you are without having to need compliments or acceptance from others. 3. Give Yourself Love & Pamper Yourself Me time is important for your mental health, physical health, and finding balance in your life. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing make time in your day or week to ensure you make time for it. It's a great feeling to make time for what makes you happy, and gaining confidence comes down to allowing yourself to be first. So put on that movie and get your favorite bottle of wine because it's time to set at least thirty minutes a day for yourself, even if you are busy you deserve it! 4. Gain New Hobbies & Skills 5. Push Yourself Outside Your Comfort Zone True change comes from pushing yourself and trying new things, unfortunately, staying at your comfort level doesn't push you to become the person you wish you could be. Take small steps to push yourself from joining a dance class, or talking to someone new, and figure out where you could take that leap. It won't be easy but it will be rewarding. 6. Tune Out The Haters At the end of the day, no one is focusing on your mistakes, awkward moments, or crazy hair day. People are so wrapped up in their own woes that all of our worries about fitting in are more of an internal affair rather than an external one. Focus on loving yourself, pushing yourself, and making small steps to self-love and total confidence.

Stop, breathe, and imagine your life in a new perspective: healthy, happy, positive, fruitful, loving, and everything else you desire. Now, how to bridge the gap between what you have now and your current reality? I wish you all the best in 2023 and hope some of these tips will help you live your best life too. Stop The Negativity That You Have Control Of Negativity is draining and toxic to our mental and physical health. Taking the time to understand where, what, and who sources your daily negativity is the first step to understanding what you can control. As harsh as it may sound, you need to do what's right for you and your health, which may mean eliminating your involvement or walking away completely. Take the leap of faith and do what’s best for you. 2. Meditate I'm definitely guilty about not practicing meditation regularly, but when I do, I feel refreshed and ready for whatever comes my way, sound dramatic? Give it a try and see if mediation is right for you. Taking time away from your busy day to focus on your breathing, mindset, and affirmational thinking can be very beneficial to add to your routine this new year. 3. Workout Everyone knows exercise is good for you, but did you know it releases Endorphins, chemical compounds that help you focus and improve energy and mood in just five minutes? I love implementing weight training throughout my week because it feels so empowering. Try adding a daily walk to your routine or pump some weights to see a difference! 4. Set Time To Do What You Love Enjoy some self-care time by doing activities throughout the week that you can look forward to, whether you love spa nights or hiking on the weekend. Make those moments count by allowing yourself to indulge in yourself and forgetting about the to-do list waiting for you, being present in those moments meant for yourself is also very important. Don’t deprive yourself of what makes you happy. 5. Ask Yourself, What Do I Want? At a young age, we get used to being told what to do rather than what we want to do, whether from school, work, or chores. However, as we mature it gets increasingly more important to have moments when you are vulnerable with yourself to ensure what you're doing consciously or subconsciously through the days or weeks is adding up to what you want in life. Take the time to be sure that your habits, hobbies, activities, perspectives, and goals all align with who you want to become and the dreams you aspire to create in life. 6. Appreciate The Little Things More often than not, we become guilty of being fixated on what we don’t have versus everything we do have. Write a list of everything that you're appreciative of in your life, whether tangible or intangible, and you will realize you have so much to be happy for. Changing your mindset to focus on the positive is a critical step in finding a life of abundance because you are focusing on the treasures you already have. 7. Say One Positive For Every Negative Thing You Say How often do you catch yourself or maybe someone you know being negative? Try this new trick next time to refocus; every time you say or think something negative, you have to come up with one positive thing to say in return. You’ll find it’s very hard to be negative while saying something uplifting. 8. Surround Yourself With The Ones You Love Don’t fall into the trap of wanting to be liked by many. Instead, focus on finding relationships that go beyond the surface level, by surrounding yourself with people who care about you and will invest in you when you need it most. Being in an uplifting environment where you can rely on your friends, family, and loved ones is the ultimate way to create abundance in your life. Takeaway: