I recently launched a bricks and mortar venture in Halifax, NS, called platform space- flexible workspace for small and medium businesses and mobile professionals (www.platformspace.com). We have now been open for six weeks and things are going really well. We have five of our six offices rented and a growing list of hot-desking members and event rentals booking into the month of May. We are doing, on average, fifteen to twenty tours a week for government officials, media, potential clients and curious bystanders.

I am, to say the least, a bit incredulous over the number two question I get asked time and time again (the number one question for those of you who are curious is where we bought our lights!). Everyone wants to know HOW ARE YOU SOOO BUSY IN THE FIRST MONTH??

My truthful answer often leaves people unsatisfied- they are looking for our magic formula to business development that MUST be complicated and involve HUGE expenditures on print ads, social media and the like.

Here it is plain and simple…we started our business development campaign four months before our doors opened. We created the right messages and delivered it to the right niche markets. We had a lot of coffee dates (and I mean A LOT) and followed up with our potential clients until they had ALL of the information they needed to make an educated decision if our service was right for them. We then had more coffee dates. We met with the organizations that supported our niche markets so they understood our vision. We created a program (called our Founding Member Program) to allow early adopters to benefit from significant cost savings. We engaged these founding members on social media and they were tweeting ten times more than we were about platform before we even opened our doors.

January was a busy month- admittedly I haven’t had as much coffee as I had been- which is probably why Office #6 still isn’t rented. Guess what our marketing plan is for the next six months? You got it. More coffee.

Entrepreneurs need to be relentless in their early years of a business. It truly needs to be a labor of love and time, but not necessarily money. Whether you are a start-up, a seasoned business or a corporate mom with an entrepreneurial flair take a minute to see how many coffee dates YOU have had in the past month with prospective clients. Multiply that number by 10 and that gives you the number of java dates you need to have next month. Starbucks will be happy as will your bank account!

Have a success story in business you want to share? Email me at tasha@momcafenetwork.com

Tasha Richard of Halifax, Nova Scotia is the owner and CEO of momcafé Network Inc., a Business Advisor with Ghost CEO (www.ghostceo.com) and co-owner of the newest professional space and community in Halifax called platform (www.platformspace.com). Before becoming a serial entrepreneur, Tasha worked corporately managing multi-million dollar brands with Johnson and Johnson while building expertise in advertising, sponsorship and integrated event activations. Tasha’s addiction to business coincides with her addiction to her family of three kids, two dogs and one husband!