What's the difference between a start-up small-business entrepreneur and a job seeker?

A job seeker is looking for only one customer.

Otherwise, the processes are almost identical.

I realized this when I was simultaneously providing consulting services to both an entrepreneur and a job seeker. I was going through the same steps with each of them in their different contexts. The only difference seemed to be the vocabulary.

Your Job-Seeking Business Strategy

Start thinking of yourself as an "interim entrepreneur."

Every start-up business should have a business strategy. There are two major purposes:

1. To crystallize the thinking of the entrepreneur and communicate a consistent strategy that everyone involved in the venture can understand and follow.

2. To get financing from banks, private investors or venture capitalists.

You'll need a job-seeking business strategy. It should answer questions such as:

• What "business" are you in?

• What products or services are you selling?

• What markets are you selling your services to?

• What price are you charging for your services?

• What is your destination and how will you get there?

• What are the reasons you will succeed in your new job?

The answers to these questions should be documented in a strategy statement. Although it usually appears at the beginning of a business plan, it's written only after you've done your research. The strategy statement combines the results of your:

• cataloging of your products and services,

• market research,

• analysis of the total compensation package, and

• personal vision and mission statement.

In its final form, the strategy statement comprises a summary statement, a summary of the characteristics of your target market, and your "unique selling proposition."

Open your strategy statement with a brief summary regarding what business you're in. This summary statement should sell you. It also should clearly tell recruiters and employers how you'd succeed for them. It can be adapted for use as the career summary on your resume and for your "elevator speech."

To write a market characteristics statement, you must answer several similar questions about the employment markets you're targeting. At this stage of your planning, look at them from a bird's-eye view rather than in specific terms:

• What is the growth potential of your market?

• What kinds of prospective employers do you plan to target?

• What are the chief characteristics of your prospective employers?

Your Unique Selling Proposition

The right job has a great fit between a prospective employer's specific needs and what you do best. That's your "unique selling proposition."

Determine the answers to the following questions to describe your unique selling proposition:

• To what extent and in what ways is the market competitive in your field?

• How do the services you offer differ from those of competing candidates?

• Why would your prospects hire you instead of your competitors?

• What are the gaps needed to be filled in your market? Can you offer new services that employers need but can't find candidates to provide?

• What are the reasons you'll succeed in this business?

• What are the biggest benefits to prospective employers of your services?

• How will you make prospective employers more profitable or effective?

• What is there about you that would appeal to the prospective employers on an emotional level?

• What are your strengths and weaknesses for the job you're seeking? What should you do, if anything, to overcome the weaknesses? Alternatively, what kinds of jobs or employers should you avoid so that the weaknesses do not matter or may even be strengths?

Your Business Plan

Combine your three statements to create a business plan. Refine the elements by adjusting them to conform to your findings in the others. For example, you'll probably have to change your catalog of achievements as you do your market research and marketing and sales, and vice versa. You'll probably adjust your personal priorities as you clarify your markets and targets.