A Blueprint for Success - An Interview with Tamra Marie Armstrong

Your advice is to over-deliver and then someone will over-deliver for you! Thank you for the valuable suggestions for our audience!

The road towards establishing a business can be bumpy and confusing, especially for new entrepreneurs. Passion and the drive to succeed are the sparks that ignite the entrepreneurial fire, but a road map is essential to sustain the flame. A strategic business manager can help a business owner chart out his or her goals and help you see them through until your business is up and running. Tamra Armstrong has all the know-how to help fulfill entrepreneurial goals and let them soar high above your imagination. 

She is the owner and sole proprietor of TM management, a strategic business management company in Norwin, California. She is a Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) and business strategist, and an aspiring author as well. Tamra is not only a highly motivated and capable strategist but is also committed to helping non-profits and small businesses reach their ultimate potential. She has also recently been offered a membership to the prestigious invitation-only Young Entrepreneur Council that is in partnership with the Forbes Business Council.  

Strategy is very vast in general, and it involves a myriad of factors and situations. As business owners, we over-simplify it or over-complicate it. Strategy is literally taking your business and defining your goals and figuring out a plan to get to them. That’s strategy in its simplest form.

2. So, explain to us - who needs the services of strategic business management?

Every single business needs this service, and if you don’t hire out, you should seek out ways to do it on your own. If you don’t have or know what goals to define or if you have defined goals but don’t know how to get to those goals - you’re going to be stuck. The best thing to do is to have someone help you define your goals or have your own goals set. When business owners have their goals set, strategic business managers make sure that those goals are the best for the time, business, sector, and market - so that you are going to be the best you can be in your market.

3. So the very beginning of a business is not the time to get cheap and not get somebody to help you. Is that what I hear you saying, Tamra?

It is. I can’t all the way say that though, because I am an avid DIY individual and as an entrepreneur, you get into the DIY mode anyway. There is so much information out there on the internet for you to do it yourself. However, it behooves you to seek out a professional. That’s because professionals know what they are doing. The second reason is that as an entrepreneur you are doing so many other things to make sure your business is alive, so this is something you can outsource to someone else. So yes, I think you can go the cheap route, but I would not advise it.

4. I wouldn’t advise it either! So hypothetically, say a client comes to you and says I’m going to write this book or write a blog and don’t know anything about how to start a business. So could you take us through what it looks like to work with you on that level?

We start by looking at the core of a business strategy. At its bare minimum, there are three factors to consider. Number one - we need to determine your ideal customer. You can create a marketing persona that is your perfect customer. Personas can be specific or laid back depending on your market. Secondly, you want to look at choosing the correct value proposition that differentiates your product and services from others. It could be a tedious or process to do on your own. I encourage you to get a friend or mentor to bounce ideas off of. If you don’t have those, we are available. It takes a while to study the market and competition and figure out your niche. The last factor you want to think about is deciding how to deliver your value proposition better than your competition. 

5. So, let us know how a person wants to get in touch with you?

You just need to go to my website tmanages.com, and from there you can fill out a form to get in contact with me.

6. I’m just wondering that if someone is in business for five or ten years and things are going sluggish for him or her - is that person at liberty to reach out to you?

Absolutely, you can be at the very beginning, on the middle or a veteran in any industry. The reason that strategic business management lasts for the life of an industry is because of the constantly changing market, people and trends, and ways of marketing. Different apps are created daily, and the economy is a huge factor as well. Strategy is not something that you pick up in the beginning or middle and then you’re done - it is ever-evolving.

7. As a leader in your industry, if you could go back to the very beginning of your career, then what are the two things you would change and why?

If I can go back to the beginning I would change and increase the amount of networking that I had done. I mean viable professional relationships. Secondly, I would keep my clients’ wants and needs at the forefront. At the core, entrepreneurship should embody being the servant of your client. What I’m finding is that the more I give, the more respect I get and the more relationships I get to build with my clients. It is extremely rewarding because money cannot buy the feeling you get when you over-satisfy a client. So I would say just have the heart of a servant. 

Your advice is to over-deliver and then someone will over-deliver for you! Thank you for the valuable suggestions for our audience!

Tamra Armstrong says that every business smart needs a strategic business manager. You can grow and propel your profits upwards as well with the sharp and focused outlook that Tamra has outlined. She has built a successful career in strategic planning and does not hesitate to help business owners at different stages to kick-start their company or break out of a stagnant phase. In a nutshell, Tamra’s successful business-building advice is to plan the work and then work the plan!