How to Decide on an Online Platform
Part 3 of 4: Choose to Be Comfortable
by Case Lane
When choosing to launch an online business, you do not want to be phony.
In fact, you are told must be authentic.
Except there’s the conflict. You are being told you MUST be authentic, under the assumption that everyone knows what authentic is.
At the same time that people claim you must be authentic, they also claim you should make videos, or send email, or start a podcast or dance on Tik-Tok.
Aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start a business, and attract an audience, but are turned off by the so-called ‘authentic’ things everyone is saying to do, need an alternative for appearing on an online platform.
The best bet is to pick the space where you are most comfortable.
What is an Online Platform?
Your online platform is the Internet space where you have your online presence – the basis for your business.
Bloggers have a website, podcasters appear in directories, vloggers post YouTube videos. Social media influencers dominate on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter.
You decide which one works best for you by deciding first which form of public expression suits your preferences.
A Presence You Own and Defend
A while back, in Hollywood, one of my colleagues once told me about this incredible idea one of the senior executives had that would change the industry.
My colleague was prone to exaggeration about a senior executive’s idea…especially if it could lead to career advancement. But the executive in question was more qualified than most, and had a solid reputation.
The idea could have been great…
….but, it was terrible.
And to my surprise I told my colleague exactly what I thought of the idea. I reacted against character because I felt passionate about the subject, and had a strong opinion of its viability.
The decision whether the idea would be implemented was not mine to make, but the opinion was definitely mine to express.
The defense of your own approach is even more pronounced online.
Model Your Own Instincts
When you see people online in your target industry acting all the same – being cutesy, dancing, giving shoutouts, swearing and hollering….
You might think that’s how you have to behave to win over people in your potential community.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs imitate successful people because they believe the success can be directly copied.
But that approach rarely works.
There is already a successful person being the original version of who you want to be, so a fake version has a limited chance.
Often a new entrepreneur does not want to behave like the successful person. But does it under the mistaken belief that the community will only respond to the questionable behavior.
However, since you are passionate about your product and service, and turned off by the presentation of the existing leaders in your field, then you may have an opportunity with other members of the community who feel as you do.
No doubt your niche has specific approaches to ensure you are seen by your community, and are communicating your message effectively, but you can modify your approach to ensure you are comfortable, and therefore authentic in your presentation.
If you see a successful person in your industry who is a blogger, but you hate writing, you can either do something else, or outsource the writing to someone else.
Remember, online your marketplace is the entire world. There is likely a community that would appreciate receiving your product or service in a form that it is not currently presented.
For example, today almost every book is released in digital, print and audio formats. Not to mention those that may eventually be made into a movie or show.
The reason you can keep releasing the same story in different forms is because different people want to absorb the same story in the format they prefer.
Select Your Platform Preference
You can deliver your product or service offering on exactly the platform that you prefer.
You have to decide where you add value, and how you want to contribute based on your expertise and skills.
You can also look at your niche the same way. Test the approaches you prefer, and measure your community’s response.
For example, professional NFL football has one community of beer-drinking, screaming, face painters…and another of statistics and analysis geeks from analytics professors and statisticians to college students and the curious who discuss the probabilities of certain plays, moves and scores in every scenario.
The business of data is data tables, analysis apps, fantasy football instruction manuals, courses on how to understand the game, blog, podcast, affiliate for clothes, gear, and food…and more.
You can approach your own passion in your niche in any direction you choose, and find your community wherever they may be hiding.
You can write, talk, film, teach, dance or holler…
Practically everyone is on the Internet, and everyone is looking for their preferred approach to education, information and entertainment.
There is no competition and all fields are wide open because people are constantly searching for their preferences.
When you go online with your business idea. You can deliver as you see fit.
That’s the incredible opportunity that exists in the online space today. And you have the opportunity of a lifetime to take advantage of it.
For the next article: Click Here for Part 4 of 4: How Dominate Your Niche of Niches
ENJOY LIVE CLASSES?
Case Lane is delivering a FREE WEBINAR: How to Start an Online Business With An Idea You Champion!
Thursday 10 am PST via Zoom
WANT TO READ THE BOOK?
Get a FREE Summary of Case Lane’ new book Recast: The Aspiring Entrepreneur’s Prep Guide to Starting An Online Business
Click this link to get your summary and early bird notice of the book’s release.
What is an Aspiring Entrepreneur?
The two words ‘aspiring entrepreneur’ have their roots in Latin.
Aspire comes from aspirare – ad- ‘to’ + spirare ‘breathe’. The root of the English word ‘aspire’ is to breath. Yet we have come to associate aspire with ambition, dreaming and hoping for an accomplishment.
The idea of being aspirational often refers to the indefinite, those with their head in the clouds. In fact, we even say lofty heights of buildings are aspiring into the sky.
Image by Daniel Reche from Pixabay
A word meaning breathing, the act we need for life, has ended up as a reference to lofty dreams that can be celebrated or ignored. From a root tied to actually staying alive, we have derived a hopeful sensibility to achieve something you desire.
The word entrepreneur, comes from the French, entreprendre which means to undertake. The Latin root is prendere, which means to take.
Would this mean the term ‘aspiring entrepreneur’ refers to a breathing taker – or the breather who seeks to undertake?
Two Words for One Intention
A friend of mine once told me he studied Latin to avoid needing a dictionary. When you look up words, you often find the Latin root, which if you know the definition, means you can define the word.
When it comes to the concept of an aspiring entrepreneur, the Latin root appears to betray a less serious qualifier on the action-oriented French intention ‘to undertake.’
Maybe aspiration alone is not enough.
Entrepreneurs also need ambition, drive and perseverance.
The aspiring entrepreneur who ‘undertakes’ is more likely to transform dreams into actual action. A fact which brings the term ‘aspiring entrepreneur’ full circle.
The entrepreneur part of an aspiring entrepreneur undertakes to get things done. The aspiration part is knowing you can make it happen. The dreaming – breathing part of the definition is the vision needed to ensure a business idea gets into the global marketplace.
An aspiring entrepreneur, who stays aspiring, is the ‘almost’ entrepreneur who has not yet found a path to business success that will work. To get beyond aspiring that entrepreneur has to keep going until the correct road is identified.
Follow Examples
In Wild Company, Mel and Patricia Ziegler’s awesome book about building the Banana Republic stores, they knew they wanted to have a business even if they did not have a specific idea which one. They went out looking for a business that would work for them.
The titans of the early 20th century like Rockefeller capitalized on opportunities they saw growing around them in new technologies for steel and oil.
The titans of the 21st century like Jeff Bezos used the capabilities of technology and the reach of the Internet to build new businesses.
Are You Aspiring?
An entrepreneur who has yet to create a business must decide if activities reflect: Continuous aspiring? Searching for visible opportunities? Or preparing to create something new?
Begin first by considering where you have been. What makes you believe you are an entrepreneur? If it’s the idea that you want to have your own business, that you have a product or service you believe could be of value, or you know you want an independent professional life, then you are set. You are already in the entrepreneurial space.
If you want to be an entrepreneur for the ‘bling’, the money, house, car and publicity, but you do not have a valuable product or service attached to your vision, then you may be stuck in aspiration for some time to come.
It is much easier to pursue your dream and work on it every day, if you believe in it and you care about results and the outcome. You have a great chance to actually have a business if your passion for your product or service is also the fuel that prompts you to put the time and money in to making the passion a business.
It is a lot harder to commit to a plan if you really just see it as a ticket to…nowhere.
Actions for Moving Beyond Aspiration
To get beyond aspiring, make a commitment to a business idea that you can move forward into a business.
Take the time to research your idea, find your niche and community.
Determine where you can add value, and the product or service needs of the community.
And put your research in to action.
Forever aspiring means never doing.
You want to see the results of your dream not just having the dream.
An aspiring entrepreneur is the person who focuses on the hope and dream of entrepreneurship. You can start aspiring, but must transition to actual action to be considered an entrepreneur.
Summary: To Transition to Action:
- Research your idea – determine who wants or needs the product or service you would like to offer
- Talk to people who have done it before
- Identify the value you can add – your niche
- Put your research into action
Take your vision past aspiration, and on to implementation.
Disclosure: Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. I earn for eligible purchases at no additional cost to you.
by Case Lane
Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs have a long, dynamic impact on the economy, and society in general. If you look at the great grand inventions like electricity and automobiles and planes – you can quickly conclude that entrepreneurs are basically indispensable to progress.
Now as our society evolves and changes with technology, what is the role of entrepreneurs?
In the documentary, Consume this Movie, they put the transition of human labor like this: when human beings first became settled around farms, they traded with each other using barter – you do something for me, I’ll do something for you and it’s even.
When cities were formed the farmers could sell their goods – grain, fruits and vegetables to the city dwellers and buy stuff they need for the farm – equipment, tools, implements – goods for goods on an individual basis.
When the industrial age came around, large groups of people left the farm and gave their time and their labor in exchange for money, they earned in large organized industrial enterprises which required concentrations of labor at a time so you traded – time for dollars.
Now in the technological age, we have a new trade going on for human brainpower – information, knowledge and how-tos. Which means entrepreneurs are among the best positioned people to take advantage of this evolution. Because 21st century entrepreneurs like you are all about the application of knowledge, and the distribution of information.
Are you ready to be part of the Brainpower Age?
The brainpower required in the digital age means that instead of needing to have a certain type of body to do a job, you need to have a certain type of mind. One that can think and produce results through your ability to analysis and act.
An entrepreneur is a brainpower person regardless of the type of product or service you are delivering to the global marketplace. You have to figure out first where you can add value. This requires observation, contemplation and curiosity about the opportunities around you.
As an aspiring entrepreneur, the Digital Age is a set-up that’s tailor-made for your chosen pursuit. Since you are already that person who is looking at the world critically and looking for opportunities. You are not just going passively go through life. Even when you may be working at your 9-to-5 or studying in school, you are actively looking at the world, and wondering where you can make your contribution.
This constant firing of your brainpower eventually leads to a spark that creates a business that provides a solution for those who want or need your product or service offering.
The evolution of our labor force towards a more knowledge-based individual is sweeping you up from your position as an entrepreneur. This inevitability is exciting and loaded with possibility. The knowledge you gain building your business can translate across other enterprises.
Many entrepreneurs do not build just one business, so your brainpower skills, the successes and challenges, are continuously worthwhile in an advanced economy.
Some may believe the Brainpower Age is going to limit the majority of humans from finding productive employment because, unlike during the agrarian and industrial ages, the thinking you have to do requires analysis that people do not typically use.
Without an education system that encourages analytical thinking, many people will rise to adulthood and not be able to cope with the demands of the tech age.
The transition has already begun, but it’s important to understand, the current lapse is not a permanent state. The education system just happens to be behind the times, eventually people will catch up.
The Tech Age is Designed for Entrepreneurs
For entrepreneurs, technology is actually designed to allow thinking people to participate in the new economy without having to code. How often do you see new software that specifically says – no coding required.
Living in the Brainpower Age is not an untouchable reality if you are not an engineer or computer programmer. You can take advantage of online tools by learning how to use them, or you can use online services to outsource to another individual who is willing and capable of doing the work.
In all cases, you are participating as an entrepreneur in this economy because you are thinking for yourself, and developing your contribution based on your own analysis. What makes you part of this evolution is your ability to look at the world differently – and to act on what you see.
Take Action
As Tony Robbins says – knowledge is not power, execution is power. You have the knowledge when you see opportunity that you can develop as an entrepreneur. But you become an entrepreneur when you execute on that knowledge and build your business.
And you execute really well, when you use existing technology resources to make your business move forward. You can get your landing page or website up and be doing business all over the world without being a computer programmer. But you do have to know and understand how to use the software tools that are available.
The difference for today’s entrepreneur is you have to be willing to adapt and experiment even with established software because there are so many features available. Microsoft Office products have been around for 35 years, which is amazing – and although there are tens of millions of people who use its core products like Word and Excel – there are probably not more than a handful, if any, who know what all the features are.
You, as an aspiring entrepreneur, take the features that are of interest to you, and adapt them to your business. You can share documents across borders, and people do not need an explanation of how to use the features either. Everything is just available.
In my fiction books, in the Life Online series, which take place in the near future are about global cyber threats. But the underlying societal situation involves a world where most people are docilely functioning under an omnipresent Network, and thinking people like entrepreneurs are taking advantage of technology to give themselves a better life.
You want to be using your brainpower to ensure you capture the gains of tech change and minimize the losses.
Summary: Your Opportunity as an Entrepreneur in the Digital Age
- We are past the time when you bartered and traded your production equally with someone else
- We are past the time when you produced goods with your labor and sold them for goods that others produced
- We are past the time when you traded your hours for dollars in organized industrial enterprises
- Now is the time you can use your brain to create from your imagination, observation and analysis, a valuable product or service that you can deliver directly to those who want or need it
- As an entrepreneur today, you are participating in the evolution of the labor force and society by being someone who is actively not only observing, but also taking action
- You provide value through thinking and organizing knowledge in a way that people want and need to absorb it
- And you create a community, tied to your vision and your brainpower
Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links which earn for eligible purchases, at no additional cost to you.
How to Gently Dump Someone so You can Get On with Your New Business
by Case Lane
Ending a relationship is never an easy conversation. But it’s necessary.
A bad boyfriend or girlfriend needs to be removed so you can move on and find someone new. Ending a marriage is more dramatic and typically requires third parties to finish the process, but the reasoning is the same – both sides must be permitted to move on.
But when it comes to toxic friends and family, many aspiring entrepreneurs remain aspiring because you feel obligated to remain among those you have always have in your life. Even when you have made an effort to improve your personal development or began researching how to execute on your business idea, you play along to get along with the people who are in your life.
Define ‘why’
You want to start your own business and spend time on the product or service idea you have developed, but maybe you are married, or with someone or have other family obligations, or a lot of friends who expect you at parties and events, or you feel you must be wherever they are.
That’s your first mistake. You are holding yourself back. By discovering and reading this article, you have already declared your intention to start your own business. If the people around you do not want to move forward to the next level, you need to breakoff the relationship.
But how do you get away…gently?
Consider dumping toxic people – your friends, maybe your family too, and definitely your colleagues at work – is all for a good cause, your personal lifelong dream to start your own business.
Identify your Supporters
You don’t have to dump anyone if they are all on your side. But unfortunately for many aspiring entrepreneurs no one is cheering them on. And to break away and really do what you want to do, you have to practice some tough love.
Recognize Your Contribution
You have done everything you were supposed to do – college, professional life, family relationships, and connection with friends. You do everything the way you’re supposed to do it – you go to every birthday party and wedding, you ‘like’ every Facebook post, you stay on the phone for an hour, or more while someone goes on about some guy who just left or the girl who just showed up – and that’s your life.
At work, you attend all the right meetings, fill out the mandated reports, and smile politely and engage in idle chatter with everyone with a title.
But during those birthday parties, and phone conversations and meetings, you are thinking about your business idea, marketing for the product or service, plans for your website – and you find that thinking along those lines makes you happier than the other activities.
But you feel guilty. After all, you have dutifully gone along with all the friends and family and colleague rituals for years. You’ve laughed, cried and hugged everyone. No one would ever suspect that the whole time, you were trying to figure out how to gracefully dump everyone so you could concentrate on the real passion of your life.
Recognize Your Actions
Every day you think about your business, you also feel more and more drawn to getting started. You listen to the Ready Entrepreneur podcast, read books about entrepreneurs, and research your business idea and target industry.
In fact, in reading books about entrepreneurs, you notice a common pattern. The most successful people never settle for ‘regular’ lives. They were able to roll right into starting their own business without holding back and clinging to all those old relationship ties.
The 19th century moguls – Carnegie and Morgan – were all business, all the time. Bill Gates dropped out of college to go work on his business, so did Mark Zuckerberg. Patricia and Mel Ziegler who founded Banana Republic were both working at a newspaper and left together to start their business. Sir Richard Branson was always involved in some entrepreneurial venture right out of school.
So it seems at least as the writers tell the story, these famous entrepreneurs never had to figure out a way to sneak away. In fact, from the beginning they found friends who were also business partners, like Gates and Paul Allen, and built their business together.
So what should you do?
Strategies for Gently Dumping People from Your Life
One huge caveat: people who are married or who have minor children will probably not be able to just walk away, and should to reach an amicable solution with those to whom they are legally obligated.
For aspiring entrepreneurs who are trying to gently remove people from their present lives who do not reflect their future, your task is going to be to take these strategies and wedge them into your life.
Communicate
You do not owe everyone an explanation, but there may be people in your life who you are particularly active with and therefore you need to explain what you are doing when you decide to back away.
Tell them you are starting a business and see how they react. The people who want to laugh at you or tell you you can’t do it are the first people you can walk away from without feeling guilty.
For the people who are supportive, you won’t have to worry about stepping away. They will understand.
Start Saying ‘No’
You need to start saying ‘no.‘ For once-in-a-lifetime events like weddings and funerals, you can say yes,’ especially when you know it’s easier to say ‘yes’ than to explain why you were not there.
But for the regular occurrences of parties and dinner, saying ‘no’ is going to be difficult at first. People are going to be insulted and angry by your indifference. But you have to make time for your business and for the plans you have.
Remember you are becoming an entrepreneur because you have an idea for a product or service that will add value for people who want or need your product. You are going to be helping many people with your solution. Your new community is waiting for you. If the old one does not understand, you will have to move on.
Roll out your ‘no’s’ slowly. Start with the least important events while making sure you let your existing community know you are committed to the big events.
Be Present When You Do Attend
When you are with people, be your old self. Engage with them and let them tell you their stories. Learn to be a listener. You will be attending fewer and fewer events so these few hours when you make the effort may be tedious and boring, but limited on your agenda.
At the office, focus on the work over idle gossip. Recognizing that every office is different, and the dynamics of your situation will dictate your behavior, but the idea is to use the time at the office to your advantage.
If you’re still at the office, use the time to learn as much as you can about business operations or administration that you could use in your business. Talk to people you have never spoken to about their work, and let them teach you information you can use. You can learn what not to do, and the activities you think are good or trivial.
Once you know you’re going to leave to start your own business, stop joining in the office gossip, and going out to lunch. If anyone is in your confidence, you can tell them what you’re doing, otherwise just make your excuses. Soon your colleagues will stop asking you to join them and your time will be free.
Schedule Text and Social Media Time
You are going to have to slowly wean yourself off of texting and social media with friends and family. Schedule the time when you will look at your phone for social reasons, for example at 9 am, 3 pm and 8 pm – or something similar. Turn off the buzzer on your phone, and turn off all social media notifications.
If your work and personal phone are the same, try not to look at the personal posts and emails. You will not be able to get on with your business if you are trying to get to your phone every minute.
Those closest to you will call if there is an emergency.
Summary: How to Gently Dump Someone so You can get on with Your New Business
These simple behaviors are designed to give you the time to focus on starting your business, and moving your life towards your goal of lifestyle freedom. You are doing this to have purpose and fulfillment in your life.
Some people may not support your intent, but those that do will be with you on this gloriously fun entrepreneurship journey.
- If you have already done everything you are supposed to do, then you likely have a life of family, friends and colleagues who expect you to participate in their social interactions and casual banter just when you want to work on your business
- To move away from them – communicate – with the ones closest to you so they know what you are doing
- Start saying ‘no’ to the least important events, and work your way up until you have to say ‘yes’ to the once-in-a-lifetime events
- Be present when you attend functions and events. If you still want to be with everyone, let them know you still care
- If you’re at work, use the time to understand business concepts. If appropriate, speak to people about their work to learn information you may be able to use in your business
- Say ‘no’ to gossiping and social lunches – soon your colleagues will stop asking you to join them, and it will be easier to walk away
- Schedule text and social media time, outside of work to limit the hours when you will check for texts and social media
If you implement these tips, hopefully you can have a graceful exit from the past and a triumphant entry into your new future.
Keep Your Dreams When the World Changes
by Case Lane
When the New Year’s celebrations lit up the world on January 1, 2020, most people were bracing for an exciting year. The Olympics, elections, a growing economy, lots of travel, weddings, graduations – all round celebrations and good times…just like normal.
As an aspiring entrepreneur you may have been planning your big breakthrough – the changes that would take you to the next level.
You could have guessed a financial or operational issue might have thrown you off for a day or two, but you had no reason to believe you would end up living in a completely different world.
For the first few months of 2020, as a global pandemic spread around the world, and governments made the unprecedented decision to shutdown all movement – you found yourself stuck, literally – with the greatest question of your life so far – what are you going to do next?
Lessons from 1890
Unless you are over 102 years old and remember the last global plague, you are living in a world you never knew could exist. Unlike during a war when commerce and socializing continues, this disruption has forced fundamental changes in how we live, and how we view the world.
Suddenly when all the sports activities were canceled, you could feel sorry for the athletes losing their income, but also recognize the insignificance of the game in the face of thousands dying.
When the schools were closed, you could be challenged by the idea of trying to help your kids at home, but not really aware of those who would not have your resources.
As conferences were postponed, hotels shuttered, and restaurants operating only through the delivery window, you could develop an entirely new perspective on the idea of an economy. The people you debated tipping became your lifeline.
Those with professional positions mostly went to their now at-home offices to wait out the shutdown with their families, worried only about getting enough toilet paper to last for a few weeks. But those in non-essential, non-professional positions stared at bills to pay, and promises that could not be kept, and wondered what they could do.
For the first time, the people who always work, always find a job somewhere, had nowhere to go to stay independent, self-sufficient and free.
And those deemed essential – from doctors and nurses, police and fire, to delivery drivers, mail sorters, grocery store cashiers and customer service operators – found themselves with extended hours, no breaks, no vacations, and the daily threat to their lives.
The air is cleaner, you can clearly hear birds chirping, you can ride your bicycle down Las Vegas Boulevard or the Champ d’Elysee. And yet behind closed doors, an unimaginable level of suffering has been unleashed on a population that may never recover.
The Entrepreneur’s Dilemma
So where does that leave you, the aspiring entrepreneur?
If your bold pronouncements of going your own way and starting your own business fell on skeptical ears before the pandemic, how are you sounding now? Are you afraid to face the scorn of those who told you to stop being selfish, and get a real job – if you can find one?
Are you considering making yourself essential by offering to work at a warehouse, fast food restaurant or security desk – just to participate in the greatest economic upheaval of our time? Are you afraid to mention an interest in making money, adding a new product or service to the marketplace or delivering value?
If you’re saying yes, yes, yes…ask yourself once again why you want to be an entrepreneur.
Your Dream is Alive
Your life dream to be one of the risk takers who fills a gap in the economy by working day and night to deliver value for those who want or need your product or service has not ended because of the shutdown.
Your dream cannot end. In fact, it’s the opposite. People need the ambition, drive, vision, innovation and penchant for risk that entrepreneurs deliver more than they ever have before. Can you just not feel the ringing desire for someone – anyone – to come up with better solutions to our current problems?
Who but the entrepreneur can even think about what needs to be done. The failure of government in many countries has never been more acute. And the indomitable spirit of ingenious individuals has never been more pronounced.
It is not too outrageous to claim that the global visionary thinking of entrepreneurs may just get us out of this mess. From the labs that are racing to a cure, to the retooling of factories for essential goods, to the rapid adaptation of businesses from offices to home-based, entrepreneurs the world over are looking for new and innovative ways to make this world, as it exists right now, work.
Your dream to be among the entrepreneurs actually has to be stronger than ever before, and your determination to be a person who takes risks and delivers value must be galvanized at this moment.
Your Next Act
What you need to be doing is not lamenting loss, but thinking about opportunity. And not exploitive opportunity, but real value ,and real possibilities that move the world forward.
If you are that person who has always had business ideas in your head, and you wanted others to respect your vision and plans, then show now that your desire to be an entrepreneur is not just a passing fancy where you plan on earning a million bucks, living in a mansion and driving a Rolls-Royce.
Use this time – this tough economic, social and personal time – to show that your commitment to entrepreneurship is about who you are as a person.
A person who delivers value.
A person of ideas.
A contributor.
And someone who is ready to adapt and to lead.
Use this time to improve on every level, read more, research your ideas, learn new skills, enhance your business knowledge, and be part of the solution.
This is not the time for you – the forward thinking participant in the economy – to bail out in despair. You can set the example for others by doubling down on the situation you see around you to come out stronger on the other side.
How do you keep your entrepreneurial dreams when the world changes around you?
You take action. You keep moving through your plan to create your own business. And you make it happen.
The nature of being an entrepreneur and thinking as an entrepreneur means you hang on and move forward through turbulent times.
Your vision, your ideas, your perseverance are all needed more than ever.
Find a way to contribute.
Bring your value forward.
And make your impact.
How to Get Started with No Audience or Market
If you are an aspiring entrepreneur with no friends, family or colleagues who support your idea of becoming an entrepreneur; or you have tons of friends, but all of them are only interested in partying, celebrities, sports or other things, and nobody ever wants to talk about business, how do you get your business idea out into the global marketplace?.
You may have a business idea in your head, but when you try and share your plans, you get the cold shoulder. No one is going to give you any feedback about whether or not your idea is any good. But you are ready to launch. You have a product or service you want to put out into the global marketplace, but you have no idea how to make sure your potential customers know about you.
How do you get started?
Product Launch
When you start a business you often do something called a product launch. One of the best ways to think of it, is it’s like a movie premiere. The final official launch of a new movie is a big party announcing the ‘product’ is now available for everyone to see.
If you are a billion-dollar Hollywood studio, you throw a huge bash, invite all the stars, roll out the red carpet, tell the press, and bam! your product is launched, and gets mountains of free publicity.
Publicity that comes months after – trailers, bus side posters, interviews in the press, and many other promotional activities have already taken place. If you are a Hollywood studio, you spend money to launch a product and you’re done.
How can your business idea get the red carpet treatment?
But if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur and you don’t have the multi-million dollar budget, how do you get started?
If you would like to hear these strategies, check out the Ready Entrepreneur Podcast Episode 063: How to Get Started with No Audience or Market on Apple Podcasts or wherever you enjoy your podcasts
Friends and Family
Many entrepreneur how-to gurus will tell you to start your promotion with friends and family. If you can get the people around you to try your product or service, and maybe even review it, you can easily get started with immediate feedback and ‘social proof.’
The early support is helpful and inspiring, but really only works best when friends and family are your potential community. If they’re not, the support your receive may not be genuine, as they may not be interested in contributing to your idea, or might provide a half-baked response.
Using friends and family works best for those who have strong, supportive and active friends and family. If you belong to religious groups or organizations that support individual endeavors, you can leverage those connections.
If you don’t have a supportive immediate circle, you have to think like a Hollywood studio.
Publicity
When launching a new product or service, an entrepreneur needs publicity. And you get publicity by creating a compelling story about your product or service, and then telling people who are, or can connect you with, media influencers.
There are many ways to start telling people about your product or service. Start with social media. Develop the message of your product or service and post about it on social media. Different platforms perform differently for this approach.
If you use Instagram and your product or service can be displayed in pretty pictures, then go ahead and post attractive photos. You can also use hashtags to highlight your product or service for people who are looking for something similar. Instagram works best for this because it gives you the popularity of hashtags.
Twitter works in a similar way. Sometimes people search for an idea, or phrase ,and you can lead them to your product or service if you are using a hashtag that is associated with your product or service.
If you use Facebook, you can write a detailed post, with links to your site. However, you may have a more challenging time circulating your posts to others.
If you have some friends or family who you know are not interested in your business, try and get them to circulate your message others by encouraging them to repost or pass it on to someone who may be interested.
Social media allows you to move forward if you have no other resources, and you just want to see what kind of an organic response your idea may receive from the marketplace.
Giveaways
Before a Hollywood studio releases a movie, they let a lot of people see it for free. They hope those people enjoy the movie, write reviews and spread the word to others. You can do the same with your product or service.
You can offer the product or service for free, or offer a portion of it or a companion product that prompts people to just pick up and try your idea.
Free promos have been part of the marketing playbook for years. You may already be familiar with the practice inside your local Costco. There is a reason they are giving out free samples. The store is trying to prompt the customer to buy the whole product. You can use the same tactic.
Depending on your product or service, you have to find the best place to provide your free offer. The aisles at Costco are controlled. But you may be able to find a local event or product fair that suits your style and business intent.
Online you can use tools like webinars, YouTube videos or Internet calls to provide free services that allow people to sample what you have to offer and how you deliver it.
Once you are able to obtain a potential customer’s attention through a free offer, then you have an opportunity to retain them by collecting an e-mail address, and continuing to communicate and follow-up.
Blog, Podcast or Video posts
You can also build your audience through blogging, podcasting and online videos. These platforms can be free to use, and provide you with an opportunity to present a more detailed and thoughtful message about your product or service.
Plan your ‘message’ from the perspective of the customer. What would you want to hear about a new product or service that would peak your interest and stop you in your tracks? You can write a story about your product, or the reason you decided to start your service, or a testimonial from someone else. And if you come up with a compelling idea, you may even be able to leverage other people’s audiences.
Other people’s audiences
If your idea resonates with the audience of another blogger, podcaster or vlogger, you can ask to appear on their established platform. These influencers are often looking for great new ideas for their audience. If you can present your product or service in a way that appeals to them, you may be able to ‘launch’ to an established audience.
But make sure you do your research. Do not approach influencers who have nothing to do with your product or service, or whose audiences would be completely different from your intended community. When you reach out, make sure you have something to offer that’s compelling and interesting enough for the influencer to want to present you to their community.
Most businesses began with no visible market. In fact, many aspiring entrepreneurs were told their idea would not work, and their business will not be successful.
The founding entrepreneur had to reach the people who would be interested in the product or service they had to offer. Ben and Jerry drove around selling ice-cream out of the back of their van. They took the product to the potential customers, and let them spread the word.
Summary:
- You can start your own publicity machine with family and friends if they are supportive
- If the people around you are not your intended community, reach out to social media with your messages, photos and hashtags that appeal to the people you are trying to reach
- You can giveaway your product or service in the arena that is most appropriate, whether that be at a physical event or online. Let people give your product or service a test run, and then become the testimonials for your future promotions
- Use online tools like blogging, podcasting or vlogging to create a compelling message about your product or service, and deliver it to a larger audience
- Reach out to people who have established blogs, podcasts or vlogs and let them know if you have a product or service that may be beneficial to their community. You have to show them how you provide value.
The Thing About Money
by Case Lane
One of the number one reasons aspiring entrepreneurs say they cannot start a business is because they don’t have enough money.
This thing about money is a top three excuse for not getting started. Yet 10 times out of 10, the aspiring entrepreneur who makes that statement does not know how much it would cost to bring their business idea to the global marketplace.
And 10 times out of 10 the wantrepreneur does not know how much money is actually available to them, if they were actively looking for it.
Instead, people with business ideas in their head are taking themselves out of the game before it has even started. And by putting money ahead of action, aspiring entrepreneurs are losing the life dream of running their own business.
To avoid this trip, entrepreneurs need to change their attitude about identifying startup money.
Eliminate the mental restraints
In societies that do not talk about money, many people have mental restraints around the subject. The most basic one being: don’t talk about money.
There are many reasons why people do not talk about money, but this article will purposefully ignore that history to focus on the topic.
Money is a thing of value. We use it to exchange for other things of value we want or need. It is important to our lives, it makes things run smoother, and we could always use a bit more.
Talk About Money
To start changing the rules, be willing to talk about money. And to talk about it in specifics.
As an aspiring entrepreneur with a business idea, you want to be able to state exactly how much money you will need to start your business. Not ramp-up, grow for global markets, or hire staff – but just to start.
You have decided to participate in the global economy as an entrepreneur because you have a business idea in your head, and you believe you can add value to the global marketplace. You may be a little uncertain about what being an entrepreneur means so you’ve read books and articles, and watched videos and documentaries about successful entrepreneurs.
You’ve begun to develop a mental picture of what you will need to do to join those people on the road to success.
You are ready to launch your business. What do you need to do first?
This is the point when you begin to calculate – literally – what you will need to start your business.
Start with Resources You Can See
Some of you will say – zero beyond the value of your own time.
Some businesses, specifically online businesses, can be started with no money and use free resources.
Or you may have a service to offer that you promote through social media. Sometimes you can start your business with nothing and that’s how you get going.
Others may be thinking about a brick&mortar business, like a storefront, that requires a lot more upfront capital. But how much more? You still have to figure it out.
You have to know how much money you will actually need.
The thing about money is that it’s ubiquitous, it’s always around. And the best way to get your hands on it is to make sure you are prepared when the time comes to build the business.
Of course money is important, and we all want more than we could spend in a lifetime so that we can live as comfortably as possible, and do whatever we want to do. And of course having a pile of money that lets you start any business you can dream of would be fabulous because you could experiment and play around and see what works for you.
But if that’s not an option for you, there is still no reason to believe you will not have the resources to start your business when you’re ready to start. Because you can start with the resources you have around you. But you don’t know what those resources are until you do your research, and understand the actual cost of starting your business.
If you just keep saying you don’t have the money and therefore you cannot start a business, you’ll get nowhere.
Focus on getting the business started. Learn about the resources you need to make your idea happen. Stay committed to bringing your business idea to fruition.
Successful entrepreneurs know how to pull resources together when needed, and how to utilize resources to their advantage. And you can do the same thing.
Avoid all Excuses
Negative money thinking is an excuse not to get started, which could be hiding your real fear about taking a risk and putting yourself out there as an entrepreneur, when you could always do the 9-to-5 like so many others.
Hiding behind the money excuse as a way to stop you from getting started only limits your life. If you are dreaming about lifestyle freedom, the ability to control your own schedule, and run your professional life as you see fit – then you want to get your business going. You think like an entrepreneur and want to put into reality the expectations you have for your own life.
This includes managing your concerns about money and any fears you may have.
Think Value
The thing about money is that it’s a product to be valued. But you manage and control it to your advantage. You set the parameters for what you need. Many successful entrepreneurs have spent their last dollar, leveraged every asset they owned, and dipped into the pockets of families and friends to make their business a reality.
You may end up doing the same thing. But you won’t know until you have begun to put together the pieces of the business that you want, in the way you want to run it.
Your actual goal – lifestyle freedom – is the most important part of your process, not money. Because as long as you keep in mind why you are pursuing your business opportunity, you will be able to sustain a vision for yourself that will take you exactly where you want to go.
Summary for how to think about money when you are getting started:
- Focus on getting your business started
- Know how much money you need to get started with your business.
- Start at zero and see how far you can go with planning and action before needing a single dollar
- Utilize the resources you have around you, especially free options
- Remember your goal is lifestyle freedom and dream you have for the life you really want
Offline U: The Education You Get from Not Going to College for Business
by Case Lane
Aspiring entrepreneurs have heard they do not need to go to college to obtain the information they need to run a business. There are other ways to obtain an education. But the ‘other ways’ are not always clearly defined.
The value of post-secondary education has always been in its formality. Not only do you do through a prescribed set of courses that result in a diploma, but also the diploma is recognized because other people understand the process, and the value of the paper.
But given the cost, time and demands of a formal college education, many are opting to move forward with a business and you do not want to use formal education to help you. Aspiring entrepreneurs want to learn in the real world, doing real business activities.
How do you succeed without the college formula?
Neither business school nor college is necessary to become an entrepreneur. Many successful entrepreneurs did not go to college, and few (as a percentage of all entrepreneurs) come out of the B-schools.
But both business school and college are also considered outstanding opportunities. College is still the ticket to higher wages, professional careers and advancing in life.
The challenge is to determine which path fits for each individual situation.
Go ‘Offline’
An aspiring entrepreneur can obtain an education, learn the facts and concepts necessary for business outside of the formal college campus. A self-disciplined person can pursue an ‘offline ‘course of study that will help achieve the success they’ve been looking for.
And self-discipline can be imposed if the person has some idea about what to do to achieve similar results to the formal college student.
This approach is Offline U because many courses of study are presented online, and are still formal methods of learning.
Offline U means turning away from all structured education to learn through direct action, observation and doing.
Image by Sebastian Šoška from Pixabay
You get the information you need from available sources, usually for free. Following this path, you have to remember the information is not going to be presented in any particular order or context like in business school. You are not going to be able to segregate the marketing information from the finance information. You are going to require your own system for doing that.
So to start, you decide how you are going to organize the information you receive.
If you already have a business idea, the ‘offline’ course of study can be even more productive because questions and information gathering can take place within the context of turning your idea into a business. The research becomes directly practical.
If you don’t have a business idea, you can use one that already exists to practice how to frame your ‘offline’ studies around a specific product or service.
Once the organizational infrastructure has been set-up for your offline education, you can implement the following practices to give yourself an Offline education that advances your business opportunities:
Read books and articles about successful entrepreneurs
The information you need about how entrepreneurs built their businesses is readily available in thousands of magazine articles and hundreds of books. The blueprints are spelled out in black and white.
If Sir Richard Branson were your best friend, you would read all his books to have the answers about how he built his business, not ask him to explain the story (or else he would know you had never read his books).
Reading the entrepreneur’s story allows you to understand the background how the enterprise was built.
Reading entrepreneurs’ stories also reveals one obvious and timeless fact – the most successful entrepreneurs did the work. They worked night and day on their business enterprise, and reaped the reward. It’s as simple, and as difficult, as that.
Interview someone who is doing what you want to do
If you know anyone near you who is a successful entrepreneur, ask for an interview. For the cost of coffee or a lunch, you may get information that is never taught in school.
To get the interview, honestly make the request from the perspective of a niche demographic that is either unique or aligned with the person’s causes or ideas. Even if you are a working professional, if you belong to any type of club or organization find a connection with the person you want to interview.
You can also interview on behalf of the organization perhaps as a profile for their newsletter. But make sure the request is legitimate.
Research the information other people are saying
Today you can find a lot of material about entrepreneurs and businesses, including interviews, documentaries and profiles that reveal more about how the business is run than you may have calculated.
Do a search for these resources, both positive and negative. Give yourself time each day to spend an extra hour or two with stories that give you ideas. Take notes, and then go back and review your notes, and put them in the context of your own business idea.
Meet like-minded people
Take a look at the meet-ups for entrepreneurs in your city or events that involve entrepreneurs. If you’re shy, approach different people with the same prepared set of questions. For example, ask:
‘I’m curious, how’d you get started as an entrepreneur?’
‘What do you wish you knew from the beginning?’
‘What do you think was the one key to growing your business?’
People love to talk about themselves, especially if they have a willing, eager audience. While stroking an ego, you can give yourself an entrepreneurship 101 lesson.
Go to work for an entrepreneur or organization you admire
If you want work that is meaningful, but are not quite ready with your own business, you can check the job openings at companies you admire, or with organizations you are interested in exploring.
One caution, going to work for any company may not be as glamorous as you could hope, and you may never meet the founding entrepreneur. In fact, the experience may even be a turn-off. But you will learn.
All experience – work, education, going to the store – could teach you something you did not already know which could help you in your business.
If there is a business run by someone you admire, and you think they could use someone like you, there’s no harm in applying, and earning money instead of spending it to get the information you believe you can use in your own business.
Attend conferences
Conferences will cost you some money, but the events are rapid-fire learning experiences. Pick the conference that focuses on your business idea or industry, and use the opportunity to not only learn about the industry, but also to meet other people working in the same field.
You might even find the connections that will feed back into interviews, meetings or employment opportunities that lead you exactly where you want to go.
In summary, to get an ‘offline’ business education outside of formal college or B-school:
- Read books and articles about successful entrepreneurs, and learn how businesses are built
- Interview someone who is doing what you want to do, and ask them about getting started and growing a business
- Research the information other people have about successful entrepreneurs including through interviews, analysis, documentaries and articles, that present both positive and negative views.
- Meet like-minded people at your local meet-ups or entrepreneurial events
- Go to work for an entrepreneur or organization you admire
- Attend conferences
Disclosure: links to books and physical products are Amazon affiliate links. I earn for eligible purchases at no additional cost to you.
Be a Contributor
by Case Lane
Lead, follow or get out of the way – phrase attributed most often to General George S. Patton and others
Some people have great ideas for how to get things done; some people want to work for, or with people with great ideas; and some people are indifferent one way or another. They are prepared to consume the good ideas when they are made available, but they have little interest in participating in the rise or fall of changes and risks.
And then there are people – too many people – who are not interested in any ideas. These are people who have something negative to say, or pushback against ideas, and generate essentially zero progress for the evolution of humankind. Those people are the obstructionists.
Identify the Obstructionist
Obstructionists try to convince rising entrepreneurs not to start their business, or tell ambitious self-starters they will never be successful, or are convinced the life they are in is the only life they – or anyone else they know – will ever have.
Obstructionists are standing in the way of those who want to move the world forward. And quite often obstructionist thinking is standing in the way of aspiring entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs who also operate as obstructionists diminish their own chances for success while negatively affecting others.
Plan to Be a Leader
The fundamental idea of an entrepreneur is to take a good idea and put it where people can make use of it.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
But often the road to make that happen is full of obstacles. Some physical, some verbal, some administrative. Obstacles that are erected and maintained by people who do not want you to go where you’re going.
The first time an entrepreneur decides to verbalize a business idea is often fraught with peril. The entrepreneur likely had an epiphany perhaps after seeing something in a store or experiencing a frustration in the marketplace. The idea is based in a genuine recognition of a gap in the marketplace, and a consumer need.
But often when the idea is communicated, in non-entrepreneurial worlds where the majority live, the response is negative.
Those closest to a rising entrepreneur – family, friends, neighbors, teachers, religious leaders -are often the last to support the idea. They fear the risk of beginning a new venture with no guarantees.
They may also be embarrassed to have that one person in the – family, neighborhood, community – who will not do what everyone else says is the right thing to do.
Some aspiring entrepreneurs will get past the negative thoughts and start a business anyway. Others will never be able to move forward.
Unfortunately negative programming leads people to believe that the others are right. If no one you know has ever done what you are proposing to do, you must have the courage to face the unknown. And few hold to that courage.
Where leaders rise
In the entrepreneurial world, leaders are the people who take their business idea and turn it into a viable business regardless of the obstructionists. Courageous entrepreneurs face obstacles, overcome negativity, struggle to find the time and the money, and patiently refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer while making their business a reality in the global marketplace.
The example set by these entrepreneurs has set the stage for many other who eventually follow.
Where followers begin
Followers watch and learn from leaders. In fact, many leaders are also followers, incrementally adding to their knowledge by emulating what other leaders do.
Followers are excited to be around leaders. They have an opportunity to contribute by supporting the leader in achieving a vision that they support.
When an aspiring entrepreneur gets started as a follower, they put themselves directly on the path of leaders. With digital resources that facilitate the ability to follow a leader through articles, videos and on social media, an aspiring entrepreneur can pick a leader they admire, or a company to learn more about, and read, watch, listen and support the leader’s activities.
Followers even go to work for the leader or their company for the experience of learning from a proven success. These learning experiences help the original follower become a leader.
And obstructionists disrupt
What about getting out of the way?
Leaders and followers need obstructionists to get out of the way. Those that try to diminish the work of innovative thinkers, entrepreneurs and investors are limiting their own world.
Obstructionists tend to be those who are trying to slow down the world to suit their purposes. Instead of contributing ideas and inventions to build a better world, obstructionists are trying to hang on to the status quo, to protect themselves, and fading power.
Rising entrepreneurs have to find a way to get beyond the obstructionists and keep pursuing business goals. But sometimes the obstructor is in an individual’s own head.
Overcoming obstructionists, includes surpassing a personal tendency towards limited thinking and negative programming to become the businessperson you really want to be.
It also means overcoming the human need to better than the next person by criticizing other people’s work, plans or dreams while sitting on your own unfulfilled intentions.
There’s no reason to obstruct yourself or others. There is plenty of room for everyone who wants to create a business that adds value to the global marketplace. You can be a contributor who makes a difference in the lives of others by bringing a product or service into the market.
Be a contributor
Entrepreneurs are contributors. Leaders within their own world, followers of other leaders who provide constant daily fuel for the global economy, and hope and opportunity for employees and customers.
As you work on developing your business, keep in mind that you want to stay connected to contributors. Trying to stop others from achieving their stated goals will not make you successful. Neither will negative feedback, comments or bad-mouthing.
Focus on what you are doing, not what others are doing. Stay on top of your plans and dreams, not the activities of others that have no effect on you.
Top-flight global entrepreneurs do not spend their whole day criticizing others? Not if they want to be successful.
They work on continuing to deliver value. They focus on personal development, and meeting and surpassing their business goals. If you turn your own mind on to such pursuits, you will reap the benefit in the rising success of your business.
Contribute to your own life
Contributing also applies to how you run your life. Eliminating obstructionist behavior in business can transform to improving your personal relationships, and the opportunities of your own life.
Focus on positive, individual effort and goals. Focus on what you are doing and how you can make your world better through your entrepreneurial business ideas.
To Be a Contributor:
- People are asked to lead, follow, or get out of the way
- Unfortunately many people choose not to move, they are obstructionists who refuse to do anything but get in the way
- Obstructionists try to prevent you and others from achieving goals by providing negative feedback, or physical or mental barriers to success
- Sometimes that obstructionist is you.
- Perhaps you have been negatively programmed by other obstructionists, or perhaps you like looking for excuses
- To push back against obstructionism, you must be a contributor
- Global entrepreneurs are contributors
- You provide value by bringing a product or service into the global marketplace
- And you reject obstructionism and its many barriers, in favor of having the life you have always wanted running your own business as an entrepreneur
How Do You Force Yourself to Do What You Really Want to Do
by Case Lane
Aspiring entrepreneurs can learn about entrepreneurship by reading about or listening to successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates or Martha Stewart or Oprah.
But hearing about success sometimes leads to a limiting belief that what those people did is not possible for everyone. There is an idea that the successful are wired differently, and therefore have capabilities that do not apply to the average person. Aspiring entrepreneurs are left wondering, how the successful are able to actually do the work they do.
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Famously Bill Gates spent endless hours tinkering with computers; Martha Stewart obsesses over every tablecloth; Oprah chased the good stories. They all seem to have some sort of special trigger inside them that propels them forward to success down the entrepreneurial path. If that’s true, how does the average aspirant to entrepreneurial wealth and achievement become one of the them?
Is it possible to make yourself…force yourself to become the successful person you’ve always wanted to be?
The Success Words
The chapter headings from Lewis Howes’ book The School of Greatness, read like the step-by-step lines from any familiar success manual. The headings are: create a vision, turn adversity into advantage, cultivate a champion’s mindset, develop hustle, master your body, practice positive habits, build a winning team, live a life of service.
The book emphasizes greatness in general, in how you live your life.
But the challenge for so many is that those success lines and even the tips that come along with it are all great advice that so many people have difficulty implementing. These are the actions and ideas you need to develop if you want to reverse the struggles of your life, or any type of past backwards pace. But understanding that fundamental fact is often only the first step.
Understanding the intention of the advice helps you realize what you need to do. The next, and more complicated step is to determine ‘how’ you are going to fulfill those success goals. And the ‘how’ must be compatible with your personality, your lifestyle and your best efforts.
The step to learn next is to figure out how you do the activities that you know you want to do because you want to achieve greatness by building your entrepreneurial dream.
Here are 4 strategies to help you achieve the ‘how’ for making yourself that person you wish you were…
1. Think about Your Plan all the time
The best way to cultivate your entrepreneurial mindset is to think about your business idea and your plans 24/7/365. Immerse yourself in your own vision of being a successful entrepreneur with a business you own, and control of your lifestyle.
The most successful entrepreneurs think about their business – the opportunity, scope for improvement, operations, the team, all aspects of the enterprises – in all situations. You can do the same with your business idea, and the plan for your business.
Image by Pexels from Pixabay
You become an entrepreneur, by being an entrepreneur. Transforming to your dream life through entrepreneurship is about reinventing yourself, changing who you imagine yourself to be, and doing what you have always wanted to do.
You may feel that constantly thinking and talking about your business will alienate you from your friends or family. But you are on a mission to improve your life. If those around you do not support your actions, they have alienated themselves from you.
Create a vision in your mind of your future as an entrepreneur, and hold to that vision in your present. Think it, operate in it, push it all the time as your singular purpose. At a certain point, you are going to want to be living that vision. You are going to want it as your reality because you have made it possible.
2. Clear Your Space
With the minimalist movement gaining support and adherents the idea of working in a less-cluttered environment has become a trend. But the clean-up is also a proactive way to set yourself up in a success-promoting environment.
You want to operate in an environment without distractions. Sometimes our inability to do the activities we need to do to become successful are a reflection of being around too many things we do not want to do – like cleaning up – that all provide an excuse for not moving forward.
Begin your movement towards being your own champion by clearing away a piece of clutter each day. Pick up the piece of clutter you have been seen in the same place for more than six months and…throw it away.
Top performers work in an environment that focuses on their business. You need the tools and resources you will use to be close at hand, and all other diversions to be tucked away. You are trying to put yourself in the same shoes as the most successful entrepreneurs you know. People who focused on building their business. If you want to be one of those people, you have to focus too.
Any item that is truly meaningful or beneficial to you should be appropriately organized. You may already have shelves, boxes or envelopes where you can put items of value. Everything else can go.
Clearing your space can reduce your sense of overwhelm by giving yourself room to function in the best environment you can create.
3. Look for allies
Setting out to build your own business can be lonely and difficult. You may not have any support among family or friends. You may be afraid to talk about entrepreneurship at work because you think people will think you’re out of your league. And you may be tolling away with trying to create your business idea without any help.
But you can find motivation and support by quietly, and confidently, asking around to find out if anyone is doing, or wants to do, what you want to be doing.
Unless you’re in Silicon Valley, finding people who support the idea of starting their own business may be a quick way to lose friends. But you can carefully begin looking for allies by speaking about your business whenever it’s appropriate. Learn who responds well and who quickly changes the subject. You may be surprised to learn who your allies are.
Say to your spouse, partner, sibling, colleague, friend a statement like: ‘hey, I’m doing some research about the business idea I’ve had for years, would you be interested in the things I learn?’
For every person who replies ‘no way,’ there may be one who says ‘yeah, I’ve always been interested in starting a business, tell me more.’ The idea is to find someone who aligns with you. If that person becomes your accountability buddy that’s even better.
To help you stay on track with your dream, and make your plan a reality, you can make a commitment to someone other than yourself. If you form an alliance with someone, you’re more likely to get things done.
However, if you come from a world where no one at all responds favorably to your low-key approach, you can still form alliances – with virtual mentors. Your virtual mentors are the people whose books, videos, speeches, interviews, courses and shows become part of your life when you are researching how to be successful with your business.
You can listen to hours of someone encouraging you to be strong, stay committed to your dream and so on. This provides you with effectively the background soundtrack to your aspirations. And a chance to be aligned with people who are on your side, even if you’ve never met them before in your life.
4. Plan to Work
Writing down goals you plan to complete is much easier than actually doing the work to see those goals finished. To make the exercise more tangible, write down goals, that are accompanied by specific action.
Step-by-step, hour-by-hour goals are designed to take you exactly where you want to be in an orderly and planned fashion. Instead of a lofty ‘I want to be a millionaire’ goal, write down exactly what you would have to do to become a millionaire. What would you have to do every day?
For example, in my book A Better Plan, I encourage financially challenged readers to calculate exactly how many hours they would have to work, at their current wage to earn one million dollars. If your current wage is $12 an hour, you would need to work eight hours a day for about 83,000 hours or 40 years. Once you have that baseline, you can figure which variables to change to reach your goal faster.
But at the same time, each hour that you’re working is still getting you towards your goal.
A detailed plan for building your business may take you months to write, but the goal is to get started. Think of the plan like the notes for your autobiography, how would you describe the detailed story for anyone who wanted to ask.
The plan becomes your blueprint for how you are going to create the business. Write the story in all its detail. For example if you get a loan for one million dollars, write out how you would go about procuring that loan. Who would help you and why? Write out every word. And take all the time you need on doing it.
You can write a line or two in the morning, or at work. Buy a planner or desk calendar and write on each of the days of the week. Lay out your plan in all its glorious detail.
The point is to give your a roadmap, a point of reference, a vision that you can use to lead yourself exactly where you want to go. And to help you to move forward on achieving your life dream.
These four strategies can help you think clearly about yourself as an entrepreneur. You can force yourself to do what you really want to do – which in our case is transition to lifestyle freedom by becoming an entrepreneur – by making strategic moves towards your goal.
Even if you’re still saying – but how? – think of these four strategies as the activities that help you identify the ‘how.’
If you want to know how to literally force your fingers to start writing, or how to open your mouth to ask a friend if they’re interested in business, you may not be committed to the goal of achieving the life you want through entrepreneurship.
If you are sit on the couch and do not move in any form or direction because you believe your dream will materialize without effort, then neither these strategies or any others will help you.
But if you’re ready to move forward, to take the initial steps, then you are on your way. Improve your life for yourself and take action to achieve your dreams.
To help yourself do what you really want to do:
1. Think about what you want to do all the time
2. Clear the space around you of distractions and diversions
3. Find some allies, either real or virtual, who will support you
4. Plan the work you have to do in specific detail
When you lay out your vision, you find you are compelled to move forward and bring it all into fruition. And before you know it, you will be walking, talking and living as the entrepreneur you have always wanted to be.
Disclosure: links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. I participate in the Amazon Affiliates program and earn for eligible purchases
