In LinkedIn and other places I get asked “how did you start your business.” By far, the #1 question people want to ask. I’ll answer it here.
But first, a disclaimer:
I’m no paragon of success – my books are a mess, I’ve had some serious hiccups. I’ve sent dumb emails, I’ve made giant mistakes. I’m here by grace and hustle. Not genius.
But, I’ve been self employed or commission-only for 10 years now. I’ve hung in there, moved across the country, and improved. I’ve straddled the 6 figure line every year, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.
The IRS and I are in the middle of a prizefight. They haven’t knocked me out yet.
I’ve had cash flow hiccups. (That wasn’t the last of them).
I’ve had to cut deals with people I like, I’ve bought more than I could afford. I’ve been delusional- both as a customer and as a provider.
But, like Morpheus, I’m still here.
Read this post, and a decade later, maybe, you’ll be here. But it’s about attitude. I’m not talking some “sunny day polyanna bullshit.” I’m talking about that attitude of a survivor.
You Are – And Have – Enough, But You Have To Become Tougher Than Money
“What do I need to learn before I start my business?” It figures in this economy that this is going to be the questions that gets asked a lot. ”How do I not have to go through the mill where I wind up having to beg for a job at age 30,40,50?” might be the real question. Or it might be “Chris, can you give me a magic bullet that will make this easy?”
The fact is, I don’t know everything. All I know is that if you hustle – and I mean hustle, not scramble, you will figure it out, in real time, while making money.
You just have to give up the idea that you’re safer working for a boss that could fire you than you are working for yourself.
You have to give up the idea that “being your own boss” means not working your ass off on behalf of your customers.
It started by cutting the cord. I decided that I was going to make a run for it, to be and stay my own boss. I was in a secure and easy commission-only job as a mortgage guy in 2007. In 2007, I saw the writing on the wall (and I have no idea besides delusion why people thought the belt tightening was just a glitch). I knew I wanted out, I knew I’d be slaughtered. So I had to go.
That means that I didn’t get to have their money. That means that their money wasn’t going to be my boss.
So I decided to leave. I started taking side jobs. I started reaching out and helping people where I could. I decided that, no matter how shitlessly scared I got, I wasn’t going back to some pissbucket job. I tapered off my main job, started showing up less and less. Started phoning it in, if that. It wasn’t maybe your path, but it was mine and it worked.
I started by helping people with WordPress websites sites, a gig I never loved and never got good at. But it worked. I made money. I was free to live and die by my wits. The day someone paid me, I could (and sometimes had to) spend the money. No waiting on policy or payroll, I was free to make as much (or as little) as my skills dictated.
This wasn’t my dream job, this was a bridge job. And it was a start. It got me here, and I’m grateful I did it because I got to help over 300 people, with my ass on the line (and name on the door). I was far from perfect, but I got somewhere, made something. I pivoted a few times, but this is where it started.
Don’t Fixate On Your Degree.
Your degree and skills may not be relevant. They are sunk costs. If you’re an art history major, it’s lunacy to wait for the demand for your education to heat up. Not happening. Same deal with 90% of degrees offered today.
The good news is that you can customer finance your new education. I did. I promised people work, and I was lucky that I had people to help me out. Focus on making an offer that customers will take. That provides revenue.
After that, focus on getting great at delivery. That provides referrals. We never got to where we wanted with the website business.
Decide that you’re going to find some way to be of service to others. Decide to listen, learn and help people get what they want. This is the first. You don’t shoot for some some pie-in-the-skye product business that will never convert, you make a people-focused service business that starts helping clients now. (Products can come soon, but the first thing is making it).
People ask me “Where did you learn to start a business.” People that are asking that question are looking for an excuse.
“Well, I had millions of dollars so it was easy,” or “Well, I knew how to _______,” so it was easy. Or, they fixate on doing something that’s somehow related to the piece of paper they earned 10 years ago. “Well, I’d help with WordPress but I studied history, so I want to do something that uses that degree.” (That’s an excuse, too – people manufacture them because the resistance is a bitch. )
The best way to do it is to do it. Instead of being unemployed and looking for a job, look for a gig, look to provide a service. Make a trade of something-for-money. (Time, knowledge, help).
Better Than Money: Learn Salesmanship
And, it’s salesmanship more than almost everything that makes or breaks someone. It’s not smarmy, manipulative. It’s highly creative. It’s focused on helping other people.
I define salesmanship this way: Salesmanship is the art of making an offer so compelling, so valuable and so irresistible that it’s better than having money. Think about that. You can’t just be a “graphic designer” or a “research assistant.” You have to put time toil and tears into making an offer that is the best thing that anyone ever did.
Better than money. That’s scary, but that’s what it takes.
An aloof half assed soloprenuer is just someone that has a disguised job. You have to be amazing.
You learn salesmanship and, you focus everything that you are on helping someone else.
You do this, and you have a product that’s informed by conversation and listening. You make mistakes along the way, and get bloddy. But you get better at it. You maybe add some automation to it.
It starts with getting rejected.
I’ve had antimarketing litter the Internet. I’ve been humiliated by ridiculous pitches and the carcasses of ridiculous products(all were not thought out or half-assed). But all of that was an opportunity to iterate and improve.
Each failed close wasn’t about me. It was because I hadn’t made anything better than money yet. Or, it wasn’t better than money to enough people to matter.
So, this is my answer to “how did you start a business.” I didn’t have the vocabulary to describe it before I started it. I focused on the wrong things, and I didn’t have this internalized when I really got going. But it’s the answer I wish I had had. Your milage may vary.
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