Reading: How to Start a Business part 1 - Do Something (Slides)

How to Start a Business
Part One

Do something

Start with education

This class

Other classes

Call on successful business people that know you

Call on successful business people that you have heard of

Look for a mentor

Someone hugely successful

Someone who is just ahead of you

Figure out your product or service

Make a prototype of a product or a makeshift service to test

i.e. the Planner

Test, test, test

Start with friends and family

Don’t worry about a huge profit

Put some “mud on the wall”

Sell your prototype and/or your makeshift service to as many people as you can

Make a business plan only after plenty of trial and error

Too many spend a lot of time and money perfecting an idea that ultimately does not work

It is easy to sit at a desk and make plans, design logos, map out websites, and play around with numbers, rather than get out and talk to potential customers

Opportunity comes when you are out on the street making connections 

Learn from potential customers

“Why do you think most people would not want to buy this product or service?”

“If you were to buy this product or service, what would have to change about it that would help you do so?”

Opportunity comes when you are out on the street making connections 

Learn from related businesses

 “I am starting a business related to your business. How could I do my business in such a way that would help your business?”

“What advice do you have for a guy starting out in a business like yours?”

Opportunity comes when you are out on the street making connections 

Learn from random people

 “I am starting a business that sells ‘this’ and offers ‘this’ service and I am looking for advice from ordinary people – the kind of people that may or may not be interested in my product or service.”