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The SIMPLE way to start a business (and avoid the struggle).

When we hand a child a violin for the very first time, we don’t expect them to map out their worldwide concert tour.
 
We don’t hand a kid their first pair of ice skates and start talking about preparing for the next Olympic games.
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Yet that’s what we often expect of new business owners.
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Business coaches and groups start talking about “scaling” and “systems” and “brands” – world tours or Olympic competition – before a new business owner has even made the first sale.
 
Or even figure out what they are going to sell.
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How do you think that makes most new or aspiring business owners feel?
Overwhelmed.
Exhausted.
Intimidated.
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And worst? Feeling like a failure before they even start.
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Do you think that most kids scratching their way through Twinkle Twinkle Little Star would feel pumped up or frightened to be told that they need to be ready to play Carnegie Hall in a few months?
 
Do you think the kid still wobbling around the rink would be terrified of the pressure to medal in the Olympics by the winter?
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Yet that’s what we keep doing to new or potential business owners.
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Coaches and gurus, so in love with showing off their own expertise, sometimes make people who want to start a business feel like their aspirations are out of reach – or worse – that they are not dreaming big enough so why bother?
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I am not against big dreams. Not at all.
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Do you dream of founding a multi-million dollar empire? Have at it. But most new business owners are so defeated by all these steps and checklists and things to do that they often won’t even start.
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I am not against checklists and case studies and to-dos….what I am against is giving new business owners too much.
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Solve a single problem in front of you. Just that one thing. Then move on to the next thing. Solve that. Steps that are clear.
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We don’t expect the average Kindergarten student to get tossed into Calculus IV (don’t comment about child genius – they are the Jeff Bezos’s or Elon Musk’s of the business world).
Yet we expect the average Kindergarten/beginning business owner to figure out their sales funnels (along with upsells and landing pages).
We don’t expect violinists who have had three lessons to solo at the Met, yet we expect new business owners to set up “systems to scale”.
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Please.
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Can we get a little reality check here?
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New business owners need support around a few things:
–Figuring out what they want to sell.
–Figuring out who can (and will) buy it.
–Figuring out how to make a profit on what they do.
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That’s it. Full stop.
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The branding, the websites, the email lists. All that comes later. After the sales start coming in.
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Because your business will change based on what you learn from those first few customers.
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Your idea for custom cakes might evolve to business catering because you like it and because it’s more profitable and predictable. Or your business catering idea might evolve high-end chocolate making because you found a (profitable) need and can fill it.
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You just don’t know until you get out there and start testing the market.
Supplying to customers.
Meeting customers.
Listening to their wants and needs.
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You might uncover an untapped market. Or figure out that what you want to do does not have a big appeal. At this point, that’s okay. You are still in your exploratory phase.
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And the best news?
You have not spent months and thousands of dollars on “systems” and “scaling” for a business that you are now going to pivot.
Because if you *have* jumped in and done the branding and website and fancy logo before you have your business nailed down, it makes it much harder to do the pivot that your market is asking for.
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And then what happens? Business owners try to make a go of that original idea – because they are already so far down the road.
They struggle and fight and when they give up, they blame themselves.
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When the blame is squarely on the shoulders of all the gurus and experts they listened to.
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And I can tell you that the struggle is real.
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I have worked with clients who have spent months (and months and years) trying to test the colors on logos, getting websites built for businesses that don’t have any customers, and setting up sales funnels when they don’t have a tested product or service.
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All because these new business owners kept reading advice about how they needed to build their foundation to scale their business.
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It’s all BS. Lies.
Worse.
It’s emotional blackmail.
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The feeling that if you don’t “start right” you may as well not start at all because you are destined to fail.
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That you have to have the right plan in place to run this giant company rather than the help you need to just get started.
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There is a better way. A kinder, gentler way that lets you chart the course that’s right for you.
Without the fear of “doing things wrong.”
Without the blackmail of “just” wanting a small business that supports you and your family and not some “scaled up conglomerate.”
Without the overwhelm of trying to plan your Olympic championship while you’re still trying not to fall down on the ice.
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As a new business owner, I am telling you to focus on the basics.
–What do you sell?
–Who can and will buy this?
–How do you let them know that you are in business?
 
I consider a new business owner anyone who is still thinking about their business all the way through anyone who is making a few sales a month from their business.
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Let’s get back to basics.
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Forget all the other nonsense. It will matter someday. Just not right now. Not until you have enough sales to understand the following:
–Exactly what it is that your customers are actually buying. Not what you think they’ll buy…actually dollars in your bank account from actual sales.
–Exactly who is your customer. Details. Drill down so that you know what common characteristics your customers have. How did you get on their radar? Have they bought from you before?
–Exactly why your customers buy from you. Location. Needs. Speed, Convenience. Reputation. Why do they pick you over someone else?
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And you know how you find out this information? You ask your customers.
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Because even gold medal winners start somewhere.
 
 

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