Apr 14, 2020
Ever ask yourself what value you can bring to this world? What problems do you want to solve? Starting your own business can be thrilling, but there are many ways you can get your first business up and running.
In case you don't have a clearly defined path yet, you're not reading this by accident. Some people know absolutely nothing but want to know something, and that's what you're here for. In this week's episode, Patrick Allmond talks about how you can start your first business.
Part One of ‘How to Start Your First Business’
Calling yourself an entrepreneur, in general, doesn't tell the world much about what you do. First of all, having the mindset of what you can offer the world is crucial to getting started. Traditionally, it takes creating a business plan outline, sketching out everything, and how you're going to market.
The process of planning has gone by the wayside. It may be true you have funding upfront or specific business models. But most of the people nowadays have no plan. Their business is on the back of a napkin, or they fall in the business accidentally.
You need a variation in your income. More often than not, the people that want to go into business for themselves are people who are stuck and set aside money. When the time is right, they start their business.
Maybe they've got six months of income float. In this case, they are starting a business to get their income back. That is the way people usually start a business.
“There are people who know absolutely nothing but want to know something.” — Patrick Allmond
If you have no idea what you want to start, but you know you want to start something, here's something to consider. There are so many skills and products in the world already. There's almost no new skill or product in the world.
Society is developing brand new cars and brand-new space vehicles. But there's nothing new under the sun. Imagine, you are somebody who wants to teach other people how to run a dog grooming business because you specialize in it. There are people out there who don't know anything about dog grooming, but they know what needs to be done to keep your dog healthy and safe.
There's bad knowledge for every skill set out there. Those people are sometimes more dangerous than the people that know nothing. People who have a basic grasp think they know a lot. They're doing it wrong. There are also advanced individuals who are excellent teachers and communicators.
For example, if you've been doing dog grooming for a while, you're probably good at it. There are people out there who know a field remarkably well who are not necessarily really good communicators.
Teaching, consulting, and speaking is separate skill sets from actually doing the task at hand. When you keep in mind what you want to do, these types of people could be your target market.
There are many other people out there with business knowledge who are capable of sharing. You may be one of them. There's always somebody out there who wants to learn what you know. It doesn't have to be a lot of people for you to make a decent amount of money at it.
Think about the number of people in your city or your state. You could be a dog groomer that just focuses on a particular city or state, probably a particular city. You can make a killing at it because you don't need a lot of people. Often when people go into business, they think about having a huge audience and a vast customer base. You don't need that.
Part Two of ‘How to Start Your First Business’
If you've been doing something longer than somebody else, that makes you one step ahead. If you have more knowledge than somebody, that person will pay you to teach them. Again, if you've been dog grooming for five years or even a year, you're halfway good at it. Now, it's time to come up with a way to sell this to somebody.
Don't try to label yourself as an ordinary dog groomer, but call yourself something that makes you stand out a little bit. Don't lump yourself in with everybody else who does the same thing. You must give your potential clients a real strong motivation to choose you.
For example, instead of calling yourself a dog groomer, you can call it a dog beautification service. When somebody calls you to inquire for your service, make the person over the phone realize that they're talking to someone different than an average dog groomer.
They're talking with someone who cares about the animal, who cares about the process, and who has a great plan for them, with real outcomes. Trying to come up with the way where you label yourself is just a commodity.
“Be careful about getting distracted by anything that seem to make a lot of money if they don't fulfill what you're meant to do.” — Patrick Allmond
When you know what you're good at and how to make money, that's how you become an employee. Which is perfectly fine. When it comes to starting a business, please do not get distracted by easy money schemes online.
Be careful about getting distracted by things that seem to make a lot of money. Especially if they don't align with something you want to do and what you're good at. Develop your branding, marketing, mission, and value statement before you sell anything.
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Patrick Allmond is a multi-decade entrepreneur, veteran, pilot, and ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX Contributor. He is also the founder of Focus Digital Marketing Agency and the StopDoingNothing movement. Action is the great thing that separates the average from the great. Decide today which one you want to be. Business mastery, generating wealth, personal development, and many more. You get to pick your transformation! https://stopdoingnothing.com/