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Blindsided in a Business Sense

Anything related to matters of the mind

Camo & Gold

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I'm curious to see how you business owners choose your niches. I'm asking this question because I seem to keep finding myself creating businesses around my hobbies or other personal interests. For some reason I cannot just "jump" into a foreign niche, I NEED to have an interest in the product or idea. On the other side, when I do find a business venture that appeals to my interests, I become immersed in the business. For example, at the age of 14 I began selling tropical fish solely to fund my hobby, but I became so successful that I created a business in doing so. This mindset hasn't changed any from 14 to 21, I plan on developing and building a business to support my hobby which has become somewhat of a lifestyle.

I'm not sure if this mindset is a blessing in disguise or my Achilles heel. What does everyone else think?
 
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Mike Kavanagh

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Something is off here. You said you created a successful business when you were 14.
What happened to it.

Passion doesn't matter. I've seen passionate people fail. I've seen disinterested or even disgusted people succeed.


If I told you there is a mathematical equation to success, would you believe me? If I told you business is science, would you be able to comprehend it?
 

Digamma

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It really depends. I think people keeps getting wrong the whole passion debate.
It's not like you can't do business where you're passionate about; the problem is that those businesses are usually me-too copycat of some business you admire.

I'm starting a business in a niche I know very well and like.
You know what the biggest problem I'm facing is? My ego gets in the way.
I find myself not following the market, but my own experience in the niche. Instead of writing copy for customers, I write it for me.
Instead of providing a solution to a problem, I tend to deviate towards doing things that have craftsmanship value.
It's dangerous. You are your worst enemy.
 

Camo & Gold

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Something is off here. You said you created a successful business when you were 14.
What happened to it.

Passion doesn't matter. I've seen passionate people fail. I've seen disinterested or even disgusted people succeed.


If I told you there is a mathematical equation to success, would you believe me? If I told you business is science, would you be able to comprehend it?
I'm glad you asked, I cut ties with the old business to put more emphasis on playing sports as well as chasing around girls later on in high school. Between the workouts & practices for sports or going on dates/parties I never had enough time to put in for my fish business to stay successful. I ended up cutting ties, I still have fish but I do not sell them anymore.

I fully believe that there is a science behind not only successful businesses but the mindset behind a successful businessmen. I've began reading The Fastlane Book as well as researching several famous businessmen (Jordan Belfort for one). I'm not completely sure you could say that here is a "mathematical equation" for success though, could you shed some light?
 
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Camo & Gold

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It really depends. I think people keeps getting wrong the whole passion debate.
It's not like you can't do business where you're passionate about; the problem is that those businesses are usually me-too copycat of some business you admire.

I'm starting a business in a niche I know very well and like.
You know what the biggest problem I'm facing is? My ego gets in the way.
I find myself not following the market, but my own experience in the niche. Instead of writing copy for customers, I write it for me.
Instead of providing a solution to a problem, I tend to deviate towards doing things that have craftsmanship value.
It's dangerous. You are your worst enemy.

I understand where you are coming from with the copycat businesses, but I can assure you that it's more passion than a cheesy duplicate. Unfortunately it's nearly impossible to explain exactly how I am going to execute my business plan while keeping my niche safe, but in my niche consumers tend to live vicariously through the producers (as they do in many other niches). I once heard a successful businessmen say "people don't buy what you do but why you do it". What he was referring to wasn't directly affiliated with passion, but how your business revolved around the consumer.
 

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I understand where you are coming from with the copycat businesses, but I can assure you that it's more passion than a cheesy duplicate. Unfortunately it's nearly impossible to explain exactly how I am going to execute my business plan while keeping my niche safe, but in my niche consumers tend to live vicariously through the producers (as they do in many other niches). I once heard a successful businessmen say "people don't buy what you do but why you do it". What he was referring to wasn't directly affiliated with passion, but how your business revolved around the consumer.

Why are you keeping your niche safe? There was a thread on here a while ago about this sort of thing. NO-ONE cares what your niche is, it's probably been done time and time again. It's the execution that's key, unless your scared that someone will do it better why hide it?


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DennisD

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We're all at different levels.
I need to be personally interested in a niche to do work on it...
But I don't need to be personally interested to pay other people to do work on it and to set up a profitible system.

Depending on what stage you are at and your tolerence for disinterest, you have different thresholds for what you will/won't pursue.

I personally wouldn't want to host a video series about pottery everyday like I do with Kickstarter. I just don't care about pottery at all and can't force myself to give two damns. However, I'd totally be all over hiring a writter to write about keyword rich pottery articles, finding some pottery artisian and selling their stuff on the site, and even doing some direct mail stuff.
 
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Camo & Gold

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Why are you keeping your niche safe? There was a thread on here a while ago about this sort of thing. NO-ONE cares what your niche is, it's probably been done time and time again. It's the execution that's key, unless your scared that someone will do it better why hide it?


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My niche is the outdoors. I'm using a successful group as a reference to see what works and what doesn't in this particular niche. Many might say that I am copying them but I assure you I am not, I am focusing on their trends. What works and what doesn't. I was recently watching a video Jordan Belfort was in and he stated something along the lines of following successful businesses or entrepreneurs to turn decades into minutes in finding successful business strategies.
 
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wade1mil

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I was recently watching a video Jordan Belfort was in and he stated something along the lines of following successful businesses or entrepreneurs to turn decades into minutes in finding successful business strategies.
Do you have a link to this?
 

Camo & Gold

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We're all at different levels.
I need to be personally interested in a niche to do work on it...
But I don't need to be personally interested to pay other people to do work on it and to set up a profitible system.

Depending on what stage you are at and your tolerence for disinterest, you have different thresholds for what you will/won't pursue.

I personally wouldn't want to host a video series about pottery everyday like I do with Kickstarter. I just don't care about pottery at all and can't force myself to give two damns. However, I'd totally be all over hiring a writter to write about keyword rich pottery articles, finding some pottery artisian and selling their stuff on the site, and even doing some direct mail stuff.

Thank you for sharing, I'm curious as to how you started pursuing this niche? For example, let's say I am into sewing and want to test the waters for a business.. I can easily post a video of me sewing and get instant FREE feedback to see if this niche is worth pursing. I imagine for your niche you had to hire people to get off the ground. Was this a calculated risk or off a "whim" so to speak, or did you suck it up and do it yourself initially?
 
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Mike Kavanagh

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Why are you keeping your niche safe? There was a thread on here a while ago about this sort of thing. NO-ONE cares what your niche is, it's probably been done time and time again. It's the execution that's key, unless your scared that someone will do it better why hide it?
Protecting self interests.
It's one thing to have "an idea"

It's another to have a market and product.
If you know how to read in between the lines, you get the needed information without the need to know someone's product.


I fully believe that there is a science behind not only successful businesses but the mindset behind a successful businessmen. I've began reading The Fastlane Book as well as researching several famous businessmen (Jordan Belfort for one). I'm not completely sure you could say that here is a "mathematical equation" for success though, could you shed some light?
Yes. The equation is quite difficult to figure out. It's because it's your own personal equation.

You need to figure out several things.
What is success to you? Is it being rich, being famous, or being an intellectual, etc... Many different paths you can walk.

Then you have to figure out your numbers. How much money and how many years you need to meet this goal.
You also need to figure out what specific actions you need to take daily, weekly, quarterly and annually to achieve these goals.

Why I can't give you a simple equation of 1A + 2B = Success, I can tell you life is easier when broken down to what you need to achieve daily goals.
 

Camo & Gold

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Protecting self interests.
It's one thing to have "an idea"

It's another to have a market and product.
If you know how to read in between the lines, you get the needed information without the need to know someone's product.



Yes. The equation is quite difficult to figure out. It's because it's your own personal equation.

You need to figure out several things.
What is success to you? Is it being rich, being famous, or being an intellectual, etc... Many different paths you can walk.

Then you have to figure out your numbers. How much money and how many years you need to meet this goal.
You also need to figure out what specific actions you need to take daily, weekly, quarterly and annually to achieve these goals.

Why I can't give you a simple equation of 1A + 2B = Success, I can tell you life is easier when broken down to what you need to achieve daily goals.

That is a great way of looking at success, thank you for sharing! Guess I haven't gotten to that part of the Fastlane book yet.. I will have to really think deep and look into my business plan as well as my own personal goals in life.
 
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camcam

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Protecting self interests.
It's one thing to have "an idea"

It's another to have a market and product.
If you know how to read in between the lines, you get the needed information without the need to know someone's product.

Again, revealing your niche isn't going to give much away. No one mentioned products - that's just stupid.


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DennisD

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For reference, this is my current project. I've done a few things before and consulted with a few bigger companies before, but this is where my path is taking me:


I can easily post a video of me sewing and get instant FREE feedback to see if this niche is worth pursing.

Validating and getting traffic to video content is just as hard as getting traffic to any offer or web page, and such a small percentage of the people who watch will actually leave feedback. There are better ways to go... especially considering how much experience and resources creating compelling video takes.

To validate the Kickstarter show, I picked a handful of niches, and then ripped (stole) a few weeks worth of content to tumblr. At the end, I saw which blog had the most followers. I paid somebody $25 to spend 3 hours doing this. They loaded the content into the queue and I set it to autopost over time.

There's no right way. It's part gut instinct, part research, and part experience.
But keep in mind, this isn't me throwing up a single video and calling it a day. For this particular biz venture, I'm releasing a video a day every day. It's taking a ton of time
 

Mike Kavanagh

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Again, revealing your niche isn't going to give much away. No one mentioned products - that's just stupid.
No but it also prevents people from asking questions further.

People are too invasive(specifically the people who just want an easy button/step-by-step). Just deal with the fact that niche doesn't matter.
If you need to know the EXACT details, you don't belong here.

No offense. I just hate the fact that we've lost a lot of good people because of the pond scum who lie and steal.
 
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Mattie

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Personally I believe a lot people are learning the difference between real reviews and fake ones. I mean it is pretty obvious. Real reviewers don't sound like copy writers trying to sell your book for you. And when it sounds to good to be true and not natural feedback it's just blatant. I just responded to a question from a top author trying to talk to people in communities about what needs to be done to change review systems on the internet as a whole. Whether it's books or whatever site, it's just getting out of control and while you buy your reviews and cheat, even customers are having a problem with it all over the board. I've seen various people talking about it in different areas of the internet and they know it's a problem and they're fake.

It's just bad business to lie and steal to promote your self, and it might take me longer, but I see what's happening and not a good idea.
 

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No but it also prevents people from asking questions further.

People are too invasive(specifically the people who just want an easy button/step-by-step). Just deal with the fact that niche doesn't matter.
If you need to know the EXACT details, you don't belong here.

No offense. I just hate the fact that we've lost a lot of good people because of the pond scum who lie and steal.

Think you have some trouble reading what I put.


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Mike Kavanagh

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Since you're still pushing the subject...

It's the execution that's key, unless your scared that someone will do it better why hide it?
It is in the execution. However I shouldn't have to compete with some F*ckwit who, otherwise wouldn't have a clue what I was doing. Since they read a thread that I posted, not only do they have exact details of what I've done till now but they know what my next move is.

That sentence is almost the exact same one that was said to JasonR in his thread before stop posting regularly.
You hardly see anything from Biophase or IceCreamKid. zen******* is gone.

It's all because of a few rotten apples and a few stupid comments like the one I quoted above.

I honestly don't feel comfortable posting any valuable information here when people like you can't take no for an answer.
Thanks for being another rotten apple.
 
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