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This is a question I've been working on myself recently. (I'm trying to keep a log of my journeys, struggles, thoughts, etc. as I go throughout building a successful business. Goal being to write a FAT book on the process with a massive amount of detail.)<br />
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Anyway - there is, luckily, a blueprint we can follow to get started. Let's have a look!<br />
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Step 0 - Read TMF. But you've got that covered. Good on you.<br />
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Step .25 - Read my book! It goes into detail on how to create solid, concrete, and measurable goals for yourself, and giving you a mindset to produce success ten-times-over. I'll leave the title unknown due to the rules, but you can PM me for more info.<br />
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Step 1 - Okay, so let's *actually* get started. The first step in starting a business is, of course, to find a hole or find a problem.<br />
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A problem is what someone encounters whenever they are unsatisfied with an existing product or service. Jim was tired of waiting 15 minutes for a taxi, getting charged different rates with every ride, and rude/smelly drivers. Uber solves this problem.<br />
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Karen was tired of having to leave her home, drive to the video store, decide on a movie she may not like, pay for it, then have to worry about rewinding it and possibly paying nasty late fees. Netflix solves this problem.<br />
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Alternatively, we encounter holes when a product does not exist for a given market, *and there is demand for it.*<br />
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Keep that last bit in mind. You have only found a hole if 1. A product doesn't exist. and 2. There is a demand for it.<br />
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It makes no sense to create something like...sandpaper bedsheets for example. Sure they don't exist, but that's because no one wants them.<br />
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So how do we go about finding a problem or a hole? I have, with the help of the forum, collected a few ways in which you can find an idea to work on.<br />
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A. The Sherlock Method - This is probably one of the most commonly misinterpreted methods of finding a hole or a problem that you'll see. In order to use the Sherlock Method, we must first choose a market that we feel is in need of help, or is rapidly growing.<br />
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It's common to start with niche markets that you're already a consumer in, because you'll have a more direct insight.<br />
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For me, I noticed that I fit the following niches: Language learner, ereader user, avid reader, vegan, coffee enthusiast, actor, and many others. Upon looking further into my interests, I decided that the language learning, and vegan markets are on the up up up, so I will target these.<br />
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(Alternatively, if you have no interests, find some! Pick up a copy of Josh Kaufman's "The First 20 Hours," pick a new hobby/skill, and learn a new thing every two weeks. As a general rule, you should have one hobby that grows your mind, one that grows muscle, and one that grows money. I cover this in my book.)<br />
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Next, you simply partake in that hobby or market! I go shopping as a vegan every time I go out to eat or get groceries, I visit forums for language learning, and purchase language courses. This allows you to see where the current market is at.<br />
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Now, once you're immersed. Ask yourself. What's missing? How can this be better? Is there any way for this to be improved? What do I find myself getting frustrated about?<br />
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Now you've come to the conclusion that without a wide array of microwaveable vegan breakfast burritos, your life is sad and disappointing. Congrats - you have an idea!<br />
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(Note - this is very different from your crazy uncle Gary telling you all about this idea that he has for cup holders in NASCAR vehicles. There is some semblance of a process here.)<br />
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B. The Ask Method - This works best if you have an email list built, or you've bought/rented one from someone.<br />
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Popularized by author Ryan Levesque in his book "The Ask Method," this method involves simply asking people what their pain points are in a series of small surveys. Based on their responses, you can narrow down the pain points of your market and categorize them into different 'buckets.' The buckets with the most people in them are the ones that you should target.<br />
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C. The Foundation Method or Idea Extraction - Same thing, different name. Popularized by Dane Maxwell and his course 'The Foundation.' Basically a small combination of the above group.<br />
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First, you choose a market that's ripe for innovation. Except this doesn't have to be one that you fit personally. It can be anything! A friend of mine, when he was 19, chose Yacht Brokers as his target.<br />
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Secondly, Get a list of phone numbers (yes, phone numbers. Don't bother with email.) of people in this market.<br />
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Third, start calling and asking for their pain points. Essentially, you're cold calling everyone on that list saying "Hey I'm Dillon, an entrepreneur looking to make life as a yacht broker even sweeter. Just a quick question - what is something you have to do multiple times a day that feels redundant or unnecessary?" There are a multitude of leading questions you can use.<br />
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Two weeks of calls, and my friend gets a solid idea on a software that the brokers could use to manage their forms online - however this was left unpursued. (Maybe I should sneak in on this?)<br />
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Further, <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/22024/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="22024" data-username="@Young-Gun">@Young-Gun</a> has a wonderful thread where he keeps up on his success with his SaaS business, in which he primarily used the Idea Extraction method.<br />
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2. Phew - that's a lot of words for only two thumbs. Let's keep going.<br />
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Step two. Validate your idea to yourself. Here's the part where we answer the question 'is this even worth pursuing?'<br />
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A. First - run it by yourself. There are a few self-checks you can do to see if this idea is worthwhile.<br />
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Let's run our idea through the CENTS requirements outline in TMF.<br />
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* Is there a solid NEED for this solution? Are people actually whining and clamoring for this to exist?<br />
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* What is the barrier of ENTRY like for us? How easy is it for us to get started? The barrier of entry to starting a tshirt business is low, because anyone can have a Printful account and a Shopify store set up in a single day.<br />
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However, language courses have a high barrier to entry, because you first must have a competent command of the language you're teaching!<br />
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* How much of your process would you CONTROL?<br />
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With a tshirt business, you have no way of guaranteeing (really guaranteeing) whether your shirts will be in stock, how long shipping will take, or whether or not the service you're using will be in business next month!<br />
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However, with a SaaS business, it's likely that you own the software, you control your advertisements, you can handle customer growth and development. You've got full control.<br />
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* Is your business prone to SCALE?<br />
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To what level can you grow your business? Say you start doing appliance repairs in your city - fixing broken washers and microwaves. That might be good, you might be making good money but you're limited to the number of people in the area that you serve! You can't help fix the microwave of someone in Tallahassee if you're in Chicago!<br />
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* Do you own your TIME?<br />
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Let's say you own a pie baking shop. You love pies and you wake up early to bake fresh pies for hungry customers every day. Business is good, and you make great money.<br />
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But what happens when you get sick? There's a loss in the family? Or you just need some you time? You have to close up shop - and that's a day you don't make money! Your business is completely dependent on your time!<br />
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Make sure you own all five categories with your idea.<br />
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B. The Millionaire Matrix. Take a piece of paper and draw a little 2x2 square. On the top write "Small need / Big need" and on the left side write "Small marker / big market."<br />
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Where does your business fit?<br />
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Small need x Small market = No success<br />
Big need x Small market = Millionaire success<br />
Small need x Big Market = Millionaire success<br />
Big need x Big Market = Billionaire Success<br />
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Make sure you're in a square that best fits your goals.<br />
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C. Purple Cow. When you see the first cow you've seen in a year, it's pretty exciting. However after miles of nothing in cows. It gets pretty boring. However - a purple cow? Now that'd be something worth talking about!<br />
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Make sure your business is, at its essence, something worth spreading and mentioning.<br />
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STEP 3. BEEN TYPING FOR 45 MINUTES LETS GO. Step three is validating your idea to everyone else. This can be done in a few simple ways.<br />
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I'm running to the store, but I'll make an edit when I get back to continue.<br />
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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</blockquote>Appreciate so much your advice, man. It will help me recognize a need and cash in. Thank you</div>
