Diary of Opening A New Business

[JEdwards]

I see a lot of these threads started by young entre's and thought I would start my own on a new business I am starting this week. I think it might be a good insight to what it takes to make it. Or what it takes to fail at it.

My goal. Turn a (hopefully only) $15k investment into a $10 million dollar a year business within 24 months. (last business I started with under $10k, we did $4.5 million in sales in 36 months and sold out to a major player in that industry). To do that I am going to have to go from zero employees (as of last week) to say 100 in under 24 months.

If you guys like I can keep an account of what is actually happening week to week. the trials and tribulations, the hiring's, the firing's, the bills, the sales, etc.

I am not going to tell you what business I am starting, (name or industry) but I will say, I am not reinventing the wheel here. This is a business a ton of people are doing and make a lot of money from, A lot on this site, I just THINK I have come up with a niche, and a different way to market it. So I am going to give it a try. (no need to reinvent the wheel)

Where am I at?

Expenses

- Just rented a small office last week, 800 sq ft. $1,500 down $750 a month (signed a month to month lease, with the ability to move up to 2,000 sq feet quickly, then to 4,000 sq feet, which is about the size I need.)
- Bought 5 used computers - $900
- Bought 6 Voip phones - $1,000
- Bought 6 headsets - $750
- Cable is going to be installed tomorrow. $220 a month
- Phone lines through a voip service $250 a month
- Incorp with proper books, $1,000 (lawyer on retainer)
- Talked to the CPA about becoming my part time book keeper ($200 a month)
- General liability policy $440 for the year. (once I have a few more employees, need to add some sort of workers comp)
- Set up payroll company
- Set up bank account

Office already had some junky old furniture that will do, but I am buying new chairs, some plants and pics. $1,000 bucks

Have main website almost done, as we will be charging on monthly automatic renewals, and sometimes taking payment info by phone, still trying to get the merchant account set up.

Employees,
- Tons of infrastructure work to do, hired a college degreed in marketing guy to be my right hand man. $3,000 a month to start, Add $1,000 a month every month to 9k a month as long as sales justify. (tons of work to do)
- Hired my sales manager, starts Wed, and we will start selling Thursday. She will help write the scripts, make changes and manage the sales force. ($17 an hour plus override comm bonus from sales team)

Goals for this week,

Make 1 sale, set up a sales system, finish website writing,(or just keep updating).

Goals for next week, (once we have the script down) hire 4 more salespeople, pay $13 an hour plus commission.

I am back in the game.... Now it is time to have some fun.

Note about me: I have been a serial entrepreneur for over 20 years, started a small business when I was 20, with no money (no parents money either, they asked me for money), it worked, thank god, (I have not had a boss for 20 years) I have owned a lot of businesses, from a bunch of retail stores, to a huge wholesale operation with 60 employees, then another wholesale operation in a total different industry just to see if I could. ( Also the bad, I have spent at least 1 million over the years trying businesses I should have never gone into, I did it because I thought I was smart, I lost a lot of money, but learned a lot)

Thanks for reading..

 

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[JEdwards]

Without going into detail about your current business do you know of any other methods that people can use to bootstrap their inventory. I know somebody of your success can probably get the manufacturer to front you the product but this might not be an option for less experienced individuals.

I am asked this a lot. Seriously if I was a newb trying to get out there, I would go to the trade show of whatever industry you are in.. If you are in butter, trust me there is a butter trade show somewhere.. Most of the time in vegas.. I am talking the manu - wholesalers trade show. Not the one they advertise. Like ces, kbis, sema,

Find your show. go in, wear a nice suit. Pass all the big guys, go to the farthest point from the door, Look at the signs, they start turning Chinese, find a guy that sells your stuff, walk up to him and say, I think I can sell 10,000 units I would like to become a U.S. "PARTNER" of yours.

See those guys want to sell product in the U.S. very very badly. Tell them your idea and have them send you a container of whatever.. They will do it.

True Story, I was once shipped $500k worth of product on a hand shake.

Hope someone takes this advice, I have a great business idea wrapped around doing this, just don' t have the time.

 

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[JEdwards]

Here is an update to this thread. Over the last 120 days I have been in the process of selling this business as another business I have opened has peaked my interest. In a totally unrelated industry.

A bunch of my competitors came together as a group, and offered me a bit of change to sell the business so they can get their customers back. (which I have slowly been taking away) As we have inventory, loans, accounts receivables etc it took a bit of time, but we are right there on the numbers and have agreed to and in the process of making the deal work and splitting up the customer base among the group. It is a great deal for all involved. This is the 2nd time I have sold a company where the main reason is for me to go away.

The 100 million when I started is not going to happen, I thought I could will my way up to that point, but nope. Can't seem to get their without putting in huge amounts of cash.

And I do not know what the other people told you csvalvato, but jon.a was correct and the business is in the wholesale auto parts industry. Good Luck to you.

 

[JEdwards]

Update.

Business is going very well. Growth Mode. This year the goal is to get the customers that buy from us to buy more. We are still most of our customers 3rd, 4th, last choice, so hopefully over this year we can become their 2nd or who knows, dare I say their 1st call (when I say most companies that is not true, I have only sold to about 7% of my markets potential customers) I am really just a speck in the wheel.

The calls that I did for a new product I talked about in the last 6 weeks. Well I failed. Horribly. I thought it was David vs Goliath, but once I got on the calls it was Goliath VS Goliath. Two companies really control the entire market. There are some stragglers but yea. that sucks. Still want to be in that biz, am going to re - evaluate how to do that sometime in the next year. The deal is I need a good share of the market to get into the market. So on that we will see.

Day to Day.. I've been FIRED and sent home, well I am majority share holder but I'm an idea guy, not a day to day guy, so all I do is go in and mess things up at this point, I tell workers to change things that don't need changing for the sake of changing something. So I have taken a step back and let the day to day be handled by my Managers. Sad but true, but I like it that way. It always happens, I build the team and let them play it out.

Offers.. I always have offers to sell out, at this point companies that are selling what we sell would love to buy us, (mostly to make us go away) the problem is their offers are no where near what I think I am worth (10 to 20 times more.) to another group of companies in my industry. (but not in my specific niche) We will see how that plays out. I still want to hold out for the hail marry money. We will see if that works.

New Business.. Cause I have been sitting at home, making some calls for charity, (see thread) and rearranging my sock drawer. I have been thinking about a new business idea. Not in the industry I am in at all. Business to consumer even. After many, Jack don't do it thoughts, You don't have the time thoughts, the idea has beaten me. I got a great feeling it will work. I am at the point that I have to know. I am opening June 9th.

Going to create a new thread and everything. Some Fastlaners are involved so it should be fun, or Sad if it fails.

Thanks for reading.

 

[xmartel]

I read this whole thread front to back, and was able to pull out some great wisdom.

Noticed that Jack was in Texas and I was heading there on holiday so I threw it out to him if he'd like to meet up for lunch. I'd never reached out to anyone before like this, makes me a little uncomfortable, but gotta step past the comfort zone to grow. Jack said yes and we had a great lunch. Only meant to talk for 1 - 1.5 hours, but ended meeting for over 3.

Best decision I've made in a while. I learned more in that 3 hours about business than most people will from a lifetime.

You're a very easy going, easy to talk to person, thanks again for your time Jack.

If anyone else is ever in a position to reach out to someone successfull, do it. Even if you're a reserved person like me, suck it up and do it. You'll grow and learn so much from the experience.

Also got a ride in the F430, icing on the cake. At 6'4" I wasn't sure I'd fit, but I do and it's quite comfortable, it's now on the buy list.

 

[JEdwards]

Agreed Zen, but is there opportunity outside of IT, SaaS and Apps? Guess I will need to go and ask!

There is opportunity everywhere. Every single thing bought or sold is an opportunity to make money. I bet there is a guy right now somewhere that has made 100 million off of selling chopstick's to restaurants. He is sitting on a beach somewhere, probably eating with a fork and I even bet his friends call him something like Chopstick George.

Did he invent Chopsticks,nope, He just figured that people somewhere needed chopsticks and said to himself I can get people those.

 

[JEdwards]

Thanks for the quick reply Jack.

Just to clarify, how does there being too many lazy - rich people in your industry, give your company a competitive advantage? From point 3, I would have concluded that your thought process is your competitive advantage.

While most new entres are looking for the next cool social network, they should be looking for the best old industries. In old industries there are old people, who have been in the biz 30 years plus, they are bored and not thinking competitively anymore, they have the name, they have the stock, etc. What they dont have is the want to get going and make crap happen.

Look in your town I bet there is a company that sells bolts and screws and has a 20k sq foot store. How many of your friends are saying hey I am going into bolts and screws...

Take a look at this post from another member from today.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/the-better-fastlane-idea.49681/

 

[JEdwards]

I'd be interested in how you handle your employees and compensation for sales people.

If you are comfortable:

What do you look for in employees?

How do you handle them day-to-day? (in a few words)

How do you structure your comp plans for your sales people? I am assuming with a larger business such as that, you are looking for top-end sales people who are looking for the big bucks. Or am I mistaken?

Of course I'd like to know what type of business you're into but I do respect your privacy. Thanks for the thread, good luck with your voip!

Voip, just the set-up, I have zero patience..

Great questions..

1. I look for experience, a lot of entres think they need to reinvent the wheel, hire and train, they don't! There are people that have sold almost the exact same thing you are selling, no matter what it is, I search for those people. if they do not have a proven track record of doing what I need done, and this is in any position, I don't hire them. Your time is all you got.

2. How do I handle them day to day? I don't the only way to "fastlane" your business is to hire people that can handle them day to day. Even though I opened this week, I have yet to call back an applicant or do one pitch on the phone. You hire good managers and have them do it.

3. I am looking at people who want to make $100k a year, and that have made a min of $50k at their previous jobs, if they show up and drive a 91 civic that has dents on all sides, and they are 35, why do you think that is? They are probably losers that will waste your time with drama, now if they show up in a newer Infinity, they need to make car payments. So they have to sell or work hard.

I structure their commissions based on the fact that they will do as little as possible most of the time, so you want them to make very little $$ per hour (but still think they have a good paying job) and offer them great commission for making deals. The plan is for them to always make commissions, not hourly.

You can hire and train and fire people all day long for 9-10 bucks an hour, or you can pay someone 20 bucks an hour and they will know how to do the job and won't quit because 20 bucks is just enough for them not to quit.

Hope this helps

Can't say the biz, maybe when I sell it.

 

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[theBiz]

Seems like some things never change...

 

[JEdwards]

Little Update, As you get into an industry you start to figure out what is going wrong and what can help,

I have stumbled onto a really big business that no one out there is doing. Same industry I am in, etc etc.

I already have the customers, just now need to fit them into this deal.

This is going to be a big deal.

Now I have 5000 calls to make.

 

[JEdwards]

Here we go, going to start calling in the am. I pray it goes well.

Here is the prep work I have done.

Step 1. Broke down the US into 60 or so shipping points.

Step 2. Made a list of all the wholesale companies that do what I need. How did I do that? I had one of my girls call and ask the retailers/installers, when you need this who do you call? and made a list from that. Finding small distributors is sometimes kind of tough. Bit of a problem there is only about 500 of them, so for me to sell 60 is going to be tough but hopefully I can get a few to take more than one market.

Step 3. Created a very, very, compelling offer.. Basically there is zero chance they can lose, zero. Of course they will need to give me 2-4k up front but zero chance they can lose it. And they dont know they have nothing to lose. To them it will still be a risk.

Step 4. Made a website powerpoint presentation. So when I get the owners/managers on the phone I walk them through that , instead of trying to paint a picture in their head of how great of a deal this deal.

Step 5. Now all I need to do is get the courage to pick up the phone...

Should I be scared? What if someone hangs up on me? What if they yell at me? What if they call me names?

Wait forget it. I don't think I can do it. Crap its over. I am such a loser.


Is there a chance it might not work the way I am thinking yes. but I will make the 500 calls to find out and adapt and change. I need these people long term so we will see.

 

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[JEdwards]

Jack,
how have you manged things like software licenses? For each new employee dont you have to kit them out with a PC, MS office etc, and then user license for your CRM (what CRM do you use?)

Yes new pc, but we have our own in house crm software that I had written a while back. Then I have them all on google docs, etc for the rest. No licenses needed, yet.

Everything matters, but I understand what your trying to say. Yes he seems to be good at hiring others.

I am good at leading others to do what I don't want to, or have the time to do.

If I am selling, I am not growing.

If I am managing people, I am not growing.

I create the idea and put people in charge of implementing it.

 

[JEdwards]

We are launching a new product line this morning.

I believe this is the beginning of the actual curve upwards. I have my peeps in place, a name in the market, and now it is go time.

If everything goes as planned, we should double in size in 60 days. and be into a lot of profit. (which I will probably just reinvest).

On a personal level. I am very excited, But my passion is not where it should be, I find myself wasting countless hours, countless amounts of time. I have no focus, not much drive. Honestly it is like I am going through the motions and because I have made money and think I know what I am doing. I am acting as if I am already at my 25 million in sales.

I wish I could snap out of it. < this might be insecurity or fear of failure talking, I don't know. Just thought some people might like to know what goes through peoples heads at any and all levels.

You young people. Keep your wonderment going.

 

[i3ond]

I just spent several hours reading this entire thread.

To start you:

Had an idea.
Leased a cheap small office month by month.
Made it a corporation using an attorney to do the legal work.
Used an cpa for the book keeping.
Used a payroll company.
Created a business bank account
Created a business merchant account?
Created the website
Took out a liability insurance policy.
Bought 5 cheap computers.
Bought an expensive voip system.
Bought 6 expensive headsets
Bought cable internet
Bought some cheap furniture that didn't match.
Hired two managing staff. Gave them decent base pay + decent commissions

Trained the managing staff a couple days and then went into interviewing/hiring of sales people.

You hired 4 sales agents.

1 manager left.

You hired another manager that you've worked with before.

You had sales people quit and you hired more to replace them.

You had voip issues which made your sales people ineffective.

You had more people quite and you hired people to replace them.

You replaced the voip with landlines.

You started making leads

People stopped quitting so much.

Friday was Ferrari Friday

You started making more closes's

You started to make a slight profit

You moved and expanded

Less people are quitting

You have your managers take more of a leadership role

You move to a larger location

You start investing less time.

Managers start to take your role.

The corporation starts making decent gains

And a similar continuous pattern....



You distribute, market and sell a niche products. You have a warehouse with forklifts and ect. And for some reason I think the products are from china.

You sold a portion of the company. But you haven't reached the goal of a 25m buyout.



It feels like i'm missing a lot here.

It seems the majority of your problems are people problems.

Is this true? How would you rate your leadership skills on a scale of 1-10? Ten being best.

What is your leadership style or method?

What would you differently if you started over?

How are you going to make sure you don't get out to early like you have in the past?

 

[csalvato]

For someone who doesn't care, you're doing a good job of faking it. This makes me nervous. The fallout of digging like this basically made @JasonR stop posting, @biophase seems to be way less active since those two scammers sn out and ripped off his two businesses (can anyone blame him), Jack posts very infrequently, pretty soon we'll be left with a forum full of posts like this:

I'm glad I make you nervous. And thank you for the attack. But I assure you, you are nervous about the WRONG THING.

Let me be perfectly clear.

At this stage, @JackEdwards is a man behind a computer. @JasonR is a man behind a computer. I am a man behind a computer. And so are you.

And you know what SOME people behind computers do? They lie.

That's right. It's the whole basis of "to catch a predator". Lying on the internet isn't something new.

So when I see someone who is behind a computer, I assume there is a chance he is lying. When I hear from other forum members that no one has ever heard WHAT this business is, let alone the industry it's in, that raises a red flag. I am trying to decide if this is advice I should actually take, or if @JackEdwards has been blowing smoke up my a$$.

You would agree that it is important that you only take advice from CREDIBLE SOURCES, yes?

When I say I am going to take his advice and use his process as a model, I am SERIOUS.

I am talking about I put ads in craigslist and reached out to my network for salespeople for a wedding planning business I had in mind.

Then, suddenly, I did a gut check. OMG, I am basing ALL of these decisions on someone I never met, who I read about in a forum, who won't even give me his business name!! OMG!!!

So I came here and asked a simple questions before going any further trying to hire people. And guess what? I got a LOT of conflicting information. I asked other more seasoned forum members - and I got even MORE conflicting information.

That's just RED FLAG, RED FLAG, RED FLAG.

And you know what, I gotta trust my gut.

I started digging about some of the OTHER zen gurus on here ::cough cough:: and found out a lot of information that I did not like. I found information that made my skin curl, actually -- after putting some people on this forum in touch with TRUSTED CONTACTS. The interaction actually wound up embarrassing me.

So the question still stands. Why does the business name and revenues (the only thing that actually lends credibility to any of this information) still have to be withheld THREE YEARS after the founding of the company when the owner is actually SELLING the business??

So even if this thread is TOTALLY legit, I don't know if I can trust it...because we are all just people behind computers. And people behind computers SOMETIMES LIE.

And that applies to a lot of the threads and people on this forum that claim one level of success, when it's not true or acquired through less-than-admirable means.

There's a difference between @JasonR and @biophase's situation and this one. @JasonR and @biophase had information about their business made public wayyy early in the process. @JackEdwards is ready to sell.

So what does this mean. There is a PROBLEM on this forum.

People can go around claiming whatever they want...and nothing is policed.

"I made $10M in three years by hiring salespeople -- here is a picture of my Bentley and empty office space"

"I made a deal with Lori Granger selling paint brush covers"

"I threw my printer off a balcony and made $1000 in a single day"

This is good news though, right? Because we are entrepreneurs. We SOLVE problems.

Notice...two of these people backed up their claims with proof. One went on Shark Tank. The other posted analytics tracking of his revenues.

But @JackEdwards just says "I am in the auto industry". There is no proof provided to anyone (at least no one who is in a position of authority or trust).

Before marking things as "GOLD" it may make sense to actually VERIFY the information somewhere first. A private bank statement showing first sale sent to MJ. A link to the company website (like iwear8.com [i guess I am going to rip off his business too?]).

It doesn't need to be public. It just needs to be VETTED.

I mean, we keep going around saying "the idea isn't important" and "the product isn't important". We keep saying it's all in the execution. Startup founders all agree.

Elon Musk isn't walking around saying, "I can't tell you what I'm working on, it may be in the space industry." Why? Because the dude solves hard problems and that's what sets him apart.

After three years of executing, you're going to tell me that my asking for more info is making you "nervous"? I am really going to be able to rip off three years of "pro-entrepreneur" execution by learning that he runs XYZ Widgets & Things in Austin Texas?

Give me a break.

If everyone on here is so scared to let other people know their business and product, they aren't solving a hard enough problem.

 

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[s168]

This is one of the few long threads I've read from start to finish. Really great read.

I know of a guy (let's call him Samuel) who has done what JackEdwards is doing, but in a B2C perspective. Samuel is a UK based guy, same as me, and I have watched in the space of just a few short years create a sales team from scratch to making sales of around £20m (US $32m+) in 2011, of which he pocketed some £3m of that. The rest were paid out as salaries and commissions to his team of telesales staff plus other expenses. Oh, and Samuel turned 32 this year.

I know of the businesses Samuel does, and I don't support it from a sales and business ethics standpoint. That aside, I see many parallels with what Samuel does and what JackEdwards has done in this thread. Samuel worked for someone else in telesales, and was making a LOT of money. He has no formal qualifications, and has even been in jail for a short time when he was in his early twenties. At some point, he figured the business model was so simple and profitable that he can do it himself... and so he did. And the rest was history.

If I were to summarise his process and methods, it is essentially very simple to describe but much harder to implement. He knew of a niche market selling products (there was no need for a large warehouse and the products didn't need to be stored and shipped out), he had worked in it so he knows the sales pitch including opening and closing approaches, and the he knew how to get hold of targeted prospects to call that matched what he was offering... and the big thing here is the profit margin was absolutely huge! So, after that, it was a simple case of developing the sales pitch to a repeatable script, train the sales team and have some managers hired in that he can rely on to manage the staff, and get them to make calls all day long. It was a numbers game, pure and simple. In terms of improvements made since the early days, he has tried different things to make the business more effective and profitable. Some ideas worked, some didn't. He abandoned the ones that didn't work when he had enough evidence that it wasn't working and stuck with the changes that helped his bottom line. An example of something that didn't work was him hiring a sales team of 60+ people based in the Philippines as they were cheaper but it seems that the UK potential customers just didn't take to the clearly non-native accent not to mention that fact that there are other subtle nuances that made it more difficult to 'click' with someone who isn't from the same home soil. He trialled that for a few months and it wasn't working so he called it a day. An example of something that did work was using automated diallers. You can apparently obtain software that would auto-dial a database of phone numbers for you. This meant that his sales staff were not having to physically dial numbers, so it sped that aspect of the business up. Auto-dialling meant no mistakes by human operators, and no delays from slow dialling either. Even an average saving of 10-15 seconds adds up to a lot of time when you consider that he has 50+ sales staff working 5-6 days a week for 8-10 hours a day.

I remember hearing that Samuel borrowed money from his family, around £70k (US $112k) to start off, but he wanted to start off big. I'm sure he could've done it with much less money and he would still get to where he is today albeit a bit slower, but he wanted to ramp up right from the start. I wouldn't personally recommend this strategy for any newbie entrepreneurs, but for Samuel it was much less of a risk due to his background in the same niche.

Ultimately, I've come to realise that it really doesn't matter what you sell so long as there is a market for what you sell. Whereas it would be interesting to learn what JackEdwards actually sells, I don't think it is important at all. If you have genuine demand for your product or services, it is simply a case of finding the most commercially-effective ways of getting yourself in front of those people... ideally at a time when they are ready to buy. Whether that be telesales, JV's with other businesses, online campaigns, or other methods I don't think it matters.

JackEdwards is supplying a niche market with a high profit margin product that has multiple income possibilities. One-off sales, repeat sales, sales with service and support, or service and support only. There is already demand for what he is offering, so it is a proven market. But what he has is something better than what is out there, probably not massively better, but better in enough ways for enough of the people his sales team calls to do business with his company to generate a tidy profit.

Well, that's my take on it anyway! Great thread you started Jack! And thanks to MJ for his newsletter emails because without them I would not have know about this thread.

 

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[xmartel]

Xmartel,

What are 3 things that you took away from meeting JackEdwards? Or more for that matter...

Think big, everything you see around you is a market. I used to think I thought fairly large, and saw markets everywhere, but my view was expanded quite a bit. I’m just looking at items on my desk right now and spot at least half a dozen different business opportunities I know would be profitable to the tune of millions and wouldn’t take too much capital. Just lots of hard work and think outside the box a little.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to people. I’m a fairly reserved guy, and reaching out to people is out of my comfort zone. But it’s something we touched on in relation to an idea I had that’s in the same market as my core business. Thinking back on my life I can see the times I’ve taken that leap have proven fruitful.

Example- I’m a home builder. When you’re just getting started in this business it’s tough to secure good land to build on. So I started calling my competitors to see if it’s possible to buy lots off them. One of the guys I called is now a good friend of mine, has supplied me with good lots, we’re using the same subs to use volume to lower our costs, (probably putting an extra 10k into my pocket per build), and we’re in talks to do some larger town home developments. All from just picking up the phone and talking directly to someone I compete against in a very competitive business. Another example is the meeting with Jack itself. Just pick up that phone.

Take action. I’ve come a long way the past 5 years or more from being an action faker to taker. And I think I’ve done fairly well building my business so far. But Jack is on another level. Very cool to meet a guy that’s taken that level of action. I still sit back and am reserved about things I should be acting on a bit too much. If I want to get to another level, I know I have to be more aggressive.

Learned quite a bit on how to hire people and get the best out of them. For the interview process he didn’t have a secret formula to select the best, just go with your gut. (Which I’ve learned to the tune of 10’s of thousands lost when I didn’t follow my gut in the past number of years). But after they’re hired, have a simple easy to follow road map that they can see how to move up in the company. If you hire someone and they can see that in 20 years they’ll still be making hardly above minimum and in the same position, they aren’t going to give their best to you. They’ll slouch by with the minimum possible.

Don’t put a cap on earnings, pay tied to performance is good. Hope for a better position and more money in life will motivate people. How that looks for every business may be different. Quick example is my dad’s business. Automotive garage. Calendar is up on the wall for all to see with sales targets for each month. If that goal is met/exceeded everyone gets a bonus depending how much better they did than the target that can be applied towards free parts to their own vehicles. It’s small and simple, but it works.

Last thing I’ll touch on for now. I ran an idea past him to get more realtors working for me that could cause my business to grow very quickly if it works. He listened and we talked through it and he thought it was a great idea except for one part of the commission structure. Jack’s concern was it was going too far and might actually offend some realtors. I hadn’t viewed it that way before, but it got me thinking that maybe it could. So I contacted my realtor and ran it by him before I rolled it out to get his opinion, he basically said the same thing as Jack. He also gave me some ideas how to get more realtors to sign up, and to get more response out of them. So that was some very helpful things I learned (thanks for that Jack). Without that insight I would have gone forward with it and probably offended and turned away people that could be bringing me sales.

 

[DeletedUser2]

While most new entres are looking for the next cool social network, they should be looking for the best old industries.

best quote I have read in a Year maybe 2

guys, this is a brilliant observation. THERE IS A TON of old industries, with TONS of problems, that dont have, a good software solution, a good app, or hell even a good execution play.

now
GO PLAY

Z

 

[JEdwards]

You actually believe that he will steal your idea, and start up a business in your niche. LOL.

You actually believe he wouldn't? Now that is funny!

Let's see what he would say when his friends ask, "I worked for this guy who took a $15k investment to $25 million in sales in under two years," Wow, you going to do the same thing? "Naw, I am NOT going to do the same thing I am going to reinvent the wheel... I have an idea to build a texting coupon business."

 

[xmartel]

All I took, should have gotten more, was too busy enjoying the moment.

 

[JEdwards]

Here are a few... We have come a long way since then, as we have furniture, etc, in all the rooms also.

 

[LibertyForMe]

If what I have learned from Jack is correct, it is just a big puzzle. I get the vibe that there is definitely a way to make anything work, you just have to find the angle.

That is the biggest thing I have learned from @JackEdwards . You guys are right, you can't just start selling chopsticks. There is no differentiation. You gotta find an angle where all parties win. I think that is what Jack is just really good at.

I have been doing lots of research into how people solve problems, and an overarching trend is that you MUST clearly define the problem. So in the chopstick example the problem is not "I want to sell chopsticks but the market is crowded." That is a statement. A problem is a clear goal and the obstacles that are preventing movement toward that. The right problem would be "I want to sell chopsticks to restaurant distributors in the mid-west, but I have no name recognition or brand differentiation so they don't need me."

Now, you have an obstacle to work on overcoming. What can we do to A: Increase name recognition, B: increase brand differentiation, or C: Make them need me.

Then you just keep drilling down: "Ok, for C, so what do they need? What could I see them needing that they haven't thought of yet?"

I think that is why Jack doesn't answer our lame questions, he is trying to make us think through the process.

 

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[RHL]

I don't care either way. I don't understand the level of secrecy,

For someone who doesn't care, you're doing a good job of faking it. This makes me nervous. The fallout of digging like this basically made @JasonR stop posting, @biophase seems to be way less active since those two scammers sniffed out and ripped off his two businesses (can anyone blame him?), Jack posts very infrequently, LikWid posts very infrequently, pretty soon we'll be left with a forum full of posts like this:

Very inspirational and thought provoking thread. I wish I could go through 650 comments on the thread... Had the op made $10 mil in 24 months or not? The thread gone on for too long and still going. Just wondering...

And nobody will have to bother snooping around forum content creators' successful businesses because no one who remains active here here will have a successful business anymore.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

He had a PURPOSE of not making people feel like their forum was scammy.

It was scammy because everyone was selling everyone something, an MLM scheme, an affiliate program, some eBook. No one was doing anything real.

In the end, I can't vet everyone here. And forums will have posers, stealers, liars, and con artists. Heck, every 6 months at the Lambo forum some moron always shows up claiming to own 3 Lambos, 2 Mercedes, blah blah, and they eventually get exposed. And since we're on the topic of cars, just because someone drives a Ferarri or a Bentley or anything doesn't make them credible. In fact, the greatest financial scams of the world use such a trick "Oh, he drives a Mercedes, he must be legit." This statement and caveat is not to insinuate anything is going on in this thread or with Jack, but just to never let your guard down. If something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. And just because no one voices that concern, doesn't mean you're alone as it could just be pluralistic ignorance. There are many folks on this board I hold suspicions on, and unfortunately, suspicion is not enough to do anything. Nonetheless, the last person that I discovered (and proved) was "selling" mentorships, among other things, (and obviously not motivated from the kindness of his heart) was promptly removed. The mods and I have no hesitation on removing people from the board when it is clear they are up to no good. And unlike The Baltimore Ravens or the Minnesota Vikings who may feel the need to "hang on" to someone because of their cult following, despite their transgressions, I don't give a F*ck.

In the end you have a choice: Simply ignore what has been presented. Use the ignore feature. And furthermore accept what you feel is credible by your standard of what makes someone credible.

 

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[JEdwards]

Wow, only 250 more until this thread reaches 110,000 views. That seems like a lot. Thanks everyone for following the journey so far.

 

[JEdwards]

I need 64 Yes's. Decided to get on the phone and make all these deals myself.

Two reasons,

1. I just want to, bored and it will give me something to do.

2. I need these people strategically for something else next year.

So I want to introduce myself, get to know the owners, and build the win win relationship now, (I am going to make them a lot of money) so Next year I can hit them with something big. Their cost to get into this deal is about $3k, so not that much money, but at this point since I have the customers already it is all just going into my pocket.

I am going to keep a log of my calls here. Success and failure. Should take 45 days.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

Question everything. Truth can survive investigation.

 

[JEdwards]

Jack,
what is to stop one of your employees stealing your idea and setting up on their own?

Anyone of them can steal the idea. That is the risk you take. But inviting someone in that wants to be part of the "fastlane" I bet ups the odds.

Thank heaven for us 99% of people out there just want to get paid and go home.

 

[JEdwards]

Hey as of the last few days this thread has become the number 1 viewed thread on this site, over 133,000 views, so thanks for that.

Ok with calling my deal, I have come across a buyers group and they can literally take all 60 spots, (with shipping) They buy stuff together to keep prices down, Cool deal. Anyway. I had a conference call with the principles and some managers of their places. They are discussing taking at least 30 spots, so will know that in the next week. My guess is the guys who need me the least Because they own their markets, will influence the guys that really need me. So I am going to stop calling as I feel I am going to walk away with something here.

This could be a real easy deal now, or a really sucky deal if they say no. Cause then that narrows the amount of places I can get on.

Will keep yall posted

 

[csalvato]

Some great threads you should check out (some require INSIDERS subscription):

@csalvato's Thread - My thread, explaining how I started a website consultancy in March, and just had my first 5-figure month

@G_Alexander's Thread - Launching businesses and buying rental properties

@Likwid24's Thread - Going from idea to imported product to Shark Tank investment while funding his venture through a painting business and firefighter job.

@AllenCrawley's Thread - Building a product brand from scratch.

@JAJT's thread - Building an importing business

@biophase's thread - Creating an Amazon eCommerce business from scratch, selling it to another forum member, and watching that forum member run with it

@Eskil's first thread - Starting a supplement business from scratch.

@Eskil's second thread - Creating a physical product business from scratch.

There are many other good ones. Can't take the time to list them all. Once you are around a bit you will get an idea of where the winners are.