Do You Have A Successful Entrepreneurial Premise?

[AJ2009]

Thanks for the advice! The only thing I'd like to add is that you need to check in advance how the people with a problem can be targeted. So many great ideas get stuck on marketing issues.

 

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[Seshiro]

This was very good, very imformative, Should definitly be stuck.

 

[redbearing]

This is definitely one of the most important forum post that I have ever read about being an entrepreneur in my whole life. Thanks PhxMJ!

 

[Dooley]

''Money is a like a mischievous cat; if you chase it around the neighborhood, it eludes you-- hiding up a tree, behind the rose bush, or in the garden. However, if you ignore it and focus on what attracts the cat other than the cat itself, it will come to you and sit right in your lap.''

Very true! Great post!

 

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[Caesarion]

Your giving this stuff away for free??:great:

 

[Gymjunkie]

''Money is a like a mischievous cat; if you chase it around the neighborhood, it eludes you-- hiding up a tree, behind the rose bush, or in the garden. However, if you ignore it and focus on what attracts the cat other than the cat itself, it will come to you and sit right in your lap.''

Very true! Great post!

Same goes for women too actually.. ;D

 

[CardShark]

The 1st post in this thread is awesome. A much needed reminder.

 

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[^eagle^]

I can't wait for it either ... WTF is taking so long ... ha ha

I will make a follow-up thread about how to change your entrepreneurial mindset.

Any follow up on The How?

Just want to be sure I'm not screwing anything up.

Otherwise I'll wait for the book.

Thanks again man. Your the best! No BS. Just the facts.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Any follow up on The How?

Yup, Chapter 37: The Open Road. Here is the first sub-section of the chapter.

:smxF:

Needs, Ideas, Opportunity And The Open Road

Opportunities, and the open roads they represent, are everywhere. Look around. That person complaining at the store counter. Opportunity. That stupid voice mail maze you hate navigating when you call the bank. Opportunity. That unsold house that languishes on the market. Opportunity. The trash on the side of the road. Opportunity. The rotting salad that lasted only 2 days in the refrigerator. Opportunity. Those people bitching on that online forum. Opportunity.

If you can't see the opportunities that surround you everyday, you haven't tuned your Fastlane frequency to them. When you make a few minor mental adjustments, roads seemingly closed are suddenly opened.

Opportunity is misinterpreted by many entrepreneurs because they associate opportunity with breakthrough, legendary ideas. They seek virgin ideas, perfect and new, one that would be unveiled to the world in a grandiose affair.

Rarely does that happen...

 

[milliona]

So is the book out already, MJ? Am I missing something?

Anyway, you have a gift.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

Opportunities, and the open roads they represent, are everywhere. Look around. That person complaining at the store counter. Opportunity. That stupid voice mail maze you hate navigating when you call the bank. Opportunity. That unsold house that languishes on the market. Opportunity. The trash on the side of the road. Opportunity. The rotting salad that lasted only 2 days in the refrigerator. Opportunity. Those people bitching on that online forum. Opportunity.

All I can say is, I love opportunity.

And reading this, no doubt, is.

 

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[PaulRobert]

Bump.

A new day and a new lesson refreshed and learned.

This thread came to mind today during an online class I am taking. It is about the internet and marketing. Well the assignment was to come up with business ideas.

Some of the replies-

I will start a hair salon because I like styling hair and there are salons in my town that are always busy.

I will start an ice cream shop that is next to an amusement park or mall because during the summer there will be a lot of customers.

I thought to myself, how ironic, this course repeatedly says " You need a business plan, you must have one or you will fail."- While that is true in many cases the big picture is missing.

As you can see, those ideas above focus on I. As MJ's first post talked about the Karate guy, these businesses are set up to fail and why is that? They are focusing on themselves and not providing a new or special value to customers. The student's ideas are focused on their own interests!

You can have the best business plan written in the world, but if your business is not providing something that brings value to people, you will be included in the statistic that 9 out 10 businesses fail.

 

[andviv]

Lamboman, excellent point. If you don't mind my asking... what is your premise right now? Have you found yours yet? (and congrats on taking the lead on spam-hunting here!)

 

[PaulRobert]

Lamboman, excellent point. If you don't mind my asking... what is your premise right now? Have you found yours yet? (and congrats on taking the lead on spam-hunting here!)

Thank You.I have indeed found my premise.The product that I have developed will be used as an advertising tool for companies to reinforce their brand name. I will be providing them value with a product that will get their name out into the public and attract customers. My name nor my company name will not be on my product, their name will be on it instead.

 

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[Phil]

Do You Have a Successful Entrepreneurial Premise?

If you can make 1,000,000 people achieve any of the following:

1) Make them feel better
2) Help them solve a problem
3) Educate them
4) Make them look better (health, nutrition, clothing, makeup)
5) Give them security (housing, safety, health)
6) Arise a positive emotion (love, happiness, laughter, self-confidence)
7) Satisfy appetites of all kind, from basic (food) to the risqué (sexual).
8) Make things easier
9) Enhance their dreams and give hope

Do any of the above and I can guarantee you this: You will be worth millions.

Wow I love that. I don't know if I have ever actually read this before or I've absorbed so many fast lane lessons from using the site for almost 2 years but My next business venture actually ticks all 9 of the above boxes. I'm so happy.
:great:

 

[deepman]

Thanks for the information and I totally agrees with you. Now my question is how do you train yourself to see the needs that people want, or opportunities ?

 

[mlsalters77]

This is a great post! While I must admit I do believe there is something to be said about pursuing your passions and doing what you love (I'm an artist, thats a die hard core belief. lol) I have been reading more and more material in the past year that suggest exactly what you have said here. To quote a close friend "People don't want 3 inch drill bits, they want 3 inch holes." If you service the needs of others your clientele will be endless.

 

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[mlsalters77]

Thanks for the information and I totally agrees with you. Now my question is how do you train yourself to see the needs that people want, or opportunities ?

When you open up to what's around you I believe it is hard not to notice the needs of others. I think we spend so much time concerned with our daily lives, problems and desires that we have learned to filter out the natural care for others that we are all born with. This may sound a little touchy-feely but children notice everything. especially the pains of others and if you notice it, they always have a whole hearted solution (which we as adults tend to laugh off as cute.) I think listening and seeing things with a child's eyes (meaning honestly and with out discrimination or prejudice) is a true first step to finding those opportunities. Simply said, there are opportunities for greatness all around us its just a matter of spreading your arms out and touching people (like that scene in unbreakable. lol)

 

[Allseeingeye]

This is truly some sound advice! What an inspiring post!

Blessings

 

[Anon3587x]

• How can I make money starting a business?
• What business can I start with $200 and still make $5K per month?
• What home-based business can I start?
• I have a friend who manufacturers widgets; you think I can make money selling them?
• How can I make a passive income?
• What's a good product to sell on Ebay?
• What's the best business to start on a shoestring?

If you find yourself sitting around asking yourself these types of questions, your entrepreneurial premise more than likely will lead you into the 90% failure category.
MJ

Interesting concept.

 

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[Russ H]

One of my all-time favorite posts by MJ.

I go back and read it any time I'm developing something new for our business, to keep my focus.

-Russ H.

 

[Davidla]

One of my all-time favorite posts by MJ.

I go back and read it any time I'm developing something new for our business, to keep my focus.

-Russ H.

:iagree:

This is probably the 5'th time I'm reading this post - and I keep being amazed by how easy it is to get distracted to the "dark" side.

The project I'm working on right now passed the premise test, so it's on the right side.

I should start using some of these fridge/mirror posting techniques

 

[transcribe]

Nice post and a must read for every new entrepreneurs.

 

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[Vagabond 007]

Yup, Chapter 37: The Open Road. Here is the first sub-section of the chapter.

Just a heads up, in the actual book it is...

Chapter 36
Page 250

Judging by the date of MJ's post I quoted, the book wasn't finished yet, hence the different chapter number.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Judging by the date of MJ's post I quoted, the book wasn't finished yet, hence the different chapter number.

Yes indeed! That was before the 1/2 dozen editors and slicing-n-dicing!

 

[DeletedUser1]

Do You Have a Successful Entrepreneurial Premise?

Businesses should not be created to make money. Businesses should not be created to satisfy your desire to “do what you love”. No one cares about your selfish ideas about dreams and making money. The world doesn't care about your business, your desire to make money, and your dreams of owning a business “doing what you love”. Again, no one cares!

Offer the world something of value and the money will be close behind.

MJ

WOW MJ.....well shut my mouth about doing what I love, lol: and I say that with love. Your thread certainly put a lot of things in perspective for me. Okay...so I said in my very first post here that "I'm going to be big." And after reading your post, I had to reconsider that thought BUT, your thread didn't truncate my focus and goal in providing the best form of media via film and DVD that I can do.

I do believe and tell myself that the most important message in any film that I make will be to uplift, inspire, emancipate, and expand the consciousness of people. With some of the films that's out today, not many seem to be doing not much of anything in regards to getting me to the box office - there are some exceptional works of out in the theaters though. Getting rich or wealthy is the last thing on my mind with regards to starting up my film production company (even though I'm officially LLC'ed), yet my focus is to attract the best crew and provide jobs for people who are in alignment with the vision of the company and production integrity.

Okay....so I'll admit, based on hearing a lot of "do what you love," Joy Behar" (from The View) one day gave me an ah-ha moment when she said in so many words "I never believed in that do what gives you joy because that can mean doing anything." Those are not her exact words but she made a mention of "people doing what they love," when this guru Arthur Ray (from The Secret franchise) was arrested for his 'Sweat Lodge' debacle in Arizona, which resulted in the deaths of people: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-5378668-504083.html Yeah, they were out there "doing that they love," and look what happened.

Anyway, I've learned a lot about the phrase "doing what you love," because that could mean anything. Reading your post MJ now puts it all in perspective for me.

Now, I do enjoy telling stories and I've chosen to do so through the medium of filmmaking, screen writing, and through novels. What I enjoy about this medium of creative expression is learning, expanding my awareness of the business, bringing out the best in others (Cast & Crew), creating something that is life changing for the better, bringing people together who can work together, and tapping into my creative imagination to see what I can do that has not been done in film - raising the bar.

Getting my film production company up and running is a work in progress yet I've the patients and focus to ensure that I make the right steps by learning the business, e.g. the legal advise being the most important.

Hmmm, I guess from now on, I'll tell people that I'm doing something that will have an impact on the ever expanding consciousness of our world. How bout that MJ, and the rest of you that has given my reply your time, and thank you for taking the time to read my reply

 

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[YgorDon]

At this moment the hardest part for me was, not to do it for the money. I ve seen that when I struggle financially, it gets even harder not to look at clients only through the money perspective.

I have also started bussines on doing what I love. Well, there has been some success, but not to the extent to which I was hoping for. Anyway, the book gave me a lot of good insights on what I need to change and do different, this I already started implement in my thinking and actions.

My main vision now is to bring true value to the marketplace, really appreciate the customer, and maybe even make the world a better place. I also want to provide for those I love and generally be a benefit to my society.

Cheers to all you forum readers!

 

[RazvanRogoz]

Great post.

To develop on:
"What business can I start with $200 and still make $5K per month?"

You can't start a business generating $5000/month with $200.

Let me tell you why. The $200 may be start-up costs. Fixed start-up costs.

But there are hidden costs also.

Let's say you want to launch a product on ClickBank. Most people say you can do it under $200.

The costs are:
-> CB account ~$40.
-> Domain ~$10.
-> Hosting ~$5 month.

Great. This has the potential of generating a million dollars next year. Or does it?

Next to this, there are the costs IN TIME OR MONEY of:
-> Copywriting, as a efficient sales letter is expensive.
-> SEO or affiliate marketing, as people won't come just because you want too.
-> Developing a good product (being a ghostwriter or hiring one).
-> Proofing your product, creating the design.
-> Customer support.
-> Legal.

Now, yes, I fully admit, you can launch a CB product under $100.

But you need to be a good marketer to do this. You need to bring skills to the job.

And those skills take time to learn. If we value our time at a modest $25/hour, to learn copywriting at an efficient level, you need at least 25 focused hours.

That's an extra $625 in costs just from point #1.

Even MJ, whose story is impressive but I've seen similar, so I know it's both realistic and possible, first spent hundreds of hours learning how to do all of those things and then actually create them.

Therefore, in reality, you don't start-up a business with $1000 and a rented laptop. You start it with 500 hours of specialized study on how to do it or experience and a small capital to ignite it.

That's the difference between the person that can launch a business successfully even if he's broke and the person with unlimited capital who can't make a buck. It's the unseen investment in skill and experience.

Agree?

 

[arpeggiomeister]

Do You Have a Successful Entrepreneurial Premise?

The most common mistake aspiring entrepreneurs make is to approach entrepreneurship with the wrong premise. You've heard the doom-and-gloom statistic that 90% of all new businesses fail in 5 years. While this stat is disheartening, it can empower you to become the minority 10% who don't fail by understanding why most do.

Quite frequently I read posts from people, albeit well-intended, with grandiose goals of making a fortune by starting a business. You've heard the countless questions repeated dozens of times:

• How can I make money starting a business?
• What business can I start with $200 and still make $5K per month?
• What home-based business can I start?
• I have a friend who manufacturers widgets; you think I can make money selling them?
• How can I make a passive income?
• What's a good product to sell on Ebay?
• What's the best business to start on a shoestring?

If you find yourself sitting around asking yourself these types of questions, your entrepreneurial premise more than likely will lead you into the 90% failure category. Why? An entrepreneurial premise predicated on money is like building a house on sand; it's likely to come crumbling down. Start with a weak foundation in any task and your odds of failure increase.

Fastlane Principle: Selfish premises do not make good, long-term business models.

Businesses should not be created to make money. Businesses should not be created to satisfy your desire to “do what you love”. No one cares about your selfish ideas about dreams and making money. The world doesn't care about your business, your desire to make money, and your dreams of owning a business “doing what you love”. Again, no one cares!

What people DO CARE about is what your business can do for them. How will your business help me? What's in it for me? Will it solve my problem? Make something easier? Provide me with shelter? Save me money? Educate me? Make me feel a certain way? Tell me why should I give your business money for your product or service?

The problem with new business owners is they create businesses based on the faulty premises; faulty premises that don't lead to profitable business.

“I need a new income stream”
“I’m an expert in [blank] so Ill do that"
“I read a book and it says to start a business”
​

Wrong. Wrong. And wrong.

Fastlane Principle: You begin to attract money when you STOP BEING SELFISH and turn your business focuses from the needs of yourself to the needs of other people.

Businesses don't attract money -- businesses that solve needs do. If your goal is to attract wealth ethically and with integrity, selfish motives, albeit a powerful motivator, won't serve you well to attract great wealth.

Money is a like a mischievous cat; if you chase it around the neighborhood, it eludes you-- hiding up a tree, behind the rose bush, or in the garden. However, if you ignore it and focus on what attracts the cat other than the cat itself, it will come to you and sit right in your lap.

The foundation of all highly successful business is the satisfaction of consumer needs as reflected by sales in the marketplace. The marketplace-- people, not you-- determine if your business is viable. If you sell 10,000,000 of Product XYZ, 10,000,000 people have voted that your product will help them, or satisfy one of their needs. People vote with their money.

Fastlane Principle: Focusing on the needs of others is the only entrepreneurial premise that improves your odds of business success.

Growing wealth germinates by solving needs on a massive scale, or in a highly impactual way. It could be as gigantic as starting a software company like Bill Gates or Larry Ellison, or something seemingly minute like putting a new spin on something old. If you own a website that services 10,000 people daily, you're making an impact. If you own real estate company that provides housing to 1,000 people, you're making an impact. Make a freaking impact!!

Is this an all-inclusive rule? No. Exceptions exist. Many profitable businesses are founded on greed -- however profit in the name of greed and selfish interest usually lands those companies on the television or in the Better Business Bureau complaint files. Consumer greed also exists and greedy business owners can serve this demographic well (The all too popular consumer mantra: "We want the best price" often ends up as a scam or services rendered poorly.)

The objective of this post is to increase your odds of business success. While you can chose to ignore this advice and continue moving forward with selfish interest, I'd speculate your failure odds are inline with the stats -- 90% -- whereas moving to an unselfish premise might increase it to 50%.

EXAMPLE
Joe was an expert in martial arts and he loved his craft. Following the advice of gurus, he set out to "do what he loved" and opened up a martial art studio. Within 10 months, his studio closed down as he could no longer support his family on his $21,000 year business profit.

Before starting, Joe was destined for failure due to a faulty entrepreneurial premise based on selfish needs: "I'm an expert in martial arts and love the art, therefore I should open a studio".

The correct premises are: Is there a need in my neighborhood for a martial art studio? What are current martial arts studios doing wrong? What are they doing that I could do better? What better services and value could I provide to the martial art student? What do I bring to the table to this community?

Had Joe analyzed and answered these questions first and foremost, his odds of business success would have increased dramatically.

My advice to aspiring business owners is this: Quit looking around for money-making opportunities -- instead, look around outside of yourself, stop being selfish, and help your fellow man solve their problems.

If you can make 1,000,000 people achieve any of the following:

1) Make them feel better
2) Help them solve a problem
3) Educate them
4) Make them look better (health, nutrition, clothing, makeup)
5) Give them security (housing, safety, health)
6) Arise a positive emotion (love, happiness, laughter, self-confidence)
7) Satisfy appetites of all kind, from basic (food) to the risqué (sexual).
8) Make things easier
9) Enhance their dreams and give hope

Do any of the above and I can guarantee you this: You will be worth millions.

So, the next time you hear yourself trolling around for opportunities to make you money, sit back and ask yourself this ...

"What do I have to offer the world?"

Offer the world something of value and the money will be close behind.

MJ

I have heard these principles a thousand times and explained a thousand different ways but it is amazing how a slight little twist makes the difference between a total aha moment, and just more motivational stuff that goes in one ear and out the other.

I have been trying to design a business model that teaches people to play guitar and sing at the same time. My approach has been totally selfish. I was trying to design it so that the work would be completely passive income once my website was up and running. The problem is that people need help with the specific songs they are having trouble with, and not just having a method that will allow them to figure it out fo themselves.

To truly impact these people I will have to take on each student on a case by case basis and solve their specific problems. This involves an entirely different business model. I can still create a stream of passive income by employing several employees to coach these students, but the personal attention is the key ingredient to making this work. I have been busting my brains trying to figure out a way to avoid having to do this, but when you explain it as being selfish all of the sudden everything makes sense.

You rock!!!!!!!!

 

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[LFinkle]

The challenge is for anyone starting a business is the belief that it will be instantly successful and make someone a millionaire overnight. Create a business plan. Know why you are starting this...what is your core value for doing this (besides income). Who is your audience? By when can you expect to see ROI? Are you capitalized well enough? do you have other income streams to sustain you? What resources do you need to make this successful?.....

 

[Runum]

MJ we need the legendary threads section back.:icon_super: