- Thread starter
- #16
I'd say $700 is pretty cheap, money-wise, to learn all that you did. Care to share a few things you learned?
Sure.
When buying domains, don't feel the need to rush. If it's still available now, chances are it will still be available tomorrow. Although I have some pretty good domains, I now look at the ones I bought when I first started and think, "I seriously thought that I could make it big with that domain?"
Don't worry so much about the look of your site. I spent almost a month and half "perfecting" GlowStickJunkie's template before realizing that it was just too intense. I have now realized that simplicity is better in a lot of ways.
Don't create a vertical logo. Go for a square logo.
Product pictures are everything. A lot of customers don't even read product descriptions thoroughly (believe me, I have learned this well at work. You can put "OUT OF STOCK" in Heading 1 red letters and people will still call and ask why their order is on backorder).
Start working on SEO from the get-go. It takes time to move up (and down) in the rankings. Focus on the site, but get your first tier going as quickly as possible too.
Get comfortable on this forum and don't be afraid to ask questions. The guys on here have a lot of experience and wisdom to offer. In the beginning, I would think, "Oh, I'm not going to ask about that. Those guys will think I'm stupid and I want to make it look like I've got everything together." WRONG.
With that said, ask specific questions and don't ask them to write out a 100 page guide to starting a business.
Don't even touch a business idea that you have any sort of emotional attachment to. Not even with a ten foot stick. If you go into something with selfish motives, your judgment will be clouded.
Set very public deadlines for your goals and find someone to hold you accountable to those deadlines. Pressure is good. It's how diamonds are created (cliche, but true).
Bounce your ideas off of others. An idea will always sound really good in your head because it's your idea. Someone with a second opinion can see clearly and will help you see the flaws in your idea, which is usually to your benefit. My first idea was to create and give away sheet music for free, hoping that people would click the ads on my site. I pitched the idea to my boss and he said "Why would you waste your time with that?" and then proceeded to show me all of the flaws in my idea. If he hadn't said that, I would probably still be wasting my time writing out sheet music, trying to compete with the thousands of free sheet music sites on the internet.
Find other people who are at the same point in the entrepreneurial journey as you and get to know them. Try to apply the Posse Foundation concept to entrepreneurship. It's good for everyone involved.
And lastly, just do it. (This one is pretty self-explanatory)
Edit: Just thought of another one...Listen to Mixergy interviews when you get a chance. Andrew Warner really digs deep and he especially likes to focus on the mistakes the entrepreneurs made on their paths to success.These interviews can be very informative and insightful, and I try to listen to a new one every other day.
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum:
Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.