How Necessary is a Business Plan, Really?

[Texxip]

I am amidst the process of forming my first ever business legally and am stuck. I've read all Demarco's books and I've read and agreed with the times where he would not advocate for business plans saying that they're a waste of time and what not. But being a college student who has $400 to their name. My business idea would surely need more than $400 to startup, probably more close to the $10,000 range.

So would it be in my best interest to form a business plan to better present to investors/banks to ensure a higher probability of getting a loan? If so would I benefit more from the traditional business plan or the lean startup plan?

Sorry for any ignorance in my post as this legality stuff is somewhat new to me and I am just trying to see what would be best for my case scenario and learn <3

 

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[joestarrd]

a business plan is important to establish clarity and consistency. Even if you don't put together a formal business plan, there are critical components you need to identify such as:

• Who is your target audience/market?
• What is your key service/offer?
• What is your unique value proposition?
• What is your marketing plan and what marketing channels?

For investment/loans definitely need a well written business plan. For internal purposes when starting out I would focus on what matters.

Here's a template I use with new ventures. Good luck!

 

[Texxip]

a business plan is important to establish clarity and consistency. Even if you don't put together a formal business plan, there are critical components you need to identify such as:

• Who is your target audience/market?
• What is your key service/offer?
• What is your unique value proposition?
• What is your marketing plan and what marketing channels?

For investment/loans definitely need a well written business plan. For internal purposes when starting out I would focus on what matters.

Here's a template I use with new ventures. Good luck!

View attachment 55172

This template you provided is very well thought out and written. How many pages do you on average make this template into?

 

[joestarrd]

This template you provided is very well thought out and written. How many pages do you on average make this template into?

I keep it as brief as possible. Mostly a few bullets and a paragraph per section

 

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[perchboy]

Validate the idea first and then get a loan

 

[Black_Dragon43]

a business plan is important to establish clarity and consistency. Even if you don't put together a formal business plan, there are critical components you need to identify such as:

• Who is your target audience/market?
• What is your key service/offer?
• What is your unique value proposition?
• What is your marketing plan and what marketing channels?

For investment/loans definitely need a well written business plan. For internal purposes when starting out I would focus on what matters.

Here's a template I use with new ventures. Good luck!

View attachment 55172

This is virtually identical to the Business Model Canvas. It’s not bad. But I don’t like it, it’s sucky.

Imo I like to create a marketing plan rather than a business plan.

Who is the target audience?
What problem(s) are you solving?
How are you solving them?
What’s the dream outcome?

Why should they buy what you sell?
Why should they buy it from you?

What is your USP?

What media will you use to contact your prospects?

How will you turn prospects into leads?
How will you nurture leads into clients?

How will you deliver the dream outcome?
How will you measure your success?
How will you gather testimonials & social proof?
How will you upsell clients?
How will you get referrals?

(Answer the questions in the order I gave them to you — don’t try to be a smartass and change the order because you’ll fail)

That’s all you need to figure out. Everything else is a big pile of poo poo just like this one

 

[Texxip]

This is virtually identical to the Business Model Canvas. It’s not bad. But I don’t like it, it’s sucky.

Imo I like to create a marketing plan rather than a business plan.

Who is the target audience?
What problem(s) are you solving?
How are you solving them?
What’s the dream outcome?

Why should they buy what you sell?
Why should they buy it from you?

What is your USP?

What media will you use to contact your prospects?

How will you turn prospects into leads?
How will you nurture leads into clients?

How will you deliver the dream outcome?
How will you measure your success?
How will you gather testimonials & social proof?
How will you upsell clients?
How will you get referrals?

That’s all you need to figure out. Everything else is a big pile of poo poo just like this one

If according to you that plan is not the best, in this case if I needed to present this marketing plan to someone that could provide me a loan wouldn't the lack of finances in the plan throw them off? My only worry is making sure I can prove to someone that my investing in me and my business makes financial sense to them

 

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[Black_Dragon43]

If according to you that plan is not the best, in this case if I needed to present this marketing plan to someone that could provide me a loan wouldn't the lack of finances in the plan throw them off? My only worry is making sure I can prove to someone that my investing in me and my business makes financial sense to them

Good question — for that purpose add the business-y stuff too. How big is the target market, what’s the value of the opportunity, cash flow projection, how loan money will be used bla bla.

But the most important question, will it work, is answered by the marketing plan above.

 

[Texxip]

Good question — for that purpose add the business-y stuff too. How big is the target market, what’s the value of the opportunity, cash flow projection, how loan money will be used bla bla.

But the most important question, will it work, is answered by the marketing plan above.

I see; I appreciate your two cents! This whole process is very intimidating to me and I feel like I have been doing too much justification of thinking, learning, and watching on how to go about this process where I am fed up and just want to start.

Because all I've done at this point is the market research having doing surveys, audience research, and learned about the market. From what I've read online my next steps would be to get the legal side of things in order first such as business type, registering the business, and confirming the domain.

If knowledgable, would you recommend doing the marketing plan (with finances incorporated to an extent) or getting legalities figured out first?

 

[ZCP]

How many have you sold?

 

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[Kung Fu Steve]

How many have you sold?

This ^

 

[Johnny boy]

Giving things to banks or investors like a business plan is a joke. Do it for the charade. That’s all it is.

“HeRe’S uR BUsiNesS PlAn” *slow jerking hand motion*

The actual business plan is sell shit, screw up, learn and change the shit you screwed up, rinse and repeat 10,000 times.

Then, when you have a solid model, your brain needs to flip a switch and you become a proper CEO, who is a master of organization and delegation and you create systems for everyone and track everything and live off of reports and it’s off to the races.

But before then you are a sleepless, wild teenager who lives off of McDonald’s and dreams about his business being great. There’s no plan, there’s just a vague idea, guts and sweat.

It’s hard enough worrying about only what matters, worrying about shit that doesn’t matter will send your a$$ to “it-didnt-work-outsville”

 

[Andy Black]

Forget business plans.

Forget your current idea that's beyond your current capabilities and capital.

Forget loans.

Go make a sale first, either a "free" sale, low priced sale, or full priced sale. Do it this week.

 

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[Kevin88660]

Business plans are old school ideas presuming too much things that you will have no control and knows nothing about.

Modern day business strategic plans are not more than a few diagrams and arrows.

I remember reading uber business strategy charts was basically burning more cash to get more drivers, that help to build better traffic network (easier to get cab) and attract more customers who will pay more cash.

Good business strategy must be at least in theory, a flywheel that is self-reinforcing.

You can also learn from MJ by looking at what he is doing now.

Google and Youtube leads traffic to Fastlane forummore ideas for MJ’s book content better review and book sales more people join fastlane forum

 

[Texxip]

How many have you sold?

I haven't sold anything. Hence me mentioning that I'm only in the planning stage, sorry if that wasn't clear. I am trying to figure out how to go about the beginnings of this whole process and worse case scenario, I fail this idea but I learn how to go about the startup process for future endeavors.

 

[Texxip]

Giving things to banks or investors like a business plan is a joke. Do it for the charade. That’s all it is.

“HeRe’S uR BUsiNesS PlAn” *slow jerking hand motion*

The actual business plan is sell shit, screw up, learn and change the shit you screwed up, rinse and repeat 10,000 times.

Then, when you have a solid model, your brain needs to flip a switch and you become a proper CEO, who is a master of organization and delegation and you create systems for everyone and track everything and live off of reports and it’s off to the races.

But before then you are a sleepless, wild teenager who lives off of McDonald’s and dreams about his business being great. There’s no plan, there’s just a vague idea, guts and sweat.

It’s hard enough worrying about only what matters, worrying about shit that doesn’t matter will send your a$$ to “it-didnt-work-outsville”

So you're saying to not worry so much about if I do or don't need a business plan, and just get stuff done. Worry about it when I actually get to that point?

 

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[Johnny boy]

So you're saying to not worry so much about if I do or don't need a business plan, and just get stuff done. Worry about it when I actually get to that point?

I'll help you a ton, right now.

What's your business?

I'll tell you exactly what to do like I was doing it myself.

 

[Texxip]

I'll help you a ton, right now.

What's your business?

I'll tell you exactly what to do like I was doing it myself.

A monthly subscription model where per month, customer receives a fitness supplement box containing protein powder samples, protein drinks, protein snacks, then later down the line I plan to expand into other workout supplements like preworkouts, bcaa's, and creatine. The catch is that I am not formulating any supplement myself. My goal was to achieve a wholesale price with all these different protein powder brands and "resell" their sample packs.

A big issue is that people don't want to spend money on a protein powder tub that costs $44.99 just to not like the flavor after one serving now they feel like they either wasted the money or have to justify the taste by saying they already paid for it. So this monthly box can help people realize what types of flavors they like and don't like before buying in bulk, and also let people try such different flavors because there's thousands of brands with each their own line of flavors and products. All I've done is lots of market research on protein supplementation. Today I am planning to get confirmation on the idea with surveys and what not to see if people would actually take part in this subscription model if it was available

 

[ZCP]

I haven't sold anything. Hence me mentioning that I'm only in the planning stage, sorry if that wasn't clear. I am trying to figure out how to go about the beginnings of this whole process and worse case scenario, I fail this idea but I learn how to go about the startup process for future endeavors.

This wasn't a question. It was an instruction. Go sell 10 subscriptions. Today.
Get people to give you money to do this. Always the first step. Sell one.

 

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[Texxip]

This wasn't a question. It was an instruction. Go sell 10 subscriptions. Today.
Get people to give you money to do this. Always the first step. Sell one.

I see, consider it in progress then!

 

[Antifragile]

I am amidst the process of forming my first ever business legally and am stuck. I've read all Demarco's books and I've read and agreed with the times where he would not advocate for business plans saying that they're a waste of time and what not. But being a college student who has $400 to their name. My business idea would surely need more than $400 to startup, probably more close to the $10,000 range.

When I was a student with no money to my name... I did side hustles. And back then (two decades ago... I feel old saying that) there was not "freelancing on the internet" yet. I did the best leaning into where I saw anomalies. Living on campus I saw that rich kids couldn't get parking stall, too few on offer - but my poor friends were willing to camp overnight in front of parking office. Aha! I sold "waiting spots" to the rich kids, paid my poor friends and kept the difference. Zero investment, all profit and way better than a "part time job flipping burgers". 100x better pay.

What can you do now that isn't a business in a traditional sense, but will just teach you transferable skills and cost you nothing? What anomalies do you notice around you?

So would it be in my best interest to form a business plan to better present to investors/banks to ensure a higher probability of getting a loan? If so would I benefit more from the traditional business plan or the lean startup plan?

I am a big fan of planning. And maybe when you are finally at the stage when building a business is your reality, here are some of my thoughts:

GOLD! - EXECUTION - 8 Steps To Help You Plan for Business Success, a How-To Guide

Planning is essential to the success of any business. But what exactly should you be planning for? And how do you know if you're over-planning? There is no one way, but it is better to have a method than not. Before we go on, I lied in the title - there are no 8 steps, there never are the 8...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Please stay out of your own way thinking 100 steps farther than you can see and already thinking about loans from a bank. Validate the idea before you even contemplate anything like that.

Moreover, before you get loans, consider that raising funds comes from 3F first.

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Fools

After that, you can get loans.

Sorry for any ignorance in my post as this legality stuff is somewhat new to me and I am just trying to see what would be best for my case scenario and learn <3

But back to your original question. Let me rephrase it my way as a question!

Business plan - is it useless?

Evolution works by trial and error, not by planning. Trial & error, not planning.

How does this reconcile with the "business plan" taught and praised? How does it make sense?

The point of planning should not be focused on the outcome, instead it should be focused on the process of reaching that outcome, the actual work and steps required.

Are there examples of someone doing what you are about to do? How long did it take them? What's realistic? What were some of their steps that you could build some expectation of what may come your way, while remaining flexible.

Imagining what it takes to succeed is useful. Imagining the last thing - success itself - is useless. You may not even know what success means to you 3-5-10 years from now. You can only judge it based on who you are today, but in 10 years, your eyes will be open to things you couldn't imagine today.

The way I see it, it's about planning your ACTIONS, but being unattached to the OUTCOMES.

That's why I listed the thread above on having a framework, knowing general boundaries of how much a "business plan" or a "life plan" can help you or not.

Lastly, nothing ever goes according to a plan. So we are back to evolution works by trial and error.

Entrepreneurs are inventors, evolved.

Hope this helps you get some clarity on "business plans".

A monthly subscription model where per month, customer receives a fitness supplement box containing protein powder samples, protein drinks, protein snacks, then later down the line I plan to expand into other workout supplements like preworkouts, bcaa's, and creatine. The catch is that I am not formulating any supplement myself. My goal was to achieve a wholesale price with all these different protein powder brands and "resell" their sample packs.

A big issue is that people don't want to spend money on a protein powder tub that costs $44.99 just to not like the flavor after one serving now they feel like they either wasted the money or have to justify the taste by saying they already paid for it. So this monthly box can help people realize what types of flavors they like and don't like before buying in bulk, and also let people try such different flavors because there's thousands of brands with each their own line of flavors and products. All I've done is lots of market research on protein supplementation. Today I am planning to get confirmation on the idea with surveys and what not to see if people would actually take part in this subscription model if it was available

A friend of mine build an empire in the supplements space, vegan protein products and sold it for $500MM USD. To this day I buy this same brand and love the taste of the protein powder, my wife does too. I don't see a "need" for what you described above as a consumer who already has a fitting product. But I am a sample of 1, meaningless. What does the market think?

Go sell some and see what happens. If you get product validation - boom, you got something. Doesn't mean you have to fulfil the order either - just sell it and refund the money! Then go build around the knowledge that your product has a need and a buyer at your prices.

Best of luck.

 

[Black_Dragon43]

When I was a student with no money to my name... I did side hustles. And back then (two decades ago... I feel old saying that) there was not "freelancing on the internet" yet. I did the best leaning into where I saw anomalies. Living on campus I saw that rich kids couldn't get parking stall, too few on offer - but my poor friends were willing to camp overnight in front of parking office. Aha! I sold "waiting spots" to the rich kids, paid my poor friends and kept the difference. Zero investment, all profit and way better than a "part time job flipping burgers". 100x better pay

I’m jealous. How come you were such a genius?! I used to flip old furniture back in uni days. Made so much money (well, for a broke uni student $10K is a lot) I’d buy cheap Dom Perignon bottles (300 pounds) at da clubs for my mates.

 

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[Kak]

I’m jealous. How come you were such a genius?! I used to flip old furniture back in uni days. Made so much money (well, for a broke uni student $10K is a lot) I’d buy cheap Dom Perignon bottles (300 pounds) at da clubs for my mates.

 

[Kak]

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Fools

My only issue with your post is #3.

I have an issue with the idea of fools. It implies taking advantage of someone.

I see fools going for crap investment offers that don't even accurately define ownership or expected ROI based on plausable assumptions.

My point is, change 3 to people who can write a bigger check than you. And make sure your offer is literally the opposite of foolish for them. Although I'd just as soon pass up family and friends for a more sophisticated investor to begin with.

If you can make your offer make sense to a sharp investor... Get ready, it's probably going to work.

Nonetheless, another gold post.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

A monthly subscription model where per month, customer receives a fitness supplement box containing protein powder samples, protein drinks, protein snacks, then later down the line I plan to expand into other workout supplements like preworkouts, bcaa's, and creatine. The catch is that I am not formulating any supplement myself. My goal was to achieve a wholesale price with all these different protein powder brands and "resell" their sample packs.

A big issue is that people don't want to spend money on a protein powder tub that costs $44.99 just to not like the flavor after one serving now they feel like they either wasted the money or have to justify the taste by saying they already paid for it. So this monthly box can help people realize what types of flavors they like and don't like before buying in bulk, and also let people try such different flavors because there's thousands of brands with each their own line of flavors and products. All I've done is lots of market research on protein supplementation. Today I am planning to get confirmation on the idea with surveys and what not to see if people would actually take part in this subscription model if it was available

I've definitely heard worse ideas!

1. Find suppliers willing to give you free supplements as advertising
2. Find customers willing to give the monthly box

 

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[Antifragile]

My only issue with your post is #3.

I have an issue with the idea of fools. It implies taking advantage of someone.

I see fools going for crap investment offers that don't even accurately define ownership or expected ROI based on plausable assumptions.

My point is, change 3 to people who can write a bigger check than you. And make sure your offer is literally the opposite of foolish for them. Although I'd just as soon pass up family and friends for a more sophisticated investor to begin with.

If you can make your offer make sense to a sharp investor... Get ready, it's probably going to work.

Nonetheless, another gold post.

It's a bit of a tongue in cheek comment I've been using for decades, it's more designed to elicit a smile or best a chuckle, than taken seriously. The joke part being that only a fool would invest in most of the pitch decks I've seen over the years by people who "have an idea". That's the context of 3F.

As you know, my key area of experience is financial - including raising capital. People with money have a problem - they want yield, they are looking for it. If you can give it to them, it's no different than any other arms length transaction. That's how investment is really just like any other product.

Digressing even further down this rabbit hole. Most startups will have a time of a "funding gap".

That's when you run out of capital that your friends and family can provide, but people with bigger cheques aren't interested in your business. Business concept is too big for your wallet but too small (or just flawed) for the big guys willing to write a cheque.

And that's why you and I are often misunderstood by the forum community when we say go BIGGER! Another way to put it is that 10x is easier than 2x for many businesses.

When companies eventually go public, the founder typically loses control almost entirely, and is now reporting to the Board. Many people value that "I am the boss" feeling and end up stuck owning a smaller venture where they have a feeling of 100% control. They partly do, but there's an argument to be made that we all have bosses (like our customers).

My take is that a smaller slice of a huge pie is still 10-100x that of a tiny pie I own whole. I've never had any issues with having investors and value their support more than I can articulate in a post.

But I digress... the point to the OP stands, worry about selling, you aren't getting any loans or investors yet!

 

[Jon822]

Every second you spend writing a business plan is wasted. When you take action, a perfect business plan will start getting drafted for you by the only thing that can write useful ones: the market.

 

[Texxip]

When I was a student with no money to my name... I did side hustles. And back then (two decades ago... I feel old saying that) there was not "freelancing on the internet" yet. I did the best leaning into where I saw anomalies. Living on campus I saw that rich kids couldn't get parking stall, too few on offer - but my poor friends were willing to camp overnight in front of parking office. Aha! I sold "waiting spots" to the rich kids, paid my poor friends and kept the difference. Zero investment, all profit and way better than a "part time job flipping burgers". 100x better pay.

What can you do now that isn't a business in a traditional sense, but will just teach you transferable skills and cost you nothing? What anomalies do you notice around you?



I am a big fan of planning. And maybe when you are finally at the stage when building a business is your reality, here are some of my thoughts:

GOLD! - EXECUTION - 8 Steps To Help You Plan for Business Success, a How-To Guide

Planning is essential to the success of any business. But what exactly should you be planning for? And how do you know if you're over-planning? There is no one way, but it is better to have a method than not. Before we go on, I lied in the title - there are no 8 steps, there never are the 8...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Please stay out of your own way thinking 100 steps farther than you can see and already thinking about loans from a bank. Validate the idea before you even contemplate anything like that.

Moreover, before you get loans, consider that raising funds comes from 3F first.

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Fools

After that, you can get loans.



But back to your original question. Let me rephrase it my way as a question!

Business plan - is it useless?

Evolution works by trial and error, not by planning. Trial & error, not planning.

How does this reconcile with the "business plan" taught and praised? How does it make sense?

The point of planning should not be focused on the outcome, instead it should be focused on the process of reaching that outcome, the actual work and steps required.

Are there examples of someone doing what you are about to do? How long did it take them? What's realistic? What were some of their steps that you could build some expectation of what may come your way, while remaining flexible.

Imagining what it takes to succeed is useful. Imagining the last thing - success itself - is useless. You may not even know what success means to you 3-5-10 years from now. You can only judge it based on who you are today, but in 10 years, your eyes will be open to things you couldn't imagine today.

The way I see it, it's about planning your ACTIONS, but being unattached to the OUTCOMES.

That's why I listed the thread above on having a framework, knowing general boundaries of how much a "business plan" or a "life plan" can help you or not.

Lastly, nothing ever goes according to a plan. So we are back to evolution works by trial and error.

Entrepreneurs are inventors, evolved.

Hope this helps you get some clarity on "business plans".



A friend of mine build an empire in the supplements space, vegan protein products and sold it for $500MM USD. To this day I buy this same brand and love the taste of the protein powder, my wife does too. I don't see a "need" for what you described above as a consumer who already has a fitting product. But I am a sample of 1, meaningless. What does the market think?

Go sell some and see what happens. If you get product validation - boom, you got something. Doesn't mean you have to fulfil the order either - just sell it and refund the money! Then go build around the knowledge that your product has a need and a buyer at your prices.

Best of luck.

I appreciate the well thought out response immensely. Different eyes to my situations are good eyes. So always helpful to see other peoples perspectives to my scenarios especially those from this forum because obviously I'd argue we all have SOMETHING in common.

Much thanks!

 

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[Johnny boy]

A monthly subscription model where per month, customer receives a fitness supplement box containing protein powder samples, protein drinks, protein snacks, then later down the line I plan to expand into other workout supplements like preworkouts, bcaa's, and creatine. The catch is that I am not formulating any supplement myself. My goal was to achieve a wholesale price with all these different protein powder brands and "resell" their sample packs.

A big issue is that people don't want to spend money on a protein powder tub that costs $44.99 just to not like the flavor after one serving now they feel like they either wasted the money or have to justify the taste by saying they already paid for it. So this monthly box can help people realize what types of flavors they like and don't like before buying in bulk, and also let people try such different flavors because there's thousands of brands with each their own line of flavors and products. All I've done is lots of market research on protein supplementation. Today I am planning to get confirmation on the idea with surveys and what not to see if people would actually take part in this subscription model if it was available

You don’t need surveys.

People don’t know themselves enough to answer hypotheticals.

Everyone would say it’s a good idea and then when you ask them to buy, who F*cking knows.

Work out the basics, quickly.

1. What’s it called
2. How’s it going to work? You need single serving containers, some packaging, a box, a way to organize the list of customers, etc

What you do now is set out to prove some things.

I call these things “premises”. In logic, multiple premises together support a conclusion. Your business conclusion you are trying to support is “this is a good idea and is going to succeed”. To do that there’s some things you need to prove in order to support this idea.

1. Find out hypothetical prices for all of your costs. You don’t need to buy 10,000 orders of containers at 0.03 each in order to know that you can. But if you do a little research, find out what potential numbers you can have and use that to calculate your costs.

2. Use that to set your costs. You will need to prove that you can sell it at a cost that makes sense assuming all of the potential costs you’ll ever have even with 20 employees. You need to prove it can sell at a certain price.

3. You need to prove you can get some sales. Your distribution strategy of getting peoples attention is everything. Can you create an Instagram bot that sends a dm to everyone that comments on any posts around gym related content and sends 50 DM’s a day telling people about the problem you solve? Can you partner with local gyms with large customer lists to send out your solution to their customers and use a coupon code to partner with the gyms? Are you willing to scrape a list of 10,000 gyms and call up 100 a day for 100 days? Can you get fitness influencers to partner with you? Have fun sending custom DM’s all day.

This is what I would do

Write out the plan of how it actually works
Make a shitty homemade unprofitable version with some cardboard boxes, ghetto packaging, a small batch of containers, etc. make it as easily as possible from stuff at the local store. Try 30 protein powders and pick your top favorites in every flavor category. Make your shitty box V1.

Make a sales page on a website. Copy other successful box subscription formats because they’ve spent a lot of money on figuring out what works, get the best looking version of it live online as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Grind like a muhfucker calling everyone, sending DM’s, find something that sticks where you can get the most people give a shit per hour of your time spent hustling doing outreach.

Don’t rely on family or friends they are fake customers and don’t help prove your premises.

This can take little money and a few weeks of your time.

Don’t worry about anything else at all. Get the shit penciled out, apply elbow grease, hustle and get some sales that help prove your premises.

Let’s say you called 5 gyms and one of them is interested in partnering and you agree to share a split and they send it to their customers. Now you have an attention distribution channel. Get a few more yes’s and spend time making things better.

Get a better box, packaging, branding, get some nicer stuff and then hit the MF’n phones like a telephone terrorist getting every gym on the line hearing about your stuff. Get 500 partnerships and they all send out their emails and get 60 customers signed up netting you $10/mo profit each.

That’s $600 per gym times 500 gyms = $300,000 per month profit. Numbers may vary. This is just one strategy off the top of my head.

Save the legal, the loans, the taxes, etc. all way later.

Do the above now.

This is how business people start companies.

This is why they say winning comes down to perspiration. You’ll spend a lot of time barking up trees and getting told to kick rocks by most people. Your pitch will be the worst it’s ever going to be. Your product will be the worst it’s ever going to be. Your outreach strategy will be the worst it’s ever going to be. Etc. But you have one asset, you hate being F*cking poor and you have a dream that keeps you up at night. That’s more powerful than anything else.

I can already tell you that your idea will probably work. It obviously solves a problem and it seems like it would work. It fundamentally makes sense.

Now it just comes down to your ability to think outside of the box in how to get it in front of people, and how much hustle you have in your heart. If you have laser focus and don’t give a shit about anything else for years, you will succeed.

I swear this is all you need.

 

[Texxip]

You don’t need surveys.

People don’t know themselves enough to answer hypotheticals.

Everyone would say it’s a good idea and then when you ask them to buy, who F*cking knows.

Work out the basics, quickly.

1. What’s it called
2. How’s it going to work? You need single serving containers, some packaging, a box, a way to organize the list of customers, etc

What you do now is set out to prove some things.

I call these things “premises”. In logic, multiple premises together support a conclusion. Your business conclusion you are trying to support is “this is a good idea and is going to succeed”. To do that there’s some things you need to prove in order to support this idea.

1. Find out hypothetical prices for all of your costs. You don’t need to buy 10,000 orders of containers at 0.03 each in order to know that you can. But if you do a little research, find out what potential numbers you can have and use that to calculate your costs.

2. Use that to set your costs. You will need to prove that you can sell it at a cost that makes sense assuming all of the potential costs you’ll ever have even with 20 employees. You need to prove it can sell at a certain price.

3. You need to prove you can get some sales. Your distribution strategy of getting peoples attention is everything. Can you create an Instagram bot that sends a dm to everyone that comments on any posts around gym related content and sends 50 DM’s a day telling people about the problem you solve? Can you partner with local gyms with large customer lists to send out your solution to their customers and use a coupon code to partner with the gyms? Are you willing to scrape a list of 10,000 gyms and call up 100 a day for 100 days? Can you get fitness influencers to partner with you? Have fun sending custom DM’s all day.

This is what I would do

Write out the plan of how it actually works
Make a shitty homemade unprofitable version with some cardboard boxes, ghetto packaging, a small batch of containers, etc. make it as easily as possible from stuff at the local store. Try 30 protein powders and pick your top favorites in every flavor category. Make your shitty box V1.

Make a sales page on a website. Copy other successful box subscription formats because they’ve spent a lot of money on figuring out what works, get the best looking version of it live online as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Grind like a muhfucker calling everyone, sending DM’s, find something that sticks where you can get the most people give a shit per hour of your time spent hustling doing outreach.

Don’t rely on family or friends they are fake customers and don’t help prove your premises.

This can take little money and a few weeks of your time.

Don’t worry about anything else at all. Get the shit penciled out, apply elbow grease, hustle and get some sales that help prove your premises.

Let’s say you called 5 gyms and one of them is interested in partnering and you agree to share a split and they send it to their customers. Now you have an attention distribution channel. Get a few more yes’s and spend time making things better.

Get a better box, packaging, branding, get some nicer stuff and then hit the MF’n phones like a telephone terrorist getting every gym on the line hearing about your stuff. Get 500 partnerships and they all send out their emails and get 60 customers signed up netting you $10/mo profit each.

That’s $600 per gym times 500 gyms = $300,000 per month profit. Numbers may vary. This is just one strategy off the top of my head.

Save the legal, the loans, the taxes, etc. all way later.

Do the above now.

This is how business people start companies.

This is why they say winning comes down to perspiration. You’ll spend a lot of time barking up trees and getting told to kick rocks by most people. Your pitch will be the worst it’s ever going to be. Your product will be the worst it’s ever going to be. Your outreach strategy will be the worst it’s ever going to be. Etc. But you have one asset, you hate being F*cking poor and you have a dream that keeps you up at night. That’s more powerful than anything else.

I can already tell you that your idea will probably work. It obviously solves a problem and it seems like it would work. It fundamentally makes sense.

Now it just comes down to your ability to think outside of the box in how to get it in front of people, and how much hustle you have in your heart. If you have laser focus and don’t give a shit about anything else for years, you will succeed.

I swear this is all you need.

I appreciate the thought out plan. Action first, then worry about all the legalities and what not later on. Prove it works before planning it'll work.

I appreciate this immensely so I thank you for your view on how you would go about my situation!