(Radio interview) How to quickly get started in business

[Dylan Curran]

Fantastic interview, really highlights how you should focus on thinking from the client's point of view, helping people first and money second.

While this is iterated constantly on the forum, the fact you illustrated it with a clear and concise example from your personal life should establish its significance in most people's minds.

Explaining your entire AdWords process was also fascinating, and I'll definitely be testing it out.

 

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[jrfkelly]

Thanks Andy, I really enjoyed the interview - including the musical interludes. It's been years since I listened to The Specials!
It occurs to me that the AdWords techniques you describe can be used to do initial idea valuation too - if enough people are searching for something, then you've probably hit on a valid market need.

Sent from my XT1562 using Tapatalk

 

[Blaise84]

The biggest reason websites suck (aka How to get started in business quickly)

I did a radio interview this morning. It goes out somewhere in Dublin on Friday 03-Jun-2016.

I'll also be able to create some bullet point teasers to sell you, dear reader, on doing yourself a favour and listening to the damn thing.

Interested in your takeaways...

> Click here to access the recording <​

What were your takeaways?

What will you do differently going forward?

.
.
.

Here's the second interview with Mary:
Freedom, Motivation, and Grow What You Know

(For other recordings click HERE.)
​

@Andy Black thank you for this! Some really helpful info. Can I ask a question? So, after listening to the interview, the way I understand AdWords is that you want to find a high volume keyword search in combination with low competition. Is that correct?

 

[astr0]

@Andy Black thanks a lot for your "Thanks for following" and pointing me to this interview. It's been a huge help!

My takeaways:

• "Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." Being a money-chasing programmer that worked for US companies most of the time I always thought about something global. Helping people here is much easier and doable.
• It's people visiting your website, not clicks. Forgot about that when done affiliate marketing analysis.
• "If I was to start a brand new business I prefer it to be something that people are searching for already.". Was doing that to check volume of wants for my ideas. Problem with that was that ideas were mine and kinda "blockbuster", complicated and no one wanted that. Just make is simpler.

However biggest take-away was from this words on 26-27 minutes:

People think they don’t have too much to offer. But you’ve been alive for a good while on this planet. And you.. your experience in issues and problems. And oh gush, would’ve been nice if there would be a crash in this place. Well, here you go... These like pains that you experience and other people may experience as well and that may become a business. And it all stems from having an attitude of trying to help people. And also observing people.

That got my brains into another universe thinking of pains that I've experienced in my life for N+1-th time.
I've been a programmer most of my life, last few years mostly coded on C# and some JavaScript. No pains there: IDEs are great nowadays, lots of opensource, other tools are also great.
But after about 10 minutes of rewinding I've remembered something.
That was a huge pain few years ago and I've had and idea on how to solve it for other people. Didn't knew a thing about entrepreneurship back then. Also had wrong money-chasing, event-oriented, worldwide blockbuster idea+crowded/empty room mindset. It seemed to hard, not worth it, had some competition, etc. so I've dumped that idea.

Now with more right mindset I see it differently:

• Based on B2C win-win. Helping both businesses and clients.
• Observation made me see that it's not only my pain. In fact, most people have it in their lives from time to time either big or small. It's solved already, but mostly not in software. Some software exists, but that's not helping too much at least here in Ukraine. Mine should be a huge improvement, not innovation. Need is also confirmed by keyword planner.
• Meets CENTS/CENTS
• Fits my skill-set well. Based on something I've been already doing, just didn't thought about it as an opportunity.
• Gonna be hard to execute it well which is good, not bad. Still have to think about how to make it alive and profitable, but that's mostly from execution point of view.
• I know where to start and it feels great

Thanks a lot Andy! Your'e a GREAT MAN.

 

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[DifficultTruth]

Fantastic interview, Andy!

I have a lot of takeaways but a few really standout to me. A lot of time I look at skills I have and think of how to sell them, instead of how to use the skills I have to help someone, or solve someone's problem. Another thing that definitely hit me, is that instead of trying to pre-plan and develop some certain set of skills for what I think are problems, or looking for problems my current skill set can solve. I can listen to people and build the skills needed to solve their problem.

I don't need to anticipate a problem someone will have and build the skill to solve it before it happens, because problems that need solving are all around and just need someone willing to do the work required to solve them. Instead of building an offering to hopefully solve a problem, find a problem and build the solution.

Also as an IT guy in my current career, I definitely know what you mean when people see you as a cost and not an investment. One of many reasons I want to focus on adding value in my fastlane, I don't want to hear someone say "yeah it costs XYZ," I want them to say, "It made us XYZ!"

As always, thanks for everything Andy, I will be listening to the second part soon!

 

[rosepxj]

"Never found time" is a polite way of saying "I did something else instead".

Why is he tinkering with SEO? To get more clients? If someone asks for a photo-session then why is he tinkering with SEO instead of closing that sale, doing the work, and getting referrals and repeat-business?

Ask him if he wants to tinker with SEO and not get paid for it, or do photo sessions and get paid.

It sounds a bit like he doesn't want to be a photographer, is worried about pricing and delivering when paid, or is worried he won't do a good job (or all of the above).

What does he want?

With SEO, he tries to get more clients who look for wedding photography service, because the price is much bigger than a photo session. When he looks at our progress, he would normally just think about how many weddings we've got. Currently, the earnings from weddings account for 70% to 80% of the total amount.

I actually think the photography services apart from weddings have more potential, because they require less working time. So the value is actually bigger.

He is indeed concerned with the pricing for photo sessions, especially charging people he knows, such as friends, neighbours, friends of friends. We are living in a small community. The business here depends quite a lot on word of mouth. There are quite a few competitors who charge penny for their services, as low as 35 euro for a shooting. So my husband is always battling with the pricing. If he charges the amount that he believes that reflects his value, most people would be totally overwhelmed and walk away. If he charges less and gets the work, people will relate him with this particular price, and he will then find difficult to raise price in the future.

It's kind of difficult to get people appreciate the service we are providing. Very often, people here perceive a photographer as a guy with a camera. All he needs to do is clicking some buttons. In the meantime, they have a lot of expectations, especially they think if you edit images in photoshop, there is nothing you can't solve. And they are not willing to pay that much, because they think the product they get is just a couple of photos, without considering the whole range of work that is put into it.

 

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[Pooven]

That’s great. Thanks for listening and for your feedback @Pooven.

I’m curious what your main takeaways are, and what you’d do differently going forward.

For me it was the simplicity and logical approach that you applied to starting your business, on how to find market needs (also the Google Adword tool), the concept of low hanging fruit and using the "how can I help you" approach. And also using good mannerisms...simple steps to build a good rapport with customer (or potential customer).

 

[Aimee]

This is great as always Andy. Thanks for sharing.

 

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[rick912]

Andy you have to change that Soundcloud pic!

View attachment 12560

Yeah try listening in bed as you go to sleep. It helps if you close your eyes [emoji6]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Andy Black]

Andy I'm listening right now. You have my attention with all you share here. You don't mind if my Fastlane is paved with your lead gen business tips? You bring unreal value.

1st take away: difference in keyword intent when adding region to search

Pave away! Hope it all helps.

 

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[Andy Black]

when is this getting trascribed?

It's in the pipeline. Thanks for the reminder! I'll follow up on it.

 

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[Ika]

That is a really good radio interview, you seemed very confident. Great job answering the questions and laughing with the journalist as well!

Your personal examples made the whole topic more reasonable. My favorit parts are the appletree and your thoughts on thanking and helping people. "Helping people near your or doing the things near you or using the skills near you" makes much sense once one reads it - but it is hard to not forget that when starting out.

I will try to implement some of this in my life - Thank you for uploading!

Explaining your entire AdWords process was also fascinating, and I'll definitely be testing it out.

Yes, even though I don't want to look into the topic for now you made it easy to understand! If your other posts about adwords have the same quality I know where to go once I start

I wonder, why doesn't TFLF host its own podcast?

That would be an really awesome idea! Having a lot of members that can share their insights or stories to some topics would make an easier (yet interesting) start!
But for now, some members (Andy for example) create interviews or skype calls to listen too

 

[GatsbyMag]

The biggest reason websites suck (aka How to get started in business quickly)

I did a radio interview this morning. It goes out somewhere in Dublin on Friday 03-Jun-2016.

I'm getting it transcribed, and will add the transcription to the thread.

I'll also be able to create some bullet point teasers to sell you, dear reader, on doing yourself a favour and listening to the damn thing.

Interested in your takeaways...

> Click here to access the recording <​

What were your takeaways?

What will you do differently going forward?



(For other recordings click HERE.)
​

Lovely to see more Irish entrepreneurs. Terrific interview full of value.

 

[Dan1el]

Thanks for sharing this Andy.

I listened to this while I was having a walk to the postoffice to deliver some packages to my customers.
Im only halfway through it but one big takeaway is that I will communicate alot more with my customers, ask them more questions of what else I can do for them and what need im not currently filling in my business.

If you want some constructive criticism, personally I wasnt a very big fan of the music part in it, it wasnt super easy to try to skip it on my phone in Swedish winter weather

 

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[Dan1el]

Thanks for the feedback. Glad it helped.

Thanks for the feedback on the music too. It wasn't my show so I had no choice anyway. I'll be editing it out before adding it to iTunes etc.

I only wanted to give you some value back, but I see some people here liked it so maybe its a question of taste!

Thanks again Andy and I will make sure to listen to more of your podcasts.

 

[kwad]

You interview really well buddy. I genuinely enjoyed this interview... Maybe radio 4 or LBC next?

You struck a good balance between getting across your expertise whilst also making it feel accessible to listeners of all levels[emoji106]. There stories really helped the flow.

My Key take home:?
1) understand your addressable customers' needs and thought process

2)start by finding the smallest amount of value your can add to someone's business (don't over complicate).

What would I change? Make the links referenced easier to remember. Maybe create a link that provides more info for motivated listeners eg www.andyblack.net/websites-suck

Right... I'm off to listen again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[P Stiller]

My take aways I responded with.......

Radio interview 1 thoughts......

1. 
   Felt lost when talking about Internet and your expertise
   
   Worried time moving and I should be doing more briefly although I know this info one word could change so much.......I guess so many single words and sentences have already proved how much time I've wasted.....I want to DO
   
   Genui nely she said......made me wonder if been saying it wrong my whole life.....
   
   Manners.....I hold doors, help carry, help "do" but no vocal manners.....sure or yep here an there maybe I'll mumble.....EXCEPT training....no problem or I say that's what I'm here for
   
   How's it going lil message sent to people you do......
   I feel like a number....like I could easily be read and marketed by someone like you that didn't want to genuinely help. I know you do so don't take this bad.....these are my exact thoughts as I listen
   
   Equal sign don't stare at mind blank....
   Makes me think of MJ's book and how it taught me how literally everything in life can be broken down as an equation with variables.....I used to never understand why I couldn't hand in a math problem with the right answer but steps wrong....never understood even point of each class until read his book....it's not what they're teaching you literally that mattters....it's how it makes you think.....why the hell couldnt one single teacher ever tell us that back then....I don't even think ey know.
   
   Equal sign visually gives a next step (tells you to do)
   
   If someone passes its worth it for you.....when I can get rid of pain for someone or a kids knee stronger so years later it's not worse.....a person stronger in order to do better in a sport....that's worth more to me than money and why I think I don't prioritize money.....this is what I wanted to be what made me great looking back on life......to accomplish for me=results in people not money
   
   Been arguing with mom all week and her necks been hurting.....help people is message I hear all day so I paused video to go try to release moms trigger points for half hour
   
   6 ways to u turn....
   I can teach 100 different people in 100 unique ways how to learn movement....each person makes me better after......one of my strong points is knowing how to adapt to what each person needs and figuring out how
   
   Wisdom is earned......nobody ever taught me I always THOUGHT about what should be the way to do things when it's already been done and proven in ways I didn't......know can say.....but not trust also.
   
   I despise the idea of selling to people's wants I want to sell what they need....this is honest
   
   When asked what business ideas I got excited......I want to find within ME though what I can turn into a basket under the tree....can't be not from in me though
   
   Love the basket idea because last week I typed up 2 pages and put it in envelopes in mailboxes
   
   It ended as mom came in room happiest I've seen all day
   
   

 

[Late Bloomer]

Thanks for the superb interview! It may be a few years old now, but I just discovered it thanks to your invitation. The business attitude and value is timeless!

I thought it was going to be all about Adwords. Nice to discover that you covered a lot of other material as well.
I would title this one: "A few Adwords skills, plus a lot of helpful caring and basic courtesy, can help you launch a successful business."

We both have a background in IT and databases. We're probably both qualified to ensure integrity constraints on primary keys... but nobody cares, unless this happens to be a way to solve a business problem. One of the most helpful lines from MJ is his discussion of moving to Team Producer, on the income side rather than the cost side.

Most of the Adwords specific stuff I'd heard before... but, from hypey-scammy kind of people that turned me off with their fast talking, high pressure, used car salesman kind of vibe.

Hearing a calm, straightforward bloke talk it through, makes it so much easier for me to feel, "Oh yeah, I can apply that too." What a pleasure to have an enjoyable nice conversation that happens to be about business, and would be welcome to continue at the pub.

I agree that leaving in the entire songs for the break time, is kinda annoying. Can you cut those out, and leave the edited version in place in your playlist?

Adwords takeaways:

• Site alone is not enough with some traffic to it.
• I need to put some money into test ads and then build sites accordingly. Isn't there a way to find out what people are searching for and how much ads cost, without having to pay to run ads? Yes, you answered that a few minutes after the question was in my head. Keyword planner: credit card needed to open an account; create ad but then delete the ad and the statistics are then available.
• I should run ads: "Are you looking for help marketing your restaurant in St. Paul?" in addition to going in person to as many restaurants in St. Paul as I can.

Business attitude and communication takeaways:

• Goal of help in whatever way he can, vs pitching what he can do
• Why do I need a business card = YES! My biz web site has nothing on it = YES! That's the way I want to do business now!
• Gratitude and connection returns in unexpected ways.
• Ask, shut up and listen is more powerful than anything I could pitch. This is already how I planned to approach the restaurants: "I loved the lunch special. So tell me about the restaurant. Did Grandma bring her recipes from the old country? Are the kids going to take over the business in their turn? How's business going? What do you do to bring new people in? I'd bet one of ten people who tries the place becomes a regular? Are you doing anything with the Internet?" No pitch, no hype. Just a conversation.
• Help one person, then scale... wonderful.
• Tell stories.
• "It's not you, your product, your service. It's not about whether the NEED it, but does anybody WANT it." This could be another whole discussion/interview.

Math takeaway:

• Start the next line with its equals sign, so you don't have a blank page to stare at, wonderful! I can do that with bullet points for text, so my mind doesn't say, "oh no here's a blank page," but "what's a good point to put with this bullet here?"

Looking forward to more of your great material. Thank you so much, Andy, for the practical tips, the inspiration, and the positive attitude boost!

 

[Matto]

Great lessons learned, thank you for sharing @Andy Black!

Thinking of the metaphor Andy used towards the end, speaking of low hanging fruits while ignoring the ones already falling out of the tree...

I have been a tree shaker for years. I not only reached for the high hanging fruits, I also tried getting fruits off trees that don't even produce fruits. In some moments, I even tried to plant trees so I can grow them and harvest its fruits later.

Oh well...

People who start out tend to get so busy with "analyzing" the market that they don't see the forest for the trees. They get overwhelmed with learning new skills, developing strategies, setting up goals...

...only to stop soon after.

Action faking doesn't produce results.

The best way to kick-start your process, get real results and compress your learning is by doing one simple thing.

Go out and help someone with what you already know today.

Trust me, it's that simple. Why I know? I ignored my own skill set for years. I thought I had to learn X first, get better at Y and finally start doing Z. Turns out that I can help people and create value for them with what I already know, with what I am already good at.

"But it's not fastlane..." True. Not in the beginning. That's why there is process. If you respect the process, you'll quickly move, develop and refine your offer. People will tell you what they need, because they finally have someone who listens.

Wondering how you could potentially scale this? Paul Graham suggests: "Do Things That Don't Scale".

Gary Vaynerchuk focused on the fact that "1 > 0".

Both enjoyed vast success.

So, go out and help someone today. Do it and see what will happen.

Hi Nicoknowsbest, I love this comment! I also have to open my eyes and look at those very easy to pick up fruits already on the ground.

In 42 years I always wanted to make things more difficult that what they are.

Thanks a lot!!!

 

[Iggy Irianto]

Great interview, just finished the Soundcloud one about Adwords.
I am looking into it now. I also found other results for "keyword planner", like SEMrush and KeywordTool. Gonna look into each of them and how they stack up against Google's.

Really thankful to have discovered this. Thank you very much Andy!

 

[rosepxj]

Thank you for sharing your view. I really agree with the idea that you should start helping people next to you.

My husband and I have a new photography business. He's the photographer. We've build our website and done SEO and Adwords. What frustrates me is that on one hand, we don't get as many customers as we like, and my husband tries to work more on the SEO. On the other hand, our neighbour has asked my husband several times to do a family photo session, and he never found time for them.

I assume there are two reasons for this. One is that he didn't want to charge his normal price for a photo shoot because they are neighbours. The other reason is that spending time on his website is probably a higher priority than spending time on something not so rewarding.

I really want to persuade him into reaching out more and doing what he is good at, which is taking pictures and creating nice memories for people. How can I get this mindset to him to make him think that it's also good for our business?

 

[rosepxj]

If he doesn't want to do non-weddings (like the family photo shoot next door), then maybe he can tell them he only does weddings? That way he's at least positioning himself as a wedding photographer.

Sounds like he's attracting the wrong prospects? "Sales is a screening process." (Blaise Brosnan) Where do his ideal clients hang out?

That's why he doesn't really like to do photo shoots for neighbours or friends of friends. He either is willing to do free shoots for his close friends, or he charges his price to customers. He probably wouldn't say no to requests for non-wedding events if the time and pay are okay, but he promotes himself more in the wedding photographer direction.

Our ideal clients are people who actually use Google to search for photographers in areas that we cover. It's a special phenomenon in our country that a large population of young workforce live and work abroad in UK, Germany, and other European countries. They come back to hold their weddings because their families are here. So these people search on Google and will find us on the first page. Our main competitors do not manage their websites, because they are long established locally, and they are normally the first choice for local residents. So, locals do not search on google, they know which photographers to go to directly.

 

[Leecha14]

I did a radio interview this morning. It goes out somewhere in Dublin on Friday 03-Jun-2016.

Interested in your takeaways...

> Click here to access the recording <


What were your takeaways?

What will you do differently going forward?

.
.
.

Here's the second interview with Mary:
Freedom, Motivation, and Grow What You Know

(For other recordings click HERE.)
​

Andy that was a great interview and I thought your tips and advice was bang on. Once my product is live I will be definitely investing in ad words and it's true, many people don't research enough to know if a product solves a problem to the masses, they just think it's a great idea but as you said, if you don't have a customer you have a hobby. I think it's always wise to focus on solutions not numbers, if you are just driven by money then you're way off and in trouble. It was a good listen, thanks.

 

[Pooven]

I did a radio interview this morning. It goes out somewhere in Dublin on Friday 03-Jun-2016.

Interested in your takeaways...

> Click here to access the recording <


What were your takeaways?

What will you do differently going forward?

.
.
.

Here's the second interview with Mary:
Freedom, Motivation, and Grow What You Know

(For other recordings click HERE.)
​

Hi Andy, just joined the forum recently. Watched your radio interview from about 4 years ago and it was of great value to me. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Flint]

Great interview, Andy. From genuinely wanting to help and solving one person's problem to a wealth of experience and meaningful relationships. Hat tip.

My key takeaway: discovery of a need (and then a solution) starts with little acts of kindness that compound over time and refine/enrich you in the process.

You've got a follower.

 

[Jaco]

Hi Andy, I really loved the second interview, perhaps even more than the first. It made me feel that I may have headed down the wrong path, but only time will tell. You see, I'm rolling out my first Amazon FBA product in literally 2 weeks. Ecommerce is a completely new area for me, and I did indeed buy a course and apply a particular methodology. It's actually been a really enjoyable learning curve, and I'm quite proud of what I've built so far, but of course, the proof will be in getting customers - as you say in the interview. My wife thinks I'm nuts to have dedicated so much time to something I know nothing about, especially as I have a good job with unusually high pay. But it's my dream to ditch the corporate life and find a better balance, and I've always had a strong bent toward entrepreneurship. I mulled over the 'grow what you know' idea, but couldn't seem to come up with anything that relates to my professional skillset that would both take me out of the corporate world and really use what I know. I'm months into this plan now, and excited to see how it goes, as well as enjoy the continue learning.

And how about you? How is your consulting business going?

 

[Jaco]

I’d be very keen to subscribe for myself and my 13-year old son who recently launched an affiliate linked blog. He is trying to get his head around AHrefs and the keyword zoo on YouTube. I think he would really benefit from a structured approach or program. Could you let us know when you launch that? I am personally following a course for FBA by Dan Vas (who was once in this forum) and its excellent, extremely detailed. That’s my night job, and my products hit amazon warehouses in a week or so. The event horizon is near. Excited and a bit nervous.

 

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[Raedrum]

Damn. I did that interview nearly 7 years ago.

And it helped me greatly demystify sales. See I'm doing website for 1.5 years with mixed results, and this month I had my first 5,000€ website cancelled (for reasons beyond control) and I got a little hammered.

Nonetheless client offered to pay the time already spend and I dared bill my time, because I brought useful informations.

Plus a past client (tattoo artist) ask me to do FB Ads and I offered to do a SEO redesign of her website, and then asked to give me a test budget for Google Ads and she accepted both.

Next I offered another past client (accountant) the same 2 deliveries and he accepted both too !

At the end after that hammer, I'm ending with my most profitable month since I'm in business ! Plus I already have 2 testing budgets for my future Google Ads service that I have just begun to learn !

This was easy. All of that because I listened to your interviews and see some of your youtube shorts about "business is easy" and "upsell past clients".

You might see you more as a freelancer than an entreprenneur but you surely have one of a helping mindset !

"Never found time" is a polite way of saying "I did something else instead".

Why is he tinkering with SEO? To get more clients? If someone asks for a photo-session then why is he tinkering with SEO instead of closing that sale, doing the work, and getting referrals and repeat-business?

Ask him if he wants to tinker with SEO and not get paid for it, or do photo sessions and get paid.

It sounds a bit like he doesn't want to be a photographer, is worried about pricing and delivering when paid, or is worried he won't do a good job (or all of the above).

What does he want?

See this is exactly what I'm talking about. My accountant client didn't need new clients so I did his website without any SEO. But after that he started asking me to reference his website a little because he could use a little more clients...

I said no, SEO is useless, too much work, too competitive, unstable etc...

Now I litteraly offered to meet his need by offering SEO rededign and then Googles Ads testing. He perfectly understood that I'm in learning/testing phase and despite this accepted without any hesitation.

I managed to get paid to learn and test what I want to do by following your advices, now I'm a little more relaxed and can take care of those deliveries this week while continuing to learn Google Ads, which is a natural continuity.

Thank you Andy things are beginning to make sense for me and I can only imagine how good it must be to have a base of customers (not clients) on wich to rest !

 

[Shono]

Episode 1 takeaways:
1. Find what people need and provide that product or service, don’t begin by thinking about what you want. (Have to give to receive.)
2. Be reliable and stick to your word, reputation is important. (Be referable.)
3. Hone in on what provides the best results and focus on that. (Grow what works.)
4. Be specific about services/location in which you provide.
5. Don’t get caught in pricing games that are a race to the Bottom.
6. Don’t worry about numbers, help one at a time, starting with those nearest to you.
7. 2 Ears, 1 mouth, observe and listen more than you talk. (Say thank you... and be kind!)
8. See people as people, not just clicks or numbers.
9. How to pick a business: is it people want and/or are searching for. (Want > Need.)
10. Instead of searching for low hanging fruit, catch the fruit that is already falling. (Instead of trying to generate demand, fulfill an existing one.)

Very valuable stuff. The search for what people want continues.

 

[juan917]

when is this getting trascribed?