The fundamentals of entrepreneurship: How I sold "air"

[Edgar King]

I watched this inspiring "Survival" video by Ryan Trahan where he tried to survive on $0.01 for 30 days while crossing America.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEqi3VVLYkg


One key moment in the video for me was when he bought a $1 bottle, went to a group of people on the beach who were exercising (who were thirsty) and offered the bottle of water to them at $2. It worked!? Sure, he was rejected a good number of times, but it looked like he struck gold when he addressed people on the beach who were exercising and were thirstier than the common populace, who needed what he had.

That's when the thought that someone could replicate his approach pretty seamlessly and get their toes wet in entrepreneurship excited me.

What I needed most was an offer that provided value. So I asked myself, "What can I offer that would make someone happy?" And the million dollar business idea came to mind haha...


It didn't matter that the marketing sheet looked like it was chicken scratched, what mattered was the offer, right? I heard some chatter in the kitchen and decided to give it a go, the worst they could say was no, right? After showing it to two friends, one of them gave me 50p! I was aghast. They walked away happy with the "helpful" advice they received, and I walked away with a newfound perspective on entrepreneurship, a view into the fundamentals.

The main variables I observed were...
1. Value/Offer: What you give to make them happier or solve a problem.
2. Marketing/Person in need: The people reached over time that see your offer.
3. Payment: Sometimes monetary.
4. Fulfilment cost: What it cost you to make the offer and get it to the person in need.
5. Available cash: Cash you can use to create the offer.

I repeated the experiment, this time attempting to sell black pens on the sidewalk. But it didn't go as planned. Someone even laughed at my offer and I had to laugh with him XD.

I wanted to step up the game. I asked myself, "What can I offer that would make someone happy? What can I offer at all?" Window cleaning came to mind thanks to Ryan's video. I didn't have any equipment nor how to do window cleaning though.

I went out to the streets to a business I knew but they were closed. I wondered, who closes on a Wednesday? I wanted to go back, but I steeled myself, "I'm giving them satisfaction and better windows! They'd totally want that!", I thought. I continued all the way down until I found a new business and I entered the premises. Nice plants, natural looking cafe, but no one was at the front desk. I went forward and called out, totally prepared for my next rejection as I looked them in the eye and smiled, "I was wondering if you guys would be interested in window cleaning?"

He thought to himself and talked about how their previous window cleaner hadn't been around for awhile, and asked me about price.

What?

"30 pounds," I'll keep it sweet. He then asked for my number and name and I walked out of the premises. What an interesting experiment.

What offer will you make this week?

 

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[fastlane_dad]

Great train of thinking - and leads right up to the basics and fundamentals of being on the road to a fastlane business.

My beginnings were very similar, and it just shows you again that much of fastlane revolves around a 'thinking' exercise (more on this in a follow up post later), rather then having a fat wallet, investors or rich parents to fund your beginnings. I had none of those in my life, especially as an immigrant to the usa at the age of 9. Living in an average midwestern city - the first time I heard of someone local making over six figures with no college degree and not working corporate I was in my early 20s - and my world views were shifted at that point.

Yes - action must come into the equation fairly quick, but many times you can have the most basic of starts (i.e. cutting grass, window washing) etc, that requires but the simplest of tools and equipment to feel the pull of providing 'value' , 'productocracy' and your first entrepreneurial income!

Much luck to you in the future.

 

[Edgar King]

Great train of thinking - and leads right up to the basics and fundamentals of being on the road to a fastlane business.

My beginnings were very similar, and it just shows you again that much of fastlane revolves around a 'thinking' exercise (more on this in a follow up post later), rather then having a fat wallet, investors or rich parents to fund your beginnings. I had none of those in my life, especially as an immigrant to the usa at the age of 9. Living in an average midwestern city - the first time I heard of someone local making over six figures with no college degree and not working corporate I was in my early 20s - and my world views were shifted at that point.

Yes - action must come into the equation fairly quick, but many times you can have the most basic of starts (i.e. cutting grass, window washing) etc, that requires but the simplest of tools and equipment to feel the pull of providing 'value' , 'productocracy' and your first entrepreneurial income!

Much luck to you in the future.

Thank you FD! You're 100% right and looking forward to your posts! Ace the basics, and you can recreate more complex lego sets haha. Since my "Available cash" was near zero, I knew if I was going to provide value, it needed to have a fulfilment cost near zero as well. You start to realise you can provide value at any point in time wether that be in real estate, carpet cleaning, software, agencies or even jokes and "helpful" advice boards once you play around with the variables haha.

I think this is important as well...

"Do today what was for tomorrow. And aim low if you have to." If not for thinking along these lines, I probably would have postponed going out and leaving this to Friday and I may never had gone to the right business that was interested in such a service for quite awhile.

And of course, very thankful to @mikecarlucci for enlightening my mindset in his thread-

NOTABLE! - HOT! - MARKETING - Getting My First Ever YES (Video Marketing Agency)

2019 Sitting in my dark room with things all over the place, I scrolled through YouTube. Video after video, trying to figure out exactly how to make a my "own business" by constantly watching videos about how Warren Buffett made 100 gazillion dollars and I would walk around talking about how I...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[kommen]

Man, never thought about anything this wacky to make a sale today. I guess Derek Sivers was right that "business is creative". Thanks for adding value to this forum, I don't know why this thread got buried.

 

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[Edgar King]

Man, never thought about anything this wacky to make a sale today. I guess Derek Sivers was right that "business is creative". Thanks for adding value to this forum, I don't know why this thread got buried.

Appreciate it!

In retrospect, I'd say what we need most is an offer that provides relative value.

If there was another person who was selling "Helpful advice" to the people in the kitchen, and his offer addressed his needs even a little better, he'd probably have gone with his offer rather than mine.

While window cleaning was a great start into the world of entrepreneurship, the same principle applied here. Many people I approached, although needed an offer like window cleaning, already had their needs fulfilled by their suppliers. So it was much harder to market the service offline anyway.

Even online, people would still probably compare your offer to what's out there and choose the offer that has the highest benefit/cost for them.

In that sense, it's probably best not to start with an idea, but to start when you've found an unmet need.

 

[Walter Hay]

I went forward and called out, totally prepared for my next rejection as I looked them in the eye and smiled, "I was wondering if you guys would be interested in window cleaning?"

Were you offering to meet an unmet need?

If so, say so. Don't "wonder" - assess the situation and see if there is an unmet need - Windows streaky, areas not sparkling clean, pool of soapy foam on the window sill.

If any such needs were evident you can now make a positive approach instead of sounding as though you are desperate.

Walter

 

[Edgar King]

Were you offering to meet an unmet need?

If so, say so. Don't "wonder" - assess the situation and see if there is an unmet need - Windows streaky, areas not sparkling clean, pool of soapy foam on the window sill.

If any such needs were evident you can now make a positive approach instead of sounding as though you are desperate.

Walter

This approach definitely helped!

Another store I approached, I noticed they had cobwebs on their windows so I went in with highlighting the issue which helped them see the value in the cleaning and I got the job.

Unfortunately, that was a rare occasion. I was a bad judge of the visual quality of the window, even after cleaning haha! And at the time, was a bit more afraid to just stand outside someone's window and assess it for quality issues. Someone else with a keener eye would have been in a better position to sight those needs though.

 

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[Lex DeVille]

Unfortunately, that was a rare occasion. I was a bad judge of the visual quality of the window, even after cleaning haha! And at the time, was a bit more afraid to just stand outside someone's window and assess it for quality issues. Someone else with a keener eye would have been in a better position to sight those needs though.

Let the business owner assess them.

"How many visual blemishes can you spot on your own windows?"

- Presupposes there are multiple blemishes to find.
- Makes them do the work to find them haha.

"How many do you think it takes for a prospect to second-guess your business?

"I can fix that."

 

[Edgar King]

Let the business owner assess them.

"How many visual blemishes can you spot on your own windows?"

- Presupposes there are multiple blemishes to find.
- Makes them do the work to find them haha.

"How many do you think it takes for a prospect to second-guess your business?

"I can fix that."