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What are my options to get started

Ywan

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So after months of just reading passively on the forum, I decided to take some action. The problem is, that I don't quite know, what to do.
As there are some conditions, that I can't change at the moment, I thought, maybe you could help me find some realistic options. The reason I am asking the forum is quite simple: as it turned out in the last couple of months, I tend to try to start businesses, that are way above my current limits (money- and mindest-wise), resulting in failure and beating myself up once again for coming up with an idea, that I cannot realize yet. So I thought instead of trying to provide value and getting to ambitious again, I limit myself to a certain kind of business and only then I will look for ways to provide value.
So now, I want to start small, just to get going, build some momentum and get my mindset straight. Then, when I have some more experience and a litte bit more money, I am going to try one of my bigger ideas.

Here are the basic conditions:
1. My budget is around 6k.
2. At the moment I don't have much time, as I am working full time and having a family. But I have one advantage: To fulfill my day job, it only takes me around 20 to 25 hours per week (the rest of the time I am basically just surfing the internet or doing other stupid stuff). So I will work on my business every day in office, after I have completed my job responsibilities.
3. It has to be something, that can be done/managed completely from a computer, because (as I said already) I will work on my business while having down time at my day job.
4. It has to be some kind of product, because services are a bit tricky when working on my business while at my day job.

It would be great, if someone could give me some tips on the kind of business, that is realistically possible within these boundaries.

Thank you very much.
 
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Vitaly the Winne

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So after months of just reading passively on the forum, I decided to take some action. The problem is, that I don't quite know, what to do.
As there are some conditions, that I can't change at the moment, I thought, maybe you could help me find some realistic options. The reason I am asking the forum is quite simple: as it turned out in the last couple of months, I tend to try to start businesses, that are way above my current limits (money- and mindest-wise), resulting in failure and beating myself up once again for coming up with an idea, that I cannot realize yet. So I thought instead of trying to provide value and getting to ambitious again, I limit myself to a certain kind of business and only then I will look for ways to provide value.
So now, I want to start small, just to get going, build some momentum and get my mindset straight. Then, when I have some more experience and a litte bit more money, I am going to try one of my bigger ideas.

Here are the basic conditions:
1. My budget is around 6k.
2. At the moment I don't have much time, as I am working full time and having a family. But I have one advantage: To fulfill my day job, it only takes me around 20 to 25 hours per week (the rest of the time I am basically just surfing the internet or doing other stupid stuff). So I will work on my business every day in office, after I have completed my job responsibilities.
3. It has to be something, that can be done/managed completely from a computer, because (as I said already) I will work on my business while having down time at my day job.
4. It has to be some kind of product, because services are a bit tricky when working on my business while at my day job.

It would be great, if someone could give me some tips on the kind of business, that is realistically possible within these boundaries.

Thank you very much.
I just read a lot of fear and doubts. I admire you for wanting to change your life and improve the lives of others, doing it small and limiting yourself are the reasons why you don't have a successful business yet.

It's okay to realize that the business you're currently working on isn't the right one for you, and it's completely okay to fail. Before starting another business, I'd suggest writing down your failures, and reframing them. What did you learn from these past business failures? What did they have in common? And what abilities did you discover you have that you weren't aware of before? Taking an inventory of yourself and self awareness are the first building blocks towards building the right mindset. I've had a lot of recent failures and basically watched my business and ideas crash and burn to the ground for the first half of this year, so now I'm also at square one, retracing my steps and rebuilding something better. You've gotta have a reason why you want what you want.
 

MHP368

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With 6k you could make a go at white label or perhaps even manufacturing your own product , launch it on amazon.

You seem overly worried about failure.

What are your strongpoints? Skillwise?

Could you manage others? 6k goes a long way in a local service business
 

Ywan

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I just read a lot of fear and doubts. I admire you for wanting to change your life and improve the lives of others, doing it small and limiting yourself are the reasons why you don't have a successful business yet.

You seem overly worried about failure.

That's right, I have a lot of fear and doubts. The problem is, that I cannot get myself to take a big step. My mind won't let me, so to speak, so I think that one small step after another is the right approach for me at the moment. The step from 0 to 1 is always much bigger than the one from 1 to 2.

With 6k you could make a go at white label or perhaps even manufacturing your own product , launch it on amazon.
Would one product be enough to launch on Amazon? Some time ago, I read a comment from @biophase where he said, that today he starts a new brand with at least three products (if I am not wrong). But I guess, that three products would cost more than 6k.

What are your strongpoints? Skillwise?

I think, that I am quite good in managing things, like seeing the big picture and making sure, that everything is in place, will work at in time. At least that is something I enjoy doing and it worked out quite well every time I did something like that in the past.

Other people say, that some of my strenghts are:
planning
accurateness
perseverence (If I can commit to do one thing only, which is often not the case, due to shiny object syndrome.)
communication
focus (Again, if I can commit to one thing.)
curiosity

Could you manage others? 6k goes a long way in a local service business
What exactly do you have in mind with the term local service business? There are many businesses, that would fit that category.
 
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Vitaly the Winne

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Our Deepest Fear
by Marianne Williamson

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

This poem right here, shared by a friend of mine enabled me to start discovering who I am. When you vouch for your failures, insecurities, and everything you've f*cked up in, that's exactly what you end up repeating in life. Look at what you're already winning in, and ask other people, instead of guessing, the maybes,and the possiblys, and start there.

$6K, with fear, doubts, and no idea what to di with it won't mean a thing unless you know who you really are. We can't tell you what works for you, because we don't know you on a personal level.
 

NMdad

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Not sure that thinking about your strengths provides much specific direction. For example, one's strengths could be applied to ANY type of biz--ecomm, infoproducts, local service, physical product, real estate, etc.

Sounds like you're looking for a specific idea or biz type that has a guarantee or high probability of succeeding. If that's the case, use the CENTS framework. Then, persistence & iteration will boost your probability of succeeding.

So, to start from where you're at, I'd recommend:
  • List the areas where you ALREADY have experience, expertise, INSIDERS knowledge. This gives you insight into problems that people will pay to solve. Yes, you probably want to ditch your day job, but it might likely be a gold mine of ideas & opportunities.
  • Create a simple spreadsheet listing your specific ideas (not just things like ecomm, but what SPECIFICALLY you'll sell via an ecomm site), and then rate those ideas on things like whether they meet CENTS criteria, investment (in time & money) to execute, estimated payoff in like 12 months, etc. Just a simple spreadsheet. Rate each idea, then decide which to pursue.
You'll learn more by picking 1 idea & executing on it--even for 3 months--than you would by analyzing endlessly.
 

100ToOne

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Amazon FBA is a good option ESPECIALLY if you're in the U.S.

You don't need to start with 3 products, just start with one.

You can definitely start with 6k but from my opinion if you can start with 10k or more that'll give you a lot of option for re-ordering on time and having more flexibility on testing ppc and paid ads and "legal giveaways" to rank.

I guess local Americans can give you good ideas on where to start.
 
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MHP368

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Well I would definitely leave it to @biophase to answer that question, maybe he launches 3 at a time so he can build a brand instead of a single product? , 6k isn't even enough to white label 3 products nowadays let alone manufacture 3 new things.

So the extra 15 hours a week you have to work (while being paid on the clock mind you) definitely does lean me toward recommending something digital, that being said.

They have this guy , off site entrepreneurial blogger / personality. What I like about this approach is so many people are just hyper focused on internet businesses that all this moneys being left on the table, all this opportunity missed right under our noses. Now, scaling a business that involves human resources (lots of people - this is page 284 in "Unscripted ") introduces that as somewhat of a bottleneck but its hardly insurmountable.

6k in capital is more money than lots of tradespeople will ever see at once in their entire lifes, no joke. You find someone like that who could expand for want of new equipment and an apprentice? , or start it from scratch, a huge amount of things you can charge money for can be taught via youtube videos , learning curve on house painting might be steep but what about power washing? , moving services? , porta potty rentals? , mobile car detailing? , you just handle the systems end of things, hiring highschoolers and training them - get a halfway decent manager in place and go.

You and me are in a similar boat, family and jobs and bills to pay, unless you have some serious kick a$$ idea to chase then yeh, slow and steady, build something you can work around those pre-existing time constraints.
 

Ywan

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Amazon FBA is a good option ESPECIALLY if you're in the U.S.
I am not living in the US, but in Europe. If I go the FBA-route, I think I am going to start in Europe. Granted, the market is smaller, but the marketplaces are also younger, so maybe there are some more opportunities.
 

MHP368

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ESPECIALLY if you're in the U.S.

Actually right now the hot thing is to skip the US market all together and find holes in foreign markets, japan for instance. Doesnt leave a lot of room for error though because exporting something to a warehouse on the other side of the planet pretty much means that inventory is dead if it doesn't sell.
 
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They have this guy , off site entrepreneurial blogger / personality. What I like about this approach is so many people are just hyper focused on internet businesses that all this moneys being left on the table, all this opportunity missed right under our noses. Now, scaling a business that involves human resources (lots of people - this is page 284 in "Unscripted ") introduces that as somewhat of a bottleneck but its hardly insurmountable.

I think the idea is good, but there is a common problem in many western countries: there are just not enough people with the right education (for example tradesmen, look also at this thread) that you can hire. I know many businesses in my country that have problems with that. They just don't have enough employees and/or can't find good ones. The result: the owners work 24/7. Where I live, there are also many regulations. You can't just start any business, like for example carpenter. You have to get a license and to get that, you have to have some kind of prior experience. If you don't have that, you have to take courses, which are expensive.
 
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MHP368

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The result: the owners work 24/7

Definitely, but caveat here, they have entire books literally just on that subject (e-myth / clockwork etc) , so firstly a lot of the listed ideas don't require licencing and higher education, and more importantly from the entrepreneurs POV , you wont be the one getting sweaty all the time, if you do the research and find out it will never make enough money to get you out of the mix then you simply don't do that business (vs a guy who actually IS the plumber who has no other choice)


As for getting your feet wet in business I feel like local service business opportunities make a lot more sense than chasing the latest online money making fad (as long as you live somewhere with a population high enough to warrant this of course) , if you fail at ecom what did you learn? maybe some adwords or shallow amounts of advertising and copywriting? , a little practice with basic arithmetic? , now if you start a landscaping company and it goes belly up 6 months later then you've actually managed people, hired and fired, done face to face sales and real accounting etc
 

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