Beginner Business Series – Part 1: Adopting a Profit First Mentality
Episode 174: Show Notes
We’re excited to be doing something new over the next few episodes and this is thanks to all your amazing feedback! A question came up inside the TCC community, “Where are the podcasts for brand new business owners? Business owners who haven’t made anything yet or haven’t got off the ground yet?” Over the next few episodes, we’re going to be sharing our five-part Beginner Business Series (BBS). We’re going to be asking you to share your homework, takeaways and insights inside our community using the hashtag #bbs.
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If you’ve been in business for a while, a lot of these things are going to be in review for you, but it might also be an opportunity for you to go back and solidify a foundation. Regardless of where you’re at or what industry you are in, you should definitely be listening. If you are brand new and wondering where to even begin, this is an awesome place to start! In this episode, we are going to help you identify your skills and unique strengths, your why and your goals and help you discover your potential, most viable product or skill that you can start putting out this very week! Making you nervous? The good news is that this is something you already have!
Come Say Hi – It’s Your Homework
The first thing we want you to do is a little bit of homework to help you feel a little bit more involved in this process. This is an interactive series and you are going to have homework every week and specific things we want you to share in the community. Go to thinkcreativecollective.com/community, head over to the group and introduce yourself. Tell us your name, a little bit about your business, what stage you’re at and what is holding you back from launching. If we know where you’re at, it’s going to help us tailor the content that is coming your way. Don’t be shy! No one’s judging. If you’re sitting there wondering, “Well, what do they mean by launching?” Here at TCC we treat every single thing we do as a launch. We have even broken down this series into multiple tiny steps and will be pushing on social media. No matter the scale of what you are doing, treat it like a launch. Whether it’s the launch of your business website or one product, treat it the same.
Step 1: Identify Your Personal Skills and Unique Strengths
We really want you to spend some time brainstorming what you are good at, things you love to do for fun and things you love to do professionally. Sometimes, it’s really hard to identify ourselves and what it is we are good at. Emylee loves to do is take a crap ton of free personality tests. Love Language, Enneagram, Myer’s Briggs – all of them. Really take that data and interpret it. A personality test is going to tell you about your identity strengths, which is the way you interact with the world and not necessarily your marketable skills. But if you add these things up, you will start to really pave your path. If you add all of these things and you still don’t know what the hell to do, then send your friends and family a message and ask, “Hey, what am I good at?” “What skills do I have that are unique?” We want to challenge you this week to take a personality test and then reach out to 10-15 people. We know this might sound scary but just send them an email and start to gather the responses. After you’ve really done that, you’re probably going to be sitting in either one of two camps. 1) You’ve had a hobby for a while that you have done over and over again, probably for free, and people tell you: “You should start a business from this.” Maybe it’s photography, design, knitting, relationship advice. 2) You’ve just been laid off, just graduated from college, can’t find a job in your industry or you’re trying to get out of your parents’ basement – whatever it may be, there are motivations discouraging you from going out and getting a regular job. So, you want your own business, but what the French toast could it be? Get out some paper and brain dump all the things you love about yourself that could be marketable and might serve others well. Connect the dots between your personality tests and the feedback from friends and start to establish some sort of picture. We’re just warming up…
Step 2: Establish Your Why. . .No Matter How Fickle It Is
For some people, their why is very simple like “I need X amount of money to stay alive.” It doesn’t have to be over-complicated but you need to have some form of objective. Your reason for going into business does not have to be sexy or serve anyone other than yourself. It can be totally selfish and you never have to share it with anyone. But it needs to be specific. For some people, it might be more than that and you might want to tie it to something bigger than yourself. If that’s you, awesome, but you still need to be specific. Is it to serve a certain type of person? Is it to make a difference in your community? You are allowed to have any reason why, as long as you own it. And know it is allowed to change! Our why has changed so much throughout TCC. Abbie, for example, initially her why was just to be the breadwinner in her household and change some gender roles. But as time went on, her why became something much bigger. So whatever your why is for now, make it specific. If you don’t, you will float! You will put it off and you will be disappointed.
Step 3: Set Your Financial Goal and Get Specific
Setting a specific goal or number can be scary. But look at it kind of like, “Ideally by the end of the year, this is where I’d like to be.” It might seem daunting to say, “I want to make $30,000 by the end of the year,” but that’s how business works. You have an end goal that you are aiming toward little by little, day by day, month by month with the efforts you’re making. If that seems too overwhelming, set specific monthly goals even if it’s just “I want to make $500 extra this month.” To be in business (spoiler alert), there have to be sales. There has to be some kind of exchange. And if you are not having any of that happen, then this is a hobby, this is for fun. And own that. Don’t be disappointed if something is not giving you business results. But if you do want to own a business, which we’re guessing you do, then you need to pause and say “How am I going to take all of this information and turn it into a product I can take to market?” Not next month, but today this week.
Step 4: What Is It That You Can Trade?
What is the thing you already have that you could send out to market? What is that thing you can start writing a product description for and a sales page for today? We all have it. We all have something. And if you’re still wondering what yours is, then you just haven’t dug deep enough! The best advice we can give you is to start some sort of service in the realm of your current knowledge and expertise. Scale down your massive dream in order to take the first step toward it. You want your eye on the prize but you don’t want it clouding your everyday decisions. You have to lay the foundation in order to reach the mountaintop of your goals and dreams. That’s a fact. You have to take small steps and that’s what we want you to start identifying. The really cool thing is that you have everything you need in order to start doing this! That’s right. You are the only one holding you back and you have to believe in yourself. You are worth something and you can’t worry about what the rest of the world thinks of you.
The Awesome Thing About Doing Services First
For a lot of you, you want to do products. That is where your heart wants to go. But by doing services first, you are going to learn so much about your industry, about what people want and how to serve your people better in the long run. It will do amazing things for you. It’s a great opportunity to test the waters in this way before fully diving in. It’s also totally cool if you try something and realize it’s just not for you. It’s better to realize that sooner rather than later. For many of you, you might be feeling like you’re not qualified to sell your service yet. Firstly, you have to remember that even Oprah sat and did something for the first time ever. There’s a first time for everything and there’s a first time for you charging for a skill and a value that you can add to the world. We often think our clients and customers will do some crazy background check on us but the truth is, the proof is in the pudding! Do a good job and they won’t care if you don’t have a Master’s degree or haven’t had any fancy clients! If you are showing up as yourself and you are showing true value as a human being and servicing your clients’ needs, then that’s the example that they need. That makes you qualified enough. So say yes!
Let’s Review Where You’re At + Your Homework
You’ve gone through your skills. You’ve taken all the tests. You’ve worked with people around you to identify what you’re good at. You’ve identified you why and your goals. Now you’re working on your most viable product/skill: What can you bring to market the quickest? We’ve talked about how it can be a baby step and how it can be a service. Right now, your only objective is to identify what it is you could bring to market with the skills you already have. We are not setting a price. We are not getting into any specifics. Right now, we are just identifying what your service or product could be ... and feel free to have a whole list!
Homework questions:
1.) What do your friends, family, ideal audience come to you for right now?
2.) What comes naturally to you? What can you do with your eyes closed? List 5-10 things.
3.) What are your unique skills that can be of service to others? List 5 minimum.
4.) Who is your ideal audience for the thing you could potentially sell?
5.) Head over to the creativecollective.com/community and fill in the blanks: My friends tell me I am really good at ..................... and I would love to serve .................... That’s it.
This is all just getting you ready to sell and in the next episode, we are going to help you package this baby up into something that is marketable – help you price it, prep for sale and get it to market very shortly!
Quote This
You want your eye on the prize but you don’t want it clouding your everyday decisions.
Highlights
Introduction: Come Say Hi – It’s Your Homework [0:05:20.1]
Step 1: Identify Your Personal Skills and Unique Strengths. [0:07:50.1]
Step 2: Establish Your Why ... No Matter How Fickle It Is. [0:15:20.1]
Step 3: Set Your Financial Goal and Get Specific. [0:05:20.1]
The Awesome Thing About Doing Services First. [0:32:00.1]
Let’s Review Where You’re At + Your Homework. [0:40:20.1]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
Selling a service, Selling a product, Starting a business, Personality test, Entrepreneurship, Setting goals, Identifying your skills, Financial goals
