SPONSORED BY
Episode 10 | Leaving a Mess at the Start
In this episode of the Messy Back-End of Entrepreneurship, our Expert, Mike Kawula discusses beginning messes of entrepreneurship.
“You have to see failure as the beginning and the middle, but never entertain it as an end” – Jessica Herrin
Check out E-Myth by Michael Gerber!
EXPERT PANEL
How do I know what business to start?
- First, ask yourself what are your hobbies and what do you like to do.
- For every passion there is a business.
- Ask your friends and family what do you think I am good at. Often we are amazed about what talent and skills that they come back with that you don’t even realize. Those talents and skills can be a huge help when you are deciding what kind of business you should start.
- Go with your passion and what excites you. Don’t set your heart on it, because businesses often evolve.
We often have to just find a solution to a problem that we face in our own life. Then think about how you can solve that problem for yourself and others.
What are you doing now? Can you do that for yourself at home?
What should you name your business?
- Pair what you do with another word.
- Often unique names help you to be able to get a domain name easily. You can check if the domain name you want is available. Many people create names based on their lives, for example, their child’s name.
- Make sure you have a powerful tag line so I instantly know what you do and what value you bring to your audience.
What are the basics you need in place before taking on a new client?
- Nowadays you don’t really need anything except the skill to perform the task you say you are going to do.
- You can find your domain and start your social media platforms, but honestly, the best thing is to start taking on customers and getting that experience.
- Some things can come in time. Take one step at a time. If you have a skill, you have a business.
- If you have skills and the proper system for taking money you are ready to start.
Find your passion, help other people and get out there!
Adam Neumann, co-founder of WeWork says, “People are the most important thing. Business model and product will follow if have the right people.”
Jas Bagniewski, co-founder of Eve Sleep says, “Don’t get distracted. Never tell yourself that you need to be the biggest brand in the world. Start by working on what you need at the present moment and then what you need to do tomorrow. So, set yourself manageable targets.”
Expert Mike Kawula
What are the next steps right after you start your business?
When starting your business make sure to be humble. Don’t be married to your idea and be willing to pivot.
- Do your research and check out 5-10 competitors that are in the space you want to be in. Research their social media and sign up for their free offer.
- The key is to have their e-mails go to a separate e-mail folder for 10 days and just ignore them. Then after 10 days go look at all the folders. You can learn many things: what subject lines are they using, what are they giving away, what copy are they using. They are probably touching on many of the pain points of your market.
- You can actually reverse engineer the sales funnel you are going to use.
Research your competition, follow and learn what they are doing right, and make it your own.
When you step outside of your industry you are going to get ideas that you can twist and make work in your own industry. Then that will spiral you to the top of your list because you’re not doing the same thing that everybody else is doing.
What are some pitfalls that entrepreneurs need to watch for when they are first starting out?
We really need to take excellent care of our customers. It is important to build that relationship and ask for their feedback. We can learn a lot from our customers and make our business and products that much better. Often we scale our business and step back, but staying plugged in with your customers is key.
There are four things to grow your business:
- Traffic
- Activating your traffic
- Overservice and delight your customer
- Word of mouth creates more traffic
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|
