Hey guys. Pretty newb post here, but its something that's been on the mind for a WHILE now, brewing inside of me, and in the past few months my business has become pretty clear in my mind. Phase 1 seems very possible, and I see these crazy next several phases of expansion for it. My main issue is that I'm an employee and think I just gotta jump ship before even starting a little bit. My intro follows, maybe you can suggest an alternative way to get started, to gain certainty, curtail the fear, etc. If you're here, I appreciate the time, even though I know someone's gonna suggest signing up for googlehammer, etc. lol.
Been lurking around here for a little while. Pretty sure all the dabbling and info consumption I've gotten into has kind of "hit" recently, I'm at a point where I understand "OK I have a pretty fucking clear idea of the business I want to throw out into the world. I actually would rather put it into action and go on this blind faith that it'll work out, because trying to tell more and more people about it just brings in the opportunity for more resistance."
By business idea BTW is basically stealing a "group coaching strategy" that IMO and IME works really well, from another niche, and applying it to a different self-help niche.
I'm not by any means a "guru" in that niche, but my screenname is semi known in one forum in the niche, and a decent number of people know me by face too. My coaching product would not directly compete with the company that runs this forum, but I have a feeling that even after spending a good amount of cash with them over the years, they wouldn't like me directly promoting my shit in there. Nonetheless, I'm sure I can be more indirect about it, Facebook friending more people off of there and letting word spread a bit slower.
A lot of people tell me that this genuine desire of mine to actually help people change is going to slow me down or make me fail, but I cannot honestly buy this, and even if it is true, I'd rather see this for real, see people join the program, fail to get value out of it, and hence fail to give the super thrilled genuine testamonials at the end of the first run of the program that will basically make future sales that much easier.
Regardless, I have an idea, and while I have no way of KNOWING that it will work until I go for it, I'm also not currently making the time to work on it. I have a feeling I'll just have to quit my job before I get any traction. I'm 28, a software engineer, and can be at $30k saved up in the next 3 months. At that point, I'd leave the bay area for las vegas to cut cost of living, be near other IM friends who have successfully been doing this for a few years, and of course, take advantage of the new super flexible work hours by still partying it up at least a few nights a week.
I had left the software engineering profession for about 3 years and eventually started schooling for a new career, but realized it was just going to be a "nice comfortable job" so I realized "lets go back towards a path that'll let me be baller, not just comfy." I was super low on cash so decided to hit the tech industry again. I've rediscovered a lot I don't like, and while I can NOW see a way towards a better career in software development, or perhaps even something like software sales, now that I have this vision for my own lil business to start, I'm excited, but also afraid. I guess just saying that makes me realize "Shouldn't I look towards the fear of what I'll become by remaining in a job that doesn't excite me very much instead?" True...
I had started on a plan before, but got overwhelmed trying to balance too many things. Even today, its hard for me to keep going. Stare at a screen all day, slam 3 protein shakes a day, hit the gym...then more hours of screen staring at night?
I kind of have some hopes of grabbing a few younger guys into the stuff this industry is teaching and bringing them in as "unpaid interns" and just throwing em in a 2nd bedroom in my place in Vegas, but I also think this is a bit weird, like saying "I'll mentor you guys in this shit, if you help me build up this business, bunk up in my apartment, and get your parents to support you for a few months" but I also feel like getting some other guys to help out will make this win/win for me. I could see myself quitting on my own, but if I talk a few guys into joining my team from the get go (and I believe I could, and it would benefit all of us, even if this business ended up "failing"), I'd be even more motivated to win, and there is nothing wrong with more motivation.
I guess I'm not really sure what I'm asking here. I feel like I have a plan crystalized in my head, and for some reason the current job plus other stuff I spend my time on feels very right, both in my head (logically) and in the heart (emotionally), but I'm afraid of things like
(i) not being taken seriously. The "industry" is a bit of a weird one. I might actually be more concerned with success than failure, now that I think about it...heh.
(ii) I've never had to sell shit in my life, I guess I sell people on "good ideas" that help them, but not for $$$ really... (though recently I brokered a pretty good deal subletting my apartment cuz the landlord wouldn't break the least)
(iii) even though I've spent 6 years working on the area I want to build the coaching business around, and there are plenty of people willing to look to me as an "expert" (even people I consider quite good at the stuff themselves), I still know I'm not where *I* personally want to be, so while I don't think I'd be misleading the people to whom I could be an expert to, I do wonder if someone with better expertise in the area would just see the success in my business and just steal my coaching model and use it themselves. My USP would be "they've been teaching it that way for years, and then when I come into the arena and teach it this way, they started doing it that way. Who do you want to actually learn from?"
Yes, truthfully, the biggest issue really comes down to sales. I could
(i) spend a few months to a year getting established as some sort of legit authority in the area, building a blog, Facebook friending, and doing public speaking at interest groups in various cities
(ii) just JV and affiliate with people with lists and send them to my sales page, and try to establish some sort of quicky authority with quotes from my friends who are into the same stuff, and possibly 1-2 "experts" aka "gurus" that I could quote, or I could ask for some sort of statement from them but I'm not 100% sure if they'd welcome new competition here. Eventually, I'd want to establish the coaching and business model, and then just bring in legit experts to teach this stuff this way, pulling me out of the "doing part of the pipeline" and turning it from a job (which I'll still like) into a more passive income behind the scenes role while I work on other stuff in the same industry (that'd be more competitive with the existing companies) or possibly once I taste the freedom and self-direction involved with my new business, find that I want to head in a different direction.
So, sorry to make you guys read all that crap, feel free to troll hard, guess I'm looking for some direction on the sales part of this especially and just the overall jump from cushy job to bustin your own ass, delaying the gratification, til you're legit on the other side of the employee/entrepreneur split.
Basically, I gotta do a bunch of medical stuff to make sure I don't have cancer before I'm off without insurance, figure out if my car has any impending doom coming, I gotta make sure finances are tight and I know what's where and who I owe what to and how much time I have before having to look for $$$ in odd places, and all that before going for anything.
Thanks for any guidance n shit. Very very very much appreciated even if you just read and didn't say nuthin.
Been lurking around here for a little while. Pretty sure all the dabbling and info consumption I've gotten into has kind of "hit" recently, I'm at a point where I understand "OK I have a pretty fucking clear idea of the business I want to throw out into the world. I actually would rather put it into action and go on this blind faith that it'll work out, because trying to tell more and more people about it just brings in the opportunity for more resistance."
By business idea BTW is basically stealing a "group coaching strategy" that IMO and IME works really well, from another niche, and applying it to a different self-help niche.
I'm not by any means a "guru" in that niche, but my screenname is semi known in one forum in the niche, and a decent number of people know me by face too. My coaching product would not directly compete with the company that runs this forum, but I have a feeling that even after spending a good amount of cash with them over the years, they wouldn't like me directly promoting my shit in there. Nonetheless, I'm sure I can be more indirect about it, Facebook friending more people off of there and letting word spread a bit slower.
A lot of people tell me that this genuine desire of mine to actually help people change is going to slow me down or make me fail, but I cannot honestly buy this, and even if it is true, I'd rather see this for real, see people join the program, fail to get value out of it, and hence fail to give the super thrilled genuine testamonials at the end of the first run of the program that will basically make future sales that much easier.
Regardless, I have an idea, and while I have no way of KNOWING that it will work until I go for it, I'm also not currently making the time to work on it. I have a feeling I'll just have to quit my job before I get any traction. I'm 28, a software engineer, and can be at $30k saved up in the next 3 months. At that point, I'd leave the bay area for las vegas to cut cost of living, be near other IM friends who have successfully been doing this for a few years, and of course, take advantage of the new super flexible work hours by still partying it up at least a few nights a week.
I had left the software engineering profession for about 3 years and eventually started schooling for a new career, but realized it was just going to be a "nice comfortable job" so I realized "lets go back towards a path that'll let me be baller, not just comfy." I was super low on cash so decided to hit the tech industry again. I've rediscovered a lot I don't like, and while I can NOW see a way towards a better career in software development, or perhaps even something like software sales, now that I have this vision for my own lil business to start, I'm excited, but also afraid. I guess just saying that makes me realize "Shouldn't I look towards the fear of what I'll become by remaining in a job that doesn't excite me very much instead?" True...
I had started on a plan before, but got overwhelmed trying to balance too many things. Even today, its hard for me to keep going. Stare at a screen all day, slam 3 protein shakes a day, hit the gym...then more hours of screen staring at night?
I kind of have some hopes of grabbing a few younger guys into the stuff this industry is teaching and bringing them in as "unpaid interns" and just throwing em in a 2nd bedroom in my place in Vegas, but I also think this is a bit weird, like saying "I'll mentor you guys in this shit, if you help me build up this business, bunk up in my apartment, and get your parents to support you for a few months" but I also feel like getting some other guys to help out will make this win/win for me. I could see myself quitting on my own, but if I talk a few guys into joining my team from the get go (and I believe I could, and it would benefit all of us, even if this business ended up "failing"), I'd be even more motivated to win, and there is nothing wrong with more motivation.
I guess I'm not really sure what I'm asking here. I feel like I have a plan crystalized in my head, and for some reason the current job plus other stuff I spend my time on feels very right, both in my head (logically) and in the heart (emotionally), but I'm afraid of things like
(i) not being taken seriously. The "industry" is a bit of a weird one. I might actually be more concerned with success than failure, now that I think about it...heh.
(ii) I've never had to sell shit in my life, I guess I sell people on "good ideas" that help them, but not for $$$ really... (though recently I brokered a pretty good deal subletting my apartment cuz the landlord wouldn't break the least)
(iii) even though I've spent 6 years working on the area I want to build the coaching business around, and there are plenty of people willing to look to me as an "expert" (even people I consider quite good at the stuff themselves), I still know I'm not where *I* personally want to be, so while I don't think I'd be misleading the people to whom I could be an expert to, I do wonder if someone with better expertise in the area would just see the success in my business and just steal my coaching model and use it themselves. My USP would be "they've been teaching it that way for years, and then when I come into the arena and teach it this way, they started doing it that way. Who do you want to actually learn from?"
Yes, truthfully, the biggest issue really comes down to sales. I could
(i) spend a few months to a year getting established as some sort of legit authority in the area, building a blog, Facebook friending, and doing public speaking at interest groups in various cities
(ii) just JV and affiliate with people with lists and send them to my sales page, and try to establish some sort of quicky authority with quotes from my friends who are into the same stuff, and possibly 1-2 "experts" aka "gurus" that I could quote, or I could ask for some sort of statement from them but I'm not 100% sure if they'd welcome new competition here. Eventually, I'd want to establish the coaching and business model, and then just bring in legit experts to teach this stuff this way, pulling me out of the "doing part of the pipeline" and turning it from a job (which I'll still like) into a more passive income behind the scenes role while I work on other stuff in the same industry (that'd be more competitive with the existing companies) or possibly once I taste the freedom and self-direction involved with my new business, find that I want to head in a different direction.
So, sorry to make you guys read all that crap, feel free to troll hard, guess I'm looking for some direction on the sales part of this especially and just the overall jump from cushy job to bustin your own ass, delaying the gratification, til you're legit on the other side of the employee/entrepreneur split.
Basically, I gotta do a bunch of medical stuff to make sure I don't have cancer before I'm off without insurance, figure out if my car has any impending doom coming, I gotta make sure finances are tight and I know what's where and who I owe what to and how much time I have before having to look for $$$ in odd places, and all that before going for anything.
Thanks for any guidance n shit. Very very very much appreciated even if you just read and didn't say nuthin.
lol! 