Full transcript
0:05Hello everybody. Hello and welcome to
0:07Side Hustle Ideas. I am Bill the
0:08Company's Expert. Thank you for joining
0:10me today. This is the weekly live stream
0:12where we talk all about
0:13entrepreneurship, side hustles, small
0:16business, startups, all that kind of
0:18stuff.
0:19Um
0:20Yeah. Yeah, this is episode number 77
0:24that we've done of these.
0:26Um
0:27and as always, shout out goes out to my
0:29uh YouTube channel members, my Patreons,
0:32my super thanks donors, and to you, my
0:35participants. So, if you are here and
0:37you're watching this,
0:38uh get in the chat. Uh there should be a
0:40chat box somewhere nearby my face.
0:43Uh and you can access that if you're a
0:45subscriber and you can tell me what
0:48you're wondering about, what you're
0:49struggling with, and just your reactions
0:50to stuff. Uh the topic of today is
0:53business plan mistakes that kill
0:56startups. So, if you're interested in
0:58that, we're going to be talking about
0:59that.
1:01Um
1:02Oh, yeah, and how to avoid them. That's
1:04kind of an important part. So, um
1:08man, my camera's bright. I guess it's
1:09just bright in here today, so
1:12uh that's good. I see there are 11
1:13people here. Thank you for joining me
1:15today. Um
1:16hopefully you are interested in this
1:17stuff. Uh
1:19this is for people who are looking to
1:22start a business or start a side hustle.
1:25And I'm always a big fan of side hustles
1:27because it's a great way to put your toe
1:30in the water
1:31of entrepreneurship type activities.
1:34Uh and really get a taste of it and
1:37learn how it works before you do
1:40anything more risky like quitting your
1:42day job and taking the plunge. You know,
1:45side hustles are a great way to do this
1:46and I encourage everyone to
1:49uh you know, who has an interest in any
1:50kind of creative kind of thing and
1:53turning your creative passion or your
1:56hobby into a money-making venture, so
2:00you can tack it on as a revenue stream
2:01to supplement your income.
2:04Or as I say, if you do that and you it's
2:08a direction you want to go, you can take
2:10the plunge and you can leave the world
2:13of working as an employee behind you and
2:17become your own person and make money
2:19yourself directly without going through
2:21an intermediary
2:22like an employer, because after all,
2:24that's all an employer is. They're an
2:26intermediary.
2:28They make the money by going directly to
2:30their customers
2:31and you come in and you basically say to
2:35them, "You know, I don't understand any
2:37of that, but I do have some skills, so
2:40you handle that part, the making money
2:42part, and if I provide these skills to
2:45you, you give me a little tiny piece of
2:47it."
2:49Right? That's what being an employee is.
2:51Um if you decide to tack on business
2:54skills, then you could learn how to make
2:55money directly without the need for an
2:58employer. You understand how to create
3:00something and how to get it to customers
3:02yourself.
3:04Customers who would pay for it and you
3:06do it in such a way that you'd make a
3:07profit. And unlike being an an employee,
3:12you get to keep all the money in this
3:13scenario. So that's the incentive to do
3:16this.
3:17Um yeah, I think it's an absolutely
3:19magical thing. I think it's very
3:20liberating and I think a lot of other
3:22people
3:23uh who have the passion to do this
3:26uh would find that not only is it a good
3:28thing, but it's easier to do than you
3:31think. At least it's easier to work on
3:34than you think.
3:35Uh you don't have to spend a lot of
3:36money at this. Uh and that's one of the
3:39things you're going to be covering today
3:40uh under this main topic of business
3:42plan mistakes that kill startups and how
3:44to avoid them. Why don't we get right to
3:46that? And then after I cover this,
3:49uh I'll I'll answer questions, we'll get
3:51in the chat and uh what you guys are
3:53saying. Huh.
3:55Okay.
3:57So, business plan mistakes that kill
4:00startups. Maybe you've written a
4:02business plan. Maybe you've delved into
4:05that world before. Um
4:08there are a lot of different mistakes
4:09you can make when writing a business
4:11plan, trust me. Uh pretty much
4:13everything you put in a business plan
4:16could be wrong. And if you've done one
4:18of these, you know that there's
4:19different sections, right? So, there's
4:21usually some kind of executive summary
4:23or introduction first, then you talk
4:26about your marketing plan, you talk
4:27about your product, you talk about the
4:29structure and organization of your
4:31company, if it's just you or there's
4:33other people involved, you talk about
4:35what you're going to be selling, right?
4:37Uh and then you talk about the uh
4:39financial situation. Okay, what are your
4:41projections for how much it's going to
4:43cost and where you're going to get the
4:44money from, all that kind of stuff.
4:47And what is going to lead to uh
4:50profitability. So, that would be an
4:52estimate of what your costs are going to
4:54be
4:55and an estimate of what your revenues
4:57are going to be. So, sales revenue is
4:59what to price your product at and all
5:01that kind of stuff. So, as you can
5:03imagine, inside that process,
5:06uh there's opportunity to make a lot of
5:08mistakes. Pretty much everything that I
5:10mentioned, you could goof up, right? Um
5:13and what a lot of people do when they
5:15write business plans is they just guess.
5:18They just guess at all of this.
5:21They say, "I'm going to do this."
5:24They have no idea if that's going to
5:25work or not. No evidence that that's
5:27even, you know, something that, you
5:29know, would work if somebody called you
5:30on it.
5:31And then they say, "I'm going to sell it
5:34to these people for this much."
5:37Now, you have no idea if you can even do
5:39that, if you can even reach those
5:40people, let alone
5:42uh get them to buy it.
5:44And if you get them to buy it,
5:46uh there's no guarantee that
5:48you know, they that they'll sell in that
5:51many in that quantity that you're
5:52predicting or in that time scale you're
5:54predicting. Like everything, you know,
5:56is basically up for discussion.
5:59Everything could is a total guess
6:01usually because you're making the
6:02business plan before you begun to work
6:05on the business and that could be a
6:08pretty big flaw.
6:11Um
6:13Now, one thing I want to talk about this
6:15week in this topic is managing risk.
6:20Okay,
6:21who knows what risk is?
6:24I think most people have a general idea
6:26of the definition of the word risk, um
6:29but in a business sense, risk means
6:31something else. Uh
6:33risk
6:35it it pertains to
6:38the area of business we call finance.
6:40Finance is the study of money in the
6:43future. So, finance explores making
6:46financial decisions. Should I do A or
6:48should I do B?
6:50What will happen if I do A? What will
6:52happen if I do B?
6:54What's the likelihood of that thing
6:56happening and what's the likelihood of
6:58the other thing happening?
7:00So, therefore, how do I compare them?
7:02And then
7:03what would ultimately be the smartest
7:06thing for me to do?
7:07That's finance. That's what they do in
7:09finance, right? It deals with risk and
7:11return.
7:13Um
7:15So, risk is essentially the likelihood
7:19of a certain outcome happening, right?
7:23For example, you you play the lottery
7:25and you buy a lottery ticket. Well, the
7:27chance of return would be presumably
7:30several billion dollars, like if you won
7:31the jackpot. That's the expected return.
7:34But what's the risk? What's the
7:36likelihood of that happening?
7:39Is it 0.00001%
7:42likelihood, right?
7:45Um that maybe that's your option A, or
7:48option B would be this other thing where
7:51the likely the likely return is say
7:55$20, you know, something modest like
7:57that. But the risk is very low. The
8:02chance of that happening is 98%.
8:05So, 98% chance you're going to get $20,
8:08whereas a 0.00001%
8:12chance you're going to get $100 million,
8:14right? Which one should you do, right?
8:19And to complicate matters, finance
8:22they
8:24uh they take these decisions as if
8:27they are recurring decisions. You do
8:29this over and over and over again. So,
8:32for example, if every day you had the
8:34option of either
8:35playing the lottery for those odds, or
8:38you could keep a $20 bill,
8:41which one would you choose, right?
8:43Maybe if you only had one throw of the
8:45dice,
8:46you would
8:48it would be kind of silly to buy the
8:49lottery ticket. Um instead, you keep the
8:52$20, cuz the likelihood that that's
8:54going to pay off, you know, with one
8:56attempt is pretty low. But if you keep
8:58doing this long term,
9:00maybe, just maybe, the playing the
9:03lottery option might start to make
9:05sense.
9:06So, anyway, uh this is what finance
9:09does. If you think of things like
9:11insurance, I know this is like
9:12action-packed talking about this, but
9:14you know, that's like insurance. What
9:16are the odds that your house is going to
9:18burn down? Well, if you got fire
9:20insurance,
9:21uh that's like winning the lottery, you
9:24know, you get X many million dollars if
9:26your house burns down, but the
9:27likelihood of your house burning down is
9:29very, very low, hopefully. So, uh
9:33you know, it's the same kind of thing,
9:34right? This is what finance does. Now,
9:37let's return to business plans. Let's
9:38return to the world of startups and
9:40entrepreneurship here.
9:42Um
9:44you know,
9:45the thing that a lot of
9:47uh
9:48not so smart would-be entrepreneurs do
9:51is they spend a lot of money.
9:53They spend a lot of money investing in
9:56uh this idea. An idea that's totally
9:58unproven. You have a business plan, this
10:00is what you're going to do, and
10:02unfortunately, it takes a lot of money
10:03to get it off the ground. It might take
10:05like $100,000 to get it off the ground
10:07in some extreme cases.
10:09Uh
10:10now, if you are uncertain about
10:13everything in the plan, it's all
10:14guesswork,
10:16you're running a very high risk. You're
10:18you're you're essentially gambling a lot
10:20of money
10:21uh
10:22if you don't have evidence backing up
10:24any of the things that you say is going
10:26to happen,
10:27uh chances are you're going to fail. And
10:28this is one of the reasons why we see a
10:30lot of
10:31uh startup ventures failing, right? It's
10:33like a 90% failure rate or whatever it
10:35is.
10:36Um
10:37right? So, this is this is the thing. A
10:39lot of people don't give any thought to
10:41to risk management when they come up
10:43with a business plan.
10:46So, what's the outcome? I'm just going
10:48to cut right to the chase. The outcome
10:50is uh in my opinion, the people that
10:52succeed at this are the ones that try
10:54and do it without spending any money.
10:58You know, uh there's there's a really
11:01important thing that's helped me, and
11:03I'm feel like I'm giving away a pearl of
11:04wisdom here for anyone who's listening.
11:06Um
11:09instead of thinking like, "Okay, how can
11:12I raise the money to pay for this cost,
11:15pay for this expense?"
11:18Okay, which is like
11:20what occurs,
11:22you know, in the finance department and
11:24at the top strategic level in a lot of
11:26businesses. They always think like,
11:27"Okay, this is our plan, uh so
11:30therefore, how can we raise the money to
11:32to put our plan into motion?
11:34Right? Instead of thinking, "How can I
11:37raise the money to pay for this
11:39expense?"
11:41you should start thinking, "How can I
11:43avoid this expense in the first place?
11:46Is there some substitute or some
11:48workaround or something that would serve
11:52the same purpose?"
11:54You know, with a little bit of thinking,
11:55we usually
11:58can find that a lot of expenses
12:01are optional.
12:02Right? In the context of starting a
12:04business
12:05or testing the waters, right?
12:09You know, instead of purchasing a piece
12:11of equipment or whatever to to make your
12:13product, can you borrow it? Can you uh
12:16you know, can you talk to the person
12:18that uh runs a facility that
12:21that includes that piece of equipment?
12:23They have
12:24that equipment. You know, can you go in
12:26between midnight and 4:00 in the morning
12:28and use it when there's no demand for
12:30it, it's just sitting idle?
12:32You know, for free or for like a
12:34pittance.
12:36Right? Is that a possibility? Right? If
12:38you If you push and search for those
12:40things, a lot of the time you can find
12:41it. Can we change the design in such a
12:44way that that piece of equipment is not
12:47even needed? Is unnecessary?
12:51Now, listen, a lot of people, when they
12:53think like this, okay,
12:56they find that some things are just
12:57unavoidable. You got to There's no way
12:59around it.
13:00But,
13:01a lot of other things, you find that
13:03yes,
13:04there is an alternative. We can avoid
13:07that expense by
13:09employing some thinking here and coming
13:11up with a creative solution for this.
13:13So,
13:14if you don't even consider that step,
13:18obviously, you won't reap the benefits
13:20of it. If you consider it, if you try to
13:22think like that, uh there's a lot of
13:25improvements you can make and you can
13:26really cut down the amount of uh money
13:29you're trying to spend to to make
13:31something happen.
13:33Okay, so
13:35if you're not spending a lot of money,
13:38your your risk in a sense is lowered.
13:40Like what you stand to lose is lowered.
13:43And if you can do it for practically
13:45nothing, then the only thing you're
13:46risking is your time being wasted. And
13:48if you're learning, I would argue that
13:50your time is never really being wasted.
13:52You know, if you're trying things and
13:54getting real-world results,
13:57I would argue that.
13:59Okay? Uh a big mistake that kills
14:02startups is not knowing the steps. You
14:05know, like what order should I do this
14:06in to get it off the ground? Another big
14:08mistake is not understanding the market.
14:10Who are your customers? Have you met any
14:13of your customers? Go out and mingle
14:15with your customers. Find out how they
14:17think. You know, what are their habits?
14:20What's their reasoning? What are their
14:22responses to various things? You know?
14:25Uh the the practical way of doing this
14:27is usually going out and hanging out
14:29with your customers. If it's in the
14:31physical world, you know, you go to
14:34where your customers are. Maybe they go
14:35to stores or events. Go there. Hang out
14:38with them. Talk to them. Right? If it's
14:41online, it's a virtual thing, go and
14:43interact with them. Go and uh propose
14:46things to them and see their response.
14:48Go and like observe how they respond to
14:51other things and what they're saying to
14:52each other.
14:54Right? So, you really need to do that if
14:57you're going to try to make any kind of
14:58predictions about how they're going to
14:59behave
15:01if you were to try and sell them
15:02something.
15:05Um not understanding on the operations
15:07side, not understanding the operational
15:09difficulties to get to an MVP. An MVP is
15:12a minimal viable product. If you're
15:14creating a product, if you are, as
15:18opposed to a service,
15:20then
15:21you know, you have to build something.
15:23If if nothing else, you should be
15:25building a prototype, right?
15:27A lot of businesses fail or a lot of
15:30startups fail
15:32because they don't even get to the stage
15:35where they build their MVP, their
15:37minimum viable product. So their
15:39prototype, they don't even get to that
15:41stage.
15:42Because they thought they could do it,
15:44but it turns out they can't.
15:46Or at least not with the budget they had
15:47or not within the time limits they had.
15:49They can't get it off the ground.
15:51Others fail after they create a bit of a
15:54viable product.
15:56Where for variety of reasons, one
15:58popular reason is because
16:00it costs way more than they thought and
16:03it's a lot harder than they thought. So
16:05they would have had to sell it for a lot
16:07more money and they just and they know
16:09it that they can't sell it for that
16:11amount of money. It just won't sell.
16:13Not the qualities are needed.
16:16So they could do it, but they can't do
16:17it in a way that they can make a profit.
16:20The third reason people fail is that
16:23they make their they they get to their
16:25MVP, they they create it.
16:27It goes more or less according to plan.
16:31It costs more or less what they were
16:32expecting and it involves the process
16:35they predicted.
16:37But the problem is with the marketing.
16:39They find that then they can't sell it.
16:41They've created something that
16:42apparently people don't want. It's a
16:45tough sell.
16:48And the failure there was in the
16:49marketing side where they didn't know
16:51their market, they didn't know their
16:52customers, they didn't know that their
16:55customers would just not be interested.
16:56They're not looking for that. Right?
17:00So
17:02those are some popular reasons why
17:03things have failed. And I've seen all
17:04this. I worked with people that have
17:06done all of these many times over.
17:08Um
17:10You know, another another popular thing
17:12is just the budgeting, not budgeting
17:13properly.
17:15Okay, your budget affects your plan. It
17:17has a mesh relationship with everything
17:20you're going to do,
17:21right? So, if you make a big plan and
17:23then you find that it's like going to
17:24cost an arm and a leg to do it, right?
17:28You know, then you have the problem of
17:29like we got to either raise that money
17:30somehow or or take that risk, or we've
17:33got to change the plan.
17:35And when you change the plan, it affects
17:36everything. Everything has a mesh
17:37relationship between all these
17:39components, right? That's what makes it
17:40challenging.
17:42Right?
17:45So,
17:46these are popular reasons why things
17:47fail. So, what's the advice? The advice
17:50that I always give is uh to be honest
17:53with everyone, I think that if you are a
17:56a
17:57side hustle or a startup or even a small
17:59business, I think that
18:01doing a business plan is almost a waste
18:04of time, unless you know exactly what
18:07you're going to do and you have evidence
18:08to back up all of it.
18:11Then you can commit it to writing for
18:12whatever reason. Usually at that point
18:14you don't need to commit it to writing,
18:16cuz you're not trying to impress anyone.
18:18Um
18:20instead of writing down a solid plan at
18:22the beginning, this is what I advocate.
18:24I advocate you just jump in with both
18:26feet and try it. The caveat is that
18:29you're not spending any real money.
18:31So, you're risking your time being
18:33wasted. But, apart from that, you're
18:36learning as you go. Now, if you think
18:38you can make a certain product or a
18:40certain or provide a certain service,
18:42and you think it will sell to these
18:44people, okay?
18:45Let's get some evidence. Let's start
18:47getting evidence for that. And in order
18:49to do that, you break it down into baby
18:51steps. So, each of these little pieces,
18:54making the product, uh selling it, see
18:57see if you can get the word out. Uh
19:00maybe before that, there's even the
19:02question of is this what people want?
19:05What is the product we should create for
19:06them? What form will it take?
19:09What features will it have?
19:11Right? Even that step that goes at the
19:13beginning, let's
19:14do that. Let's just jump in. How can we
19:17make a plan if we don't even know what
19:18we're going to build?
19:19Or what we're going to provide.
19:21Right? What's the point of writing a
19:22budgets when you don't know what you're
19:24going to do?
19:26Right?
19:28So, that's what I would say. Break it
19:30down into baby steps and test each piece
19:33and start with the marketing. Start with
19:35the
19:36connecting with your audience component.
19:40That's what I'd say.
19:44Um
19:46I think that's probably good to start
19:49off with. I'm going to That's what I
19:50have to say about that. Uh let's go over
19:53to questions. Get in the chat. There you
19:55should see a uh chat box. Get in the
19:58chat. Let me know if you got questions
19:59or you're
20:00wondering anything or you have comments.
20:02I want to
20:03turn down the brightness on my cameras
20:05here. They're pretty
20:07pretty damn bright.
20:09It's a very bright sunny day, so
20:11which I'm not complaining about.
20:15As you can tell by my voice, I am under
20:17the weather. There is a uh
20:19cold {slash} flu {slash} bug {slash}
20:22thing going around.
20:24And uh I got it.
20:26I got it, baby.
20:28So, uh I'm whacked up with medication so
20:31I can
20:31uh make it through this.
20:35Hopefully, I didn't lose too many IQ
20:37points from the medication.
20:39Um
20:40but I'm here in the flesh. So, get in
20:43the chat and let me know uh if you have
20:44any questions. I see there's 25 people
20:46here, so hopefully
20:47somebody can get it uh get some
20:49questions happening or comments and it
20:52might fuel a discussion.
20:55Incidentally, if you are looking to
20:57learn the answers, like if you're
20:59looking to learn business and how one
21:01goes about doing this type of thing,
21:05I got a course right here.
21:07The $100 MBA. Best bang for the buck
21:10around. It teaches you everything, like
21:11it says, it teaches you everything that
21:13you would learn in a brick-and-mortar
21:15MBA program. And that's quite That's
21:17quite a boast.
21:18Uh
21:19for $100. Not $100,000, $100.
21:24Just that simple. The catch is that it's
21:26self-study. You essentially get a
21:28reading list, you get a pile of books,
21:31and then you could go through them.
21:32Either you skim them and do this really,
21:34really quickly, get a cursory overview
21:36of every subject in the world of
21:38business, or you do the whole thing in
21:40depth,
21:41like you would in an MBA.
21:43And the books that you're getting are
21:46the actual textbooks that they're that
21:48they use at a lot of universities around
21:50the world and some of the most renowned
21:51MBA programs is what they teach out of.
21:55And you're getting the same material.
21:56You just read it off on your own
21:58schedule to the depth of which you are
22:00interested, and that's how you do it.
22:03And I provide videos that accompany
22:05this, and I give you my take on it. I
22:07give an overview of the material, and I
22:09kind of give you my opinion on what's
22:11more important, what's less important,
22:13um
22:14or how if you're interested in this,
22:15then you would focus on this area, and
22:17that kind of thing.
22:19So, that's what you get. Check it out.
22:21There's a link in the description if
22:22you're interested.
22:25I'm not getting a lot of comments, so I
22:27guess I'll have to monolog this whole
22:28thing.
22:33Okay.
22:35So,
22:36we talked about some of the uh
22:39business plan mistakes that kill
22:40startups, where
22:42you know, we're talking about all
22:43different components of a business plan.
22:45We're talking about the stages that the
22:47business goes through,
22:48right?
22:49There's really three reasons why things
22:52fail. Why is my The sun came out of my
22:54camera is bright again. Here, let me uh
22:56adjust that. I feel I'm going to be
22:58riding this brightness control. You
23:00would think that I'd have like a ability
23:02to uh
23:04do that automatically, but I don't.
23:06That's the level of technology I'm
23:07dealing with here.
23:08Um
23:11We talked about the different areas of
23:12business, things like marketing,
23:13operations, you know, finance, that kind
23:16of stuff. Uh it's a fallacy that you
23:19need money
23:22to get off the ground. You don't. Not
23:24for side hustle, not for a small
23:26business. You don't. It's just that
23:27simple.
23:28Uh you can You can choose to take on
23:31like a really big problem that requires
23:34tons of resources. You might need to
23:36hire 50 people, you know, to do it and
23:39borrow all the money, hire all the
23:40employees, and do it that way. Yes, you
23:42can do that. It's very, very risky
23:45because you're spending more and more
23:46and more. And if you guessed
23:48incorrectly,
23:51the whole you know, the whole thing
23:52doesn't make money. Now you're on the
23:54hook for like all the money that you you
23:57raised, the capital you raised. Like if
23:59you borrowed it all, then you still got
24:01you got to pay it all back, right? Um
24:04if people
24:05invested with you like an equity kind of
24:07thing, then you know, they just lose all
24:09confidence in you and anything you ever
24:10do ever again.
24:12Um
24:13you know, and you get a bad reputation
24:14as an unsound investment.
24:17Uh you know what I mean? So you can, you
24:20know, take on big challenges and do
24:22this, but small business exists to solve
24:25small problems.
24:27So
24:28if you're doing this correctly,
24:30you shouldn't do that. You know what I
24:32mean? There's no need for that.
24:34You could do something that what person
24:37can do.
24:38They can create something by themselves,
24:41and they can sell it by themselves.
24:43And if you have all the means to do this
24:45already,
24:47then you don't have to spend any money.
24:49You know what I mean?
24:51Uh the other thing is that if it does
24:52take a little bit of money, like I've
24:54talked about in the past,
24:56uh what I recommend there is
24:59you know, if operations is not really
25:02the area of uncertainty, you you know
25:04how to make this thing. The area of
25:06uncertainty is selling it, right? Uh, if
25:09that's the situation you're in,
25:12then what I recommend is forget about
25:15the operations side for now.
25:18Go and work on the marketing component,
25:21the selling part. See if you can target
25:23the right people. See if you can reach
25:25them. See if you can propose to them
25:28something that they would actually buy.
25:30And you do this by doing it.
25:33By saying, "Hey, I got I'm offering this
25:35for sale."
25:36And it's not really a lie because if you
25:38get a ton of demand,
25:40if 50 people uh, respond by saying, you
25:43know, "Yes, yes. I'll take two. Here's
25:45my money." Right? Then you could create
25:49that product and
25:50and fill those orders, right? And make
25:53the money, right? The advantage is that
25:55you get paid up front.
25:57Just like, you know, Amazon. You know,
25:59you order the thing first
26:01and then they send it to you later, you
26:03know?
26:04Uh, sometimes a lot later depending on
26:06how it goes.
26:08Right? So, you know, full disclosure,
26:10this is what you're doing. But, if you
26:13have this great idea for, you know, I'm
26:15going to create this and I think it's
26:16going to sell like hotcakes to these
26:18people,
26:19but then you try your best effort to
26:22sell it to those people
26:24and you get crickets, you know?
26:26What is it like the tumbleweed going by,
26:28right? You know, silence.
26:31Nobody's responding to it.
26:35Then it's kind of a good thing you
26:36learned this now
26:38than if you had invested all the time
26:41and money into create the product first
26:44and then you find out later that nobody
26:47wants to buy it, right? You've wasted
26:49all that time and money and effort.
26:51And if you
26:53if you if it cost you a lot, that's a
26:55big risk. That's a big loss, right?
27:00There are some people that I worked with
27:01that uh
27:02they did this in such a way they spent
27:05so much money
27:07on a plan
27:09which was in a business plan. They wrote
27:11it up, you know, in great detail. They
27:13spent so much money on a plan
27:16that was all based on guesswork,
27:18assuming that if I do this, people will
27:20do this, and they'll all line up to buy
27:21it.
27:23And it was so financially
27:26uh detrimental to them
27:29that that killed it seems
27:32all desire to do any kind of
27:35entrepreneurial activity for the rest of
27:37their lives. That's what it seems like.
27:39You know, they have to stop. They have
27:41to go get day jobs.
27:43Pay off their huge debts.
27:46And then think of maybe starting again.
27:48And that might be years until they can
27:49start again. And by that time, do you
27:52think they want to do it again? Probably
27:54not.
27:55Right? It was such a bad experience the
27:56first time.
27:58So, that's what the situation that
28:00everyone should avoid. You could do
28:02this.
28:04And if you're looking for example,
28:05uh
28:07you know, I would say like
28:08what I always say, like a YouTube
28:09channel is probably the most obvious
28:11example. Where I'm talking to you over
28:12YouTube, so you're probably familiar
28:14with YouTube. Uh does it cost anything
28:16to start a YouTube channel? No.
28:18Um assuming you have a smartphone you
28:20have a smartphone. Okay? So, you get a
28:22YouTube channel for free, and then you
28:23can start making content. Uh does that
28:26cost any money? No. No, it doesn't,
28:28really.
28:30It's really not any serious money.
28:33You know, uh just a question of doing
28:34it, right?
28:36So,
28:38you know, there's a lot of ideas like
28:39that that don't cost very much to get
28:41off the ground.
28:43You could start selling different
28:44things. You could sell Maybe you have
28:46skills. You can sell your services.
28:49You know,
28:50that's a popular one that one person
28:51could do part-time.
28:53Uh there's all kinds of stuff, you know?
28:54But, the key is that it doesn't cost a
28:56lot of money.
28:59Because this is a journey
29:02really to learn. It's a journey to learn
29:05about your customers,
29:07what they want, and what you can do for
29:08them. That's really what it is. If you
29:10know that, then it's hard to fail. The
29:13challenge is getting that knowledge.
29:19Okay, there are 25 people. Uh get in the
29:21chat. This We usually we have a lot of
29:23comments and a lot of questions and
29:24stuff. Uh
29:26we're not getting any today, so I don't
29:28know if there was a technical problem or
29:29something like that, but uh
29:32get in the chat. Let me know what your
29:34deal is, what you're hoping to learn.
29:35Maybe I can help you out. Uh if you've
29:38got specific questions,
29:40I can certainly speak to those.
29:44Um it's been just over half an hour, so
29:48if I don't get anything in the chat, I
29:50don't really have any more material to
29:52just
29:53go through as a monologue.
29:56So, I'll probably have to wind this
29:57down.
30:03Uh and my nose is blocked, too. It's
30:04hard to talk when your nose is blocked.
30:08Yeah, uh I love business. I think it's I
30:11think it's great. I think it's very
30:12empowering. There's a couple of aspects
30:15to it. One is the whole like creativity
30:18thing,
30:19where you know, we talked about this
30:21last time, where people use the word
30:22creativity, they talk about fine arts.
30:25As if people who don't do fine arts
30:28can't be creative.
30:30You know,
30:32that's obviously false. Creativity is a
30:33part of any kind of job you can ever
30:35get. I don't care if you process
30:37chickens in a rendering plant, you can
30:39still be creative.
30:40Uh you know what I mean? Um a lot of
30:42people that work at operations, a lot of
30:44technical people, introverted people,
30:46whatever. You know, maybe non-artistic
30:49people. You could still be highly
30:50creative. Creative in the solutions you
30:53use to solve practical problems in your
30:54life. You know?
30:57And entrepreneurship is a great way to
30:58take advantage of that creativity and
31:00use it to make money.
31:02You know, that's what it is. I think
31:03it's great.
31:06There's a lot of people out there that
31:07are a lot more creative than they think.
31:10And the other aspect of this is the
31:12whole business thing. Business is the
31:14scientific study of how to make money.
31:16That's what it is. You know, and uh,
31:19if you are trying to take a hobby or an
31:22artistic sort of passion you have,
31:25a creative passion you have, and use it
31:28to make money, well, you're in the world
31:30of business. That's what it is. It's no
31:32longer art. It's no longer creativity.
31:35It's business.
31:37Right? If you're just in it trying to
31:39please yourself, that's fine. And then
31:41it could be art. You know, then it could
31:43be something as long as it makes you
31:46happy and it it's fulfilling,
31:48it's good, you know? And
31:51that's the only thing that matters,
31:53right? But the moment you try and sell
31:56it and say like, "Okay, my goal now is
31:58to make money with it. I want I would
32:00like to increase my sales and therefore
32:03my profit so I can use this as an income
32:06stream."
32:07Then you're in the world of business. If
32:09that's your goal, then that's what
32:11business is.
32:13Uh, and one of the things that you do in
32:15business is it's not all about you. It's
32:18about your customer.
32:19Right? What do they think? What do they
32:22like? What do they want?
32:24And if you can deliver that to them
32:26better than anyone else or better in a
32:29very narrow sense than anyone else,
32:32then you succeed and
32:35financial success comes with that.
32:38You know, I think it's a really, really
32:40cool thing. The ability to take any kind
32:43of hobby or creative passion and make
32:44money off it, I think it's fantastic. I
32:47think that a lot more people would be
32:48interested in this, in learning
32:50business, if they realized that that's
32:52what it is, and that's what it could do
32:53to them for them. That's what that
32:54knowledge could do.
33:01Anyway, uh we are not getting a lot of
33:03activity, so I'm going to wind this
33:05down. Uh that's not a big deal. Uh I'm
33:07actually back later this afternoon. I've
33:09got another live stream today. It's a
33:11collaborative live stream. It's called
33:13Careers Expert Roundtable. And
33:16uh it is in
33:19It's in an hour and a half on my
33:21channel, and I'm I'm collaborating with
33:23another YouTuber. Uh that's Abby from a
33:27YouTube channel called Life Work
33:29Balance. Not Work Life Balance, but Life
33:31Work Balance.
33:33Uh she's a she's a former recruiter. She
33:35talks about like how to get hired and
33:37stuff like that. So, we do collaborative
33:39live streams every once in a while, and
33:41uh we're doing one this afternoon. So,
33:43if you have any interest in that stuff,
33:45uh check out my channel. It's on her
33:48channel, it's also on my channel.
33:51Uh but we'll be doing that for about an
33:53hour this afternoon. So, come back and
33:54see us then. In the meantime, uh there's
33:57still 21 people here. Thank you for
33:59being here.
34:00Uh if you want to learn more about this
34:02stuff and be in a position Put yourself
34:05in a position where you could take your
34:08career
34:10in your hand and learn how to make money
34:12directly without needing an employer
34:16to sort of uh partner with you to make
34:18money,
34:19uh
34:20check out that course, $100 MBA. Uh link
34:24in the description.
34:25Uh it's a pretty popular course. I've
34:27sold it quite a lot of them, and I know
34:28a lot of people are happy with it. So,
34:30check that out. And uh every week I do a
34:34live stream. Usually it's Side Hustle
34:36Ideas where we talk about side hustles.
34:38Sometimes I'll substitute it for another
34:40live stream where we talk about
34:41business. But, either way I talk about
34:43business every week. That's kind of my
34:44core competency.
34:46Uh so, come back and let me know how
34:48it's going and if I can help you out.
34:50So, that's everything. Thank you very
34:51much for being here. You guys are
34:53awesome and I'll see you next week on
34:55another edition of Side Hustle Ideas.
34:58Take care.