Also:
No loans.
No funding.
No outside investors.
No grants.
No inheritance or trust fund.
Also, If you can think of AnY other way this business COULD have gotten or come across money other than sales and sweat equity, no to that as well.
I want to tell you a story of my parents. When their company was started, my mom was doing some bookkeeping and my dad was working full time in a factory. On his days off, he’d drive his beat up truck to an active construction site. No HR interview. No formal job posting. He’d walk up to whomever was in charge and offer to work for 1/2 the day for FREE. HOWEVER, if the person in charge wanted him to work the REST of the day, he’d be paid $_____ in cash.
The truth is, my Dad’s work stands on its own. He’s knowledgable, hard working, accurate and fast. He NEVER walked away from the job sites without being paid.
Lesson #1: Make your market offers that are SO “hell yes,” they’d be a FOOL to pass it up.
Lesson #2: ALLOW your work to stand tall for your brand. Your work CAN stand — and sell — on it’s own. (More on that another day… because it’s a whole thing. How did Bob Ross build an internationally known brand? By painting, of course. Just painting.)
Back to my parent’s company. EVENTUALLY, they formalized their hustle just a bit. They made offers for window washing, lawn cutting, and — of course — whatever home remodeling / maintenance projects could be done legally without a license.
Bit by bit, the business grew…
in my Dad’s “down time” after his full time job.
EVentually, the business seduced my parents. My Dad went with it full time. Some people gave him advice: “Get a better truck.” was actually the most common. (He was still driving the beat up one.)
But taking on DEBT for such a thing…
was ludicrous.
No thought to branding, at all….
Their first AND REMAINING logo was a template in some computing program that no longer exists.
Their WORK would be their brand,
their WORK would build relationships in the community
their WORK would set them apart.
Day by day, the business grew.
EXACTLY this way..
Eventually, we DID go into the community,
forge relationships with other companies that were incredibly profitable.
My dad did eventually become a licensed general contrator.
But the focus that built this business was simple:
Do great WORK.
let the work speak for itself.
Repeat.
So, when I read articles like the one I just read (link below) about how people MUST CHOOSE between starting a business and keeping their jobs, I know it’s BS.
First, this article was written based on an interview with a SuPER SMART entrepreneur and leader among entrepreneurs, Victor Hwang, founder and CEO of Right to Start. My favorite quote is this one:
“The humble entrepreneurial startup, moving below the radar — the ones that will never be unicorns, and don’t want to — is, Hwang said, “the dynamism of the whole economy. If you think of the economy like the human body, it’s like the stem cells: the regenerative process. It’s what creates new and better things on a constant and renewing basis.”
He paused. “And when they go, and the body is no longer able to renew itself …”
SMART.
CRITICAL.
THINKING.
And so true…. Small businesses — even today– make up about 85% in new hires in our nation’s economy. ATLAS, PLEASE DON’T SHRUG. Your success is critical.
But he goes on to belabor the challenges small businesses face. It’s not that he’s wrong.
it’s just that he’s OFF MESSAGE for the true entrepreneur. He belabors how investors are hard to find, for one example. But he never says that investors aren’t always necessary. SURE you may have to work harder and even longer without start up money, but it’s not impossible.
And THAT is the heart of the true entrepreneur.
We don’t need easy.
We only need possible.
Are there obstacles as the article details there? Are they real? Will they continue after the pandemic panic subsides.
Yes, yes, and yes.
But a true entrepreneur will FIND a way.
If this resonates with you, make a comment below.
Or message me and let’s connect.
xx
link for article is here: https://21hats.com/the-missing-economy-when-covid-leaves…/
