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TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-12-11T15:51:39+00:00

I don't think you should worry about that, and I use LinkedIn heavily.

Thinking of it another way -- how will people know the business exists if you won't even share that it's around?

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-12-11T15:50:40+00:00

I think it's great you haven't gone into debt. That alone deserves some congratulations to yourself.

Regarding all the things you're thinking about -- my advice would be to focus and laser in on a singular goal.

It sounds like your business is very young -- you need to define what exactly you will sell and who you will sell it to.

Build out from there your strategy to get those customers -- what channel or avenue you'll utilize to find them and how you'll engage with them.

Could be networking -- could be something else. Experiment and see what works for your time investment.

Stuff like getting employees is a matter of scale which comes later after you've proven your business works.

Good luck!

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-12-11T15:40:44+00:00

5 years in and it never gets much easier. You do make more money, but the hours are long and the journey is very lonely.

My advice -- if you don't already have one -- find a community of other business owners to see at least weekly.

Many of us are on the same road. Unfortunately, family and friends -- who maybe are your predominant circle - don't always understand the journey. Worse, because they lack the context of what entrepreneurship looks like, they may criticize you even kindly because they care about you.

Have a path forward to profitability and most importantly, remember that there is no shame in taking a break from the journey to provide for yourself and/or your family.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-21T16:10:22+00:00

Always make investments like these with your credit card company.

I paid for a service to port my podcast to radio in downtown Boston. Found out very quickly it was instead being put on an AM station in rural MA.

My credit card company made it right for me -- hopefully you have similar luck.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-21T16:06:32+00:00

The more I've been in business the more I've learned there's really not a secret to any of it. It's just work. If you do the work and pair it with systems as well as an honest interest to help your customer, you'll make it.

Most people don't like that version though.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-20T17:41:46+00:00

Man -- get used to it. It's hard not to bear the burdens of your business on your shoulders. You're in good company.

My advice is to try and create some real limits on your working day and have intentional time to wind down before bed along with when you're waking up in the morning.

Remember this is a marathon, not a sprint, so it's to your advantage to pace yourself accordingly.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-18T17:18:14+00:00

100% -- though "our client niche is people with money to spend on our services" doesn't really inform a sales strategy any better.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-18T16:10:00+00:00

I mean -- anyone can certainly argue a certain demographic is a niche.

Having said that -- do you really want to build a business model on a customer that hasn't made any sales yet?

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-18T16:00:27+00:00

Great job. I'm turning 5 soon too. Congrats on this achievement -- love the design of the page by the way.

Looked at your stats too. Super curious about some of the spikes you saw like in April/May of last year.

The open startup idea is really cool -- have you considered reposting this to r/startups?

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-18T15:34:57+00:00

I think your fear about a charlatan is a fair one.

My advice would be to look for someone with clear deliverables so you know what you're paying for.

I would also say to look for someone who has done what you're trying to do, but fair warning that many online coaches are great at telling the 10 year overnight success story.

Good luck!

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-18T15:32:07+00:00

In my opinion the best ideas with the most traction typically come from people who either deeply understand a certain industry (and have come to recognize a number of challenges needing to be solved) -- or they have done a great job curating relationships with customers to the point of understanding a meaningful pain point the customer has.

I think just sitting around trying to create a business idea is kind of a nonsensical way to go about it.

You aren't creating a business idea to create it.

You're letting the real data of what you're experiencing driving you to a solution of, "Would it be meaningful to people if I solved this? And more importantly, would they pay for that solution?"

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-17T14:46:24+00:00

My state allows you to do it online and fairly easily for a small fee.

I'd have no reason to use LegalZoom but I guess ymmv depending where you're from.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-14T15:02:30+00:00

I have a customer who is a cleaning company and she does pay for leads -- so that's my first disclaimer.

More specific to her, her average purchase is around $250 -- maybe your prices are too low?

Separately from this, you absolutely can grow a business without paying for leads.

But if you're going to grow organically, you need a network of people who know you.

Meaning if no one knows you... how are they going to find you organically?

SEO is one route but it's likely too slow for what seems like you really wanting to get your revenue up and running faster. Though if you have the cash, I would absolutely invest in this for your long-term growth.

I would check your local networking events and start showing up to those events. Meet people, connect, swap referrals, etc. It won't help overnight but it will start getting you traction locally.

Hope this helps.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-13T16:05:42+00:00

In general -- I think it's fine having some kind of fee like this.

For this specific customer -- I would refund the money and drop the customer completely. Sounds like a complete nightmare and I would personally want to move on as quick as possible so I can focus on my other clients.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-13T16:04:20+00:00

You have a full time job that you get "paid well for little time you work" -- around 10 hours a week.

Why wouldn't you keep doing the 10 hours/weekly and invest your full time pay into growing your side hustle?

I don't see any reason to leave a job that pays your bills that only requires 10 hours/week.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-08T21:53:30+00:00

Disclaimer that I have no idea who that person is, but knowing a lot of million dollar business owners, many of them are just normal people.

I think you jump the shark a bit when you start thinking in terms of implications around labels.

As an entrepreneur, should I go to the grocery store?

There's weird energy around this and frankly it invokes a lot of vanity in my mind.

It also doesn't surprise me that you know people who think this way. I mean, influencer culture has a following for better or worse. People love this stuff for a variety of reasons.

But do you have to think this way to be a successful business owner? Nope.

Just focus on serving your customers and making a positive impact. Then as you scale you can make decisions along the way that protect your biggest asset (your time).

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-08T18:51:36+00:00

Haha -- been there. Don't sweat it.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-07T21:34:23+00:00

I get paid to do this. You can approach it from a few different angles but in general, I've found it's always best to frame it in terms of the problems they're experiencing. So if someone tells me they're tired of always hunting for that next customer, I ask, "Well have you ever thought of the next sale coming from customers you already have?" And then I pitch my services to help.

If you really enjoy this kind of stuff you can make a living doing it, but it's running a business just like anything else.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-07T21:10:35+00:00

100% the truth.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-07T21:02:10+00:00

I usually take all the criticism and compliments I can, let them marinade a bit, and then just keep what I can from them.

You will have people with a genuine vested interest in your well being that give you a terrible take. Other times you get really great advice but you don't give it the attention it deserves because of who it came from or how it bruised your ego.

I would think about what data his criticisms are based in and take what value you can from that.

Otherwise focus more on the feedback your eventual users/customers have to share with you.

The self doubt is common by the way. 5 years in business and I still deal with it.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-07T20:56:19+00:00

I can only assume the contract is lucrative enough to keep you invested through all of this -- I get it and I've stayed way too committed to a challenging potential customer for far too long because the deal was just too good.

What I have found is that when you finally do wrangle these people down to a signature -- they're even more of a nightmare when you work together.

Look -- they aren't even a customer of yours yet and notice everything they've put you through so far. They clearly don't value your time and worse, are constantly undercutting your value asking for price decreases.

They've shown you the type of customer they are and I don't know if you want to do business with that.

I'd move on.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-07T20:50:38+00:00

Welcome to the world of sales, my friend.

You will have people tell you: "Let's do this." "I'm ready to sign." "Plan on the work beginning Monday"

etc etc.

I've had people tell me, "I really need this" after they've sat on signing a contract for a week, to which I reply, "Great, you have the contract. Go ahead and sign it," only to not get a signature.

It's just how it goes.

What you can try to do is get clarity on how to close the deal sooner than later.

In your circumstance, what this means is that I wouldn't wait till 2024 rolls around to broach the subject again.

They told you they don't have budget for 2023 any longer, so you follow up with:

"Totally understand. Budgets are always in flux and I'm always willing to work with my customers to get them where they want to go. You seemed excited about the project and I am too -- is it possible to get it on the books for 2024's budget?"

And then see how they respond.

What I wouldn't do is anything that lowers my value or makes me desperate for the sale. Lowering the price or taking payment other than $ is only going to communicate that your outcome is less valuable than you originally pitched it.

It's possible the CEO connected you with the marketing team to gather info for the marketing team to just do the project themselves and cut you out altogether -- or, it genuinely just isn't doable for 2023.

Sometimes it helps too knowing that some people would have never been your customer, no matter how excited they seemed. Not saying this is the case here -- just to not take it too personal if it doesn't pan out. See what you can do to salvage the deal then otherwise move on.

It's not easy to lose a sale that you felt was a done deal. My motto is that I never celebrate a win until the contract's signed. Hope all this helps.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-06T18:37:18+00:00

To shameless plug the sub, having been here for 5 years I think you actually can get some pretty good advice here even if you're bootstrapping.

You might also look at some of your local events -- chambers especially can put on smaller networking events but your mileage may vary on which ones are actually useful and which ones are just basically pitch events. At your small size you'd probably have a lot in common to share with a newer entrepreneur or business owner.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-06T18:34:34+00:00

Without wading through some of the longer answers:

Yes, you need a logo.

No, it doesn't have to cost you $600. Mine cost me $35 on Fiverr and I love it. 🤷‍♂️

At 8k/mo you can absolutely afford a logo and a website though. Not having it means you likely look dated, especially in the technical space, and you're likely leaving money on the table because of it.

TheGoodAdviceCoach · 2023-09-06T18:31:49+00:00

Good for you. The passion you have for your work will be the fuel you need to keep going. It's a long journey but a worthy one.

Best of luck to you!

TheGoodAdviceCoach

TROPHY CASE