How to Start a “Bizness” – FIRST, Get Proof of Concept

So often I talk with folks I meet in coffee shops about what I do… teaching people to become profitable quickly in a small “Bizness” of their own, based on their hobbies or interests… and folks just don’t ‘get it’.

They’ll say,

“Well don’t you need a business loan?”

      “I would want to do that but I’m no good at selling.”

“I just can’t see putting all my money into something that might not work.”

Sheeeesh.

Folks overlook that business is simple and easy- if’n ya do it right.

And by, “right”, I mean the Shoestring101 way.

“Want-repreneurs” skip too many Steps and create products before we know there is a demand. That’s bass-ackwards.  Here’s an idea:  see if you can SELL something first… THEN identify how to repeat the process.  -Kurt Frankenberg

The Very Essence of “Bizness”

Being in business takes exactly two things:

1. Access to a ‘thing of value’
2. A way to communicate with people that ‘value that thing’.

Was that so hard? Heh. NO.

Now, I know that there are varying levels of complexity that can be added in but that’s really the essence.

Just take Shoestring Steps ONE and TWO… Get OFF Your ASS and Find Out Some W’s (Who wants What, Where to find ’em, hoW to reach ’em…) and you’re already in Bizness.

The other Steps can be added later, but there’s really no sense in over-complicating things unless you have a reason to. And that reason is that you’ve discovered a niche that pulls in a profit from the beginning.

Shoestring101 in Action… in 1986

Let me give yet another example from pre-internet days. Only this example is not mine, it’s my buddy Keith’s.

Keith was kind of a nomad when we were young in the 80’s. He never stayed in one place for very long. While in Grand Junction, Keith put an ad in the paper to sell a car that he had picked up in Denver.

He had:

1. Access to a ‘thing of value’
2. A way to communicate with people that ‘value that thing’.

Then something pretty amazing happened.

Keith sold the car for significantly more than what he had in it.

Seems that at that particular time, you could pick up used cars for cheap in Denver, but in smaller Grand Junction there were a lot less used cars for sale and rising demand. The Grand Junction economy was picking up, and everybody seemed to need a reliable used car.

Smell that? Me too. Mmmm. Opportunity… 😉

Keith had made a single business transaction… but what he saw was the seed for an ongoing ‘Bizness’ that ended up giving him a really decent side income for a 20 year old kid.

Keith and a friend would make a four-hour road trip to Denver a two or three times  a month and check the local paper for deals on a very specific car; the Toyota Corolla. Keith specialized in this car because after a few trips he learned what sold quickly and could be gotten cheaply. He became an expert on just this kind of car.

Get this… Keith got so good at this micro, micro niche… that he placed an ad like this:

FOR SALE

Reliable car for transportation. Toyota Corolla.
Clean and available right now. Call Keith 555-1234
Please leave a message if no one answers.

Get that? He didn’t say anything about the mileage, color, or year. Freakin’ GENIUS. Because he set the expectation in the ad to “leave a message if no one answers” he could actually get a few leads on his answering machine before acquiring the car he was going to sell them.

Nothing like having a number of qualified buyers on hand before you even get the product!

Starting a Bizness is EASY When You’re Already Making Money

Too often, people think they need to have everything in place before they open their doors. Nothing could be further from the truth. Shoestring Steps ONE and TWO are all it takes to get “proof of concept” of a Bizness, before sinking a load of time and money into a model that may or may not work.

Keith discovered his profitable little micro-niche by doing something he was gonna do anyway; sell his car in order to free up some money for something else. So there was very little risk for him to test the market.

By the end of the summer, Keith ended up practicing all Five Shoestring101 Steps to make an extra $2500-$3500 a month, NOT chump change in the 80’s for a 20 year old kid…

Step ONE: Get OFF Your ASS. Keith indeed got off his ass, filling a need for working stiffs in his community and getting them affordable vehicles.

Step TWO: Find Out The W’s. His newspaper ad was his outgoing ad; his answering machine was his automated lead collector.

By this time Keith already had started making money. After the first sale he had ‘proof of concept’. When you’re already making money, conducting ‘Bizness’ is a lot easier! Too often I see folks doing it backwards; they put time, energy, and MONEY into developing a product before they know for sure that it will sell. That’s a real gamble and more often than not, a road to heartbreak.

But after a successful transaction or two using Steps One and Two, we’re already in the black in a Shoestring operation. Only then does it make sense to follow the other Steps.

What do you figger Step THREE: Learn to Create Value looked like for Keith? Yup. He cleaned, vacuumed, sometimes even painted his cars  to help justify the $500-$1000 markup he got by buying in Denver and selling in Grand Junction.

With a little imagination I’m sure you can figger out ways in which Keith might have practiced Steps FOUR: Measure Everything That Matters and FIVE: Now Write Everything Down. Put ’em in your comments below, along with any other questions or comments that come to mind. n

Now let’s think of something you can sell to get a-Steppin’!

Keep Stepping,

Kurt