So you want to launch a business...

Bootstrapping is strategic under-development

Velocity is great, if you are on the correct vector.

A while back I talked about strategic under-development as a cheap and fast way to get your product right.  Release 1.0 really is the ultimate market survey.  Bootstrapping, too, can be viewed as strategic under-development - for your entire business model.

Brian Armstrong offered this great tidbit on his blog about "how to quit your 9-to-5 to build a business and lifestyle you love."

Quoting Bijoy Goswami, Brian tells us

"Getting funding can be the death of a company. It’s like adding gasoline to your rocket ship. If it’s pointed in the right direction (i.e. you’ve got your business model right) then it can be great but otherwise it’s just going to take you in the WRONG direction faster."

Brian goes on.

"Bootstrapping is all about testing and refining your business model constantly. You’ll know when you’ve got it right because your customers will start PAYING you. It doesn’t matter if they SAY they like it, wait until they actually “vote with their dollars”. It pays to get this right before seeking any funding."

This is precisely why, by the way, many, if not most, early stage investors want to see real sales before they invest.  They want to have proof that the market will respond as you have predicted.  They want you to be on the correct vector before they fund your increase in velocity.

This bears repeating.

"If you don’t offer customers something they dearly want, whether it’s to gain some great pleasure or escape some great pain, you’re not going to make any money."

I read this recently in a great blog post by Sonia Simone.  Sonia reacts powerfully and usefully to the assertion that "you can't make money blogging."  Her exhortation is true for every business in the whole, wide world. 

Solve somebody's problem and you have an opportunity to make some money. 

You still have plenty of chances to foul it up, of course, to make venture-ending mistakes.  But you have a pretty good shot at bringing home a buck or two.

The Four Fundamental Factors remain fundamental.  Pick a serious Market with a compelling end-user need that is unmet.  Deploy some first-class Magic to address that need in a unique way.  Find some trust-worthy Mentors to help you avoid deadly pitfalls.  And make sure, above all, that you have an over-supply of MOXIE.

Because, no matter what, it's not going to be easy.

Prove it first!

Turn hype into an undisputed conclusion.

As entrepreneurs, we are understandably proud of our incredibly special products and services, which offer unparalleled benefits to hordes of unbelievably needy consumers.  The trouble is that those consumers all-too-often do not agree that they are needy, and even if they do, have become immune to messages that offer quick, cheap and painless relief from their neediness.

Here's an excerpt on this topic from a great post by Barry A. Densa, one of America’s top freelance marketing and sales copywriters. 

Consumers learn quickly–they have to. By one account, the average American is deluged with over 5,000 advertisements in one form or another every single day.

And, it’s probably fair to say, most of these ads are poorly presented, either in concept, design or execution.

Hence, the unavoidable consequence: skepticism and disbelief abounds in the marketplace.

So… while in the past, making a claim and immediately following it up with proof may have been a wise, prudent and necessary tack to take–times have now changed.

And marketers must adapt.

No longer do you, as a marketer, have the luxury, or more to the point–the time to prove your claim–once you make it. So what’s the answer?

Avoid the ad-killing claim.

You avoid the ad-killing claim by making it instead an unavoidable conclusion.

While the following is not an inviolate rule–it’s certainly worth testing…

Before making any concise and memorable claim to unparalleled excellence—prove it first.

Assemble and present your credentialing elements, your evidence–your entire body of incontrovertible proof–in clear and linear fashion.

Allow your proof to lay the groundwork for what is to come. Create strong and overwhelming direction and momentum.

In other words, turn hype into an undisputed conclusion.

You can sign up for Barry's highly regarded FREE ezine: Marketing Wit & Wisdom here.

Anyone can perform Magic!

It simply requires vision.

First, you conceive it.

"Vision - It reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own."

 

                                                                                                Robert Collier

Next, you commit to it.

"The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it."

                                                                                               Thucydides

And, finally, you achieve it.

"The difference between visionaries and dreamers is that visionaries make the dreams come true."

                                                                                               Walter R. Mueller

Hope - not one of the Four Fundamental Factors, but a powerful force, nonetheless

Sometimes a really good thing is spread around via the internet.  This is one of them. 

I quote -

"At a meeting of the AARP (American Association of Retired People) they showed a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20 year old. The contest was titled 'u @ 50'."

"This video won second place. When they showed it , everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause."

"So simple and yet so brilliant."

When I watched it on my computer, I almost stood up and applauded.

Take a minute and watch it (all the way through).

FOCUS

Free of confusing, unnecessary stuff.  F.O.C.U.S.

No doubt someone has used this acronym before; but I heard it from Allan Tsang, the brains behind the cool new web service 88 Owls, which matches industry veteran strategists and subject matter experts with companies that need high-payoff assistance in key areas.

I talk a lot about Mentors.  As bright and as studious as we business founders like to think we are, there's simply no way to know it all.  So it's vital to get the very best mentors to add their vast experience base to ours, so that our decision-making can be as well-informed as possible.  And some mentors must be paid.

Which mentors should you be prepared to pay?  Start with lawyers, add accountants, and then, quite possibly, industry experts who have more years in the field than you do.  That's what 88 Owls is all about - helping you get information and assistance that you lack.  Saving a few dollars by squeezing by on hearsay and hunches can cost you a fortune in the long run.  Believe me.  I've tried it.

Another great resource in the information area is AttaainCI - affordable market and competitive intelligence.  And they offer a free trial!

It's hard to focus, because it's also hard to know what is unnecessary, so it makes sense (to me, at least) to get as much information as possible, just in case.  Then make some decisions, create a clear strategy, and act with maximum available force.  Put it all in FOCUS.

Mark Twain on MOXIE

"The miracle, or the power, that elevates the few is to be found in their industry, application, and perseverance under the prompting of a brave, determined spirit."
                                                                Mark Twain

This quote from my good buddy, Mark Twain, includes a word that is not commonly used by people describing entrepreneurs.  Brave.  That's a powerful word.  Brave.

The word risk gets thrown around a lot in entrepreneurship circles, as in risk-taker and risk-reward.  And we often see perseverance, determination, and energy.  As I think about it right now, risk doesn't sound very scary, though.  It sounds too matter-of-fact to hit me in the gut, too clinical.  But quitting a steady job, spending your savings, and investing your life-time is actually just, plain scary.  To do all that in order to build a new life through a new business is a serious act of bravery.

Old Mark had more to say on this topic.  "Courage," he said, "is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.  Except a creature be part coward it is not a compliment to say it is brave."

So I think we'd better add courage, or bravery, to the list of words we use to describe entrepreneurial MOXIE.  So now it's energy, pep, determination, perseverance, and courage.  Courage.  Bravery.

That's why so few of us try it, I guess.

 

More boring stuff that people actually need...

Thanks to Dane Carlson for finding the cartoon!!

Here's a link to the great Doonesbury cartoon about finding a lucrative market.  It really doesn't matter how "cool" your offering may be if people don't want it, or can't buy it.

A similar lesson about the requirement for careful Market and Magic selections is the story of The First Electrolux Salesman in Kansas that I shared a while back.  It's definitely worth a second look.  I suspect that Mike and Bernie might have a good chuckle about that one.