How to Build a Sustainable Business FAST

Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. Welcome to another edition of Ask Evan. Today's question comes from one of my newsletter readers, Freddie, who is asking about starting a new business, and he wrote in saying, "Many entrepreneurs lack objectivity and real insight into the market when starting a business. In what ways are these considered pitfalls in selecting a new venture?" Please help. So thanks for the question, Freddie. Very true, a lot of entrepreneurs start a business without really knowing the market or really having a customer base, and they end up closing down their company because they're not able to make enough money to support themselves. And that's really phase 1 for any entrepreneur, is getting past survival. You have to be able to make enough money from your business to pay your bills, put food on the table, survive, right? If you can't make enough money to survive, then you're not going to be able to sustain business for very long. So it all starts with building around your customer base. A lot of entrepreneurs will start a business because they think it's a great money-making opportunity, but they're not really passionate about that business and they haven't talked to any potential customers. They just think it's a fantastic money-making idea. Usually when you're going after just making money, you rarely end up making money. And that's one of the ironies of running a business. If you look at the really successful entrepreneurs, They didn't start their business because they wanted to make a lot of money. That's part of it, you know, you're going to make money, but they wanted to start their business because they had an intense passion for what they're doing and they wanted to help people. So I'd look for, you know, for whatever business you're trying to start, look at what you're really good at, what you have a strong passion for, and you feel you can help a lot of people at. That's where you want to start. And if you're being able to help people, you're going to make money. The more value you can provide people, the more you can help them, the more money you're gonna be able to make in your business. So money's definitely part of it, you know, if you're not making enough money to survive, you're not gonna stay in business. But the first principle is really being able to do something that you're really passionate about and you're able to add a lot of value and help people with. So that's where I would start. Next, you could be really passionate about something but not have an intense, you know, understanding of what your customers are going through. So before really starting the business, I'll go and start talking to potential customers. Get to know their challenges, get to know their pain points, see how you can help them. Open up friendly conversations. You're not selling them anything, you're just going to ask for help, ask for some advice, and see if you might be able to provide some assistance. It's great if you can build a business around a paying customer. I would try to talk to potential customers, again, understand their pain points, and try to set up a relationship where you can get them on board as a customer before you even launch whatever product or service that you're providing. That's, you know, great because you have cash flow coming in. Most entrepreneurs start the other way. They spend a lot of money creating whatever product or service, they launch it, and then hustle and try to get enough business to support, you know, all that money that they spent. Where it's better to try to go the other way around. You know, that first model can still work, but it's a lot more expensive and a lot more risky. Better way is to go the other way around. Start talking to your customers first. Find out about their challenges and try to build around them and get your first customer right out of the gate. You have cash flow coming in that you can use to then pay for all your marketing expenses, pay for whatever products you need to buy, and start growing your business. So that's what I would do. I think a lot of entrepreneurs, again, as you mentioned, do it the wrong way. They think they have a great idea, but they don't really have a strong desire to build that business, have a passion for it, and they don't really know much about their customers. So again, make sure you're targeting a business around one of your intense passions. We know you can help a lot of people in a really meaningful way, and then try to build around your customer by talking to them and finding out what their pain points are. Hopefully that helps. If you guys like the video, please give it a thumbs up below. I always love seeing those come in and it makes me want to do more of these videos for you guys. And if you have a thought about this video, you want to add your two cents, or if you have a question for me as well, please leave a comment below. I'd love to hear what you're thinking and I'll see you on the next episode. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]