Evan Carmichael says don't spend money until you're making money. For a $5,000 board game prototype, get pre-orders first through social media or Kickstarter to prove demand before manufacturing. Avoid debt and unsold inventory by validating your idea before you invest.
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You don't need money to launch your business. I can't tell you how many times people write into me, they message me, they call my radio show, and they ask me, "How do I get the $5,000, the $50,000, the $500,000 to launch my business? Because until that happens, I can't do anything." And that's so wrong. You don't need money to start your business. You don't need resources, you don't need an office, You don't need partners, you don't need anything. You don't need a website to start your business. All you need is yourself and your resourcefulness. Because being an entrepreneur is going up against impossible odds and having people tell you you're never gonna make it and be constantly starved of resources and you find a way to make it happen. And if you're the kind of person who's just sitting on an idea because you don't have money coming in nobody's backing your project, and that prevents you from starting, you're not going to be successful. You have to find a way to start this thing up. Now, this comes as a result of a question from a YouTube viewer— love you guys— Corinne. Corinne writes in to say, "I have a board game I came up with, but the only manufacturer I could find wants $5,000 to manufacture my game, and then I have to worry about marketing. How would you suggest I get that going?" So, Corinne, you don't need the $5,000. Don't go out and spend money. I don't want you taking $5,000 out of your bank account, out of your savings, borrowing it from friends and family. Don't do that to launch this business. You don't need that. You need to find a way to make money before you're spending it. This is a critical rule: stop spending money until you're making money. There's a lot of ways you can get this thing going. Start getting some pre-orders. Go to Facebook, create a campaign, use your social media, use your friends, use your contacts. Go on Kickstarter, okay? If you haven't heard of Kickstarter, go to Kickstarter.com. You can post your idea there and people will essentially pre-order your product. You say, "I'm making this board game, here's what it's all about." And this will take care of your funding and also take care of your marketing, at least in the startup phase. And it'll give you feedback as to whether people think this is a great idea or not. If you put this idea up on Kickstarter and you explain everything and you're passionate in your video and you explain what this board game is meant to do and why it's so great and nobody buys it, the market might be telling you something. Because here's what most people do. Most people who are thinking of a product, they'll go out and they'll make it. And they'll take a loan out or they'll cash out their savings to make this product and it sits in their garage. They try to sell it, nobody buys it, and they are just sitting on inventory in their apartment, in their garage, in their basement that they don't know what to do with. And they're stuck paying this loan every month back. And I don't want that to be you. You have to show to yourself that you have a winning idea and you have to start generating some momentum with it and some pre-orders on your concept before you go and actually make it. It's great that you went and you costed it out, okay? So you know it's gonna cost you $5K to manufacture it, but lots of people can manufacture it. The harder part is the marketing, getting sales, and you don't need to have the finished product to start getting some sales on it. You can get pre-orders, and you need people to show you that this is a great idea before you start investing your own money and your savings into it. It's so important. It's teaching you a great lesson for everything as you continue growing this business up. And for all of you watching, stop spending money because you end up spending It's a real problem. You end up spending all your money on this thing, whatever idea you have. And I get that, you know, you're the only one who believes in this thing and you want to make this happen and nobody's supporting you. And so you cash out whatever you have to invest into the company, but I don't want you to go bankrupt on this thing. And there may be a way better way to launch this thing, or maybe way better features to add to it. Or completely different concept altogether, and you won't have anything to help you get through it, and you'll be stuck paying off this crushing debt for the rest of your life, potentially. And I don't want that for you. I want you to be successful. I want you to be happy. I want you to change the world through your products and services. So stop spending money until you're making money. Believe. For those of you watching, you like the video? Thumbs up below. Let me know what you think. Leave a comment underneath. You have a question for me? I'll make a video response if you ask your question below. Thank you so much, and I'll see you soon.
