Evan Carmichael tells Queen Zuba not to start her magazine yet. First, work at a successful publication to learn proven systems. Then launch part-time on evenings and weekends until it generates enough revenue to live on.
Questions this video answers
First, work for a successful magazine to learn proven systems. Then, when you have enough experience and contacts, start your own venture part‑time while still employed, building traction until the side business generates enough income to support you, at which point you can transition to full‑time.
If you want to have success as an entrepreneur, go work for somebody who's already had huge success in your industry. Work for somebody who you want to model. Make all your mistakes while getting paid and then go launch your business. It'll dramatically decrease your chances of failure. Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. I believe that hungry entrepreneurs deserve help and today I'm answering a question from a YouTube viewer. Queen Zuba—
great name, thank you YouTube viewers— wrote in saying, "Thank you Evan for making this great video. I've been thinking of starting my own magazines from 4 years ago. I'm actually working at a magazine now for almost 6 months. My question is when you think I'm ready to start on my own? I've gained many great contacts in the market, great experience, but the magazine I'm at is not really successful. They've been struggling for the past 4 years because of bad management and planning.
Any advice?" Hey, Queen Zuba. This is great. I love it. If you want to have success in an industry, go work for somebody who has had success, who is doing it, and you can learn from them. Now, where you're at right now, you have two options. Okay, this is important. The first, I'd be looking at, can I get a job at a more successful magazine? Okay, I don't want to model the strategies of people who aren't making it. There's something there because they've hired some staff. You don't know how much success they've had in the past. Maybe it was cyclical, but still, they're not highly successful right now. You want to model yourself and learn from people who've had a lot of success. So now that you have some experience in the industry, I would be looking at going to work for a different company, a different magazine, someone who is doing well, someone who has good management and has good systems and procedures and is making money and is growing. Those are the guys you want to learn from. So go look for those opportunities. The second thing, when you're ready to start on your own, start part-time. Start. Don't just jump into it full-time and quit your job. If you feel you have experience, you feel you have the contacts, maybe you don't know everything yet, but start on the side. Start something small. Start something part-time. Start working towards your vision now. It's never too soon. As long as you are at survival, as long as you're making enough money from your job to support yourself and pay your bills and you're learning from them, then start on the side. Get going. As you start it up, you'll get new ideas, you'll build momentum, you'll start seeing things happen, you'll start getting some traction. And when your new business has made enough that you can survive from it, then you're ready to jump ship. Then you're ready to leave your job and go work on your business full-time. You have done all the right things. Congratulations. Most people don't take your path, and most people fail with their companies. So I'm proud of you. Good job. Well done. But you still have important work ahead of you. So to recap, go find a company who is successful. And for anybody who's starting a business, it's great to be in the industry, but you want to model yourself after the guys who are killing it, the guys who are doing well, not the guys who are sucking. Can't pay their employees and have bad management. Okay, you can learn from their failures and say, "I don't want to be like this," but it doesn't tell you what you should be like. So go find that company and work for them, and then start your business on the side. Start part-time, start evenings, start weekends. Build some traction, build some momentum until you can get to the point where you're making money and making enough money to be able to quit your job and focus on that full-time. Good luck, Queen Zuba. Love the name. Everybody watching, you like the video, please give it a thumbs up below. And I want to hear from you. If you have a comment about this video, please leave it below. It makes me want to do more for you. I love seeing the comments come in. And if you have a question for your own business, I'd love to try to answer it for you in the comment section as well. I always read those. I read every comment personally and I really love seeing them. So thank you guys. I'll see you soon.
