Evan Carmichael breaks down whether to start a physical store or online shop. Test your idea cheap first, pick the channel that matches your skills, then start with the smallest viable version. Start small, test, expand what works.
Questions this video answers
Both can work; choose based on your skills and experience, start with the cheapest viable version, test it, and expand if successful.
Chapters
Test. If you're just starting a business or you're trying to launch into a new initiative, make sure you test everything before you expand. It'll give you the best chance of being successful because I don't want you going out, taking out a huge loan, putting all your savings into making this company and it not working out and you're in debt for the rest of your life paying this off. For that one mistake. Test things on a small scale, make sure it works, and then expand from there. I got a question from a YouTube viewer, Mo. I love Mo. Mo's got this great smile, always posting in all my videos. Thank you, Mo. And Mo wrote in to say, Evan, which do you think is more beneficial, a storefront which gives me instant gratification, or an online store? Both of them can work. It's just a matter of testing. I would start by thinking, where do your skills line up better? Have you ever been in an online store? Do you have any experience with online development? Or have you ever worked at a retail location? Do you have any experience that will help you there? Whichever one you pick, start small. It's great to have the big vision. I want that for you. You should have a big dream for your company, but start small and test. See if it works. So if I'm looking at that online store, it doesn't cost a lot to set up. Set it up simple, don't spend a ton of money on it, start promoting it and see if you get some results. See if you like it, see if it works. For the store, it can be really expensive starting a store, and retail stores have one of the highest failure rates of any business to start. It costs a ton of money. So the way to start small is to open up a little mini store within an existing one. Find a company that is related to what you're selling and find a way to partner up with them. If you're a hairstylist, that's your dream, to be a great hairstylist. Instead of opening up your own hair salon, which is gonna cost tons of money, find a related business, maybe a nail salon, and ask if you can rent a spot from them. Maybe it's permanent, a permanent little spot, or maybe it's only once a week. Just something to test it out, see if it works, see if you like it, see if you're making money, see if you want to expand it. If you don't, if it doesn't work, you're not out huge amounts of money. So both of these can work. I'd see where do your skills line up better and start testing small as you grow this thing up. For everybody watching, there's a 3-step process to make sure that this testing thing works for you. Okay, the first is find The simplest, most cost-effective way to get started. A lot of us entrepreneurs will make complicated plans, and it has to be perfect, and it needs a lot of startup capital. And the problem is you spend 10 years working on this plan, and you look back and nothing has gotten done. Start today. Start small. The smallest, simplest, easiest way to start and test. And put your time into it, but not a lot of money or no money if possible. Start something small, the smallest possible version. Number 2, you test. You start seeing if it works. Is it working? Do you like it? Are you getting money? Do you want to keep doing this? A lot of entrepreneurs start a business and they realize this is more work than I thought. This is way more time-consuming than I thought. This isn't, this isn't what I thought it was going to be at all. I don't want to do this. And you shut down. I'd rather have you shut down a small test project than shut down a business that you've poured your life savings into and gone into debt to get going. So you test, you test on that small scale to make sure you like it, make sure you want to continue doing it, make sure it's making you some money. And then step 3 is expand. Whatever is working, blow it up, expand. If your little online store is going well, Invest some money into it, make it grow. If you're having success renting a chair from that nail salon, maybe it's time to open up your own shop. But you know that it's going to work. You have a high degree of success that it's going to work because you've tested it. So follow those 3 things. Again, quickly, number 1: find the smallest, cheapest, most cost-effective way to get started. Number 2, test, see if you like it or not, see what's working. And number 3, expand on the things that are working or doing well. I know it's hard, and I know as entrepreneurs we like to dream big. It's good, you should dream big, you should want to change the world, you should have a passion for what you're doing, you should want to build something amazing. To give yourself the best chance of getting there, You need to start small. Start small, start cheap, do something, take action, and build up from there. I guarantee it's the best way to reach your goal because I don't want you to invest tons of time, money, effort, dollars into the wrong path and you end up 5 years later having to go back and get another job, living your life full of regret that you couldn't make your dream happen. Okay, it's all possible. Start small and test. Believe. Thanks for the great question, Mo. For everybody watching, if you like the video, please give it a thumbs up below. It makes me want to do more for you. And I want to hear what you have to think. What do you think about this video? Please leave a comment underneath. And if you have a question for your own company, let me know. I'll make a video reply for you. Thank you guys. We'll see you soon.
