Dan Martell - 5 Strategies To Help You Start Your Business ｜ Dan Martell

When you start off, there's a fear of looking stupid, having the wrong idea, or not having the right idea. There's even the fear of failure. In this episode, I share a quick story of a guy named F.R.I.D. who started a company called Plenty of Fish and built it to a $10 million a year revenue business in 5 years. Within a 5 year period, he built this thing to a 10 million dollar revenue business and 90% profit margins. And a year ago, his company, after about 11 years, 12 years of operating, got acquired by Match Group for 500 million dollars.

00:00:00.360 Five strategies to help you start your first business.

00:00:02.920 That's what I'm sharing with you guys today.

00:00:04.680 Now I know, I get it.

00:00:05.680 When you start off, there's a fear. 1.00

00:00:07.040 There's a fear of looking stupid. 1.00

00:00:08.680 That sucks. 1.00

00:00:09.560 There's a fear of failure because nobody wants to start 0.98

00:00:12.000 something and not succeed.

00:00:13.360 There's even the fear of having the wrong idea of like,

00:00:16.600 do I go down this path, or is that the right idea, et cetera.

00:00:19.520 I want to share with you guys five strategies for starting

00:00:22.320 or helping you start your first business,

00:00:24.560 and these are not what you're thinking of.

00:00:26.400 And I don't know if you guys know my story,

00:00:28.000 but I've built five companies, the last three were acquired,

00:00:30.840 the last two were venture backed,

00:00:32.000 I've been absolutely blessed and fortunate

00:00:34.180 to have invested in 30 plus companies as an angel investor,

00:00:37.060 but what I wanna share with you guys is a quick story

00:00:38.680 of a guy named Marcus Friend, or F-R-I-N-D,

00:00:42.120 he's a Canadian, so I already like him,

00:00:44.380 who started a company called Plenty of Fish.

00:00:46.060 About 11 to 12 years ago, this guy was job to job,

00:00:49.740 didn't go to MIT or Stanford or any other four year

00:00:52.660 university degree of worth, just decided to start this site,

00:00:56.720 Plenty of Fish, or P-O-F, those in the know.

00:00:59.880 And within a five year period, he built this thing

00:01:02.160 to a 10 million a year revenue business,

00:01:04.220 90 some percent profit margins,

00:01:06.020 and was living like a king in Vancouver, BC.

00:01:09.440 And a year ago, his company, after about 11 years,

00:01:12.900 12 years of operating, got acquired by Match Group

00:01:16.000 for 500 plus million dollars, all right?

00:01:18.980 Now, I share that story to inspire you that a guy

00:01:22.040 that is known by his friends, that is awkward

00:01:24.340 and socially weird and not charismatic

00:01:27.980 and all these things just sat down part-time

00:01:30.660 and built this idea and it grew and it grew

00:01:33.140 and he just kept operating it

00:01:34.460 and now he's a multi-hundred millionaire dude.

00:01:37.020 So, number one thing, I'm gonna share with you guys

00:01:39.400 five strategies to start your first business

00:01:41.400 to help you get there.

00:01:42.240 The number one thing is to organize an event.

00:01:44.080 Now, most people don't realize that an event,

00:01:47.000 in my mind, is probably the most realistic simulation

00:01:51.160 of you starting a business, right?

00:01:52.660 Think about this, all the moving parts.

00:01:54.220 recruiting speakers, choosing a topic to do it on,

00:01:57.620 getting a venue, coordinating an agenda,

00:02:01.000 selling tickets to the event.

00:02:03.460 So I just think that for a lot of entrepreneurs

00:02:05.740 that are not yet settled on an idea,

00:02:07.660 the number one thing you do is organize an event

00:02:09.860 because it will simulate what it's actually like

00:02:12.880 running and building a business.

00:02:14.540 I believe you can't learn to surf reading a book

00:02:17.880 and you're not gonna learn how to build a business

00:02:19.720 reading books, you actually need to go out to do that.

00:02:21.680 Organize an event is a really great place to start.

00:02:24.220 Number two is start by consulting.

00:02:25.920 Get in the market, understand the pain of your customers

00:02:28.460 or your potential market, and just consult and help them.

00:02:31.220 And maybe you take on like six different companies

00:02:33.620 and you work with them and you see this like,

00:02:35.700 oh, you know what, they're all struggling with this one thing

00:02:38.340 and if I built a solution or a service around that,

00:02:40.680 I think it could be applicable to a lot of other companies.

00:02:43.360 So starting by consulting is number two,

00:02:45.220 is just really get in the market

00:02:46.980 and understand the pains and the needs.

00:02:48.660 The third, I believe, is find three entrepreneurs.

00:02:51.960 If you're starting off, you've never started a business,

00:02:53.420 Go find three entrepreneurs two years ahead of you.

00:02:56.220 Two years ahead, meaning two years ago

00:02:58.340 they were exactly where you are,

00:02:59.740 but now they have a business,

00:03:00.720 maybe they have a couple employees, and they're going.

00:03:02.960 Go find three of these folks. 0.85

00:03:04.420 Maybe you already know them, maybe they're your friends,

00:03:06.300 but spend time with them.

00:03:08.300 Allow them to inspire you.

00:03:09.920 Ask them questions about how they started.

00:03:11.840 Really understand their mindset

00:03:13.580 for getting the business going,

00:03:15.280 because I believe proximity is power,

00:03:17.760 and being around people that are gonna inspire you

00:03:20.240 is the way to get that initial momentum

00:03:22.860 to start your business, so that's number three.

00:03:24.600 Number four is get a potential co-founder.

00:03:27.100 Nothing, nothing is more exciting than staying up late

00:03:30.520 on a Friday night brainstorming with a buddy

00:03:33.540 that you might start a business with about ideas

00:03:37.180 and opportunity and potential customers

00:03:40.540 and how much could you charge and how would it work

00:03:42.580 and how could we, you blow the socks off of the customer

00:03:45.440 from an experience point of view

00:03:46.300 and all these different aspects.

00:03:47.460 Just getting somebody that co-conspires with you

00:03:50.400 to create that is your friend.

00:03:53.160 If you think of all these incredible companies

00:03:55.080 from Apple, et cetera, they all had co-founders.

00:03:57.840 Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer.

00:04:02.340 Everybody had teams, co-founders, people that started off

00:04:05.480 and I would suggest that you go find that.

00:04:07.220 It doesn't mean that the person you're brainstorming with

00:04:09.020 is gonna be your co-founder, but just have that filter on

00:04:12.520 in the world to go find them.

00:04:13.900 Number five, this is the big one, and I learned this

00:04:16.960 while I was talking to my brother when he started

00:04:18.220 his home building company.

00:04:19.360 You're not supposed to know how to start a business

00:04:22.760 when you start a business.

00:04:23.800 You're not supposed to know.

00:04:25.300 If you think you need to get all your ducks in an order

00:04:27.860 to start the business, you've already failed.

00:04:29.460 You're not supposed to know.

00:04:30.740 I remember he was like, well I'm trying to build houses

00:04:33.220 and I've never built houses and hire trades

00:04:35.060 and all these things and I go bro, dude,

00:04:37.020 you're not supposed to know.

00:04:38.080 That is the exciting part.

00:04:39.600 Take the pressure off of yourself and just realize

00:04:42.900 that it's part of the process.

00:04:44.540 Entrepreneurship is challenge, learning, overcoming.

00:04:47.800 Challenge, learning, overcoming.

00:04:48.840 That is the process.

00:04:50.240 That's what entrepreneurship is about.

00:04:51.680 It's about creating.

00:04:52.840 If you know how to do something,

00:04:54.580 then it means you've already done it before.

00:04:56.300 Not the case.

00:04:57.140 Those are the five really quick recaps.

00:04:58.780 So number one, I wanna suggest that you start an event.

00:05:01.840 Just think of some passion topic you have.

00:05:05.280 Go recruit, I mean, you can keep it simple

00:05:07.140 or you can make it awesome.

00:05:08.100 I've seen different variations,

00:05:09.480 but at least start an event, sell tickets.

00:05:11.940 That'll get you going.

00:05:12.980 Number two, start by consulting.

00:05:14.400 Get in the market, understand the customer's pain,

00:05:16.940 and really try to find the opportunity

00:05:19.260 to build a business from there.

00:05:20.180 Three, get three other entrepreneurs

00:05:22.760 that are two years ahead of you

00:05:23.920 and spend as much time as you can with them.

00:05:25.700 Four, get a potential co-founder,

00:05:27.760 somebody to co-create with you,

00:05:29.440 to brainstorm with, to stay up late.

00:05:31.340 Friday, Saturday night, just brainstorming,

00:05:33.420 making stuff come to life.

00:05:35.060 And number five, know that you're not supposed to know.

00:05:38.300 Those are the five strategies

00:05:39.740 that help you start your first business.

00:05:41.840 And I want you to share this video.

00:05:43.080 If there's somebody that you know

00:05:44.300 that's been struggling finding it,

00:05:46.200 trying to find their pattern,

00:05:47.240 just share this video with them, support them.

00:05:49.980 I'd invite you to subscribe to this video

00:05:51.480 and leave me a comment below.

00:05:52.560 Which one of those five strategies

00:05:54.080 are you gonna implement in your life?

00:05:56.320 Is it the event?

00:05:57.160 Are you gonna start by consulting?

00:05:58.320 And again, you can do that part time.

00:05:59.740 Leave me a comment below, let me know.

00:06:01.980 As per usual, I wanna challenge you guys

00:06:03.340 to live a bigger life and a bigger business

00:06:05.480 and I'll see you next Monday.

Dan Martell - February 22, 2016

5 Strategies To Help You Start Your Business ｜ Dan Martell

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript