Money. It’s everywhere. For good or for bad, it’s all over; and everybody needs it just about everyday.
I didn’t think we’d be talking money last week when I went to The Police concert, but it showed up again. Just before performing “Don’t stand so Close to Me,” Sting turned to the audience and told us, “I used to be a school teacher. I had a mortgage, a pension plan . . . .” Then he looked around and asked, “What happened to me?!” The crowd went wild; it was a fantastic concert.
So what did happen to Sting? Before he was Sting, Gordon Mathew Thomas Sumner was just a school teacher who loved making music. He played anywhere and everywhere he could. Eventually he joined up with Stuwart Copeland and Andy Summers to form The Police. The rest is rock and roll history.
But the history of The Police is not the important thing here, rather, it’s the fact that these three guys who love making music are still doing it 30 years later, and still, from the looks of it, loving their “jobs.” Judging from the cost of our tickets, they’re making pretty good money too.
Do you wonder how it would feel to make money doing something you love? Are you stuck trying to figure out how to do it? Check out this article from Steve Pavlina, he calls it “love money,” and he has some great ideas on how to bring it into your life.
Last week I was pretty jacked up about a new business idea I was working on. I need to make some more money and this seemed perfect for me: an internet based business in a field I have been involved in (off line) for the last 12 years that would probably cost less than $500 to start.
Not wanting another experience like that I had with vending machines, I checked and rechecked myself, did I really have the three things every entrepreneur needs?
- Money? Check. I can handle $500.
- Mentor? Check. Like I said, I’ve been in the business off line, and I have my brothers to turn to when I need help with the internet stuff.
- People? Check. This will be a solo operation for a while, and if it takes off, I’m confident I can hire good help. Plus I have family who will take a very active role as supporters and consultants.
Knowing I had the three essentials tied up, I started to do some more research to see if I could really make a go of this idea. Besides determining whether you have the commitment and discipline to take on the task of starting a business, it’s also important to ask yourself these questions:
Is there a market for this service?
Since I’m considering an online business, I checked online. There are a couple of services already running in my proposed field. That’s not a bad thing. In fact, I would have been really disappointed if there had been no competition; that’s a pretty good sign there’s no market either. Both of the top services I found have been around since the late 90s; another good sign–they must be making money.
Can I deliver to my customers?
To me, this question is two fold– first, can I get my customers to use my site, and second, can I give them the service I’m promising? I’m not worried about getting people to my site; there is adequate search traffic for the keywords I would target, and I know how to get listed with search engines. (Our family’s ecommerce site is ranked in the top three on Google for all of our main keywords; it can take a while, but I feel pretty confident in our system.) Additionally, since my service targets parents of school age kids, I know I could write articles for on and off line parenting publications. This would be great, positive exposure, and I know I can drive the traffic to my site.
Can I give the service I’m promising? I think there are enough people on both sides of the service looking for a way to connect, so while I’m not as confident about the answer to this question, I think I can do it.
Do I have enough money?
I know, money is one of the three essentials I already covered, but it’s important enough to look at again. Because I have experience starting a business on the web and experience in the field I’m getting into, I won’t have to hire much help. Buying a domain name and hosting for the site will cost less than $150 the first year, and I’ll do all of the content creation myself. I plan on relying on search engine rankings for the bulk of my advertising (which is free except for the work involved, which I will largely do myself). So, I don’t anticipate start up costs being over $500. In fact, I think I could do it for $250 depending on how much my brother’s technical expertise costs me.
Can I Offer Something New?
Here’s where I look again at the two sites already offering my proposed service, I’ll call them “Site A” and “Site B.” Site A is ugly. The colors are terrible; it’s poorly designed and inconvenient for the user. Additionally the fees they are charging are higher than I anticipate charging for the same services. I know I can do better on all those points. I’ve also checked into their SEO (search engine optimization–how they get noticed and ranked by Google and other search engines), and I feel confident I can match their efforts quickly, even surpass them given some time.
Site B is another story. Site B looks good. It’s well designed, easy to use, and they offer a free service in addition to two levels of paid services. Site B has a lot of users. That’s good for me; that means people have sought out this service.
Can I offer something new? I know I can improve on site A’s model. If they were the top competition, no question, I’d jump in with both feet. Site B has me thinking twice though. I’m not sure I can improve on their service. I know I can get first page rankings with the search engines pretty quickly, but with site B’s longevity, I’m not sure I could ever surpass it (rank higher in search results). If people are going there first, I don’t think they have any reason to then come to me.
I have thought of a few things I could offer my users that Site B does not. Are they strong enough to be my selling point? I don’t think so. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think so.
So, Where Does This Leave Me?
I admit, was a little discouraged when I realized I had nothing significant to offer over Site B. I really thought this was the perfect way for me to make more money, but I’m not confident I can command the market, nor do I don’t think the market is big enough that I could share it with Site A and be profitable.
All is not lost though. In planning my business strategy, I came up with some good ideas of perks to offer my users. I still may start a smaller site, a blog perhaps, to test the demand for those items. I have signed up as a free user of Site B myself. By using their site, I may find a way into the market after all.
Finally, I am considering taking my model off line and concentrating on a smaller geographic area using more conventional advertising. I lack a mentor for that kind of business, and it may cost more money, so I’ll research it, get a better idea of what’s involved, and decide from there.
Since I started interviewing millionaires a few months ago I have been struck by how many of them started their career in sales. I’ve spoken to two who have started selling pest control (and subsequently achieved financial freedom owning pest control businesses), and one who started selling encyclopedias door-to-door and parlayed the income into a portfolio of rental properties that allowed him to retire at a young age.
I spoke to another who learned the furniture business as a floor salesman at a local furniture store and went on to open his own stores, which also allowed him to be permanently financially independent. One of my more recent conversations was with a man who has spent his whole career in technology sales, and although he’s never owned his own company, he’s been able to acquire and sell enough stock options with his company that he could now retire any time he felt like it.
Model the Millionaires - Learn to Sell
I believe everyone should learn to sell.
Now, I’m not talking about selling in the soft sense that you always hear: “everyone is in sales….all communication is sales…if you’re a manager you’re in sales…if you’re a parent you’re in sales…if you’re dating you’re in sales…etc.” That’s all fine and it’s true to an extent. We all have to persuade in our everyday life, and you can call that selling.
But there is a big difference between convincing your subordinates at work to complete their tasks and convincing a real life sales prospect to give you money in exchange for your product. That’s why there are millions of successful managers and millions of washed out salespeople.
Asking people to part with their hard-earned money is not easy, and the truth is they say ‘no’ the vast majority of the time. That’s why so many salespeople quit, and that’s why it pays so well. Early on I stopped caring when people said no, but that’s another post.
Here are three big benefits of becoming successful in sales:
1. Sales allows you to acquire cash much more quickly than a salaried job, and you have much greater control over your income than you would with a salary or hourly wage.
2. Sales requires you learn the some of the most important skills in business: goal setting, persistence, determination, accountability, long term perspective, and a high tolerance for rejection and frustration.
3. Success in sales gives you real flexibility in your work life, allowing you to finally be free of an office and a time clock. I know that’s one of the most cliche statements you’ll ever hear, but it also happens to be true - and thank goodness.
Sales and Entrepreneurship Go Hand In Hand
After I had been in commission only sales for about two years I talked about it with a close friend of mine who had also spent a lot of time in the sales world. He knew about my aspirations of business ownership and this is what he said:
“I’m really glad you got into sales and you became successful at it. Commission sales is the closest thing to entrepreneurship because the skill sets necessary for success are so similar. So many brilliant people have incredible product ideas every day, but their business can never get off the ground because they don’t know how to sell their idea or their product. If you’ve had success in sales you’ve already won most of the battle because it’s just a question of finding the right product and using the skills you already have to sell it.”
That’s one of the most true and significant statements anyone has ever made to me, and I’ve seen it come true in my financial life. I spent four years working for a company, first just as a sales rep and then as a sales manager. I lost all fear of talking to people and asking them to buy my product. When I started in sales I was terrified of the phone. Today I have no fear of calling strangers and striking up a conversation with them.
Thanks to that confidence I had no fear as I walked away from my stable corporate job to start my own business. I knew there might be ups and downs in my income, but I had already experienced that in my sales job. I knew there could be setbacks and disappointments, but I wasn’t worried because those are things I dealt with a thousand times over the last four years.
Confidence and Peace of Mind
What do I love most about my career in sales? Being successful in sales has given me pure confidence and peace of mind. After four years of having my paycheck be 100% my responsibility, I no longer have any concern over whether I’ll be able to pay the bills. If my business fails, I know I can get any one of 1o sales jobs and have my normal income back within 90 days or so. That’s a great feeling.