Intro and Just Start
- A talent that was not yet a skill
- Focus above all else on being a starter, an experimenter, a learner
- Emerson: “Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain”
- The problem in nearly every instance (of people who reach out to him) is the same: they hadn't started
- Now, not How
- Law of 100: Lean in and commit to 100 reps. (Think of this as doing reps and practicing as opposed to failing or succeeding.) This changes your mindset and makes it much easier to sustain forward motion when things get tough. The key is to set up a system to get the reps done without caring about the results whether it's 100 videos, emails, days of reading etc. Only after 100 reps should you reflect on whether to continue
The Unlimited Upside of Just Asking
- Count and love the rejections because they are necessary to get to the yes’s. Turn it into a game. His dad aimed for 100 rejections a week. Reminds me of dialing quotas.
- Not being inhibited by social norms of being rejected or asking too much is a superpower
- “What did you fail at this week?”
- Many “no’s” are just “not now”.
- If you are selling something that really helps people than sales is really education
Finding problems to solve
1. What's the most painful (aka valuable) problem you can solve for people..
2. That you also have passion for and/or unique expertise in...
3. For the largest niche possible that you belong to and understand
Places to look:
- Your own life:
Examples
- Complementary goods/services to best-selling items
- Marketplaces such as Facebook, Etsy, completed listings on eBay
- Search engine queries
- Answerthepublic.com has popular search queries
- SomebodyMakeThis subreddit
Â
No idea is perfect. Make a list of 10+ ideas but don't censor yourself if they are far-fetched. Just jot them down.
Then eliminate anything that doesn't excite you.
If in doubt choose ones that would be easy to implement or you really want to exist.
The golden rule of validation
Â
3 methods of validation
First remember:
Validation is a conversation, not a sales pitch but a chat to learn more about the customer to see if you can help them and if they can actually pay you
Â
Rejections are treasures and opportunities.
Â
- Direct pre-selling
- See Dream Ten list
- Scripts for pre-selling
- Marketplaces like eBay or Facebook. People are there to spend money.
- Landing pages (be careful because this requires buying ads to drive traffic and that becomes a rabbit hole)
- Gives a good example of Kettle & Fire broth
Â
Online presence
What's your unique angle
- Who are you?
- Why should people listen?
- What are you passionate about?
- What will you do for people?
Â
Be the guide not the guru
Nobody wants to be lectured they want to tag along with a guide. “How I” not “How to”. This makes you relatable. (reminds me of my “over the shoulder” content idea)
Â
Marketing
The key is experimenting with different sales channels (30 day experiments recommended) and doubling down on what works
Â