Building Software Through Idea Extraction

[Tiago]

Sorry for the lack of updates, things have been very busy lately.

Networked with some awesome SaaS entrepreneurs in my city and people in the tech area. It's way easier to build a network than I thought. Contact them, offer some value, invite them to lunch.

Went to a big digital marketing conference that lasted 2 days here. Talked with Sujan Patel there who gave me some tips on growth hacking.

Doing a bootcamp course on lean development. This is ongoing as it's 4 weeks long.

Talked with a lot of developers. Found one whom I really liked. Has launched couple of other companies, has a sense of urgency, really practical thinking.

Found another front-end developer whom I might hire for some freelancing on designing the User Interface and mapping out the User Experience of the software once.

Will probably rewrite the whole software. I've been doing it in Ruby, which is a language that is in high demand, thus Ruby developers are more expensive. Plus by choosing Ruby as a language I limit my talent pool by a lot. I understand this is a step back, but will be a better choice for the future.

Continuing to do customer development. This is one think I really love, talking to potential clients and just listening to their problems, not pitching anything. I'm learning SO much about this and building my Ideal Customer Profile so it will be easier to sell once I have a product.

Once I have 30 interviews, I will map it all out, resketch the software based on our true value proposition and then start building again.

Wrote and published a new post.

What I'm doing next:

Reaching 30 customer development interviews.
Based on this create new mockup with help of front end developer.
Build.

 

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[JFGD]

Sorry for the lack of updates, things have been very busy lately.

Networked with some awesome SaaS entrepreneurs in my city and people in the tech area. It's way easier to build a network than I thought. Contact them, offer some value, invite them to lunch.

Went to a big digital marketing conference that lasted 2 days here. Talked with Sujan Patel there who gave me some tips on growth hacking.

Doing a bootcamp course on lean development. This is ongoing as it's 4 weeks long.

Talked with a lot of developers. Found one whom I really liked. Has launched couple of other companies, has a sense of urgency, really practical thinking.

Found another front-end developer whom I might hire for some freelancing on designing the User Interface and mapping out the User Experience of the software once.

Will probably rewrite the whole software. I've been doing it in Ruby, which is a language that is in high demand, thus Ruby developers are more expensive. Plus by choosing Ruby as a language I limit my talent pool by a lot. I understand this is a step back, but will be a better choice for the future.

Continuing to do customer development. This is one think I really love, talking to potential clients and just listening to their problems, not pitching anything. I'm learning SO much about this and building my Ideal Customer Profile so it will be easier to sell once I have a product.

Once I have 30 interviews, I will map it all out, resketch the software based on our true value proposition and then start building again.

Wrote and published a new post.

What I'm doing next:

Reaching 30 customer development interviews.
Based on this create new mockup with help of front end developer.
Build.

Good stuff! It does seem like you're building a solid track.

Although I am more focused on e-commerce and physical product selling at the moment on my day job I am ( still ) a Rails developer myself. I wonder which kind of technology/frameworks you are considering.



Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[tafy]

Will probably rewrite the whole software. I've been doing it in Ruby, which is a language that is in high demand, thus Ruby developers are more expensive. Plus by choosing Ruby as a language I limit my talent pool by a lot. I understand this is a step back, but will be a better choice for the future.

Your an entrepreneur, find a way to make it work. Rewriting your code so you can find cheaper devs? What the hell?

 

[Tiago]

Your an entrepreneur, find a way to make it work. Rewriting your code so you can find cheaper devs? What the hell?

Hey @tafy, I am trying to find a way to make it work. I didn't know much about technology once I started developing it, and if I knew, wouldn't have done it in that language. In a cost benefit analysis rewriting it will be the best solution long-term.

 

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[tafy]

What are you going to rewrite it in? PHP? How many hours of coding has been done in ruby? What is your frontend coded in?

 

[Tiago]

PHP or Javascript. Around 40 hours in coding in Ruby and front-end jQuery.

 

[tafy]

40 hours of coding is nothing, I thought you had more than that.

In that case it doesn't matter, more important you find a good developer and use whatever he is comfortable in.

 

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[Tiago]

*I have written this for two purposes. First is for me to get clarity. Writing things down makes things easier to process for me. Second is for anyone going through a time of doubt, anyone who's lost. I don't claim to have all the answers, but it might help in times of need. If you ever need any help, just send me a message.*

I have been putting off writing this for some time. These last few weeks have been rough.

The development of the software had come to a halt because my developer left. So there I was, searching for people again. But I noticed one thing:

It absolutely drained my energy.

Every developer I had to contact, every decision I had to make was riddled with doubts. Mostly doubts about myself: Can I do this? Is it something I can envision myself doing for the next 5 years? Does this actually enforce my values?

I found out I was not driven by purpose, but by profit. I thought that if I worked my a$$ off for 3-5 years and sold it, I could live comfortably with passive income after that. That could very well be true, but then what? What would my next step be?

And it paralyzed me. For two weeks I was very negative, and felt like a complete failure. I've built a mildly successful company when I was 17 and sold when I was 19, but that all seemed worthless. I ignored all my successes and focused on my failures. My confidence took a big hit.

Thankfully, I have an amazing, supportive girlfriend who helped me through it. Choose the person you want to have a relationship wisely.

To me, a failure is only a failure if you learn nothing from it. So my first step was to build a retrospective of the past 5 months. These are the most important things I realized:

• I should've launched faster. I didn't need to have a greatly designed landing page, a blog, videos, an expensive domain, a customer onboarding email cycle, email templates etc...

• I truly value freedom of time and location. Building a company here wouldn't allow me to take a few weeks to explore new countries, at least not at the first 2-3 years.

• I love helping people. The best memory I have of my previous company is a heartfelt email I received from a customer. Thinking about it makes me feel very happy that I created value and increased the quality of life and happiness for a person.

• Networking is essential. I was very lonely at the beginning, thinking I had to do it all alone. It's way easier than that. Just invite someone to lunch and try to help them. Reciprocity goes a long way.

• Personal development is key. Meditation, gratitude and visualization have helped me a lot to move forward, especially these last few weeks.

• Systems are very important. Instead of goals, I like to break them down and implement daily systems I can adhere to that will continually force me to make progress and get momentum going. Thanks @Silverhawk851

• I love ideas and concepts, not so much the daily grind of a startup. At first this hurt to write down. But then I rewired my thinking. Instead of strenghtening my weaknesses, why not strenghten my actual strengths?

• I love to surround myself with people who have a bright mind, have innovative ideas, are positive, fun, keen to improve themselves and enjoy life. You truly are the average of the 5 people you hang out with the most.

I've learnt a lot about myself. As long as I learn from this experience, time will not have been wasted.

But I was still not knowing what to do next. I worked on myself by asking more questions.

• What are my values?

• What does success mean to me?

• What would keep me absolutely motivated and fascinated for the rest of my life? (Thanks Dan Sullivan)

• What is my unique ability?

• What is my purpose?

And this is still a work in progress. I do not have all the answers yet, but I'm closing in what I think I could be doing next.

One thing I do know is that I love is helping others live a happier life. Helping them grow personally so they can exponencially contribute to the world. So the question now remains:

How can I create the most value to the most amount of people in the fastest way possible (thanks @Andy Black ) through my unique ability?

 

[tafy]

You still pursuing the idea or is it on hold?

 

[Andy Black]

*I have written this for two purposes. First is for me to get clarity. Writing things down makes things easier to process for me. Second is for anyone going through a time of doubt, anyone who's lost. I don't claim to have all the answers, but it might help in times of need. If you ever need any help, just send me a message.*

I have been putting off writing this for some time. These last few weeks have been rough.

The development of the software had come to a halt because my developer left. So there I was, searching for people again. But I noticed one thing:

It absolutely drained my energy.

Every developer I had to contact, every decision I had to make was riddled with doubts. Mostly doubts about myself: Can I do this? Is it something I can envision myself doing for the next 5 years? Does this actually enforce my values?

I found out I was not driven by purpose, but by profit. I thought that if I worked my a$$ off for 3-5 years and sold it, I could live comfortably with passive income after that. That could very well be true, but then what? What would my next step be?

And it paralyzed me. For two weeks I was very negative, and felt like a complete failure. I've built a mildly successful company when I was 17 and sold when I was 19, but that all seemed worthless. I ignored all my successes and focused on my failures. My confidence took a big hit.

Thankfully, I have an amazing, supportive girlfriend who helped me through it. Choose the person you want to have a relationship wisely.

To me, a failure is only a failure if you learn nothing from it. So my first step was to build a retrospective of the past 5 months. These are the most important things I realized:

• I should've launched faster. I didn't need to have a greatly designed landing page, a blog, videos, an expensive domain, a customer onboarding email cycle, email templates etc...

• I truly value freedom of time and location. Building a company here wouldn't allow me to take a few weeks to explore new countries, at least not at the first 2-3 years.

• I love helping people. The best memory I have of my previous company is a heartfelt email I received from a customer. Thinking about it makes me feel very happy that I created value and increased the quality of life and happiness for a person.

• Networking is essential. I was very lonely at the beginning, thinking I had to do it all alone. It's way easier than that. Just invite someone to lunch and try to help them. Reciprocity goes a long way.

• Personal development is key. Meditation, gratitude and visualization have helped me a lot to move forward, especially these last few weeks.

• Systems are very important. Instead of goals, I like to break them down and implement daily systems I can adhere to that will continually force me to make progress and get momentum going. Thanks @Silverhawk851

• I love ideas and concepts, not so much the daily grind of a startup. At first this hurt to write down. But then I rewired my thinking. Instead of strenghtening my weaknesses, why not strenghten my actual strengths?

• I love to surround myself with people who have a bright mind, have innovative ideas, are positive, fun, keen to improve themselves and enjoy life. You truly are the average of the 5 people you hang out with the most.

I've learnt a lot about myself. As long as I learn from this experience, time will not have been wasted.

But I was still not knowing what to do next. I worked on myself by asking more questions.

• What are my values?

• What does success mean to me?

• What would keep me absolutely motivated and fascinated for the rest of my life? (Thanks Dan Sullivan)

• What is my unique ability?

• What is my purpose?

And this is still a work in progress. I do not have all the answers yet, but I'm closing in what I think I could be doing next.

One thing I do know is that I love is helping others live a happier life. Helping them grow personally so they can exponencially contribute to the world. So the question now remains:

How can I create the most value to the most amount of people in the fastest way possible (thanks @Andy Black ) through my unique ability?

Wow. Nice post. Thanks for sharing.

I started this process a little while ago. I think it's so important to know yourself really really well. (@csalvato?)

Know your strengths, and double-up on them (or go all-in as Gary V says).

Know your weaknesses and outsource them rather than try and strengthen them.

Know what drives you.

Know what success means to you.



I wrote some posts on this:

• Clarity of Purpose
• Finding your focus

And I swiped some articles by better writers than me:

• Amy Hoy on why blacksmiths are better at startups than you
• Getting Started - Ready, Fire, Aim: Stage 1 (0-$1M)
• Article from Justin Jackson: Just Help People

I've made my biggest gains by observing what motivates me, and what gets put to the bottom of the list. Those are big clues.

I took a few profiling tests a couple of years ago.

And I've also had some coaching as it's impossible to see the picture when you're in the frame.


I think you're on the right track.

 

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[Tiago]

@tafy I've stopped pursuing the software idea. It was a good run and I learnt a lot from it.

@Andy Black Exactly. Really getting to know oneself is worth so much. Thank you for the articles, I will check them out now. Andy, you mentioned you got coached. Could you tell a bit more about that? How was the experience, what has it brought you?

 

[MTF]

Good for you, @Tiago. It's good to realize that something isn't working for you before you go too deep into it (it would be much more difficult to get out if you've already spent a lot of money on development and had a working MVP/final version).

Having said that, I'd like to address a few of the things mentioned in your post.

Every developer I had to contact, every decision I had to make was riddled with doubts. Mostly doubts about myself: Can I do this? Is it something I can envision myself doing for the next 5 years? Does this actually enforce my values?

I found out I was not driven by purpose, but by profit. I thought that if I worked my a$$ off for 3-5 years and sold it, I could live comfortably with passive income after that. That could very well be true, but then what? What would my next step be?

You're overthinking this. I can't help but feel that seeking purpose becomes the next trendy thing on this forum, yet in essence it's exactly the same as "doing what you love." I DO like thinking about purpose and generally consider business/founder fit first, and profits second, but if you mostly focus on purpose you'll probably need much more time to get profits. Thinking about profit is good, because it forces you to focus on businesses that solve specific problems people pay for solving.

Your question "but then what" is irrelevant today. You'll be a different person in 3-5 years, and you'll make completely different choices. And if you made enough to retire, then I think it wouldn't be such a bad trade-off to spend 3-5 years doing something you don't consider your purpose (as long as you don't hate it).

What I do (self-publishing) is most likely not my purpose. I wouldn't do it for free, and it doesn't fire me up a lot. What fires me up is the money it generates, or rather what this money means to me (freedom).

If you find something very profitable and non-limiting (meaning you get time freedom, location independence, etc.) that you don't hate, then I think you should keep doing it even if it isn't entirely your purpose - and you do it for as long as needed to ensure you have enough money to live off interest.

I like what @MJ DeMarco wrote here:

Once you grab a few sales, start making money, and start getting market feedback, your idea on "what you love" will change. I could sell dog shit and love it, IF the market was telling me "This is good, we want it."

Successful entrepreneurs (not "do what you lovers") love providing value -- sadly, many don't get to realize it because they aren't engaged in the process long enough to grab sales and find out. Validation, or sales, changes everything. Until then, its really hard to fall in love with any idea because ultimately, you need a hug and a pat on the back, which only comes from sales.

For a long, long time I couldn't fully grasp what he meant by that. I started making good money with self-publishing, but still wanted to find something better, more "purposeful." But now that I keep seeing steady growth and it just works for me (vs dozens other ideas I tried in the past), I no longer care if it is or is not my "true" purpose. I'll keep doing it - just as MJ would sell dog shit - as long as the market will want it and as long as it will make financial sense for me. Purpose can come later when I attain lifelong financial security (and if things go well, this will be a relatively short period of time, maybe three years more at most).

• I truly value freedom of time and location. Building a company here wouldn't allow me to take a few weeks to explore new countries, at least not at the first 2-3 years.

This (I mean exploring new countries, not freedom of time) might very well change when you start a fast-growth business. I used to think I would start traveling a lot once I start making enough money to cover all my expenses and set aside some money for savings.

Now that I make well over several times what I need to support myself, I still don't travel. Why? Because thanks to the money I now earn I changed my daily routine and it's so exciting and fun I don't feel a strong urge to travel (well, maybe except for wanting to avoid the winter). In fact, I think it's very likely I would find it less enjoyable to travel than to stay at home and simply enjoy my everyday life. I also simply enjoy saving and investing money instead of spending it on traveling.

This ties well with what I said before about being a different person in 3-5 years. In reality, your priorities can change a LOT when your business starts making enough to support you, generate savings and still have a nice margin for enjoyment.

• I love ideas and concepts, not so much the daily grind of a startup. At first this hurt to write down. But then I rewired my thinking. Instead of strenghtening my weaknesses, why not strenghten my actual strengths?

That's precisely why I believe that a person without software experience (i.e. a person who couldn't develop the software herself) should never start a software-based business. I think it's one of the most valuable lessons you've gained here.

And yes, DO think about your strengths and leverage them. Just don't necessarily think that these strengths have to be your Unique Ability. I make money off writing, but I doubt it will keep me absolutely motivated and fascinated for the rest of my life. Actually, even now there are at least a few things that make me more motivated and fascinated than writing.

But I was still not knowing what to do next. I worked on myself by asking more questions.

• What are my values?

• What does success mean to me?

• What would keep me absolutely motivated and fascinated for the rest of my life? (Thanks Dan Sullivan)

• What is my unique ability?

• What is my purpose?

And this is still a work in progress. I do not have all the answers yet, but I'm closing in what I think I could be doing next.

One thing I do know is that I love is helping others live a happier life. Helping them grow personally so they can exponencially contribute to the world. So the question now remains:

How can I create the most value to the most amount of people in the fastest way possible (thanks @Andy Black ) through my unique ability?

These are all good questions and I like asking them myself as well, but I don't think they're that crucial to ask if you're yet to find a reliable source of income that will support your regular lifestyle. The majority of the successful entrepreneurs started with something that just worked for them, not necessarily something that was their purpose. Having more money and freedom is what enables you to be more picky about the new ventures you want to start. It all comes back to what MJ described in his book.

 

[Andy Black]

Good for you, @Tiago. It's good to realize that something isn't working for you before you go too deep into it (it would be much more difficult to get out if you've already spent a lot of money on development and had a working MVP/final version).

Having said that, I'd like to address a few of the things mentioned in your post.



You're overthinking this. I can't help but feel that seeking purpose becomes the next trendy thing on this forum, yet in essence it's exactly the same as "doing what you love." I DO like thinking about purpose and generally consider business/founder fit first, and profits second, but if you mostly focus on purpose you'll probably need much more time to get profits. Thinking about profit is good, because it forces you to focus on businesses that solve specific problems people pay for solving.

Your question "but then what" is irrelevant today. You'll be a different person in 3-5 years, and you'll make completely different choices. And if you made enough to retire, then I think it wouldn't be such a bad trade-off to spend 3-5 years doing something you don't consider your purpose (as long as you don't hate it).

What I do (self-publishing) is most likely not my purpose. I wouldn't do it for free, and it doesn't fire me up a lot. What fires me up is the money it generates, or rather what this money means to me (freedom).

If you find something very profitable and non-limiting (meaning you get time freedom, location independence, etc.) that you don't hate, then I think you should keep doing it even if it isn't entirely your purpose - and you do it for as long as needed to ensure you have enough money to live off interest.

I like what @MJ DeMarco wrote here:



For a long, long time I couldn't fully grasp what he meant by that. I started making good money with self-publishing, but still wanted to find something better, more "purposeful." But now that I keep seeing steady growth and it just works for me (vs dozens other ideas I tried in the past), I no longer care if it is or is not my "true" purpose. I'll keep doing it - just as MJ would sell dog shit - as long as the market will want it and as long as it will make financial sense for me. Purpose can come later when I attain lifelong financial security (and if things go well, this will be a relatively short period of time, maybe three years more at most).



This (I mean exploring new countries, not freedom of time) might very well change when you start a fast-growth business. I used to think I would start traveling a lot once I start making enough money to cover all my expenses and set aside some money for savings.

Now that I make well over several times what I need to support myself, I still don't travel. Why? Because thanks to the money I now earn I changed my daily routine and it's so exciting and fun I don't feel a strong urge to travel (well, maybe except for wanting to avoid the winter). In fact, I think it's very likely I would find it less enjoyable to travel than to stay at home and simply enjoy my everyday life. I also simply enjoy saving and investing money instead of spending it on traveling.

This ties well with what I said before about being a different person in 3-5 years. In reality, your priorities can change a LOT when your business starts making enough to support you, generate savings and still have a nice margin for enjoyment.



That's precisely why I believe that a person without software experience (i.e. a person who couldn't develop the software herself) should never start a software-based business. I think it's one of the most valuable lessons you've gained here.

And yes, DO think about your strengths and leverage them. Just don't necessarily think that these strengths have to be your Unique Ability. I make money off writing, but I doubt it will keep me absolutely motivated and fascinated for the rest of my life. Actually, even now there are at least a few things that make me more motivated and fascinated than writing.



These are all good questions and I like asking them myself as well, but I don't think they're that crucial to ask if you're yet to find a reliable source of income that will support your regular lifestyle. The majority of the successful entrepreneurs started with something that just worked for them, not necessarily something that was their purpose. Having more money and freedom is what enables you to be more picky about the new ventures you want to start. It all comes back to what MJ described in his book.

Excellent points by @MTF

I hope I am not leading people astray by talking about purpose and focus.

I personally know I am driven to help people, and I am consistently working on the same thing.

I just twist and turn while I find how to do it in a way that suits my strengths, provides the most value, that I can scale the quickest, and that I actually would like to happen (rather than just think I would like to happen).

And when I say "twist and turn" I mean actually doing it and making sales... my own paid forum, selling an eBook, videos, audios, one-to-one coaching, group coaching, live workshops, consulting, contracting, employee, building assets for others, building assets for myself, partnering, etc.

I've pretty much done all of the above both for free and paid, but all in exactly the same "niche" of generating leads for businesses using AdWords.

All I am doing is sticking a different "money nozzle" on the end of a skill (and experiences/personality) that can help other people, that I am fascinated by, and that I feel I have an unfair advantage at (notice how I don't care about Unique Ability).

For me, I do first, then think about it afterwards. Did it provide value? Did I LOVE doing it? Did it come easy to me? Can it scale? Can I remove myself from it? Can others copy me easily?

For me, it's as much a journey of learning about myself, as building my business.

I am 100% confident that any of the *methods* I listed above can make a lot of zeros, it's more a case of which route will suit me best.

Hope this helps.

 

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[Tiago]

First of all, thank you so much @MTF for taking the time to provide me with so much insight. Your views are very helpful.

You're overthinking this. I can't help but feel that seeking purpose becomes the next trendy thing on this forum, yet in essence it's exactly the same as "doing what you love." I DO like thinking about purpose and generally consider business/founder fit first, and profits second, but if you mostly focus on purpose you'll probably need much more time to get profits. Thinking about profit is good, because it forces you to focus on businesses that solve specific problems people pay for solving.

You are absolutely right. I think "doing what you love" is the wrong path. But what about if you ask yourself this question:

"How can I deliver the most value to the most amount of people in the shortest period of time with a skill I am good at and love doing?"

This allows you to focus your energy better and will keep you running for longer whilst building a meaningful business that will generate healthy profits. What do you think of this?

These are all good questions and I like asking them myself as well, but I don't think they're that crucial to ask if you're yet to find a reliable source of income that will support your regular lifestyle. The majority of the successful entrepreneurs started with something that just worked for them, not necessarily something that was their purpose. Having more money and freedom is what enables you to be more picky about the new ventures you want to start. It all comes back to what MJ described in his book.

You and @MJ DeMarco hit the nail on the head on this one. This is giving me a lot of think about.

The thing is, I want to help people to grow and contribute more to society. I was thinking of combining business and life coaching.

But who am I to give any business advice when I myself haven't succeeded yet in building a big business?

I don't want to be someone shouting "Do What You Love!", and think I get the basic concepts of building a business. This could possibly be of value to a lot of people.

I'm at a crossroads.

 

[tafy]

Don't become a coach/advisor or anything like that until you can back it up with real work and experience. You just need to find something you love doing.

Do you enjoy the game of building a business?

So you dont like software, maybe something physical?

 

[Tiago]

Don't become a coach/advisor or anything like that until you can back it up with real work and experience. You just need to find something you love doing.

Do you enjoy the game of building a business?

So you dont like software, maybe something physical?

Exactly. I believe too that you shouldn't claim yourself as an expert in anything if you have no results to back it up.

So I was thinking. I will take a few business under my coaching program and charge them nothing. I would focus on getting them real results, whichever they are. This would allow me to:

- Get real world experience.
- Get testimonials to back me up.

 

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[MTF]

"How can I deliver the most value to the most amount of people in the shortest period of time with a skill I am good at and love doing?"

I like this question, but I still think it's overthinking it, plus it's too skill-focused and that can limit your thinking.

For instance, you could say that my answer to this question would be "writing." But if I were to focus primarily on writing, I wouldn't think about self-publishing as a business, but as a job of writing books. And that would be a very limiting way of going about it. I don't even consider myself a writer. I'm just an entrepreneur who happened to enter the self-publishing industry. I'm turning my raw product (my books and my experience in the industry) into various mediums (ebooks, paperbacks, audiobooks, service business, etc.).

I don't do any of it thinking whether it's how I can deliver the most value to the most amount of people. I just cast a wide net and as Jay Abraham frequently says, "try to continuously identify and discover new hidden assets in my business." I have to admit it's probably not the most elegant way to do it (it's pretty much throwing stuff at the wall) but hey, it works for me.

One person from this forum who has since disappeared told me during a coaching call when I was working on my SaaS business for real estate agents that I wasn't in the business of SaaS for real estate agents. I was in the real estate industry, period. That's a powerful way to think about it no matter your business because it leads to almost limitless growth and opportunities.

I didn't fully understand it then, but I understand it much better now. I'm not in the business of writing books. I'm in the self-publishing industry, and it encompasses ALL types of publishing (ebooks, paperbacks, audiobooks, video courses, blogs, etc.) as well as ALL types of services and products for people in this industry (services for authors, coaching, physical products for authors, software, and so much more).

Can you see how different it is when I look at it not from the perspective of my skills (no matter if it's something I'm good at and love doing), but from the perspective of casting a wide net in the industry you happened to choose for some reason? Obviously out of all these options I would still pick the ones that fit me best, but I don't think "okay, I won't start a service business for authors because I can't use my skill of writing this way" or "I won't affect the most amount of people in the shortest period of time."

Exactly. I believe too that you shouldn't claim yourself as an expert in anything if you have no results to back it up.

So I was thinking. I will take a few business under my coaching program and charge them nothing. I would focus on getting them real results, whichever they are. This would allow me to:

- Get real world experience.
- Get testimonials to back me up.

Would you like to get coached by a chubby guy (or even just an average-looking dude with average strength) who wants to become a fitness coach but only has basic knowledge about fitness? Free or not, this is not a good proposition. If you want to become a fitness coach, first you have to generate results for yourself. If you want to become a business coach, it's the same.

 

[Andy Black]

When I was working on my SaaS business for real estate agents ... I wasn't in the business of SaaS for real estate agents. I was in the real estate industry, period.

What if you didn't think of yourself as being in the real estate industry either, but in the business of helping people?

(I've just finished a Grant Cardone course on selling and I like his thinking that we should all see ourselves as being in the people business first and foremost. We sell to people, who just happen to be looking for a new house, or trying to sell their house, or trying to help either of the above.)

Haha. I hope I am helping and not muddying the water.

For me, things have become clearer when I put helping people first, ahead of building an XYZ business...



EDIT: "Helping people" = "Solving problems" = "Adding value"

Of course this can be done via entertainment as well.

 

[MTF]

What if you didn't think of yourself as being in the real estate industry either, but in the business of helping people?

Well, it makes sense, though at some point you have to get more specific. That's even more important for a person like me who used to jump from one thing to another every few weeks/months. Telling myself I'm in the X industry makes it easier to stick to it than building something completely new.

 

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[Andy Black]

Well, it makes sense, though at some point you have to get more specific. That's even more important for a person like me who used to jump from one thing to another every few weeks/months. Telling myself I'm in the X industry makes it easier to stick to it than building something completely new.

Gotcha.



My experience has been that people can forget what they are ultimately trying to do, and thereby take their eye off the ball, or miss opportunities to help people in ways they didn't plan to.

I best explained it in the last slide of this presentation:

• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/the-what-why-of-lead-gen.60665

@Tiago ... Sorry for hijacking. I'm hoping this is all helping you.

 

[Tiago]

Would you like to get coached by a chubby guy (or even just an average-looking dude with average strength) who wants to become a fitness coach but only has basic knowledge about fitness? Free or not, this is not a good proposition. If you want to become a fitness coach, first you have to generate results for yourself. If you want to become a business coach, it's the same.

I understand, and this is why I'm struggling a bit too. But on the other hand, we all start somewhere.

And whilst coaching other people, I'll be building my business too, so this goes hand in hand. While generating results for them, I generate results for myself and keep improving based on what works and what doesn't for them.

While I haven't generated any results to my clients, I will not have earned the right to be called an expert. Here in Brazil people don't have much entrepreneur content, and if I get the know-how and bring it to them with positive results, it counts as something.

For example in this last company I learnt a lot about customer development. At first I did it the wrong way, but then researched and found a very effective way to do it. Doesn't this knowledge count as something?

And @Andy Black this is all helping me very much. I appreciate you taking the time to post here!