Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Feargal Byrne
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
2010
LostJobStartBusiness.com
1
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
Foreword:
Losing your job is a stressful and difficult time in your
life. Your ego has taken a bashing, and your self
confidence is at an all time low. You are starting to
question why you spent all those years at university,
learning a trade or working your way up an
organization's hierarchy.
! It's strange when all you have believed, in the
past, seems to have let you down. Right now, you have
two choices 1) wallow in self pity and 2) do something
about it. Think about it, this is actually an opportunity
for you. The opportunity cost of starting a business has
decreased dramatically.
! You now have the chance to step out of the
worker drone rut that you have been in for so many
years, and step up to the next level. That next level is
moving from being an employee to becoming an
entrepreneur.
! Who is going to save the economy? Who is
going to create jobs? Who will make society better?
The answer is you. As an entrepreneur, you are the true
economic superhero. Be creative, be innovative and
figure out a business model that works in the modern
economy. You have the power. Sitting around and
waiting for others to do something is not enough. You
have got to act. There has never been a better time to
start a business. Costs have come down. Highly skilled
workers who have also lost their jobs in multinationals
are now available to growing start-ups.
! Remember, keep motivated because everyone
needs you to succeed. Even if they don’t know it yet.
You see, start-ups are the true spark for economic
recovery and you hold the spark stick.
Feargal Byrne
2
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
It's a Marathon 18
3
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
Chapter 5: Marketing 42
4
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
5
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
6
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
7
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
9
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
for. The are just up for the challenge. Are you one of
these people? Are you an entrepreneur?
! To make a comparison, working for somebody
else is like living in a modern city. You have roads,
running water, communications and electricity. Not to
mention buildings, fast food, public transport, police
and many other things that we all take for granted. On
the other hand, entrepreneurs are the trailblazers who
founded the city. They built the first shelter, organized
the first road, set up the local political system etc.
Everyone who lives in the modern city owes it to the
original founder. Everyone who works for a large
business owes it to the original entrepreneur.
! It’s all well and good saying that you have the
entrepreneurial spirit. Are you prepared to learn the
skills needed to be a trailblazer? You got to be able to
hunt for yourself, find water, build improvised shelter,
navigate without sat-nav. As you can see, it’s a different
skill set than modern living. Likewise entrepreneurship
requires a different skill set than working in a large
organization. You must be prepared to adapt both your
workstyle and your lifestyle when you become an
entrepreneur.
! Here are some questions that if you answer yes
11
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
As you can see it's not a walk in the park but the
journey is fun and the rewards are astounding.
12
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
13
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
14
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
15
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
16
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
17
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
It's a Marathon
Starting up is like running a marathon. It’s not a sprint.
The success of your new business depends on what
happens in the long term. This is critically important to
how you make decisions. It’s always tempting to sprint.
To take the shortest route. To make choices that will
benefit you now but have negative repercussions the
future. Sustainability is key. Investors will recognize if
your decisions can be sustained into the future and
therefore keep producing worthwhile returns.
18
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
19
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
20
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
21
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
23
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
24
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
25
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
28
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
29
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
31
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
32
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
34
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
38
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
plan.
! In general, I agree with the new consensus that
you should write your business plan on a 10-15 slide
deck with notes.
! The more you can back up your assumptions
with hard evidence of actual conversion rates, cost per
customer acquisition, positive product reviews by
industry experts and glowing customer testimonials the
better your business plan will be. In other words, if
your plan is packed with real world evidence, you have
a great chance of getting investment.
! However, the same amount of background work
goes into a plan in this format. The difference is that
you don’t have to spend two weeks writing, formatting
and proofing a massive document that will never be
read in it’s entirety. See, as a start-up entrepreneur who
requires investment to scale, your job is to make
investing in your business a no brainer.
! Think about it, the easier you make it for
investors to understand your business the better the
chance that they will invest. It has been proven that
business plans are not as important as they are made out
to be. Research from University of Maryland’s
Business School shows this. Your business plan is not
40
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
41
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
Chapter 5: Marketing
42
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
43
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
44
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
45
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
the job for free. All you have to do is be, as Seth Godin
would say, “remarkable.” "
! The important thing is to be remarkable with
meaning. This is the most critical component in your
marketing mix. By achieving this you will get
maximum leverage with any other marketing tactic you
use on top of this base.
! Being remarkable and comment worthy is only
the first step. However, it’s probably the most crucial.
! When you get early adopters to use your
product (beta, prototype etc.) listen to what they have to
say. If they make suggestions not only are they helping
you improve your product but they are also telling you
how to press their “word of mouth” button. The
chances are that if you implement their suggestions
successfully they will tell all of their friends, blog about
you, social bookmark you, review you and so on.
48
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
49
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
52
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
53
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
56
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
57
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
They are holding off for a 200 million dollar offer. You
as the entrepreneur would have been more than happy
to take the 20 million dollar exit but you can’t because
you signed the term sheet with the VC.
! Look, when you get investment from a VC just
remember that you must conform to their investment
strategy. Be aware of this from the start. Remember,
that it’s all about the return on investment.
60
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
61
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
62
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
63
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
64
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
69
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
70
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
73
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
Entrepreneur: Okay.
74
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
75
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
78
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
79
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
81
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
82
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
84
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
85
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
86
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
88
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
89
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
91
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
End Note
Starting a business is an exciting and rewarding
experience. It requires that you step out of your comfort
zone. It enables you to move away from the restrictions
of playing the game by someone else’s rules and
instead write the rule book yourself.
! It’s a process that is the most important
component in an economic recovery. Right now, I
believe that there has never been a better time to start-
up. The combination of technology and lower start-up
costs mixed with global communications make
bootstrapped business models that offer high returns
possible. I hope that this ebook will help you along the
way. If you embrace entrepreneurship wholeheartedly,
the day you lost your job could be the best day of your
life.
92
The Rebound:: LostJobStartBusiness.com
Twitter: LJSBusiness
93