Startup 101- What You Need to Start Your Business

You must consider three things.

You must consider your purpose, passion and end game.
Your purpose is what's the purpose behind why you are starting your small business?
Try asking yourself is it your passion? Is it you -- your passion driving you?
What is your end game? You need to know that as you are starting a business you also need to have an
endgame strategy whether it is handing it off to somebody in your family, selling it, whatever it looks like.
You need to be prepared.

Let's talk about your business. I like to ask this next question, says who? Who says it's a great idea? Every
startup has a story. I'm asking you what is your story? What story are you bringing to the masses that
provides a solution to the struggles we go through everyday facts --? What makes it different? It needs to be
compelling. Emotion sells. What is your real story behind it? Every startup has a story and be careful who
you listen to on whether or not it's a good idea

Business plan 101. You can do it. Your plan needs to be simple. You have a speak idea, now let's put it all in
writing. Remember great authors don't write a book in a day. They take time out of each and every day to
think about what it is they want to accomplish and what that chapter looks like and what each paragraph
looks like on each word that's written. Keep it simple, don't overthink it and have the grant vision but you
need to put it down on paper.

Data beats emotion 100% of the time.

The reality is just because we are emotionally attached to something, you have to study the data. You have to
understand why certain businesses in your community are failing and why some are thriving.

Let's go hunting for research. What do you do? Whatever it is, scope out the industry you want to become
passionate and a leader in. Interview your competition. I do it all the time. I will call them, and I will not
necessarily tell them I'm launching a competitor across the street from them but I'm going to interview them.
I walked in and sat down with the CEOs of many small businesses, midsize and large and what -- asked them
what their biggest fears are and what are you not able to solve that you wish you could. I also interview their
customers. If you know the type of business you want to run in and you know the type of customer you are
searching for, interview them. Find out from the customer's point of view what's the weak spot? What do you
wish people could improve, what do you think would make life easier for customers, so on and so forth.
Places to find valuable information include -- this is my top choice, the library. Why do I say the library? I'm
talking about your city library. The libraries have all the tools that you need to find all your research. Often
times when I want something I typically will walk to the local city library a few blocks away for me in
beautiful Boise, Idaho , and I will sit at a table for hours reading various research indexes, looking for
opportunity that is there and the library's job is to be the knowledge center. Please use your library.
My talk about the library they have all the tools in terms of internet, computers and so on which means it
falls in line with what I'm adding onto this. The U.S. Census Bureau, industry associations, all necessary and
critical. I also love the tool IBISWorld and if you can visit your local college or university, go into the
business department and tell them what you are trying to do. I've been able to get access to IBISWorld and
universities have a wealth of knowledge in terms of furthering my knowledge base on what it is I'm trying to
launch. This is part of the research that you need to do for your business plan to help you understand whether
or not the idea you have is measurable, necessary, and if you can actually launch it. And what does that look
like?

Research allows you the opportunity to size up your competition and with that comes my little break. I call it
bright idea

1. I want you to go into stealth mode. Visit websites of your competition, put yourself on email lists. I do it
all the time. Read articles written about them, sign up for the of it -- email alerts about search terms of your
choice on Google News. Study the information, deconstruct it, break it down look --, look at Dun &
Bradstreet and InfoUSA for alliance revelations. Bottom line, find their weakness. Every company no matter
the size has at least one and there are additional sources there and I will talk about IBISWorld. You have to
do research and understand what you are getting into because starting a small business on average right now
it depends on what you're trying to do.

How do I take my kitchen table idea and determine if it's a sustainable idea? More portly, be different. By
breaking -- importantly, be different. By breaking away from everyone else and going after opportunity,
What can you do differently as an entrepreneur or small business owner to make your bakery stand out? Get
involved in your community.

By seeking customer validation you must be willing to get out of your comfort zone and share your idea with
your potential customer. We are back into focusing and get it on paper. I want you to find customer
validation. You must be willing to get out of your comfort zone. I want you to get out and go talk to people.
Ask them would you eat this? Would you try this? You have to be social. Get out there and talk and more
importantly, cast a net. Even if your product is not ready. I'm not kidding. Remember you need to determine
and be very clear on who your customers are. You don't have time to waste on marketing to those that are
not. The only way to do that is getting validation. You won't be successful by saying everyone is a potential
customer.

How do you find and understand the right customer base?

You need to identify who your customer is and look at demographics. Age, gender, religion, financial etc.
interests, activities, opinions, values and behavioral traits. I want you to do a quick exercise. Write down
three personas of your customer. Who is your customer? The more niche you can become, the better. Think
about that. If you our high-end women's clothing your target audience should be or should look like maybe
women 45 to 60 , their job is CEO or vice president of the Corporation. Their interests can be anything from
the arts to being active in the outdoors. They have successful winning habits. Those are things you should be
thinking about. Write down three personas of your ideal customer. Why do I care? It will bring you peace of
mind and most importantly validation.

You can only think like you and your circle of influence. You never see a bald eagle with a group of turkeys,
do you know what I mean? I think about that often. If you are looking to separate yourself, open up a
business, be successful and win at this. Become one of the winners. You have to think about your circle of
influence.

I do mixed business plan and it's this right here. Remember I talked about casting a net? What is that net?
That net to me is knowledge. We thrive, we look to seek knowledge. We should always be looking to better
ourselves no matter what the industry is but you even have to learn how to do things you don't want to do.
Get familiar with WordPress, learn what it means to build a landing page. That landing page can be the
beginning of your product sales.

Build a funnel. Typically, I see a billboard and I think I wonder how much money they wasted on that?
Where the money at is providing or building a sales funnel. This is another opportunity for you to create
validation. Create a site that shows what you are doing and get them by providing a free newsletter. If you fill
out this information you ask for their email and if you are bold ask for a number. If they fill it out and sign
up, I'm sending you a free cup of coffee, coffee shop. It took you two seconds to fill it out and you get a five-
dollar coffee but more importantly you get them coming into your store. And for the experience. From there
you can start sending them emails. They give you permission to have that information and data and you can
send the discounts and specials. You can send them emotional stories of how your business changed
somebody else's life. Even if it was a cup of coffee. Think about that. Think about what you can do and what
you can send these people when you have them. Once you capture them and put them in your system and
upload them so that you are sending content regularly whether it is what you are doing on Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn -- however you want to share that , you have them for life until they opt out and it's your job to keep
them in. Gives you validation. It gives you growth potential. Offer them crazy services. If you are and
consulting it started -- starting a business by yourself, what is it you can get them for free? Something
tangible. What is it you can do to capture people, capture leads and to get them to become lifetime customers
because that's where the money is at. That's why I think this kind of strategy beats a billboard or clicking on
the open sign and hoping someone comes in and you have no idea how to make a website. I'm still learning
and I hated it but it's the best knowledge resource I gained because at any given moment whether I'm
watching a football game on a Sunday or them doing something with my kids and they are outplaying on
trampolines and I'm sitting there watching them, I can get on my device and change the verbiage in a section
-- section because I took the time to learn. So many people today who request help for mentoring want their
handheld when it comes to launching a business. You can't do that. You have to go all in. You have to get
into the weeds and dig in deep. Get in the mud and figure out where the gold is at. That starts with getting
creative but doing the work behind it. A lot less talk and more action. That's what I truly see that needs to go
on today. Get creative.

When I talk about that of course I'm also talking about the power of technology. I want you to measure your
validation by seeing how people respond to your facial media -- social media posts. Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram -- icy questions if those are all necessary? Service related I would be in on all
of them for sure. I would not be dabbling in LinkedIn if I'm doing hair care or nails or food but I would be all
over Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. What about community sites? I cannot stress enough to you the
importance of sending out press releases whether it is weekly, biweekly, monthly. You have to have your
name in front of the press to some degree. Some writer at your local paper needs to get something from you
whether it is you growing your business, you going out in the community and doing something, you need to
get the word out and you're gonna think nobody wants to hear a story of me visiting a shelter and helping
somebody out with a haircut or whatever. Do you want to bet? News stations and places -- papers,
magazines, -- they are sometimes short on stories and they will take yours up. I get requests all the time for
this or that. Get out there and get writing. Utilize your tools to find the answer. You have to take the time. I
used to take an hour out of every day to write a blog and post on my LinkedIn for the world to see because
my startup at the time was resonating with people on LinkedIn. There's nothing wrong with that. I had so
much response from my LinkedIn it just blew up and I went from the -- 3000 connections to now over 30,000
connections in just under 36 months. You will do the same thing. You just have to get the news out . Don't
rely on one source of the other. For those going from print, good because I'm the blue fish swimming the
other direction going after print and they are utilizing me. Validation is the first step.

Now let's purify your business idea. It's time to go back and speed date. Get face-to-face. You may be
offering a certain service but figure out what you give away while you are interviewing people in another
town. Use some gas and go out of town . You need to talk to 100 people. I'm passing that on to you. It's a
challenge. Is 100 people. If you talk to 100 people after this presentation, and then you go visit your local
SCORE chapter and get mentoring there and email me that you got your idea validated from 100 people, I
will send you my 30/60/90 day plan to get you more structure behind your idea. Make note of that right now.
Talk to 100, visit your local SCORE chapter or find a mentor online and start having a session or two, and
message me. I am a SCORE mentor and you can email me and find me there. Message me that you done that,
and I will send you the 30/60/90 plan. Fair enough? I'm forcing you to go talk to people.

Here is the why. What else needs to be done besides validation? You. You need to know it's a good idea. You
can test the waters, but until you have the validation that it's all okay and you can jump in and there's nothing
around you, go for it, it gives you the confidence of shooting for the moon.

Bright idea 2,
Right here, right now. I'm waiting. I want you to write a paragraph explaining to me what your businesses.
Once you have completed that I want you to shred it and start over. You can send me a picture and have them
posted on the Twitter feed of you shredding your paragraph of what your business is . I want you to start
over. I want you to rewrite your business idea again, only this time it is capped at three sentences. You have
three sentences to tell me what your idea is work if I can't get it in three sentences, you need to start over.
After that shred it again. Emailed me or two sentence description of what your businesses. You should be
able to explain your business and less than an elevator ride from floor 1 to floor 2. I shouldn't have to ask you
what makes you different or how ? I shouldn't have that question of what if. You should give it to me in such
a format that I go I get exactly what they are doing and I get exactly what they are going after and it is
solving this problem. That is your bright idea 2. Get to work.

A great tool to utilize for your research is the business model canvas. There are numerous sites, books and
videos defining your value curve. Look at those sites, books and videos and get researching. What is a value
curve? What is a business model canvas? Start filling it out. Now it's time to put it all together. You have the
business plan and next is the pitch. This is a purified version of your business plan. Some people I've seen a
business plan over 100 pages and a pitch deck is top 10 slides. Big, bold, powerful words. Big, meaningful,
powerful words with bright images. That is your pitch. You can send that to banks and investors. Through all
this you will discover it tells your story and creates peace of mind for you.

Bright idea 3, create instant credibility for your company. Get on your LinkedIn and find five of the most
amazing people in your industry that you would love to connect with. That if you could picture anyone in this
world to talk to who would that be and I'm not kidding you. Consider this your dream team of advisors.
When I opened up a tax business, I came up with an idea and an industry that is aging obviously, and I went
after it with some investment money. I spoke with one investor who was highly successful and when I say
highly successful, there were three commas in his checking account. He said you have a fantastic idea, but
you are going to fail because you are by yourself. Here's what I want you to do instead. I want you to get on
your LinkedIn profile and that that hot -- time I had about 300 connections. He said what I want you to do is
find your dream team. If you can imagine anybody to be your partner, find them and reach out to them. Send
-- spend the time to get introduced and reach out. I left there in shock. There was no way I was going to get
guys to want to help me. I may start up small business in a very small town , no one wants to listen to me. It
took me a little over 400 emails to 400 different people but I got six after two weeks. Six people came on
board and the six people that came on board I couldn't of asked for a better team. Their combined net worth --
I shouldn't say network. I should say I knew of companies they sold and made money over -- off of had over
1 billion available but these guys are willing -- all over the world -- I would email them specific questions
once a month and they would answer. It proved powerful to me. I want you to do that. When you find five,
connect and shoot me a message and I will help you land those phish.

So far you have nailed down your idea and put together a business plan and pitch:. What can you do right
now? Let's name that business and get educated. You can tell a lot about a company in their creativity by the
name on their front door. Think about that for a second. You want to choose a name that will last and if
possible, embody your core values and distinguishing characteristics. No longer names check first with state
websites, they are checked first through domain opportunities. Somebody had two companies and we did not
like the concept behind it and the domain name and literally over a matter of 10 minutes we wanted to
rename the companies and we spent our entire time on Go Daddy or Blue Post or what other services are out
there and we looked to name our companies off of domains that were available..com is the most powerful by
far. That is the best approach. Here's a strong suggestion, take a large piece of paper and including your
friends and family, share with them your purified pitch, what it looks like , what it possibly could look like
and have them quickly and almost work like speed, quickly throw out names. Kids come up with the craziest
things. If all else fails, hold a public naming contest and publish the winning name so long as it is not Boaty
McBoatface. If that doesn't work, I've done this, it will -- as well. Is at a fifth-grade class and ask for help.
Kids love this, teachers love this and it gives them a break. Asked them what does the name mean to you --
them. We all know the story about the Nike logo. They paid under hundred dollars and an art student came up
with it on a last-minute homework assignment. Anything else to naming your idea? Absolutely. When you
have a special name for your business did the second most exciting thing and get a quick logo made to show
yourself and those you care about your endeavor that you are serious. This helps you with focus, clarity and
motivation. Put on a canvas and put it on your wall and now you feel like you are going to work.
We talk about building a website. Make sure you update your website consistently with seasonal images,
photos and information. Obviously clothing images on your homepage in the summer need to be different
than what is going on in North Dakota in the wintertime. Just keep that in mind. Have IT support ready and
make sure the payment process is working. At a newsletter. Have a landing page for them . If they fill out the
information they get 20% off and the coupon is good for two days or three days. Whatever it is. Right an e-
book. You need to become the knowledge leader in your industry of what you are trying to do. Give it away.
Absolutely given away. Free merchandise. Help customers find you. Encourage customers to write online
reviews. Yelp and Google reviews -- you have to have good reviews. People have -- look at reviews. Get
people writing. Get extraordinary. Think beyond your needs.

The elephant in the room is funding. When we talk about funding I'm not going to give you resources. Is
plenty of them out there. What I wanted to talk about is how can you get more creative? Do you really need a
lease? How can I get a loan? You can visit a local SCORE chapter in they can give you those resources and
tools. Can I do a Kickstarter or Crowdfunder? Absolutely but you better have a very compelling story and
video to go with it. When I like to share is I was working with a restaurant that wanted to start up. It was a
launch and I knew the steakhouses in time would not open up until 3 PM. A negotiated with the steakhouses
can we borrow your kitchen to test new ideas? They loved it. They wanted other restaurants to succeed so
they opened a kitchen from 9 AM to noon and gave them three hours and they could have it if it -- as if it was
their own. The steakhouse helped promote it and they were successful and it launched. That is getting
creative. Can you get creative? Do you truly need a lease? Think about that for a second. With all that said,
we have come basically to an overwhelming conclusion. Feel free -- you see my email address right there.
Email me, follow me on Twitter, reach out on LinkedIn . I'm available.

If you want that 30/60/90 I want validation and you went into a SCORE chapter. If you want me to send
you a goal you should achieve every day in January, that gets you to launching your business, you have to
visit a SCORE chapter in December in order to participate in January. I need to know who was your mentor
and I need to know that you are ready to go because what I can do for you is send you an assignment, a task
to do every day in January to get your business launched. That is my holiday gift for you.

Resources to consider , I cannot stress the importance of visiting a SCORE chapter. Sign up for email
mentoring and find someone you can relate with. We all have different experiences and there's over 10,000 of
us out there and we are all experts at something. Get familiar with the business model and keep -- seek
knowledge and read the latest trends. These are books I like to read. Anything about separating yourself from
competition would be fantastic and beneficial. Don't forget to attend events like these. Start up Weekend,
Start up Grind. Get in there and don't be afraid to share. With that said I will turn it over for Q&A. Feel free
to ask away.