Can you build a business in one day?

Dear friend,

Is it possible to set up a business and secure the first customer in an afternoon?

The answer is YES.

Today, I will show you how to do it effectively without previous knowledge or skills in three steps.

I will use the case of a personal trainer who works for a gym as an employee and tell you how he or she can get a training business off the ground in a few hours with practical examples.

Keep in mind that the same model can be applied to any case where you can sell some sort of knowledge or skill.

At the end of each step, there will be a questionnaire to test your understanding.

Ready? GO.

STEP 1: Decide on the Right Type of Business

There are roughly two types of businesses: J-curve businesses and service-based businesses.

A J-curve business is when you invest a lot of resources upfront to build an asset like an app. You lose money at the beginning (initial part of the "J") to then make a significant amount of money later on (final part of the "J"). J-curve businesses can be very profitable but require time to take off, months or even years. So, definitely a NO-GO for our intent.

The second type is service-based businesses. These are businesses where you package existing skills or knowledge and sell it to someone, e.g., some sort of consulting. There's little to nothing to build upfront. They can be hard to scale but are easy to set up, which is exactly what our PT needs to get started today.

QUESTIONNAIRE!

What's the best type of business to build if you want to start monetizing today?

1. A J-curve business, e.g., an app

2. A service-based business, e.g., consultations.

STEP 2: Build an MTP

MTP stands for Minimum Viable Product. It's essentially the most basic part of a product or service.

If you could create 1% of your service, what would that be like?

MTPs are good because you can use them to test your service without investing too many resources.

If the product or service doesn't work, you won't lose much.

In the case of our PT, we could get really creative, but I can think of a couple of options...

1. A workout plan template + ongoing support. The PT could sell one of the plans he or she is currently using, offering support via video call or text message once a week.

2. Workout plan + coached gym sessions. Along with the workout plan, the PT could see the client a few times a week, giving live advice (this would obviously be more valuable).

Let's go with option 1.

The PT will use a simple Google Sheet to create the plan's template in a tab and duplicate the same tab for each week or month. Each Google Sheet will then be duplicated for each customer and stored in a "Customers" folder.

Alternatively, they could set up a basic Notion database to share with the customer (It doesn't require tech knowledge but can be a bit slower if you're not familiar with Notion).

As for communicating with the client, the PT could use a WhatsApp Business account (It is paired with a secondary number so you can separate it from your personal account). It's also FREE to use.

As an alternative, Zoom will do for video calls. The video quality is great, and you've got 40 minutes in the free plan.

QUESTIONNAIRE!

How do you get started quickly and safely?

1. You create the full product, cross your fingers, and hope it works.

2. You create 1% of your product (MVP) and test it right away.

STEP 3: Find Customers

Now that you know what to sell, it's time to find your first customers.

Here's where eyebrows raise.

Most influencers will tell you to simply share content on social media and wait for feedback.

This works best if you've already got an audience or some sort of proof that your service works, like customer reviews or testimonials.

In the case of our PT, let's assume they don't have any audience or reviews whatsoever.

At this stage, he'd have a few options.

Option 1: Start posting on social media anyway, hoping someone will turn up. Definitely a great long-term strategy but not good for our purpose.

Option 2: Running paid ads. This could be great and relatively easy to set up (you can kick off a FB ad account in minutes). However, you might need to spend some more time creating pictures and videos to go with the AD that are reasonably compelling.

Option 3: Cold contacts. Our PT could hang around fitness channels on social media, subreddits, or fitness communities, detect people who leave comments there, and message them to advertise her service. It could work, although only with large volumes. Most people would certainly ignore the message.

Option 4: Leveraging an existing network. This is what I'd pick if I were the PT. It's easier to reach out to existing friends or friends of friends. They know you, so there's no need for much social proof. In this case, I would still use a template but try to adjust the message/interaction to make it look more genuine.

Now, one thing to be said for Option 4 is that it tends to work only the first time. You can't certainly test different business ideas with the same network. At some stage, they’ll lose your trust. If that was the case, our PT would be better off with paid ads.

QUESTIONNAIRE!

What's the quickest way to find your first customer?

1. Start posting on social media and waiting.

2. Running paid ads.

3. Sending cold messages to strangers.

4. Leveraging your existing network.

Alright, let's TL;DR this...

You can kick off a service-based business in literally a few hours in three steps.

1. Be clear on the type of business.

2. Create an MVP.

3. Find your first customer.

That's it for today, folks.

I hope this was useful.

Now it's up to you.

You can go back to what you were doing or apply what you've learned today.

Let me know which one you pick and what outcomes it produces.

I'll see you next Saturday.

Yours truly,

N.

Sent while crossing my fingers and waiting for a customer.