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November 14 - November 29, 2017
If I needed money, I learned to think in terms of how I could get what I needed by making something and selling it, not by cutting costs elsewhere or working for someone else. This distinction was critical, because most budgets start by looking at income and then defining the available choices. I did it differently—starting with a list of what I wanted to do, and then figuring out how to make it happen.
value is created when a person makes something useful and shares it with the world.
convergence represents the intersection between something you especially like to do or are good at doing (preferably both) and what other people are also interested in.
To succeed in a business project, especially one you’re excited about, it helps to think carefully about all the skills you have that could be helpful to others and particularly about the combination of those skills.
Passion or skill + usefulness = success
You just need a product or service, a group of people willing to pay for it, and a way to get paid. This can be broken down as follows: 1.Product or service: what you sell 2.People willing to pay for it: your customers 3.A way to get paid: how you’ll exchange a product or service for money
“Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” This might be a good idea for hungry fishermen, but it’s usually a terrible idea in business. Most customers don’t want to learn how to fish.
Above all else, the V6 Ranch is selling happiness.
Where Do Ideas Come From?
An inefficiency in the marketplace.
New technology or opportunity.
A changing space.
A spin-off or side project.
a.How would I get paid with this idea? b.How much would I get paid from this idea? c.Is there a way I could get paid more than once?
Value means helping people. If you’re trying to build a microbusiness and you begin your efforts by helping people, you’re on the right track. When you get stuck, ask yourself: How can I give more value? Or more simply: How can I help my customers more?
Freedom and value have a direct relationship: You can pursue freedom for yourself while providing value for others.
More than anything else, value relates to emotional needs. Many business owners talk about their work in terms of the features it offers, but it’s much more powerful to talk about the benefits customers receive. A feature is descriptive; a benefit is emotional.
Strategy 1: Dig Deeper to Uncover Hidden Needs
Strategy 2: Make Your Customer a Hero
Strategy 3: Sell What People Buy
“If you make your business about helping others, you’ll always have plenty of work.”
Value means “helping people.” Our unexpected entrepreneurs discovered that when they focused on providing value above all else, their businesses were successful.
(Passion + skill) → (problem + marketplace) = opportunity
Style with substance = impact
Price your product or service in relation to the benefit it provides, not the cost of producing it. 2.Offer customers a limited range of prices. 3.Get paid more than once for the same thing.
If you grow your traffic a little and also increase your conversion rate a little while also increasing the average sales price a little…your business grows a lot.
John Jantsch wrote a great book called The Referral Engine, which is all about creating a systemized process for encouraging referrals. Highly recommended.
“I used to be afraid to fail. I wanted concrete numbers telling me that we weren’t going to lose before I took the leap. But if nobody was going to die, even in the absolute worst-case scenario, then what the hell was I so afraid of? I’ve never looked back.”
The most important lesson in the whole book: Don’t waste your time living someone else’s life.
