![10 Things I Wish I Had Known Before I Started My Business [Part 1]](https://www.amyselbach.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/3.jpg)
Before the holidays take over, I wanted to start this 3 part series to share with you some of the lessons I have learned over the years as an entrepreneur and am still learning today. These are all the things I WISH someone had told me back then that would have saved me endless blood, sweat and tears.
*Note please excuse typos, run ons, and stream of consciousness style writing. I am in between Mashed potato and pie making for American thanksgiving tomorrow. So this may not be pretty (better done than perfect, right?).
I LOVE to help you with whatever I can to lessen your load and make the journey of entrepreneurship more of a joy than a grind.
Today and over the course of the next couple weeks. I want to open this newsletter up to being an INTERACTIVE experience rather than a passive reading experience for you. In conjunction with this series for the next 3 weeks, I’d like to offer the opportunity to HIT REPLY and ask me ANYTHING. If I can answer the question I will and if not I will reach out to my network of resources and find out who can. At the end, I will answer your questions in a webinar you will all be invited to.
Ok so let’s get to these HARD FOUGHT lessons that I wish I had known when I started out as an Entrepreneur 13 years ago (some of these methods didn’t even exist back then).
I grouped these 3 tips today together because they are ALL what I call “Quick Start” strategies.
1. You can start ANY business in ANY industry with a lead magnet and a landing page, and a small email list OR your own personal network and contacts.
If you can only afford, one piece of software in your business I recommend leadpages.net and mailchimp to get started. Websites can get you stuck in the weeds for weeks and you can do SO much with simple landing pages and a simple payment page at first.
2. Don’t wait until everything is perfect to sell your first product or service. Most people wait WAAAAAAY too long to sell something. As long as you know you can deliver a product or service with integrity, you can PRE-SELL before it’s in the final iteration.
This sounds simple but here is what I mean. I am not a total risk taker. I like to be sure what I am doing has a proven path to success. The only way to know this is to try on a small scale first, test and validate. If you can sell to a few people relatively easily, chances are you can sell to many with a little effort (scale).
When I opened my studio business in Kenya, before I invested in a build-out and a commercial lease, I built a test studio in my garage to test and validate the concept first. Once it was successful there, I knew it would work on a larger scale and I felt confident making the investment.
In my online business, I sold my first courses before I even had a website up. Here is how I did that. I emailed my current contacts and told them what I was doing and offered it to them first. I set up a simple landing page with a payment link. I sent them 5 emails over the course of a week with the details of the course. Just when I thought no one would buy, 7 people signed up and my first $4000 was made in that week. (If you don’t have a list, I can help you with a strategy to get one. )
3. In order to SELL, you need to communicate and follow up 10X than you think or what feels comfortable to you at first.
I used to get SOOO discouraged if my audience didn’t respond to my emails right away but you have to remember people are busy and they FORGET. If you can truly serve someone with what you have to offer, be bold.
If people are not interested, they will let you know and you can read the signs. The BEST thing about email content marketing is that the UNSUBCRIBE button does this for you!
Welcome unsubscribes. They tell you who your audience isn’t and that is liberation for you to speak only to the people who truly get what you have to offer.
I know my tribe encompasses people from all over the world, but if you are here in the U.S. and celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow. Have an amazing one!
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