What is the one thing that stops many potential entrepreneurs from chasing their dreams?
Money.
Not everyone can secure a business loan — or wants to put his or her personal assets on the line — and the majority of startups never receive a dime from VCs.
Dreams die daily because of a lack of funds. I was recently speaking to a friend of mine who wants to open her own hair salon. She is great at what she does — and with her experience I am certain she will be a very successful entrepreneur. So, what is stopping her? About $20,000.
She talked about bringing on an investor and I quickly shot that idea down. Within 10 minutes I laid out a plan to help her raise the $20,000 she would need to start her business. These are the steps I outlined for her, which can easily be applied to any business idea — they are universal.
1. Identify what value you can bring to the table.
My friend, Sarah, is extremely talented. She knows hair. Her portfolio is massive and includes work on many high profile movies and modeling projects. We quickly identified what value she can bring: knowledge and expertise in the hair industry.
Sarah is accomplished in the industry and her biggest value is everything that she has learned along the way. Most entrepreneurs want to start a business in an industry they have success in, so chances are that your expertise and personal knowledge will always be your biggest asset.
2. Identify who you can provide this value to.
Once you establish what value you can provide you need to identify who is the ideal target to “sell” this value to. After a few minutes of brainstorming Sarah and I found a small niche that she…