Entrepreneurship

When I started out, I didn’t have much money or skills. It was tough to create value. I didn’t have the mindset or skills to get paying clients. I struggled to freelance write in high school, before finally being able to afford a programmer to help build out a software that went on to sell 6 figures, called Keyword Scout.

After that, I decided to push myself to learn to program. Programming not only offered the option to have a steady income from freelancing, but it also gave me an opportunity to create value for clients who didn’t know how to program. It’s a different feeling knowing there are thousands of software ideas out there and they’ll all make me money, as the clients are begging for them.

I no have so many options and opportunities open to me. Any time I want, I can sit down, build out a great product that will turn into a chunk of change. It’s a different feeling when you have such an in demand skill. It gives you so much confidence in your business.

Knowing how to program has now given me the option to hire programmers to work under me, leaving me with the small task of checking over their code for quality and knowing exactly what I’m paying for. In this industry, it’s so easy to get scammed but it’s nice to know that I know what I’m paying for. I can literally pay someone $1200 to build out a software system in 4 weeks, test it and review the code, and turn this system into a 4 figure per month income. When the product creation is handle, that just leaves marketing to me, which I love, and if it’s a good product, it will handle a lot of marketing by itself.

This entire process just leaves it to, getting the idea and validating it by talking to prospective buyers, then writing the spec and hiring the coder. I basically then just review the code and what I’m paying for, and bring it to market. More of my failed products were in the product creation step, but that’s now automated. I’d lose interest after coding for 200 hours when I was only halfway done. I’m motivated but easily distracted to something else.

Selling over Skype, not by calls, but by text messages is something that’s not commonly covered in mainstream selling books or courses.

1. I act like I’m too busy

I’m always super busy and I end up getting even more busy when these customers see I don’t have time for them. When you appear to have a lot of customers, they understand quickly that there’s a reason you’re busy, because you’re customers are happy and your work is in demand.

2. I act like I don’t need their sale

If customers under you don’t desperately need their sale, you must be doing alright and know a few things about what you’re doing.

By accidentally portraying these 2 personalities, I am able to get more sales. This is a perfect example why I believe success breeds success.

3. I offer time sensitive discounts or special offers

Once you offer a deal that is time sensitive and special to their needs, they will be pressured to buy. Once they leave for the day and sleep on the idea, the chance that they’ll come back and want to buy is going to half or less.

Since starting a software company in my teenage years, I’ve come to learn there are a few tips I wish people told me when I was starting. Everyone rants about the same old advice and I just never found it helpful. So here are 7 tips that all new entrepreneurs should know, understand and accept.

1. Stop reading mainstream media

Most articles in mainstream news and magazines are written by journalists, and not the billionaire name that appeared in the headline. The journalists and ghost writers are regular people, and many of them are not all that wealthy. Articles published by Donald Trump were likely written by his assistant or PR team.

2. Read more blogs by rising industry experts

The key is to find someone who specializes in exactly your industry. If you’re trying to learn about SEO, you don’t want to listen to a guy who goes on about all tech news, you want an internet marketer who lives and breathes SEO. You also don’t want someone who is overly successful because the chance that they are taking the time to write their own blog posts gets slimmer as they get more popular.

3. Concentrate on yourself and no one else

People often worry and compare themselves to others. “What was Bill Gates doing at my age? Am I on track?” Don’t worry about him. Your parents are different than his. Your entire life is different and shouldn’t be built to mimic his. Instead develop the ignorance he had to ignore everyone else and focus on his goals and dreams.

4. Focus on one project, and don’t worry about the rest

Everyone has 5 ideas, or 10. You don’t need 5 to be successful. You need one executed to the very end to be successful. You don’t need a backup plan and you don’t need to execute 2 plans at once. Make your one project work, regardless how much you lose interest. That being said, your idea may be bad and in that case, you should ask some of the most successful people that you know personally if they can share their thoughts on your idea.

5. Understand an idea is worth nothing

Stop worrying about getting people to sign an NDA agreement. 99% of the people who are capable of executing your idea better than you don’t care and don’t need ideas. We have our own, lots of them. There’s no such thing as an “idea” person unless you have a multi-million dollar track record and can vision everything from product development to marketing and growth hacking. You need to be good at sales or development. There’s no “idea guy” position needed.

6. Don’t cut corners

For example, when you are comparing designers to build out your website, don’t go for the half price guy who hardly has a track record. You need to put as much quality into your product as possible. If it’s a software product, you user interface and your code needs to be perfect. It should be enjoyable to use and it should work well. In this age, the most powerful form of marketing is word of mouth. Just get a few clients on board, and get them to like your product. If you can’t find 2 people who want to buy your product, then it’s probably a bad idea and you shouldn’t develop it. However, once you develop that product, get them onboard and impress them. If your product is as well built as they hoped, they will spread it to their industry friends.

7. Listen to your customers

Your first 10 customers are essential to how your company will proceed. You need to listen to their feedback and advice because at this point, you are suffering from tunnel vision and know exactly where you want to take your product, even if where you’re taking it isn’t where your customers want it to go. Listen to their feedback and be open to criticism. Promote and reward their feedback. Fulfilling their demands early on will save you from a lot of headaches later on.