How To Choose Which Business To Start?

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1:05If you're sitting on three business ideas and can't pick, or maybe you have no ideas for your next business, this episode is for you. Here's today's biggest takeaway right from the top. Choosing the right business is not about the perfect idea, all right? It's about providing exceptional value using your existing skills and experiences that you already have to people in a way and in a product that people want. So you're leveraging your skills and experiences with a product that people actually need. And we're going to talk about how to implement all that in today's episode. But that's really the whole answer.

1:39We're going to talk about how to actually implement this strategy in today's episode. As today is Q &A Wednesday, we had a question from one of our listeners. And I have with me my co-founder, my executive producer of the podcast, and my wife, Nicole Baldino. Nicole, welcome. Hey, I'm happy to be here. I'm excited for today's question because I think it's one that people are quietly stuck on.

2:04Welcome back to the$100 MBA show. I'm your host, Omar Zinhome, where I deliver practical business lessons three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help you start, grow, and scale your business. If this show has helped in any way, it would be amazing if you could drop us a quick review on whatever app you're using to listen to this podcast right now. It helps me and my team bring new episodes every week. And more importantly, more entrepreneurs will be able to discover our podcast so you can help someone else start their journey. Thanks so much. Today's question comes from Grace. Grace asks, I really want to start a business, but I keep going back and forth on what it should be.

2:46How do I actually decide which business to start? Wow. Omar, where do you even begin with this one? Grace, I really love this question because most people skip this concept. I'm also very fascinated by this concept of a lot of us, we do a lot of long-term things with very little time to decide those things. So for example, a lot of us, we took maybe a couple of weeks, a month to decide our major in university. And it wasn't like a dedicated month. It was like here or there. And then we spend four years studying that subject. So it's actually a good idea to spend a little time, a little more time than it feels a a little bit comfortable to make a solid decision before you start a business so that you invest the next three, four, five years, 10 years on the right thing.

3:32But more importantly, this is something I talk about a lot here on the podcast, and that is business is hard. I don't like to sugarcoat it. It's challenging, especially your first one. And with your first business, you're going to make mistakes. We all make mistakes when we're learning something for the first time. You You pay what I call an ignorance fee, right? You have to pay it off. There's a cost to learning things that you just can't learn without experiencing it, without actually doing it. And it's unavoidable. Everyone pays this fee. So my goal isn't to avoid difficulty, right? My goal here is to give you some advice to increase your likelihood of success as much as possible, to stack the deck in your favor as much as possible so that your business can survive your learning curve, right?

4:16Despite the fact this is going to be hard and despite the fact that you're going to be making mistakes, it's good enough to sustain itself and move beyond all those kind of challenges. So the right choice, the right business doesn't make it easy, but it makes it survivable. It makes it worth your while. It makes it easier for you to be able to stay in this business to see some success. We love a good framework. So I want to give one of my favorite frameworks when it comes to deciding which business you should start, whether this is your first business or even your next business. It's a three-part framework that I believe these three elements are critical for you to be able to succeed in this business.

4:54So we're going to stack these three because all three of them are going to really just till things just enough for you to be successful if you have everything right. So element one of this framework is you want to leverage the skills and the experiences you already have. not the skills you plan to learn, not a skill that you're hoping that you can learn through a course or some coaching before you start your business, or talk about something that you're already doing, something you're already getting paid for. And we all have some skills that we've picked up, whether it's in school, whether it's in our jobs right now, in our careers, even if it was just for part-time work.

5:29I did some telemarketing when I was in university, which was a part-time job, and I was selling long-distance services. That was back in the day when that was separate. It was with MCI. And I learned a lot of sales skills. So I can leverage some of those skills in a business. So my point here is that you don't have to start from scratch. You're not starting from scratch. You're starting with things that you already have, things you have attained. You just want to parlay those into something that you want to build. I think part of the exercise of that time that you were talking about investing in the thinking phase could be spent just even listing those skills.

6:02I remember early on when we were starting out and I was trying to carve out my way into the business, what role I would, you know, fulfill and what the business needed. I remember doing this exercise where I listed all the things that I had done, whether it was volunteer work, part time jobs, my career, you know, as a teacher, all the skills that that brought with it, with teaching. And then I think I did this other exercise where I asked you or a friend. This is such a long time ago. What are my strengths? What are my strengths? What do you know me for? What am I good at? And I think just spending time listing and it kind of brings you back to all the things that you've done that you've forgotten about.

6:43I recalled like a summer job that I had done taking a bunch of students from who'd come from Japan on a tour around Sydney and, you know, interspersed with like English lessons. I was like, oh, that's a little bit of tool guiding there that I'd totally forgotten I had done. Yeah. Whether that's a skill that I would then parlay into a business is a different story. But you start to see then some threads and commonalities. But it's good just to dump it all and then you can decide later. You know that this happens. And sometimes we undervalue ourselves. We don't really highlight some of these smaller kind of experiences that actually can augment our ability to do well in business.

7:16And just to kind of be really meta, we can use the example of this podcast as all three elements are hit. And if you kind of reverse engineer our success of this podcast and our business, The$100 MBA, it's because of these three elements. And the first element we're going to talk about is, you know, leveraging skills. So here at the$100 MBA on the podcast, we do a lot of teaching. And a lot of people know that know my story. I was an educator for over 12 years in this classroom. I literally taught five days a week, five lessons a day for over a decade. So like I have a lot of reps of taking ideas, concepts, boiling them down to the simplest form and trying to communicate them to my students.

7:53My job, my paycheck depended on it. So I got really good at that. So using the skill of teaching really helps me have some sort of advantage in this world of podcasting, in the world of business education. Element number two, and that is to serve a market or a group of people you genuinely understand. Ideally, you're a member of this group. You understand the lingo. You understand their needs. You understand their wants. You understand them because you are them. And this really helps because this gives you a bit of an unfair advantage of people trying to come from outside a market and try to understand their needs.

8:30They're going to really be relatable. People get you because you get them. And this is why I believe with this podcast that we were able to kind of resonate with our audiences because we're business builders as well. We built our software company for 10 years and shared the journey as we're building this podcast. We understand how to be a beginner. Like one of the things I really try to tap into and every time we do an episode is what it's like to be a listener. And I try as much as possible never to forget the struggle of getting traction, the joy of getting your first customer, your first sale, all these milestones you have to go through in the business journey.

9:02And we understand business people because we're around them all the time. All our friends are entrepreneurs. We understand the lingo. We understand that there are really no days off, constantly thinking about it. All these little nuances really make you understood and you understand who you're serving. And it's almost like what companies do when they go into market research or conducting surveys. I guess also to a certain point, running interviews and customer interviews. It's almost a way to fast track getting that information because you're already in it. You speak the language, you understand the vocabulary, you understand where people are coming from.

9:35You're seeing things from their perspective without having to do this kind of formalized outside research. It's not only quicker, but one of the things I want to emphasize is these companies have a really hard time building trust with their audience because it's so easy for you to build trust because you're one of them. And you're walking the talk and people see themselves in you. And like, I could trust this person because, you know, they actually ran many businesses. They've had a successful business. You know, one of the reasons why people listen to this podcast is because we share so many stories from the businesses we've run and the activities in the business we're running right now.

10:09And it's like, OK, these people are credible. They're authentic. It's not some sort of university that is out of touch. It's not a corporate entity that's trying to just make money off people's need to learn business. There is some trust that's already innately built because you're in the community. Yeah, absolutely. Element number three, probably the most critical element. They're all critical, but this one is kind of non-negotiable. And that is you need to solve a significant problem, a significant pain that they cannot ignore. Your audience needs to have something solved. I'm not interested, especially in your first business, in solutions to nice to haves.

10:48OK, we're not looking at nice to haves. We're not looking at like small inconveniences. We're looking at a problem that's costing them time, that's costing them money, that's costing them maybe even night's sleep. It's keeping them up at night. It's keeping their mind occupied, right? The more painful the problem, the easier it is going to be for you to sell your product or service because they're in such a need for a solution. They will try anything. I mean, one of the things that comes to mind is like when you're on holiday and you get the sniffles, you have a cold, you get the flu, you're willing to go to the pharmacy and like buy whatever, like, you know, like this work.

11:23Okay, I'll try this. I'll try this. I'll try this. Like you're so desperate to have some relief so you can enjoy your holiday that you're like trying all this different medication with the hopes that it's going to help. And so do you think you need all three to make this viable? I'm thinking, so you mentioned three elements, leveraging your skills, understanding or being a part of the group and solving like a true pain point that people are willing to pay for. Is it possible to start with just say two? I have an example that I want to get your thoughts on. A real example, as you know, I've been going to yoga every Sunday, wonderful class, wonderful teacher.

12:00She's 20 years practicing yoga and she also happens to be an actress. And the class is great in terms of the yoga practice that we do, but also in the way she weaves the storytelling, myths, philosophy, all of that is woven through the practice and you're really hanging on every word throughout the entire hour. And I know that now she's parlayed that into a business package that the skill that she has in communicating, telling stories, being present, controlling the nervous system, all that stuff that you get from yoga, and also the skills that she has from the acting world, whether it's vocal training, pacing, delivery, all of those skills, married those together and is offering now packages to help people deliver better pitches, rally their team, sales calls, all of those things.

12:50And so there's the question I have for you, which ties into Grace's question. She's got the skills, no doubt about that. I've witnessed it. In terms of understanding maybe this corporate world or this landscape, if you've given that maybe you've been involved in a different world, whether it's acting and yoga, now going into a corporate world. And then the second point being her ability to, is it really a pain point? I think your third element. That's a good question. And my honest answer is that you need two solid of the three. The third one, which is the pain point, is non-negotiable. So you need at least one of the first two.

13:28But if you're asking my personal opinion, all three is required. Because I want to, again, stack the deck in your favor, make it as easy as possible. There are some challenges that you don't perceive, right? We just watched The Odyssey. And there's going to be some monsters out there that you're not expecting. No spoilers. Right. You're going to see a cyclops, your own version of the cyclops. You're going to see these giants are going to be chasing you out of your business. You're going to see competition. Right. So this is why I'm saying like you all three helps fortify your business a little bit.

13:58Now, in this particular example, I don't know her whole story. I don't know all our skills, but she definitely has the skills to deliver this type of product or service. So that's great. She's got number one. She doesn't really understand the corporate world if she's done yoga all her life, if maybe that world or she doesn't have a network there yet. So that one's a little bit weak. Brings us to the third one, which is, is it a real pain point? And the way I filter pain point, if this is a real pain point, if this is a real need, is that if there's an economic downturn, if we are in 2008 again and it's a financial crisis and companies are slashing budgets, is this one of the things that they just can't slash?

14:34and my guess is probably no probably like helping people become a better speaker presenting is probably like a nice to have and it would it's a good investment for the business but when people are just trying to like how do we make sure we only spend on things that help us deliver our products and services to our customers and that's really i would say a must-have uh we're like she's actually providing something that they must have or otherwise the business doesn't run um audience though right it could be maybe the audiences and it could shift to individuals it could be but i'm just giving the yeah given the example you're saying corporates you know if it's public speakers of keynote speakers that's how they make their money and they they need this ongoing training so they can get better and better that's different like that's how they make their money yes you know so yeah so i would be as critical within yourself and your business of all three so that you can improve your odds of success investing with schwab is like spending a Saturday at a great farmer's market.

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16:53And Quo makes that easy. Money's on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free, plus get 20 % off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash MBA. That's Quo.com slash MBA. Bringing it back to what Grace might be thinking, she is really good at something. What if I am really good at something? How much do I weigh up that skill set versus is there really a need for it or much demand for it? I'm going to try to put this as simply as possible. there must be a demand for what you are good at, right? There must be a demand full stop. There's no way around that, all right? And the best way I could put this is you can sell pretty bad food to starving people, okay?

17:41People coming out of a late show and there's nothing but like a kebab shop open. It's not the best food in the world. It's pretty bad, actually. Greasy, not really, you know, presented properly. And people will buy it because they're really hungry and there's nothing else open, okay? But I can't sell the best food in the world, the best cuisine in the world to a group of people that are fasting. Okay. They're not going to eat. All right. That's just, there's no demand here. So your skill really only matters if people are hungry for it. And this is kind of hard to absorb sometimes because sometimes we're like, maybe my skills are not wanted.

18:17But what really you need to look at is like, who needs your skills? Sometimes you just need to change your audience and that really changes everything. So your skills are really just the starting point. Then the finish line is how can I fulfill a demand with those skills? And are you going to get to how much of a demand? Because I would argue in all of these cases, even the yoga teacher example, or let's say Grace, who's really good at something, there is probably some demand. Yeah, we're going to share some exercises that you could do even this weekend to figure out is there a demand in the market for what I have and how much of a demand and if it's worth you actually spending your time and money and energy to starting this business?

18:55I'm excited to hear your answer and what possible things people can do. And then I always think about the fact that there's that ignorance fee. There's that time in the beginning of a business journey where you are experimenting, where you're learning so much that even in this process that maybe you might not hit the nail on the head with the first business idea, you're getting so many other benefits and so many other skills in that process. I think I just want to touch on this ignorance fee thing. A lot of people don't understand what I mean by this. You are probably very good at your skills or whatever you do.

19:27Like I have a very close friend. He's a photographer, right? I've known him for years and he is very good at what he does, but he's horrible at business. Doesn't know how to sell his products and services. He doesn't know how to get gigs. He doesn't know how to, you know, get testimonials. He doesn't know the exercise of making money. So this is the ignorance fee. Like how do I actually sell the thing I have and utilize my skills and build new skills as a business owner. So there's some things you're going to stumble upon, some things you're not going to be great at in the beginning when it comes to business.

19:59And that's fine. But if your skills are highly sought after and you have a demand and you understand that audience very well, this is going to be enough for you to overcome some of these small mistakes along the way. If this episode is helping you get unstuck, subscribe to the show. Why not? Hit subscribe on whatever app you're using right now, whether it's Apple, Spotify, YouTube. I want you to hit subscribe because we have an upcoming episode. Nicole and I are doing a Q &A Wednesday episode on how do I know if my business is failing or if I should keep going? A lot of people are not sure. Is this a dip right now?

20:33Is it just about to get successful or is this just a disaster and I should just quit and start a new business? So we actually explain what are some of the signs, what are some of the signals, What are some of the things that will tell you in black and white that, hey, this is failing? You need to shut it down, start something new or no, you're on the right track. Keep going. Keep persevering. You're almost there. So hit subscribe so you don't miss that episode. It's coming soon. All right. So we've touched on being very good at your skill set and using that as the foundation for a business. You've talked about this before.

21:08I think it comes up in this question as well. Passion. where does the follow your passion advice fall into this because i think you've talked about this on the podcast before you had a clothing business called zen home designs yeah and you was profitable it was doing really well there was a need all of that hit all of those well let's see if it hit all those elements because you closed it down right right because you hated it yeah let's be honest yes tell us about that yeah that's a great catch and um let me be precise about this because I believe there's a few rules you need to follow. Rule number one is that you have to be valuable.

21:44That comes first. Regardless of how you feel about the business, if you enjoy the business, if you don't enjoy the business, it's not really a successful business if you're not providing value to other people. Like a lot of us, we want to believe that if I'm passionate about something, then other people will be passionate about it. That's not always necessarily true. So you have to always be valuable. Passion doesn't really pay anyone. It doesn't add any value to anyone. It doesn't matter how passionate I am about gummy bears, if I can't really take that passion and package it into something that people actually like, making it funny, making it entertaining, making it something, then there's no real value for other people, okay?

22:21Rule number two is you need to find the value and the enjoyment in what you do, okay? And why? You have to find some sort of personal value, some personal enjoyment, because business is a long road. It takes a while to get successful. There are challenges, like I mentioned, there's going to be some cyclopses in your world, right? Coming at you. So it has to be enjoyable enough so that you don't quit. And that's what happened to me. I quit because I got burnt out and I was doing it because I was making money and it was successful. And I liked the winning of it, but that gets old very quickly. If you're not actually enjoying the day to day.

22:56Yeah. It gets you to a certain point, right? Yeah. That you can enjoy the success of being an entrepreneur, but the day to day, you got to wake up feeling like inspired, happy, ready to go to work. Yeah. Well, I woke up this morning. I went to the gym. I knew that today I'm going to be doing these episodes with you. We're going to record two episodes today. I have some discussions about things I love. I love talking about business. I love sharing what has worked for me, what has not worked for me, helping other people. Later, I'm going to be reviewing a script for an ad read we're going to be doing.

23:26So all the stuff I enjoy, it's not painful. I get personal satisfaction at it. So I'm able to do this every day. And in order for you to get good at anything, you need to be consistent. And if you don't enjoy it, it's hard for you to be consistent. So you mentioned Cinema Design, my clothing line, my custom tailored clothing line that I had. The business was successful. I mentioned this in a previous episode. Products sold really well. Customers really loved what I had. There was real demand for it, like almost too much demand. I couldn't fulfill all the orders. Most customers were actually more passionate about the products than I was, which was a big sign for me that like, I don't know if I'm in the right business.

24:04And I closed it down because I was really burnt out. I was on a full-time job as a teacher. I was a chair department at the university we were working at together. And I was also running this quite busy and successful business. And I just got burnt out. The truth of the matter is if I really enjoyed the day-to-day, if I enjoyed creating new products and making new styles and geeking out on what sold well and what didn't sell well, working with models like human models to shoot these new lines of clothing and putting them up on the website, all that kind of stuff. I enjoyed that. I'd probably be like, hey, I'm quitting my job.