MBA2540 Q&A Wednesday: How Do I Make My First $1 in Business?

0:05Hey everybody, welcome back to the$100 MBA show. I'm your host Omar Zinhome and welcome to another Q &A Wednesday episode where we answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners, one of our community members, one of our viewers on YouTube. Today's question is from Ken and Ken asks, how do I make my first dollar, my first sale in my business? Listen, I remember the first time I made my first dollar outside of my paycheck. I was side hustling, building businesses on the side. I remember when I made that first sale, it was like this epiphany. Wow, I can make money outside of a paycheck. I can become financially free outside of my job.

0:42And it's a great moment. And I want everybody who's on this podcast, listening on YouTube, wherever you're consuming this show right now, I want you to experience that because it's an incredible feeling because it's a feeling of autonomy, of freedom. And I'm going to show you how to do it in today's lesson. But before that, did you know that more than 20 % of small businesses fail in the first year? That's according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many businesses just don't make it. And it's because they never get off the ground. They never get that first sale. They never actually get any traction.

1:16And today we're going to change that. We're going to make sure that you get that first sale as soon as possible. Make that first dollar because it's the first step of many steps that are going to lead you to financial freedom through your business. So let's start with the first step. The first step is focusing on selling and not building. So many entrepreneurs I know, the first thing to think about is creating an app, creating a product, creating a service, getting all the details in order, and then start selling it. No, you need to start selling before you build because you want to make sure you create something valuable.

1:50And the only way to do that is to actually transact, to talk to your customers. And you actually have to have that sales conversation so you can understand what they're willing to pay for. Here's the truth. You're an entrepreneur. You're in business here. Okay. This is not art where you are trying to create the perfect version of that art of that painting of whatever. This is business where it's all about making a profit, making money. Okay. And in order for you to make money, you need to be able to understand what people are willing to pay for. So you need to think about how can I make my first sale and not how to make my perfect product because the perfect product will come, right?

2:28It will eventually get better and better and better. But that only happens when you iterate. And that iteration involves a sales conversation, a sales transaction, where the customer buys something from you, pays money for it, has skin in the game, and then gives you feedback and tells you, I want this to be better. I want this to change. And you make those improvements and you sell more. You get the point. So your first step should be, how do I sell this thing before. How do I perfect this product? I can't tell you how many times I've seen entrepreneurs fall into this trap of trying to perfect their product before selling.

3:03I'll give you a prime example. I was at an event, I was at a conference I was speaking at, and I was at one of the mixers at the event. We're sitting, we're having drinks. I'm enjoying the company around me of all the great attendees. And I'm having a conversation with one of the attendees, and he shares with me of this business idea he has of this app he wants to build for cleaners. It's a scheduling app so the cleaners can show their availability and their clients can book time on this scheduling app for the cleaners. And it sounds like a pretty good idea. And I asked him how long you've been working on it.

3:33And he said, I've been thinking about it for over a year, but I haven't really done much with it. And my advice to him immediately was like, why don't you just sell it to your cleaner right now? The cleaner that you have that you work with, that you're a client of. And he's like, well, I have to create this app. It's got to be good looking. It's got to have good UI. I said, well, not really. You don't need to have the app. You actually just need to solve the problem that the cleaner has, which is a way for people to book their time. So what's the lowest form, the minimal viable version of that product or service?

4:04Well, it's just him being basically a secretary, being the middle person between the clients and the cleaner. And just literally doing this with Google a calendar, which is free, where you could just tell the cleaner, hey, if you get a client that's interested, just send them my email or send them my WhatsApp and I will book them. I will make sure that I show your availability on your calendar. Solve the problem first, offer it as a service, make sure they're paying for it. Okay. Make sure that the actual cleaner is paying for it in this example, and then create the app. Once you know, what are the things you're going to need to build around this service, around this problem.

4:42Step two, I hinted, I mentioned it briefly, and it's validating your idea by getting paid. Okay, it's not enough for you just to say, hey, what do you think of my product or service? Would you buy it? Get them to buy it. Money talks, okay? When people buy things, they are saying that I am willing to part with my hard-earned dollar for the opportunity to have a problem solved. Think about anything you bought in the past year, okay? It could be a vacation, it could be a car, it could be a meal, it could be an item of clothing, it could be anything. Think about it. Why did you buy it? Because you thought that the money that you're gonna part way with was worth whatever you're gonna buy, okay?

5:24It was gonna solve a pain or an issue or it was going to give you pleasure in some way. That's the bottom line, okay? And that's how you need to think about your first dollar. How do I make our first dollar? Well, I first get people to buy what I'm trying to sell them, okay? Even if it's not created yet. I did this with Webinar Ninja. 10 years ago, I started a software called Webinar Ninja. We recently exited that business and sold the software to ProProfs. And when I started that business, I actually pre-sold the software. I wanted to validate people are willing to pay for the solution. and I got 250 sales of that software before I even offered it to the customer.

6:06I used that money to actually create a viable product for the customers four months later, they got it. So this is totally doable and people do this all the time, by the way. People pre-order cars, pre-order watches, you know, Rolex, you can't just walk into a Rolex shop and buy Rolex, okay? You have to put your name down and they have to call you, you're on a waiting list and it's a whole thing, right? And actually, a lot of people feel a sense of value by waiting for whatever they bought. There's a whole site based on this called Kickstarter. People have Kickstarter campaigns, people contribute to the Kickstarter, and then months later they get the product.

6:40So even if you don't have anything created yet, pre-sell it. Make sure you grab some cash from somebody. Get them to PayPal you, whatever it takes. Get them to do a bank transfer, okay? in order for them to say, hey, yes, I want to buy this product or service when it's ready. Give me a deposit on whatever you offer. Step three is to leverage the skills you already have. You might be thinking, might be saying to yourself now, Omar, this sounds great. I love this idea of pre-selling, but what do I sell? How do I make my first dollar? Well, the easiest way is to leverage the skills you already have.

7:14What expertise, what experience do you already have? Let's say, for example, you know how to play the piano. And I'm not saying that you're like a concert musician. I'm not saying that you are a professional keyboard player for some of the biggest bands. No, you just know how to play, you know, some common songs. Your family taught you how to play the piano when you were young. You know, you know how to play the piano. You know the notes, you know the keys, you know how to do it. Okay. This is a skill most people don't have. Most people don't know how to play the piano. And you are actually just a few steps ahead of people.

7:46You could teach people how to play the piano, how to get started. You don't need to be a master at something. You just need to be better than somebody else at something in order for you to teach them how to get to your level. One of the first businesses I started was helping people build their websites. I already had the skill set because I built my own websites. And I started pretty early on, like back in 2002, when I started creating websites for myself. And I started offering this service to my friends and family because I knew my way around creating, you know, the back end, the front end of a website.

8:20And I just charged a flat fee to create a website of X amount of pages. And that's how I made my first dollar. I just leveraged a skill that I have. I wasn't a highly skilled developer, right? I could barely create simple websites using WordPress. I'm not even building it from scratch. I'm using a framework, but that was good enough for people that needed websites. Okay. They just need something to put their portfolio on or to sell their products or services with an e-commerce store. And I was able to offer it to them. They don't really care how I offered it to them, but I was able to offer to them and they were happy with the product and they paid me for it.

8:59So leverage the skills, the experiences you already have. It's the easiest way for you to be able to make your first dollar as an entrepreneur. So here's an action step to implement what I just said. Make a list of your top three skills. This could just literally be something you scribble in a notebook right now. What are three things maybe people compliment you on, something you've been working on for some time? You want to brainstorm these ideas and offer those skills as a service or product, okay? Preferably a service because it's very easy for you to offer and implement, no wait time, right?

9:32Reach out to the people in your network, your friends, your family, the people that you know on social media. Offer them a solution based on those skills. OK, you can literally just make a post on whatever platform you like. OK, whether it's, you know, X or Instagram or Facebook or whatever and say, hey, I'm now offering this offer. I'm offering this solution, this service. If you're interested, DM me. I'm a big believer in momentum. You want to get the ball rolling as easily as possible and get that first sale. And one of the ways to do that is step four, offer a low risk offer. You want to lower the risk as much as possible for your potential customer or client, especially when you're getting started because you don't have a lot of experience or testimonials yet.

10:16So a low cost service, a one time digital product, even like a short term one off coaching session. OK, this is not a big deal. They're not locked in for a year. They're not paying thousands of dollars here. You're lowering the barrier of entry for your first few customers. customers. For example, when I first started selling online courses, I offered a one-time low-cost course to help business owners get their feet wet and get to know me as a teacher. And because the investment was small, people were more willing to give it a try. And that's how I made my first few sales and online courses. So make things a little easy for yourself.

10:51You can adjust pricing and you can increase your prices later. So here's a quick action step for you to So implement what I just said. Create a low-cost offer that provides an immediate value. Okay? This could be an e-book. This could be a short training course. This could be a one-hour consultation or a 30-minute consultation. Right? And you could promote this through social media, your email list, or directly by reaching out to the people you know on your contact list. Open up your phone. Look at your contacts. Make some calls. And say, hey, would you be interested in this offer? Okay? Grab your phone.

11:24look at the contacts and make some calls. See if anybody you know would be interested in your offer. If you just got a little like, oh, I got to make some phone calls. I got to talk to people. Yes. Yes. Business is about communicating with people. It's about connecting with people is being proud of what you have to offer. It's about getting used to talking about what you do. All right. This is what business is all about. The more comfortable you are talking about what you offer, the easier it's going to be for you to be able to promote and market your products and services down the line. See this as training, right?

11:57Step five is something I kind of hinted on throughout this episode. And it's so important. Don't overthink it. Take action now. I mean, like right now, right after this episode. Okay. Many aspiring entrepreneurs I have spoken to, I have worked with throughout my last 20 years in what I've been doing. They get stuck in analysis paralysis. They think too much about their business rather than taking action. Listen, you're going to learn what you need to learn about what you have to do by doing. You have to do things. You have to talk to people. You have to sell and you have to iterate. Okay. It doesn't come from endless planning.

12:33It doesn't come from trying to predict the future. It doesn't come with coming up with every contingent possible in every situation and how you're going to counteract that situation. No, the sooner you get out there, the more you do, the better you will be at your product or service or whatever you're offering. Okay. One of the best ways for me to say this is that you don't learn how to drive through a textbook. You have to get behind the wheel and start driving. Okay. And sooner or later, you're going to start driving and it's going to be second nature. And if you're like me, who's been driving for over like 25 years now, you kind of drive and it's on autopilot and you don't even think about the motions, right?

13:07You back up, you change lanes. It's kind of second nature. All right. And you need to get to that point. And that doesn't happen overnight. It takes reps. And the sooner you get started, the sooner it'll become second nature. If there's one thing I want you to take away from today's episode, it's this. Execution beats planning every single time. You need to get comfortable with taking imperfect action, leaning into it, and just iterating as you go. So how do you take this into action? How do you? Don't overthink it. Simple. Set a deadline for yourself. Tell yourself by this time, by the end of the week, right?

13:45By the end of this day, I will make my first sale, right? This means I need to do X amount of things. I need to make these phone calls. I need to email these people. I need to put this stuff on social media. I need to talk to X amount of people in order for me to make my first sale by this time. Okay. And no later than that, hold yourself accountable. If you need to tell other people like a friend or family member, that's good. Just to kind of put your feet to the fire. Now you have to understand that business is a numbers game. Okay. The more people you contact, the more people you talk about your business or your product or service, the higher the chances, the more sales you're going to make.

14:19Okay. But if you talk to two, three people, you're not really giving yourself a chance to get that first sale. Try to speak as many as 20, 30, 40, 50 people will get you some traction. So making your first dollar in business is huge. It's not complicated as you might think. Just focus on selling something valuable, validate your idea with real customers start small start leveraging the skills you already have and create a low risk offer that gets people to say yes remember you got to take action this doesn't happen in your mind it happens in the real world okay don't wait for the perfect moment don't wait for inspiration take action hold yourself accountable make a deadline do it thanks so much for tuning into the hundred dollar mba show if you like watching your content then And you should check out our YouTube channel over at 100mba.net slash YouTube.

15:13Publish three days a week. Plus, we got some really cool shorts you want to check out. Go ahead and subscribe so you don't miss a beat over there as well. I want to leave you with this. I can probably attribute any success I had in business to this skill. And that's just being able to consistently take action, not overthinking things, just going ahead and making it happen. OK, just doing it and then worrying about the results later, fine tuning, improving later. OK, one of my favorite things to do is to play basketball and basketball. You're constantly doing this. You're putting up shots. You know, if you miss it, it's kind of OK.

15:46Too short, too long, too much to the right, too much to the left. And you just adjust. You don't stop shooting. You got to keep shooting. You got to keep making it happen. You got to keep making plays happen. Keep running, playing defense, passing, whatever it might be. The point here is, is that you got to keep playing in order for you to get better. And you don't play by yourself business. You play business with customers, with other collaborators, with people that are going to be interested in your product or service. Thanks so much. I'll check you in the next episode.