Black Entrepreneur Blueprint 515 - Jay Jones - From Idea To Income - 7 Questions To Launch A Money Making Business

[00:00:12] Welcome to Black Entrepreneur Blueprint, the number one podcast and resource for black entrepreneurs.

[00:00:19] I'm your host Jay Jones and Black Entrepreneur Blueprint was created specifically to educate and inspire black entrepreneurs to launch, build and grow successful, sustainable businesses.

[00:00:32] Join us as we help build an economic power base in the worldwide black community by building and supporting black owned businesses.

[00:00:41] If you're currently an entrepreneur or want to be an entrepreneur, you're invited to join us each and every week here at Black Entrepreneur Blueprint.

[00:00:50] Welcome to the BEB family and get ready to elevate your entrepreneur IQ.

[00:00:56] Welcome to the Black Entrepreneur Blueprint, episode number 515.

[00:01:07] I'm your host Jay Jones and today we have another outstanding and informative show in store for you.

[00:01:13] Today we're going to be doing a rebroadcast of one of our most downloaded episodes from August of 2023, titled From Idea to Income, Seven Questions to Launch a Money Making Business.

[00:01:27] From Idea to Income, Seven Questions to Launch a Money Making Business.

[00:01:32] Now before we get to today's show content, let me just share a few things with the Black Entrepreneur Blueprint family.

[00:01:39] First and foremost, I want to welcome all first time listeners to Black Entrepreneur Blueprint.

[00:01:44] Welcome to the BEB family. Please stick around until the end of today's broadcast and I'm going to share all my social media contact information and resource links such as the link to my latest workshop.

[00:01:56] Go to www.ineedmoreleads.pro. That's P-R-O.

[00:02:01] www.ineedmoreleads.pro for more information on the workshop.

[00:02:07] Now if you're not making enough money in your business, if you're about to go out of business or you can't scale your business, this is a great workshop for you.

[00:02:16] So make sure you go to www.ineedmoreleads.pro. That's P-R-O.

[00:02:22] Now let's get ready for today's show content.

[00:02:25] Being a serial entrepreneur for over 25 plus years and a business coach for about 20 years.

[00:02:32] The number one question I get from my students is what type of business should I start?

[00:02:38] Now that's a pretty vague type of question.

[00:02:42] But on today's show, I'm going to actually give you seven questions that are going to help you narrow down how to take that idea and actually create income from that.

[00:02:54] Now I want to preface this episode and let you know it doesn't matter if you're a current entrepreneur with a business right now.

[00:03:01] But you may be looking for additional streams of revenue or if you're a prospective entrepreneur and you don't exactly know what type of business you're going to start.

[00:03:11] Today's show is for you. It's for everybody.

[00:03:14] Because we always come up with ideas.

[00:03:17] The question is are we able to turn those ideas into income?

[00:03:21] And that's exactly what today's show is about.

[00:03:24] So as I mentioned at the top of the show, as a serial entrepreneur and business coach for 20 plus years, the number one question I get is what type of business should I start?

[00:03:34] And each person has so many individual variables that I can't give them the answer.

[00:03:40] But what I do is I give them a series of questions to help them narrow down how they can start generating income from their ideas.

[00:03:48] Now the seven questions I'm going over today are just a part of the question group that I ask my coaching students.

[00:03:55] But these are some very important questions that could help you be able to narrow down how to turn that idea into income.

[00:04:05] Now ideas guys are a dime a dozen.

[00:04:08] So I want to preface by saying that everybody has an idea.

[00:04:13] But it's the execution of the idea that makes the difference between a winning business or just a dream.

[00:04:19] It's the execution.

[00:04:21] And I can't tell you guys how many people have an idea but they never act on it.

[00:04:27] And I don't care if the idea works out or not.

[00:04:30] You need to take action.

[00:04:32] That's the first thing that you're going to have to do.

[00:04:34] Man, I've talked to people. Oh yeah, I'm going to do this.

[00:04:37] I'm going to do that.

[00:04:38] I'm going to start this.

[00:04:39] I'm going to start that.

[00:04:40] And they never do.

[00:04:41] Always procrastination.

[00:04:43] And that could come from many things.

[00:04:45] They may not be sure that they're able to be successful trying to turn this idea into income.

[00:04:51] They may not have the resources, be it the time, the money or whatever to do it.

[00:04:55] But you have to take action.

[00:04:58] That's the number one thing I want to get through prior to giving you these seven questions.

[00:05:03] If you have an idea, understand nothing is going to happen until you act on it.

[00:05:09] Now, I know as entrepreneurs we come up with ideas left and right.

[00:05:14] I did an episode probably about a year ago talking about entrepreneur ADD.

[00:05:19] Because our minds work a little different than civilians or normal people.

[00:05:24] Every time we see an opportunity, man this is a great idea.

[00:05:28] And you can actually get caught up in just thinking about ideas but never putting any action behind them.

[00:05:34] So you don't want to have that entrepreneur ADD.

[00:05:37] So you want to be able to lock in and focus.

[00:05:40] One of the biggest issues as I mentioned is people don't know what ideas they should actually follow through with.

[00:05:47] So today I'm going to give you seven questions that you need to ask yourself to help you determine if this is a good idea.

[00:05:55] Okay, so we're talking from idea to income.

[00:05:58] Seven questions to launch a money making business.

[00:06:02] Question number one.

[00:06:04] What idea do you have that will allow you to make quick revenue?

[00:06:09] What idea do you have that will allow you to make quick revenue?

[00:06:14] Now most entrepreneurs lose a whole lot of steam when they start a business.

[00:06:18] And the business isn't showing any type of monetary gain or any type of return.

[00:06:23] So that's very mentally debilitating.

[00:06:26] You go and you have this great idea, you start your business.

[00:06:29] And it could be weeks or months before you generate your first dollar.

[00:06:33] Okay, so you want to think about what ideas do you have that will allow you to make quick revenue?

[00:06:39] So you want to find a business opportunity or an idea that will allow some type of modicum of success early.

[00:06:46] Alright, like trying to grab the low hanging fruit people say.

[00:06:50] So for example, something that can generate money real quick and this is just an idea if you're into this type of business.

[00:06:58] So if you sell scented candles.

[00:07:00] My niece has a scented candle business.

[00:07:03] Now she still works in corporate America.

[00:07:05] But the way she started selling her scented candles was she would actually take some to work.

[00:07:11] And what she did was she actually created an order platform or an order sheet.

[00:07:16] Where she would bring the candles in, she would let her co-workers see it and smell it and all that good stuff.

[00:07:23] And then she started making money.

[00:07:25] Now what did that do?

[00:07:27] It gave her a modicum of success where she's generating revenues right off the bat.

[00:07:33] So she already had the hobby of making candles.

[00:07:36] She was doing it for herself.

[00:07:38] But now she's actually generating revenue and it wasn't hard.

[00:07:42] So she's taking the low hanging fruit with the people that she works with in her office.

[00:07:47] And so during holidays, she'll do special type of scents and candles.

[00:07:51] So Christmas, Thanksgiving, fall, whatever.

[00:07:55] So that's a business that you can get a very quick revenue stream in.

[00:08:01] Especially if you're working around people.

[00:08:04] And this is something that enabled her to take that concept and then start to move it online.

[00:08:10] And continue to build.

[00:08:12] But one of the biggest setbacks for most entrepreneurs that have an idea is that they can't really sell that quick.

[00:08:19] And they get discouraged.

[00:08:22] So you put in all this time and effort and work behind your idea.

[00:08:26] But you can't generate income.

[00:08:28] So what idea do you have that will allow you to make quick revenue?

[00:08:33] So if you have some type of business and you're still working in corporate America.

[00:08:37] Or you're a member of a group, an organization or whatever.

[00:08:40] If you can generate sales from that group organization or your network very quickly.

[00:08:47] That's going to help you in terms of your confidence level.

[00:08:50] And it's also going to give you proof of concept.

[00:08:53] A lot of times we have all these ideas and we think that they're going to work.

[00:08:58] But nobody buys.

[00:09:00] So this is a great hand-to-hand way to basically get revenues right up front.

[00:09:05] So that's question number one.

[00:09:07] Question number two.

[00:09:09] Are there any business opportunities or ideas or industries that you can think of that you have experience in?

[00:09:17] So for example, look at your current job or past job or past experiences that you have.

[00:09:22] And see if there's any ideas that you can come up with to turn that idea into income.

[00:09:28] Or turn it into a business.

[00:09:30] So what's your current occupation?

[00:09:32] Do you see any opportunities in that field?

[00:09:35] And here's a real life example of one of my buddies, his son.

[00:09:40] He's a businessman.

[00:09:43] He's a real life example of one of my buddies.

[00:09:46] His son works at an HVAC company.

[00:09:49] He does heating, air conditioning and he does all types of systems.

[00:09:54] And so what he did was he actually started a side business on the weekends.

[00:09:59] And at night he would actually have his own business.

[00:10:02] So the company he worked for was notoriously high in terms of their pricing.

[00:10:07] Very large company.

[00:10:09] So what he did was when he got referrals from his dad or his friends or whatever, he started his own business.

[00:10:16] And he was able to make income pretty quickly.

[00:10:20] And so once again are there any business opportunities or industries that you can think of or that you have experience in where you can generate revenues?

[00:10:30] And what we're talking about today guys is from idea to income.

[00:10:35] Seven questions to launch a money making business.

[00:10:38] We all have a ton of ideas.

[00:10:40] But these questions are designed to help break down and help you navigate what makes sense in terms of following this idea or moving forward with this idea to see if you can generate income.

[00:10:53] One of the biggest impediments to turning ideas into income is you're not generating income fast enough.

[00:11:00] So these seven questions are going to help you generate income quickly and also kind of frame or shape your thought process as to what idea that you can turn into income.

[00:11:12] Question number three you want to ask yourself.

[00:11:15] What problem can you solve that people will pay for?

[00:11:18] What problem can you solve that people will pay for?

[00:11:22] Remember there's usually two reasons or two ways people start businesses.

[00:11:27] Number one either to solve a problem or number two you're doing something that you enjoy or that you love.

[00:11:34] You're passionate about.

[00:11:35] To me the most simple and direct way to start a profitable business and turn your idea into income is help solve somebody's problem.

[00:11:43] OK so the more difficult the problem now the more people are willing to pay for it.

[00:11:49] The more difficult the problem the more people are willing to pay for it.

[00:11:54] So for example if you have tax issues with the IRS and they're threatening to garnish your wages lock up your bank accounts that's a major problem.

[00:12:03] If you do tax remediation and negotiation and you're able to help them alleviate this tax debt guess what people are willing to pay a lot of money for that.

[00:12:15] Now you could also be a carpet cleaner that's cleaning people's carpets right now.

[00:12:21] Now that's a problem because with the dirty carpet but what's a bigger problem and what's going to generate the most revenue by solving the problem.

[00:12:30] So if you can alleviate that tax debt to the IRS that is a bigger problem and people are going to be willing to pay you more money for that.

[00:12:38] So that's something that you have to think about.

[00:12:41] OK so what problem can you solve that people will pay for?

[00:12:45] And here's a real life example I was on a podcast the other day I was interviewed by All About Nothing.

[00:12:52] It's a great podcast and I'll put the link into today's show notes and they were talking about starting businesses.

[00:12:59] And one of the hosts on there was trying to start their own business and the question that he asked me was what type of business should I start?

[00:13:09] And I said OK well what do you do for a living?

[00:13:12] And he was a tech he produced audio and video content and he was a technician.

[00:13:19] And I said well what type of software do you use to produce your content?

[00:13:24] And he told me what the name of the software was and I said OK cool.

[00:13:28] I said now is the software easy to use or is it pretty hard for a beginner?

[00:13:33] And he said well it's a very technical software and for a beginner it's kind of hard.

[00:13:39] I said well there's your business or your income idea right there.

[00:13:43] I said you can create a tutorial how to walk beginners through this software process.

[00:13:49] This is how you start off. This is how you do this. This is how you do that.

[00:13:53] Now I know a lot of the software companies do have tutorials but a lot of times their tutorials are super technical.

[00:14:01] And they don't take you through the necessary steps or processes that somebody would take when they first learn the actual software.

[00:14:09] So I said now you can create passive income by building an online course or tutorial to help people through this software.

[00:14:18] So once again what problem can you solve?

[00:14:22] And this is a problem. He's like an audio engineer and people who create good audio, good videos and audio use this software.

[00:14:31] I forgot the name of it but it's a very popular software.

[00:14:35] And I said so this is a way you can help them solve their problem.

[00:14:38] How many times do you go on YouTube right? You're looking to solve a problem.

[00:14:43] You're like damn I don't know how to do this.

[00:14:45] And sometimes you'll find the answer on YouTube.

[00:14:49] Other times you're going to need something that's more in depth.

[00:14:52] So question number three what problem can you solve that people will pay for?

[00:14:58] Question number four and what we're talking about today guys is from idea to income seven questions to launch a money making business.

[00:15:07] Question number four is there an essential business you can start that most people need?

[00:15:14] When I say an essential business I'm talking about a business that everybody is going to need at one time or another.

[00:15:21] So there's certain businesses that are essential in most people's lives.

[00:15:25] So for example a real estate agent if you're buying a house you're going to need an agent.

[00:15:30] A loan officer if you're buying a house you're going to need to get finance for that home.

[00:15:35] Car sales person.

[00:15:37] Now when you buy a car you got to have somebody to sell it to you right?

[00:15:41] Unless you buy privately.

[00:15:43] An HVAC technician.

[00:15:45] Eventually your HVAC system is going to need replacement or service.

[00:15:49] An auto mechanic.

[00:15:51] You drive your car everybody's going to need to go to an auto mechanic at some time in their life right?

[00:15:57] Driveway seal coating.

[00:15:59] I'm just thinking up things as we go along.

[00:16:01] Eventually you're going to need to redo your driveway.

[00:16:04] Seal coat your driveway.

[00:16:06] So the question is is there an essential business you can start that most people need?

[00:16:11] Is there a business idea that you can come up with that is an essential business?

[00:16:16] Now it's funny because I told you guys on several podcast episodes ago that I'm back into the mortgage business.

[00:16:24] And the thought process of getting back into the mortgage business was this.

[00:16:29] Number one I've owned a mortgage brokerage shop before.

[00:16:32] It was very profitable for me.

[00:16:34] And I just once the crash happened in 2008.

[00:16:38] I got out of the business I was frustrated and I'm just like I'll never get back into the business.

[00:16:43] So subsequently we're going 10 years out.

[00:16:47] And I still had people calling me about mortgage questions and things of that nature.

[00:16:51] And I started thinking about man this is an industry where it's an essential business.

[00:16:58] Meaning that people are always going to buy homes and they're always going to need financing for those homes.

[00:17:05] Now in terms of the environment right now interest rates are a little high.

[00:17:09] So the environment isn't as great or as productive as it was when rates were down 2% for 30 years fixed.

[00:17:18] Now they're up near 6.75%.

[00:17:21] But yet and still people are still buying homes.

[00:17:25] People always want to move out from a rental property to their own home.

[00:17:30] So now they can take advantage of the benefits of taxes and actually owning something.

[00:17:35] Trying to generate equity and generational wealth.

[00:17:38] So that's an essential business.

[00:17:41] In addition to that the other reason that I got back into the business is I can do this you know shuffling papers.

[00:17:48] It's using my networking connections and being able to generate chunks of money.

[00:17:54] So if I'm making 2.5 to 3 points on a loan just like a real estate agent on one side of the transaction they usually make 3%.

[00:18:02] Now they may discount it or whatever.

[00:18:04] But if you sell a $500,000 house as a real estate agent then it's a $15,000 commission.

[00:18:12] Same thing as a loan officer.

[00:18:14] If I'm getting 2.5 to 3% it's anywhere from say 2-3%, 10,000 to $15,000 just for that one transaction.

[00:18:23] And this business is an essential business.

[00:18:27] People are always going to need financing when they buy a home.

[00:18:31] So question number 4 is there an essential business that you can start that most people need?

[00:18:37] Now that doesn't mean that there not going to be ebbs and flows in the business.

[00:18:41] You know there's always ups and downs in any business.

[00:18:44] But if it's an essential business you know that people are going to need that product or service whatever it is you're selling.

[00:18:52] That's question number 4.

[00:18:54] Question number 5.

[00:18:56] Determine if the problem you can solve is profitable and worth the work.

[00:19:01] Determine if the problem you can solve is profitable and worth the work.

[00:19:06] So one of the biggest reasons new businesses fail is because they're not profitable.

[00:19:11] So how much are you going to make per sale and is the amount actually worth the effort?

[00:19:17] So for example if you're cleaning carpets right?

[00:19:21] This is something that people need. You need to solve the problem.

[00:19:24] I need a carpet cleaner over my house right now because I spilled something in my office.

[00:19:29] So if your carpet cleaner and you only charge $29 per room, is it profitable enough for you to create this type of business?

[00:19:39] So that's a whole lot of work. You got to go out to somebody's location.

[00:19:42] You have to have the equipment and because you're looking to generate income you're going to lowball the first room at $29 and then the second room at normal price.

[00:19:53] But the question is, is the problem you're solving profitable and is it worth the work?

[00:19:59] $29? I don't know that's a lot of work for that.

[00:20:04] So we have to think about profitability.

[00:20:07] Now I'd use the example of a real estate agent who makes a 3% real estate commission on each transaction.

[00:20:14] Alright so one transaction in the example I gave you of a $500,000 house at 3%, that's a $15,000 transaction for that real estate agent.

[00:20:25] Now that real estate agent may have had to go out and show the customers 15 different properties.

[00:20:32] It may take them 60 days to get that commission but the question is, is that $15,000 worth it?

[00:20:40] So that's what you have to ask yourself.

[00:20:42] Question five, determine if the problem you can solve is profitable and worth the work because if it's not then you're wasting your time.

[00:20:52] So you have to think about how much time and effort am I putting into this idea and what type of income is being generated per unit or per customer that you have.

[00:21:04] $29 a room in carpet cleaning to me, that's not good because it's a lot of extra stuff you have to do.

[00:21:12] You've got to spend money to drive to the customers home.

[00:21:15] You have the chemicals that you have to use.

[00:21:17] You have the machinery that you have to pay for.

[00:21:20] Then you also have to take into account the time it takes and the energy and resources it takes to get that $29.

[00:21:28] So if it doesn't make fiscal sense guys, don't do it.

[00:21:32] Okay, that's question number five.

[00:21:35] Question number six, is your business easily scalable?

[00:21:40] Is your business easily scalable?

[00:21:42] Now to grow your business you're going to need to be able to scale that business.

[00:21:47] Now does your business idea allow you to scale with relative ease?

[00:21:51] When somebody says scaling a business that means using leverage.

[00:21:55] Scaling means putting in a little bit of effort and getting a bigger result or bigger return.

[00:22:02] So what resources will you need to scale your business and is it worth scaling?

[00:22:08] So let's look at two examples that I've given you prior.

[00:22:11] Now I talked about the carpet cleaning business.

[00:22:14] You're making $29 a room because you're trying to get business.

[00:22:17] Now in order to scale that business it's going to take a lot more resources and manpower.

[00:22:22] So now as opposed to having one carpet cleaning crew out there,

[00:22:26] you may need to have three or four carpet cleaning crews to try to scale that business.

[00:22:31] That means more equipment, more manpower, more expense in order to scale that business.

[00:22:37] Versus the other example I used of the gentleman that knows how to use that production software,

[00:22:44] the audio production software, who now if he wants to scale the business,

[00:22:48] once he creates his online course then it's just a matter of getting more eyes on that course

[00:22:54] or the eyes of people that are interested in learning how to use that software.

[00:22:59] So he creates the product one time which is an online course

[00:23:03] and now for him to scale he can use marketing to scale the business.

[00:23:08] It's not going to require any additional resources in terms of manpower or anything else.

[00:23:14] He's doing one-to-many versus carpet cleaning which is one-to-one.

[00:23:19] So is your business idea easily scalable?

[00:23:23] And I know a lot of times people don't necessarily look at it because

[00:23:27] they may be happy with what type of revenue or income they're generating right away.

[00:23:32] But eventually you're going to want to scale your business.

[00:23:35] So question number six, is your business idea easily scalable?

[00:23:40] Now question number seven, I'm also going to give you guys a bonus question a little later.

[00:23:45] But question number seven, do you have the time and resources to commit to your idea?

[00:23:51] Do you have the time and resources to commit to your idea?

[00:23:56] So guys here's the thing, the idea is only going to work if you work it.

[00:24:00] So you need to determine if you have the time and resources to give yourself an honest shot at success.

[00:24:07] And I say this all the time and it's not negative but you need to understand this.

[00:24:12] Part-time work equals part-time results.

[00:24:16] Part-time work equals part-time results.

[00:24:18] It's just the function of how much time and resources you can put in.

[00:24:22] So many times our effort doesn't meet or exceed the requirements to be successful.

[00:24:27] So you may have a full-time job and you're trying to make this idea or transform this idea into income.

[00:24:33] And you just don't have the time or resources to do it.

[00:24:37] So you have to understand from the beginning, are you going to be able to commit the time and resources to your idea to make it successful?

[00:24:46] And like I always say guys, part-time business is usually going to result in part-time results.

[00:24:54] And that's just the function of the time and energy you put into the business.

[00:24:58] Full-time commitment gives you full-time results.

[00:25:01] It's just as plain and simple as that.

[00:25:03] But these are the seven questions guys that you need to ask yourself when you're trying to turn your idea into income.

[00:25:11] Now I'm going to give you a bonus question which is probably the number one question that you need to ask yourself.

[00:25:19] But let me go ahead and give you my contact information and resource links real quick.

[00:25:23] And then I'm going to give you that all-important bonus question.

[00:25:26] Now I'm going to keep this super simple.

[00:25:28] Everything I'm about to tell you is on the website blackentrepreneurblueprint.com.

[00:25:34] Blackentrepreneurblueprint.com.

[00:25:37] If you're lazy, just go to bebconnect.com.

[00:25:41] That should forward you right to the website.

[00:25:44] But I mentioned at the top of the show my latest book is out, Unlocking the Power of ChatGPT.

[00:25:49] The Ultimate Prompting Guide for Beginners.

[00:25:52] Go to unlockingchatgpt.com for more information.

[00:25:56] I also mentioned BEB Academy which is our online learning portal.

[00:26:00] Go to the website blackentrepreneurblueprint.com.

[00:26:04] It's on the top of the page and it will give you more information about the academy.

[00:26:10] Also you'll find on the top of the webpage Brand Builder Academy Elite.

[00:26:15] BBA Elite.

[00:26:17] Also if you're interested in building a successful e-commerce brand.

[00:26:21] Doesn't matter if it's a physical product brand or a digital brand.

[00:26:25] We have Brand Builder Academy Elite which is also on the top of the website blackentrepreneurblueprint.com.

[00:26:32] Just click the link for more information.

[00:26:35] And also pound for pound my best program out there.

[00:26:38] Pinpoint and monetize your genius.

[00:26:41] Remember guys your genius is the intersection of your passion and your talent.

[00:26:45] The problem is most people don't know how to monetize that.

[00:26:49] So pound for pound that is my biggest online program.

[00:26:52] That is also at the top of the website.

[00:26:55] Go to blackentrepreneurblueprint.com.

[00:26:58] Now if you want to get in touch with me anything long hit me on my email address.

[00:27:03] J Jones at blackentrepreneurblueprint.com

[00:27:06] J A Y J O N E S at blackentrepreneurblueprint.com

[00:27:11] Also Facebook Black Entrepreneur Blueprint.

[00:27:14] Twitter J Jones 001 that's J A Y J O N E S 001

[00:27:21] Instagram I got two IG accounts.

[00:27:24] The first one is J Jones for real.

[00:27:26] J A Y J O N E S the number four R E A L.

[00:27:32] Second one is Black Entrepreneur Blueprint.

[00:27:35] Also somebody tried to impersonate me on Instagram.

[00:27:39] So these are my two legitimate IG accounts.

[00:27:43] J Jones for real.

[00:27:45] J A Y J O N E S the number four R E A L.

[00:27:48] And Black Entrepreneur Blueprint.

[00:27:51] So do not give any money to anybody on these fake IG accounts that are impersonating me.

[00:27:57] Because I saw one that I'm trying to get taken down that was talking about some crypto stuff.

[00:28:02] So make sure you go to the legitimate J Jones Instagram accounts.

[00:28:07] Also make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel.

[00:28:10] I have additional content on YouTube that is not on the podcast.

[00:28:14] Yes the podcast does drop on YouTube and all your major podcast platforms every Monday morning at 5 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

[00:28:24] Also if you're on LinkedIn connect with me there.

[00:28:27] Just search for J Jones Black Entrepreneur Blueprint.

[00:28:30] So all of that information can be found on the website BlackEntrepreneurBlueprint.com

[00:28:36] Alright let me give you guys this bonus question.

[00:28:39] Which is probably one of the most important questions to ask.

[00:28:43] And remember today's show topic is from idea to income.

[00:28:48] Seven questions to launch a money making business.

[00:28:52] The bonus question is can you test your idea without spending a lot of money and resources.

[00:29:00] Can you test your idea without spending a lot of money and resources.

[00:29:05] And what this is going to allow you to do is find out if you have a viable idea.

[00:29:11] Okay now I know a lot of people talk about focus groups and all that good stuff.

[00:29:16] And they are good because they can give you feedback.

[00:29:19] But the truest test to find out if an idea is good or not is when people go into hit pocket national.

[00:29:26] Alright that means they take their hard earned money and they buy your product or service whatever it is.

[00:29:32] That is the truest test to find out if you have a viable idea.

[00:29:38] Now you're probably saying Jay well how am I going to test it out.

[00:29:42] And here's an example that I've given on several different episodes.

[00:29:47] And I'm going to give you two quick examples.

[00:29:49] The first example is of a physical product that I used to sell years ago.

[00:29:54] It was a nootropic and what the nootropic is it's a supplement to help you be able to focus better.

[00:30:00] One of the biggest ones out there is called focus factor.

[00:30:03] What I did was I found the manufacturer of the product and I got their pricing per unit.

[00:30:09] And I also found out how long it would take to ship the product to me with my labels and my marketing on the product.

[00:30:17] So each bottle cost about $4.50 from the manufacturer.

[00:30:22] And they said they could have my product shipped to me with my labels in about 7 to 10 business days.

[00:30:28] So the first thing I did was I bought five sample bottles with no label on them.

[00:30:33] Because I wanted to test the product out myself and also give a couple of sample bottles to my friends so they could test it out.

[00:30:40] Alright once we found out that okay this thing is pretty good.

[00:30:44] Then the question was how am I going to test this out without buying 100 bottles of product that I don't know if I can sell or not.

[00:30:52] So here's what I did.

[00:30:54] I created a landing page for the product.

[00:30:57] Now I had my graphic artist mock up a picture of the bottle with my label on it.

[00:31:03] So I didn't even have a real physical bottle that they can take a picture of.

[00:31:07] But I did have my label made out and my graphic artist uploaded it and he created an image of the bottle.

[00:31:14] I had an offer on that page.

[00:31:17] It was basically a sales page.

[00:31:19] Get your first bottle free.

[00:31:21] All you pay is shipping and handling.

[00:31:23] Then after that if they didn't cancel every 30 days from that date they would spend $29.95.

[00:31:31] Now my shipping and handling was $6.95.

[00:31:35] So here's what I did.

[00:31:37] I started running traffic to the landing page predominantly at that time from Facebook.

[00:31:43] And I said to myself if 25 people or more buy these bottles.

[00:31:49] Then I'm going to call the manufacturer and I'm going to say hey I want that 100 bottle order I was talking about.

[00:31:56] Here's $450.

[00:31:58] Now I knew they would get there within 7-10 days.

[00:32:01] But if I didn't get 25 orders then I would refund the money.

[00:32:06] So that's the way I was able to test my idea without spending a lot of money.

[00:32:11] So I started running traffic and low and behold I started to sell product.

[00:32:16] So after I hit the 25 bottle mark I called the manufacturer.

[00:32:21] Hey I need 100 bottles with my label on send it ASAP.

[00:32:26] I let the customers know that their bottle would be there in 14 days.

[00:32:30] So what happened was they gave me $6.95 for shipping.

[00:32:36] I shipped out the bottle and if they didn't cancel the subscription the next month I would bill $29.95.

[00:32:44] So I actually was able to test this idea literally by spending $45 in Facebook ads and I got over 25 bottles.

[00:32:54] After I got that initial run or test run out the way I started ramping up my Facebook ads and I started selling the new tropics.

[00:33:02] Once again the beauty of it is I took a little hit at the beginning because I was only getting $6.95 for the bottle that I paid $4.50 for.

[00:33:13] So I was really losing money on the front end but the subscriptions made up for it.

[00:33:19] $29.95 for a bottle that cost me $4.50 and I had about 80 to 83% of the people that kept up the subscription.

[00:33:29] Unfortunately what happened the manufacturer got bought out, went out of business and the new company that bought them out didn't want to produce that new tropic anymore.

[00:33:40] But that's a great example of how you can test your idea without spending a lot of money or resources.

[00:33:46] Now that was an example for physical products business.

[00:33:50] Now here's another example of testing an idea before you go forward with it.

[00:33:55] So years ago I had a magazine and it was called Home Values Magazine.

[00:34:00] And what it was was a free magazine that was mailed out to homeowners in specific areas and it had a whole lot of home improvement people in there and stuff for the home.

[00:34:10] So in order to create the magazine I'm going to have to get sales people right?

[00:34:16] Because I can't go and sell all of these different areas and all of these different sales.

[00:34:21] So what I did was before I even committed to the magazine I ran a dummy help wanted ad on Indeed.com and the ad was for advertising account executive commission only.

[00:34:34] Because in order to sell the ads obviously I'm going to need sales people to be out there in the field.

[00:34:41] And so what I did is I ran the ad, I interviewed people over the phone, I got the resumes and I actually gave them an offer.

[00:34:51] So now once I was able to find X amount of account executives, ad account executives, now I'm like okay this can actually work.

[00:35:02] So I actually hired 10 people and out of the 10 people 4 of them actually worked well.

[00:35:08] So before I even started the magazine I hired the reps.

[00:35:13] Now I had the mock up of the magazine done by my graphic artists and they were going to sell off the mock up.

[00:35:20] And so now since they were on commission then I didn't have to pay them until they made a sale.

[00:35:26] And that's just another example of how you can test your idea without spending a lot of money or resources.

[00:35:34] So I think the ad cost me about $80, I got a ton of responses, got a ton of resumes, I interviewed about 10 people and 4 people actually showed up to work.

[00:35:46] And so that's how I started that. So I knew that I couldn't start the magazine first without having people to sell the magazine.

[00:35:56] And the actual magazine was very profitable while I had that business.

[00:36:01] And so once again you got to be smart.

[00:36:04] So the whole thing about turning your ideas into income is being able to test it without spending a lot of money or resources.

[00:36:12] And the true test is when people go into Hip Pocket National and spend their hard earned money.

[00:36:19] Focus groups are great. You can ask your family and friends about the logo, this that and other things.

[00:36:25] What's good about the product or service? What's bad?

[00:36:28] But until you get somebody to go into their pocket and pay you, you do not have true proof of concept.

[00:36:36] And that's what I want you guys to understand.

[00:36:38] So today we talked about from idea to income 7 questions to launch a money making business.

[00:36:45] The bonus question is can you test your idea without spending a lot of money or resources?

[00:36:51] And that's really the key.

[00:36:53] Find out if you have a minimum viable product.

[00:36:56] Do people want your products and or services?

[00:36:59] And remember just because you like a product or service doesn't mean that it's going to sell.

[00:37:06] Okay, anytime you start a business or have a great idea, the reason you think the idea is good is because you think people are going to buy it.

[00:37:15] Right? Whatever you're selling.

[00:37:17] But you have to understand not everybody has your taste and not everybody is going to buy what you think they should buy.

[00:37:25] So testing the idea without spending a lot of money or resources is the key.

[00:37:31] Now guys, I say this each and every week because it's true.

[00:37:34] We get more and more downloads because of you, the BEB family.

[00:37:38] I appreciate you guys so much.

[00:37:40] Please continue to spread the word about the podcast, the new updated website.

[00:37:45] Make sure you guys check it out.

[00:37:47] BlackEntrepreneurBlueprint.com

[00:37:49] We have tons of resources for you on the website.

[00:37:53] Go to the website and hit the learn tab.

[00:37:55] And there's a drop down and you can learn about all types of things to help you elevate your entrepreneur IQ.

[00:38:02] You can learn about marketing, scaling your business, e-commerce, all types of things that are going to help you guys move your business from point A to B.

[00:38:11] We want BlackEntrepreneurBlueprint.com to be the resource for black entrepreneurs worldwide.

[00:38:18] Remember guys, it's not about me.

[00:38:20] It's not about you.

[00:38:21] It's about us.

[00:38:22] It's about building an economic power base in the worldwide black community by building and supporting black owned businesses.

[00:38:29] Love you guys.

[00:38:30] See you same time next week.

[00:38:31] Peace.