Essential Beginner Business Lessons You Need to Know
Building a successful business requires grit and know-how. Today’s entrepreneurs need to have both.
You already have the motivation and ideas to start. We are committed to supporting you in your journey. This is what you need to do to achieve your goals.
We interviewed 100 entrepreneurs and got their advice.
Our interviews are available in print, podcasts, YouTube, and social media. With so much to learn from our past interviews, we thought it would be a great idea to highlight 5 of the most important lessons.
Lesson 1: Share what you’ve got with the rest of the world
Product positioning and brand targeting have great power. You should tailor your services and products to those most likely to buy them.
Don’t forget to include others in the equation.
Matt Pohlson discovered this very early on in his career. Omaze is an online fundraising platform that provides once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for people to give to worthy causes. You can enter the contest by donating.
Previous giveaways included two seats on Virgin Galactic’s first flight, Julia Roberts’ shopping spree, and Super Bowl tickets with all-access. One of the most extravagant prizes was the Lamborghini that Pope Francis personally handed over to the lucky winner.
Omaze allows anyone to be a winner, regardless of the prize value. Omaze’s success is due to this simple approach. Omaze has donated over $130 million to charities and is on Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies for 2020” list.
Pohlson and his friends’ disappointing high-school experience inspired them to invent this. It all started after the two won auction tickets where they were able to play basketball with Magic Johnson one-on-1, then go and watch a Lakers game.
Pohlson is a Lakers fanatic, and Magic Johnson is a huge fan. Winning this opportunity was an incredible prospect. Due to the high bids, Pohlson was not able to participate.
Pohlson and his friend discussed on our way home the issue of the exclusive event. A prize of this magnitude would have brought thousands to the venue. People who could not attend the event would be even more interested in its potential.
In the end, the winning bid only raised about $20,000. Lower bids weren’t updated and did not increase the money going to charity. How much more could the organizers have raised had they made this experience available to all?
Spread your ideas to the whole world.
Lesson 2: Replace fear with Love
Matt Pohlson gave us yet another excellent interview. Pohlson’s near-death experience a few years ago has changed his approach to life and business.
Pohlson went to the hospital after feeling unwell for some time. The doctors spent many hours trying to determine what was causing his pain and discomfort. The scar tissue left over from a childhood operation was still causing his organs to malfunction.
Pohlson fell to the floor. A loudspeaker announced “code-blue” in his hospital room. His family was waiting outside the room when they heard those chilling words.
Pohlson’s mother ran to the room of her son, who was a nurse. Staff members stopped her, but insisted she brought him into this world, and she would still be with him when he leaves it.
As one doctor was leaving the room he announced to a colleague in the hallway that Pohlson had died. The family of Pohlson heard the conversation and were overcome by grief.
Pohlson, who was revived and opened his eyes to see a crowd of people looking at him.
Pohlson learned to love death. Pohlson had been afraid of dying before this fateful day. The experience was incredible.
He quickly applied this lesson to his work in Omaze.
He recalled: “I thought from the start that these people were going to lose their jobs if we failed. “I will also be responsible for the families of those who lose their jobs. What happens to my family?
His return from death gave him a new appreciation of life. Fear can cripple. The opposite of fear is love.
Takeaway: Stop worrying and spend your time on the love in this world.
Lesson 3: If you want to make your benefits stand out, do it early and often
It’s not always easy to organize the message in a hierarchical order. As entrepreneurs, we are passionate about our businesses. Our audience has so much to learn.
It is easy to get lost in the rush of messages. So what is your key message? Nick Shackelford is a business teacher and marketer who explains the basic order of the world.
Nick Shackelford has extensive experience working for Apple. He helped to sell the iPhone 7, Apple Watch, and iPad Pro. These products may be familiar.
Shackelford is now the Managing Director of Structured Social, Facebook’s top growth partner. In the past few years, he has spent more than $100 million in ads on Facebook. He has learned how to meet customer needs and outsell his competition.
Facebook featured Shackelford’s campaign to help other entrepreneurs. They may be familiar. Some examples include:
- On the first day after its launch, Diff Eyewear sold more than 255,000 pieces. Within two weeks the brand has sold over 16,000 items. With a 2.6x ROI on their advertising spend, the brand is set for success.
- Pupsocks’ epic launch generated over $13,000,000 in sales in a single month. A 3.7x return on ad spend was an incredible success.
- Snow Teeth Whitening has sold over 23,000 units since launching its product range. It was an increase of 1.7x in advertising return.
Shackelford’s videos are created using the same principles regardless of which tactics they use. If you don’t show the value of your product in the first 3 seconds, then most people will leave your video. You need to ensure that the product you are promoting is both relevant and valuable.
We’ll then win.
Adopting a value-first mentality in brand messaging and marketing is the key. Include the value proposition when writing an email headline for a product. Radio ads, podcasts, or billboards are all examples.
Lesson 4: solving problems is fun
Shackelford shares another lesson from his course. After testing more than 100,000 advertisements, he found it important to include images of people who are using the product.
Is this to say that all of your advertisements feature a group of people laughing as they use the products you sell? No, not at all. There are other ways for them to enjoy themselves. The important thing is solving their problems.
For example, you could sell a battery charger to help start batteries on the coldest winter mornings. An ad could show the mother’s relief as she drives her children in freezing temperatures, driving her truck.
The product you create should make people laugh, or feel satisfied when they solve a problem.
Customers will be more responsive to emotional ads. These scenarios will make them feel like they are in the situation and will help them appreciate your product or service on a whole new level.
Lesson 5: Stay focused and on course
The energy and enthusiasm of young entrepreneurs are usually abundant. But do they have what Alex Hormozi refers to as “stick-to-itiveness”?
Hormozi is a highly successful investor and entrepreneur. He runs with his spouse a portfolio that generates over $85,000,000 per year. Hormozi also has an eye for niches. His businesses include SAAS (software-as-a-service), education, licensing, and brick-and-mortar services.
Hormozi has contributed to Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Forbes.
Hormozi explained that in an interview with Nathan Chan, he shared why he thinks so many entrepreneurs fail.
You will become unstoppable after 10 years if you stick with it. Nobody can stick to anything that long.
It’s very easy to get distracted when you have a passion for something. The key is to see your idea through.
Takeaway: Focus on a vision or idea that gives you energy and passion.
