Business Ideation: How to Discover New Business Ideas
In 2007, a pair of roommates moved to San Francisco. They were broke, jobless, and they didn’t have money for rent.
They needed to come up with a quick hustle. With a conference coming around the corner, they noticed that all the hotels in the city were sold out.
That’s when one of them came up with an idea.
That company is now known as airbnb.com.
Unique Mechanisms: Why They Matter and Why Your Product NEEDS Them (With Examples)
I’ve been running an experiment for the past year. Every time I catch up with an entrepreneur friend, I’ll ask them:
“What do you think makes a great product? What criteria are you looking for when you’re creating or promoting a product?”
These are all seven- to eight-figure e-commerce brand owners.
Here are some of the paraphrased answers that I’ve gotten.
Business and Life Lessons From Tony Hsieh, former CEO of Zappos
I had a “holy shit” moment when I ordered from Zappos for the first time.
This happened over a decade ago.
I chose the slowest shipping option to save money.
I expected the shoes to arrive in 7 to 10 business days.
My shoes arrived the next morning.
Keep in mind that this was years before Amazon made 2-day shipping the standard.
How to Brainstorm Unique Products in a Competitive Market
You don’t need to have a “Eureka!” moment to come up with a great business idea. You can easily come up with great ideas if you ask yourself the right questions.
More people are interested in entrepreneurship than ever before. Everyone gets stuck at “coming up with a good idea.”
One problem I see is people want to create copycat products that aren’t any different from the incumbents. Or they want to make the same thing, but just do it cheaper.
The 7 Powers: a Strategic Framework to Fight Off Increasing Competition
It has never been easier to build a business online. By that same token, there has never been more competition. The best way to remain profitable long term is to invest in moats using the 7 Powers Framework.
It’s terrifying being a seller on Amazon. What if Big Bezos decides he wants to make an AmazonBasics version of your best seller? Or what if your supplier decides they want to start competing against you?
Affiliate marketers have to deal with people spying on and ripping off their campaigns. Facebook costs keep rising. Margins keep shrinking.
Drop Servicing: The Best Business Model to Start if You’re Broke
“Charles, what would you do if you had to start all over again? I don’t have any money to invest in a business, and I don’t have any skills that I can make money from! All I have is my time and work ethic. Please help.”
I’ve been getting emails like these ever since COVID-19 happened.
Whenever someone’s in a difficult financial situation, my advice is to find a job. And I don’t mean that in a condescending way.
A job is the fastest way to get stability. It’s hard to launch your business if your lizard brain is worried about making rent.
Market Inflections: How to Easiest Way to Think of Million Dollar Ideas
So often, we feel as if we have to grind it out for years to get results.
If you work hard and persistent enough, then the results will come. Well, what about all the outliers who defy this rule?
Raise Your Prices: 5 Strategies Luxury Brands Use to Increase Their Perceived Value
Legendary venture capitalist Marc Andreessen’s #1 advice for companies is simple: raise your prices.
In an interview on the Tim Ferriss Show, he said:
“The No. 1 thing — just the theme and we see it everywhere — the No. 1 theme with our companies have when they get really struggling is they are not charging enough for their product.
It has become absolutely conventional wisdom in Silicon Valley that the way to succeed is to price your product as low as possible under the theory that if it’s low-priced everybody can buy it and that’s how you get the volume.”
The Complete Guide to Creating Systems and SOPs in Your Business
The following is a guest post by my friend Aaron Lynn. I’ve been getting emails requests over the years about how to implement systems into businesses. He’s one of the best at explaining this topic.
Everyone likes to talk about standard operating procedures (SOPs) and systems, but going from the idea of having them to actually working on them is different.
3 Personality Tests You Should Include in Your Hiring Decision
It’s hard to hire great talent.
Think about how fast you can gain skills in business. You can launch dozens of tests a day if you have the budget.
You can handwrite sales letters by hand daily to improve your copywriting.
But getting good at hiring? That takes a long time. Looking at resumes, interviewing people, and onboarding them takes months.
