Hey GirdleyWorld!
I love to teach, especially by having conversations with people and helping them solve their problems. So today…
- The 11 pieces of advice entrepreneurs need to hear
Let’s do it!
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I love to teach.
It might be a 1-on-1 scenario, or talking with other leaders in my Vistage group or with fellow Scalepath members, or conversations with the CEOs of my companies.
And looking back over the conversations I’ve had, I realized that many people face the same problems.
So the same pieces of advice keep coming up.
Here are my top 11 pieces of advice for entrepreneurs. How many of these apply to you?
1. “Your prices are too low.”
Low prices can get a business stuck in the mud.
I talk to people with bad customers who have nothing to spend on the stuff that matters, who do everything on hard mode.
Instead of pricing for their value, they priced so low that nobody could possibly complain.
Charge what you’re worth.
2. “You’re betting too much.”
Hustling like a maniac is baked into the business culture (for better and for worse).
Entrepreneurs want to show they’re all-in on a startup idea.
So they commit 50, 80, even 100% of their liquid net worth.
It’s a big mistake. You lose all perspective.
You must be able to live to fight another day.
3. “Go find 5 people willing to put down a deposit.”
Does anyone want what you’re building?
It is an obvious question.
And the time to ask it is before you plow your money and time into building something.
If you can’t find five people willing to put down $100 or more for your product, it’s rarely viable.
4. “Stop playing house.”
This is the idea that people love to do the stuff that looks like entrepreneurship… but isn’t.
Trademarks, patents, LLCs, billing systems, offices…
Even stuff like websites and email addresses.
Forget all that. Go sell some stuff first.
5. “Fire these customers.”
Getting started, businesses often take any customers that’ll pay.
After they get their feet under them, they keep on their early, bad customers.
Sometimes it’s fear. Sometimes they just forget.
But a bad customer eats up 10x the bandwidth of a good customer and distracts you from what matters.
Especially the ones that are barely profitable or yell at your staff.
Life’s too short to deal with a-holes.
6. “I don’t think you can profitably serve customers.”
This is a simple one.
You must weigh lifetime value (LTV) against customer acquisition cost (CAC).
And “in the black” isn’t enough.
If you’re spending $200 to acquire a customer with a value of $250 over their lifetime, you don’t have a business.
7. “Pursue something you’re passionate about.”
People will spend 30 minutes telling me about an opportunity.
Then they tell me they’re not that excited about it.
That’s fine when things are good. You clock in and grind.
But when times get tough, you want to be working on something inspiring. Or you’ll hate your life.
Trust me.
8. “There’s something you don’t know yet.”
If a business opportunity seems obvious and nobody has done it, there’s always a reason.
You just don’t know it yet.
Keep searching until you find it. Ask experts, customers, or others who have failed in the space.
You can still take that opportunity. But do everything you can to go in with eyes wide open.
9. “This isn’t a painkiller. It’s a vitamin.”
This isn’t new advice, but it’s still a common mistake.
If you’re thing isn’t a must-have or anything anyone seriously wants… you’re going to have a bad time.
Here’s the sign your idea is in this category:
Lots of people say it’s a good idea. But nobody steps up to pay.
10. “You’re asking a cat to bark.”
Say employee X is failing.
Or you’re struggling as a CEO to grow your business.
Something that took me a long time to learn: every business problem is a people problem.
And usually, the problem is that you’re asking someone to do things they are bad at.
Put the right people in the right seats, and things will transform.
11. “You need to hire a staff recruiter.”
This one doesn’t hit until you’ve built to a certain size.
But I often hear my CEO friends saying they can’t hire.
There are two causes:
- They created “unicorn” roles for people that don’t exist.
- They ask managers to run intensive hiring processes on top of their regular jobs.
The second one is easy: get a full-time recruiter on your staff.
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3 things from this week
- Appetizer: I looked at 1,700 businesses for sale in 2023. (Yes, I’m a business nerd.) So I made a video about the most interesting 6 of them — give it a watch!
- Main: My buddy Kriss Berg is in the car wash business, and he wrote this great breakdown of how to spot a killer car wash deal for sale. Here’s the stuff that makes for a great deal:
- Ugly signage, looks like it was built in 1974
- All self-serve (easy maintenance)
- No Google listing — Kriss writes “The fruit is hangin' so low we could stomp our feet and make applesauce.”
This issue of his newsletter walks you through the whole process: it’s behind a sign-up wall, but you can one-click subscribe right here!
- Dessert: I got some proofs of new headshots. What do you think, should I go all-Buddhist content from here on out? (Thank you Bridgette Bloomquist!)
That’s it! I’d love to hear from you: what pieces of advice changed the game for you?
Have a great week!
Michael
