Summary: Tweet Every day I get emails about starting up a business. Some really concern me because they are like, “I am thinking of buying 20 acres, my friend recommend your stuff on permaculture and I want to build a permaculture business on my new land. Do you think it is possible to get to a decent income in two years”. Whoa! Shut the front door! This scares the shit out of me, some guy is going to make a major investment here, I can tell by the email he doesn’t even really know what permaculture is, has no experience farming or ranching and likely no business experience either. It also isn’t just permaculture all sorts of businesses, I have X idea, this my basic Y plan, do you think it will work. The only honest answer is I have NO EFFING IDEA. Let me put it another way, say someone said to you, “I want to build a full time income podcasting about subject XYZ, not just enough to survive on, but to make a really decent living on. Do you think my idea will work?” Now you might think I know this guy Jack, and Jack makes a great income, his show is almost 9 years running now, he does great so, sure it will work. But you see the other shoes, don’t you about a metric shit ton of them? Here are a few… Will this guy work as hard as Jack does Is he as good or can he become as good or better on the mic then Jack Will this person effectively market the product Will they develop the necessary technical skills Will they keep up a frequency that engages people long term Will they develop a truly valuable product to sell How committed are they to success Do they even know anything about subject XYZ Will they use drugs and squander initial success Do they have a ficken clue about running a business Is his chosen topic diverse enough On the last one let me say you have no idea, I was told no way I could do a show a day for very long, see how that worked out right? In my business I am the key variable and in any business the entrepreneur is the key variable. This has led me to 12 rules I will discuss today. Much like my tenets or modern survival they are more how to think rather than what to do, so that you can develop your own plan and strategy and further answer the key question for yourself. See when you say to me “do you think _____ business will work”, I have no idea but my gut is NO it won’t, no matter how good the idea is. Why? Because you are asking the question and you don’t already have your own answer. So I would say no at that moment, if you plunge into it t that moment you will likely fail. You should be saying to yourself, “how can I make this idea work”, and when you have answers to that, my opinion won’t mean shit, and when you get to that point, most likely you are going to succeed. Spirko’s Twelve Rules of Business… You can improvise your way to success but only a plan makes you sustainable Follow your passion but understand passion doesn’t pay the bills No one will ever care about your success more than you Good customers are better than gold, bad customers are cancer – irradiate them If you start saying, “things will pick up” with no plan you will soon be out of business Become a life long student of your subject, but learn by study and application You had better be able to explain your revenue model to a 12 year old Working hard at the wrong things is worse than doing nothing at all If you are talking/marketing/targeting someone disinterested find someone else fast Every business can succeed, and every business can fail A revenue channel or business unit is not a business, only a piece of one Successful marketing is getting others to tell your story for you Resources for today’s show… Join the Members Brigade The Year 1947 Join Our Forum Walking To Freedom TSP Gear PermaEthos.com TspAz.com – Support TSP When You Shop Amazon The Granddaddy’s Gun Club Near You – Fra[...]
