How to start a business. (Without starting a business!)
Remember when you were looking for your first job? A new business startup is like that.
You need a job to get experience, but you need experience to get a job!
It is no different starting a business. You need experience to run a business, but you need a business to get experience. So how do you do both at the same time? Here are some questions our readers and clients have asked over the years.
How can I use what I already know to start a business?
If you live in the US or Europe, you handle more money and make more business decisions than 99% of the world’s 7 billion people. You have income, expenses, assets, and liabilities. If you are under 55, the big liability is probably college and car debt!!!
You have to buy things, sell things, negotiate prices, figure out contracts, make good financial decisions and live within a budget. That is all a business is!!
I know nothing about finance. How can I go into business without losing a lot of money?
To learn more about risk click here.
Yes you can!
How can I come up with ideas in which business to go into?
We cover this extensively. Why?
Ever notice that some entrepreneurs (Like Elon Musk) have dozens of businesses? Is it because they are creative? No. It is because this is their mindset. The first electric car was invented while Henry Ford was developing the Model T.
Once you develop a business mindset, your problem will not be a lack of ideas but a glut of them!
And that ‘great idea” you thought would change the world. You might end up saying, “what in the **** was I thinking!
Can I really go into business if I do not have any money?
Most successful business owners start out with little or no money. Michael Dell started out in a dorm room. Bill Gates, his father’s garage. Same with Steven Jobs. Cornelius Vanderbilt was broke, as were Andrew Carnegie and most of the world’s successful entertainers.
To learn how to make money without money, click here
By testing ideas before you start.
Christmas fair.
How can I climb out from under all that debt? How do I get ahead?
It involves a new mindset.
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU!!!
You do not require fixing! You are plenty creative enough! You do not need motivation! IQ doesn’t matter and oftentimes, being overly educated HURTS.
The business mindset is a process. It takes time. Essentially, all it means is that you are taking your life and thinking of it as a business.
We are not talking about mantras, chants, or bullet points. At Landon Fillmore Systems we do not teach yoga and do not run a mindfulness camp.
I have never been self-employed and do not have friends that are.
This is why we have developed Landon Fillmore Systems as a mindset. We provide you with numerous examples of people who have succeeded and failed. If you are taking on the world as a self-employed person, the last thing you need is another motivational seminar.
Remember, we have 25 years of experience with this. Though we have changed the names, all of our examples are real companies and real self-employed people. It is a real track record, not a list of anecdotes many of which we provided accounting and management services for. In many cases we facilitated the purchase and sale of the company.
In addition, we feature new businesses every month that you can use for inspiration and insights.
Click here for New Business Ideas
And anyone who tells you different is a charlatan. ANYBODY can do this!
Why go through this if I am not sure I am going to be self-employed?
THIS IS THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION!
As we discussed above, you are already in business. The only difference between being a retailer or being a customer is which side of the counter you are standing on.
More importantly, if you structure your financial life as if it was already a business, you will grow your assets, shrink your liabilities and get richer. If you wake up every morning and see a statement of assets, liabilities, income, and expenses on your phone, it will change your life. We guarantee it!
Millions of people stress over not having enough money. But our experience has been what they really want is not only attainable, but far easier to attain then they think.
How do I learn marketing? It is too complex.
Who are the most successful schoolteachers? Those that are the most organized. Marketing is not something that involves creativity. It is a process. We will walk you through this soup to nuts.
Click here to get started on marketing
Let me tell you a story about Venessa.
Venessa is a 26-year-old Greek woman that emigrated from Greece to Nuremberg Germany when she was 16. She had (and has) no real skills. She does not speak German, though she speaks English.
I love Venessa. She is one of the coolest people I know. She is about 5 foot 2, maybe 100 pounds, is all smiles, loves life and works at a small English pub. She makes 11 Euro ($12) an hour plus tips. (Germans are not big tippers.)
Two years ago, she told me her dream was to go to New York City. I asked her, “Nessa (her nickname) do you know how much New York costs?” She just smiled back at me. “I don’t care, I just want to go!”
Last year she went. How she came up with the money is an exercise in being a self-employed MONSTER! (At 5 foot 2) It took all the money from her job to live. So, she took on a border, a Greek girl who also emigrated looking for a job. She sold junk jewelry, made cakes that she sold to the pub where she worked and took on a second job walking dogs. She ate one meal a day at work and squeezed her paycheck until it bled.
All so she could go to New York City for one week?
YES. BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT SHE WANTED TO DO.
This is how the brain works. If you really want something, it will move heaven and earth to get it for you.
So, my question to you is this. What would you do to get what you really want?
How does it feel to have employees? You feel like the god(ess)-emperor of the world! How does it feel when you are asked to speak publicly about your company? CLOUD NINE! What is it like to be respected by your peers and be envied by your friends and family?
IT DOES NOT SUCK!
Step one in this process is using your current life as a business!
Like job experience, this will allow you to get business experience without the risk of a business startup.
How do we do this?
Think of the Gig2big.com website like a family tree.
On the top of the tree are the parents. Those are articles that show you what you are going to learn as time goes by. These are simple things you can do that cost you either nothing or next to nothing.
Think of these as 1st year “into to” courses. Intro to accounting, intro to marketing, etc.
Next is the next generation, the kids.
These are more technical articles on the same topics that will help you get to square two. Some are blog posts, some site pages and some PDF downloads depending on the content and importance. For example, if it is a topic we think you should print and carry with you it will be a pdf. Fair enough?
Below that, there are what we refer to as #geeksnotes.
#Geeksnotes are technical articles on specific topics.
They may be highly analytical. In many cases, you may not need them. We include them because these are areas we know well and want you to have the opportunity to read or share them with your employees, friends and coworkers who need information you may not be able to convey.
Some of what you will learn on this site you may eventually hire other people to do. This knowledge will help you know who to hire and how to use them.
Keep in mind Gig2big.com is STRUCTURED SITE.
Our mission is to teach you how to think and act like a businessperson without overwhelming you with pop ups, ads, gibberish, and bullshit.
Remember this…
Being successful in business, or simply unloading that pile of college debt, is not about being a genius. You do not have to kill yourself. You do not have to wake up every night in a cold sweat.
It is simply a matter of putting one foot in front of another. That sounds easy as a cliché, but you might already be asking, “What foot goes first?”
In the Marines, marching always starts with the left foot first. Why? Because if everyone does not start on the same foot, they will trip over each other! So, lets all start off on the same foot.
In the Marines, marching always starts with the left foot first. Why? Because if everyone does not start on the same foot, they will trip over each other! So, lets all start off on the same foot.