Thank you for any input, feedback, critique.
I’d like to start working for myself in the near future. I’m currently in a sales role doing well but have hit a market-wide pay ceiling. I’ve always wanted to start my own business but seeing the numbers i’ve produced for someone else is making me physically sick…that brings me to my question. Where to start?
My father (no contact) owns an asphalt maintenance business so I was raised in the field but the physical toll is not one i’m really not sure i’m willing to pay and it’s hard to retain good employees as they tend to become your competitors as soon as they learn enough to do so, however I consider this the safe option as I can leverage my skills, mostly sales, and my knowledge of some of the ins and outs of the trade.
I’d really like to do almost anything else instead, the problem is that I could see myself enjoying so many things it’s really hard to narrow anything down. Like everyone else i’m looking for something i’d enjoy doing but honestly I care more about providing for myself in the short-term as I plan to retire in the next 12-15 years.
I’m looking for: something that clears 30k profit the first year something with starting cost under 50k cannot require the storage of large materials cannot be landscaping, I live in the desert
Bonus Points if you can find something mostly remote but that does seem a little to good to be true.
If you don’t have any suggestions for which direction to take, i’d appreciate a book or podcast that you feel is worth my time.
Yeah I did this at the start of my career when I was dead broke and could barely afford rent. In 6 months I think I made 300k if Im not mistaken. What I did was find small and obscure physical newsletters in the health field that had advertising space or werent capitalising on advertising others productsin their newsletter and contacted about 70 and got I think 17 people onboard with testing. Then I went to a supplement company and offered them free advertising space to customers who are prone to buy their stuff in exchange for % of profits. Around 12 to 14 of those newsletters sold the supplements successfully whilst the rest didnt work out and so I offered them alternative products they could sell… yeah all in all, I made about 300k because of this.
At the start it takes a while to get a hang of how to construct these deals, you may get burned once or twice before you fix your contract, but all in all, once you have done around 5 to 10 deals, its smooth sailing.
Few things to be aware of is that such deals arent everlasting sadly. You will get bought out from your contract quite frequently after a period of initial success (6 to 12 months usually cause it takes a while for people to understand the potential and they underestimate results). Its not always going to work where you get pay from both sides (majority of time you will have to introduce both parties to each other after the initial testing phase of your idea).
Challenge landing an audience with the right person at both companies? Personally, I havent done encountered such challenges, but I assume that would be a problem if you are trying to get big companies - but small to medium sized, its usually quite easy.
Another thing to take into consideration with this route is that there is incredibly little information surrounding this topic that is valid. Many “theorists” but very little info from guys who have done and are sharing their knowledge. I only know one credible source and thats Jay Abraham.
If you got problems or questions specifically about outreaching and pitching prospects then ask away and I will answer.