This should only take about 7 mins to read.

‍

It's easier once you start, I promise.  

This issue is focused on simplifying the process of starting your first business online. I have crossed paths with people that have amazing ideas and solutions to problems, but they never take the leap into doing anything about it. I talk a lot about start, but now I am giving you the juice to take a step forward. I hope you enjoy.

It’s highly likely that you are overcomplicating the process in your head about building your first business.

Don’t worry; you’re not the only one; this applies to 99% of people in the world who have business ideas floating in their heads. They have ideas and don’t execute them because they are overthinking and running into obstacles that don’t exist; it’s all in their head.

→ How do I start?

→ What technology do I need?

→ How do I make money?

→ And so on

Also there is a random questions at the very bottom of this newsletter issue. 👀

Let me help you get off the ground by simplifying it for you.

When you set sail on your journey to build a product, service, or simply a personal website (blog), there are a few things to keep in mind:

• Don’t overcomplicate the process by trying to make it “perfect.”
• Make the product effective with the least amount of friction.
• Use no-code tools to make the process faster.

Remember that in the beginning, you won’t have a big crowd of people waiting to see what you made. The goal is to start and get something up and running to put your flag into the ground of building your first business. It might sound silly, but it’s a step 99% of people don’t take (as I mentioned previously).

You can always go back and make improvements and add new resources, just don’t get hung up on doing everything before you launch. No matter how great your product is initially, you will have to make changes one way or another.

Here is how I look at the situation:

1. Build something, launch it, be scrappy, listen to your user feedback, and improve over time as you grow.
2. Try and be perfect from day 1; never launch because you’re never happy because you want to be perfect.

In option 1:

• You will benefit from feedback.
• You will have something out there.
• You will have a sense of accomplishment.

In option 2:

• You won’t see any benefits because you are still working on perfecting something no one has seen. Dead in the water.

4 Action items to get you on the right path:

• Find a minor problem that you have.
• Write everything down that comes to mind around that problem.
• Talk to 5 (relevant) people about that problem and get a pulse on how much value there is in solving it.
• Start building it your first version.

Think Micro, not Macro, when you start.

Tweets from the Week

Here is an awesome thread by Harris Faranoff and the 9 questions you should ask during your employee onboarding process:

‍

Here is a tweet from Mark Dito about copywriting, super cool thread and a lot of great info shared here:

Here is my tweet:

I posted a thread on audience building that was a ton of fun to write and see all the stats in one place. Give it a read.

Podcast Stuff:

I had the pleasure of talking with the co-founder and the CEO of Tequila Sunrise, Karly McFarland. She shared the story behind the name of her agency, how she got started in the email/e-commerce industry, and talked about her goals for her book.

• Tequila Sunrise, formerly known as Email Allstars, is a marketing agency that has helped many e-commerce brands grow their revenues and improve retention. Originally, the agency focused on email and SMS marketing strategies. To start branching out in other areas as well, they decided to rebrand and go with a name that didn’t define their services.
• Karly mentioned that her first experience with e-commerce was on the logistics side. Since she hated it very much, she went on to work at an agency where she was able to see the marketing side of things and started getting interested in it. And eventually, she was able to combine both of these things in Email Allstars.
• Because of working exclusively with Email and SMS in an agency environment for several years, Karly gained substantial knowledge and understanding of the field. She saw that there were no books that properly explained and provided enough information about Email marketing. So, she decided to create one herself: Email Is Not Dead

Karly also talked about why people seem to have negative associations with email, how to avoid that, and the importance of having email campaigns that aim to provide value and build trust instead of trying to sell something. It was a very interesting conversation, and you can listen to it fully here:

Check out Email Is Not Dead on Amazon

Listen to do the podcast >>

One tool I like or use:

Tool of the week: Xnapper

URL: Xnapper by Tony Dinh (recently featured on ProductHunt as well)

Why Xnapper is so awesome:

It's such a simple yet powerful tool, you take a screenshot and it adds a really nice (soft) background to the screenshot. It beautifies it. You can add images from your desktop as well, so you don't have to use the tool to take the actual screenshot - you can beautify any existing images.

The tool is effective when you are posting on social media because the frame around the actual screenshot makes it easier to digest (weird, I know).

I highly recommend it, I've used a bunch of different screenshot tools - this one wins every time.

‍

That's a wrap for issue #14.

‍

Random question: When you eat french fries, do you eat one at a time, or do you take 5-6 at a time and just demolish them? 🤣

‍

Send me your answers here.

‍

----

Check out some of my products here.

If you are interested in 1:1 business coaching, go here and see how I can help you.

Follow me on Twitter​

Follow me on LinkedIn.

Listen to my podcast.