This should only take about 4 mins 26 seconds to read. 😂

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Take 1 Business and Turn It Into 2 Businesses

Over the past 5+ years, I leaned into starting multiple businesses. Aside from my service agency, I love building SaaS products. Few are public, and some will never see the light of day, but they all bring in revenue. The number one question I get is, "how do you get all these ideas?". There are two answers to that question:

From my brain.
Problems that I come across or I get from my clients.

Product ideas are everywhere. If you listen to signals and the problems that people around you have, I guarantee you will stumble on an idea.

Keep in mind: ideas are worthless if you don't execute them.

Let's get into it:

Step 1: Start with a Service Business

Service businesses bring in cash quicker than any other business because you trade time for money. There are a variety of services you can provide online:

Copywriting
Design
Development
Marketing
etc.

Land a few clients, and ask questions. Listen for pain points, write them down, and keep a tally. Don't let these pain points (ideas) slip away.

Over time when you get the reps in with a larger number of clients (15+) you will start to get the same questions, problems, and frustrations. It might be related to workflows, templates, or simply connecting different pieces of their business through software. Keep your ears open.

Step 2: Product Business

When your service clients run into problems, take note of their problems. Get into the details, and ask all the questions you can think of. Once you do this a few times, you will start to see patterns.

Customer X had a problem with (...)
Customer Y had the same problem, but they need (...) as well.

Figure out which one of their problems is a software issue or something that can be streamlined. Post a question: if I can eliminate more than 90% of the manual labor for you, how much would you be willing to pay?

The goal is not to charge them any upfront cost; instead, they would pay you a monthly fee.

TA-DA, you just built a second business that doesn't require you to do service work.

Step 3: New clients, same problems

Next time you land a client, listen to their challenges. When you hear the same signals with the same problem, you offer them your solution, they pay monthly, and you start generating recurring revenue.

This is how your service business becomes an idea-generation tool while you get paid for doing the service work. As you start to generate more clients, you start to grow your product business. It's a win-win.

Top of mind topic: Authenticity

I've started to see a lot of people that are growing on Twitter lose their authenticity and focus too much on their follower numbers. I understand the dopamine bump that comes with, but in the long-term understand how you're dilluting your brand.

2 tweets from the week.

Tweet 1: My friend Jeremy posted this thread today (1/25) that really resonated about life in general that made me think.

7 years ago, I was eating and drinking my way to an early death.

But since then, I’ve run 8,000 miles and 5 ultramarathons.

Here are 8 ways how running will change your life:
— Jeremy Singh (@singhcredible) January 25, 2023

Tweet 2: Here is one of my tweets about all the layoffs happening in the tech world.

Corporate layoffs are hitting record numbers.

The skills you learned at your job have a higher monetary value than what you're making now.

There's never been a better time to start betting on yourself.
— Zlatko Bijelic ⚡️ (@Zbijelic) January 25, 2023

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Podcast stuff:

This week’s episode of WIMB features an amazing conversation with Thomas Strider, a business coach for early-stage content creators and freelancers.

Early in his career, Thomas struggled with finding what he wants to do in life. It took him some time to figure everything out and to start establishing himself in the financing world. He decided to take that experience and help aspiring creators and freelancers discover and be successful at what they love to do.
Over the years, Thomas has built several small businesses and has been consulting companies His main advice to people is to keep showing up. During the podcast, he emphasized several times the importance of consistently working towards your goals. And if you do it long enough, eventually you will reach them.
In addition to coaching, Thomas is currently focused on building his personal brand. He creates awesome content online to lead by example. His goal is to demonstrate that even though there might be certain things that a person might not be comfortable with, such as being on camera, it is still possible to do and be successful.

We had a pretty cool discussion about topics such as the impact that writing has on people, the importance of getting enough rest, how to deal with negative comments online, and more. Check out the episode if you want to listen to the whole conversation.

Check out the Podcast Episode

That's a wrap for issue #33

Email me at z@zlatkobijelic.com if you are building something. I'd love to know what you're working on and if there is anything I can do to help you.

Random question:
What's the last book you read?

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