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So, you’re a new entrepreneur, right? Maybe it’s a full-time leap out of your comfort zone or maybe it’s a side hustle you’re hoping will replace your full-time job. But like true entrepreneurs, you decided not to take the usual side-hustlin’ gig of schlepping MLM products (I know this because you’re here, not on whatever site the MLM gods tell you to stick to for all your inspiration.) and you developed an idea on your own.
And like most entrepreneurs, you didn’t come from wealth or an old-money family. You’ve got bills to pay, perhaps a family, and you are coming at this with an idea and maybe a talent you’ve got stored away.
This blog series is for you. It’s about how to start with nothing and put a few slow-burn ideas that will gather strength across time. These methods may not be everyone’s bag, but they have worked for me when I set out to build something. They are not get-rich-quick schemes. Some guys sell courses and make hefty promises to you. But these will begin to get eyeballs to you and what you are about.
We talk about creating a platform for yourself or your company. In addition to the work you’re doing to develop your actual product or service, you are going to make a plan with a very detailed understanding of what exactly you are wanting from this idea, making clear visuals in your head and having something typed or written out that you can study anytime you need to for inspiration and a clear understanding of exactly what you want to do and how you plan to do it. Then, you will create a platform for yourself to talk about that vision and all other ideas and topics related to that vision. You will begin (in obscurity) to talk to the ether about these topics by starting either a blog, podcast, or a YouTube channel.
Then, it’s time to get active on the interwebs by connecting with people interested in or talking about the same things you are on a variety of social networks. You won’t have to choose them all but select at least two or three that you can be diligent about. And respond to anyone who talks to you – not to sell your vision but to make genuine connections.
This brings us to one of the most proven ways to build your blog, podcast, or YouTube channel. You are going to research as many other blogs, channels, or podcasts that are similar to yours. Your Google search will lead you to some of the big-time players in your field. This is okay, but we’re going to dig deeper than that.
Today, in our final installment of this New Entrepreneur with No Money series, we’ll be talking about how to become an expert in your niche – or your field of work.
Are you ready? You set? Ok, let’s go!
You Smartass You
Have you ever watched news shows and it comes time to “bring in our experts?” After a while, you realize it’s always the same experts! Some panel will come on and one of those experts will be the same one you see in every headline. If it’s a political issue, there will be the same talking heads. If it’s a cooking segment, it’ll be the same food expert. If it’s a local issue, it’ll be the same local guy reporting in that field.
These are residents of their show. Their full-time job has the word “Expert” in it. And when they’re hired by the network, they’re hired to represent that network for each of those segments.
The same is pretty much true in the world of the Internet. And seeing as how you’re here, that means you already depend a lot on the Internet for your business.
The experts of the business and Internet world catch your attention because they’re the first videos you see when you do a YouTube search. Their book is constantly on the New York Times Bestseller list and you see them first on Amazon, Audible, or Barnes and Noble.
How did they get to be that?
For most of them, they started out exactly where you are. They had little more than an idea to do something – just like you.
They may have had some startup money saved up, but for most people, they started from nothing.
The learning for most of these people came after they started! It was taking the leap out of an airplane and hoping their parachutes opened at just the right time. It’s free-falling, and it’s scary, but then, the chute opened.
The High School Tutor
Did you ever find yourself struggling in a class in school. Maybe you told your teacher you were having difficulty understanding the problem or the material, and that teacher said, “Why don’t you tutor someone else?”
What were they talking about? Why would you tutor someone else when you don’t know the answer for yourself?!
Well, if you experienced this, the teacher probably knew something. He or she knew that if you decided to help someone else to figure out the material, it would force you to be a step ahead of them. And that meant that, instead of dealing with anxiety of not knowing the answer to ace the test, you would face the problem by trying to figure out how to help someone else understand it. If would put YOU in control of the learning process for your student. You’d ultimately find a way to answer the problem or question because you knew you had to be on your game to teach it to someone else.
Yeah, your teacher was a badass.
At some point, the answer clicked for you because you found it in yourself to find the solution.
Your Business Niche is Your New Tutoring Project
Maybe you know who Gary Vee is because of his popular YouTube channel or podcast. Maybe you’ve read his books or heard one of his talks. He’s clearly an expert in the field of social networking, right?
But he didn’t start out that way. First of all, there were almost no social networks when he started, and he didn’t know anything about the business niche he would come to thrive in: WINE.
Before Gary Vee became Gary Vee, he was Gary Vaynerchuk and he was an employee in his father’s New Jersey liquor store. And as he will tell you, he was far from an expert.
But Gary had a goal to help his dad’s small store make profits in the way they never had, and he started a channel for free on the new video site, YouTube. He began sharing his opinions and his insights on what he had learned by listening to customers and distributors to his store. He listened to their insights into wine. He learned what went into a good wine, how to make predictions on the taste of wine based on its vintage, and how to share that information to other customers.
It didn’t take long before Wine Library became one of the biggest hits of YouTube in its early years, and propelled Shoppers Discount Liquors to dominate its industry and become one of the most famous wine shops in America.
He started with the goal, and he just decided to start. He took action and learned more and more about it the more he went on.
The Cure for Writer’s Block
Maybe you’ve been reading these blog posts on being an entrepreneur and killing it by sharing insights, networking, and writing or producing content. And you’re scared to death.
You are in the plane, clearly, because you’re in the entrepreneur business. But you have yet to figure out how you’re going to operate the parachute, how to jump, or where you’re going to land.
You think maybe you have what it takes to start that blog or channel or podcast, but you get stuck.
You don’t know what to write about, or what to speak about.
I’m here to tell you that is one hundred percent okay.
Just start.
Start with one idea in your lines of article topics. And just begin writing. Who cares if it feels like you’re lying or cheating or second-guess your words over and over again. Just write it. And then write the next one. Then, write the next one.
What you’ll begin to find is that you start finding your material easily. You’ll discover that you do have something worth saying. Maybe you learned it from someone else. Who cares? So did they!
Remember, there are no original ideas. Not really. Everyone is influenced.
Even Jesus was influenced by the prophets and teachers before him. When he was a kid and ran away from his parents only to be found in the temples blowing the minds of the prophets and teachers around him, the Bible just says he was asking questions.
Just start. Ask questions and keep searching along the way.
Keep Putting Your Content Out
It is massively important to keep putting out your content once you start. It can become a runaway train. But that’s okay. And it only becomes a runaway train if you keep going day after day after day. Keep networking. Keep setting your posting schedules. Keep tweeting. And keep working on your business.
What you’ll find is that the people you network with will start slowly visiting your site more, leaving comments on your posts, retweeting you, and with your products themselves, you’ll discover that you are learning more and more about what makes them tick.
Every time you guest post for someone else, you’re giving YOUR insight to someone else. Everytime YOU give insight to someone, you’re giving VALUE to them. And every time you give VALUE to someone, they tell their friends.
Eventually, you cannot help but transmute these insights, values, and shares into conversions. Eventually, you are known by the quality content you produce, and that generates business.
You Can Be the Expert, But You Never Stop Learning
Another thing these key influencers have in common is that they are known for the content they give from themselves, but they are constantly learning more about it. No matter how far you get with these connections and reads and web traffic, keep an open mind that at any moment, you may learn more. And be open to new ways to create that content.
Be adaptable. And be teachable.
And above all, be approachable. There is still something to be said for being kind no matter how much you move ahead.
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