The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future (14 page)
Authors: Chris Guillebeau
But James adapted quickly, deciding on which parts of his operation were flexible and which couldn’t be changed. He could add biscuits to the morning menu, for example, and could ramp up the iced tea production for those who wanted it—but he would continue to ensure that the coffee beans were extra-fresh and the
espresso preparation was just as he had learned back in Seattle. The next time you’re in Lexington, stop in for a biscuit and Americano. James and his team will be waiting.
KEY POINTS
Who are your people? You don’t necessarily have to think of them in categories such as age, race, and gender. Instead, you can think of them in terms of shared beliefs and values.
THE STREETS
THAN THIS SENTENCE, IT COULD BE TOO LONG
.
“Plans are only good intentions unless
they immediately degenerate into hard work.”
—PETER F. DRUCKER
J
en Adrion and Omar Noory graduated from the Columbus (Ohio) College of Art and Design in 2008. They both began freelancing as designers, in addition to Jen teaching at their alma mater and Omar taking a design job at a studio in town. Based in a tiny apartment, they were making ends meet and working jobs related to their degrees, but just one year after graduation, the feeling of burnout from the world of commercial design was inescapable. “Should I have gone to med school?” Jen wondered. “What if accounting would have been a better fit? It was strange to be feeling this way only a year into our careers.” On a drive back from Chicago, they talked about other things: an upcoming trip to New York and a plan that they hoped would lead to other travels.
When they got home, Omar looked around for a nice map to help chart their upcoming adventures. Long story short, they couldn’t find one that they loved, so they decided to make their own. They stayed up late at night, working on their ideal map while talking about all the places they hoped to visit. When they
finished the design, there was just one problem: The printer they wanted to use had a minimum order of fifty units for a cost of $500. It was a lot to spend when they only needed one map, but the project had come to mean more than just a print, so Jen and Omar each put down $250. They loved the final result and hung one of the maps on the wall … leaving forty-nine maps with no obvious purpose. They gave a few out to friends … and still had forty-four. Finally, Omar asked a crazy question: Would anyone want to
buy
the remaining prints?
They made a one-page website, added a PayPal button, and went to bed. The morning after making their work available for purchase, they woke up to their first sale. Then they made another sale, and then another. Thanks to a surprise mention on a popular design forum, they sold out of their first print run in ten minutes and had tons of messages begging for a reprint. Could this be the answer to designer burnout?
Over the next few months, Jen and Omar introduced more styles and acted on new ideas: a New York City subway map, for example, and a neighborhood-themed map of San Francisco. The plan was to grow steadily but not introduce new products without a valid reason. As good designers, they understood that everything in the store had to be essential. They also understood that although some customers would make more than one purchase, the best way the customers could help was by referring other buyers and fans.
Nine months in, both of them had quit their day jobs to work full-time on the business. “This project has totally restored our passion for design,” says Omar. “It feels so liberating to have creative control. It’s been an incredible opportunity for us to grow as designers. I feel like our work has progressed more in the past year than it ever has.”
Jen and Omar began with an idea, kept costs low, and didn’t wait long before stepping forward with a product. Then they adapted to the marketplace response (make more maps!) and built each new product carefully. “It’s funny, because we’re both obsessive planners,” Jen told me. “But this project had almost no planning whatsoever in the beginning, and now it’s our full-time work.”
Plan? What plan? Many of our case studies showed a pattern similar to Jen and Omar’s: Get started quickly and see what happens. There’s nothing wrong with planning, but you can spend a lifetime making a plan that never turns into action. In the battle between planning and action, action wins. Here’s how you do it.
SELECT A MARKETABLE IDEA
. In Jen and Omar’s case, the idea was as follows:
Maybe we’re not the only ones who like nice maps. Would other people like them enough to buy one from us?
A marketable idea doesn’t have to be a big, groundbreaking idea; it just has to provide a solution to a problem or be useful enough that other people are willing to pay for it. Don’t think
innovation
; think
usefulness
.
*
When you’re just getting started, how do you know if an idea is marketable? Well, you don’t always know for sure—that’s why you start as soon as you can and avoid spending much money. But for more ideas, check out “Seven Steps to Instant Market Testing” on the next page.
Seven Steps to Instant Market Testing
†
1. You need to care about the problem you are going to solve, and there has to be a sizable number of other people who also care. Always remember the lesson of convergence: the way your idea intersects with what other people value.
2. Make sure the market is big enough. Test the size by checking the number and relevancy of Google keywords—the same keywords you would use if you were trying to find your product. Think about keywords that people would use to find a solution to a problem. If you were looking for your own product online but didn’t know it existed, what keywords would you search for? Pay attention to the top and right sides of the results pages, where the ads are displayed.
3. Focus on eliminating “blatant admitted pain.” The product needs to solve a problem that causes pain that the market knows it has. It’s easier to sell to someone who knows they have a problem and are convinced they need a solution than it is to persuade someone that they have a problem that needs solving.
4. Almost everything that is being sold is for either a deep pain or a deep desire. For example, people buy luxury items for respect and status, but on a deeper level they want to be loved. Having something that removes pain may be more effective then realizing a desire. You need to show people how you can help remove or reduce pain.
5. Always think in terms of solutions. Make sure your solution is different and better. (Note that it doesn’t need to be cheaper—competing on price is usually a losing proposition.) Is the market frustrated with the current solution? Being different isn’t enough; differentiation that makes you
better
is what’s required. There’s no point in introducing something if the market is already satisfied with the
Solution—your solution must be different or better. It’s significance, not size, that matters.6. Ask others about the idea but make sure the people you ask are your potential target market. Others may provide insignificant data and are therefore biased and uninformed. Therefore, create a
persona
: the one person who would benefit the most from your idea. Examine your whole network—community, friends, family, social networks—and ask yourself if any of these people match your persona. Take your idea to this person and discuss it with him or her in detail. This will get you much more relevant data than talking to just anyone.7. Create an outline for what you are doing and show it to a subgroup of your community. Ask them to test it for free in return for feedback and confidentiality. As a bonus, the subgroup feels involved and will act as evangelists. Giving builds trust and value and also gives you an opportunity to offer the whole solution. Use a blog to build authority and expertise on a subject. Leave comments on blogs where your target audience hangs out.