I'm going to interrupt the Silicon Valley circlejerk for a moment and tell you how to actually start and run a profitable business in less than a month.

You read a lot of nonsense out there about "creating value" and "finding your tribe..." give me a break.

That's all bullshit. I mean, maybe it works if you're Apple or something. But I'm pretty sure people use Apple products because they're awesome, not because they like to rep the Apple logo.

It's like anyone who's successfully raised a seed funding round these days thinks they're qualified to give business advice. I'll tell you the truth, most of them couldn't business their way out of a wet paper bag. That's because the only business experience they have was the 6th grade bake sale they did to raise money for their class trip to Disneyland.

Why do you think most startups fail? It's because the people running them have never run a business before and have no idea what they're doing.

I've run a few in my day and just built a low 5-figure consulting business in less than two months, so I think I'm qualified to speak on this. I've also eaten shit for many years and failed miserably a few times as well.

Let's get down to it.

What's the secret to starting a business?

Two words: do it.

Yeah, it's that simple. Nobody cares about your idea, your business plan or your executive summary. In order to have a successful business, you need to first have a business.

There's a lot of procrastinators out there. A lot of dreamers. Wantrapreneurs.

I was once one of them. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. I read too many Warrior Forum threads and suffered badly from Shiny Object Syndrome.

But eventually I figured it out. Fuck I'm so tired right now. I really don't want to write this post. I really just want to take an ambien and go to sleep.

Okay okay, focus.

See? That's what you have to do when you have a business. You can't just take an ambien and go to sleep when you don't feel like writing an article. You have to keep doing that shit. And doing it and doing it and doing it.

And guess what? Writing articles is part of my business. When I'm speaking to a new client, I refer them to my Steemit blog and say, "Hey check this out, I write articles on Steemit. Mostly about crypto."

Honestly, most of them don't even read the articles. I could write BDSM erotica in here and they wouldn't know it. They're business owners, they don't have time to read blogs.

But those who do will read these and be like, "Wow, if this guy can write this much about absolute nonsense, imagine what he can do if we actually give him a topic!"

Who knows what they think. The fact is that when you have a massive body of work to show potential clients, they're going to take a cursory glance just to make sure the pages aren't blank.

That's all that matters.

You're an Arab, I'm an Arab. We're all Arabs

Ever been to the Middle East? You know those outdoor markets where dudes sell fish and spices and sunglasses?

Guess what. That's a business. And those guys make money EVERY day. They never go home with 0 dollars in their cash register.

You need to have that mentality when you're running your shop. Even if it's not an actual physical shop.

Selling a service? Great. Go where a lot of potential customers are and be like, "Hi, I am a professional ______. I offer a service that does _______. Do you need that?"

You're basically just asking people if they want to buy some fish. It sounds simple and you probably think I'm joking, but that's actually how it's done. None of this "build a tribe" garbage that people talk about.

Nobody cares about your tribe if you don't have any customers. Get some customers first, then you can worry about your mission statement.

Get some skin in the game

I don't spend a lot of money on clothes, but one thing I love are sunglasses. I've bought uncountable pairs of shades. I am with sunglasses like a girl is with shoes - if I walk by a store and see some, I have to look.

I used to buy cheap ones. I would never pay more than $25. Obviously they would break all the time. I'd be careless with them, sit on them, leave them somewhere etc.

Didn't matter much because I loved buying them. But it was annoying.

One day I decided to buy a pair of Emporio Armani shades for $200.

Let me tell you, I took SUCH good care of those sunglasses. I knew exactly where they were at all times and cleaned them often.

Not only did I have them for years, but I derived vastly more pleasure from them than I did the dozens of pairs of cheapos that I bought before it.

What's the point? You need to spend some money on your business. I don't care what you spend it on, just spend it. And spend so much that it hurts.

Spend so much that you feel like if you don't do anything to recoup it, you'll feel terrible. I'm not talking buy a $12 domain and $40 hosting for the year.

I'm talking buy a $8000 food truck. Buy a professionally grown Instagram account for $12000. If you drop that kind of money on something, you better believe you're going to pay damn close attention on what happens.

Suck it up and ask people to buy your shit

Hi. We haven't met before. Is your name Jeff Bezos? No? Oh I'm sorry, you must be Kim Kardashian. What's that, you're not?

Oh, are you saying that nobody's ever heard of you or your company before? That you're basically just a normal person with no audience, reach or existing exposure?

Well guess what buckaroo, you need to get out there and tell people about whatever it is you're selling, because they sure as hell aren't going to come knocking on your door asking to buy.

Yes, sales is intimidating at first. Nobody likes salespeople, right? They're pushy, annoying, always fake smiling.. ugh.

Ok fine. But you know what else they are?

Wealthier than you.
Secure in a recession.
Attractive to literally every company in the world.

Go ahead, check Craigslist. Take some notes on the different job categories and tell me which job ads have the highest potential payouts. I'll wait.

What's that? Salespeople are the highest paid? Shocking.

All sarcasm aside, the fact is that entrepreneurs are just salespeople with enough initiative to handle all aspects of the business.

Not only do you have to market yourself and tell literally every person on planet Earth that you've opened for business, but when you actually get an INTERESTED CUSTOMER talking to you, you need to talk them into buying something.

It sucks at first to hear no. But as long as you're selling a legit service and not some Herbalife scam bullshit, then just take solace in the fact that there are plenty of other people out there who you can "help" with whatever it is you do.

Email 50 business owners per day

Want to know the fastest way to make a lot of money next month? Send 50 cold emails per day to other businesses asking them if they're interested in your offering.

People are broke - businesses have money. People hem and haw over a $100 meal. Business drop $5k/month on a single employee. Who would you rather sell to?

Businesses will buy everything that an individual will. I don't care if you're selling high end argan oil shampoo, sell it to a business instead of a customer and you'll make more money.

If you scrounge up 50 email addresses and send them a half decent email every day, I guarantee that by the end of the month you'll be making bank. That's 1500 people in a single month that you've made contact with.

Some of them will tell you yes right away. They'll be like, "Oh wow, we've actually been looking for someone like you! When can we talk?" They'll be so excited to talk to you that all you have to do is not screw it up. Boom, instant customer.

And even if they don't sign up right away, some of them will come around a week, two weeks, a month... even six months later.

I can't count how many times I've gotten a reply from someone and been like who tf is this, only to check my original cold email date and see that it was over a month ago.

Sales (and thus business) is a numbers game. No matter how garbage of a salesman you are, there are going to be customers out there who are literally so easy to sell to that all you have to do is talk about the product and tell them the price and they'll be like, "Okay, let's do it."

How To Make More Money Than You've Ever Made In Your Life

What's the secret to starting a business?

You're an Arab, I'm an Arab. We're all Arabs

Get some skin in the game

Suck it up and ask people to buy your shit

Email 50 business owners per day

Do you think getting customers is easy?

Let me know in a comment!

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