Ramit’s rules for starting a business now

To view this email as a web page, click here

Reader,

If you’ve been thinking about starting a business to earn more — and you’re wondering how it would even work during coronavirus — here’s what you need to know.

The new rules for starting a business now

Yes, people are still buying things.
Parents will happily spend money for their kids to learn. People are spending money to be entertained.

Here’s a list of things I personally know people bought recently:

Confidence class for their 10-year-old son
Chicago pizzas for remote family pizza party on Zoom
New clothes
Virtual trainer
Virtual painting class
Sangria-making class

Imagine how many things you already know that people would pay for. (I can show you how to find your business idea. Keep reading.)

Move past “I don’t have an idea.”
You’re not looking for one idea — you’re looking for lots of ideas. Then you rapidly test them to see which one can be a profitable idea. There’s just one catch: Your idea doesn’t fall from the sky. You follow a process to generate lots of ideas, then we can show you how to narrow it down to a profitable idea.

Don't reinvent the wheel.
Lots of other people have figured some of the hard parts of starting a business out. Use their lessons! Give yourself every advantage to save time and avoid common mistakes!

When I was starting out, I would have given anything to have a system that showed me how to find an idea, find customers, and grow my business (covered in our Earnable program). We have students who joined Earnable a few months ago and are already making sales.

Get honest about what’s stopping you.
I had a reader respond to one of my emails a while back telling me all the reasons he wasn’t ready to start a business: “No time, no idea”...you get the picture. He just emailed me again later, telling me he’s still reading my emails “but I don’t want to start a business in this economy.” No time, no idea, the economy...maybe it’s not any of those. Maybe he just doesn’t want to start a business.

Success doesn't have to be a Ferrari.
While most people are worried about failing, so many people are afraid of succeeding!

They think that “money changes people” (YES! They’re right — money allowed me to dream bigger, to be more generous, and to be more adventurous.)
They worry that if they grow a successful business, they’ll be chained to their desk all day long. (NO! Having too many customers is a great problem that you can hire away.)
Or they worry that they’ll suddenly start posting pics on a yacht to show off on their Instagram account. (NO! You won't.)

You choose what your Rich Life looks like. That could be buying your mom a house. Or taking a 6-week sabbatical every year. Or collecting comic books. For me, it originally meant being able to see a movie in the middle of the day. You do you.

It’s not enough to “think about” starting a business.
How long have you been reading my emails? How long have you been “trying to figure it out”? If you want to start a business, put time and money behind it. Make a decision to start a business today.

Start small.
Building a business doesn't mean you need to start the next FB. Even a tiny business that brings in just $1,000/month can be game-changing.

What would you do with an extra $1,000/month?

Embrace constraints: No expensive rent, no expensive inventory, low overhead!
Keeping your costs low gives you flexibility and freedom. Think of all the storefronts with expensive rent, inventory, and overhead...who are under extreme pressure right now.

Embrace your constraints. You don’t need the perfect business with the most beautiful website. You need an idea that you can turn into an asset that your customers are happy to pay for. Keep it simple.

Most of us worry about all the things that could go WRONG. Focus on all the things that could go RIGHT.
What if you could add an extra $25,000/year? What would you use it for? What if you could stop worrying about $3 questions and start asking $30,000 questions? How would a successful business change your life?

If you say “I’m tired” enough times, it becomes your identity.
That’s why starting a business is as much about changing your identity as it is learning new business strategies. “I’m not the kind of person who can start a business” is your old identity. This is your new identity.