The Conventional Unconventional Path

April 3, 2019 Written by Frances

When does the unconventional path many people follow become the conventional path?

It happened again the other day. I was speaking with 2 business owners. One who had built a business to almost 100 people in 6 years. The other owner was following the conventional route to starting a business by writing his business plan, making his website and crafting his offers.

I asked them both about their first customers. The first business owner told the story of having a customer even before starting. He and his partners learned many things from that first customer, including that they were on to something, the types of work they wanted to do and who their customers would be (not like that first customer, which, oddly enough is common).

The second business owner, had a first customer, and got stellar results for them, but he dismissed this first customer because he didn’t want to serve that customers segment. He didn’t see that first customer as the first customer, rather as an accidental side project.

Listen to any successful business owner tell you their origin story and you will hear about an unconventional path. Listen to enough of these and you hear the same story over and again.

Elements of the Conventional Unconventional path:

Don’t launch your business. Find your first customer, then your next and your next. Rinse. Repeat. Once you’ve proven your concept by getting customers, wrap a business around it.

Your first customer helps you validate your business, but they are often not representative of your ongoing customers.

You can’t do marketing until you have enough customers to have a clear understanding of who your customers are and what is important to them. Don’t make your website or your offers or your marketing materials until then.

As you start your business, talk to people until you find that first customer. Before you do anything else.

Photo by Caleb Jones on Unsplash
Do It, Know Where You Are Going, Your Effortless Business
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