In a second, I’m going to give you the secret formula to starting your own business.  Right now I’ll begin by addressing the elephant in the room.  Why are so many people afraid to take the leap into entrepreneurship?  Because we have been taught to fear failure.  I’ll tell you right now, don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid to never have lived.

“We have been taught to fear failure. Don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid to never have lived.”

Super Secret Entrepreneur Formula

Courage + A great idea = An Entrepreneur

Can it be that simple?  Yes.  A bit of courage is the thing that is standing between you and your dreams.  Of course, you’ll need at least a little help, but that’s what I’m here for!  

I’ve already told you how to use the business model canvas to put ink to paper regarding your idea.  This is the most important step because many times, good ideas remain just that, ideas in your head.  Actually writing an idea down gets the ball rolling.

 

Testing the Waters

I’d say the next logical step is to test out the waters.  This is simple and easy.  You can use two platforms, both are free.  These sites allow you too see what people are searching for.   

  1. Google Trends
  2. Sonar
If you’ve never heard of these two tools, join the club.  I spent months and months preparing to launch my business and didn’t stumble upon this knowledge until about ten months in…  I’m making sure that this doesn’t happen to you. 
Google Trends

Google is the #1 (hashtag stands for “number” for those of you that don’t know) search engine in the world.  Google trends lets you see exactly what people in your area, the country, or the world are searching for.  Seem broad? Well, maybe, but you know exactly what your idea is, see if people are already looking for it.  

Don’t see your idea there?  Don’t fret, maybe yours is the first of it’s kind.  Try to use Trends to find the closest thing to your idea that people are searching for.  This will provide you with keywords to use on your website, but we’ll get to that a little later.

Google Trends also informs you whether your search term is trending up or down.  Additionally, it allows you check out trending data over periods of time without limitations.  So you can see if an idea is only recently gaining popularity or if it was popular ten years ago, but has died down since.  

Sonar

Sonar allows you to see top searches on Amazon, which is the #3 search engine in the world.  (If you’re wondering why I skipped #2, it’s because it’s YOUTUBE.  While this makes YOUTUBE a wonderful way to advertise services, I wouldn’t recommend it for testing the waters for a product.)

I like Sonar because it tells you how strong your search term is and provides you with recommendations and doesn’t force you to use an entire term.  This helps you to get a better grasp on potential marketing strategies.

Creating a Website

Step 3 in this exciting process is creating a website.  I wish that I could tell you all about how to create a website in this post, but you’ll have to come back next week.  I promise I’ll give you the skinny.

Until next week, remember, to become an entrepreneur, it only takes one leap… or maybe a push.

 

Written by

Momma T

I am a single mom, a Naval Officer, and an attorney. I had my daughter during my second year of law school. With a baby on my hip, I pushed through the last year of school, passed the bar, and decided to run for Congress. One day my phone rang and I was told that I would be deploying for a year and I would have to leave my daughter behind.

So, after three deployments, one and half years of living overseas, and four and half years of driving both an aircraft carrier and an amphibious helicopter carrier, I would say good-bye to my little one, drop out of my Congressional race, and once again put on my marching boots.