Start building network, blog, educating 1 year before you make the leap.
Build community.
The first sales will always be to friends. Make those friends.
Entrepreneur: Start a year before you Start
5 responses to “Entrepreneur: Start a year before you Start”
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[…] “Start building network, blog, educating 1 year before you make the leap. Build community. The first sales will always be to friends. Make those friends.” Conor Neill in “Entrepreneur: Start a year before you Start“ […]
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Excellent advice. People are in such a hurry to launch that it seems an inconvenience to plan, and what a mistake.
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Reblogged this on From a complete newbie to a beginner and commented:
Couldn’t agree more! It’s only been 3 years since I’ve graduated and entered the work force, and how the power of networking and community is affecting everyone is remarkable. -
[…] “Start building network, blog, educating 1 year before you make the leap. Build community. The first sales will always be to friends. Make those friends.” Conor Neill in “Entrepreneur: Start a year before you Start“ […]
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I think this is a great framing but I would interpret it slightly differently. Identify the things about your plan that are not likely to change (e.g. a problem area, a category of customer) and join communities that are already focused on these. Build only where you cannot find existing communities. I don’t know if your first sales come from “friends” but certainly from people that trust you, if you can start the trust building process in advance of the sales process by becoming a member in good standing of communities they are already a member of or by writing or speaking about topics that they are interested in, then you effectively start in advance of the direct sales process.
What are your thoughts?