Ep05 Transcript: How to Research Business Ideas

Andrea Vahl: Hello Dreamers, it’s Andrea Vahl, your host, and in today’s top takeaways session, I’m gonna dive a little bit deeper into Gina Schreck’s episode 04 and we’re gonna talk about what it takes to really break down the data for your potential business or dream.

Intro: Hello Dreamers. Welcome to the Late Starters Club, giving you the inspiration mindset and tools you need to start something midlife and beyond. Remember, it’s never too late to follow your dreams.

One of the things I noticed in Gina’s episode, is that she talked about presenting the data to her husband, and this could be someone in your life too, a loved one who is a little concerned about your new venture. And she talked about the way she approached that.

And one was to first surround herself with people who were excited about her idea, that were going to help encourage her for that idea. But the next step was to then gather the data for her husband who was a little bit more nervous about the idea, and you could have someone in this situation as well. And then to present that data to him so that the business idea was very clear and the success of that idea was also very documented.

Now, the other thing I noticed was that she, at one time was feeling really overwhelmed and she talked about how she kind of broke down and was really feeling overwhelmed with everything that was going on.

And her process was sort of similar, remind herself of why everything was going to work. And I think whether you’re presenting this data to a loved one or to yourself, you are still getting that buy in to ensure that you have that momentum and that yes, to go forward with your idea.

So let’s talk about the ways that you can gather the data and the types of data you can gather to help ensure that success.

Number one would be researching competitors and taking a look at what’s already out there, kind of seeing what you might do differently. We also talked about this with Michael Stelzner’s episode 01, and that’s a process that he used as well.

Step number two might be doing something like taking a deep dive into your expenses, outlining all the expenses you can think of that are going to come into play, and I would definitely encourage you to look at even the smallest expenses and list that on an Excel spreadsheet. Keeping track of everything that needs to be paid for monthly and yearly. And that will help give you peace of mind that your projections can help cover those expenses and also give you an idea of when you’re going to be profitable in your business. So that’s a great step.

Step number three would be to outline your sales and outline when you’re going to be getting sales, how many sales you’re going to get. Maybe there’s certain milestones you need to hit, and keeping that in mind as you go forward so that you know that you’re hitting those milestones that you outlined in your projections. This will also help you kind of see when you’re gonna turn that profit.

{Singing} Money, money money money…MONEY!

Idea number five would be to visit industry conferences. And Gina did this to get some information a while before she actually started that idea, and it got her kind of excited about starting this idea, and she put it on the back burner for a while. But industry conferences can really help you understand what it really takes, and I find that people are so generous with their knowledge at these conferences and they really can break it down for you and outline some of the pitfalls that you might not even see.

Idea number six would be to connect with a mentor, and that might be someone in the industry for sure. It might be a coach, it might be someone you hire as a consultant who specializes in that industry or in starting a business, and that can really help you understand all the things that you might run into while you’re starting that business. And the great thing about starting something at midlife and beyond is oftentimes we have some of the funds to dedicate to this new venture or new business, whereas when we’re. 20, maybe things were a little bit more bootstrap.

So whether you are trying to present this data to a loved one or just present this data to yourself, to quiet your own mind around this new venture, I think all of this is going to be super helpful in getting you started, and it will also help you break down everything you need into manageable chunks cuz that was another thing Gina talked about in her episode was really taking those baby steps to getting to her goal.

Outro: Hope that was helpful and make sure you grab the free guide. Top Tools for Late Starters on the website at latestartersclub.com and let’s turn dreaming into doing.