December 17, 2024 • 10 mins
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What if the traditional 9-5 job is holding you back from achieving your true potential? On this episode of Cashflows, we defy conventional wisdom and present you with the thrilling, albeit challenging, world of entrepreneurship. Learn how to identify a real, sustainable market for your product or service, and why understanding your competition is crucial. We recount the cautionary tale of a friend's misadventure with hand-carved wooden Croatian photo albums to illustrate the importance of these steps in laying a robust foundation for your business.
Unleash the profitability of your entrepreneurial endeavors with practical strategies that can make a significant impact. From working from home to sharing expenses with a partner, we explore cost-saving measures that can keep your overheads low. Hear about the essential blend of skill, effort, and patience that successful entrepreneurs embody, and why securing the right capital and respecting your competitors can make all the difference. Finally, assess your readiness to embark on this exciting journey and revisit our previous episodes for even more invaluable insights. Tune in to transform your entrepreneurial dreams into reality.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, entrepreneurs, dreamers, business owners and
happy people with high hopes.
Welcome to Cash Flows with yourhost, cash Matthews.
Cash Matthews (00:13):
All right, welcome back to Cash Flows.
This is Cash Matthews, comingto you from Tulsa, oklahoma.
I'm a registered investmentadvisor with WealthWatch
Advisors and we'll talk aboutthe concept of investing here,
but not specific investments,and your future in investing
depends on many factors.
We don't give financial advicelike that or investment advice,
(00:34):
so don't do anything dumb andget either of us in trouble.
And so today we're going totalk about a fun topic, and that
is getting started in a newbusiness.
Now you know I'm curious how didall of your grade school advice
work out for you?
You know this stuff go toschool, get good grades, be
obedient, go to a good college,make good grades again.
(00:57):
You know all that advice get agood job with benefits.
And maybe you're one of thosefew right now who are choosing a
different kind of path.
Maybe you're one of thoserebellious types who's willing
to work 80 hours a week just toavoid working 40 hours a week
for someone else.
Maybe you arrived here at thefoot of this path, maybe from a
(01:19):
different angle.
Maybe you didn't have a choice.
Maybe you lost a job or gotangle.
Maybe you didn't have a choice.
Maybe you lost a job or gotdownsized, or what's the right
size.
Either way, having a clearunderstanding of the road in
front of you can be helpful ifyou know what to look for and
you know there's a lot ofreasons to be an entrepreneur.
For me, the biggest thing wasalways time.
(01:40):
Freedom Wasn't always about themoney.
You got to have the money, butI want you to understand
something as you move forward,especially in the early days and
I believe this is a fact, andhere it is you will have less of
what you seek while seeking it.
If you're seeking more money,you'll probably have a little
bit less money while you'reseeking it.
(02:00):
If you're looking for more time, you'll most likely have less
time while trying to create moretime.
So it's kind of thecontradictory nature of starting
a business, and sometimes thatcan be difficult or daunting for
people.
So as we look forward, you knowI've been around business
owners for many, many years andonce you've answered why be an
(02:21):
entrepreneur and recognize youcan make unlimited income or go
broke and you can have unlimitedtime or you can build yourself
a job.
So this can go wonderful, butit can also go terrible and I'm
not going to be one of thoseguys that tell you oh my gosh,
you've made a PP and that is soawesome.
You're going to be thepresident one day, but you get
(02:45):
into business.
You need somebody to sort oftell you what's going on.
As you move forward, you'll beable to consider whether you
want significance over justbasic success, and I'm glad
you're here listening to this.
And in the next few minutes I'mgoing to share five things you
should know about before you putthe first foot forward.
So we know why to get startedin business.
(03:07):
In fact, once you get started,you get a little traction, your
knowledge level begins toincrease, your confidence will
increase, your bank account mayincrease as well and as we begin
the process, make sure you'vebuilt the proper foundation and
examine these relative points ofyour business.
There's going to be a lot ofquestions and I found that
(03:28):
answering the really hardquestions in advance may give
you some sort of an advantagementally.
Give yourself a huge advantageand know the answer to these
five questions before you taketime and effort into the next
step.
Take a little time, get realwith yourself, be ready to
(03:49):
answer these five questions.
And here we go.
Number one is there a market forwhat you do or what you propose
to do Today, in 2024, when thisis being recorded?
A lot of people in high techand Bitcoin and investing and
real estate and mortgages.
Seriously, this is a great timefor lots of business, but is
(04:12):
what you have planned?
Is there a market?
Can you measure the market?
What is the age of your bestclient?
How do you reach them?
What about the timing of whatyou're doing?
Is this a great time to go intothe VCR repair business For you
people under 50, that's the waywe watched movies in the old
days.
Timing is very important.
(04:34):
You know, in college I had abuddy who went into business
many years ago and he was soexcited.
He found the perfect product,the perfect city, and had sole
distributorship of the product,which gave him a monopoly on the
local level.
His quality was high, his pricewas right on line.
He was absolutely dedicated tothe following idea Hand-carved
(04:57):
wooden Croatian photo albums.
Yeah, me too.
Take a breath.
Right there, I got to admitthey were beautiful and there
was only one thing missingNobody wanted them.
Photos were becoming a thing ofthe past.
Kodak was busy going bankruptand while you know, they ignored
the arrival of the iPhone,which also had a phone attached
(05:17):
to it, you know, for it did justchange the game.
There was no demand and I'msure his in-laws were very
elated for the next 20 years toget these as gifts, because he
had 500 of them and they'restacked in his garage.
At the end of the day, it costhim 50 bucks to go put them in
the dump.
So make sure there's a real,sustainable market for what you
(05:39):
do, right?
Number one do people want whatyou do?
Number two that you must knowis who is my competition
Seriously out there?
Who wants you to fail, you know, besides your ex-spouse or
mother-in-law?
And, more importantly, how willyou compete in this existing
market?
Is your product or service likea commodity, meaning?
(06:00):
There's a little brand valueand price is the only
consideration.
Knowing the playing field inadvance will give you the
advantage you need to getstarted.
Don't be afraid of thecompetition.
Be the competition.
Number three that you must knowis ease of entry.
Simply put, do you have theright amount of capital to get
(06:20):
started on your business idea?
Depending on your model ofbusiness, this can vary
significantly.
Now, if you want to put in aMcDonald's franchise, they're
pretty successful, but it cantake millions of dollars to get
started but, once again,virtually certain to succeed.
Or a lemonade stand can be alot of fun for about $20, but
(06:40):
has very little chance of makinglifetime income.
I think you'll have a good time, but maybe somewhere in between
$20 and $3 million that itcosts to start a McDonald's
there's an amount of moneythat's going to be required to
get up and running, and do youhave access to the right funding
?
If you have to borrow the money, do you have access to the
right funding?
If you have to borrow the money, do you have access to a steady
(07:01):
line of credit?
Now there are manyservice-related industries real
estate, professional financialadvisor, consultant, coach, guru
on the internet, mediainfluencer, network marketing.
I know those are all fancywords In 2024, all of those have
very low startup capitalrequirements.
(07:22):
All you need to get involved inmost of those are a high ego
and a debit card and you'reready to get going and I'm not
making fun of those.
I love those type of things,but for those things to work,
you can be up and running for athousand bucks.
Now you have to check yourlocal requirements for licensing
and fees and continuingeducation, but they're all great
choices.
(07:42):
I mentioned network marketing.
They've made a good name forthemselves and many reputable
companies are still out there onthe landscape and the
opportunity is giant.
Usually these type of companiescan be started under a thousand
dollars.
They offer training andincentives, and if you're
willing to do that and I'm notendorsing any one company or
(08:03):
industry, but you need to knowthey exist I just want to give
you the option to say no to it.
So, whatever your choice, youmust know the capital
requirements for day one, forthe first year, maybe the first
two or three years.
So question three was can youafford it?
Number four and this is abiggie is can you do it?
(08:25):
I know you saw somebody elsewho could do it, but my question
today is can you do it?
It's a fair question Can you dothe thing?
Whatever you do may takeadvanced training, education,
the additional ability to marketyourself, speak in public, do
sales?
Most people hate sales, but theylove the result.
(08:45):
Most endeavors have a salescomponent.
So even if you become a dentistor a lawyer, those require
massive marketing efforts.
So at the end of the day, areal quick question Can you do
it?
Do you have the skill set to doit?
The determination of the day.
A real quick question Can youdo it?
Do you have the skill set to doit, the determination, the
follow through?
And then number five is can youmake any money at it?
(09:06):
Not a living, you know, not athousand bucks to break even,
but can you make it profitable?
I mean, wages are great.
Profits are better than wages.
Can you find evidence of othersjust like you who could be
profiting from this same idea?
Is there a long lead time forcreating profits?
(09:26):
What if it takes you two orthree or four years?
Maybe you're like Jeff Bezos.
It took 10 years to becomeprofitable at Amazon.
Can you survive at Amazon?
Can you survive?
Of course, jeff Bezos is agigajillion billionaire because
he figured out how to beprofitable.
Now do you have staying power?
(09:47):
How might you increase theprofitability of your endeavor?
Working at home instead ofleasing an office is one way.
Sharing expenses with somebodyin an office is another.
Success and profit requireskill and effort and diligence
and patience and coffee and yougot to have a lot of coffee to
(10:07):
make this work.
If you have a real market forwhat you do, you have the right
knowledge and respect for yourcompetitors, have the right
capital to get started.
The right skill, the rightattitude set.
You're ready to get started.
So here's my question for youAre you ready to get started?
I'm Cash Matthews, with CashFlows.
(10:29):
We'll answer these and morequestions in upcoming episodes,
and don't forget to go back andhear some of our past episodes.
Thank you for being here todayand I wish you the very, very
best in these endeavors.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
That's our show for today.
Stay tuned for another rivetingedition of Cash Flows.
Hello, entrepreneurs, dreamers, business owners and
happy people with high hopes.
Welcome to Cash Flows with yourhost, cash Matthews.
Cash Matthews (00:13):
All right, welcome back to Cash Flows.
This is Cash Matthews, comingto you from Tulsa, oklahoma.
I'm a registered investmentadvisor with WealthWatch
Advisors and we'll talk aboutthe concept of investing here,
but not specific investments,and your future in investing
depends on many factors.
We don't give financial advicelike that or investment advice,
(00:34):
so don't do anything dumb andget either of us in trouble.
And so today we're going totalk about a fun topic, and that
is getting started in a newbusiness.
Now you know I'm curious how didall of your grade school advice
work out for you?
You know this stuff go toschool, get good grades, be
obedient, go to a good college,make good grades again.
(00:57):
You know all that advice get agood job with benefits.
And maybe you're one of thosefew right now who are choosing a
different kind of path.
Maybe you're one of thoserebellious types who's willing
to work 80 hours a week just toavoid working 40 hours a week
for someone else.
Maybe you arrived here at thefoot of this path, maybe from a
(01:19):
different angle.
Maybe you didn't have a choice.
Maybe you lost a job or gotangle.
Maybe you didn't have a choice.
Maybe you lost a job or gotdownsized, or what's the right
size.
Either way, having a clearunderstanding of the road in
front of you can be helpful ifyou know what to look for and
you know there's a lot ofreasons to be an entrepreneur.
For me, the biggest thing wasalways time.
(01:40):
Freedom Wasn't always about themoney.
You got to have the money, butI want you to understand
something as you move forward,especially in the early days and
I believe this is a fact, andhere it is you will have less of
what you seek while seeking it.
If you're seeking more money,you'll probably have a little
bit less money while you'reseeking it.
(02:00):
If you're looking for more time, you'll most likely have less
time while trying to create moretime.
So it's kind of thecontradictory nature of starting
a business, and sometimes thatcan be difficult or daunting for
people.
So as we look forward, you knowI've been around business
owners for many, many years andonce you've answered why be an
(02:21):
entrepreneur and recognize youcan make unlimited income or go
broke and you can have unlimitedtime or you can build yourself
a job.
So this can go wonderful, butit can also go terrible and I'm
not going to be one of thoseguys that tell you oh my gosh,
you've made a PP and that is soawesome.
You're going to be thepresident one day, but you get
(02:45):
into business.
You need somebody to sort oftell you what's going on.
As you move forward, you'll beable to consider whether you
want significance over justbasic success, and I'm glad
you're here listening to this.
And in the next few minutes I'mgoing to share five things you
should know about before you putthe first foot forward.
So we know why to get startedin business.
(03:07):
In fact, once you get started,you get a little traction, your
knowledge level begins toincrease, your confidence will
increase, your bank account mayincrease as well and as we begin
the process, make sure you'vebuilt the proper foundation and
examine these relative points ofyour business.
There's going to be a lot ofquestions and I found that
(03:28):
answering the really hardquestions in advance may give
you some sort of an advantagementally.
Give yourself a huge advantageand know the answer to these
five questions before you taketime and effort into the next
step.
Take a little time, get realwith yourself, be ready to
(03:49):
answer these five questions.
And here we go.
Number one is there a market forwhat you do or what you propose
to do Today, in 2024, when thisis being recorded?
A lot of people in high techand Bitcoin and investing and
real estate and mortgages.
Seriously, this is a great timefor lots of business, but is
(04:12):
what you have planned?
Is there a market?
Can you measure the market?
What is the age of your bestclient?
How do you reach them?
What about the timing of whatyou're doing?
Is this a great time to go intothe VCR repair business For you
people under 50, that's the waywe watched movies in the old
days.
Timing is very important.
(04:34):
You know, in college I had abuddy who went into business
many years ago and he was soexcited.
He found the perfect product,the perfect city, and had sole
distributorship of the product,which gave him a monopoly on the
local level.
His quality was high, his pricewas right on line.
He was absolutely dedicated tothe following idea Hand-carved
(04:57):
wooden Croatian photo albums.
Yeah, me too.
Take a breath.
Right there, I got to admitthey were beautiful and there
was only one thing missingNobody wanted them.
Photos were becoming a thing ofthe past.
Kodak was busy going bankruptand while you know, they ignored
the arrival of the iPhone,which also had a phone attached
(05:17):
to it, you know, for it did justchange the game.
There was no demand and I'msure his in-laws were very
elated for the next 20 years toget these as gifts, because he
had 500 of them and they'restacked in his garage.
At the end of the day, it costhim 50 bucks to go put them in
the dump.
So make sure there's a real,sustainable market for what you
(05:39):
do, right?
Number one do people want whatyou do?
Number two that you must knowis who is my competition
Seriously out there?
Who wants you to fail, you know, besides your ex-spouse or
mother-in-law?
And, more importantly, how willyou compete in this existing
market?
Is your product or service likea commodity, meaning?
(06:00):
There's a little brand valueand price is the only
consideration.
Knowing the playing field inadvance will give you the
advantage you need to getstarted.
Don't be afraid of thecompetition.
Be the competition.
Number three that you must knowis ease of entry.
Simply put, do you have theright amount of capital to get
(06:20):
started on your business idea?
Depending on your model ofbusiness, this can vary
significantly.
Now, if you want to put in aMcDonald's franchise, they're
pretty successful, but it cantake millions of dollars to get
started but, once again,virtually certain to succeed.
Or a lemonade stand can be alot of fun for about $20, but
(06:40):
has very little chance of makinglifetime income.
I think you'll have a good time, but maybe somewhere in between
$20 and $3 million that itcosts to start a McDonald's
there's an amount of moneythat's going to be required to
get up and running, and do youhave access to the right funding
?
If you have to borrow the money, do you have access to the
right funding?
If you have to borrow the money, do you have access to a steady
(07:01):
line of credit?
Now there are manyservice-related industries real
estate, professional financialadvisor, consultant, coach, guru
on the internet, mediainfluencer, network marketing.
I know those are all fancywords In 2024, all of those have
very low startup capitalrequirements.
(07:22):
All you need to get involved inmost of those are a high ego
and a debit card and you'reready to get going and I'm not
making fun of those.
I love those type of things,but for those things to work,
you can be up and running for athousand bucks.
Now you have to check yourlocal requirements for licensing
and fees and continuingeducation, but they're all great
choices.
(07:42):
I mentioned network marketing.
They've made a good name forthemselves and many reputable
companies are still out there onthe landscape and the
opportunity is giant.
Usually these type of companiescan be started under a thousand
dollars.
They offer training andincentives, and if you're
willing to do that and I'm notendorsing any one company or
(08:03):
industry, but you need to knowthey exist I just want to give
you the option to say no to it.
So, whatever your choice, youmust know the capital
requirements for day one, forthe first year, maybe the first
two or three years.
So question three was can youafford it?
Number four and this is abiggie is can you do it?
(08:25):
I know you saw somebody elsewho could do it, but my question
today is can you do it?
It's a fair question Can you dothe thing?
Whatever you do may takeadvanced training, education,
the additional ability to marketyourself, speak in public, do
sales?
Most people hate sales, but theylove the result.
(08:45):
Most endeavors have a salescomponent.
So even if you become a dentistor a lawyer, those require
massive marketing efforts.
So at the end of the day, areal quick question Can you do
it?
Do you have the skill set to doit?
The determination of the day.
A real quick question Can youdo it?
Do you have the skill set to doit, the determination, the
follow through?
And then number five is can youmake any money at it?
(09:06):
Not a living, you know, not athousand bucks to break even,
but can you make it profitable?
I mean, wages are great.
Profits are better than wages.
Can you find evidence of othersjust like you who could be
profiting from this same idea?
Is there a long lead time forcreating profits?
(09:26):
What if it takes you two orthree or four years?
Maybe you're like Jeff Bezos.
It took 10 years to becomeprofitable at Amazon.
Can you survive at Amazon?
Can you survive?
Of course, jeff Bezos is agigajillion billionaire because
he figured out how to beprofitable.
Now do you have staying power?
(09:47):
How might you increase theprofitability of your endeavor?
Working at home instead ofleasing an office is one way.
Sharing expenses with somebodyin an office is another.
Success and profit requireskill and effort and diligence
and patience and coffee and yougot to have a lot of coffee to
(10:07):
make this work.
If you have a real market forwhat you do, you have the right
knowledge and respect for yourcompetitors, have the right
capital to get started.
The right skill, the rightattitude set.
You're ready to get started.
So here's my question for youAre you ready to get started?
I'm Cash Matthews, with CashFlows.
(10:29):
We'll answer these and morequestions in upcoming episodes,
and don't forget to go back andhear some of our past episodes.
Thank you for being here todayand I wish you the very, very
best in these endeavors.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
That's our show for today.
Stay tuned for another rivetingedition of Cash Flows.
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