Entrepreneurship
How I Started My Business With Just One Dollar
How I started the Business of “Me”
I feel a rush of anxiety every time I would think, how will I survive? I’m 51 years old, a full-time caregiver to my mother, and jobless. The pandemic has even made things worse, and I am not alone. Unemployment is on the rise, and companies have stopped hiring. You might be thinking who would be launching a business at this time of great uncertainty. But here I am starting my business with one dollar.
It may sound like a clickbait, but as a writer, it is a metaphor. The business I started cost me close to nothing because it is the business of “me”.
How I found the Business of “Me”.
I found an article on Entrepreneur Magazine, 3 Things Besides Money You Need to Start a Successful Business written by Anthony Tumbiolo, CEO of Jakt
Those three things are: knowledge and expertise; strategy; and execution.
I can’t open a business that requires money as capital. But instead of money, I asked myself, what do I have? — Naff Beltran, Live Life
Knowledge and Expertise.
My short answer was, I have skills. In the past, I have worked as a photographer, as a web developer, and as a writer, but while it is my ultimate dream job, I never had the chance to be a full-time writer, for knowledge and expertise, I put in “writing”.
Strategy.
For my business to work, it needs to make money, and to make money means finding paying customers and before I get paying customers they should know about my business.
First, I have to be clear with what my product is, it isn't just any writing, but content writing. With that in mind, my paying customers will be anyone in need of content, most of the businesses have shifted to digital, with the pandemic, people are looking for two things online: information and entertainment. There is a market for the product I am about to sell.
My strategy is to use guerilla marketing, a popular term first used by Jay Conrad Levinson author of the book, Guerilla Marketing.
“You don’t need many. You need only one good one.— Jay Conrad Levinson, Guerilla Marketing.
I need to write, write, and write. I have been on Medium for years, and I know if I write on the platform, people will read and hopefully, someone in need of a content writer would notice.
I wrote this article, 7 Days Of Quitting Coffee, What Was I Thinking? You can read it here. I would like to thank Esat Artug of The Innovation for publishing it.
I also started being active on social media, you can find my personal profile on Facebook here — Naff Beltran Live Life.
After a few days, an editor of the photography section of a major broadsheet sent me a message and asked me to write for him.
“A very simple strategy that got me my first paying customer. “— Naff Beltran, Live Life
Execution.
With my strategy in place, the execution goes like this, to work hard and to work smart, something I learned from Gary Vaynerchuk you can read it here.
“My writing is not a gig but a hustle.” — Naff Beltran Live Life
While before I would write anywhere even while in bed, now I dedicated a workspace and treat as an office. By having an office, I treat writing seriously, when I write, I am working, and I have my own “Don’t Disturb” policy.
Now that I have completed my checklist, knowledge and expertise; strategy; and execution. I am in business.
As a business owner, I don’t want my business to fail and for that to happen, I have to be in an entrepreneurial mindset and part of it is investing on myself. The success of my business will depend on my well being. As a writer, the only way I can write better is to follow the advice of one of the best writers we have,
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” ― Stephen King
As the world moves from the gig economy to the hustle economy, the big difference is in a hustle economy you can be your own boss.
You can read The Gig Economy Is Failing. Say Hello to the Hustle Economy by Caitlin Dewey on OneZero
I’m excited to start my “business of me”. The pandemic is a disruption and we have to embrace the changes and accept the new business environment that is already here, for us to survive.
I hope other writers will discover their entrepreneurial spirit and start their own writing business.
If you are not paid as a writer it is not your profession but your passion, and if you are not selling then you are not a business. — Naff Beltran, Live Life
I imagine my “business of me” like a doughnut store, and I am selling doughnuts, that I am one of the many doughnut shops around, and my customers need to see me when they crave for doughnuts, or even if they are just passing by, I need to be there, ready to be seen, that my doughnuts are artisan doughnuts, uniquely my own, that is how I see my writing style, it is uniquely my own.
Yes, I am open for business. I am the doughnut, now take a bite! — Naff Beltran Live Life
If you are looking to be in business with me, leave your comments below.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases which may result from the book, Guerilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business
