MBA2528 Q&A Wednesday: Is now a bad time to start a business?

Summary

The $100 MBA Show: Episode MBA2528 Q&A Wednesday - Is Now a Bad Time to Start a Business?

Release Date: October 2, 2024

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In Episode MBA2528 of The $100 MBA Show, host Omar Zenhom delves into the pressing question posed by listener Angela: "Is now a bad time to start a business?" Amidst global economic uncertainties, inflation, and shifting market dynamics, Omar provides a comprehensive analysis drawing from over two decades of entrepreneurial experience. This episode is a treasure trove of insights, strategies, and actionable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs contemplating the right moment to embark on their business journey.

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1. Challenging the Notion of Timing in Entrepreneurship

Omar begins by addressing the common apprehension surrounding the timing of launching a business. He counters the fear of unfavorable conditions by highlighting that some of the world's most successful companies, including Microsoft, General Electric, and Airbnb, were founded during economic downturns.

Notable Quote:

"The truth that I learned over the last 20 years in this game called entrepreneurship or business is that the world doesn't really change all that much." (02:30)

He emphasizes that while external circumstances fluctuate, the fundamental principles of business remain consistent over time. Economic cycles, though periodic, do not significantly alter the core aspects of entrepreneurship.

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2. The Primacy of Mindset in Business Success

Omar underscores that personal mindset is the cornerstone of entrepreneurial success. He draws inspiration from mentors like Jim Rohn, advocating for a growth mindset as essential for adapting and thriving in changing environments.

Key Points:

• Growth Mindset: Believing in the ability to grow and adapt is crucial. Omar shares his personal journey of improving his podcast, which led to increased listenership and impact.
• Self-Transformation: Success necessitates evolving oneself—altering habits, thought processes, and approaches to problem-solving.

Notable Quote:

"If you want to be a valuable entrepreneur, you want to have a valuable business, you have to be valuable. You have to become better." (05:10)

Omar highlights that changing oneself is often uncomfortable but vital for overcoming challenges and achieving business milestones.

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3. Enhancing Skills Through Consistent Action

Building on the importance of mindset, Omar discusses the significance of continuously developing skills. He advocates for incremental, consistent efforts over grandiose, sporadic endeavors.

Key Strategies:

• Daily Reading: Allocating 30 minutes in the morning and before bed to read can lead to substantial knowledge accumulation over time.
• Regular Learning: Engaging in courses, training sessions, and masterminds to refine skills without overwhelming commitments.
• Peer Influence: Surrounding oneself with accomplished individuals naturally fosters personal and professional growth.

Notable Quote:

"Small things, but done over time, over and over. Great habits." (07:45)

Omar illustrates how these consistent actions compound, leading to significant improvements and greater business acumen.

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4. Building a Supportive and Strategic Network

A robust network is pivotal for entrepreneurial success. Omar shares personal anecdotes to demonstrate the profound impact of meaningful connections.

Key Insights:

• Mentorship: Seeking guidance from those who are several steps ahead can provide invaluable perspectives and opportunities.
• Mutual Support: Building relationships based on mutual assistance fosters a supportive community conducive to growth.
• Strategic Alliances: Collaborations and endorsements from influential figures can exponentially accelerate business growth.

Personal Story: Omar recounts his interaction with Noah Kagan and later with Michael Port, detailing how these connections led to opportunities that significantly boosted his business, Webinar Ninja.

Notable Quote:

"As you build your network, you're going to meet some interesting people, some giving people, some people that want to give back." (09:20)

This narrative underscores the value of proactive networking and building relationships with individuals who align with one's entrepreneurial goals.

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5. Crafting a Problem-Solving Oriented Strategy

Omar emphasizes that successful businesses center around solving real problems for their customers. He advocates for a strategic approach that prioritizes understanding and addressing customer pain points.

Strategic Components:

• Customer Understanding: Deeply comprehend the target audience's challenges to tailor effective solutions.
• Product Alignment: Ensure that the business offerings directly mitigate the identified problems.
• Flexibility: Remain adaptable to pivot strategies as market needs and customer preferences evolve.

Personal Example: With Webinar Ninja, Omar focused on addressing the specific pain points of running webinars for small teams, ensuring that the software catered to their unique challenges.

Notable Quote:

"A successful business solves real problems for its customers. That's what it does." (12:30)

This focus on problem-solving ensures that the business remains relevant and valuable to its customers.

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6. Actionable Steps for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

To conclude the episode, Omar provides a set of actionable steps for listeners contemplating starting a business:

1. Evaluate Your Mindset:

   • Honestly assess self-talk and limiting beliefs.
   • Identify and rewrite negative narratives that hinder growth.

2. Invest in Skill Development:

   • Commit to daily learning routines.
   • Engage in courses, masterminds, and coaching.

3. Expand Your Network:

   • Attend events, conferences, and online forums.
   • Actively seek out and engage with like-minded, accomplished individuals.

4. Define and Focus on Solving Problems:

   • Identify key issues faced by your target audience.
   • Develop solutions that provide tangible value.

Notable Quotes:

"There's never a perfect time to start a business. The key to your success lies within you." (18:15)

"Don't hope that the world is going to change. You need to change." (18:50)

These steps serve as a roadmap for listeners to navigate the complexities of starting and sustaining a business, irrespective of external conditions.

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7. Conclusion: Embracing Personal Responsibility for Success

Omar wraps up the episode by reiterating that entrepreneurial success is primarily influenced by individual efforts and mindset rather than external circumstances. He encourages listeners to take proactive steps in personal development, skill enhancement, and network building to forge their path to success.

Final Thoughts:

• Personal growth and adaptability are non-negotiable for sustained business success.
• Building a network of supportive and accomplished individuals can accelerate growth and open doors to new opportunities.
• A strategic focus on solving real customer problems ensures the business remains indispensable in the marketplace.

Notable Quote:

"If I want things to change, I have to change." (19:30)

Omar's closing remarks serve as a motivational call to action, empowering listeners to take control of their entrepreneurial destinies through deliberate and consistent efforts.

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Additional Resources

For more insights, resources, worksheets, and business lessons, listeners are encouraged to visit 100mba.net. The website hosts over 25 podcast episodes and a wealth of materials designed to support entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey.

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Thank you for tuning into The $100 MBA Show. Stay inspired and take actionable steps towards your entrepreneurial goals.

Transcript

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Omar Zenhom]

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[Unknown]

On a Monday expensing breakfast because it's in policy wasting all afternoon submitting an expense report for that breakfast. If your company used Ramp, you could submit expenses with just a text.

[Omar Zenhom]

Yay.

[Unknown]

Free your team from expense reports today. Switch your business to ramp.com foreign hey.

[Omar Zenhom]

Welcome to the $100 NBA show. I'm your host Omar Zenholm and welcome to another Q and A Wednesday episode where we answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners, one of our viewers, one of our community members. If you have a question you want to ask, just head on over to 100-mba.netq and you can submit your question right there. Today's question is from Angela. And Angela, is now a bad time to start a business? This is a question on many people's minds, especially with the uncertainties in the world today, with the economy, with inflation, with everything going on. But did you know that some of the world's most successful companies were started during an economic downturn? Companies like Microsoft, General Electric, and Airbnb. They all began during tough times. And today I'm gonna help you understand why there's no right time or wrong time to start a business. The truth that I learned over the last 20 years in this game called entrepreneurship or business is that the world doesn't really change all that much. I learned this from Jim Rohn, that the world basically repeats itself over and over. If you look at the last 50 years, the economic downturns that happen, they happen every 10 to eight years. It just repeats itself over and over, right? Yeah, there's fluctuations in the economy, yes. There's new technologies, yes. There's shifts in consumer behavior, but these are actually consistent. These changes are consistent. It happens over and over and over. What really changes and what really makes the difference between success and failure is you. Your mindset, your skills, your ability to adapt are what determine your success. Today I'm going to Break down the four things, in my opinion, that really dictate your success in business. Not the economy, not what's going on politically in the world. But these are the four things that will actually serve you for not just now, but for years and decades to come. Let's break them down. The first one is your mind. I know this sounds cliche and your mindset's so important, but really, your mind is really what changes everything, right? The way you think, the things you believe are what dictate your actions. Think about it. If you love pizza, and that's in your mind, then when you have a chance, you will buy pizza, right? You will order and eat pizza. If you don't like pizza, then you're not gonna buy pizza. It all happens up here, okay? So whatever happens here will happen in the real world, okay? And when it comes to your mind, what I've learned is the only way to make sure that you grow with the changing world, that you actually change yourself to become more valuable, is you adapt a growth mindset. I want to pause there for a second. I just said you grow to become more valuable. This is the bottom line about today's episode. The bottom line is if you want to be a valuable entrepreneur, you want to have a valuable business, you have to be valuable. You have to become better. And this is something I realized 10 years ago when I was starting this podcast. I wasn't so happy the way I was performing on the mic. I wasn't happy with the content I was coming up with. And I could have blamed everything in the world, but the truth is, is that I had to get better. And when I got better, then things changed, then the podcast grew, then we were able to get more listeners and get more subscribers, and it really made an impact on the world. And it all starts with you. Starts with yourself. So you got to believe that you can grow. You got to believe that you can adapt this mindset. It's like, hey, if I get better, if I continue to grow, if I increase the value in what I can produce, then I can actually become more valuable to the world. That's just how the world works. The world values people that are valuable in any way, whether it's in entertainment or sport or science or engineering or whatever it is. The better you are, the more valuable you are to that marketplace, the more you're worth. And that's just how it is. I know that there's a lot of ways to be worthy in society, but when it comes to the marketplace, when it comes to sales and Marketing and business and the world we are talking about today, you have to become more valuable. Again, these are some concepts that I've learned along the way from many people, people like Tony Robbins, people like Jim Rohn. I learned this also from Jim Collins, who's author of the book called Good to Great. And this is something that is so essential. You have to have the mindset that I to continue to grow and get better if I want to have a great business. When we faced any challenge we had in any of our businesses, whether it was our software company, Webinar Ninja, whether it's this business, the 100 RMBA, the first question I asked as a leader of the business is who do I have to become? Who do I have to become so that this challenge is easy? So this is not a problem. So I'm not stressing out, who do I have to become? How do I get better? So this is just a blip on my radar. Don't care. This is going to be easy to solve. So growth mindset is the number one something. Continue to invest in yourself. We're going to talk about how and what actions you're going to take, but just change your mind to understand that if you don't get better, nothing's going to change. Now this is also challenging because you're changing yourself. This is something people don't understand about growth mindset. People think that, oh, it's just about becoming smarter or wiser or picking up more skills. No, it's actually changing who you are. I realized when I was growing my businesses that the business I want to become, you know, I'm here, I want to go here. If I want to go here, I can't be the same person. I have to change. I have to become something else in order to reach this milestone. The person that can pull this off is not the person that's here, because if it was the same person, I would be here already, right? So you have to understand that I have to change who I am, change my habits, change who I spend my time with, how I think, how I adapt, how I manage stress, how I deal with problems, how I speak, how I do business, how how I market myself. Everything's got to change. The person I am 10 years ago is totally different than who I am today. And that's a good thing because that means I grow, means I actually transform myself into something different, something better. And you need to understand that's going to be uncomfortable because one, it's hard to change yourself and just accept the fact that you're not the way you should be, and you should get better. Number two, the people around you are going to notice you're not the same anymore, and that makes them uncomfortable. But you got to accept that. You got to accept the fact that some people are going to come along with you on the ride journey as a successful person, and some people won't. And that's okay. So number one is mindset number two, your skills we talked about, you got to get better. What does that actually mean? It means you taking action. So number two is taking action and improving your skills. And that means simple actions every day. Some people think, all right, I'm going to dedicate myself. I'm going to go get myself a master's. I'm going to go do the sabbatical and take five months and study in this university or this institute. That's fine and all, but actually, what helps is consistent action is small things. Every day, like reading 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes before you go to bed, it seems so simple, it seems so easy. But whatever's easy to do is also easy not to do. It's easy to skip. Okay? So even if you just pick up a book and you read 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes at night, that's an hour of reading every day. Within two weeks, you've finished the book. Okay? That means every two weeks you're reading a new book. That means every month you've just finished two books. That means every year you've read 24 books. Pretty great, right? Think of how much better you'd be if you had consumed that much knowledge and that much information to improve your skills. Small things. Small things, but done over time, over and over. Great habits. Okay? Invest in yourself, in a course or in a training. Again, this is not a humongous commitment. It's like an hour or two a week. But it's done over time. And over time you grow because there's consistency. If you want to become better as fast as possible, then I highly recommend you hang out with people that are better than you. Very simple. Hang out with people that are smarter than you, that are more accomplished than you, have done better things. When you hang out with those types of people, whether it's at meetups or conferences or events or vacations or weekends or whatever it might be, okay? You can't help but get better. You can't just continue to do the same things anymore. When everybody around you is smarter and reading better books and are taking courses and investing in themselves and they're hiring Coaches in different parts of their life, whether it's health or wealth or in their own business or whatever it might be, you're going to just think it's normal. I have to do this now because everybody else around me is doing it. That peer pressure is good in this situation. One of my favorite hacks is actually to go on a holiday, go on a vacation with somebody who is a few levels higher than you. You'll start to learn what your future might look like. What are the things that they work on? What are some things that they do to make get better every day? What's your routine in the morning? What are the things that they worry about? Right. These are going to be your new worries very soon if you continue to get better. Hang around with people that are better than you, people that are a few steps ahead of you in the quest you're going after.

[Unknown]

Got a 7am meeting on a Monday, expensing breakfast because it's in policy, wasting all afternoon submitting an expense report for that breakfast. Breakfast. If your company used Ramp, you could submit expenses with just a text.

Free your team from expense reports today. Switch your business to ramp.com.

[Omar Zenhom]

One of the things I did when I started Webinar Ninja, my software company, 10 years ago, I think it was the first year I was starting my software company, I was still learning the ropes. I contacted somebody that was a few steps ahead of me, somebody who's about five years ahead of me in the game of entrepreneurship. Somebody that where I want to be in five years. His name was Noah Kagan. Noah Kagan is the CEO of AppSumo. He's the founder. He was number 30 at Facebook, knows Mark Zuckerberg personally. The point here is that he was ahead of me and I reached out to him. It was a Skype call, right? It was. I got an introduction from a friend that knew him. So it was like a warm welcome, which was good. I knew somebody, I knew him and I said, hey, Noah, I'm starting the software company. I know you've built software before. You worked at Facebook, you built many software companies before and built software for your customers. What are some things I need to look out for? And he gave me some really good advice and he became my friend, which is interesting. Throughout those conversations, we met in person, we saw each other in conference, we had vacations together. And I learned a ton just being around him. Because now I know what it takes, who I have to become to get to his level number three. I alluded to it before, but it's your Network. You want to build a supportive network. Number four, work on your strategy. Understand the problems you want to solve for your customers. Now, I'm not talking just so you can learn from them and build skills and become at their level, but also so that you can get some support, some guidance. You can get new perspectives and even be offered some opportunities, okay? No one builds anything successful alone. You need to build a family around you, a group of people, of friends, of supportive people that can help you along your journey, and you can do the same for them. This is going to make it more enjoyable for you. It's going to make it easier for you, but it's also going to allow you to get successful faster, okay? Because they're going to open doors for you. There's so many ways I have grown over the years because of my network. Let me give you an example. I was at a conference and I met a man named Matthew Kimberly. Matthew Kimberly is this British guy that was really well spoken. He spoke on stage. He's very interesting. And when I chatted with him, we just kind of got along. And he said, hey, we're having this dinner in la. And at the time I was living in San Diego, so I was like, in LA in a couple of weeks. Would you like to come to this dinner? Some cool people are going to be there. I said, cool, let's do it. So Nicole and I, we went to this dinner, and at that dinner I met his business partner, Michael Port. Michael Port is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. Many of my favorite books. Steal the show, book yourself, Solid, the referable speaker, so many great books. So as we sat down, we're having dinner and we're chatting. Michael Port asked me, hey, Omar, what do you do? I said, well, I have this podcast and I just started this webinar software company called Webinar Ninja. I asked him, do you do webinars? And he was like, yeah, I do webinar. I do it all the time to sell my products and services. And I just thought it would be awesome if this guy just used my software. It'd be great. I said, hey, would you like to use my software for your next webinar? And he told me, hey, how about we do something better? How about I invite you to a webinar and you present the software to my audience? I was like, what? Are you serious? And the crazy thing is that he actually did it. You know, he didn't just say he actually did it. We actually scheduled the time. I gave a webinar to his audience, his email list was huge, hundreds of thousands of people. And I made so many sales just off that webinar and off the fact that he vouched for me in front of his audience, and it allowed me to have a little bit of a catapult as I started Webinar Ninja. Not once did Michael ask me for commission or kickback or some sort of financial reward for helping me out. And I actually asked him about it later on. I said, michael, why didn't you take an affiliate commissioner or something like that? And he said, I really don't need it. And number two, I just saw myself in you. I saw my younger self, somebody who was getting started and trying to make things happen. And I wanted to do what no one did for me. So you'll be surprised. As you build your network, you're going to meet some interesting people, some giving people, some people that want to give back. And were you maybe a decade ago or 20 years ago and want to be able to kind of do something that no one has done for them. And I never forgot it. Michael is one of my closest friends. We still talk every so often, pretty frequently. And he's just a wonderful person. All because I focused on building my network and surrounding myself with interesting people that not only helped me, but also introduce me to people like Michael Port. So shout out to Matthew Gabriel, who brought it all together and invited us to that amazing dinner. All right, now, the fourth thing that really you need to focus on when it comes to starting a business and being successful is your strategy. Strategy actually matters a lot in business. Just like anything else, like in sport or games. It really is a game business. So your strategy matters. So the strategy I love is focusing on solving problems. If you are very good at solving problems, you will always be valuable to the marketplace because you are always offering solutions that people want. A successful business solves real problems for its customers. That's what it does. So what I advise you to do is focus on understanding your target audience and deliver value, deliver a solution to their problem. Webinar NICHE Our software was built on addressing a specific set of pain points of running webinars, especially for small teams, people that don't have so many people that work behind the scenes when running a webinar. Somebody who probably a team of one or a few people and they're going to be running the webinar by themselves. So our feature set solve that group of pain points that dealt with that issue. This really resonated with our audience because we talked specifically to them. And helped them with their specific problems. Now, remember the beginning. I said that things will change. The market will change, the climate will change, the customers will change the economy. Right? Be prepared to pivot. As a business owner, you should be thinking about what are all the problems my customer has in their life, in their business? You could just solve one of those problems. But also think about how you can solve all the other problems as other products, other services, as alternative solutions to different problems. So I want to wrap this up with some actionable items for you to do. The first thing I want you to do is to evaluate your mindset. Evaluate your mindset and be honest. Do you talk negatively to yourself? Do you tell yourself that you can't do something when you probably can? Do you tell yourself that I'm who I am and I can't change or I don't want to change? That's a problem. Okay, you need to change that. Because in order for you to grow, you need to change. Write down any limiting beliefs that you have. Write down the things that maybe you've been telling yourself all your life and asking yourself, are you willing to change this script? The things that you just wrote down? Next, ask yourself how you're going to invest in developing your skills and getting better. Are you going to be picking up that habit? I talk about 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes at night, reading a book. Are you going to pick up a new course that you can invest an hour or two a week? Are you going to join a mastermind? Are you going to pick up a new coach that's going to help you along the way? Are you going to buy a ticket to an event or some sort of live training? How are you going to invest in developing your skills? Number two, how are you going to expand your network? Where are you going to go to meet people? It's not going to happen by accident, right? Go to meetup.com, go to eventbrite.com what events can you go to? What conferences can you go to? What are ways you can meet people online? Make a habit of making a new comment every day for somebody new on X that you've been following. Make it easy for yourself to meet other people by being a little bit more social online offline. You got to want to solve it. You got to be passionate about helping people with that problem. Think about all the problems that you can solve. Choose the ones that you want to start with, or at least choose one that you want to start with. So to wrap up, there's never a perfect time to start a business. The key to your success lies within you. Your mindset, your skills, your network, your strategy. By focusing on these areas, you can really increase your likelihood of success. No matter what's going on in the world. Okay? Don't hope that the world is going to change. You need to change. Okay? And that's really the thing I've learned the most from all the people I mentioned in today's episode. Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, Jim Collins. From good to great. These are the kind of lessons I've learned along the way that, hey, at the end of the day, if I want things to change, I have to change. Thanks for tuning into the $100 MBA show. I hope you found today's episode valuable. I hope you feel inspired to take action and take the next steps forward on your entrepreneurial journey. For more insights, for more resources, for worksheets, for more podcast episodes and business lessons, over 25 of them go to our website over at 100 MBA net. Dig into all that over there. Until next time on the next episode, I'm Omar Zinhomm. I'll see you in the next episode. Take care.

[Unknown]

Got a 7am meeting on a Monday expensing breakfast because it's in policy wasting all afternoon submitting an expense report for that breakfast. If your company used ramp, you could submit expenses with just a text.

[Omar Zenhom]

Yay.

[Unknown]

Free your team from expense reports today. Switch your business to ramp.