MBA2575 The 3 Lies Everyone Believes About Starting a Business

Summary

The $100 MBA Show: Episode MBA2575 – The 3 Lies Everyone Believes About Starting a Business

Host: Omar Zenhom
Release Date: January 20, 2025
Podcast Description: On The $100 MBA Show, Omar Zenhom shares practical, actionable strategies to help aspiring entrepreneurs turn their business ideas into reality without the need for expensive degrees or significant financial risks. Each episode provides no-fluff lessons on various aspects of starting, growing, and scaling a business.

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Introduction

In Episode MBA2575 titled "The 3 Lies Everyone Believes About Starting a Business," host Omar Zenhom delves into the common misconceptions that hinder aspiring entrepreneurs from successfully launching their ventures. Drawing from his personal experiences of bootstrapping multiple multimillion-dollar businesses, Omar aims to debunk these prevalent myths and provide actionable insights to set listeners on the path to real success.

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Lie #1: "Follow Your Passion and the Money Will Follow"

Timestamp: [03:20]

Debunking the Lie:
Omar begins by addressing the popular advice to "follow your passion," explaining that while passion is valuable, it alone does not guarantee business success. He emphasizes that passion must be coupled with a viable solution to real market problems.

Omar's Insight:
"Passion alone doesn't solve a problem. People pay for solutions, not your enthusiasm." ([03:45])

He shares his experience with his 2009 e-commerce venture, Zenome Design, where his passion for custom men's clothing did not alleviate business challenges such as low margins and logistical issues. This taught him that passion must be aligned with market needs to create a sustainable business.

Action Steps:

1. Identify Real Problems: Determine the actual problems that your target audience faces.
2. Validate Your Product: Ensure that your product or service provides a tangible solution that customers are willing to pay for.
3. Infuse Passion into Value: Use your passion to enhance the value of your validated product, ensuring it meets a genuine need.

Notable Quote:
"The best businesses and products are those that, when discovered, make people think, 'Wow, this is amazing. Where has this been all my life?'" ([04:10])

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Lie #2: "You Need a Perfect Plan Before You Start"

Timestamp: [04:36]

Debunking the Lie:
Omar challenges the belief that entrepreneurs must have a flawless, detailed business plan before launching. He argues that striving for perfection can be paralyzing and delay the commencement of the business.

Omar's Insight:
"Progress beats perfection. Get started, test your idea with real customers, and iterate based on that feedback." ([05:20])

Drawing from his own journey, Omar contrasts his initial 60-page business plan with the success of his later ventures that began with a simple, one-page business plan. He highlights the importance of flexibility and adaptability in response to market feedback.

Action Steps:

1. Create a One-Page Business Plan: Utilize simple templates like the one-page business plan canvas available at 100mba.net/worksheets.
2. Develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Launch a basic version of your product to gather user feedback.
3. Iterate Rapidly: Use customer feedback to continually improve and refine your product or service.

Notable Quote:
"No business plan survives contact with reality. Markets change, customer behavior changes, the world changes." ([05:45])

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Lie #3: "You Need a Lot of Money to Start"

Timestamp: [10:04]

Debunking the Lie:
The third myth Omar tackles is the misconception that significant capital is essential to start a business. He argues that many successful businesses have been bootstrapped without hefty investments, emphasizing creativity and resourcefulness over financial abundance.

Omar's Insight:
"Too many people think they need a massive budget or investors to launch their business. This is not true." ([07:15])

He provides examples of successful bootstrapped companies like Spanx and Mailchimp, illustrating how these businesses thrived without external funding. Omar shares his personal experience with Webinar Ninja and The $100 MBA, both of which were started with minimal funds and grew into profitable ventures through reinvestment and value delivery.

Action Steps:

1. Start Small: Begin with the essentials—a simple website, basic product or service, and a way to reach your audience.
2. Reinvest Profits: Use the revenue generated to gradually scale your business.
3. Focus on Value: Prioritize delivering value to your customers over unnecessary expenditures.

Notable Quote:
"Creativity and resourcefulness are often more important than capital." ([07:45])

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Bonus Takeaway: Understanding the Persistence of These Lies

Timestamp: [16:00]

Omar concludes the episode by reflecting on why these lies are so widespread. He attributes their persistence to their simplicity and the comfort they provide, making the entrepreneurial journey seem easier than it truly is. However, he reinforces that authentic success stems from solving real problems, taking action, adaptability, and resourcefulness.

Final Advice:

• Avoid the Comfort of Myths: Recognize and reject these common misconceptions to approach entrepreneurship with a realistic mindset.
• Embrace Action and Adaptability: Focus on taking consistent actions, staying flexible, and continuously adapting to market feedback.
• Value Resourcefulness: Leverage creativity and efficient use of resources to grow your business without relying on substantial initial capital.

Notable Quote:
"Success comes from solving real problems, not chasing passions or thinking you have to have the perfect strategy." ([16:30])

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Conclusion

In this insightful episode, Omar Zenhom effectively dismantles three pervasive myths about starting a business: the overemphasis on passion, the need for a perfect plan, and the misconception that significant funding is required. By sharing his personal experiences and providing clear, actionable steps, Omar equips aspiring entrepreneurs with the knowledge and mindset necessary to navigate the challenges of launching and growing a successful business. Emphasizing the importance of value creation, adaptability, and resourcefulness, this episode serves as a valuable guide for anyone embarking on the entrepreneurial journey.

Actionable Summary:

1. Align Passion with Market Needs: Ensure your passion addresses a real problem that customers are willing to pay to solve.
2. Start with a Simple Plan and MVP: Utilize a one-page business plan and launch a minimal viable product to gather feedback and iterate.
3. Bootstrap and Reinvest: Begin with minimal funds, focus on delivering value, and reinvest profits to scale your business.

For more practical business strategies and insights, subscribe to The $100 MBA Show and explore free resources at 100mba.net.

Transcript

[Omar Zenhom]

If you're a listener of the show.

[Co-host]

You probably own a business or looking to start one. So the question is, are you ready to thrive with your business? It's time to let Intuit QuickBooks take things like unpaid invoices and tracking expenses off your plate to take things to the next level.

[Omar Zenhom]

If you're a longtime listener to the.

[Co-host]

Show, you know how much I bang on about how important your finances are.

[Omar Zenhom]

Getting your numbers in order, making sure.

[Co-host]

Your incoming invoices and expenses are all taken care of. That's where QuickBooks comes in. It's an all in one business platform that can help you with day to day tasks like invoice, manage and grow your business all in one place. Intuit QuickBooks your way to Money Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments, Inc. Licensed as a money transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

[Omar Zenhom]

When it comes to smart money management, one of the best pieces of advice.

[Co-host]

Is to make your money work for you.

[Omar Zenhom]

Well, Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide and you automatically earn cash back on all your purchases. That means there's plenty of opportunities to make that money work. So shop smarter, not harder. Basically, anywhere you go nationwide, it pays to Discover. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen report. Learn more at discover.com credit card lies, lies Lies. Most people that start a business have beliefs about starting a business that are actually lies. There are three I want to talk about in today's lesson that are going to set you up for failure and frustration if you don' strain them out right now. Today I'm going to expose the three biggest lies most people believe about starting a business and I'm going to show you the truth that can set you up for real success. By the way, these are three lies that I believed were true when I got started and it really set me back. It didn't allow me to succeed as fast as I should have because I fell into these traps. I fell into these lies that people told me. Welcome Back to the $100 MBA Show. I'm your host Omar Zenholm, where I help you start, grow and scale a business with our practical no Fluff lessons three times a week. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. In today's lesson, we're going to be debunking the three biggest lies about starting a business. These are the same lies I fell into. Like I mentioned, when I was starting out my business and my entrepreneurial career really derailed me. I don't want this to happen to you. This is why I created Today's episode. So if you're about to take the leap into entrepreneurship or even just thinking about starting a business, understanding what's real and what's not in today's episode can save you years of frustration. Let's dive in. Let's start with lie number one. Follow your passion and the money will follow. Listen, passion has its place. It's not worthless. It's a good thing to have. But I'm gonna share with you how to use it. Because just following your pass is not going to make a successful business. Just because you're passionate about something, it doesn't mean people will pay for it. This is what I learned the hard way. Passion alone doesn't solve a problem. And people pay for solutions, not your enthusiasm. When I started my e commerce business in 2009 called Zenome Design, I was passionate about custom men's clothing. Because I'm 6 foot 5, I am long, I can't buy clothing in a department store. But passion didn't make my margins any better or solve any of my logistical headaches or fix my business model. The truth is, passion is just not enough. That's just a reality of the marketplace. You need to focus on where you can add value, where your skills, your experience, your talents really meet a real market need. Now, I want to stop for a moment and talk about passion. Talk about if you're excited about something, if you love something, right? That's great. But you gotta infuse that passion in something that is validated and people are happy to pay for, right? Use your passion in your product. Once you validated that product actually solves a problem. For example, I'm passionate about teaching. I'm passionate about helping people have an easier path to success in business than I did. But that passion alone, without solving a real problem with my product or service is not going to get me anywhere. Once I have a product that actually addresses a real pain or a need, I can then infuse that passion for teaching and helping people into that product. So as an action step for this first one, ask yourself, what problems can.

[Co-host]

I solve for people?

[Omar Zenhom]

If your passion aligns with those problems, great. If not, focus on the value you can provide first. Focus on actually giving people something they want. And then once you do that, it's going to make your life so much easier. Business will be a lot easier when you're selling a product that people are actually asking for and knocking down your door for rather than you trying to convince convince people the value. There's nothing worse than trying to coerce people into buying your product or service. It looks desperate and it's just a failed model. You just can't do this for the long term. The best businesses, the best products are businesses and products that when people discover them, when they understand what they are, they're like, wow, this is amazing. Where has this been all my life? Take my money now. That's the type of business you want. Lie number two, you need a perfect plan before you start this one. Drive me up the wall. When I got started, it really was a problem for me. The idea that you need everything figured out before starting is really paralyzing. It's really stopping you from succeeding before you even start because you think that everything has to be figured out. And this is a lie because it's impossible to know how everything's going to pan out. That's why there's in business, because risk is what you don't see. And that's just the nature of being an entrepreneur. No business plan survives, you know, first contact with reality. Markets change, customer behavior changes, the world changes. You need to be able to adapt to that constantly. You need a product that allows you to just test the waters, put it out there in the world so that you can then see the reaction and the feedback you get from your customers and build a business around that. My first business plan was about 60 pages long. I'm actually embarrassed to share this because it means I was that arrogant that I thought I can cover all my bases, that I can have a plan for every contingency. That's just not how business works. The best businesses I've had that have made me millions of dollars have changed my life forever. Started with a one page business plan. And actually I have a template that you can use, you could use with the onepage business plan canvas that I created. It's one of our worksheets. If you just go to 100mba.net worksh worksheets, you could just download it there. And it's just a one pager that just gets you started so you know exactly which direction to move in. When I launched Webinar Ninja, my software company that got acquired by Proprofs, I started with a very basic, minimal, viable product. This is back in 2014. It wasn't a perfect product, but it got me into the market quickly. It allowed me to get real user feedback and shape the product into what it became today. With feedback, with real words, with real opinions, with real information that I could use. The truth is, progress beats perfection. Get started, test your idea with real customers and iterate based on that feedback. That's the best plan you can have. So as an action step, I want you to focus on creating a simple mvp, minimal viable product that delivers the core value of the idea of your business or product, right? What it actually delivers, what actually solves. Launch it, get feedback and improve as you go. This is the best way to get started with very minimal investment of planning because you can plan all you want. You know, it's like what Mike Tyson says, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face and the market will punch you in the face. And I've been punched in the face so many times and I learned this lesson the hard way. I don't want you to get punched in your face. So just use our one page canvas, you know, business plan canvas over at100nba.net worksheets download it, you can find. It's very easy. It's absolutely free. I don't charge anything for my templates because I just feel like if I've created it and it's helped me, I might as well share with you guys. Use that as a starting point. Launch your mvp, get some feedback, improve the product, get some feedback. Launch another iteration of that product. Get some feedback. That's what great products and businesses do. If you're a listener of the show.

[Co-host]

You probably own a business or looking to start one. So the question is, are you ready to thrive with your business? It's time to let Intuit QuickBooks take things like unpaid invoices and tracking expenses off your plate to take things to the next level.

[Omar Zenhom]

If you're a longtime listener to the.

[Co-host]

Show, you know how much I bang on about how important your finances are.

[Omar Zenhom]

Getting your numbers in order, making sure.

[Co-host]

Your incoming invoices and expenses are all taken care of. That's where QuickBooks comes in. It's an all in one business platform that can help you with day to day tasks like invoicing and expenses. Manage and grow your business all in one place. Intuit QuickBooks, your way to Money Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments, Inc. Licensed as a money transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

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[Omar Zenhom]

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[Omar Zenhom]

Lie number three, you need a lot of money to start. This lie cost me millions of dollars because it delayed my journey of starting a business. The laid my journey on entrepreneurship by years. And now that I'm making millions of dollars a year, it's cost me that much every year because I started a few years late. Now I just want to take a time out. I don't really feel super comfortable just even saying that, like, I make millions of dollars a year. Like, I'm not here to brag. I'm telling you the truth of the matter, that you will get to this point where you're making millions, maybe even more, tens of millions, you know, maybe even hundreds of millions every single year. Right. And you're going to really that you delayed the start of that journey because the later you start, the more it costs you down the line when you start making serious dough. And we're not even talking about the compound interest you could have made on investing that money or all that kind of stuff. We're just talking about purely the money that you could make in those years that you wasted. Too many people think that they need a massive budget or investors to launch their business. This is not true. I am very much involved in the startup culture and a lot of people in the tech world think that, you know, investors are going to save the day. They're going to come and swoop them up and give them millions of dollars and they're going to be rich. No, no, no, no. There's so many successful businesses that I know personally. The founders that have done it bootstrapped, I've done it on their own. They don't need investors. And they guess what, they own the whole company. So that when they do get acquired one day, they get all of the money from that acquisition. So this is something you have to think about long term. Okay? This is one of the reasons why I didn't get investors for Webinar Ninja. Nicole and I decided to start webinar ninja, keep 100% of the ownership, so that when we did sell, we can take the whole pie. And that's exactly what we did. So why is this a lie? One of the things I wish somebody told me early on was that some of the most successful businesses started with very little money. Creativity and resourcefulness is Often more important than capital. Have you heard of Spanx? Sarah Blakely is the founder of Spanx, which is a great clothing and undergarment clothing brand for women. And it's a billion dollar company, 100% bootstrapped private company, self funded. Mailchimp. You know the email marketing software. Well, the founder Ben Chestnut and Dan Curzias, those guys bootstrapped mailchimp. They didn't take any funding. They grew their company solely over 20 years and then they sold their company to intuit for $12 billion. This is not uncommon. I bootstrapped our software company that got acquired, Webinar Ninja. I bootstrapped this company, the hundred dollar mba, this podcast and our program. That's a seven figure business. So instead of thinking about how do I save all this money? I just got started, okay, I made some money to make some money, right? That's a good way to think of it. So instead of thinking about hiring a big team or spending on fantasy tools or office or anything like that, just start delivering value and reinvest your profits. That's how it's done. The truth is, if you start small, you can start to scale pretty quickly. And you can often launch a business with just a few hundred dollars if you focus on the essentials. Here's the truth. 100% honesty. When I started Webinar Ninja, my software company and this company, the $100 MBA, I was struggling to pay my rent. I didn't have a lot of money laying around. I could barely make ends meet. The business funded my life. The business was able to make money, grow, scale and change my life. Because here's the truth. It's going to be very hard for you to get the kind of money you think you need through savings or your job. You need to just to get started with your minimal viable product launch and make it happen. Let the business make the money you need. And I love bootstrap businesses because it forces your business to be strong from the start, to have a product that people want and you have strong sales. And by doing that you make your life a whole lot easier in the long run. So as an action step, once you write down the minimum you need to launch, and this is basically a simple website, a domain name, a basic product or service. If it's a service, you don't even need any money to get started. Here, a way to reach your audience, right? Some sort of marketing which could be free content marketing and ignore all these extras you think you need until you make some sales, until you make some profits and Then once you make some profits, go ahead and then invest in your business. But I started the 100 RMB with less than $1,000. So before we wrap up today's episode, I want to give you a bonus takeaway, something I learned throughout the years. 20 years of doing this business thing. Why these lies are so common? Why do people believe these things? Why are these so prevalent? Well, it's pretty easy to understand because these lies keep persisting because they're simple and they're comforting. The promise of quick results make starting a business sound easy, but the reality is actually quite different. Success, I found, comes from solving real problems, not chasing passions or, you know, thinking you have to have the perfect strategy. It's about taking action, not overthinking. Starting now and then adapting as you go along. And then lastly, it's about resourcefulness. Right? Understand that's what really what matters. That's your number one resource is being resourceful. And you don't need a fortune to get started. So starting a business is one of the most rewarding journeys you'll ever take, but only if you approach it with the right mindset. So let's agree, don't fall for these lies. Passion alone won't pay the bills. You don't need a perfect plan. Just get started with a one page plan that you can download with our worksheets100mba.net worksheets and number three, you don't need a ton of money. You just need to be resourceful. Focus on adding value to other people's lives. The more valuable you can become to the marketplace, the easier it will be for your business to grow. Take action, stay adaptable. That's the real recipe for success. Thanks for tuning into the Hundred Dollar MBA show. If today's lesson resonated with you, why don't you share with somebody you think would really benefit from it? Somebody who's thinking about starting on this journey of entrepreneurship. Maybe somebody you shared your ambitions with and they're like, yeah, me too. I'm thinking about doing that as well. Right? Just send them a text message, send them a link to this episode that you're listening to now. And whatever podcast app you're using, just hit that share button and share it away in a text message or on WhatsApp or whatever you feel like doing. While you're at it, make sure you're following or subscribing to the show on the podcast app you're using or on YouTube. If you're watching this on YouTube, hit that subscribe button so you get our next episodes automatically and you support the show. Thanks again. I'm Omar Zanderman. I'll see you in the next episode.

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