Start with what you have | Be Your Own Boss – 2/4

Hello, I’m your host Kaycinho, I’m a digital alchemist, and this episode is episode n°4 of a module dedicated to the preparation phase of starting your business. So if you haven’t seen the first 3 episodes, I invite you to check this playlist.

And by the way, this module is the first module of a course taking you from the burning desire to become your own boss to actually launching your business. So if you want access to the full course (videos will be added until the course is complete) by clicking here.

Start with what you have?

So, if you’ve been around YouTube a little while, you can see the tons of videos about being successful online, as well as the myriad of comments that come with it.

And that’s a no-brainer because everyone wants to be successful.

Now the problem is that many people don’t tell the whole truth when it comes to their success stories, some even “fake it to make it” in order to make money on other people’s back. And if you’ve been around YouTube long enough, you know what I’m talking about.

The sad part is that it leads many people to be misled and feel bad about themselves, because after spending hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars, when success does not come, they feel like they are a failure, when actually they are not.

Start with what you have: What is success?

The thing is that first, you need to define what success is, because that will be the unit you will need to measure if you are successful or not.

For some people success is having a ton of money in the bank, for others it is having all the time in the world to do what they love, for some people it’s spending more time with their family and so on.

It really depends on what you are after. I think we all want to make a lot of money but would you rather have 500 million dollars in the bank and never having a minute for yourself because you are too busy managing your Empire, or 5 millions and all the time in the world to do what you love with the people you love most.

We are all different, so you need to spend time and figure out what you call success for your own life.

Start with what you have: Stop looking for easy money

You need to run away from easy-money-making schemes, because the only easy thing about those schemes is the speed at which you will spend your money.

As a rule of thumb, when it looks way too easy, it should be a red flag.

Now I’m not saying it never happens. I’m just saying that it is more an exception than it is a rule, therefore it should trigger your radars.

Start with what you have: Be prepared to work

You need to be prepared to put in some work.

Success does not come overnight but it tastes even better than instant gratification.

I personally know someone who won the lottery. But getting the money did not change his mindset: he never liked working in the first place. The amount he won should have ensured he wouldn’t have to work for the rest of his life, but less than three years after winning the lottery he was bankrupt.

Some people are born to be entrepreneurs, and some people become entrepreneurs because life gives them no choice.

You will hear success and failure stories in both camps.

I personally think I’m in both camps, since I’ve always wanted to have a business of my own, but because no-one in my close circle had the entrepreneurship spirit, it took time and events to help me dive into the world of being my own boss.

Start with what you have, and level up

I honestly could have / should have started way before, but I kept coming up with excuses such as :

• I don’t wanna be on camera
• I don’t have the right camera gear
• I don’t have this, I don’t have that / and so on…

Then I stumbled upon YouTubers like Roberto Blake, Nick Nimmin and others alike.

And for example, if you look at Roberto Blake, he used to be an introvert, was not really comfortable on camera and started with inexpensive gear. And Roberto is a working machine, he’s got over a thousand videos and I must say I’m impressed because his success comes from his hard work, not from the equipment or software he was lacking at the time.

Of course today you see all those YouTubers with professional-level gear and high-end production, and you can feel discouraged, especially if you don’t have the budget to reproduce such quality.

And the King is…

But one thing is much more important than the quality of your production: your content.

Now don’t get me wrong, production quality is important, but it comes after the quality of your content.

I personally spend a lot of time on YouTube, and of course I pay attention to the quality of the videos I watch, but the channels I’m subscribed to are the channels that deliver valuable content.

Some productions are technically perfect but they lack a soul, while others could be technically better, but I get so much value out of it that I really enjoy watching the new videos.

What I started with!

I’ve started a first channel on YouTube, well, not really a channel but a few videos to support WordPress child-themes that I craft and sell.

For these videos, I was using a Logitech C920 webcam, lights that you can find in any store, and I had to put oven paper on it to act as a diffuser (yeah that’s how cheap I was), and to key out the background, I created my own green screen with a green carpet and some PVC pipes.

The only other things that I invested in were a 99$ microphone and a 99$ screencasting software.

And if you look at the production quality of those videos, I’m not saying it’s the best out there, but I’m pretty confident many will agree that it does look professional.

Start with what you have: putting things into perspective

Now some of us live in developed countries, some of us in emerging countries, and some of us in countries that are still far on the progress curve.

So of course it is easier for some of us, but no matter where you come from, it’s always good to give a little perspective.

Scenario one: back in the day

Just picture yourself living in an age when there was no internet.

Let’s say the seventies or the eighties.

You live in a remote place and work a nine-to-five job that barely allows you to pay the bills.

But since dreaming is still free, you dream of becoming a graphic designer, having your own clients and making a good living out of it.

Now the trouble is that the fastest way to get some clients is to advertise, and you don’t have advertising money.

Especially because ads are quite expensive on the newspaper and the radio, not to mention on TV.

And forget about being live on TV and getting some exposure if you are just another Mr Smith. So you are pretty much stuck and the only thing you can do is cold calling hundreds of businesses or going door to door.

But the trouble is that you work a nine-to-five, five or six days a week so you can’t really do that during business hours.

You could always go to see your bank and ask for a business loan, but you tried that already and it’s not looking like you will see the first cent anytime soon.

So, what do you do?

Scenario two: fast-forward to today

Now fast-forward to today: you live in a remote place and work a nine-to-five job that barely allows you to pay the bills.

But since dreaming is still free, you dream of becoming a graphic designer, having your own clients and making a good living out of it.

You don’t make a lot of money, but you could throw 100$ a month on Facebook Ads, or even if you had 0 budget for advertising, you could still hustle and produce a ton of quality content, blogging or vlogging from your phone in the evening or early morning.

And you’d be able to do all of that after having educated yourself for free on YouTube about how to get started with no money.

After a little while, your voice is starting to get known online and client work starts coming in.

So now you can buy better gear and spend more dollars towards advertising until you can quit your job.

See where I’m getting at?

Start with what you have: We are lucky to live in the digital age

I think many of us do not realize the chance we have to live in an age when you can be broadcasting live to thousands of people and more for almost no money.

You can live in Costa Rica, have clients in Japan and get paid in real time.

You can do video-conferencing virtually for free on Skype and outsource part of your daily tasks for a few bucks on dedicated platforms.

If you can’t pay for education; you can find very good free resources on Youtube, or cheap online courses on sites like Lynda.com, TeamTreeHouse.com (affiliate link) and Udemy just to name a few.

If you don’t have money to buy a camera, you can record from your phone, save up and when you start making money from your work, upgrade your gear.

If you don’t have money to pay for a Photoshop license, you could install The Gimp for free, or purchase Affinity Photo for 50 bucks (which by the way I use and love).

If you don’t have money to get Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro, you can edit on iMovie for free if you are on a Mac or Lightworks if you are on Windows.

If you don’t have a mac, or don’t have a Windows license, you could install Linux Mint or Ubuntu for free.

If you don’t have a computer you could work and edit on your phone with free apps. Sure working on a small screen is not the best but at least it’s a start.

I think that by now you get the idea.

Start with what you have: Stop making excuses and start today!

Stop making excuses and start with what you have. And before you even get started, ask yourself this question: “What value can I bring to the world?”.

More on that in a future video.

So, I hope that this video helped you nail down the fact that you can start today with what you have, so that you don’t let what you don’t have get in the way of your success. Because if you don’t invest in your own success, money wise or time wise, guess what? Nobody else will…

I’d like to know what you struggle with when it comes to investing in your project.

Let me know in the comments.

If you watch the companion video and if you like it, please give it a thumbs up, as it really helps growing the channel and if you know someone that could benefit from it, I’m going to ask you if you’d like to share it now.

Because let’s face it, there are so many things to do in a day that if you don’t do it now you’ll probably forget.

Now if you want to brand, market and grow your business it in the Digital Age make sure you subscribe to my email newsletter so that you never miss your share of digital alchemy and tips, tools, services and case studies that can help you grow your business online.

So I hope to see you around here or on the Youtube channel, and in the next episode we’ll discuss about how to manage the people around you when you take the business route.

In the meantime, don’t forget to invest in your success!