Welcome to The New Idea to Income Course
Congrats on taking a big step toward making your dream of owning your business a reality
It might be the next Airbnb!
This course is self paced, so you can take your time or binge watch all 10 videos (125 mins). Since there are assignments after each video I would recommend watching by Sections (3) it will allow you to think and do the assignments in each. But you can do it however you want. ?
Consulting Time: The bonus of one free hour of consulting time with me is scheduled once you have completed ALL of the course. Just send me an email mike@michaelgrabham.com with the subject “I finished 101” and we will find an hour that fits our schedules. These consulting times are in 1 hour blocks, so it is better that you have a lot of questions to get answers/advice.
Notes: After each video there are key points and assignments and they are highlighted during the videos. There are a few surprises along the way and might even be a gift ? if you watch all the videos ?
Section One
Congrats on taking a big step toward making your dream of owning your business a reality
This course is self paced, so you can take your time or binge watch all 10 videos (125 mins). Since there are assignments after each video I would recommend watching by Sections (3) it will allow you to think and do the assignments in each. But you can do it however you want. ?
Consulting Time: The bonus of one free hour of consulting time with me is scheduled once you have completed ALL of the course. Just send me an email mike@michaelgrabham.com with the subject “I finished 101” and we will find an hour that fits our schedules. These consulting times are in 1 hour blocks, so it is better that you have a lot of questions to get answers/advice.
Notes: After each video there are key points and assignments and they are highlighted during the videos. There are a few surprises along the way and might even be a gift ? if you watch all the videos ?
Section One
Video 1: What to do legally with an Idea
Key Points
Don’t spend money on ANY legal fees until know or have some indications its a good idea. Don’t take your Moms advice on whether its a good idea or not.
To get more details about the differences of Copyright, Trademark, Patent go here https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/111014/patents-trademarks-and-copyrights-basics.asp
What can be Patented? Go here for detailed more info https://www.legalzoom.com/knowledge/patent/topic/what-is-patentable
Share your idea with others to hear different perspectives, don’t keep it to yourself
Assignment
- Do your own research at USPTO.gov and Google for similar products/ideas.
- Meet or have a call with an Intellectual Property attorney… its normally free for the first 30 minute discovery meeting.
Assignments
How many customers do you think you could get in the first 12 months? Give a realistic answer to this!
Identify the top 3 trade shows or associations and attend an event
Is there enough customers to make a business out of this idea.
Research all the social channels for competing products
Useful websites for research
- Go to https://craft.co , https://opencorporates.com/, https://www.bizapedia.com/ for info about companies and industries.
- Find keywords and ads use https://www.Spyfu.com
- Find Backlinks of competitors to find partnerships https://neilpatel.com/backlinks/
- Monitor backlinks for content ideas, etc https://monitorbacklinks.com/
- Use www.SEMrush.com all types of info on any website. Keywords, ads, + more.
- Use Similiarweb.com compare websites to find other similar websites
- Look up what ads a company has used. Whatrunswhere.com monitors ads across 40 networks. It’s expensive $300/month
- See if an industry is growing https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/industries-fast-grow-decline-employment.htm
- How to do find who owns what website. https://www.labnol.org/internet/find-websites-of-someone/20550/
Key Points
Always try to simplify your messaging including your 22-word explanation, easy to read, easy to understand.
Who is the buyer of your product? Target Persona.
Assignments
Create a 22 word or less explanation for your idea.
Create a Target Customer persona
Research to learn this at the minimum;
- Age Range
- Gender
- Interest/affinity to do/hobbies
- Location if applicable
- What websites do they visit?
- TV shows/online offline magazines do they care about?
Section Two
Video 4, Part 1 & 2: How to get unbiased feedback from strangers
Key Points
- Strike up a conversation everywhere to learn from customers.
- Ask questions about the problem you are solving, Listen more than talking.
“How are you currently coping with X problem?”
- Get them to tell stories, “Tell me more about that, That seems to really bother you, tell more about that”
- Take notes on what people say
- Use a time frame, In the last X months,
- Use a scale, on a scale of 1-10 tell me about X
- Ask why 3 times is a great way to learn more about your customers motivations.
Read the book “Mom Test” by Rob Fitzpatrick
Assignments
Memorize the top 3-4 questions you need answers from your prospective clients
Talk to at least 75 people who could be buyers
Key Points
Pick a platform to build your website that everyone knows, I am a fan of WordPress because it is so popular everyone knows it.
How to build a 1 page website on WordPress https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K1fopyOYpM
Read the book “Don’t Make me Think” by Steve Krug
Assignments
Find 5 websites you like and use them as a template for your own
Choose the platform/website builder for your website and get started
Key Points
Create content that matters to your customers, Ubersuggest, Buzzsumo are good tools for this.
You can share your good content on article networks like ehow.com, ezinearticles.com, articlecube.com and others.
There is so much to learn about SEO that just start with the basics, Follow and learn from Brian Dean and Neil Patel. A must do is to have an SEO expert review your site and tell you what needs to be done to make it more SEO friendly. Many will do this for free. If using wordpress use the SEO Yoast plugin.
Collect emails with lead magnet, a guide to give away in exchange for email address.
Retargeting Ads, Installing the Facebook Pixel allows you to retarget to visitors to your website on Facebook and other places on the internet.
Join a few groups (private and public) on Facebook that focuses on sales funnels.
Section Three
Key Points
Document what you learn from your customers for everyone to review
Rank the features to build
Build at least a simple road map for your idea
IP agreements for Contractors, See these please https://www.cooleygo.com/absolutely-need-contractor-agreements/
Assignment
Create a Roadmap
Create a goal for a completion date. Be Realistic!
Key Points
Know your priorities
Manage your time
Practice “Just in Time” learning
Assignment
What are you good at?
What are you bad at?
Find help for the parts that help your company the most.
Key Points
Know your priorities
Create a simple budget to monitor costs, let everyone see it
CEO needs to understand the numbers
Know revenue per customer or lifetime value (LTV), Product cost per sale, customer acquisition costs (CAC)
Assignment
Create a 12-month budget