[100k The Hard Way ]
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$100K The Hard Way
LEARN HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN BUSINESS WITHOUT ANY
CAPITAL, CONNECTIONS, OR EXPERIENCE.
[I Want To Learn More]
You Can Start Today
I believe that entrepreneurs are made, not born. My only tool when starting out was the desire
to live a better life, everything else was picked up along the way
- Gregory Berry, creator of 100kCourse
HOW IT WORKS
100kTheHardWay is a course that teaches you how to start your own business through core principles learned on the job. This is not theory nor do we include bloated financial projections, wasteful planning tools, pitch decks, or anything else we are taught in formal business schools. You'll learn gritty tricks, tips, rules, and actions that were picked up from launching actual businesses.
Picture this: you're on a deserted island and need to somehow make a boat to carry you 500 yards to mainland. There's no food and you're starving. You can take advice from a highly educated master yacht builder who designs fancy ships with unlimited budgets and resources or you can ask a guy who escaped Cuba on a raft he made with his bare hands in the middle of the night with armed guards closing in on him. This course is kinda like asking the Cuban guy.
Relatable
We don't have Ivy league educations nor do we expect you to. We've created the exact course we wish was available when starting out as entrepreneurs with nothing.
Simple
Everything we teach, we've done. This is not a course on how to launch the next Facebook. You'll learn the exact principles of how to launch a $100,000 per year business in any niche.
Proven
Unlike others who make money by teaching others how to make money we teach exact and proven methods that we use currently to launch businesses in different niches.
You can learn how to start a profitable six figure business from scratch or get your money back
This course was made with the beginner in mind. The guy or gal who wants to be successful, is willing to put in the work, but just doesn't know where to start.
Entrepreneurship is like doing a backflip on a bicycle. The only way to do it is to get on the bike, strap on your helmet, take a deep breathe, and start practicing. It doesn't matter how fancy your bike is, how much previous training you have, where you learned to ride, who your parents are, etc. Good ole trial and error is the only way to succeed here!
When I started my first business I had no idea what to do, no money, nor any mentors to guide me. I had a burning desire to live a better life. I couldn't justify getting up at 5:00am, busting my ass all day, come home at 6pm, eat dinner, go to bed, and do it all over again the next morning. All for what? Just to continue to struggle? This was my motivation. This was my guide. This was my companion. This was all I had.
In school I was always taught to never question authority, follow the rules, line up single file, and be content with mediocrity. This didn't seem right to me. Why is it that I can't be great, do cool stuff, have tons of money, and most importantly not have to get up so damn early ever day? These questions led me to my only answer, entrepreneurship.
The Early Days
I always hear people say they have no time or money. They don't have this or that. My first business was started with my mothers digital camera and an Ebay account. My brother worked at an Italian food distribution company and I took the camera, went to the warehouse, snapped a picture, wrote a killer description, and slapped it on Ebay. Bam! My first sale and I was off to the races.
Taxes? What's that? After making enough money to start a CubeCart e-commerce site, I had a harebrained idea to send a postcard to every "Mariano" in the country (my company was called Mariano Foods). I made my first $25,000 in the first few months of deciding I wanted to become an entrepreneur. April came and I got a tax bill. Shit, I already spent all the money on a vacation to California. Another lesson learned and back to the grind!
The point is that I had no clue and am still learning. This is America! You can do anything you want. I have started so many businesses I wouldn't be able to remember them all. My failures are the best stories. My successes simply protect my lifestyle and keep me in the game. Once you become an entrepreneur you'll see what I mean.
Why This Course?
I have studied entrepreneurship and everything to do with it for many years. I've personally spent over $1 Million in the last seven years through my businesses which has taught me lessons that cannot be learned in school or working a 9 to 5. I never took a dollar of outside funding and feel the entrepreneurship is becoming too sensationalized by the silicon valley media these days.
Today everyone is too busy aggregating, leveraging, disrupting, vertically integrating, being insanely passionate, and turning entrepreneurship into a popularity contest measured by who you know and how much funding you have. This is not why I started. I became an entrepreneur out of desperation, a lack of other opportunities, and a desire to live a better life. Not try to be cool, fit in, or try to become the next overnight billionaire.
Nowadays people are discouraged from starting a business because they don't know anyone at Techcrunch, the economy is down, or they don't have a million bucks in angel funding. We need to get back to the days where people started a business to make money and provide a better life for themselves and their loved ones. I created the exact course I wish I had back in 2006 when I was a fresh faced college student starting my first business. It's time to get up out of your chair and get some damn money. Create something from nothing and take control over your destiny.
I am not a coder, hacker, executive, angel, founder, advisor, rockstar, ninja, or any other buzzword that clutters the Linkedin profiles of the new age of entrepreneurs. I started with under $500 and the burning desire to never go back to selling hot dogs at an amusement park or spreading hay on a construction site. If you want to learn how to start a $100k business and become an entrepreneur, I will show you the way. I guarantee it, literally.
WHAT'S IN THE COURSE
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Phase 1: Mindset
Lesson #1: Introduction
• This course is casual, ambiguous at times, and fast paced
• This is insight from actual experience, not theory
• I do not make money by teaching others how to make money. These are tested principles that I’ve used in my own businesses
• Building a successful business is hard but become easier with time and patience
• The only way to guaranteed success is never giving up
• Use this course as a map to help get to where you are going
Lesson #2: Money
• We start businesses to make profit
• The world is abundant
• Money is currency, which is a constant flowing current
• Money is not a sum zero game. Just because you have does not mean that others can’t
• Your money barometer is a glass ceiling for your income and must be raised
• Repeated enough, your number will become believable
Lesson #3: Focus
• A focused mind is like a sharp needle
• An unfocused mind is like a dull butter knife
• Whatever you focus on expands
• Thoughts are either positive or negative, never neutral
• Your focus bandwidth is finite, use it wisely
• You must remove all distractions and negativity before starting this journey to make room for creativity, critical thinking, and belief
Lesson #4: Time
• Think of each day as $86,400 dollars in which depleted and you never get back
• Successful people say no exponentially more than broke people
• Identify your time vampires and begin slaying them
• You must think ahead to get ahead
• Only unsuccessful people look for overnight success
• Once you stop chasing you can begin attracting
Lesson #5: Meditation
• Meditation will change your life
• Practice a technique that comes natural to you and it will be easier
• There is no perfect meditation, set nor have no expectations
• There is a current of energy all around you waiting for you to tap into it
• If you don’t have 20 minutes per day, start with an hour
• As with all things that are worth having, it will take time and practice
Lesson #6: Brain Power
• Your brain is a muscle and will get stronger with exercise
• In order to create you must begin thinking outside the box
• Question everything
• Practice idea creation daily
• Write down ideas no matter how crazy or unfeasible they are
Lesson #7: Belief
• If you can believe it, you can achieve it
• Your GPS is indifferent where it leads you
• The only rule is that it must be directing you somewhere 24/7/365
• Reprogram your GPS to help guide you to where you want to be
• Enough mind chatter and your subconscious will believe
• Once you believe, you will achieve, it’s a law
Lesson #8: Failure
• Failure is not the opposite of success
• Without failure you cannot judge success
• Failure is a sign of progression, trying, fighting, and growing
• Fail soon and fail often, it will take you to success
• Success and opportunity lie outside of your comfort zone
Lesson #9: Honest & Confidence
• Confident people do not have to lie
• Honesty will stem from confidence
• Stop chasing your tale and tell the truth, not many people care all that much anyways
• Confidence is an unspoken language
• Your reputation is your most valuable asset
Lesson #10: Define Succes
• Success is not a number
• Success is defined by you and you only
• If you were given $1M tonight, would you do the same thing tomorrow as you did today?
• Real success is loving the life you have
• The best offense is a good defense
• Success is measured by expectation, which you control
Lesson #11: Conspire
• Once your intentions are set and you begin to believe, the universe will conspire to get you there
• Stop and create a strategy
• Success will show up when you stop searching for it
• Expectations will determine how successful you are
• Expectations can leave a man broke with $20M in his account
• Set achievable goals and celebrate small wins
• To be successful you must give yourself time and plan ahead
Phase 2: Concept
Lesson #12: Find Your Strength
• Focus on ‘your world’ only
• People around you can help you articulate your strength
• Great entrepreneurs build around their strengths
• Isolate your passions and strengths
• The deeper you get the clearer your strength will become
• Your passion will surface after the exercise
Lesson #13: Business Models
• Some business models are easier to start with
• Low barriers to entry, small/no capital investment, quick to launch, little oversight
• Best business models to start with: Product, Service, Informational, Web application, Referral
• Map out multiple income streams before starting
• Start with $500 and gross $100k first year
Lesson #14: Opportunities
• Begin searching for a valid business idea by looking at your opportunities
• Synergy: leverage existing infrastructure and talent to create more business
• Noticeable Void: Find a void and create a solution
• Connections: Who you know can sometimes create valuable and rare opportunities
• Workforce: Create more business for an established workforce
• Opportunities are abound, just know where to look
Lesson #15: Capitalize On Strength
• Align your business with your core strengths and multiply your chance of success
• Identify your skillset. What do you do better than 51% of all other people?
• Passion: What would you do all day if you did not have to work?
• Expertise: What skills have you developed through time, practice, and career?
• Access: What do you have access to that 51% of others don’t?
• Capitalize on your strength and give your business a head start
Lesson #16: Personality
• If you have the option, build a business around your personality
• Introverts make horrible salespeople
• Extroverts generally hate alone time needed to strategize for marketing and advertising
• Avoid your weakness as it will eventually corrode your business
• Stand on strengths and delegate weakness
• Owner-managers thrive if their business is adapted to their personality
• Build your sales approach around your personality for a better chance of success
Lesson #17: Leverage
• Starting with a clean slate allows us to leverage everything for success
• Find a concept with low barriers to entry and little startup costs and time
• Start small and let growth dictate expansion
• High capital investment will shorten your runway to success
• We all learn as we go, give yourself time and space to learn
• Look for “on demand” COGS and expenses that allow you to sell first and then purchase
• Plug into established infrastructure vs. building your own
Lesson #18: Customers
• Without a paying customer you are running a hobby not a business
• Identify your customers before starting the business
• How easily accessible are your customers?
• Will they pay for your service? Do they have the money/resources?
• Avoid under/over selling. Know your demographic
• Look for the shortest sales cycle for validation
• What’s the cost to switch for new customers? Is the value proposition high enough?
Lesson #19: Pain Points
• Customers buy solutions to pain points
• The snuggie identified a pain point we all had and never noticed
• Establish the pain point and focus on it exclusively
• Build a pain point totem pole to identify biggest pain
• Create your company’s “Why” to focus on this pain
Lesson #20: Entry Point
• Quick entry into a market helps identify dead ends and freeways
• Turn around when you see the sign, not the end of the road
• Look for least resistance when validating. Avoid long sales cycles
• Fail as quickly as possible and success will be uncovered
• Enter only if there is immediate expansion
• Identify your first paying customer and start today
Lesson #21: Decision Time
• There is no such thing as a bad idea, only bad execution
• The pet rock made millions
• Make sure your business can sustain $8,333 per month
• Henry Ford: “If I asked the customer, they would’ve wanted faster horses”
• Value: why do some lawyers make $45,000 and some make $4,500,000?
• Time to market will kill you. Launch today, get it right tomorrow
• We start businesses for profit, don’t forget it
Phase 3: The Business
Lesson #22: The Gangsta Business Plan
• Your mini plan is just to get your business launched
• Your business plan will always be evolving
• Analyzing your competitors uncovers many industry trends, secrets, ideas, opportunities
• Get familiar with all expenses
• Your initial marketing strategy is your battle plan when entering enemy territory for the first time, be ready and be focused.
• Make friends with all vendors and suppliers before you need them
• Some income streams should be launched concurrently with your initial business, some should wait
• Your budget will sink you if not done correctly. Always round up, never down. Make sure you budget for a few months of no sales
• Profit is not a bad word. Make sure you know your margins and keep an eye on them
• CAC metrics will help you determine if your marketing and advertising are returning on the investment or if you should pull the plug and use a different approach
Lesson #23: Minimum Viable Team
• Keep your circle small for startup
• Think of your costs as a growing rock you must carry around
• The best offense is a great defense
• Don’t wait on anyone, move forward yourself
• Create your minimum viable team
• Outsource skill per project basis to be efficient
• Your cash is your bloodline, watch it like your life depended on it
• Partnerships are a great way to build your brand and other income sources
Lesson #24: Craft Brand Story
• Your brand story is what will sell your product or service
• This will differentiate you from the crowd
• Target a specific customer or market
• Be authentic and believable
• Include all important aspects
• Make it simple, concise, and easy to go viral
Lesson #25: Branding
• Your brand name is very important
• Hard to change once established
• Will your brand be here in 2, 5, 10, 20 years?
• This will be your customers first impression of your business
• The look of your brand will be communicated in imagery, packaging, logos, etc.
• The feel of your brand will be communicated in words, content, communication, etc.
• Taglines should scream your main benefit
• Logo should look great as standalone
• Don’t spend too much time on logo or tagline, it can paralyze you
Lesson #26: Going Live
• Website is best way to display your offer for customer to view & understand
• Install analytics as it will help you see what is working and what is not
• MVP is your minimum viable product, which is minimally what you need to deliver a final product to a paying customer
• Reach out to your perfect potential prospect and pitch them your offer
• Over deliver and be honest and authentic
• Following up will answer all questions that you wondered about in your market research
• Build upon what works and cut out what doesn’t work, this is the evolution of a good business
Lesson #27: First $5,000
• Your first milestone is to get to $5,000 in sales
• Document every step of the process
• Change one part of your process at a time so you can isolate and measure it
• Follow up meticulously with customers
• Find the best value point for your customers, don’t focus so much on price
• Whether you tweak your current process or pivot remember that the only time you realize a loss is when you cash out
• Be smart and spend your time wisely
Lesson #28: Go Legitimate
• Get to your first $5,000 and decide if you’re going forward before working on this section
• I generally run businesses under an umbrella LLC ($250 - $500) but you can also file a sole proprietorship
• Setting up a separate business is needed for a business credit card and also help with accounting
• Business credit cards are a great way to track expenses, dispute charge, and save money
• Ideas are a dime a dozen. You’re idea is most likely not that special
• The list of essentials is a good starting point in becoming a legitimized business
Phase 4: Launch
Lesson #29: Public Launch
• Your business is now ready for public attention
• You will get criticized and some people will not like you. Deal with it
• Use HARO and email industry experts to offer value
• Blog and article comments are a great way to ‘get into the cool crowd’
• Always be on your job
• Get creative and try not to spend too much money
• Barter and cause marketing are alternative ways to advertise and market
• You are now open to other people’s opinions. Do not take it personal
Lesson #30: Give To Get
• You must give to get
• Giving to others reinforces your own self beliefs
• Give value and others perceive you as valuable
• Become an expert through proof
• Share your talents with the world and remember they aren’t yours anyways, they were given to you to be shared
Lesson #31: Public Relations 101
• Your public image can be influenced by your words and solidified by your actions
• Public relations is the creation and management of your public image
• Your image can be anything, choose wisely
• Manage all social sites and review sites and address every issue
• Become an expert in your field
• Maintain your image through every interaction both publicly and privately
• The King must crown himself
Lesson #32: Marketing 101
• Marketing will mostly be interpreted by your audience rather than explicit like advertising
• In order to be successful at marketing you must use creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness
• Be different. Be bold. Stand out
• There are infinite ways to market your business, choose wisely but try many ways
• Start with barter or strategies that are time intensive rather than money intensive
Lesson #33: Advertising 101
• Advertising can be direct (immediate sale) or branding (sale in the future)
• Advertising can be a slippery slope for a startup, be careful
• Test everything before committing long term. Publishers want long term commitments, insist on starting with a trial
• Find 4 publishers with ad space that have direct influence within your niche
• Negotiate everything
• Use online advertising to your advantage. It can be inexpensive and a great platform to reach your target audience
Phase 5: Systems & Processes
Lesson #34: Reflect
• Your business is a room full of moving gears, if one is slow the rest will suffer
• You must ask yourself the tough questions and answer honestly
• Low gross profit is a big hurdle and hard to turn around
• High gross profit and low net profit provides a much better opportunity to improve
• Fixed overhead costs will kill you unless you kill them first
• Most businesses around you are “robbing peter to pay paul” don’t be one of them
• “Never go by the bank account” always keep an up to date transactional spreadsheet
Lesson #35: Analyze Data
• You must ask hard questions, answer honestly, analyze your answers, and make adjustments in order to be successful
• Low gross profit margin is one of the biggest signs of danger
• Most negatives can reveal information and insight that can turn into positives
• This exercise should raise income, lower expenses, improve customer acquisition, and ultimately help you build an empire
Lesson #36: Analytics
• Google analytics will be your eyes and ears on the ground
• Mine every piece of data that you can possibly collect and analyze it
• Within your data you will find strengths and weaknesses
• Don’t be scared to fire customers
• 80% of sales will be made up of 20% of clients
• Find patterns, relate them to customers, and find your sweet spot
Lesson #37: Order Flow
• Your order flow can expose weaknesses within your order cycle
• A flow chart has each step a user has to take in order to complete the transaction
• Each step should have a Yes/No answer attached with proceeding steps
• “Would you like fries with that?” is the most popular upsell ever
• Upsells can increase your sales and bottom line substantially
• If you have nothing to upsell, look for complimentary products
Lesson #38: Fulfillment
• Your fulfillment process happens once the sale is closed until the job is marked as complete
• This flowchart will expose inefficiencies in your business model
• Once flow is efficient and documented it is easier to systemize
• McDonald’s is an empire run by high schools students because of efficiency, systems, and processes
• A more efficient fulfillment process will save you money and add to net profit
• When documenting instructions keep Murphy’s Law in mind
Lesson #39: Systems & Processes
• McDonaldize your business in order to begin leveraging time, money, and resources
• Create systems and processes so that a high school kid can show up tomorrow and be operating at a working pace by morning
• Document every tasks or action that makes up your business
• Be very detailed when documenting and providing instructions
• Once you begin focusing on each tasks you will find inefficiencies and have opportunities to make your business better
• You can only change what is measured
• Virtual assistants are a great tool to begin leveraging time, money, and resources
• Utilize a data entry specialist for any mundane tasks
• Only focus on what has the most impact
Phase 6: Time To Grow
Lesson #40: Take a Breather
• You must relax and detach yourself from the business for a bit to evaluate progress and align expectations in order to grow
• Success is only defined by you
• Remember your definition of success and focus on using this business to help you get there
• Life’s too short to do things you don’t like doing
Lesson #41: Fork In The Road
• As an entrepreneur your business will be fluid and you will react to opportunities and imbalances within your business, your industry, and your world
• Once the business is generating profit you must decide to stay or go
• Staying to grow the business is a great return on investment and will help you make more money without the risk of starting a new venture
• Moving on will expose you to new opportunities and will force you to systemize the business
• When systemizing a business small problems will pile up while you focus on the macro operations and processes
• No matter which option you choose, the business will improve
Lesson #42: Remove Yourself
• To remove yourself from your business you must view yourself as the captain of a ship
• The captain needs to focus on macro issues such as course, winds, weather, etc.
• The ship is run by systems, processes, and employees which all present data to the captain to review and make decisions if needed
• You must allow small problems to pile up to focus on the larger issues
• Start delegating one task at a time and isolate each task to pinpoint any issues that may arise
• Once you remove yourself from the business you can work on becoming rich
Lesson #43: Expand Vertically or Horizontally
• Once your business is systemized, automated, and you have removed yourself it is time to expand
• Vertical expansion is creating new revenue streams within the same industry or vertical
• Horizontal expansion is building from your skills, knowledge, and experience to create opportunities within a different industry
• It is much easier to lose money when you’re making money. You’ll never have the hunger of starting from $0 again, don’t lose focus
• You will have more knowledge, wisdom, and expertise now which can be used to create a strong new business
Lesson #44: New Revenue
• Entrepreneurs are always looking for new revenue streams
• Multiple income streams is the key to wealth
• Investing in public companies allows you a potential income stream without responsibilities
• Once you’ve had success you can sell information, expertise, and knowledge to help others in similar situations
• You can use your experience, skills, knowledge, and connections to create a new startup utilizing your skillset
• Opportunities present themselves daily, keep your eyes and ears open
• Now is the time to get to the next step in your life
Lesson #45: Helicopter Ride
• To move forward your must observe where you came from and where you are
• Happiness is not in the past or future, it is now. That’s why it’s called The Present
• Stand on strength and eliminate weakness
• Eliminating stress provides a better chance of success
• Nothing is ever as good or bad as it seems
• The key to success is do more of what makes you happy
Lesson #46: Mogul
• A mogul controls their own destiny
• To get ahead you must have vision
• Moguls understands the power of time and has the confidence to be patient
• Moguls see opportunity in everything
• Moguls can hustle their way through any situation
• People tend to help those that are trying to help themselves
• The universe has a strict code of equilibrium and will always balance
Phase 7: Mind Your Business
Lesson #47: How To Make Money
• The wealthy are good at re-investing profits
• Doesn’t matter how high your income, you can still be broke.
• Keeping up with the Joneses will speed up the treadmill
• Pay yourself 10% of your gross and pay yourself first
• Invest all extra money and have your money make money
• Create a 529 plan for kids going to college
• Create dividend businesses and reinvest the money
• Controlling your own time will prove priceless in the long run
• Wealthy people take every tax advantage possible
Lesson #48: The Books
• Keeping your own “books” helps you understand your business in great depth
• There are several affordable software systems available to you
• At first you won’t understand, we all go through this
• Always spend money on professional services, it pays for itself many times over
Lesson #49: Tax 101
• Death and taxes are the only guarantees in life
• Write offs are a recognition of expenses used to produce income
• Write offs lower your taxable income
• Business owners have an advantage of employees in their tax liability
• Somebody will be getting the write off, try to make sure its you
• December is a great time to sell to businesses as they’re looking to limit their tax exposure for the year
• Save all receipts to prove legitimacy of expenses
Lesson #50: Professional Services
• The wealthy always pay for good professional advice
• SCORE is a great place to start for free
• To find competent professionals ask somebody who you look up to for a referral
• You must realize that you don’t know everything to begin to seek help, advice, and knowledge
• Try new things no matter how unconventional and unpopular they may be
Lesson #51: Rinse & Repeat
• Uber successful people have a system that works for them and they always stick to it
• Rid yourself of FOMO
• If your answer is not Hell Yes!!, then say no
• Find your flow means do more of what you’re good at
• The next step is the only move that will get you to your destination
• Don’t wait for your ship to come, swim out to it.
• Rinse and repeat for best results
Phase 8: Welcome
Lesson #52: Live Rich
• Living rich is a mind state not a bank account amount
• Memories > Material
• Success is being content but never satisfied
• Materialism is similar to the parable of the boiling frog
• Be aware and honest of your decisions and fight to win your battles
Lesson #53: The Secrets To Success
• Lesson preview not shown, must be enrolled
Who's It For:
✓ Starting from the bottom
✓ Looking to switch careers
✓ Fed up with mundane life
✓ Want to be your own boss
✓ Desire to create a better life
Who's It Not For:
✖ Looking for the easy way out
✖ Don't want to invest in yourself
✖ Self saboteur and ego driven
✖ Can't think for yourself
✖ No heart, courage, or guts
What's Inside:
✪ 53 hard hitting lessons
✪ Written lesson, review, & action quiz
✪ Gritty tricks, tips, actions
✪ No bullshit industry jargon
✪ Proven content from the real world
Enroll today for only $99?
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