Business Conversations are weird...

Over the years on becoming an online marketer (still learning) and building my marketing agency
I've come to realize that people will always have things to say about your pursuit of happiness

Let's say you're working and typing the day away at your day job
When suddenly... you have a great idea on how to use to your spare time

You decide to start a side hustle to make some extra cash to take that trip you've always wanted to go on

Genius 💡

So that weekend you decide to chat with your friends and see If your business would have any traction

You tell your friends and then they say...
"That won't make any money"
"Who would buy that?"
"Isn't there someone else doing that?"

"I just wanted to share my idea with my friends... I didn't think they would sh*t on my idea"

Turns out... people are d*cks

The mistake that I made when I was transitioning from the 'regular day job, suit-wearing, shoe shining bob'
to 'online kind-of-self-efficient, sandal-wearing, looking-to-make-money dude'

I was telling people about my ideas who weren't actually in the world that I wanted to live in...

Let me say that again

"I told people who weren't in the industry my ideas and they said it wouldn't work"

Don't tell your friends anything...

Don't tell your family anything...

Why?

People are judgy AF

But you already know that right?

You're smart

Share ideas without sharing the idea...

This part has been really interesting for me over the years

How many times have you had something you've wanted to talk about but not really sure how to bring it up?
And you're not exactly sure how to bring it up?

Think about it like attending a comedy show

The idea of the comedy show is to make people laugh
but you're not going to see a comedian just go out there
and say punch line after punch line

That wouldn't be as entertaining

But instead, the comedian prepares a series of stories and jokes that end with the punch line

Comedians have to test jokes without giving away jokes

They test to see which series of jokes would be the better stack to get laughs the entire time

They take you on this journey that involves pain, passion, and perspective

The very same goes with business, marketing, and sales

Don't you think comedians have hecklers for a reason?

This may seem questionable to some people, but I've been transparent with the people I hang out with
and I test my marketing material on them

Yup. It's the truth. Now I'm not saying... "Hey let me test this on you..." that would be weird

What I do say... 
"Hey, what are your thoughts on...?" 
Ex. "Hey, what are your thoughts on me starting a blog on the blockchain?"
       "oh yeah? what about"
       "What about business conversations for beginners?"
       "Well that's interesting... what kind of conversations do you mean"
       

Test your ideas in conversations

That was an actual conversation I was having with someone about this very blog

If you have a great product/service, what are the types of conversations that are going to happen?

Like a comedian... what are the stores, questions, jokes leading up to your punch line?

Learn The Rules, Play The Game

Before you start getting into hard conversations with people about starting a business or venturing out on your own

Understand that there are rules to the game

Unseen variables
Skills that are not taught in a regular education

Have you ever played a video game without learning the controls? All the time, I'm sure

I'm guilty of it too

But what happens every time you start a game without learning the controls?
You lose within 30 seconds

And after feeling defeated, you probably won't play that game again

That the human psyche for you

Once we've felt a tinge of defeat we end up retreating back to our original agenda and avoid that pain

Just like a video game, the game of business has the ability to allow you multiple restarts

If your idea didn't work, did you test it right?

Did it follow the rules?

Did it find the right players?

Is your message the right format?

Did it come with instructions?

After learning the basics... you play the basics

In a chess game, it's not enough that you just move your pieces when your opponent moves a piece.

You want to lead your opponent to the position that you want so you can win

You want to have an effortless transition to building your business or starting on your own venture

The most stressful part is talking to people about it.

Once you've figured out how to have conversations that are fun and engaging... you'll not only win friends over, but your business will thrive