(Preview) From Idea to Reality: The Journey of Building a Business

[00:00:00] Here's a quick cut preview of an upcoming episode of the Work It, Live It, Own It podcast.

[00:00:11] So what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs, content creators who are looking

[00:00:17] to start their own platforms aimed at empowering others' knowledge and resources just like

[00:00:22] you?

[00:00:23] Yeah, I would say the one thing is understand what your problem is.

[00:00:27] And at times for me, my problem has always been a reassurance for me to keep going

[00:00:33] because if you know exactly what the problem is, if you know the market that you're getting

[00:00:38] into and if you know how much that industry is worth, that is something that it will

[00:00:42] always be reassuring when you're going through your process of entrepreneurship or content

[00:00:46] creating.

[00:00:47] You'll know that when it's time to get kind of rocky, maybe I should have chose

[00:00:50] something different or I won't be successful in this.

[00:00:52] If you go back to the start, which is that problem or which is how big is this

[00:00:57] market?

[00:00:58] Is there a market for it?

[00:00:59] That will kind of reassure you and keep pushing.

[00:01:01] So make sure you understand that I say the need, the problem before the product.

[00:01:06] Make sure you're actually trying to achieve that problem.

[00:01:09] Make sure you're doing things to better others and not so focused on what you're

[00:01:12] selling.

[00:01:13] Try to relate to them.

[00:01:14] Try to understand what their struggles are.

[00:01:17] I think that is something that I wish I would have done at first.

[00:01:20] Understand the pain points truly because when you're understanding that and then

[00:01:23] try to find a way if you can relate to because if you're relatable, if you're

[00:01:28] of what it is that they're going through or what it is that problem, then your product

[00:01:32] will just kind of come in second nature because it's something that supports that.

[00:01:36] And it's not like you're pushing the product on them.

[00:01:39] You're actually pushing to solve that problem.

[00:01:41] I would say before anything, understand the problem, understand the market, understand

[00:01:47] is this a lucrative industry?

[00:01:49] Understand is it scalable?

[00:01:50] Like in the next five to 10 years, will this even still be an industry?

[00:01:54] Even if it is, what does that look like and how would you be willing to move with that?

[00:01:58] So kind of doing that research before even coming up with a solution or even making

[00:02:04] everything shiny and pretty through the business.

[00:02:06] Doing the gritty stuff, the stuff that's not fun.

[00:02:09] So I would say do that first, do that research.

[00:02:11] I'm not going to even chime in on that but I'm in full agreement.

[00:02:14] I've mentioned that before because a lot of times when we start a business, we

[00:02:19] think about the shiny business cards website and nobody cares about that really.

[00:02:24] They care about what's in it for them.

[00:02:26] It's not sexy.

[00:02:28] It's not fun to sit up here and be like, okay, what are people's problems?

[00:02:33] What are their struggles?

[00:02:34] What keeps them awake at night?

[00:02:36] But when you truly understand that, like Rachelle says, you are speaking.

[00:02:40] When you know your target audience, you know what keeps them up at night.

[00:02:43] You can speak their language.

[00:02:45] And then they want to know, okay, what's in it for me?

[00:02:47] Well, fortunately I have some practical knowledge and resources to share with you

[00:02:51] to take you from where you are right now to where you need to go.

[00:02:54] If you know your why, I'm here to help, to be of service.

[00:02:58] I'm here to help solve that problem like Rachelle just mentioned.

[00:03:01] Great, guess what?

[00:03:02] It's going to keep you going.

[00:03:03] But a lot of entrepreneurs give up.

[00:03:05] They do and honestly I do think it has a lot to do with that either during COVID

[00:03:10] and after COVID we saw a lot of people starting businesses.

[00:03:13] For me, I saw it everywhere on social media.

[00:03:16] It was made to make it seem like it was so, so, so simple.

[00:03:21] All you have to do is get a logo, get a business name, get an LLC,

[00:03:26] go to whateverwhatever.com and get everything and then boom,

[00:03:29] you're making $10,000 a month.

[00:03:31] And I was like, okay.

[00:03:32] Even though I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur from the beginning

[00:03:35] and I was going to do it regardless, but I think it was very misleading.

[00:03:38] It was very easy to do.

[00:03:40] And then I think a lot of people started to realize that this is not as easy as it seems.

[00:03:46] It's like one minute you're up, then the next minute you can be like started from the bottom.

[00:03:50] It's the process that I'm going in right now, just like doing minor rebranding,

[00:03:55] finding what I'm trying to do, refining everything and then to changing things.

[00:03:59] It's really a journey.

[00:04:00] I feel you.

[00:04:01] I feel you.

[00:04:02] We talk about this all day long because there are ups and downs,

[00:04:05] but you know what I remind myself?

[00:04:07] At the end of every race, there's a beginning of a new one.

[00:04:09] When you get to the bottom of a mountain or you're at the top of the mountain,

[00:04:13] guess what?

[00:04:13] There's going to be another mountain to climb and there's going to be those peaks,

[00:04:16] there's going to be those valleys.

[00:04:18] And guess what?

[00:04:18] When you're riding high, it's one of my mentors.

[00:04:22] I've never met him yet.

[00:04:23] I haven't met him yet.

[00:04:24] I'm looking forward to meeting him one day.

[00:04:26] Brian Baffini says that when you're at the top of the mountain,

[00:04:28] you throw a little dirt down into the valley because then your fall won't be as far and deep

[00:04:34] because you're already preparing because you're going to have those ebbs and flows.

[00:04:37] So Rochelle, I want to thank you so much for being so transparent with your journey,

[00:04:42] with your story.

[00:04:43] And my heart really goes out to what you're doing because here's a person again

[00:04:48] who secured almost a quarter million dollars in scholarship money.

[00:04:53] So when you finished your four year degree, though, I'm curious,

[00:04:56] did you walk away debt free or did you have to pay like just a little bit?

[00:05:00] Yeah, so I have to pay back a little bit only because my

[00:05:04] duration is around COVID and I decided to take like extra classes.

[00:05:08] I got in a point where I just got tired of applying.

[00:05:10] Like I said, I took everything kind of step by step.

[00:05:12] So I was like, well, I'm just going to go through it and I'm not going to worry about it.

[00:05:15] So that was kind of my own fault because I lost motivation.

[00:05:19] I lost the reason that I was doing it.

[00:05:21] But it's not something that would keep me back, meaning like it's something that I could pay off easily,

[00:05:26] not something I have to set up necessarily a payment plan to do, which is the goal.

[00:05:30] Like I say all the time, if you can, debt free is great.

[00:05:33] But if you can't go for as little as possible,

[00:05:36] that way you're not paying a car back as far as student loans.

[00:05:40] That's how I like to think about it.

[00:05:42] I mean, who wants to pay?

[00:05:43] That's money for a new car.

[00:05:45] That's money for a down payment or you don't want to think you're paying a whole trip,

[00:05:49] a couple trips for it.

[00:05:50] So when you put it in that perspective, I feel like students can understand that.

[00:05:53] Go as little as possible.

[00:05:55] That way it won't handicap you in the future.

[00:05:57] Right. It's doable.

[00:05:58] It's doable.

[00:05:58] Right.

[00:05:59] The last thing you want to do because starting out getting a job anywhere,

[00:06:02] they're not going to be paying you top dollar.

[00:06:04] They're not.

[00:06:05] And a lot of college students, what do they want to do?

[00:06:07] They want to have their own place.

[00:06:08] Right.

[00:06:09] So you want to make sure that if you do have to pay any loans back or anything,

[00:06:13] that it's doable.

[00:06:14] It's within your budget.