On April 13th, I attended Ramit Sethi’s webinar on the psychology of earning more. Usually attending something like this reminds me of those long, boring, and never ending distance education classes with the same monotonous voice however, Ramit Sethi is exactly the opposite of that. His one hour webinar was very interesting and useful; AND he definitely does not have a monotonous voice. The hour was filled with some great tips, audience participation, and Q & A.
Some interesting information from the webinar:
Ramit mainly talked about earning 1k or more per month on the side and how to make this possible. He mentioned that many people want to do something on the side but have excuses like: no time or don’t have an idea. He then asked, “If by spending an extra 5 hours a week you can make an extra 1k on the side, would you do it? Most people replied yes; hence time is not really the issue.
Coming up with an Idea
Now speaking about not having an idea, Ramit mentioned to make a list of skills and then think of what business ideas can be made possible from these skills. He had a really good example for this: a friend of his is really great with organizing, cleaning, and always seems to be tidying up. Now based on her skill set, she could possibly be a personal organizer.
High level steps for coming up with an Idea:
1. Write down every skill you've got
2. Write down how people can benefit from these skills
People believe they need a magical idea however, the most magical part is finding a system to test which ideas will work and which won’t. Use framework/methodology to test out ideas.
Turning the idea into reality
Although there are many things to focus on to turn the idea into reality, Ramit talked about 3 key points in order to make this happen
Topic 1: Ability + Willingness
It is important to think about your customer and their ability and willingness to pay for your product or service as this will help determine the success of your idea. For example, your service could be to provide dressing advice to men. Now who would have the ability and willingness to pay for this service? A good start would be to look at different categories and analyze: College men aged 18-25? Executives aged 35-50? Or Retired men 65+? Based on the categories, it seems that executives would have the income and the ability to afford such a service. Also a lot of them are crunched for time and although want to look good, don’t always have the time for it; for starters we can assume they would have the willingness to pay (of course these are just assumptions for now and it is important to do research to test out assumptions).
Topic 2: Understand your prospect
Once you think you have narrowed down your target customer group it is important to get a good understanding of what exactly your customer wants/needs. For example, turning to Ramit’s friend who is very organized and would like to offer organizational services; let’s say she has narrowed down her target customer to middle-aged women with 2+ kids with a high disposable family income. What would this woman want? What she wants is peace of mind. So now instead of selling her organizational services you may get further with her when you approach her letting her know that you can provide her with peace of mind. This requires many iterations and it is important to get out there and speak with people, removing assumptions, and understanding truly what your perspective customer would need.
Topic 3: Get 3 paying clients
Now that you have figured out whom your client should be and what he/she would need, time to get 3 paying clients. Once you have 3 paying clients, you are in business and from there you can decide whether to expand if you have time, or perhaps start charging more.
About Ramit
Ramit graduated from Stanford in 2005 where he got his undergrad and master’s degrees and studied technology and psychology. He co-founded PBwiki and is this author of his own site: http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/
My thoughts
Although I thought this was a great webinar, here are some other points I think one should focus on in addition to the ones Ramit mentioned: research, the need, and ROI.
Research
This is very important and so is the approach. I find that it is not enough to just ask friends as they all may think a certain way of thinking leading you to have biased research. It is important to get out there and talk to different people, send out some surveys (this can be tricky though as the survey needs to be just right), and attend some networking events. Facebook is also a great way to do some research.
The Need
Is there a NEED for the service you are providing? Without a need you may only get so far. Yes, you may find a few clients but in order for your service/business to grow (if that is what you want) you need to assess the NEED for your service. This is also done through research.
ROI
Even though there may be a need for your service, it is important to investigate into the ROI – return on investment. You may not be putting too much $$ into your idea but what about time? Will you be making enough $$ to compensate for the time you will be putting in? It is good to weigh out the ROI for different plausible ideas.
Some interesting information from the webinar:
Ramit mainly talked about earning 1k or more per month on the side and how to make this possible. He mentioned that many people want to do something on the side but have excuses like: no time or don’t have an idea. He then asked, “If by spending an extra 5 hours a week you can make an extra 1k on the side, would you do it? Most people replied yes; hence time is not really the issue.
Coming up with an Idea
Now speaking about not having an idea, Ramit mentioned to make a list of skills and then think of what business ideas can be made possible from these skills. He had a really good example for this: a friend of his is really great with organizing, cleaning, and always seems to be tidying up. Now based on her skill set, she could possibly be a personal organizer.
High level steps for coming up with an Idea:
1. Write down every skill you've got
2. Write down how people can benefit from these skills
People believe they need a magical idea however, the most magical part is finding a system to test which ideas will work and which won’t. Use framework/methodology to test out ideas.
Turning the idea into reality
Although there are many things to focus on to turn the idea into reality, Ramit talked about 3 key points in order to make this happen
Topic 1: Ability + Willingness
It is important to think about your customer and their ability and willingness to pay for your product or service as this will help determine the success of your idea. For example, your service could be to provide dressing advice to men. Now who would have the ability and willingness to pay for this service? A good start would be to look at different categories and analyze: College men aged 18-25? Executives aged 35-50? Or Retired men 65+? Based on the categories, it seems that executives would have the income and the ability to afford such a service. Also a lot of them are crunched for time and although want to look good, don’t always have the time for it; for starters we can assume they would have the willingness to pay (of course these are just assumptions for now and it is important to do research to test out assumptions).
Topic 2: Understand your prospect
Once you think you have narrowed down your target customer group it is important to get a good understanding of what exactly your customer wants/needs. For example, turning to Ramit’s friend who is very organized and would like to offer organizational services; let’s say she has narrowed down her target customer to middle-aged women with 2+ kids with a high disposable family income. What would this woman want? What she wants is peace of mind. So now instead of selling her organizational services you may get further with her when you approach her letting her know that you can provide her with peace of mind. This requires many iterations and it is important to get out there and speak with people, removing assumptions, and understanding truly what your perspective customer would need.
Topic 3: Get 3 paying clients
Now that you have figured out whom your client should be and what he/she would need, time to get 3 paying clients. Once you have 3 paying clients, you are in business and from there you can decide whether to expand if you have time, or perhaps start charging more.
About Ramit
Ramit graduated from Stanford in 2005 where he got his undergrad and master’s degrees and studied technology and psychology. He co-founded PBwiki and is this author of his own site: http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/
My thoughts
Although I thought this was a great webinar, here are some other points I think one should focus on in addition to the ones Ramit mentioned: research, the need, and ROI.
Research
This is very important and so is the approach. I find that it is not enough to just ask friends as they all may think a certain way of thinking leading you to have biased research. It is important to get out there and talk to different people, send out some surveys (this can be tricky though as the survey needs to be just right), and attend some networking events. Facebook is also a great way to do some research.
The Need
Is there a NEED for the service you are providing? Without a need you may only get so far. Yes, you may find a few clients but in order for your service/business to grow (if that is what you want) you need to assess the NEED for your service. This is also done through research.
ROI
Even though there may be a need for your service, it is important to investigate into the ROI – return on investment. You may not be putting too much $$ into your idea but what about time? Will you be making enough $$ to compensate for the time you will be putting in? It is good to weigh out the ROI for different plausible ideas.
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