I am very good at starting businesses, but if I’m completely honest, I initially started most of them very badly. When I launched my first proper graphic design and printing business in the early 90s, I managed to get a loan and immediately blew £1,500 of it on a hot foil printing machine. I wasted months of my life and had many frustrating late nights trying to calibrate the thing, get the print straight, and generally making an absolute mess of the handful of jobs I had actually managed to win. I didn't know what I was doing, and I got it completely wrong. Then one day, I saw an advert for a competitor who could produce a hundred perfect plastic business cards for about £8. That was half the price I was charging, and even cheaper than I could buy the blank card stock for myself. I could have thrown the towel in. Instead, I decided to never turn my machine on again. I used that competitor to make the cards for me, doubled their prices, and suddenly had all my time freed up to actually go out and sell my wares. It was the biggest lesson in leverage I ever learned, and I only learned it because I failed so miserably first. Right now I'm changing my newsletter and blogging platform, because last year I made the wrong choice. But I couldn't possibly have known that at the time, with all the research and overthinking in the world. I only know now, from hindsight, that their are better options. The most important thing is to make a decision and do it. 𝗔 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗻𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 if it gets the ball roilling. If you are sitting on a business idea right now because you are trying to make the plan perfect or you are terrified of getting it wrong, let me save you the suspense: you are almost definitely going to get it wrong. And that is exactly how it is supposed to work. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁. You have to get through the messy early days to find your footing. Action is always better than sitting on the fence.

I’ve been looking at the poll results and there are 15 of you who’ve put your hand up: - “I want to start a business. Looking for ideas.” - “I have ideas. Figuring out how to start.” - “I’m ready to start.” - “I’ve barely started.” This post is for you. I don’t want to just throw random business ideas at you. If you’re not excited by it, you won’t stick with it when it gets hard. My whole thing is helping you start with what you already have. Your skills, experience, interests and existing resources, and then opening doors for you with contacts, tools and opportunities that match you. But we need your help. 🚕 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻’𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘁𝗮𝘅𝗶 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝘆 “𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲” ...you’d say where you want to go. Same applies here. In the comments, tell us: - What are you obsessed with? - What gets you up early or keeps you up at night (in a good way)? - What do friends or family already come to you for help with? And for those of you who already have ideas but things are moving slowly, tell us what you’re stuck with. 𝗪𝗲’𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, willing and ready 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂 get unstuck. What’s the very first thing that comes to mind for you personally. What is your passion or the main thing you feel stuck on right now? @Catherine Burns @Nikolaus Seitz @Lisa Hathcoat @Verna Kauffman @Bob Stawicki @Melanie Shaw @M Darden-smith @Roy Houston @Elizabeth Bautista @Steven Vancamp @Sam Carrington @Titania Thompson @Laura Chavarrio @Brian Diep

If you haven't discovered this hidden gem already then you need to get listed on Matt's Proveworth trust building website for extra 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆. For anyone who doesn't know @Matthew Burns , he was the first employee inside Monday.com, and helped to build it from a concept to hundreds of thousands of members in a decade. He has now essentially built Trustpilot for Skool communities, and because it is early days, you can get amazing visibility and get ranked on google and linked from another high authority place, and have an easy 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 where people can effortlessly leave reviews for your community. You can also add a trust badge to your website which displays your community reviews, and it is so quick and easy to set up, with the inbuilt AI builder. It took me around 30 minutes to set my profile up last night. If you have a Skool (or ANY community) and want more free visibilty and trust (why wouldn't you) then pop this onto today's to do list. 👉 Check Out Proveworth Join his community, and then check out classroom two for instructions on getting setup. It's so quick and easy.

Wow, What a group of social butterflies we’ve got in here! 🦋 97% engagement is brilliant. Out of nearly 400 of us, only 12 people are keeping quiet. That is what community is all about. I’m absolutely buzzing! ☺️🌈🌞😁 Thank you all for being so active and bringing the energy in here. You are all amazing and I feel so grateful for the support you all show up and give each other. 🥰

If you see anybody In here at level one (broke and brave), let's get them out of debt straight away by quickly replying to their, answering their questions, tagging them in a comment or clicking on their name and liking on their comments. I'm really trying to make every new member be included, valued and welcome, but to be honest I didn't expect such a quick influx of new members and so I really need your help so no one feels left out! So the simple rule is if you see a number one on their profile pic, click on it, see what they do and let them know they've been seen and appreciated as a fellow human and not just a number! 🥰