- Hey, everybody.
This Roberto Blake of robertoblake.com,
helping you create something awesome today.
As a creative entrepreneur,
there's a lot of stuff that I've learned
that I wish someone had told me
when I was just getting started,
and so I wanted to actually cover five tips
for new entrepreneurs,
especially if you're someone who's getting started in 2018,
you're going into this,
and you've never run your own business before,
I want to kind of impart some of the wisdom
that I don't think you're going to get from other people.
I'm sure there are a lot of people out there
who want to give you advice,
and they're all well-intentioned.
What I wanna do is I wanna offer you some advice
that I genuinely believe will help you,
and is not more of the rah-rah cheerleading,
but is not also the in your face, hustle harder
thing that you've probably heard a million times.
I wanna give you some very practical advice,
that I wish I had had when I got started.
One of the first tips that I can offer you
as an entrepreneur is that you need to spend
some actual time doing business development.
You need to figure out where your next customers
and clients are coming from.
You need to be actively networking with people
who can deliver new opportunities for you.
If you're not spending some time
each and every week on business development
at least a few hours out of the week,
then it's very difficult for people to sympathize with you
when you complain about not getting new business,
not getting new clients,
not having new leads,
but you're not out there doing the work of prospecting,
whether that's online or offline.
So again, you always have to be running down new business.
You have to focus on business development.
Tip number two is something that I think you understand
if you're watching this video,
that content is the price of relevancy.
Making content is not about making money online
with YouTube ad revenue,
or getting sponsorships in Instagram,
or anything like that.
Content is the price, is the cost of being relevant.
If people don't know who you are,
if they don't like you or what you have to offer,
if they don't trust you,
then you don't have a relationship,
and so you have no opportunity to convert them,
because you're a stranger to them,
and because they don't know what you're offering them,
what value you have,
you're not relevant to them.
This is why people spend so much money on advertising
to build up that brand awareness,
to build that know, like, and trust factor,
but if you don't have the money to do that,
then content is the cost of being relevant
and so you need to be very intentional
about the content you make.
Is this content validating you
as someone who's knowledgeable in a skill,
or in the industry?
You really need to be thinking about that.
How is this content representing you?
You can't just decide that you're gonna make content,
and vlog your journey as an entrepreneur,
like so many people wanna do,
without having a clear vision and purpose
for how that then translates to growing your business
in some meaningful way.
What is it that you're demonstrating
and conveying?
Tip number three,
don't just stay online.
Make sure you're doing offline networking.
Going to events, going to conferences,
or even hosting your own events,
doing something like business hours,
or cocktail hours.
These things are important.
Participating in events at your local chamber of commerce,
these things will allow you to meet other business owners,
which means that you can ask other people for advice,
you have a strong network of contacts,
you have other people that might be able
to refer business to you,
you also should make yourself indispensable to other people
by trying to connect them,
if you don't think that you fit their needs,
you should try to see if there's someone
in your network, a relationship that you have
that could be beneficial to them.
Become a super connector.
This is something that's extremely important,
and again, I don't think it's advice that you've heard.
You can grow your value to other people,
not by anything you have to offer,
but by connecting them with people,
by being a resource, the bridge to that opportunity
that they need,
and so I would encourage you
to get to know as many people as possible,
and to really start to understand what their value is,
and you do that by actually listening to them,
and caring about what they do.
Tip number four,
diversify your revenue streams.
I cannot stress enough
how important revenue diversity is,
for your financial freedom and for your growth.
I don't rely on the money that I make from YouTube ads.
It's enough to where you could live off of it, I guess,
but it's about equivalent to somebody's 9-5 job salary,
which is why you could live off of it,
but most people getting that kind of salaried position
aren't extremely comfortable,
and it doesn't leave a lot of economic mobility there
to do other things.
When you don't have diverse revenue streams,
when you're dependent on that one big client,
or keeping a certain number of clients
in order to be stable,
then you're vulnerable,
because there are things that could shift
that you can't predict,
in the market or with those clients' finances,
and so you need diverse revenue streams.
I believe in, if possible,
diversifying and having five
or more different revenue streams.
I'm bordering on 20,
and again, I think it's wildly practical.
I would say that you could consider
individual product offerings as their own revenue streams.
Some people categorize it by platform.
I categorize it kinda by an individual source of income,
so again, I think that individual products count,
I think that individual books count,
and things of that nature,
so again, I would say diversify your revenue.
With that in mind,
here are some ways you can diversify.
You could have a subscription service,
you could have a product,
you could offer multiple services, as well,
and then you could also have some content generation
that has ads or sponsorship attached to it.
Again, just really identify as many different ways
that you can diversify your revenue whenever you can.
I wouldn't go to a full product model,
because again, what if the product's no longer in demand?
And what if the market changes?
I wouldn't go to a complete service
client-based model, either,
because what if those clients go away?
I think that you need balance,
and I think that you need to explore
as many options that fit what you're doing as possible.
Tip number five,
do not get caught up in the hype of hustle culture.
Don't get me wrong.
Hustle is important,
and it is one thing that you can absolutely control,
your work ethic,
but you should be prioritizing your health,
your mental health, your relationships,
your overall work life integration,
for lack of a better work.
Work-life balance suggests that there's a duality.
I believe in a more holistic approach,
but to each their own.
You just need to find something
that allows you to work without killing yourself,
because the idea is that you chose entrepreneurship
to be able to build something,
and you need to be able to sustain whatever it is
that you've managed to build.
There's no point in building something
that you are not able to maintain,
so I would tell you that you have to prioritize health
over hustle, what is healthy,
what is the right amount of work,
what is the right amount of intensity,
you have to figure that out.
That means you're gonna have to go on a journey
of self-awareness,
and so that's something that will be a challenge.
It's something that I even continue to be challenged with.
So there you go.
Those are my top five tips
for new entrepreneurs in 2018.
I hope you guys enjoyed this video.
This is something I really am excited
to start doing more of,
is things that might help you,
especially if you're getting started with your journey.
Being an entrepreneur has opened up
so many opportunities in my life.
It's given me a sense of purpose,
a sense of financial freedom,
the ability to build the best relationships
I've ever had in my life,
and that's something that I want
for the far majority of you.
There are literally over a thousand videos on this channel
and I'm sure there's something here
that can help you,
whether it's ways to make money online,
whether it's about the tech and tools
that you need to run your business,
or software and training tutorials
that'll help you execute on building out
a service that you offer and start to make an income,
or have a career.
I think there's probably something here on the channel
that could help you,
so like this video if you like it,
don't forget to subscribe,
check out the other awesome stuff on the channel.
If you have questions about entrepreneurship,
or there are other topics that you wanna see from me,
let me know in the comments section.
What are you trying to do in 2018?
Are you trying to build your brand,
are you trying to build your business?
I actually am curious,
because that will dictate how I make videos in the future,
because I wanna create the right value for you.
I wanna create the kind of video
that might help you accomplish what you're trying to build.
As always, you guys,
thanks so very much for watching,
and don't forget,
create something awesome today.
Take care.
(upbeat music)