The Side-Hustle Dad

Ep08
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Graduation Day Mindset
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Bryan Steele: Welcome back to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you here today. If you've been following along with the podcast so far, we've had episodes laying the groundwork. We've talked about your first portfolio customers, those who gave you a review in exchange for your work. These are your receipts. These are the proof.

This is the social proof that you can prove. You can do the job, that you can provide the service, you can provide the product that delivers on its promise, but today is graduation day. It's time to take those receipts and go get your first paying customers. It's time to make that first dollar.

It's time to stop practicing. Time to start providing. [00:01:00] Here's where we're going.

Service Business First Clients
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Bryan Steele: Alright, so first thing I want to talk about is the strategy for a service based business. So, when we talked about our initial, you know, reviews from people, we were making an offer, we're saying, Hey, we're gonna do some work for free, free, quote unquote, but we're asking something for those initial beta customers are saying, Hey, we need reviews.

We need some feedback just to make our services better. If you're going down the service route and you're saying, okay, who can I reach out to? Who can I find who, how do I demonstrate my proof? How do I get those first clients? Well, the first one obviously, are those clients themselves, like let's say for example that you were doing some lawn care services, right?

Now, you know, the, the grass is gonna continue growing. If you proved why you're better than some of these other places that you do a better job, in many ways, then that's an ongoing relationship that, hey, if you like this, if you would like to keep going with this service, if you'd like more [00:02:00] additional help if you were coaching or consulting in some way, and you want to continue providing help to that same client.

That's the easy offer, right? That's the easy person to say, Hey, it's time I'm moving on. Do, would you be interested in being one of my first customers? Now, understand that some people are not in a position where that that's something they're necessarily gonna invest in. They were happy to, you know, use your services initially.

Their time was something they were willing to give up. Giving that review was something they were happy to be able to do, but they're not quite ready to invest financially in it yet. And that's okay. You don't necessarily want to put pressure on those people. So what do you, what do you do in that situation?

A lot of times dads fail at getting their first customers. 'cause you feel weird asking friends and family for money, right? These are the people that already know, like, and trust you. So. The obvious first people we're gonna approach, but it feels weird. You feel icky. Here's an idea, [00:03:00] because it doesn't necessarily exclude them, but it allows them to opt in or give you a good next step.

Warm Referrals Who Do You Know
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Bryan Steele: Don't ask them to buy. Ask them who they know. So reach out you. You go talk to your friends and family. You say, Hey, even those beta clients, you say, Hey, I'm so glad we got that result for you. Hey, here's what I'm working on now. I'm launching my business. I'm officially opening up my books for three new clients this month I'm gonna onboard three clients.

That's it. Small little niche to build from. Who do you know? That's struggling with this problem that I solve, that I could help. So this takes some of that pressure off the relationship. You're not necessarily. Having to say, will you be my client? You're just saying, Hey, who do you know that has this problem?

And so you basically just lead with that. You say, these are the types of people I'm trying to help. Do you know anybody that would be in that boat that I could help?[00:04:00]

If they themselves are interested in becoming a client of yours, if they're interested in working with you, they're gonna say, actually, you know what? That, that kind of sounds interesting. Like something I would be interested in. Okay, I'm, I'm on board with this. Like, let, let me have it, let me, you know, what, what would this look like?

What are our next steps? So that's a great way to soften. Entry so that it's not necessarily a hard, like, Hey, do you wanna work with me? 'cause that I, I understand we have that tendency feel icky when we ask for money. I will say, you gotta get over that. At some point you're gonna have to get over it asking for money because that is the business.

That would be the first thing. You know, make that warm, warm, soft intro saying, who do you know? Who do you think I could help?

Ask for Introductions
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Bryan Steele: The next piece of that. Is if they do have a name beyond themselves, you need to ask for an introduction. You can't just say, okay, great, I'll go call that person, or I'll [00:05:00] go email that person because that person doesn't know why like it, it's coming to them out of left field unless you already have a relationship with that person.

What you want to ask when somebody says, hey. Joe actually has that problem. I bet you could help him out. I bet you could be of service to him, you say, that is fantastic. Would you be willing to make an introduction either via text or email, email's great. Because you get more space, but just, you know, put both of our emails in there and tell them why you're connecting us and then I'll take it from there.

But ask for that introduction because. That trusted person bringing you across to the other party is actually a massive way to. Instantly add credibility. Like here's somebody they know and trust vouching for you and what it is that you offer. And they're saying, Hey, this is why I'm connecting you. ~He, he is launching this business.~

~I, you know, based on our conversations, ~I think he might be able to help you. You [00:06:00] guys take it from here and you don't necessarily need it to be any more than that. Some people really like to. Really be involved in that process. And that's amazing because they're really gonna be of service to you.

But keep that barrier low. Just say, Hey, email intro would be fantastic. I'll, I'll take it from there. Just knowing that there's a person that they trust that is recommending you is massive in that situation, so make sure that you are doing that.

Show Social Proof Posts
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Bryan Steele: The other piece that you wanna make sure you're doing with services is to demonstrate the social proof.

You need a before and after post on Facebook and LinkedIn. You don't necessarily need your own website yet, or a business page on Facebook. You don't need those things necessarily. Just your personal social media channels. It's just fine for this, but you need to show, Hey, I am taking on a few new clients for my business.

This is what we do. This is how we help, here's how we helped Fred. And if it's something that is visible transformation, that you've got [00:07:00] photos of that before and after, what things look like before they worked with you and after they worked with you. Take those beta clients and turn that into that before and after post Now.

If it's not visual, you're not necessarily off the hook here. This is where you take those reviews that you were provided from the initial work and you're gonna leverage them. Now you're gonna say, Hey, here's who I help. This is the before and after via this review from this person. Now you might want to make sure you ask that person if you can share their name or if they would like to be anonymized for that post.

You know, you blur out. A name or something along those lines doesn't really stop somebody from going and looking, but get that testimonial, get that review and share that. Share how you helped. Then whenever you're talking to a prospective client and they go, Hey, can I talk to one of your previous clients?

These are the people that you would want to ask for permission to, Hey, only in these one-on-one scenarios, when somebody like wants a [00:08:00] reference, can I point them to you and you can vouch for me? So those are a few different ways you can. Think about those first clients.

Embrace Sales Discomfort
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Bryan Steele: Now, I know it's gonna be uncomfortable.

I know it's gonna feel weird, but you have to embrace the discomfort. Growth does not come from just doing the same thing and sitting in your bubble, staying comfortable. If you want to build this, you're going to have to be comfortable getting uncomfortable. Okay. As weird as that sounds, that's literally what you're going to have to do.

Muscle growth doesn't happen unless we're straining and tearing muscle fibers, right? We have to push ourself into areas where we're a little bit more uncomfortable to be able to see that growth and progress. So embrace that. Be willing to have those uncomfortable conversations, and you're not going to be great at first.

Understand that, but get started. Start telling people what you're doing and who you're trying to help, and set yourself a really low bar. I'm getting 2, 3, 4. We're just starting with a [00:09:00] handful of clients this month. I'm opening my books up just for a few people. Who do you know who is it that I can help?

Share those with me, make those introductions. Really, those are two great ways to leverage just that internal network. 'cause initially you're not gonna be running ads, you're not gonna be out there doing a whole lot of public networking necessarily.

But if you're looking for that first dollar, just make it as easy as possible. Talk to the people that already trust you. Find those people. Get those referrals. Make those connections with your own existing network, because those are people who are gonna advocate for you, especially as you're starting out in a service business.

You're really looking to build relationship. So focus on those relationships. Don't get ahead of yourself. Just give yourself little wins and little opportunities to move forward.

Product Business Selling Channels
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Bryan Steele: The second side is with the product based businesses. So if you're building something or making something that you're going to sell, where are you showing up to sell [00:10:00] those things?

Now, with a physical product, I guess specifically talk physical products, you're going to be able to go into all of the usual places, right? You can sell it on Etsy, you can sell it on eBay, you can sell it on. Facebook marketplace. Don't necessarily recommend building your own independent store via Shopify, a website, you know, through Squarespace where you're gonna sell products, right?

The reason to use those other places, you're going to be borrowing traffic from somebody else. People already go onto those sites when they're shopping and looking for something. So the great news is people go there expecting to buy. They're actively looking to buy something

it's free to build up those platforms to put your products on there, write some descriptions. It isn't super time intensive. You want some good photos and things like that, especially for physical products, but you can go into those places and, and put it out there. The [00:11:00] downside is there's often a lot more competition in those spaces.

You're only necessarily capturing the people actively looking for what you're offering, and it can be a lot more competition. You're really just dependent on the algorithm at, at that point.

And how your store is gonna be served up to strangers coming in. Now you can make social media posts and things like that on your personal networks to say, Hey, I'm, I'm opening this store, and you want to do those things and share what that is. But you know, by and large, most of the people that are coming through there, you're just trying to capture traffic.

So it's just what people are searching. Just dependent on the algorithm to bring customers your way. The other side of that is they also get a pretty good chunk of the money that that customers are paying, right? They're gonna take their cut of whatever you are charging for that product, so you might have to upcharge a little bit to offset that cost, or you're gonna be taking less of a profit margin on the products you make.

Bryan Steele: But [00:12:00] if it's like a course, those can be a little more ambiguous. And so with a. Course, I actually would think about selling that more like a service. So even though it's a product, you want to go to your network.

Those people, those friends, those family members who tested the product, who try to say, Hey, I'm, I'm launching it. It's going active. I would love your help in promoting it. Are there people that you would recommend this to? Are there people you can connect me with? 'cause I'd like to share this with them.

You can use some of those service-based strategies on a product that maybe is not physical and you still have to get in front of people. So that'd be the way I would think about the, the physical product versus like a, a knowledge product.

In Person Markets Gut Check
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Bryan Steele: However, what we didn't talk about with a physical product is what I like to call the, the gut check, right?

You could go somewhere in person, you could sell your product. Physically and personal. What do I mean by that? You could get a booth somewhere. Farmer's market, craft fair, [00:13:00] art fair, something like that. It really depends obviously on what the product is and and where those right places would be. But there's lots of times where small, little, tiny micro businesses, we'll set up a booth somewhere at some event and you can rent those booths and show up.

The benefit of this is now you're getting. Traffic, this walk by traffic from this larger event. So you're obviously gonna tell friends and family members, Hey, I'm gonna have this booth come, come by. You're gonna share that. But now you're getting other people that just knew this event was happening, this farmer's market was happening, and they're gonna be walking through, looking around at whatever is being sold, whatever products are there, and you're gonna be able to see what the face-to-face reaction is to your product.

You're going to see whether they're attracted. To what you've got, whether they walk over to your booth, whether they ask questions, whether they're confused about something. You get an immense amount of feedback in those [00:14:00] interactions to find out what's getting traction with your product and what's not.

And then even on the price point, whether they buy or not, how close were they to buying? Were they really close and they just, ah, the price is a bit too high. I would've bought it if it was $5 cheaper. Right. And in many cases, the benefit of something like that is you can. Test your prices. You can change 'em up or down based on how things are going.

You can just see what people respond to. If you're making something with a laser cutter or a 3D printer and you've got these products out there, you can see what people are responding to. So be thinking about those sorts of things, like you can go show up somewhere in person. There's a lot of benefit to that, right?

You can quit thinking about just online marketing and you can go in person and see what happens in your brain. There's a massive shift that happens in your brain when a total stranger that's not your wife, not your friend, walks up, sees your product, hands you a $20 bill for something you made.

That is proof that [00:15:00] a stranger will come up and give you money. Completely cold, not knowing you at all upfront. That is powerful because that's one of the hardest hurdles to get over, is understanding how to get a complete stranger to hand over their hard-earned money. But it can be a massive shift in going, wow.

Yeah, people, I don't know, see the value in what I'm making. And want a part of that. So that is the benefit I would say, of being able to show up in like a farmer's market or someplace they would allow you to sell your product. Obviously it depends heavily on the product, but those sorts of markets I. And fairs and events.

Lots of cities and towns have them throughout the year especially. We're getting into spring, we're getting into summer. It's a really good time to be looking out for that, especially if you've got a product to sell. So be be looking for those opportunities.

90 Day Consistency Pivot
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Bryan Steele: Now, what I would say is as you're starting out [00:16:00] with this, like this has been an experiment that you've been developing.

You've been growing, you've been setting the foundation. You need to give yourself some boundaries so that you know when to pivot and adjust. Now, it can take a while before somebody is willing to hand over some money. It isn't necessarily super fast, so give yourself a deadline. That is long enough to go, Hey, here's my approach.

Here's how I'm showing up to find customers and sell to that first group of people. You need to show up consistently in that way for several months. I would say something like 90 days, right? Give yourself a 90 day window to have a consistent approach. This is where I'm gonna show up. This is how I'm gonna sell.

This is how I'm gonna be introduced to people, and this would happen with service or product. Like this is what you're asking for to be connected and you're not gonna stop. You're gonna be consistent. you're going to be patient, but you're not necessarily going to wait too long.

Right. I think about in my mind, like after the 90 days, if [00:17:00] you're really struggling to get many customers, then you start to wonder like, okay, let's pivot. Let's adjust. My sales approach, who I'm talking to, where I'm showing up, how I'm trying to reach them. Maybe I need some new beta customers. Maybe I need to pivot my offer a little bit and adjust from there.

But give yourself a good runway, right? The first year of my side hustle, I made less than a thousand dollars. Maybe I made a thousand dollars. It wasn't much, but it was something, and it was enough to prove that there was. A customer out there for me, I just had to get better at finding them and attracting them to me.

So you can learn that all within a 90 day period. Maybe it goes ridiculously well for you and you're crushing it and making tons of money. Awesome. Super happy for you. But don't necessarily be discouraged if it's not immediate or overnight. These things can take time and you may have to iterate a bit.

It may not go exactly the way you want the first go around. [00:18:00] Be patient. Give yourself a good runway to think about how you're going to approach this.

Celebrate First Dollar Wins
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Bryan Steele: The second one that I would say as you're leaving this, celebrate this, right? If you get a new client, if you go to a market and you sell 30 products, you sell 30 widgets, celebrate that.

Go home. Tell your spouse, tell your kids, Hey, we, we did this event. It went really great. Sold this many, like, you don't have to get super detailed, but one of the things that I know entrepreneurs really struggle with is celebrating those little wins. They just have to focus on the next thing. They're just like, okay, well how do I grow?

How do I get bigger? How do I do better? Because I, I have to, I have to get bigger, have to get better, have to offer more, have to grow, and it's hard to win that context, celebrate. And so I would strongly encourage you, all these little events, all these little wins, take a moment, celebrate those wins with your [00:19:00] family, with your spouse.

Hey, this was great. I made my first dollar today. Man, how? How awesome is that to make that shift to say somebody got out their credit card, swiped it, bought a product, it was awesome. It was so freeing. It may have only been like five bucks. Do not let that stop you from celebrating because it is not a small thing to earn somebody's trust enough that they're willing to hand over money.

It may seem trivial to us when we have to do it all the time at the gas station, in the grocery store, and everywhere we're going, we're constantly having to swipe. But for you, a stranger, a dad who's making something new to get that level of trust from a stranger is massive. Be willing to celebrate that, celebrate that opportunity.

Done Beats Perfect
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Bryan Steele: Final thing is don't wait for perfection. You already know. I mean, the, the hesitation at this point will be, I'm just not [00:20:00] quite ready for that. I need to do some more things. If you've already got the beta customers, if you've already developed the product, if you've got some feedback from people that this is valuable.

Go. You have a viable product. You have a minimum viable product to sell. Do not let perfection stop you from where you are headed. Done is better than perfect. So get it finished and start offering it. Because even if the version five iterations later is better, does not mean that the first iteration has no value to those first clients. It absolutely has value, maybe not as much as it will later on, but it is worth something and it's worth going ahead and getting those clients and experiencing some of that transformation.

Final Pep Talk Next Steps
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Bryan Steele: So that's my advice for you today. We're gonna go out. You're going to get that first dollar. Do not be afraid. You can do it. I believe in you. [00:21:00] Take those receipts. Take that social proof from those initial customers that we've talked about that, that have given you those reviews, that have given you that feedback.

You've got it. Now, go offer it to the strangers or those referrals and say, Hey, this is something that can help you. Would you, would you like to become a client? Right? You can make that offer. Can't wait to see you next week. We've got so much more coming up that I'm excited about.

Take care.

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