👌🏽 Starting A Business From Scratch

What I would do if I needed to start a business from scratch, aside from my job

Author

Dyani Janga
February 16, 2025

Someone recently asked me, “What would you do if you needed to start a business from scratch, aside from your job?”

I did not ask for more clarity, but I took “from scratch” as starting with less than $100, and the time after clocking out from work.

Well, this is exactly what I would do 👇🏽

đź’­ What Business Model?

The business that I would start is service-based. That’s because service businesses have low startup costs and mainly take the skills you have. This perfectly aligns with the #1 rule in business:

Start with what you have.

Whether you have the skill of copywriting or are just good at cleaning stuff, you take that skill and offer it to others.

In my case, I’m a good writer.

I would offer my writing services to social media influencers (which is also how I started in business). I would write their sales pages, emails, video scripts, and/or captions.

Now, that I’ve decided what business model I’ll be running, I need to get the thing up and running.

At this point, I’m not registering any legal documents since no money is being made yet.

That’s why I need to get customers.

📢 Getting Customers & Making Money

I’ll spend a lot of time on social media, messaging the people I want to work with because we need to spark a conversation so that I can sell this person something later.

The conversion happens in the conversation.

For my first client, I’ll do a project for free. I want a testimonial and if I’m lucky, a referral.

After finishing the project, I’ll ask them to rate the service and if they know anyone else who could benefit from my services.

They either say yes or no.

This doesn’t matter, because at least we’ve gotten a testimonial.

I’ll continue getting in contact with my target customers, leveraging the testimonial I’ve received.

I book another call and close it, I charge a small fee + a testimonial for my service. Upon finishing, I’d ask the same question I asked my previous client.

From here, I rinse and repeat the process. Increasing my prices with every new project.

🔑 Key Take Away

The #1 rule in business is to start with what you have. So any company you get into, leverage the skills and resources you already have access to.

In my case, I would offer my writing skills to social media influencers. All I would need is a phone with social media and a keyboard to write with.

There is no initial investment, this can easily be done after clocking out from work, and it is honestly not exhausting work at all.

đź“– Book Bit

Start with the resources you have. The biggest waste is waiting for perfection instead of testing ideas quickly and learning from real customers

The Lean Startup - Eric Ries

Instead of waiting for the right time, or planning everything out—start doing things that move the needle.

You will fail, but you will survive & learn.

From here, you can adapt and fail until you figure out how to win!

đź‘ž Action Step

Directly start contacting potential customers, message them, call them, whatever. Just get to conversing. Because conversion happens during the conversation.

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