You don’t have to be a superstar to grow your tribe.
First things first. You may need to push through the cliché and bite into this deep truth. Everyone on this planet is unique. You have a gift, experienced something, or learned a skill that someone else will find value in. There will be someone who is more gifted, experienced, or skillful than you, but the opposite is just as true. You are further along than many others.
“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.”
~ Oscar Wilde
As a couple, you are now two unique human beings sharing life together – each coming to the table with these skills, strengths, and know how. We think it’s not only possible, but beneficial, to combine what you have together into something bigger than yourselves.
Are you the “go to” person that helps solve a problem, fulfill a need, or satisfy a desire?
Do your friends and family know you as the one to go to for ________. Do they think you are the genius in that thing you do? Ask yourself these questions:
- Do you get the same questions about how you do a certain thing over and over?
- Do you know how to do something other people wish they knew how to do?
- Can you achieve a specific outcome other people need help achieving?
If the answer is yes to any one of these, then you have a place to begin.
Who needs credentials when you have cred!
Over the last century our educational system created a credential process for each student to go through. If you spend the time and money to get the diploma, you then get the job. This is a good thing if you want to become an engineer or a physician. You really shouldn’t design a bridge or practice medicine without going through an accredited process to prove you know your stuff. Both of these careers have a big deal “Oops” factor if you get things wrong.
However, a growing number of jobs are caring less about your credentials and more about your street cred. Think of photographers, writers or programmers. There is little thought about what school you graduated from and more interest in seeing what you have already accomplished; your knowledge or body of work. Follow that up with recommendations from real people who have had great experiences with you and you are golden.
What kind of cred have you been developing over the years?
People making it happen!
See what other people are doing to make money using theirs skills and passions on the internet. Here are some real (and good!) successful online businesses:
- Simple Green Smoothies: SimpleGreenSmoothies.Com
- Personalized Letters from Santa: SantaMail.org
- Returned Engagement Rings: IDoNowIDont.Com
Ok, so we are unique and have cred, but we still have some concerns.
“We don’t have anything valuable to offer everyone else.”
Guess what? You’re right! You don’t have anything to offer to EVERYONE ELSE. No one does. But most likely there is a small group, or niche, of people on the net that are interested in the very thing you want to offer.
For argument’s sake, let’s say 1 in a 100,000 people would pay good money for your product or service, (assuming it helps them with a pain point or desire). Doesn’t sound like much, but when your potential online market is 3.7 billion people worldwide, that’s 37,000 potential customers!
Of course, no one, (except Amazon!) is really able to reach all 3.7 billion, but you get the idea. As the saying goes, if you try to satisfy everyone, you will end up satisfying no one. Time to find your niche!
“We don’t know what it takes.”
A legitimate concern. Not knowing what to do can be fearful thing. But that’s all it is – fear. Any new thing you try has the potential to fail. To combat those concerns you need to find ways to change your mindset and see that failure is actually a healthy part of the process.
I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.
~ Thomas Edison
New resources are coming out almost daily that can help you learn how create income streams online. Resources like other digital entrepreneur with DIY blogs, ebooks, podcasts, webinars and videos. We will soon be developing resources here at Love Plus Work.
“Somebody else is already doing what we want to do.”
The good news is that online business is NOT a zero sum game situation – a principle where there is a limited amount of goodness available: one pie, only so many pieces. If one person takes four pieces of pie, that leaves only four other pieces for everyone else. As stated above, the pie we’re talking about has at least 3.7 billion pieces.
“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. Have the courage to follow your own heart and intuition.”
~ Steve Jobs
It may be that you see someone else already doing what you want to do, and are thinking, “game over”. They got your piece of the pie. But, that’s not necessarily the case. The way you do what you do is unique to you, and will appeal to your specific tribe like no one else can. If you see someone else doing what you want to do, take heart! That’s just proof of concept – your idea has the potential to be a money maker!
If what you do, make or know only appeals to a small niche, all the better. That makes it easier for you to establish yourselves as “industry leaders” or experts in that area. And, as experts, you can charge a premium price for your resources because your small tribe recognizes the value you bring.
Where are the middle men?
So, you have your skills, cred, business idea and audience niche. Who’s going to stop you? The answer is a very large NO ONE! This is the beauty of the online business community: the gatekeepers are gone. The middle man is out. No publisher is going to stop you from publishing and marketing your book. No record exec can keep you from sharing your music. No producer telling you what to say. There isn’t anyone checking tickets as you board the train.
The internet is the great equalizer, which has democratized content. Everyone has a voice, including the trolls, spammers and shady online businesses that are expanding exponentially with garbage for sale: crappy products, bogus supplements, empty promises, and fake sites that take money and ship nothing. That’s not what we’re recommending.
We’re hoping to encourage couples be real, be good – build solid and ethical online businesses that make the world a better place.
Wrapping this up
So, just to recap…
- YES, you probably have something to offer.
- YES, there is probably an audience who would be interested.
- NO, you don’t have to have credentials to start.
- NO, there isn’t anyone keeping you from starting, except yourselves.
You just need to Be Real & Be Good, at least if you want to add value to people’s lives and better the world around us all. If a couple of art majors from a state university (that’s us!) can do this, you probably can, too!
