Why Founders Should Get A Service Or Sales Job…

I have a friend who runs a mobile skip rubbish removal business, from their experience and this article (https://www.npsp.sa.gov.au/article/view/1433), many are using the extra time at home to declutter and clean up.TANGENT: that is one of the reasons my sister an I also created the Google Voice activated Action (https://medium.com/@orren/my-sister-naomi-is-basically-the-human-version-of-captain-planet-4ca5c0fef935) to help you with information of what bin to use.

BACK ON TRACK: Over the last 8 years I have coached 1000+ founders to launch new products and a lot of them fail!

It’s because new product launches are hard.

You have to do:

1. Creation;
2. Sales;
3. Ordering;
4. Delivery; and
5. Support.

And you have to learn all these things at first.

It’s time consuming.

I suggest they start as a customer service person or in hospitality at first.

This means all they have to do is master support — the creation, sales, ordering and delivery is done by a third party.

Getting a job in customer service requires recruitment hurdles as it is salary based, so the other option is start as a salesperson, as all they have to do is master sales — the creation, ordering, deliver and support is done by a third party.

Getting a job as a salesperson again requires work, so the easier option is becoming an affiliate (most companies have far less recruitment hurdles for affiliates than salespeople as salespeople are usually on a salary, whereas affiliate are on commission).

There is an easier option — the easiest sales job is start selling you own unwanted items on marketplaces such as Facebook, eBay and Gumtree.

Being a sales person, affiliate, flipping second hand items is selling another companies products — this means you already know they are sellable items and don’t need to validate the market need or solution like you would when creating you own product.

The only variable you need to learn is pricing as the ad copy is already done and widely available in the public domain.

No creation or support, ordering is as simple as an inbound call or text with no automation and deliver is non existent in the second hand market.

ANOTHER TANGENT: Once sales (and customer support) is mastered, I suggest they move on to drop shipping, as all they have to do is sales and support (which they have already learned) and then master ordering — the creation, deliver is done by a third party.

Mastering ordering is about about putting systems in place to meet demand.

Once ordering is mastered, I suggest they move on to reselling/retailing new products or flipping (trading) used products where shipping is the main distribution channel, as all they have to do is master the delivery — the creation is done by a third party.

Once delivery is mastered, I suggest they move on to wholesaling, brokering or licensing (which is what most founders start with), as all they have to do is master product creation (if it is physical product, they need to master manufacturing. If it is a digital product they are off to the races.)

Once product creation is mastered, I suggest they move on to growing their yield by reinvesting profits back.

And once yield is mastered, I suggest they move on capital growth, as all they need to do is master brand and branding.

BACK ON TRACK: But, for now, for want-to-be founders especially in corona season, flipping unwanted items is a boon to lean some foundational skills and make some extra cash.

Godspeed.