Intro

Hey everybody! Welcome to "You Know Ted," where I share business lessons I learned over the last 20 years running my digital marketing agency, Ballistic Arts. Today, I'm going to share with you the 10 and a half steps I used to start a business with $0 and make more than a regular job, which then led to eventually a multi-million dollar agency. Before we begin, remember to like, subscribe, and share this video. This really helps me create better content for you in the future. Let's get started.

Step 1: Get a Job You HATE!

Get a job you hate so much you never want to work for someone ever again. For myself, that was being an intern at a government agency that took complaints whenever someone swore on the radio. That was my job, 9 to 5. It was so soul-sucking, I got to say, that basically kicked my butt to do something else.

Step 2: Find Something You Enjoy Doing

For myself, it was video production. For you, it could be a hobby that you like, so long as it's something that you can really dig your teeth into. That's what I would suggest you do because you're going to have the ups and downs running a business, and doing something that you love is going to get you through those dark times.

Step 3: Blind Ignorance

I actually did a lot of free work when I first started. I was volunteering, doing indie film shoots, and actually met someone on an indie film shoot who then ended up being my business partner. And what he did was go on MSN Messenger and said, "Hey, do you want to start a business?" And I remember thinking, "How hard could it be?" That enthusiasm, though, that lack of understanding of how hard running a business could be, led us to building a logo, building a website in almost record time. But then the ignorance was, we built a website and we just sat back and thought business would come. No business came our way.

Step 4: Learn and Know Your Number

The learning part is understanding what didn't work. The number part is knowing the number that you're going to need to then continue on month after month. For me, it was saving up 3 months of what my minimum expenses were going to be, which was eating mac and cheese every day, living in a shack, getting a phone line, and an internet line. That was my minimum cost, and I had to find a job, which I also didn't like, and work my butt off to save three months. That was my number.

Step 5: Don't Look Back

And sell the sh*t out of this business. You can do things like cold calling, PPC ads, marketing, whatever you need to do. You just got to sell the hell out of the business to make sure you never have to go back to that job.

Step 6: Take What the Market Gives You

Ballistic Arts actually started as a video production company back in the day of DVDs being $15 a pop and VHS tapes. However, everyone we talked to when we were cold calling didn't actually want a video, but they saw that our designs on our brochures were really nice, and they said, "Hey, you know what? I like your brochure, can you design a menu for my restaurant, or can you design a poster for my business?" And that's how we kind of got into graphic design work. And then a couple of weeks later, "Hey, you did some good graphic design work for my business. I heard this internet thing is going to be here to stay, can you help me with that?" I was like, "Uh, yeah," and we just started building the business because we were young, we were hungry, and we're going to do whatever it took to make sure we never have to go back to working for someone else.

Step 7: Build Relationships

Be it through networking, through word of mouth, this is the cheapest form of marketing for your business. So whenever you're able to do that and get that word of mouth from clients, that is the first sign your business is going to be successful.

Step 8: Hire People Smarter Than You

As the business becomes successful, you're going to have to hire people smarter than you. This can be coaches; this can be staff. My first big investment was hiring a sales coach to help me perfect my sales. Another thing that we did was hire better graphic designers than I could do it. I remember I actually had a relative who complimented me one day after I had hired my first staff, going, "Hey, your work is way better than it used to be, what happened?" And I said, "I hired a new person." They're like, "No wonder, because your stuff was not very good in the beginning." Hey, it worked.

Step 9: Figure Out Profitability

Figure out what parts of your business are most profitable and grow that. This is crucial for any business. There's the 80/20 rule, and this holds true for all the years we've been in business. 20% of your business is basically covering 80% of the profits. And so, having that understanding and dissecting where you're going to go in your business, look at the numbers, that's going to tell you where you're going to go next.

Step 10: Start Making More Money Than Your Crappy Job

Congratulations, you're starting to make more money than that old crappy job. Now, what's 10 and a half, you say? Just because you now created a job for yourself and you're self-employed doesn't mean you're actually running a successful business. And that 10 and a half is spending years failing and working hard and failing again to learn what it takes to grow a profitable business. Things like hiring, strategy, marketing, more sales, financials, cash flow, investing. How are you going to do that? Well, unfortunately, you're going to have to stay tuned for next time.

Well, that's how 20 years ago, I started a business with $0. Let me know what you think. What would you do if you started your own business? And if you started a business, how did you do it? Put it down in the comment section. And remember, please like, subscribe, and share. Thanks for watching. I'm Ted Lau, and this has been "You Know Ted." Bye!