How to get 1000’s of paying customers
How do you attract 1000’s of paying customers? By having an amazing product: something that solves a problem, and makes life easier.
Building an amazing product is about being focused. Avoid multi-tasking. Sweat every single detail: your writing, your design, your terms of service – it all matters. Make sure it’s perfect. The entire team has to be focused on producing a great product.
Despite what some people tell you, you do have to work hard. It doesn’t mean you have to work 15 hour days. It does mean that when you do sit down to work, you need to put your head down and work. Get the fuck off of Twitter! If you’re getting distracted every 5 minutes, you won’t get any work done. You really have to tune everything out, and just work. And you have to do that every single day.
It’s not going from 0 to 1000 customers: instead it’s going from 0 to 2. And then 2 to 4. It’s slow. It’s steady. You need to patience. If you have something of value, people will pay money for it. Create something valuable, and people will pay you for it!
– Chris Nagele at his SuperConf talk, 2012
Published on March 1, 2012Are you in love with the idea, or with customers?
Most of us have, at some point, been in love with the idea of running a business. For me, it was in college and wanting to run snowboard shop. For others, it might be running their own coffee shop or a software company.
Would-be software company entrepreneurs dream about interesting technology, traffic spikes, and recurring revenue. Wannabe coffee shop owners fantasize about glass display cases, shiny fixtures, and fancy dishes.
We can’t wait to “be our own boss” or “run our own thing.” But if that’s your focus, you shouldn’t go into business.
To run a business, you need to focus on your customers. Solving their problems, fulfilling their dreams.
Published on November 28, 2011