The Proven System For Starting a Side Business In a Weekend That Brings In Real Money
Practical lessons from Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan
If you’ve been thinking about starting a side business but don’t want to get caught up in an idea that doesn’t earn much money or takes forever to see any progress, there’s good news for you. Noah Kagan released a book on the idea of a million-dollar weekend where he helps you validate your business idea and start a side hustle venture that brings in real money within 48 hours.
How can you finally start making money from a side business venture? Here are practical tips from Noah Kagan’s recent book for those looking to finally launch that profitable side business.
Lesson 1: Remember it’s all an experiment
“Business is just a never-ending cycle of starting and trying new things, asking whether people will pay for those things, and then trying it again based on what you’ve learned. If you’re afraid to start or ask, you can’t experiment. And if you can’t experiment, you can’t do business.”
You have to keep this in mind with every chance you take or idea you pursue. If you’re worried about whether a venture will work out, it’s important to remember that it’s all an experiment in the sense that you’re like a scientist, experimenting and testing. This means that you can’t get married to the first idea you think of and should constantly be adjusting your original business model.
Kagan added:
“The big takeaway is this: Almost every business idea is guaranteed to fail on the first try. Instagram started as a bourbon app. Slack started as a gaming app. Keep validating. Turn rejection into improvements. Feedback is gold.”
Too many people worry about what will happen if their first idea fails. You should flip this thinking by expecting your first few incarnations of a business to be a flop. Entrepreneurship has no guarantees, so you shouldn’t be surprised when your first premise doesn’t take off.
Lesson 2: Aim small when starting out
“Many struggle to make their first dollar because they are so focused on how to make their first million.
Before you can get rich, you have to get paid. Before you can grow a multi-person business, you have to start with a paying client to ensure that you’re on the right track. Instead of getting too eager to try to make a million dollars, the objective should be to get paid when you’re first getting started.
Lesson 3: Always go for the ask
“Asking isn’t so scary if it’s leading you toward where you want to go. The ultimate sales hack, the one that lets you live your dreams, has nothing to do with finding the perfect way to ask. The act of asking is a power all its own.”
When you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you want to make money with a side venture, you have to get into the habit of trying to close the sale. If you’re afraid of asking for money or don’t have it in you to close a deal, then entrepreneurship may not be the right path for you.
Lesson 4: Rejection is part of the process
“Remember, you could be eleven noes away from making your first million, but if you stop at the tenth rejection, you will have failed. The trick is to desensitize yourself to the pain by repeatedly exposing yourself to it. Embrace the discomfort—actively seeking it out—and use it as your compass.”
It’s okay to get turned down. When you’re starting any kind of venture or side hustle, you should expect to get rejected often because you’re trying to find your ideal customer while working on crafting your pitch.
Lesson 5: Customers only want solutions
“Customers don’t care about your ideas; they care about whether you can solve their problems. And you should not build your idea into a business if you don’t know with 100 percent certainty that it’s a solution your customers will pay for.”
Only solutions matter for customers. You have to remember this if you get into a service-based side hustle. Here are some examples:
If you want to be a personal trainer, your clients will only care about getting fit or whatever specific goal they laid out. The customers may not care about your life story.
If you become a barber, your clients want an amazing haircut. They don’t want to hear about your problems.
The basic summary is this: always think about the solution you provide for your service-based business.
Lesson 6: You need customers to have a business.
“That’s why, when it comes to generating business ideas, customers come first. Before the product or service. Even before the idea. To build a business, you need someone to sell to.
The hard part is not choosing a business idea that makes money. The hard part is getting customers, and that’s where you’ll focus first because you don’t have a business without them.
Who will you sell your crafts to?
Who will purchase your work out plans?
Will anyone care about your motivational page on Instagram?
Does anyone even care about your clothing brand?
Whatever business venture you choose to follow, you need customers to have a business!
7. Seek out problems always
“The best entrepreneurs are the most dissatisfied. They’re always thinking of how things can be better.
Your frustrations—and the frustrations of others—are your business opportunities.
When you intentionally practice problem-spotting, eventually it becomes something your mind just does automatically. It’s become a game to me—a profitable one.”
If you’re struggling with a particular issue, chances are that others are facing a similar problem. I started my Instagram page about intermittent fasting and getting lean in my 30s because I was struggling to find a way to eat that would allow me to stay lean as I got older. The best business ideas come from your own personal struggles.
8. Ensure that there’s a market always
“You can have the absolute best idea in the world—or something that seems like it—and end up not selling one single thing if there’s no demand.
You don’t want to be convincing people that they need your product. You don’t want to be begging them to buy. What you want when you’re opening a taco restaurant is a starving crowd.”
You need a market for your services or products. To start a profitable business, you need to find opportunities that have an existing client base. The best way to do this is to find someone who’s already doing this. If there’s nobody coaching rock climbers how to be better piano players, then this may not be a venture worth pursuing.
9. Validate your ideas by finding customers so you don’t waste time
“Find three customers in forty-eight hours who will give you money for your idea.
Success means moving quickly and spending no money. And that’s what makes the Golden Rule of Validation so effective”
This is extremely simple, but it’s the annoying truth.
”Validation is a conversation. Not a sales pitch, but a chat to learn about the customer, see if you can help them and if they’ll actually pay you”
Here are a few quick solutions for validating ideas:
Solve your own problems.
Use marketplaces to find what customers are looking for.
Look over best sellers on platforms like Amazon or Etsy.
Validate an idea before you go all in on it. Make sure that there’s even a way to get paid.
10. Find your unique angle
“People get hooked on CHARACTERS. People do business with REAL PEOPLE. Especially those who feel like a friend.”
The four questions that Kagan suggests for finding your unique angle are:
Who are you?
Why should people listen?
What are you passionate about?
What will you do for people?
The goal is to find a unique angle to help you stick out because the world has enough Gary Vee or The Rock clones.
12. Choose the right platform to promote on
“With your unique angle, you need to reach an audience, and the best way to do it for FREE is through social media.”
Whatever business venture you decide to pursue, remember that there’s a platform that makes sense for it. Your clothing brand for fit moms may do better on Instagram or TikTok than on LinkedIn.
Kagan also added this insight:
“The internet gives ANYONE the chance to have the same broadcasting power as a massive media brand. No permission is needed to build your own audience.”
It’s easier than ever to grow an audience and promote yourself. Find others who are already doing this and observe what’s working for them. Then, find your unique angle.
13. Be a guide instead of a guru
“If I’ve learned anything from the thousands of videos I have created for YouTube, it is that people don’t want to be lectured at by an all-knowing guru—they want to tag along with a guide. That’s why I post so many videos where I reveal the nuts and bolts of my processes.”
If you’re going to create content, you want to be the guide instead of the guru. This means that you focus on being a helpful coach instead of someone who rants and lectures at their audience.
This also means being transparent. When I create fitness content, I tell the truth about everything. I don’t pretend I’m perfect or don’t occasionally eat an entire large pizza to myself.
14. Figure out how you’ll make money
“The point is, if you can get someone to give you money quickly just by describing a product or solution, you’re good! You’re not trying to invent demand; you’re trying to see how EXCITED people are about what you’re helping them with.”
One of the key messages from the book is to figure out how you’ll get paid. This is where many aspiring entrepreneurs will struggle. If you take anything away from this book or any of my content, you have to find a way to get paid in one weekend, or you don’t even bother.
15. Find your tribe
“Great entrepreneurs have great entrepreneurial communities. There’s no such thing as self-made. Everyone is team-made.
You’re going to get frustrated and lonely as an entrepreneur. That comes with the title, so you’ve GOT TO HAVE the right group around you—other entrepreneurs who get the unique path you’re walking. Especially starting out solo, you need to create your own social infrastructure for support, partnership, learning, and accountability.”
If you want to be an entrepreneur for the long run, you have to find your people so that you don’t feel alone on this journey. The good news is that there are communities, meetups, and groups for every possible venture so that you can connect with like-minded people. I relied on a blogging forum (remember those?) when I first started in 2008. We all became friends and still keep in touch to this day. You have to find your support system so you don’t give up at the first sight of rejection.