The Simple Guide To Start Anything

If you want to start a podcast, or write a book, or make a game, or build an app, or start any kind of business, well, where do you actually start? What's the first thing, and what's the last thing you do? There's almost 8 billion people on this planet, and we all have thousands of ideas, so there's no shortage of great ideas on this Earth, far from it.

Okay, but what truly separates those who do from those who don't? You see, it's not money or connection or being in the right place at the right time. Most just simply don't know where to start; they lack a simple guide to follow. So here is the simplest guide to start any business. Welcome to Alux.

First up, and this is a biggie, you need to figure out your why. So, you've got this itch to start something new: a business, a podcast, maybe even a food truck. That's fantastic! Okay, entrepreneurial energy is the fuel that drives innovation. But let's add a dash of reality into the mix. The journey to entrepreneurship is filled with challenges, setbacks, and at times, overwhelming doubt. It's not a sprint; it's more like a marathon where resilience, not just speed, determines your success.

Now, how do you build that resilience? Well, through inspiration. Imagine it's a frigid Monday morning, and the comfort of your warm bed is pulling you back, asking you to snooze that alarm just one more time. But then, you remember the reason you're embarking on this journey. It might be a passion for cooking that's driving you to map out that food truck business, or perhaps it's your expertise and interest in technology that makes you believe you can design a groundbreaking app.

With that inspiration in mind, suddenly, those Monday blues aren't as intimidating. Finding that spark of passion, that authentic inspiration, is crucial. It's what equips you with the mental and emotional armor you'll need to face the forthcoming challenges. Sure, the saying "do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life" sounds a bit over the top, but you know it actually holds a core truth. When you love what you do, the late nights, the troubleshooting, the customer service crises—they all turn from burdens into challenges, challenges that you're actually excited to tackle.

So, your first task, and arguably one of the most important ones, is to dig deep into your interests, aspirations, and skills to pinpoint what truly inspires you. Is it a cause like social justice or environmental sustainability? Is it a fascination for a particular subject matter like artificial intelligence, fitness, or gourmet food? Or is it simply in the thrill of creating something from a mere idea—a product, a service, or a piece of art?

Once you've identified that inspiration, don't let it remain a vague concept. Make it tangible. Okay, write it down in a notebook, or on a vision board, or even a digital document. Make it the cornerstone on which your business plan, your work ethic, and your overall strategy are built. Keep it front and center, so every time you hit a rough patch or a complicated decision, you've got your North Star to guide you.

In the world of business, as in life, the why is often just as important as the how. Nail down your why, and you’ve taken that first solid step in your entrepreneurial journey. This might sound to you like motivational bull crap, okay? But how many times have you seen people suddenly wake up in the middle of their career, or their business, or job and say to themselves, "Why am I even doing this?" You cannot commit if you don't know your why.

Next, there's framing. There's a graveyard of failed businesses and forgotten great ideas because they tried to be everything, and they failed. Before you can compete with Coca-Cola, you need a successful lemonade stand first. Framing is all about putting conscious constraints on yourself, so you don't end up all over the place trying to do too many things at once and sucking at all of them.

It means putting a box around your idea and not letting it spill outside of it. For instance, setting a hard deadline like "I need to launch a version one by next month" imposes a time constraint that galvanizes your focus. No more endless tinkering or perpetual planning. You have a target date to hit, or something like "I'll make a podcast about growing vegetables with these types of guests, and it'll only be on YouTube." This gives you a clear definition of what your thing is and what your thing isn't.

You see, everyone starts a podcast now, and everyone says their podcast is like a mix of Joe Rogan plus whatever their general topic is, which is like, okay, cool. So, your first podcast will be just like this one that's valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. But cooler than that—okay, got it!

Sure, you see your first, or even all of your projects, businesses, or any kind of creative endeavor should be framed very simply, clearly, and straight to the point. We actually made a video called "Why Successful People Build Stupid Simple Businesses," which goes deeper into this idea. This is really crucial in not messing things up because when you try to be everything for everyone, you will most likely fail.

Then there's brainstorming. So, you've ignited the spark of inspiration and framed your idea with smart constraints. So, what's next? Well, it's time to unleash the creative beast within you! It's brainstorming time, baby! But before you dive in, let's set one thing straight: most people get brainstorming wrong. They sit down and try to filter their thoughts, only allowing the great ideas to make it to paper. That's not how brainstorming works; that is self-censoring.

We break down brainstorming into three phases. The first phase of effective brainstorming is what we call the open field. In this stage, let your imagination run wild! Whether you're using a laptop or scribbling on a whiteboard, just jot down everything that comes to mind. Forget judgments; forget feasibility. Just let those ideas flow. Aim for quantity over quality here. You should spend around 20 to 30 minutes in this phase, and by the end, you should have a plethora of ideas—some great, some not so much.

You see, it's an actual skill to constantly come up with stuff. Open a Google Doc and write a page about anything without stopping. It doesn't have to make sense or even be true; just see how hard it is. After the open field session, we enter phase two: organize. So, you've gotten a mountain of ideas here; now it's time to sift through them. Look for patterns, themes, or categories that emerge. It could be as simple as labeling ideas under headers like product features, marketing strategies, or revenue models. The goal is to start making sense of the chaos.

The final phase is elimination. This is where you get ruthless. You've generated a wealth of ideas and organized them into clusters. Now, start crossing out the ones that don't align with your frame or aren't inspiring enough. Keep whittling them down until you're left with a few potent, actionable ideas. Brainstorming, when done right, is like mining for gold. You start off with a lot of dirt and rock, but with systematic sifting and refining, you're left with precious nuggets—nuggets that can form the foundation of your business venture.

The point of all of this is to eventually get to where you have one to two ideas that fit your frame and will help you in the following step. So, for example, let's say you decide to write and publish your own book. The brainstorming phase could be making up a long list of potential titles for the book, potential chapters, general ideas of what could be written on each chapter, random thoughts that pop up into your head, potential guests, maybe a way to market it, and so on.

If you're starting a podcast on growing your own vegetables—which, side note, you know we gave that as a random example—but now that we think about it, it does kind of sound interesting. The brainstorming for this could be titles for the podcast, what questions you would ask your guest, a list of the top 100 ideal guests. Maybe you could film it in an actual garden—who knows? The more you keep brainstorming, the more the thing starts to take shape.

And after the elimination process, you should be left with something that starts phase four: the prototype. So imagine your crush is coming over on short notice, and you've got like five minutes to tidy up your place. That's how the prototype should feel. In business terms, the prototype is called the MVP or minimum viable product. Think about it like the most bare-bones, easiest-to-make version of whatever you're trying to do.

Take a food truck business, for instance. Your brainstorming session probably yielded dozens of menu items, but for an MVP, you narrow it down to two to three key dishes. Once you've got those recipes, it's not about perfecting them; it's about getting them out there. So, test your dishes at a local event, a friend's party, or even a small street corner setup. The aim is to start gathering real-world feedback as soon as possible.

If you're venturing into the tech world, think of it like releasing an alpha version of your app or software. The MVP could even be a simple video demo showcasing the basic functionalities and design—just enough to get people talking and interested. The key is speed and agility. Prototyping is about making your idea touchable, usable, and most importantly, testable. It's not about getting every detail perfect; it's about validating whether the core concept has merit.

Do your users find it useful? Is it solving a problem or fulfilling a need? These are the questions you need answers to, and fast! By putting a prototype in front of real users, you'll get invaluable insights that you simply can't get from brainstorming or planning alone. Consider this phase as your first interaction within the market, and therefore a crucial step in refining your business idea.

Okay, so we've done the prototyping; now we're on to testing. You've come a long way. Your inspiration is robust, your framing is sharp, your ideas are crystallized, and now you've even prototyped your minimum viable product or MVP. So, what's the next move? Well, it's time for the rubber to meet the road. You need to test your prototype in real-world conditions.

This is the phase that separates the could-bes from the will-bes in the business world. At this stage, you've got a functional, albeit basic, version of your product or service. Now you need to expose it to the harshest critic out there: the market. Your MVP might look excellent on paper or in a controlled environment, but real-world dynamics have a way of revealing flaws you might not have considered.

So, how do you test effectively? Well, firstly, you need to identify the platform or environment where your product or service will operate. If it's an app, get it onto the app stores but perhaps as a beta version. For a physical product, get it into the hands of potential customers, maybe through samples or a limited release. If it's a podcast, upload a couple of episodes to relevant platforms and see how listeners react.

Feedback is your currency in this phase. Collect as much of it as you can through surveys, direct interactions, or even social media mentions. Don't just rely on friends and family; their feedback, while valuable, will be biased. You need a wider spectrum of opinions to make informed decisions from. Remember, the primary goal here is to not validate how amazing your product is, but to identify its weaknesses. Where did users get stuck? What do they wish was different? These insights provide a roadmap for your next steps.

Testing can be both exhilarating and nerve-wracking, but it is essential. It equips you with the real-world data you need to refine, reiterate, or in some cases, pivot your business idea. If you skip this step, you're essentially flying blind, and in the unforgiving world of business, that's a risk you can't afford. Think of it like measuring ten times and cutting once. Even movies are tested with a small selected audience first before releasing it to the public.

And finally, we've got iterating. You've sparked an idea, framed it with purpose, brainstormed possibilities, created a prototype, and even tested it out in the real world. You think you're done? Well, my friend, you better think again. In the business arena, the finish line is always moving, and this is where the concept of iteration comes into play. Iteration is essentially fine-tuning your minimum viable product or MVP based on the feedback and data you've gathered during the testing phase.

This is the stage that turns good products into great ones and average services into market leaders. After exposing your MVP to real-world conditions, you'll have gathered a wealth of insights, both positive and negative, and it's time to put those insights to work. Maybe your users found a feature confusing, or perhaps they felt that something essential was missing. Those aren't setbacks; those are opportunities.

Now you know exactly what to fix, add, or remove to make your offering more aligned with market needs. The goal of iteration is to not just make incremental changes but to evolve your product in a way that amplifies its strengths and minimizes its weaknesses. And remember, iterating is not a one-off process. The most successful businesses are always iterating, always evolving.

Whether it's tech giants like Apple or nimble startups that grew into industry disruptors, they all understand the power of iteration. Iteration can be as simple as removing a feature that users find redundant or as complex as adding a new service line based on user demand. The key is to act swiftly but thoughtfully, making data-driven decisions that bring you closer to a product market fit.

And there you have it, Aluxir, the most simple yet solid guide to help start absolutely anything. Now, what separates great people from average ones is just how well they go through this process multiple times until they've got something solid. Depending on your industry, there may be particularities, but they're still based on this foundation you simply cannot miss.

If you use this guide properly, so save this video and come back to it whenever you need a refresher. And until then, check out our video on why highly successful people build stupid simple businesses here or by clicking the link in the description.