Original subtitles

Surprise, it's me again.

Now that you filled out part one, you

should have clarity around your core business.

Let's look at my worksheet at the very basic core what does your business do?

My answer? My company provides educational content

and courses that help people start and grow their small businesses.

Used at home and online.

How is it sold?

My products are sold direct to consumers from my website.

I've spent 14 years building startups, some bootstrapped out of the back of my

car and some with investors behind them.

I've hired hundreds of people, I've

raised money, I've done things really, really right, and I've done things

really, really wrong.

I'm ready to apply what I know to this

business and share that knowledge with you.

I've done that a little bit with my books and podcast, but now this is my full time

job. I want to take my 14 years of knowledge

out of my head and help people like you.

After someone takes this course or

business class, I want them to create a more fulfilling life for themselves, or

build their business and shoot for the stars, or maybe both.

I want to keep my product line narrow.

I'll have business class, some ebooks,

maybe another course or two.

I want to keep it focused.

It's so easy for me to just go off and do more because I have a ton of ideas and

I've done it before.

So that's why a course like this is so

important. I've signed up for more in the past, but

now I'm ready for less.

This also plays to my strengths.

I'm an introvert.

I don't like getting up on stages, I

don't like doing things live.

It scares the shit out of me.

All my successes have been from behind a computer.

I wrote girl boss behind a computer by myself.

I started nasty gal behind a computer by myself.

I do very well as an individual contributor who touches a lot of

different parts of the business.

And if I'm able to keep the team small,

that's something that I can keep doing, which I really want.

And doing this online is also what I want.

I also think this is the way people are learning these days.

Education has never been more accessible.

The online education space is growing

quickly. So to sum it up, I'm lucky and I'm

excited that what I'm great at fits into the world today.

Ok, so now let's dive into Part 2 of today's session.

Part of the process of defining your business is understanding the

marketplace. This can often be referred to as

competitive analysis and even established businesses who are constantly looking at

their business through SWAT exercises, which I actually talk about in business

class strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in emerging

brand new markets.

Sometimes the term competitive is a

negative way of looking at things.

For example, while Starbucks now seems

ubiquitous, in its earlier days it inspired a revolution of gourmet coffee

which created an entire industry with a variety of companies big and small.

But I did grasp.

This exercise helps us get clear on other

businesses that have the same or similar core product.

It'll help you get clear on where there's white space in the marketplace and what

your differentiating factors are.

Even if you're just starting, you likely

have some kind of competitive advantage.

Maybe your business models better.

Maybe your design is better.

Maybe you can source better product.

Maybe you have a network of influential friends who will help you market.

Identifying your advantage is key because you'll know where to lean in and you'll

understand where you might be deficient.

O let's take some time to fill out Part 2

of today's worksheet.

It might require you to do a little

research and self reflection.

I'll be back in the next video to talk

through my thoughts and answers.