Well hello, this is everything's episode 331, and I am so glad that you are here today because we're talking about the three things you must know if you are starting a business. Right now, if you're thinking about starting a business or maybe you have one now that you are pivoting, this episode is for you. I'm breaking this down in three very simple things that you better know so that you can actually build a successful business. I don't want you to have a long ramp up time. I don't want you to spend years trying to build a successful business. I want to help you kick it off right so that you can start being successful and profitable as soon as possible. If you are new here, welcome. I have no doubt that this podcast will help you along your business journey. I've been running my own businesses for the past 26 years and I've had this podcast for six years. And my whole being and my whole mission is to help you build a successful business doing what you love to. And real quick, if you're new, if you scroll down in the show notes right now, you can get links to all kinds of free resources for your new business. Again, if you're in the idea stage, starting growing, and if you're starting a podcast, there's some freebies there for you. Make sure you all hit subscribe on this podcast right now. If you are listening in Apple, for example, you can click the little follow or the little plus button. They keep changing it, but there's a button so that when you subscribe to this podcast, you'll simply get little updates on your phone that say a new episode has arrived into your inbox of your podcasts. Okay. So make sure you do that. So let's kick this off. There are so many of you now that are looking to start a business. You've actually probably been looking to start one for a while. I know lots of people that are actually searching. Some people are looking for franchises, some people are looking to use their creative, um, you know, their creative ability to start a business. Maybe they're makers. A lot of you are service or coaches or consulting providers. And that is a great business right now in 2026. Services are doing well in like events and in-person um businesses that help people get together and build community. It's something that is so needed right now because our world has just been so separated. And I think a lot of people, even with this like internet connection, feel lonely and are yearning for more friendships, more community, more camaraderie. And I think it's a great time to start a business that really spurs on community. Just like y'all know I talk about this, but my husband and I joined a picklebug, picklebug, pickleball club here recently. If I could talk, picklebug. Maybe that's a new business somehow. Anyway, it's a pickleball club. And I just, every time I go in there, I go, this is so much more than pickleball. It's community. And we have so many people in there that have become friends. We become friends with everyone, and it's just a blast. It's people from all walks of life, different nationalities, and it's just awesome because we see those friends, you know, there. It's almost like when you're teenagers and you know you can hit the local spot and your friends will be there. That's what it's like at pickleball every night. It's an indoor club and we see people, and it's just a blast. So, anyways, my point is that if you've got some kind of business that's running events, classes, anything, I've seen Sir La Taub, you know, that kitchen store. There's one here on Market Street in the woodlands, and they are they expanded so they do all these cooking classes now. I've seen my clients run candle making classes, art classes, all kinds of things, y'all. There's so many things you can do, so many ideas right now to bring people together. So I hope y'all keep that at the top of your list is thinking about how I can bring people together or how can I help people better themselves. I think people are always looking to better themselves, or they also want to have a more efficient life. A lot of people need things done for them. And so that's a great, great area of business. Now, but what I want to talk about are these three things that you better know. You better know these three things. And this will also help you figure out your business idea because I think, and and also to vet your idea and make sure it's actually a good one. But I think a lot of people just come up with these grand ideas and they don't think these things through. And I think there's kind of this your, you know, three-step high-level vetting process that you can use for the business that you want to start. Okay. So let's think about this. Again, if you're some type of service provider, coach, consultant, you're gonna host events, you have a mobile business, you're gonna make something, you're gonna sell it somewhere. These are the three things you better know. Okay, y'all ready? You can write them down, you can put them in your notes app on your phone. I don't know how you want to do that, but you need to do it now because these are important. Here's the first one, y'all. The first one is you better solve an actual problem that people have. An actual problem that people have. So I want you to think about it right now. If there have been some business ideas that you've been thinking through, the business idea that you're thinking of, does it solve a problem that people have? And how big a problem? The bigger and more urgent problem it is, the better chance you have for success quickly. The the bigger the problem, the more urgent the problem, the more timely the solution needs to be, will help you build a successful business faster. Now, if people don't know that they have a problem, but you're saying, I know that I'm solving this really good problem, realize that if they don't know they have a problem yet, you're going to have to spend time educating them on how what they're doing now is wrong or how things could be better, et cetera. So that is a process. So again, if you're ready to make money more quickly, now some people have more time. So don't judge, because there's some people on here that have more time to really build their business and educate people. But if you need to make money right away, you've got to be solving a problem and a need that is now, that is right now. And if there's a way, if people don't know that they have this problem yet, that you can help them see the urgency in solving the problem and how quickly it can be solved, then you're gonna be in a better situation as well. So again, number one, it's got to be an actual problem that people have, and you have a solution. You have a solution to a real problem that people are willing to pay for. Okay, so that's number one. Number two, you need to have a specific offer that solves the problem. Now you're probably saying, wait, I thought we just said that in number one. No, number one was more about realizing the problem is there and the problem exists and people will pay money for it. Now we know they have a problem, right? Now you're offering a specific solution, a specific solution to that problem. Let's just say I wanted my front yard landscaped. Okay. So that is a problem that people have. Maybe they move into an out new house, it hasn't been landscaped, or everything's dead after a freeze. People have options. People have options. Like if I wanted to get my yard landscaped, I could just get my yard guys. We actually have yard guys here that come every week because they just bust it out. They bring a crew of like six dudes and they're like mowing and edging and le and picking up the leaves. And this is so fast, they're done within an hour. And I'm thinking it would take so long for us to do this ourselves. So it's well worth the money. So, anyways, we wanted to get our yard landscaped. I could ask my yard people if they do landscaping. Okay. I could hire one of those bigger companies that you see out there that I could consult with and have them come out. I could consult virtually with somebody that is available now. I could virtually like show my camera, maybe give them some measurement so they had an idea and they could tell me what to plan. I could use AI. I'm sure I could use AI. That is an option. I could use someone down the road that I know or a friend that I know that is a landscape designer to help me. So I've got options on how it's done. And I could just get someone to design it for me. And then I could pay my landscaper people to, you know, I mean my yard people to install it, or I could have an all-in-one where somebody comes and designs it and installs it. Do you see what I'm saying? Like there's a lot of options. So your offer has to be specific. That this is what I offer. And I will tell you, in the beginning of your business, it's much easier to have like, if you're a service provider, one or two offers. Like make it as simple as possible so that you're helping certain people that you know that that want the service and you become the go-to for that. Now, some of you will tell me, and I've had clients say, you know what, I needed to be general right now because you don't really know what area. And that is fine too. But just have a simple offer and say, I'll come out and do consulting or whatever it is that you offer. If you offer candles, if you make something, make it simple. If just have a few cents, have five cents instead of 20. Don't think that you have to make 20 pairs of earrings. You can, you can have a few different styles. So that is my biggest piece of advice to keep things very simple in the beginning. And you can have dreams of more. Dreams of more offering. Like when I started this business, I just did one-on-one coaching. Then I came out with a mini workshop that helped people figure out their business idea. And then another one for starting their business. Then I had a group program. I've done all the things. So I get it. And you can expand. And here's the funny thing now is I'm kind of pulling back to keep it even more simple again because of the season of my life, which we will tap into here in just a minute. But I have pulled back even more and I'm doing more one-on-one coaching because it's easier for this time in my life. Okay. So you have to think about a specific offer. I would start simple. So it has to be an actual offer. I know you may think there are a million things you want to offer. You're like, I could offer this class, I could do this, I could do consulting for the front, I could do the landscaping myself. I could also offer them landscaping from a crew. Like I can do all these things. And I think it's easier when you just focus on that simple offer that solves a problem. And here's the deal: when you figure out that simple offer, it automatically identifies your niche. Now, this is reverse from a lot of things that you're going to hear in the industry because people say, pick your ideal client, pick your person now, before you even create an offer. They say, pick your person, and like you get this like mental idea of this person that you want to serve. And I think it's easier to figure out what is really the offer that you feel called to serve. What is the offer that you feel called to serve? And when you figure that out, it will lend itself to a specific person. And that is your niche. Your offer is really your niche. Seriously, think about it for a minute. What you want to offer is actually for a specific type of person, right? If you want to offer a turnkey solution where you come in and you do everything and you have a crew that does everything, that is a turnkey solution that a specific person wants. If you have a person that's a DIY person and then just wants the information to do it themselves, that is not your person. Your person is someone who wants it done with quality work, wants it done quickly, wants to know that's all taken care of and doesn't have the time to be doing it, but has the money to do it. And so all of a sudden now you get an idea of who your ideal person is. Because here's the thing a lot of you get stuck thinking again, before you even think about the problem or think about your offer, you're trying to think about the person. And I think that can lead you astray. I think that can lead you astray. For me, for example, for my business, I've had all types of people that have come to me. And if I had, you know, just said I'm only going to serve a certain kind of person before I even came up with the offer, I might have had too many offers because I keep wanting to try to please that person. And instead, I'm doing the reverse. Like it came up with my offer, and here's my offer. If you want to know how to start a business, you want it all written out, you want videos to help you, you want printables with everything in there, I have it for you. Done. Saves you time. You don't have to spend time trying to research this. I have I have it here for you, right? So my point is knowing your offer, your one thing that you feel called to offer. If I said you could only offer one thing, what would it be? Or just a few things if you're selling products, et cetera. Okay. That's what you need to know before you start your business. What is the problem I'm solving, number one? And who are the people that I want to solve it for? I'm sorry. What is a specific offer that I want to offer to solve that problem? So you want to know the problem you're solving, you want to know the thing you want to offer, okay, which is then in turn going to help you with your ideal client. And here's the third thing you have to know that this problem you want to solve and the offer that you want to offer actually fits into this season of your life. I talk about this all the time. So if you're a longtime listener, yep, you're hearing it again. Because I cannot stress this enough that it has to fit this season of your life. If you've got a full-time job, you have kids at home, you're doing volunteer work, you're involved in church, you're doing all these things, you don't have a lot of extra time. So your business is gonna have to be such that it operates a lot on its own somehow, or you have somebody else running it. And you have to think about that because you'll have to pay somebody to do the work for you. Now, if you are a stay-at-home mom and you've got kids that just went into school, or you're like me and your kids are all off in college and adulting, you're at a different season of life and you have more time for the things that you want to do yourself. And you have to decide how much of my time do I want to give to my business. And if you have all day long, then you can open a store, right? I wouldn't recommend opening a store to someone who's got two jobs already and kids at home, right? You have to think about this season of your life, and that is where you begin with this business that you want to start. So many of you are entertaining ideas. You may be researching online, you're talking to people, you're trying to come up with ideas. I think ideally, if you know these three things and you sit down with yourself and go, what is the problem that I want to solve for people that I really feel called to solve? Like this problem that I feel bad that people have, or I see an opportunity that doesn't exist and I need to help with that. I see that there could be money in this. That's number one. Number two, what offer, what specific offer do I want to give them that keeps this simple, that doesn't make me have to invest a ton of money and risk losing money, that I can prove the viability of this business with a simple offer in the beginning, and then I have the freedom to expand. And number three, do I agree that this idea that I'm all excited about actually matches this season of my life? If you don't know these things, you risk getting into a business that does not fit you, that you do not love, that maybe gets you in over your head or that doesn't make money. And I don't want that for you. And I know you don't want that for yourself. So again, what are the three? Let's repeat for the last time to make sure they are ingrained in your head. Know the problem that you feel called to offer. I think there is a problem that you want to solve and you think you're the person for it. And if you do, then that's awesome. What is the problem? Identify the problem and make sure that matches with what you really want to be doing. Number two, think about the specific offer that you want to have. And is it consulting? Is it hourly consulting? Is it a group program? Is it physical products? Is it a membership? What is it? Is it a mobile booth that you're gonna offer something? What is it? Okay, that you want to offer specific and as simple as possible. Okay. And number three, does this actually fit this season of your life? Because if it doesn't, you either need to figure out how to keep it really scaled back right now or hire someone to help you. And that has got to calculate into all the costs and everything that you're trying to figure out for your business. So I hope this makes sense, y'all. Starting a business is such an exciting thing. Y'all know mine have meant the world to me, and they've been fulfilling and awesome and financially rewarding and all of the things. And they can be for you too if you do things right. So I'm so happy you're here. If you have any questions, you know, you can always DM me on Instagram at start with Kimberly Brock. So feel free to follow me there. And you can always reach out. I offer one-on-one coaching and all kinds of free resources as well. So make sure you check all that out. And until next time.

Now, this episode may be over, but our relationship does not have to end here. Head on over to Kimberlybrock.com, and yes, you can get more valuable information for your journey. And you know what? You don't need to go through this alone. I would love to help. Thank you so much and have a great day. Bye.