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How to start a business
10 years ago I walked through Whole Foods with freshly printed business cards in my pocket feeling like a total fraud.
That’s back when I started my construction business.
I printed “local carpenter” or something similar on thick printer paper using a free canva account.
Simple enough, but carrying them around, my heart was racing and my palms were sweaty.
Not because I didn’t know carpentry, but because saying “I’m a carpenter, here’s my card!” felt like pretending to be someone I wasn’t. No one gave me permission, I just quit my job and decided to go all in on me.
This was before the pandemic…
So idling through the checkout line, or sitting at the community tables, people actually talked to each other. And that’s where I met future clients, carpenters, contractors, and colleagues I’d end up working with over the next 5 or 6 years.
And that’s how I started my first successful business.
Marketing.
Word of mouth, networking, social media, branding documents, and more…
I honestly spent more time talking to people helping them through the decision making process than I did actually building anything when I first got started. And that’s why I always tell people, starting a business is 90% marketing and sales.
While the actual delivery is 10%.
Some people shriek in terror when I explain this citing “it’s not that way in tech, or if you actually build something real…” but every time I look those people up, they’re always working for someone else.
Most people don’t realize how much of what you do when starting a business is actually marketing.
In those early days, almost everything you do is marketing.
Talking to prospects, developing the offers, defining the customer journey, pretty much everything that has an impact on the customers experience of working with you has an impact on your marketing. Because people talk.
And in the long run, that’s what marketing is all about.
Getting people to talk about you.
But no one tells you that the hardest part is actually walking into Whole Foods with business cards in your pocket and choosing to be the kind of person who hands them out. They don’t tell you that you’ll feel like a fraud every time you try something new.
That the gap between who you are today and who you need to become is mostly bridged by doing the uncomfortable thing over and over again.
That's the emotional reality of entrepreneurship.
It's about becoming the person who shows up, says what they’re going do, and does it.
So if you’re building something right now and want clarity on the marketing, positioning, and content side of things, especially if you’re a coach, educator, or experience-based professional looking to grow on Threads, I’d like to invite you to my Nature of Marketing community.
Here’s the link:
Your pal,
Kevin Hood
P.S. The business cards are printed. The only thing left is to hand them out.