022: Creating A Business

A business is having a product or service for sale in the most traditional sense of the word. Marketing is how one promotes the products or services for sale. Pretty simple, really. Many people today confuse having a large following on Twitter or Snapchat as having a business. Without something for sale, I’m pretty sure social media dominance is nothing more than a hobby. Hobbies are like internships. Practice and gaining experience for the real thing or for discovering your talents and skills.

In my head I am building an online business. In reality, I am creating one. I have no business model and no product or service for sale yet. I don’t know what you need or want from me yet. I’m working on that.

Practice makes perfect

I started my podcast to create content I was interested in teaching and sharing. I started daily Instagram posts to create photos because of my love for photography, editing and design. I now write daily on Medium in hopes I get in the habit of writing so I can write that book that I started my freshman year in college as an English major. Slowly, I’m creating tutorials and courses to share my knowledge and teach others the massive amounts of tech and business knowledge I’ve practiced and consumed over the last 10+ years of diligent self-education and working knowledge as a photography studio manager.

I am creating a business for myself. I watched a great Ted Talk that said keep creating and doing things and someone smarter than you and further ahead in the business world will connect the dots and see what you are trying to do and open a door for you. This stuck in my head. That was my strategy, which is probably silly or misguided from a seasoned businessman’s perspective, but it’s my best option. I’m a one man band with a jack of all trades skill-set that would make most people’s head explode. Strategic thinking I have also learned is my greatest strength, so I must trust that my methodology of creating my business is the best course of action for me. I have invested a lot of time and effort on self-awareness and I am doubling down on me. My skills, strengths and talents and putting them out to the world. Will someone smarter than me recognize the method to my madness? Believe me, I am not idly waiting, and quite the opposite, moving forward is my mantra in everything I do.

I write this for you. The one man band full of passion and desire to make a dent in the universe, but you are confused or overwhelmed or not sure what you’re good at or what your business should be. Every book and piece of business advice will tell you to get laser focused on your product, service and target audience. The problem is you don’t have any of these things, so you wait and you seek the perfect business that you can modify to fit your mediocre jack of all trades skill-set where you are pretty good at a lot but not an expert at any? Am I hitting a nerve? You are so much better than so many people, yet you feel hopeless and lost because you truly have no clue what to do. You have two choices, keep learning and watching others or start creating something for yourself.

In the words of Bob Dylan, ‘When you aint got nothing, you got nothing to lose.”

I am creating a business for myself by taking action and being the teacher instead of only consuming and being the student. I’m a lifelong learner, but you have to create and move forward at some point if you want to be in business for yourself. And if you are struggling to find your calling or what will make you money, you can either get frustrated and give up or just keep creating and trying things until you discover a product or service that people need and will pay for. Taking a leap of faith is not careless if you believe you have the talent and motivation to succeed. You may fail. I may fail. But, do not be the dreamer that tells everyone what they are doing wrong and how you would have done it differently and that you have this great idea for…Do something. Create something everyday and something powerful starts to happen. Your learning shifts to you. And then you start building momentum and that moving forward motion builds confidence and clarity. Keep going. Keep creating. Keep learning about yourself. Get really good at something. Be patient, but don’t stop trying.

I’m creating content everyday to build a business for me; and you. You may say I have a time-consuming hobby. Like Hamilton said, just you wait. The journey is the destination. #Try.

My name is Mike Murphy, I’m a one man band and podcaster.
Learn. Create. Move Forward.

Wanna join my band?