Follow this itinerary to start the journey to your entrepreneurial legacy.....
Step 1: Design-Thinking At A Glance
Have you ever asked yourself, “How do I create a business that will have real impact?” or “How do I even start a business?”
Greg Stearns, a billionaire who stars in the first episode of Discovery Channel’s new show Undercover Billionaire, provides a short answer to that: Find Your Buyer First.
This means, you want to start by identifying a human need- some problem that people face or some frustration they struggle with. It doesn’t have to be ending world hunger and global access to healthcare but every day we face big and small problems.
Identify the problems that people face first and then build a business around the solution. With that, every step you take in designing your business is done with your customers in mind- not yourself.
Using IDEO’s time-tested design-thinking principles, with a specific focus on the inspiration phase of the process, create a free account on their site to download the free PDF version of The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design.
Read pages 1-25 to get build your expertise in human-centered design and design-thinking at a glance.
Step 2: Connect Them To Your Solution
If your target audience gives you a 30,000-foot view of the type of people your business will serve, the Perfect Prospect Profile brings that down to a street-level view. This is where true connection happens- when people feel seen and understood by you and your business. Remember, “no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”~ Teddy Roosevelt.
Watch the video below and jot down what you think are some characteristics of your own your Perfect Prospect Profile (also known as your Customer Avatar). What is the problem they are facing and why is it so frustrating to them?
What types of solutions are they looking for to solve their problem? And why are they motivated to find and pay for a solution to this problem?
Create a short Google Slide presentation that answers these questions and post it to Canvas.
Meet Professor White
I don’t believe in business plans anymore.
Professor LaTanya White
Growth Mindset Coach and Business Development Expert
Professor LaTanya White is a growth mindset business coach for multicultural women and minority entrepreneurs. She helps them navigate through their confusion, fear, and insecurity to a place of clarity, confidence, and competence on their journey to Becoming FEARLESS- her proprietary (and wholistic) business development process.
Professor White has been featured in several media outlets including Ask.com, Essence Magazine, Florida A&M University magazine, Forbes.com and SiriusXM Radio.
Want to connect with Professor White? Find a time that works for you and plug yourself on to her calendar!
…and I haven’t believed in them since I traveled to Bali Indonesia to participate in the inaugural cohort for The Change School (formerly Change Ventures) in 2013. Change Ventures was a social entrepreneurship accelerator program that challenged the participants to go from idea to market in 30 days.
I write about one of the most impactful experiences of my life, one that truly oriented to me to what I feel is my life’s purpose, as a participant in that very first cohort in my first book, Becoming FEARLESS. The long and short of it is, anyone can easily accomplish this…with just a little bit of retraining.
As an advocate for Black and ethnic minority entrepreneurship, I have found that there are so many assumptions about what we think it types to launch and grow a viable business idea- assumptions that our non-minority counterparts just don’t operate under.
Waiting to start your business until after you write a business plan is one of them!
Let’s face it: if you think your business idea has the possibility to change the way we move through the world and improve the quality of life for people around the world, can the world really afford to wait until you think your idea is perfect enough to ‘put it out there’? If that is the case, then you must be really comfortable with the idea of putting your purpose on hold as well. And if that’s the case, we need to talk!
Enough of me lecturing though :).
Since 2007, when I launched my first viable business, 71 Proof, through two years as a Certified Business Analyst with the Florida Small Business Development Center Network, to a decade of “teaching” entrepreneurship at a Historically Black College/University, to the rigorous design of doctoral-level research in Black entrepreneurship as a form of social justice…I’ve vetted a few business development resources along the way lol!
What you will find below are my go-to resources (in priority order) for launching and growing almost any business idea you have. I am a living witness that this can actually be done 30 days or less….it all just depends on how motivated, resourceful, and FEARLESS you are.
My goal is for you to walk away from our time together armed with the insight to develop the entrepreneurial skillset and entrepreneurial mindset that will allow you to go to your state’s business incorporation website and officially register your business!
Are you ready?? #letsgo
