I’ve known Andy for a few years now. In the summer of 2016 he bought a one-way ticket to Alaska. Up there, he bought a truck, lived out of it for 2 month while vagabonding around. He sold the truck for $1000 more than what he spent on it, then headed to Europe for 1 month.
Andy’s always been the entrepreneurial type – can you tell?
Sidenote: I visited him up in Alaska for 10 days, and let me tell you – it was awesome. If you like traveling and haven’t been, do it.
Anyway, a few nights ago he sent me a text out of the blue that said something like this:
So here’s the deal- I’m flat broke and I gotta get some cash reasonably fast. So… I’m taking some of my scrap leather from my boot making days and making some journals to try to sell. I just created an Instagram profile a few minutes ago to show these journals on. If I tag you or something, just go with it.
Hell yeah! I love seeing people make moves and create under stressful situations. I showed my support by following him and liking his photos.
Less than two hours later, he sent me this:
His first sale!
All he did was make a journal and create an Instagram profile to showcase his journals. He didn’t worry about setting up a supply-chain, or doing extensive market research, or even creating a website. He got to the point first.
He found the shortest possible path to go from idea to first sale.
He utilized an existing platform and kept it simple.
Here’s what Andy wrote about his experience:
When I got back home I had $100. From there I packed up a 1966 camper and drove West, towards Salt Lake City to work for a pre-revenue start-up.
I found an ad on craigslist of a guy who would let me park my camper in his driveway for $50 a week. I’m still flat broke but working full-time at this start-up. I had some leftover leather from a college project so I figured I would try to sell these journals to keep up with my finances until this start-up takes off.
Oddly enough, from the time I decided to start making the first journal to my first request it was less than three hours.
Just start.
When you’re young, the opportunity cost to dive into an exciting idea is as low as it will ever be. Take advantage of that, and sacrifice 3 hours to create something and see if it works. You’ll learn a valuable lesson no matter what happens, and you might even end up with a cash flow generating side-hustle!