Can You Start A Business Before You’ve Got A Product Or Service?
I was asked this question directly, but have also seen variations of it wafting around the internet: “can I start a business when I don’t know what I want to do yet?” There are some who will scoff at this notion, that if you don’t have a thing to provide then why the hell do you deem yourself worthy of having a business.
Personally, I think that not being bogged down with a ‘thing’ you want to do actually puts you in a stronger position to start a business. I’ve worked with clients so wedded to their ‘thing’, that it takes them months, even years, to untangle themselves from that web and see the true direction of their business. When you start with a ‘what’, it’s harder to retrofit a ‘why’, and it’s harder to get out of the habit of talking only in terms of the benefit of your product, rather than connecting with customers over what interests them.
I see this particularly on my Campfire course, where people who started their business with a ‘what’ struggle to come up with ideas for content for anything but their product. Their brain will instantly list ‘shop, products, makers’ as topics to talk about, rather than the ‘home life, styling inspiration, techniques’ that are actually inspiring to their customers.
If you’re starting your business without a specific product or service in mind, it leaves the way open for you to grow a business based on purpose. It allows you to refine that purpose, and create the product that best serves it, rather than continue with the one you happen to already be doing. It helps you connect with customers and collaborators based on that why, rather than a race to the bottom of who can do that ‘what’ the cheapest. It helps you market and communicate your business at a higher level more naturally. But first, you must ask yourself this question:
Do you want to start a business just to have a business, or do you want to make a burning change in the world?
It’s undeniably trendy to have a business or side hustle, especially in certain online circles – it can feel that if you’re happy working in your 9-5 job that you’re not go-getting enough, dare I say, not ‘cool’ enough to hang out in certain Instagram communities. Meanwhile, you see people living the self-employed life of brunch on a Tuesday or hear stories of wonderful incomes and lifestyles and think ‘yes, I want THAT’.
And your business should give you the life you want, but it won’t do that unless it is driven from a place of wanting to do work that lights up the world. As my friend Jen Carrington says “a business has to change someone else’s life before it can change yours”.
In The Purpose Kit we dig into the nuance around what is ‘impact’ and ‘world-changing’, but for now you need to be honest with yourself. Do you like the idea of having a business because it kind of feels like something you should do? Because you’ve seen the trappings and want a piece of that action? Or is there a need in the world that you know you can fill, a problem you want to solve, a wrong to right or a worry to quell?
Of course, this is real life and the options aren’t quite as binary as that. It’s ok to want to be self-employed as well as want to make a difference in people’s lives – that’s exactly what I did. At the same time as I was becoming more aware that self-employment was a thing that normal people did and drooling over the lives of people who didn’t have an office to go to every day, I was noticing all the other people who wanted that too… but who were struggling to market their business effectively. Yes I wanted my own business, but I wanted to help others make theirs succeed just as much.
I guess I’m saying be realistic about your intentions, but also not beat yourself up over them. If you’re thinking about starting a business to fit in, release yourself from that expectation and embrace your own joy. If you want a business just to have a business, seek your purpose (it’s the purpose that ultimately keeps you going). Similarly, is starting a business the best way to be fulfilling your purpose?
But let’s assume you’ve checked in with your intentions, and yes, you want to make a change as much as you want a business
Start with clarifying that purpose. In The Purpose Kit I define purpose as “the coming together of what you believe, the impact you want to make in the world and how you can feel most fulfilled”. Hone in on what that difference you want to make is, why it inspires you so much, how you’re uniquely connected to it. Think about what your values are, what you believe. Define what kind of work and activity lights you up, what will make you feel fulfilled and eager to keep going. (I have a free worksheet on all of this when you sign up to my mailing list).
Rather than jump straight from purpose to product, take time to bed in. Start creating content, whether it’s a blog, Instagram, podcast, YouTube, where you can explore the themes of your purpose more deeply both so you can understand where you want it to lead you, but so you can also start to connect with people who feel the same. Connect with an audience, and then start building the product or service they need, rather than trying to force-feed them the offering you want them to want.
The thing that no one wants to hear is that you have to play the long game a little bit here – you’re not going to buy a web domain and have sold out services a few months later. Business is about trust – your trust in yourself, and your customers trust in you, and both of those things need time to grow. There’s no algorithm, no formula for skipping the trust-building. So if you’re starting out, start now. Start by just talking about what you believe, without agenda, to the people who believe what you believe too. That’s how businesses are born.
