An Actually-Useful Strategy for Starting a Business: Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan (📗 Digital poster included)
In the world of personal development and entrepreneurship, finding material that genuinely shifts our perspective is like discovering treasure - “Million Dollar Weekend” is one of those books (at least for me).
The brilliance of "MDW" (Million Dollar Weekend) is in how it simplifies the complex journey of entrepreneurship into actionable insights. It goes beyond the broad advice of "work hard and take risks" to offer a structured approach to achieving what you want in life. (i.e. an actual strategy versus just wishful goal-setting)
Below I’ve outlined three concepts that resonated with me from this book if you want a ‘taster’, but what I also wanted to share is this 📗 visual summary/digital poster I’ve made of the key learnings from this book. This summary is designed to be a quick reference around the essence of the book's strategy for business - and I’m sharing it for anyone who finds it useful.
Embedded below is a watermarked version for a preview (which is free and is still readable for everyone who needs a reference),
And here’s the full-resolution version which includes two colors (Green and Dark Mode), and in three print sizes if you want to have it as a poster. And true to what I learned from MDW, I’m currently offering it at 50% off to find my first 3 customers - thank you in advance for anyone who can support! 😊
Among the wealth of wisdom in "Million Dollar Weekend," three concepts particularly resonated with me:
1. What’s your Freedom Number?
The concept of a Freedom Number challenges the vague ambition of "wanting to get rich" by making you define a specific financial goal. For example: $5,000 is my monthly average expense, and so this can be my Freedom Number to let me quit my job and focus on the business. This becomes useful to find out exactly how many sales you need to make as a target (e.g. if $5000 is your Freedom Number, and each sale you make nets you $10, then you’ll need to have 500 monthly sales). Clarity in the goal is what this gives you.
2. Three Customers in 48 Hours
Validation is a recurring theme in MDW, emphasizing the importance of proving your business idea early on. The book champions the approach of getting 3 customers within the first 48 hours, advocating for selling even before the product is fully developed when it makes sense. This principle not only tests the market demand but also instills a sense of urgency and focus, making it a golden rule for anyone looking to validate their business idea quickly.
3. Customer First, Not Founder First
This principle is a reminder of the core of any successful business: solving a problem for customers. MDW advises entrepreneurs to adopt a customer-centric approach, focusing on the most painful problem they can solve. The book eloquently puts it, "Customers want solutions, not ideas". This perspective shifts the focus from the allure of innovative ideas to the practicality of painkillers over vitamins—solutions that people not only want but need.
You can read more of the Million Dollar Weekend here
Cheers,
-J