
How to Create a Million-Dollar Business This Weekend - frankdenbow
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2011/09/24/how-to-create-a-million-dollar-business-this-weekend-examples-appsumo-mint-chihuahuas/
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nikcub
As an entrepreneur I really don't identify with this world of self-help books,
overnight entrepreneurs, 10-point checklists to success and how to become a
millionaire in a weekend.

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freshfey
Judging from your comment, you haven't read past the title, have you? Because
there are actually quite good starting points for some people who don't know
where to start. The title is pure link bait though

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hugh3
I'm gonna flag it for this reason.

Come back to us when you're using sensible titles, Mr Ferris.

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akamaka
I clicked on this article expecting to have a laugh, considering the linkbait
title and the website it's on.

But I was impressed. The article nicely introduces ideas like customer
validation and minimum viable prototypes in a way most people could easily
understand. Well done!

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sneak
Am I the only one tired of single-purpose a/b-tested-to-death webpages that
sell only one thing in loud marketing-speak?

I'm a businessman myself, so I'm glad someone out there is making a living for
themselves, but I truly tire of these sorts of eyesore sites on the web.

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guelo
I'm sure I don't know why this article reminds me of this, but totally off
topic: Does anyone else remember get rich quick magazines back in the day?
They were tons of fun! Every page was full of possibilities. I remember as a
kid trying to get into mail envelope ponzi schemes. It was all about how to
figure out the scam and improve on it. Taught me how to love to hustle.

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hugh3
No, but I do remember Mad Magazine making fun of get rich quick schemes!

If every kid grew up on a diet of satire, they might grow up to be less
gullible.

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nickswan
The steps are good, the title is link bait.

I know you want to encourage people to stop complaining and get starting, and
it can sometimes be that easy, but it's a lot of hard work over the next 12
months even if you prove your idea works and I feel some of these types of
articles forget to mention that.

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ig1
You should be very careful if you're selling something you don't have, you
almost certainly violate the terms of your payment provider and depending on
where you live you might be committing fraud.

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swombat
You don't have to actually sell. If you don't have a product yet, just build a
mock payment page and check how many people get to the end - and never charge
them.

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ig1
The article suggests actually taking money from people.

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swombat
The article presents a context where there is a product there to sell already
(a discounted imgur membership).

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rumblestrut
I'm so confused. Can I create a million-dollar business in a weekend or not?

Because I read "Reboot. Relaunch. Redesign. Pivot. Sunset. Shutter. The Knack,
a web app, story," and it sounds like building a business is work.
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3024147>)

</s>

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synnik
Oh, all you have to do is write a million dollar product and find a million
dollars worth of customers? Is that all?

This is old advice. From Steve Martin. On SNL: "How to make a million dollars:
First, get a million dollars." - Steve Martin

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pmf
This isnt even funny.

Its just "make a product for some existing market" rather than "make a market
for some product", wich obviously dosnt work,

Actually this isn't that obvious you know... hello dot-com bubble.

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azal
Having personal talked with Noah, it makes sense on what he did or is asking
others to do. I myself have ran and am running sites which bring in revenue.
not on the $1MM scale but still some $.

\+ replicating what AppSumo does is not that hard, you need a decent site with
some deals on the page. The Deals you get by emailing entrepreneurs or devs of
any product out there. There are many struggling devs and companies which
would love to cut you a deal as far as they are getting sales and customers.

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ofca
I hate when they oversimplify entrepreneurship and pitch us all these easy
'earn 1.000.000$' schemes. (especially when it's acompanied with ego-trippin')

I love when they demistify entrepreneurship and give some insight in how to
start. (especially when a concrete marketing advice is give)

Overall as with all posts on Tim's blog - they are generally great. Just, take
them with a grain of salt.

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dirkdeman
I found the article to be hands-on, and a good insight in the MO of a
successful entrepeneur. It doesn't have to take cutting edge technology or
thousands lines of code to make it big. On the other hand, the majority of
folks here are hackers, so maybe the article is barking at the wrong tree
here...

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llii
I don't get entirley what he did to validate his idea for AppSumo. He got 200
new customers for imgur which pay 25$/year (to imgur) and he payed imgur
3$/user for this? Didn't he loose money then?

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biot
The sales pitch is probably what threw you off. "I'll pay you to bring you new
customers" is the pitch, but the detail is likely more along the lines of
Groupon's deals: "I'll charge $12 for selling your $25 product, and keep $3
for myself. So I'll pay you $9 for every new customer I bring."

Assuming it's the kind of business that typically sees recurring revenue and
the expenses of servicing each new customer consists of little more than
pushing electrons around, $9 for a new customer isn't too bad compared to
whatever their current cost per acquisition is.

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hmans
You don't. That guy didn't.

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faitswulff
Biggest ommission: How to build/code/produce your product.

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ShawnJG
Link bait and sensationalism aside, there are definitely some good pointers in
the article. Treat the article like an apple eat all the good parts and leave
the core stems and seeds. The point is to motivate you to get started with
your idea. Where they able to condense it into a weekend or week using the
analytic tools that's mentioned in the article is never a bad idea.

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mmaunder
43 minutes and no comment?

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jnorthrop
I only made it through a quarter of the article. I found the tone arrogant and
felt like I was being talked down to. The pictures of a woman in lingerie on
the sidebar capped it off.

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athom
I read this, and thought, it's GOT to be Timothy Ferriss. Sure enough, I see
the site is fourhourworkweek.com, _just_ after I've clicked the link.

My favorite line is in the photo caption: "He also looks great in orange."
That may come in handy for him in the near future, if he's not careful.

