How to waste 100 hours

Or how to get 100 hours back

I wasted a lot of time doing things I hope you avoid in months 1-3.

When starting a business, there are a lot of tips on what to do.

Rarely do people give you tips on what to avoid. 

Knowing what to avoid is just as important as what to focus on.

Avoiding wasted time gives you more time on mission critical tasks.

If I had avoided the 5 things below, I would have saved over 100 hours in my first month.

I hate to admit this, but I was told to avoid these 5 things…

And, I did them anyway.

[insert your favorite facepalm emoji]

1) P&L Models

I created at least 5 different models in Google sheets. 

They were all wildly wrong and inaccurate.

But hey… the models looked really cool and made me feel smart. 

These models were a false sense of security and a way to procrastinate.

Creating models allowed me to avoid doing the things I should have been doing. 

I should have knocked on 100 people's doors instead. 

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t understand the economics of your business.

But predicting your revenue, cost, and profits in the first year is a fool's errand. 

2) Website optimization

I spent hours and hours trying to make my website the best.

Blue vs green buttons. 

“Buy Now” vs “Purchase Now” text on my checkout page.

This is what I get paid to do for my 9-5, so it only made sense.

I am not saying your website and content doesn’t matter.

Get it 80% right and move on. 

The remaining 20%  isn’t what will stop you from getting your first 100 customers.

3) Social Media

I spent entire days and weeks creating Instagram reels and posts.

I didn’t get a single customer from them.

99% of my customers come from Google searching “cleaners near me”. 

Know where your customers are coming from and focus solely on it to start. 

Maybe your customers come from Facebook groups. 

Great! Focus on that. 

Don’t feel like you have to optimize each social media platform when you start.

4) Blogging / SEO Keyword Optimization

Ranking high on Google is important (very important). 

It can and will accelerate your business in the long-term.

But whether I used “home cleaning” vs “house cleaners” on my website didn’t matter in month 1.

I wanted it to matter but it simply didn’t matter in those first few months. 

Google barely knows you have a website in month 1.

Customers don’t know you have a website in month 1. 

Getting online reviews was the most critical (and critical to SEO).

Get to 20+ authentic reviews as fast as possible. 

5) Big Discounts

Discounts attract price shoppers. 

Price shoppers want a deal. 

People who want a deal always want another deal.

As soon as they find a better deal, they churn.

Avoid dropping your prices to attract new customers.

The more I charged (up to a certain point), the more I attracted happy and loyal customers. 

It sounds very counter intuitive.

Dealing with easy, happy, and communicative customers saves you time.

And it allows you to sleep better at night.

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