Entrepreneurship

Validate it, price it, launch it. Founder lessons with the survivorship bias taken out.

GuideRay Okonkwo22 Sept 20266 min

The paperwork you can't skip in your first year

Most of it takes a weekend. Skipping it turns a slow month into a business-ending one, usually about fourteen months in.

GuideRay Okonkwo22 Sept 20265 min

Find ten customers before you build anything

The cheapest way to kill a bad business idea is to try to sell it before it exists. Most people skip this and pay for it later.

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GuideRay Okonkwo22 Sept 20266 min

How to price trade work without guessing

Most trade businesses that fold aren't short of work. They're short of margin, because nobody ever worked out what an hour actually costs.

Coconut.com — Tell us when. We find where the sun is.

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5 min read

How to Run a One-Man Business That Doesn't Eat Your Family

Solo businesses fail two ways: they go broke, or they survive by quietly consuming everything at home. You can design against both.

Poll

How often do you see your closest friends?

GuideRay Okonkwo22 Sept 20266 min

Quit when the work is already there, not before

The honest test for leaving a paycheck to run your own service business, and the seasons when staying put is the braver call.

GuideRay Okonkwo22 Sept 20266 min

The first ten thousand dollars teaches you everything else

Your first ten grand in revenue isn't about the money. It's the cheapest, fastest way to find out whether you have a business or a hobby.

Names.com — The name is the first thing you sell

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GuideRay Okonkwo22 Sept 20265 min

Raising your rates after years of charging too little

The arithmetic, the notice, the clients who leave, and the four ways people talk themselves out of it at the last minute.

Quiz

Is your money actually in order?

Six questions. No email required, no sales pitch at the end.

GuideMarcus Vale22 Sept 20265 min

Getting your first ten customers when nobody knows your name

Your first ten clients almost never come from marketing. They come from a list of names, a plain message, and the willingness to send it.

GuideMarcus Vale15 Sept 20262 min

You're almost certainly charging too little

The service business failure mode: full schedule, empty account, no idea which one is the problem.

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GuideMarcus Vale12 Sept 20262 min

Ten conversations beat six months of building

The cheapest way to find out nobody wants it's to ask, before you've spent a year making it.

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Learn Stick in an Afternoon Without Cooking the Clutch

The bite point is about an inch of pedal travel. Find it in an empty parking lot and the rest of driving a manual is just repetition.

Poll

How many days a week are you actually training?

GuideMoneyRay Okonkwo23 Sept 20265 min

Pay yourself a salary when the work won't

Trades, commission and seasonal work don't pay monthly. Your mortgage does. Here's the arithmetic that closes the gap.

GuideBusinessRay Okonkwo23 Sept 20266 min

What to check in the books before you buy somebody's business

The seller's P&L is a sales document. The bank statements are the truth. Start there and work outward.

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GuideSkillsWes Dunbar23 Sept 20266 min

Build an overnight shelter before the light goes

Stop walking three hours before dark, build a bed before you build a roof, and you'll be uncomfortable instead of hypothermic.

Quiz

Does your wardrobe actually fit you?

Five questions, honestly answered, and a plan for the next fortnight.

Money5 min

The only refinance number that matters is the break-even month

Business6 min

Negotiating with suppliers when you're the small account

Ask BRO

Pressure-test my business idea

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GuideSkillsCal Brennan23 Sept 20266 min

Pulling Someone Out of the Water Without Drowning Yourself

Drowning is quiet, fast, and it kills rescuers too. The order of operations that gets both of you back on dry land.

Shirts.com — Design it with AI. Wear it this week.

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Money5 min read

Pay yourself the payment for three months before you borrow

A $12,000 loan at 12.9 percent hands the lender $3,424. Saving the same monthly amount gets you there in 36 months instead of 48, and the math is yours to check.

Poll

Where does your best time with your kids happen?

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