Derek Blair is the guy who moved to Cyprus with $500 and a laptop, but without the food, shelter or transport. He’s 42, has experienced three major failures in life where he lost everything, and is now running his dream business on his dream island.
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Resource Mentioned:
- Your Big Idea: Successful Entrepreneurs have One Big Idea. Follow JLD’s FREE training & you’ll discover Your Big Idea in less than an hour!
Success Quote
- “Cater for a hungry audience and you’ll never starve.” – Derek Blair
Business Failure
- Derek shares his 3 epic failures in life: WOW, talk about resonating with someone!
Entrepreneurial AH-HA Moment
- Derek was laying on a beach in Cyprus during his vacation when a lightbulb went off. A short time later he moved his family there and was running his dream business.
Current Business
- Derek shares one of the best answers to the $500 question ever, and here it is word for word:
Day One
Morning
The planning stage. Sign up for:
- Google Account
- Dropbox account
- Video Blocks 7 day free trial
- Fiverr.com account
- PayPal account
- Adobe Creative Cloud 30 day free trial
Afternoon
The shopping stage
- Source a local pre-paid debit card and load it with $200
Use the $300 I have left over to:
- Buy the best smartphone I can for $250
- Spend $45 on printed T-Shirts that have “ASK ME WHAT I’M DOING” printed front and back
- Buy stationery – notepad, pens, pencils
Use the $200 pre-paid card to buy:
- Suitable domain name $10
- Subscription to Muse-Themes.com $39
- $40 towards Facebook Ads
- $40 towards YouTube Ads
- $20 on flyers
Evening
Write out business plan.
Day 2
Morning
Filming
- Get up as early as possible and go to the part of town with the most independent businesses.
- Get as much footage as I can of the local area and include as many of the businesses there as possible using my smartphone.
Afternoon/Evening
Take out my laptop and create a new website using one of the templates from Muse-Themes.com, load it with videos using this morning’s footage, which has been edited using Adobe Premiere (part of the Creative Cloud free trial).
Then, use Adobe After Effects to apply some funky intros/outros and apply voice overs bought from Fiverr.com.
Next, use my Google account to submit the website to Webmaster Tools, create a YouTube channel, a Google+ page and a Facebook page for my ads.
Day 3
The entire day
Engage Prospects
- Put on the T-Shirt, (I’m a big guy so nobody is going to miss this human billboard), and go back to where I filmed previously.
- Take out my smartphone, start recording and walk into the businesses already featured on my website.
- Engage in conversation with the staff, managers and owners, give them a flyer and tell them they are feature in a video on the website.
- Promise to come back in a day or two.
Days 4 – 7
The entire day
- Return to the businesses previously visited and sign them up for their own video to market/share their business.
- Buy a better camera with the proceeds.
Small Business Resource
- Lynda.com: Learn software, creative, and business skills to achieve your personal and professional goals. Join today and start learning.
Best Business Book
- Screw Business As Usual by Richard Branson
Interview Links
Sponsors
- 99Designs: The #1 marketplace for graphic design. Visit 99Designs.com/Fire and enjoy the $99 savings!
- Bizness Apps: The fast & easy way for small businesses to make Mobile Apps. The #1 mobile app platform worldwide. Create beautiful mobile apps & mobile websites.
Killer Resources!
1) Free Podcast Course: Learn from JLD how to create and launch your podcast!
2) Your Big Idea: Follow JLD’s FREE training & you’ll discover Your Big Idea in less than an hour!
3) Funnel On Fire: Learn how to create a funnel that converts!
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