1994: [Part 1] The Craigslist Method: 4 Strategies to Start a Business In Your Spare Time by Tyler Tervooren

This is Optimal Work Daily, the Craigslist Method, four strategies to start a business

in your spare time, part one, by Tyler Turvorn of Riscology.co.

If you've ever had an idea to start a business and thought, there's no way I can make time

for it.

There are a lot of real-life stories that say, yes, you can.

Craigslist is one of my favorite side-project-turned-megahit stories, but there are many more

like it.

More importantly, there are millions of successful businesses you've never heard of that

were built in someone's spare time.

When Craigs started Craigslist, he was 40 and starting over.

After 17 years of working at IBM, he was offered a job across the country, and he decided

it was time for a shake-up.

The job kept him busy, but he'd make time for local programming events where he met

others in his field and kept track of what was going on in the industry.

Pretty soon, he was a regular at the meetups and thought, hey, there should be a way for

everyone to keep up with what's going on.

As a software developer, Craig was a techie, so he started an email list where he and

his friends could update each other about different events going on in town.

It was a hit, and lots of people started using it.

It was perfect for Craig, a fun side-project that didn't take too much hard work.

He spent his days banging out work at his day job, and his evenings managing what was

then called the list.

After a while, people started posting about other things.

When someone was moving, they'd notify everyone their apartment was available, and maybe

sell some of their furniture.

They bought cars from each other and listed jobs for their employers.

When there got to be too many emails crowding everyone's inboxes, Craig decided to make

a change.

He shut down the email list and moved everything to a website.

Picking the name for the URL was easy, Craig's list, and as a fun and rewarding side-project,

he kept working his day job for three more years before thinking, hey, I could probably

do this Craig's list thing full-time.

You can build a business in your spare time too.

Here's how to do it.

Four lessons were starting a business strategically.

When I was in college, I used Craig's list to launch my own side-projects.

I loved doing business-y things, and it was the perfect platform for a broke student

to test out entrepreneurship while immersed in schoolwork.

I liked music, so for a while I bought and sold concert tickets.

I was addicted to guitars I couldn't afford, so I'd buy used ones, fix them up a little,

and sell them for a profit.

Either of these projects could have scaled into bigger businesses, but they didn't have

to.

Having fun, and I wasn't starving.

But say you do want your small business to become big, and you can't make it a full-time

effort right from the start.

What then?

Here are the lessons pioneered by very smart people who built big things from humble beginnings.

One, start with what you already know.

Craig's list worked because Craig was building something he already knew how to do.

He spent 17 years as a software developer before most people even knew what software was,

and he was an avid user of email servers.

When you're starting a business with limited time, success depends on the focus you give

to things that will make your unique idea work.

The skills you need to build that should already be in place.

If you're a developer, you should build something that uses those skills.

If you're not, you should probably pick something else.

If you're a furniture builder, pick a project that's going to make use of your crafting skills.

There is a lot to learn along the way, and you'll be pressed for time at every turn.

Don't weigh yourself down by having to learn a whole new fundamental skill.

Another shining example of this principle is Gibson Guitars.

Orville Gibson was a salesman in the 1800s who simply enjoyed finding new ways to build

better instruments.

By the time he was ready to launch his business, all he had to focus on was monetizing.

He'd already figured out how to build the world's greatest guitars.

Two, keep it really simple.

How simple can a business be before it ceases to be a business at all?

Pretty simple, it turns out.

Michael J. Kittridge was a broke high school student scrambling to create a Christmas gift

for his mom.

The idea he settled on was a colorful candle.

The ingredients, some wax, a red crayon, and a milk carton.

Before he could even give the candle to his mom, a neighbor saw it and convinced him to

sell it to her.

He used the money from that to make two more, one for mom and one to sell.

A side business was born, the Yankee Candle Company.

Kittridge was eventually able to open a small retail shop in his hometown and fund it

with the earnings from a part-time job.

And it stayed that way for several years until he could hire more employees.

The Yankee Candle Company has been bought and sold by investors several times since Kittridge

started it.

The last purchase price was about $1.6 billion, just a little bigger than it was when

it started in his parents' kitchen.

Today it's still a simple business.

They make candles, and that's pretty much it.

Three, hear that on tomorrow's episode.

You just listened to part one of the post titled, The Craigslist Method, four strategies

to start a business in your spare time, by Tyler Turvoren of Ryscology.co.

And thank you to Tyler for this terrific article today.

Tyler is mastering his psychology to become a better leader.

He ran a marathon on every continent, he organized three world records, and he's an

introvert extraordinaire, a pretty amazing guy, so check out his site and show him some

support at Ryscology.co.

That's Ryscology.co.

Alright, that's it for today.

That's it for part one of this post, we're going to have part two for you tomorrow, so

come on back for that and have a great rest of your day today.

So I'll see you in tomorrow's episode, where your optimal life awaits.