1995: [Part 2] The Craigslist Method: 4 Strategies to Start a Business In Your Spare Time by Tyler Tervooren

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This is Optimal Work Daily, the Craigslist method.

Four strategies to start a business in your spare time.

Part two, by Tyler Turvorin of Ryscology.co.

Three, pivot early and often.

The most critical thing you can do while starting any new business is focus and find the small actions that have a big impact.

When you're busy working on other things, you don't have the luxury of spreading your energy over a lot of different fronts.

You have to find what works and hammer on it.

When that stops working, you have to shift your strategy and do it all over again.

When Blake Mikoski started the Tom's shoe brand from his apartment in LA, he was already busy working full time at another company.

He took the little spare time he had each day and would send emails or make phone calls to shoe stores trying to find buyers who'd sell his design.

It didn't work. He spun his wheels for weeks without traction.

Then one day, he carved out a few hours and took his shoe down to a local retailer to meet the buyer in person.

He walked in, told his story, and almost immediately had his first customer.

Some businesses can succeed by making cold calls during the spare moments of a day, but Tom's couldn't operate like that.

What Blake learned was the story behind his business was just as important as the shoe itself, and the best way to tell that story was in person.

The answer to Blake's sales problem was easy.

Instead of spending 30 minutes each day sending emails to potential customers, he could block off one, two-hour chunk to meet in person and find far better success.

If you're struggling with something in your own part-time project, it's time to pivot. In fact, you don't have the time not to.

And four, make your boss your investor.

When you think about starting your own business, you probably don't think about doing it as part of your day job.

But what if you did? If you want to start something that's going to take a team and a significant investment of both time and money, what's one asset you have at your immediate disposal that could offer all that and more?

What about the company you work for?

Whether you go this route or not will depend on the culture of your company.

But if you have a good job with a company that values creativity and entrepreneurship, is there a way you could mold your idea to fit with the mission of what you're already doing and get your whole team on board?

In 2006, Jack Dorsey had the idea for a text messaging service that would let you keep tabs on your friends.

The only problem was he had a busy day job working at a podcasting company called Odio.

But Odio had a problem. Apple was ramping up its podcasting game and moving in on Odio's territory.

The company's leadership wasn't ready to throw in the towel, but they needed fresh ideas for new business opportunities.

Jack pitched his. They gave him a small team a little time and a few resources to build it.

He still had to do his normal day job stuff, but now he had resources at work to help build his vision.

Thanks to the time, money, and human resources Odio gave Jake, the team was able to quickly create a prototype.

When it was ready for testing, Jack sent out the very first message.

The rest, as they say, is history. Don't immediately dismiss the idea of building your business or side project with the help of your day job.

Do this in the next 10 minutes.

If you think that starting a business in your spare time is simply out of the question, you're hardly alone.

But as you've seen some of the greatest companies and social projects of our time and times past started exactly that way.

The real lesson from these stories is that success doesn't depend on how much time you have, but on what you do with that time.

To recap, what you should do are these four things.

1. Start with what you already know. Don't waste time learning new critical skills. Put the ones you already have to work.

2. Keep it really simple. Have a long-term vision, but don't get distracted or discouraged thinking you have to build it all at once.

3. Pivot early and often. Make the best use of your time by focusing on what's really working and make changes quickly when things aren't.

4. Make your boss your investor. You have an enormous resource in your day job. You owe it to yourself to at least explore the possibilities of a partnership.

Now I want you to ask yourself just one question.

What's a small but high-impact action you can take to get started or improve your project today?

Ask yourself this question today, tomorrow, and every day after. You'll be amazed at what you can build with a busy schedule.

You just listened to part 2 of the post titled The Craigslist Method, four strategies to start a business in your spare time by Tyler Turvoren of Ryscology.co.

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And thank you again to Tyler. At Rescology, they turn introverts into strong leaders by teaching them to master their psychology and take smart risks.

They break down decades of research into case studies and actionable guides you can use in your life and work immediately.

Rescology is equal parts inspiration, science, and strategy that adds up to a fun experience pursuing your most ambitious goals.

And articles from Rescology are featured across a few of our shows and you can find more podcasts just like this one where we read articles for you by searching for optimal living daily wherever you're hearing this.

And I'll be back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.