TL;DR breakdown of "12 Months to a Million": Opportunity and mindset
Hey peeps! Anyone interested in hearing the juiciest bits of the latest (2020/2021) books on growth, marketing, and all things indie hackerish?
I’m knee-deep in my own startup struggle and I can use all the help I can get. So I figured I’d leave a (hopefully helpful) trail behind me of the tastiest crumbs from the latest literature.
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📕 The book du jour: 12 Months to a Million (How to Pick a Winning Product, Build a Real Business, and Become a 7 Figure Entrepreneur) by Ryan Daniel Moran
😎 TL;DR: I’m two chapters (plus the preface) in. Easy to read and engaging. So far, the main point he’s making is this: Anyone who has 3 products to sell, valued at $30 each, and making 25 sales per product, per day has a million dollar business on their hands. Not gonna lie, I found this little breakdown inspiring. Got me kinda buzzy. It seems doable, right?
Why care about what this author has to say? Made his first million at age 26 via email marketing. Has since co-founded two 7 figure businesses (before age 35).
Why read this book in particular? Came out in 2020 so it’s super duper fresh. Has almost 600 5-star reviews on Amazon. Promises to be practical yet mind-blowing.
🤩 Key Takeaways:
- Split the 12-month process into three stages: The Grind (months 1-4), The Growth (months 5-9), and The Gold (months 10-12).
- Most people fail because they never make it out of The Grind - at this stage speed is your bff and every sale, review, and comment really matters.
- ALL money goes back into the business while you’re in The Grind.
- If you have a cofounder one of you should be a Visionary and the other a Builder.
- Market your product to a specific person, the key to fast growth is going very, very micro.
- When you have a following of a thousand people and you have at least 20 reviews, you will likely get to 25 sales per day quickly (remember the magic numbers I mentioned above?).
- Mindset is important. Believing money is scarce and hard to come by, or that making money is selfish, will hinder this process immensely.
- "Success is simple once you accept how hard it is.” — Craig Ballantyne
🤮 Biggest disappointment so far: Scouring the Amazon reviews for real-life success stories, I found that some people feel that this book only applies if you sell a product on Amazon. That'd be lame. Either way, though, I’m already finding value so I'll keep trucking. Oh, and one more thing here. I’m all about purpose-driven work so the few references he’s made to making landfill items (like paper birthday hats) are kinda gross to me.
⏩ Upcoming chapters: Choose Your Customer, Develop Your First Product, and more 🤤
Stay tuned! 🙏
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Thanks for sharing! I’m interested to see your opinion as you go through the book. I’ve become wary of people selling books about how to make money because the variables are so different for every person and every business. But really like your analysis so far.
Totally @polluterofminds! I’m right there with you as far as wariness goes. But I’d heard some good things about this book so I’m giving it a go. Let's see where it goes... 🙃 Thanks for taking the time to comment! Feel free to subscribe to get Part 2.
Just stumbled on this and nice idea as most books have at least 50% padding to make page count.
Looks like there are others - how can I see them as when I click on TL;DR link I just get a signup form?
This is actually my first post in this series, so there’s not much else to see (yet!). But thanks for the feedback and the show of enthusiasm @Rhino. The sign-up form you found allows you to get my next TL:DR breakdown sent directly to your inbox.
thanks so much for sharing
This comment was deleted 3 years ago.
@passivepanel thanks so much for sharing! I feel for you as you navigate “the grind.” It’s tricky territory! And so important to know our own edges so we can stay well mentally and physically as we grapple with this stage. Thankfully it doesn’t last forever. You’ve got this! 💪