I’m Not Good Enough Yet

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It is not uncommon for me to hear guys say something like “I want to sell customs but I am not good enough yet.” 

What if I said, “you are good enough right now, get going”. The reason I say this is simple, we will never be good enough if we compare ourselves to others. 

Right now, at this moment, each of us has enough skill to start. Sure our resume may not be very long but we can start. Here are a couple steps to kick off your sidehustle making custom models. This can be applied to a variety of hobbies we want to generate income. 

Start making and teaching. 

Pick your favorite things to make and teach others how to do it. It seems counterintuitive to teach people how to do something we want to charge money for but here what is going to happen. Anyone learning would not be your client anyway so who cares if they DIY? 

Transparency

There are a ton of people that will see the process and want one because they do not have the skill or time to DIY. Then others will want one because they see you make it. Now they have a name and a face to go with the product they buy and they can tell that story to their friends. This is a big deal. 

Growing Skills 

Another unintended consequence of teaching is people will watch what we do then ask, “can you do ___________?” This gives us an opportunity to grow our skills into another area. Or, we can pass on that idea if it is not a good fit for our business model. For example, I customize trucks. People will ask for tractors, odd trailers, cars and pickups. None of those things interest me too much so I simply decline or refer them to experts. 

No Hope Marketing

Completing the idea above about growing skills, when people ask us “can you make ____________”, guess what? We do not guess what people want. We begin eliminating hope marketing. Let me elaborate with a story from my niche.

The basic business model in diecast is to make a bunch of custom items or buy a bunch of inventory, set at a toy show all day competing with 10 other people selling similar things hoping people will walk by and buy it. If we have made a presence and have clients coming to a show to buy from us that is great. But, we can ship those items for far less than standing at a show all day hoping strangers will buy from us. 

By teaching and connecting digitally, people begin asking for custom items that fit into our niche and eventually expand what we offer. And best of all, we will not have to guess what people want. Just make what they want. 

This puts us in the drivers seat regarding our time and reduces the need to keep inventory that sets around until the next show. 

Just start

The key to all of this is to start. Start now while there are not many people watching. Make mistakes, find your voice, fail some more, make the next thing, connect, be generous, build something you can be proud of. 

Miss the first post? Start at the beginning with How to Start an Online Business