The C.E.O Methodology – Create, Execute, Operate
Over the years from launching various side businesses, from a couple landscaping companies to finally landing on a business and idea I love, Business Idea Insight, I’ve learned a lot from the development stages of the idea, to actually launching and operating the side business with the goal of generating a 2nd income for myself.
After doing that, I noticed a lot of others struggled to do the same.
Whether it was getting stuck on the side-business idea itself, or just not knowing where to how to move forward with launching and running a side business, if you’ve never done it before it can be hard to know what to do.
Which is exactly why I developed The C.E.O Methodology.
It’s designed to help the 9-5 worker,
Create.
Execute
And, Operate
A service side business that can generate you a 2nd income.
This method is designed to help you create that right idea for you and the market, how to execute on that idea so you can validate that this service would be in-demand, and how to operate your newly launched side business.
Learn all about The C.E.O Methodology below.
Table of Contents
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Who is this method for?
The C.E.O Method is designed for the 9-5 worker who wants to start a side business while working full time. Ultimately, with the goal of generating a second income.
If you’re feeling stuck in your job, like you’re just not getting the financial or personal development benefits that you deserve, starting a side business can be a great path to realizing those goals you have. And The C.E.O Method is a system you can follow to get there, so you know how to move forward along each piece of your journey.
Why this is an important and useful methodology
If you’ve ever felt lost, like you don’t know where to go next when it comes to the business idea, testing it in the market and launching it, then The C.E.O Methodology is for you.
The first stage, Create, is all about developing a side business idea that solves a real problem for a certain group of people.
The second stage, Execute, is about testing and validating your side business in the market, and actually execute. That way, you don’t need to worry that you’re putting in all the work with launching a business that people won’t even pay for.
The third stage, Operate, is where you’ll learn how to launch and operate your side business once you’ve validated and adjusted your service offering to match with what your target market wants and needs.
All these stages take out the guessing game of what the next step is. Allowing you to concentrate on what matters in your side business, getting clients and servicing them.
How The C.E.O Method works
Create
In the create phase, we’ll be using The Side Business Idea Equation & Method. This will ultimately help you understand who you are as an entrepreneur, develop an offering that you’ll test in the market, and ultimately develop a side business idea to run with.
Using The Side Business Idea Equation and Method, you’ll be able to create a niche side-business idea that:
- Solves a real problem for real and specific group of people
- You’re passionate about and will enjoy running
- Can launch with the skills, strengths, time and money you have available to you
- Uses a service business model that fits your goals and lifestyle
These four areas that The Side Business Idea Equation and Method will allow you to move forward with testing your company’s offering with confidence. Many new entrepreneurs fail by moving forward with an idea that does not fit their skills, passions, resources, or may not even solve a problem in the first place. So, by using this method in the Create phase, you can avoid all those areas of potential failure.
You can learn more about The Side Business Idea Equation and Method here.
Execute
The execute phase is where we will start getting to work. Since we now have a side business idea that solves a problem and has a business model, it’s time to test the offering developed in the Create phase.
Testing the offering
By testing the offering, you’ll be able to test all the assumptions you’ve made in your business model. For instance, there will be assumptions made about who your target market is, how much you can charge, where you’ll reach customers and many more. Testing your assumptions will allow you to know if the solution you’ve thought is right for the market and business model.
Understanding the target market
Secondly, you’ll be able to understand if the group of people you’re targeting will pay for your service and their willingness to pay (which is the maximum amount they will pay you for solving the problem in your life).
Competitor analysis
This phase also involves reviewing the competitive landscape to make sure you are unique, can stand out and can compete with others.
Testing key business assumptions
Validating your side business idea will help you to know that you’re on the right track in terms of providing the right solution to the right group of people. It will also help confirm your marketing channels, revenue assumptions, cost assumptions and others that we dive into in this phase.
Once we have either confirmed our assumptions with our target market, or we’ve disproved certain assumptions, you can then make the needed adjustments to your side business concept and then go to launch it.
Operate
Now that you’ve developed a side business idea and concept that has been confirmed in the market or you’ve made the needed adjustments to your business model and concept, it’s now time to dive into the planning and launch part with the Operate phase.
Business Planning
The planning piece is essential for your future success and it will also help you have a roadmap for the kind of tasks and activities you’ll need to perform to meet the goals you have for your side business.
To plan out your business, you’ll need to develop a business plan that will cover areas like:
- Marketing and sales strategy
- Branding strategy
- Operations plan
- Service offering
- Financial plan
- Competitor analysis/ Industry analysis
And any other applicable sections that you’d require for your specific side-business.
Why business planning is essential
The idea of the business plan is to give you a roadmap for moving forward. Not sure what to work on for marketing? Refer to that section where you’ve selected the marketing channels that best fit your target market. Similarly, if you’re not sure what you need to do to work on operating your business, refer to that section that will define how you’ll be servicing your potential clients and what you need to develop there to be successful.
Developing the minimum-viable-service for the first sale
Now that you’ve developed your plan, it’s time to set that in motion with the Operate phase. The first step you’ll need to take is to develop the minimum-viable-service that you will sell to the target market.
This is where you take what you’ve confirmed in the Execute phase and develop it into the most basic version of your service offering.
For instance, this is the non-sexy and tuned up version of your service offering. It captures the essentials to give the needed value to your target market, without you spending a bunch of time developing something BIG and hoping it works.
The minimum viable service will allow you to spend less time and get a paying customer much quicker than if you developed the full-service offering and fancy sales pages, etc. The faster you can get a paying customer, the better.
Once you’ve sold the minimum viable service to a small group of people, you can take the feedback they give you and then re-launch a full-service offering for that target market. This way, you’ll have the essential customer feedback so you know what exactly to tweak and how. Skipping this phase is a great way to end up failing down the road because you don’t know what your customer truly wants, or you spend a year developing a service that they don’t like.
Launching the business
You’ll also need to begin developing your brand through the marketing channels you’ve defined. For instance, if you’ve chosen an online service business model, then marketing your service will involve a website and a lead generation strategy.
Now you’re ready to launch your business and look for your first paying customers for your service.
That is how the three phases of The C.E.O Methodology works.
Interested in implementing it in your life?
Let’s get in touch: Contact me here.
