James, I bought my kids to Marsh Farm (when you were just a whipper snapper) and you did a magic show and got me up on stage. You were great and near the end you said to the crowd that that you owned Marsh Farm. I thought you were about 16 and thought you were winding us up, but subsequently found out you were telling the truth. I have been fascinated by your journey ever since. Love the channel and find your advice very inspiring! I think the 2 biggest things holding people back are self belief and risk aversion. These are the 2 things that separate those that become Entrepreneurs and those that want to, but don't. Keep up the great content mate! Cheers

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

Hahahah - classic. That’s how I started. I’ve just morphed that skill set into speaking at seminars. Being a family entertainer was one of the best times of my life and gave me the skill sets to do all this.

As a serial entrepreneur like yourself, I must say this is a brilliant summary. The part that you might have sandbagged a bit is staffing. I’d love to see a follow up video on how you would scale your staff, and at what milestones you might add each member.

Great to see content on the earliest days of starting a business. So far I've found just getting income at the beginning is by far the hardest thing, having no capital makes everything 200x harder.

There is a product out there that 99% of schools do not use or indeed know exists and yet most schools and businesses use an outdated version. Coming from the print industry this video has really given me a great idea. Thanks James.

I came across your channel and podcast about a month ago and have seriously been inspired. So much so that I’ve begun selling on eBay as a first stepping stone to more serious business. Very much enjoyed this video.

Someone please give James a back massage coz he is single handedly carrying entrepreneurs on his shoulders.

Thanks for uploading this I'm a solo entrepreneur and you have really made me think post covid how and what I should be doing. I really feel that starting back at the beginning I could really change my whole situation. Thanks for all of your hard work in these videos and sharing your experiences.

Have any of you watched his other videos? There is a method to his growth and a reason why he's doing so well. Excited to use some of these tips and thank you for giving us FREE advice - something some of us unfortunately don't deserve 😂

Built to Sell is a fantastic book by the way, the author is John Warrillow

@thomasr8130

9 ай бұрын

Great book

Comments are great :)) James thank you! For me it’s about the stationary, but it’s about the confidence and execution

hands down best advise! and your book getting customers!

Great video James 👍🏻

In a pletora of online business tutorials, as a food and cpg category management student, I’ve been looking for a video like this for ages!!!

@NiaArifah-br6cr

9 ай бұрын

meta thing are harder to comeby these time

Stationery for kids is a great example. Anyone who’s got young children will know the pain of paying a lot of money for stationery they love when it clearly cost a few pence to make.

As someone that sells physical products, I can confidently say that stationery is a tough gig! Its a very competitive and crowded space. One of my brands is a planner brand... It makes profit but its not a niche I'd recommend. I wouldn't personally go down the brick and mortar route either. That's also a tough gig. Sure, Whsmiths did 1.4bn in revenue last year but they have over 1,100 shops!... that's only just over £1m in revenue per shop and you're talking about a very famous brand. They also only posted a profit of £63m, so 4.5% net margin which is pretty grim. Meanwhile, rymans did £105m in revenue in 2022 across their 200 stores (~£500k revenue each)...and posted a loss of £3.4m for the year ! Did you have a specific product range in mind when you were making this video james? I just can't imagine too many influencers getting super excited about the prospect of advertising bog standard stationery items so thinking you had something specific in mind

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

I was going to show the stationery we’re going to make and I chose not to explain it in the video so as not to complicate it. It will not be like Rymans and WHSmith, it will be a brand. Much more child/teenager focussed that has content driven around it. Just through my only connections I have sold 50k of items with just an image. The brand will be called “fabadousa”

@LukeStephenson

9 ай бұрын

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur fair enough. Good luck with it :) You're an exceptionally well-connected person. Average joe is going to struggle to replicate that. Looking forward to seeing the range soon.

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

@@LukeStephenson I don’t know. When I started my teddy bear business ( lots of competition) it played like this video. That’s where my idea for this video and stationary range came from.

Great video. That said as a teacher, I can't see schools helping sell products!

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

3 ай бұрын

It wouldn’t be the school, it would be the parents teachers association which every school in the UK is tasked with to raise money.

@abdullahk8691

3 ай бұрын

@@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur thanks for reply.

Great stuff! Literally doing the same in Japan. Starting a high protein-ice cream business (that's how i stumbled upon your channel) and I'm at the stage where I'm trying to sell the product without even having a single piece of machinery let alone a factory (those will come in January). I've got several meetings with distributors lined up and attending two trade shows in November. Wish me luck!

@safc2951

4 ай бұрын

Good idea

@redmidigit8995

2 ай бұрын

Amazing. How's it going?

@BurakKulbay

2 ай бұрын

@@redmidigit8995 The struggle is real. Just launched it though after a year and a half and looking to get into supermarkets this year.

@BurakKulbay

2 ай бұрын

@@redmidigit8995 sorry for the late reply. I got the machines and factory. Also managed to finalize the product and get it into a supermarket chain

My mate has built up a stationary business in Cape Town over 20 years basically on how you have presented it James. He was supplying loads of schools BUT the industry is now swamped with companies working on shoe string margins which has basically halved his turnover. One thing that really helped was to introduce a stationary pack at the start of the new school term which he had on his website. Personally I don’t think it’s a great business to be in. Great video though.

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

I won’t be doing commodity stationery like that. Mine will be branded and fashion driven.

@craigjames8026

9 ай бұрын

@@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur luckily nothing ever goes out of fashion....

Hey james, how are you? I asked on a previously for a more technical video, on things like management accounts for the business, and kpis like labour to revenue ratio, thanks for the videos 😊

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

All that is in my Entreprenuers University as it’s too detailed for KZread. Try it for free here jamessinclair.net/entrepreneurs-university-free-trial/

@fatboywins

9 ай бұрын

Thanks for the quick reply!

James! I'm needing some business advice as I'm at a cross roads with my business which is impeding me on scaling my business. Do you offer a service where you can help/advise please?

Can someone please explain what happened in the teaser campaign stage?

You literally described the Girl Scout cookie marketing model.

Nice one, didn't even spell 'stationery' correctly. Great start.

Great channel but there is a fatal flaw in the plan and that’s right at the beginning. I’m assuming that this plan is based of some young lad with 0 expenses living at home that has 10k in the bank and noting else, no bills no car payments, mortgage etc. then this is a possibility maybe not in 12 months, if not then this plan is doomed form the start you’ll burn through that cash before your business starts, if you unemployed with a family and all the trimmings your gonna need an extra 12- 15k and that’s just for running your house while you try and utilise your 10k to get your business off the ground. Having reserve cash to cover your expenses is as important as the 10k itself. Not dissing the video but if you don’t plan ahead you will end up with the other 90% of start up businesses in the scrap heap. Good video all the same some good content.

Hi James, Great video as with all your content but the timeline is a bit off in my experience... 300k revenue in 6 month from a 10k investment seems pretty remarkable even with 5x margin. Regardless, i've took a lot from this video which I will implement in my own business so thank you. Keep um coming!

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

In my example I was banking on those presales to help drive revenues through more orders.

When you say 20% for taxes are you referring to VAT or profits tax?

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

In this x5 scenario I was referring to Uk VAT for a quick pricing architecture method I use. People gulp when I say this and I just say “ Nike” they buy trainers in for 20 dollars ( maybe less ) and sell them for 150 dollars The “ brand value “ allows us to do this. Why I like the ice cream model ( another one of our businesses )

I really don’t believe in the love want and need thing. You can literally apply it to anything. Selling bugs. My dragon wants them, he needs them and I love him. Honestly drop this analogy for someone better buddy. Apart from that your the top man in UK I watch for business

You spelt stationery wrong. 😜 Still great video. 👍

If only it was that easy James

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

I think this plan is highly achievable, you might need another 12 months of 24 months if not experienced.

@craigjames8026

9 ай бұрын

@@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur sorry I just dont see it, I think you've done a good job of getting people to click on your video though 🤷‍♂️

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

@@craigjames8026 I did this model when I started my teddy bear business.

@FergalByrne

9 ай бұрын

James is correct, this is being done every day by people following a similar plan. It can be extremely hard to do on your own for the first time, so you might want to do more saving up before kicking off the risky bits. Also if you can find a mini-James who can mentor/correct/bully you that can be invaluable. It’s something I’d recommend you try once at least and you might discover you’re a serial entrepreneur like the Big Lad.

@craigjames8026

9 ай бұрын

​​@@FergalByrneI own 6 properties and have over £70,000.00 in the bank. These arent 'simple' steps. Sell stationary to a school? Fly to a manufacturer? Customise your stationary? Sounds like a load of bs if you ask me, complete clickbait. If James could build a million pound business within 12 months, he'd be doing that right now rather than spending the time filming the video?

Whens the next day/week in the life video coming?!

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

We will be on this soon, I’ve been out in China so we’re back on the ground now.

Hi James, great vid again. 👍 But....... AmEX????!!! Seriously! You said you use it all the time, where? No one really accepts in the UK, due to their sky high fees. Is this an appropriate partner to have? Not very frugal for most SMEs to offer them as a payment option.

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

I pay all my Facebook ads, google ads, soft-ware and fuel. I convert that to travel points. Here’s a live example, for my last trip to China, I spent £800 plus my Amex points for return flights in business class ….. rather than 8k. Saving a big whack of costs for my business. That’s frugal baby.

@Drew262

9 ай бұрын

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur They charge merchants more than both Visa and Mastercard. That's not frugal. It may be frugal for you to use it with USA companies, but most UK places won't take it for everyday purchases. Is you fuel on account, or paid at station? Just looked at Teddytastic, and you advertise taking visa and Mastercard, even klarna, but not Amex. Same with Marsh Farm. Seems a very strange partner for the channel, when you don't advertise as accepting their cards at your own businesses. Not having a dig, as I know they will have paid you £££ and probably offered some speaking slots, and that's good for the brand. But it's a strange brand to partner with IMHO

@muckyeyes89

9 ай бұрын

@@Drew262 You must be dense, he uses AMEX for his expenses like most businesses do, as it allows you to collect points and pay balance after 50 days which eases cash flow. He is not advertising it for customer/merchant usage.

@Pete9071

9 ай бұрын

@@Drew262 He's saying for you to use the AMEX card to get the points ect, not to accept it on your website. If a business doesn't accept it, then just use your regular card, but lots of businesses do!

Top

somehow i instinctualy come with these method

Can you please make a video on why you are still in this influencing “job” while having so much slow pounds? It is a honest question, and I think it should be addressed

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

Because I honestly feel having a personal brand has opened more doors for my “slow pounds” and businesses than anything else I do. The contacts , deals I have and people I have employed because of this far out way anything I could have imagined. Plus I love speaking on stage at events and I love making content.

@S_vve

9 ай бұрын

@@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur sounds very similar to my story. Still in my case I go way less retail: I assume you will get a lot more noise

I thought network marketing meant multi level marketing

Yeah I agree with the comments. This isn’t exactly a realistic expectation of business. You say you did it with teddy bears but you already had running business & earning money. This is something full time that someone without knowledge would do. They would need to earn & learn at the same time.

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

I did say at the start of the vid. “ if I lost it all, here’s what I’d do next” I even said it at the start. I do believe in what I have said and if I had my brain on this full time - it’s highly achievable.

Sorry…. You spelt Stationary wrong! Stationery.

*Stationery

I can't see stationary moving very fast

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

Watch me baby.

@saleemrafiq11

9 ай бұрын

@@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur it was a joke bro, stationary as you spelled it means standing still.

I love James and have been following for 3 years. But I feel this stuff is becoming a bit polished and losing its realness I enjoyed it so much before when it was not just an advert for seminars And when it was about what he did

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

We are doing more day in the life, docu stuff too. Just been amazingly busy recently. They’ll be out soon.

I really enjoy your videos, but creating content/studio around stationery.

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

I believe it will. Obvs not box biros. But stationery I know kids and teenagers will love.

@clivejefferies

9 ай бұрын

Are you basing it on current trends or trying to guage styles they generally like?

think your margin of times 5 is well off a spade costs me 90p im not selling it for £4.50

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

Maybe you’re selling the wrong product. Remember the video said we want to build “brand value” not an ice cube business that’s like a commodity. Having a brand allows us to sell at margin. Like Nike shoes. You can buy trainers for £20 but people pay £180. They’re getting times 5 and some.

Good video, really enjoy the consistency with your "proprietary language" keeps it simple for my simple brain and i find my self using it in my businesses. PS Will wire you 10k now james, see you in September 2024 to collect thr profit and a free pen.

First

Paperchase.

you do not need any money to start most business's. i have started a few companies with £0, just get customers to pay first

Who’s going to pre order a ruler 90 days before they can have it? Used to value your content James but gone down hill.

@JamesSinclairEntrepreneur

9 ай бұрын

I have done that many times. Sorry you’re not enjoying it anymore.