Social Enterprise Launch Kit: 12 Weeks From Idea To Impact

The world is changing. Businesses don't seem eager to affect social change and charities lack the tools they need to grow and provide larger and larger impact. Enter Social Enterprises, for-profit businesses which aim to tackle social and environmental problems.

Check Out Amazing Social Enterprises From All Over The World In The Resources Section

Your story is personal. Your story is powerful.

Your story is what underpins your social enterprise idea. It tells people why you do what you do, how it motivates you and what you intend to defeat.

Your story matters. Share it.

Exercise  (5 minutes):

Write down what your hero story is. What's the 'Nemesis' you're trying to defeat? How will you defeat it?

What's stopping you?

Finances? Your beliefs? Your confidence?

There's nothing that needs to stand in the way between you and making a difference in the world.

Exercise (5 minutes):

Write down what's stopping you right now. What's getting in your way? What beliefs are holding you back? How do you feel about 'Business', 'Money' and 'Profit'? Why haven't you started a business already?

Your promised land is the vision of the world you have.

It might be a world without poverty, it might be a world without disease, it's the ideal world you envision, free of the social and environmental problems that face us today...

And understanding it is an important step towards creating your social enterprise idea.

Exercise (5 minutes):

Write down what your promised land is. If you could have one impact on the world over your lifetime, what would it be? What kind of world would you like to leave behind? What's your 'What If?' question?

Check out an incredible change maker in the 'resources' section

Listen to the story behind the social entrepreneur we talk about in today's lesson in the Resources section below

When you're ready, let's get started with Social Enterprise Launch Kit on the next section. We'll be bringing together cutting-edge business tools and knowledge, adapting them to suit the needs of social entrepreneurs everywhere. Let's go!

My job here, is to give you a simple step-by-step process that you can use to start ANY business you set your mind to - and that’s no easy feat. Here, I talk about what to expect as you progress through this unparalleled 12 week course.

Congratulations! Welcome to The Social Enterprise Launch Kit!

We're going to cover a LOT of ground in the next 12 weeks - and we're going to get started immediately.

The course is set out into 5 modules which represent different stages in your launch progress.

Now, we're assuming here that you HAVE AN IDEA already.

If you don't, you should start with the "I'm Still Looking For An Idea" Quick Start Section, or the How To Find Your Social Enterprise Idea Bonus Video as you won't have to consider some of these lessons until you have one.

If you have an idea you'd like to work on already, then let's get started with the basics.

Some of the most common questions we get from students who are trying to launch their social enterprise, are about the LEGAL sides (choosing a legal structure, getting insurance) and FINANCES (how to fund your launch, how to manage your money during startup) - and so this is a good place to start the course.

We're doing the HARD STUFF first, to get these topics out of the way, and so they won't halt your progress or slow you down later on.

With that said, let's introduce the FIRST MODULE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE LAUNCH PHASE, which we'll explore over weeks 1 and 2:

In this first module, we'll cover:

Week 1:

• Problems with the Traditional Launch Model

• Methods of Funding Your Launch

• Legals Structures and Foundations

• Managing Your Money

Week 2:

• Managing Your Time

• Setting Personal Goals for Your Launch

• Reviewing Your Social Enterprise Idea

Lesson 1: The wrong way to launch...

In order for your launch to go well, we first need to dispel a few myths about the right way - and the WRONG way - to launch a business.

Launching a business has changed drastically in the last 15 years - we can now launch simpler, quicker and cheaper than ever - but we HAVE to approach it in a smart way.

With this lesson, we want to give you an idea of what you're aiming for by the end of your launch, and get rid of the old beliefs you have about how people are 'supposed' to start businesses.

The Traditional Launch Model is complex, expensive and slow. In this lesson, we talk about how to use a more effective method to launch your Social Enterprise: The Lean Launch Method.

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Download this presentation for future reference:

• Module 1 – Lesson 1: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Lesson 2: Methods of funding your launch...

So now you know what you're looking to achieve in your launch phase. It's about keeping the plan simple, quick and cheap, and getting your ideas in front of potential customers as quickly as possible.

Because, let's be honest, you never know if other people will want what you're trying to offer until you ask them.

So let's now move on to another critical consideration when putting together your launch plan. How you're going to FUND your launch.

Should you get a bank loan? Should you go after funding? Or should you simply fund yourself?

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Download this presentation for future reference:

• Module 1 – Lesson 2: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Thinking about using funding to launch your business?

Don't get stuck in the 'funding trap'!

If you're thinking about launching your business using funding, I can understand why - it seems like free money.

But of course, nothing is that easy.

I recommend checking out this bonus lesson on Avoiding The FUNDING TRAP before you decide!

There are many ways you can fund your launch:

• Self-funding

• External funding

• Business loans

• Grants

Each of these have their strengths and weaknesses, as you've seen in today's lesson.

We strongly recommend that you consider funding yourself through your launch period.

Funding and Grants are great if you can access them, but they usually require EVIDENCE that your business is already up and running - and working.

Business Loans are really expensive - and they come with a lot of pressure to get your business model right and working straight away. This can be crippling, especially if this is your first business.

Your launch doesn't have to be expensive. In fact, we're aiming for a plan that's simple, quick and cheap to launch.

We want to get your idea in front of paying customers quickly, so you can get real feedback, and validate your idea.

Funding yourself allows you to make mistakes, and take it at your own pace. This is really important because starting a business can come with a steep learning curve...

Give yourself the freedom and the time to do the best job possible.

And don't you dare take on debt to test out your idea...

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Decision Point!

• Time to decide how you'll fund your business. Do you have to use a bank loan or funding? Or can you simply fund yourself?​

• We strongly recommend that you fund yourself, while keeping your plan simple, quick and cheap. If you decide to apply for a business loan or funding, at the very least, you'll be waiting months to get started.

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You don't have to work it out just yet, but decisions create MOMENTUM in your business - and momentum alone can mean the difference between launching SOMETHING, and not launching at all.

Lesson 3: Legal structures and insurance...

Good job on your progress so far - keep it up!

So by now, you should have a better understanding of how you can fund your launch - and hopefully you've decided how you're going to make that happen.

There'll be more research to do, of course, but the important thing is making the decisions that you need to make as you go.

Decisions create momentum that help propel you towards the finish line - so get used to making decisions!

In some cases you'll need to do more research before you can make a good decision about the approach you'll take - and that's a good thing. But if too many of these 'needs more research' questions come up, your launch momentum will slow to a halt - trust me.

I've found that when it comes to launching your business ideas, the worst outcome isn't caused a bad decision, but no decision at all.

A bad decision is usually reversible. No decision means no progress - and often, it leads to abandoning your ideas altogether. Which I hate seeing.

So let's avoid that, shall we?

With that said, let's move on to the second subject that - if not decided on - can seriously slow your progress, and something that stops most people launching anything at all... That's why it's so important that we talk about this now.

Yes, my friends, it's time to talk about LEGAL STRUCTURES.

Here, we'll also talk about insurance, certification and other legal sides you'll need to bear in mind as you launch your business.

Let's get started on today's lesson.

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Download this presentation for future reference:

• Module 1 – Lesson 3: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Legal considerations can be important if you're looking for a co-founder, or have one already. Make sure you're covered in the worst-case scenario!

Have you got a co-founder? Are you looking for one?

If so, I recommend checking out this bonus lesson on What to look for in a good CO-FOUNDER!

What legal structure should you use when setting up your social enterprise?

In this lesson, we gave advice about the different legal structures available to you and a few recommendations about what you should look for.

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Decision point!

• Which legal structures do you think would be most suitable for your business? Try to narrow the options down to 1 or 2 which you'll research in more detail before coming to a decision.

• Be careful - every country comes with different laws, legal structures and regulations, so make sure you look at the laws for your own country before committing!​

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Note down this questions along with any decisions you've made. If you don't have immediate answers, make a note to come back to this later, when you're closer to launching.

Remember...

You don't have to work it out just yet, but decisions create MOMENTUM in your business - and momentum alone can mean the difference between launching SOMETHING, and not launching at all.

Lesson 4: Managing Your Money...

​Great stuff! Now, I know this first week can be quite intense, but it's really important to the rest of your launch preparations that we talk about it first.

Really these topics lay the foundations for a successful launch, by helping you understand the way you'll approach your business plan.

As always, the name of the game at this stage is to keep your plan simple, quick and cheap, so keep that in mind as you progress through the lessons.

You may not have settled on a legal structure yet, and you probably haven't had time to research your options - and that's fine.

For now, let's move on and talk about managing your money. You're going to need a plan of what to do with the money you receive as a business early on - and that's what we're covering today.

Managing your money as a business sounds difficult, but really, if you can manage your own personal money, you can manage the money in your business - it's no different.

With that said, let's look at your options in today's lesson

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• Module 1 – Lesson 4: Presentation PDF (see resources)

At this point, there are a few decisions you need to make about how you'll manage your money as you launch your business:

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Decision Point!

• Will you carry on working while building your business?
  I recommend that you do. It makes the learning curve less steep, it means you don't have to worry covering your personal expenses - and you can still get a lot done, provided you can set aside some regular, dedicated time to work on your business.
  We'll cover this in more detail next week.
  

• How much money will you set aside to start your business idea?
  What we're basically asking here is: What do you think you can afford to spend on setting up your business?
  A rough figure here is fine, and it doesn't need to be a lot of money. I've found that the majority of my students are able to get their business started for under $500 (and sometime a lot less than that) provided that you keep your plan simple, quick and cheap, and you keep an eye on what you're purchasing.
  

• Where will you keep the money you spend on (and earn from) your business?
  You'll need to keep your personal and business finances separate, so make sure you get something in place (like a separate bank account) before you start trading.
  If you've decided to be a sole trader (or sole proprietor) during your launch period, you can often use a personal bank account instead of a business bank account to use just for your business.
  Using a personal bank account is usually a simpler and cheaper option, so if you are a sole trader, it's worth going this route.

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Note down these questions along with any decisions you've made. If you don't have immediate answers to some of these question, make a note to come back to them later, when you're closer to launching.

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Remember...

You don't have to work everything out just yet, but decisions create MOMENTUM in your business - and momentum alone can mean the difference between launching SOMETHING, and not launching at all.

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You'll also need to keep a record of what you spend on your business, and any money that you earn from sales - so hold on to your receipts, invoices or anything else that says how much money was spent (or earned), and where it came from.

The easiest way of keeping hold of receipts? I recommend making all of your business purchases online (if that's an option for you) - that way you're always emailed a receipt. It means less paper, and it gives you an easy way to search for a receipt later on.

Recording your business income and expenses is a process called bookkeeping.

Right now, you don't need to know too much about bookkeeping, but you should make an effort to learn the basics before you launch.

I would recommend looking around for local courses on bookkeeping, and also contacting local business groups about it, but...

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Be Careful!

The regulations can change from country to country (or from state to state) so make sure you find support which is local to you. If you have any questions, you should consult a local business advice group, or local accountant.
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Later on, you may decide to use bookkeeping software to help you keep track of your business purchases and earnings. Don't worry, that can sound scary, but bookkeeping software is designed to be easy to use, and each platform will come with guidance to help you log your transactions properly.

I would avoid getting any expensive accounting software just yet - you should try and keep your expenses to a minimum until you're making money from your business.

I typically don't recommend using bookkeeping software until you start making sales in your business - but in the meantime you should make sure you hang on to receipts for any business-related purchases you make.

If you do want to check them out, here are a few of the bookkeeping platforms I mention in today's lesson:

You may want to use one of these bookkeeping platforms:

• Xero - Professional Business Accounting Software

• Fresh Books - Small Business Accounting Software

• Quick Books - Another Widely Used Accounting Software

Good luck, and let us know how you get on. On the next screen, we'll recap on your homework for this week!

Lesson 5: Managing your time...

Using your time effectively is everything when you're a small business.

Ever heard the phrase 'Cash-rich, Time-poor'? Well startups are cash-poor, time-poor.

That means you need to make sure you only work on the most important tasks - the ones that push the business forward the most - the ones that 'move the needle'.

That also means you have to waste as little time as possible.

Let's crack straight on with today's lesson

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Download this presentation for future reference:

• Module 1 – Lesson 5: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Today's lesson contains some important lessons in how to get the most out of each day that you're working on your business.

And remember, keep that momentum going! It's most important asset you have right now.​

Decision points!

When will you put aside time to work on your business?

You need a regular chunk of time you can dedicate to working on your business idea, and pushing it forward. Keeping this slot as a regular slot on your calendar will make sure that you keep that progress going!

So when will you work on the business? Can you find an hour before you go to work? Can you find some time at the weekend? Can you find time in the evenings?

You might be thinking to yourself - I'm too busy to fit in more things - but that's a load of rubbish. It does take some discipline, but if it's important to you, you'll make the time to work on your business.

You don't need to set aside hours and hours, just make sure you put in time every single week, and you'll be launching in no time.

Where will you keep track of the tasks you need to complete?

Keeping track of all of your tasks will help you understand what's left on the list, and what the biggest priority is. Don't keep it all in your head - write the tasks down somewhere.

Some people prefer to use software, and some prefer to use paper. Use something you know you'll stick with.

Here are a few resources I mention in today's lesson that will help you manage your time effectively:

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Start managing your tasks more effectively:

• Google Calendar - Free Online Calendar

• Todoist - Free Online Task Management App

One more thing to talk about here...

Should you work alongside setting up a business?

Working alongside starting a business can seem like hard work, but it comes with a lot of benefits.

If you're asking yourself this question, I recommend checking out this bonus lesson on WORKING Alongside Starting A Business!

Lesson 6: Setting yourself goals...

So you know the importance of keeping track of the tracks you need to complete to push your business forward...

But how do you decide which tasks are important to your business - and to you?

You need to make sure you have a solid goal in mind.

Think of it like a guiding light. Having a goal makes sure you always know what's important, and what's not important right now.

It prevents you from getting overwhelmed too - which is the main cause of people giving up on their plans.

With that said, let's learn about goal setting in today's lesson

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• Module 1 – Lesson 6: Presentation PDF (see resources)

You should set goals which are relevant to your experience.

If you've set up a business before, you might want to set yourself customer or income targets.

If you've never set up a business before, you should set yourself personal goals - things that you'd be proud to achieve.

That might be as simple as registering your business, or finding your first paying customers.

Keeping it something that you're personally motivated by will help you stay positive during the early stages of your business. Progress is progress, regardless of what it looks like.

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Keep in mind...

It makes sense to set SMART goals. SMART goals are:

• Specific
  This means keeping what you're trying to achieve clear. This will help you stay on track.

• Measurable
  This means choosing a goal which is quantifiable. For example, instead of 'get paying customers' you might choose 'get 5 paying customers'.

• Achievable
  Something you can actually do, and you know more or less how to approach it. This will stop you setting unrealistic goals which might leave you feeling overwhelmed when you're things aren't going your way.

• Relevant
  Your goals should all build towards a core mission, so choosing which goals to pursue is really important. Don't do anything which doesn't directly progress your core mission.

• Time-based
  Set deadlines. This will help you understand when things are taking a lot longer than you thought - which is often a warning sign that you're overcomplicating the task. If you overrun your deadline, this is a chance to pause and reflect, and decide if it's still worth working on.

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A tip here is to set short deadlines. Think about what you can achieve in the next 2 weeks, not 2 months. Humans are terrible at estimating long projects, but they're usually much better at estimating short projects.

A series of quick wins will help you keep the momentum up in your business, and help keep you energized. After all, seeing your project take shape is exciting!

Before moving on to the next lesson, I'd take some time to think about what your own goals should be - and when you're ready, let's review your business idea as it stands right now...

Lesson 7: Refining your idea...

We've set goals, and we've set aside some time to achieve them.

Now it's time to strip back your idea to it's simplest form, and create an action plan - something you can actually take and launch.

Many social entrepreneurs make the mistake of overcomplicating their idea. The reality is, the more complicated it is, the harder it will be to launch.

Right now, we need simple - complexity can come with time.

Let's learn about this concept in a bit more detail from today's lesson.

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• Module 1 – Lesson 7: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Now the fun begins! Welcome back to week 3...

We've learned an awful lot in the last 2 weeks of the course, and hopefully you're building up some confidence in your own abilities. You should be, you're doing great.

We've learned a lot so far, but only we're just getting started.

Over the next few weeks we'll be building up your business plan by making sure you understand how every part of your business will work.

And it all starts this week, where we'll be talking about your business model, and the cause you want to support with your social enterprise.

This marks the start of Module 2 - Planning Out Your Business Model, which forms the bulk of the course itself.

We'll be looking at, researching and refining every part of your business until you have an award winning business idea on your hands.

Here's an overview of everything we'll be covering in this module, and over the next month or so of lessons.

So it's official...

Welcome to Module 2: Planning Out Your Business Model!

In this module, we'll be covering:

THIS WEEK - Business Fundamentals - Part 1

• Outlining Your Business Model

• Picking The Right Cause

Week 4 - Business Fundamentals - Part 2

• Finding The Right Customer

• Creating The Right Product / Service

Week 5 - Beating The Competition

• Beating The Competition

• Crafting The Right Message

Week 6 - Getting Your First Sales

• Reaching Your Customers Simply, Quickly And Cheaply

• Making The Right Promotional Materials

Week 7 - Making A Profit

• Delivering Your Products / Services

• Understanding The Costs In Your Business

• Finding A Revenue Stream And Making Sales From Day 1

Lesson 1: Outlining your business model...

Your BUSINESS MODEL is a simplified look at how your business functions - what you provide, who you provide it to, how you'll make money and how you'll use that money to deliver an impact.

We've already laid some of the foundations for this last week, when we talked about refining your business idea as it stands right now - and most importantly, simplifying it.

Now we'll take the opposite approach. We're going to flesh out your business idea in as much detail as possible.

This will help you identify the strong and weak parts of you business plan - in other words, what you've worked out, and what you haven't worked out yet.

So let's have a look at the questions that you'll need to answer about your business idea.

When drawing out a business model, what should you include? What do you need to focus on? What don't you need?

We've asked you a lot of questions in this lesson, but don't get overwhelmed. We're merely trying to work out what you've already thought about, and what you haven't thought about yet!

Together, we'll be answering ALL of these questions over the next few weeks of the course, so don't sweat it.

Remember to think about what's essential in your plan (the 'need-to-haves') and what's not essential right now (the 'nice-to-haves').

Right now, we want to find a way to launch ONLY with the need-to-haves - the essentials.

That will make sure we're keeping your launch plan simple, quick and cheap.

The simpler, quicker and cheaper you can make your plan, the better!

That's it for now. Let's move on to talking about why you're setting up a social enterprise in the first place - your cause!​

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• Module 2 – Lesson 1: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Lesson 2: Supporting a cause...

In the last lesson, we asked you a lot of questions about your business idea, and by now, you should have an idea of what you know about, and what you haven't yet thought about.

This list is going to be important. Once you have well-considered answers for each of the questions, you have a working business model!

Over the next series of lessons we'll be helping you answer each of the questions, section-by-section...

And today is no exception. We're going to start off by looking at your cause in depth.

So who is your Social Enterprise going to help, and how is it going to help them?

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Let's recap on a few important points:

• Pick a single cause you're angry about.

• Make sure you understand the issues.

• Work out who else cares about this cause (people and organizations).

• Speak to people who suffer from this issue first-hand.

• Tackle a single problem, for a single community, in a single location.

• Keep your intended impact simple to deliver

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Download this presentation for future reference:

• Module 2 – Lesson 2: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Lesson 3: Finding your ideal customers...

Welcome to the first lesson of week 4, where we'll be talking about your customers. In this lesson, we'll cover some important questions like:

• Who are your ideal customers?

• How do you define your ideal customer?

• How do you make sure the assumptions you're making are correct?

In this video, we'll talk about distilling your perfect customer and creating an ideal customer avatar for your business.

That's right, don't target everyone.

You should be hyper-specific when defining who your ideal customer is. That doesn't mean we're going to stop anyone from buying from us, it just means that we have a customer in mind when we're building out our product or service, and that we're putting their opinions first - not ours.

• Pick someone who's needs - and wants - what you have to offer.

• Pick someone who's bought this before.

• Pick someone who can reach and easily afford your products or services.

• Pick someone who cares about your cause.

We'll be using your Ideal Customer Avatar to make sure that your launch goes well, so make sure you fill in the workbook provided with this lesson!

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• Module 2 – Lesson 3: Presentation PDF (see resources)

If you're looking for some advanced techniques to help you pick the right target audience for your business, I recommend checking out the following videos in the bonus content section (week 12) of this course

Lesson 4 + 5: Building your product or service...

Next up, it's time to look at your product or service in more detail.

Now you only have to watch one of these videos - just watch the one that's most appropriate to your business.

If you're planning on launching a product, watch the first video, and if you're launching a service, watch the second. I've also included a few takeaways and links below each video!

Building a product? Awesome, let's chat products.

What makes a great product?

How can we make sure our target market will love it?

Let's talk product design and testing.

Look for problems with existing products. What are other people complaining about online?

You can use this information to design your product around. That makes sure you're addressing a real market need, and that there are a group of people you can target straight away.

You should build your product around a single customer pain - something that's frustrating or a need that's unaddressed for customers right now.

There'll be a set of core features that you'll want to offer with your products to make sure it's fit for purpose. The essential features you build into your product should directly address the customer pain you're addressing. That's the cornerstone of a kick-butt product.

Next you'll need to work out how you're making or sourcing the products. If you're making them, you'll need to work out how you'll source the raw materials.

Keep it simple. Remember, the purpose of launching is to test the demand of what you want to sell, not necessarily to make a big profit.

Keep it cheap. Avoid large orders - find a manufacturer that allows you to order small quantities until you know you can sell it.

And make sure you follow the guidance at the end to work out if you've picked a great product to sell!

Here are a few links that might help you source a great product:

• Amazon Online Marketplace - A great place to source raw materials early on (see link in resources)

• Aliexpress - A Common Way Of Sourcing Your First Products (see link in resources)

• Alibaba - Many businesses end up sourcing from Alibaba later on (see link in resources)

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Download this presentation for future reference:​

• Module 2 – Lesson 4: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Download the workbook we've provided with this lesson:

• Workbook 10A: Ideal Product Workbook

Lesson 4 + 5: Building your product or service...

Next up, it's time to look at your product or service in more detail.

Now you only have to watch one of these videos - just watch the one that's most appropriate to your business.

If you're planning on launching a product, watch the first video, and if you're launching a service, watch the second. I've also included a few takeaways and links below each video!

Building a service? Great stuff, let's chat services.

What service are you going to provide?

What features will you include?

Let's talk service design and testing.

Like with our products lesson, look for problems with existing services. What are other people complaining about online?

You can use this information to design your service around. That makes sure you're addressing a real market need, and that there are a group of people you can target straight away.

You should build your service around a single customer pain - something that's frustrating or a need that's unaddressed for customers right now.

You should speak to real people about the rival services they use, and use online forums to help you do.

There'll be a set of core features that you'll want to offer with your services to make sure it's fit for purpose. The essential features you build into your service should directly address the customer pain you're addressing. That's the cornerstone of a kick-butt service.

Do you have the skills to provide the service yourself?

If you'll need to learn the skills before you start, I recommend using Udemy, listed below.

If you haven't had professional experience doing it before, think about offering it for free or for a large discount to build up some experience.

Here's a tip: 2-3 projects are fine for experience before you start charging a better price. Don't get stuck in the hole of constantly offering free work!

You may also want to tier your service, for example, offering a bronze, silver and gold level service, each with different prices and features. It makes buying your service a lot easier for customers.

Good luck with building your service, and always seek real feedback before you start offering it!

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Download this presentation for future reference:

• Module 2 – Lesson 5: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Download the workbook we've provided with this lesson:​

• Workbook 10B: Ideal Service Workbook

Lesson 6: Outperforming the competition...

Welcome to the first lesson of the week, where we'll be talking about your competition, in other words, other companies that are offering similar things to you.

In this lesson, we'll cover some important questions like:

• Who are your competitors?

• What are they doing well?

• What are they doing badly?

• How can you be different - and better - than them?

Today, we'll talk about analysing the competition so that you can find a unique way to be the best in the world.

You should find a couple of companies that you think represent a direct competitor to your business - someone who provides something similar to you.

Try and find a few larger companies, and a few smaller ones. It doesn't matter if they're a social enterprise or not, if they sell something similar to you, then that counts.

Next, you should find out what people like and dislike about them using online forums and reviews.

Find one thing people dislike about your competitors and turn that weakness into your biggest strength.

That will make sure that there's a single, defining characteristic that your customers will know you for. That will ensure your customers will come back to you over and over again.

And remember, compete on quality, not price! Never aim to be the cheapest option on the market. It's not a good strategy.

Use the "I'll provide the most [blank] [blank]" structure explained in the video to make sure your unique strength is easy to understand - both for yourself, and very soon, your customers.

That wraps it up for this lesson. In the next lesson, we'll look at your messaging in more detail!

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• Module 2 – Lesson 6: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Lesson 7: Crafting your brand...

How will you communicate what you do to customers?

How will they know what your business does when they see it listed?

Today, let's talk about messaging and how a successful Social Enterprise should communicate with its' customers.

Your name and tagline should reflect the three most important things you have to communicate about your business:

1. What you do

2. How you're different or better

3. Why you do what you do

Good communication is about keeping your message simple. Use simple, clear words to communicate your message.

Using large, verbose words is a symptom that you haven't refined your message enough. Just tell us about your business in the simplest way possible - and be specific.

Sometimes this means you'll have to decide what you do, and what you don't do. What you stand for, and what you don't stand for.

Embrace it. You don't have to get your message right straight away, and often your business name will change over time.

If you think it's a great name, then it probably is - but it pays to get feedback from people who represent an ideal customer for your business.

Here are a few links which we mentioned in today's lesson:

• GiveMeTap - A social enterprise that sells refillable water bottles (see link in resources)

• LeanDomainSearch - A website that will help you come up with business names (see link in resources)

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• Module 2 – Lesson 7: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Lesson 8: Grabbing the right attention...

Where do your ideal customers spend their time?

What should you avoid when it comes to selling your stuff?

Let's talk about the right and wrong ways of finding your first customers.

We've got a couple of smart ways of getting your first sales in today's lesson...

You can use pre-sell your products and services - selling them for a big discount before you have them ready. That's a smart way of testing the demand for your stuff, before you've got all the kinks sorted out.

You can also use crowdfunding platforms, but it usually requires that you've built up an audience already.

By far the quickest way of making your first sales is to tap into a platform with an existing audience already - and we explain how on the lesson above.

Today, we're mainly focusing on how to attract customers. You should use a single, low-volume, highly-targeted marketing channel.

The specific channel you should use really depends on your business, but in general, you should go to where your ideal customers are already hanging out.

One of the simplest, quickest and cheapest ways of making your first sales is by using Facebook Groups - BUT ONLY if they're designed as buy/sell groups.

Whatever you choose, try out a couple of different approaches. You'll be able to see what works, and what doesn't work, fairly quickly.
Now is a great time to practice writing a sales pitch too - something you show to potential customers in the hope of attracting them into purchasing from you.

Start off by using the format shown in today's lesson, and write a quick 50-100 word explanation of what you do

• What you sell

• How you're different

• Why you do it

• Price

• Call to action

Here are a few resources we mention in today's lesson:

​Here are a few things to help you make your first sales:

• Kickstarter - A website that allows you to create crowdfunding campaigns (see link in resources)

• Etsy - An online marketplace for handmade products (see link in resources)

• eBay - An auction marketplace (see link in resources)

• MeetUp - A directory of local meeting groups - use if you sell to businesses (see link in resources)

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• Module 2 – Lesson 8: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Before you move on to the next lesson, here's something you should think about now:

Decision Point!

Time to choose a place that you'll promote your business and attract new customers.

​Will you use meeting groups? Online groups (like Facebook Groups or forums)? Local markets? Online marketplaces (like Etsy or eBay)?

Remember to go somewhere where your customers are already spending their time. Longer term strategies like building up a social media presence for your business, or building a website can wait for now.

But that about wraps it up for today.

Once you've decided on a method to attract new customers, move on to the next lesson on making promotional materials.

There's one more thing to talk about before you head over to the next lesson...

Are you struggling with your confidence? Don't worry, it's perfectly normal at this stage...

If this is you, I recommend checking out this bonus lesson on How To Get Over Your IMPOSTER SYNDROME!

Lesson 9: Making the sale...

By now, you should feel confident in platform you've chosen to attract new customers to your business. Now it's time to fill in the missing pieces.

Once we've attracted potential customers, we'll need a place to inform them about what we do, and we'll need a way to sell to them.

The answers to these questions might be obvious depending on how you're approaching customers - and they may not be.

Our job is to answer the outstanding questions you have in your mind about the attract, inform, sell process, and help you fill in the blanks.

We'll also take a look at what promotional materials you'll need to build before you can launch.

Actually, most of the time, building promotional materials isn't necessary - they're usually a nice-to-have item, and will contribute to a boost in sales. But to get your first few sales, they're probably unnecessary.

In any case, let's talk about all of those things in today's lesson, making promotional materials.

Good promotional materials will help your customers know, like and trust you. You can use them to educate the customer, help them understand their own needs, to demonstrate your authority, provide social proof, or to make the offer.

Don't make the mistake of over-preparing. Try and keep your plan simple, quick and cheap and don't prepare more than you need to. In your first few months, you can get away with a single, good promotional material.

Let's say you're a graphic designer, you may want to create a portfolio which shows off your previous work. That's enough to inform the customer about what you do, and to give them a way to contact you if they're interested in using your services. In this case, having a website isn't necessary right now - you'll be able to get clients without it.

There's a lot more information covered in the lesson itself - so go ahead and watch if you haven't done so already. You should download the workbook attached with today's lesson to help you in this process too!

Don't worry about building all of your promotional materials this week if you don't have the time - simply work out what you'll need to create before you can start promoting your business, and write it down in your task planner.

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• Module 2 – Lesson 9: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Lesson 10 + 11: Delivering on what you've promised...

Next up, it's time to look at how you'll deliver your products or services in more detail.

Just like one of the previous lessons, you only have to watch one of these videos - just watch the one that's most appropriate to your business.

If you're planning on launching a product, watch the first video, and if you're launching a service, watch the second. I've also included a few takeaways and links below each video!

With that said, let's get started on today's lesson.

If you're building a PRODUCT, think about what processes you'll need to set up to ensure that your goods are delivered to your buyers reliably and on-time?

Let's talk about how to deliver your products, from legal obligations through to purchasing packaging materials.

How will you get your products to your customers?

It's worth writing down your fulfilment process so it's clear in your mind. It should include:

Whether you'll use a courier. Use a courier that's cheap, and insured - and make sure you shop around!

How you'll package your products. Follow your courier's guidelines for preparing your products for shipping.

Include a customer invoice with every order to say what the customer bought and how much it cost.

What happens in the event of a customer complaint. Check your local laws to inform your policies and work out how and where a customer can get in touch with you if they have a complaint.

What happens in the event a customer asks for a refund. Again, check your local laws for what you're legally obligated to do at a minimum.

Write down how much delivering each item will cost. Include packaging and delivery costs - we'll pass these on to your customers if they select home delivery.

That's all for now. Go ahead and check out the next lesson when you've worked out your fulfilment process.

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• Module 2 – Lesson 10: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Lesson 10 + 11: Delivering on what you've promised...

Next up, it's time to look at how you'll deliver your products or services in more detail.

Just like one of the previous lessons, you only have to watch one of these videos - just watch the one that's most appropriate to your business.

If you're planning on launching a product, watch the first video, and if you're launching a service, watch the second. I've also included a few takeaways and links below each video!

With that said, let's get started on today's lesson.

If you're providing a SERVICE, how will you deliver it? Will your service be project-based? Are you selling to businesses (often called B2B)?

If so, the process of delivering your service will be a little more complicated, so let's talk about that in a bit more detail today.

What's the full process of delivering your service to a customer?

It's worth writing down your delivery process, especially if it's a longer service or you're providing services to businesses. You should include:

What you'll need to talk about in the initial conversation. Make sure you also talk about how you'll qualify customers before you proceed to the next steps.

What you'll need to talk about in the first meeting. This is typically where you discuss your client's needs.

Whether you'll need to prepare a proposal. This is usually the case if the service will cost more than $500.

How you'll conduct the service, including whether you'll have regular catchups with your client as the project progresses.

How you'll hand the work over to the client. Will you need to provide follow up training for staff?

How and when you'll charge your clients for the work conducted. Will you invoice monthly, or when the project is completed? Will you take a deposit upfront?

Here are a couple of pieces of software which will help you with the process:​

LINKS & RESOURCES

• Rocket Lawyer - Provides contract and proposal templates (see link in resources)

• Legal Zoom - Provides contract and proposal templates (see link in resources)

• Toggl - Time tracking app for digital services (see link in resources)

• Zoho Invoice - A great free online invoice generator and management platform (see link in resources)

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• Module 2 – Lesson 11: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Lesson 12: Calculating your costs...

It's that time - time to be brave enough to start looking at your business finances! In this lesson, we'll focus on your costs. We'll answer some important questions today, like:

How do you keep track of business costs?

What sort of costs should you expect to incur?
And how much will your final business plan cost to launch?

Let's calculate your real launch budget by explaining the three types of costs you'll have in your business - fixed costs, variable costs, and one-off costs.

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• Module 2 – Lesson 12: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Lesson 12 - Reference Sheet and Costs Calculator

There are three types of costs that are useful to understand about at this moment. Each category tells us something slightly different about our business, and we use them for calculations in slightly different ways - so it helps to keep them separate in your mind.

One of the first things you'll need to do here is to create a big list of all the costs that you'll need to pay for, in order to get your business launched.

When you're costing out your business plan, you should put each cost into one of three categories...

Lesson 13: Making a profit and delivering an impact...

This is a long lesson, so take your time as you go through it.

We've tried to simplify the calculations as much as we can, but at the end of the day, you'll still need to use MATH (duh duh DUHH...)

Before continuing with today's lesson..

Make sure you've worked your way through the exercises in the last lesson on costs. and have a few numbers handy:

• Your TOTAL VARIABLE COST: What each product or service will cost you to provide. (e.g. the money spent on sourcing each product, or travel expenses for delivering a service in person). This should be a total amount PER ITEM. A rough amount is fine, but don't guess, do your research.

• Your TOTAL FIXED COSTS: What you need to pay for each month, even if you made no products or services. (e.g. software that you pay for each month to run your business). This should be a total amount PER MONTH.

• Your REAL LAUNCH BUDGET: What it would cost in total to run your business for 3 months, including the costs to produce your first products or perform your first services. You should exclude any money you think you'll earn from making sales at this point, we're just looking for how much everything will cost you directly.

• Your TIME COST: How much time it takes you to deliver each product or complete service. You should include the time it takes you to source/make each product if you're producing it yourself. This should be a total amount of time PER ITEM.

Keep these numbers handy because we'll be using them in your calculations today.

With that said, let's talk about pricing, revenue and calculating how much you need to sell each month in order to make a profit.

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• Module 2 – Lesson 13: Presentation PDF (see resources)

That wraps it up for week 7! We've just learned everything we need to know to start any business - that's pretty exciting...

I'm so proud of you. You've made incredible progress through the course and you've created a viable business model - congratulations!

We've learned a lot this week, too.

We learned about how to actually deliver your products and services into the hands of paying customers.

We learned the basics of how to cost out your business plan.

And we learned how to set your pricing, and work out if you have a feasible business idea on your hands.

PHEW.

We've reached the end of the longest, and most important module of the course. We now know everything we need to know to launch your business successfully.

So let's ramp it up a gear.

It's time to launch it and put it out in the real world. Exciting!!

I can't wait to help you launch your business idea, and start making a real impact in the world.

Starting a business will change your life, and it represents the start of an incredible journey.

So be brave, get stuck in, and let's make real change happen in the world.

Check out these resources for more help on building your business model:

• Value Proposition Design by Strategyzer - The fundamentals of business design (see link in resources)

• Business Model Generation by Strategyzer - How to build a working business (see link in resources)

• The 1 Day Brand by Will Evans - Step by step process to creating a product brand (see link in resources)

• How Great Leaders Inspire Action - A TED Talk by Simon Sinek (see link in resources)

Let's get the party started! Welcome back to week 8...

Again, well done for making it through this far into the course - as you'll know, starting a business takes some guts, and a lot of hard work... but we want to make sure it happens for you, because starting a social enterprise really can change your life.

Just imagine the good that you'll be able to create in the world when everything you do positively impacts those around you... your customers, the people or causes you support with your social enterprise, and of course - yourself, too.

Starting a business makes you braver in virtually every area of your life - it's a wonderful experience.

But we're not done yet. Now we have to make all of our hard work count and see it through to completion.

Hopefully you've been following along with the tasks we set on the course, even if you hadn't had a chance to finish everything yet.

In fact, the chances are, you'll have a big to-do list sitting waiting for you.

The good news is, there's no more tasks to add to that list. That's it.

Now, we just need to help you get through your task list in the fastest time possible.

That's the focus of the module we're just about to start. It's about getting stuff done in record time, and putting your business into motion.

After all, pretty soon you'll have paying customers - and our job is to get you there in the fastest time possible.

So, it's official. Welcome to Module 3: Launching Your Business!

Here's what life will be like for you in week 8 and 9 of the course.

Don't worry if you feel a little overwhelmed after going through the last few weeks. Take the time you need to take.

If you need to rewatch any of the last module, please feel free to. But remember to get your butt back here so we can see your project through to completion!

We've got a nice easy two weeks planned for you after quite an intensive slog through building your business model:

In this module, we'll be covering:

• Turning Your Business Plan Into A Launch Checklist

• Setting Deadlines And Nailing Your To-Do List

• What Happens On Launch Day

• A Day In The Life Of Your Business After Launch

Click the button below when you're ready to get started with our first lesson this week, Creating Your Launch Checklist! See you in a moment:

Lesson 1: Making a launch checklist...

Let's talk about what you need to do before you can LAUNCH!

We've already set you all the tasks you need to complete - you'll be pleased to know that we won't be adding any more tasks to that list.

Now, we just need to get you through your task list in the fastest time possible.

The first step in that process?

Compiling a list of everything that you have left on your to-do list.

We want to make sure that every item on that list is only there because it's essential - and for that, we need to decide whether each task is...

• a need-to-have (important and urgent, something we absolutely have to complete before launching...

• or a nice-to-have (unnecessary, something we can do in the future)

Before you start, make sure you have your notes from previous lessons with you:

Dig out the notes you've taken so far, find the workbooks you've been using, or dig out your task planner to help you with this lesson.

With that said, let's get started on today's lesson.

Here's a complete list of workbooks that we've given you so far:

• Funding Infopack

• Legal Structures & Foundations Infopack

• Business Finances Infopack

• Task Planner

• Goal Planner

• Business Idea Workbook

• Launch Progress Workbook

• Social Impact Workbook

• Ideal Customer Workbook

• Product/Service Planner

• Competition Workbook

• Messaging Workbook

• Customer Acqusition Workbook

• Promotional Materials Planner

• Product/Service Delivery Workbook

• Costs Workbook

• Revenue & Sales Workbook

If you need to re-download any of these workbooks, feel free to jump back on previous lessons in the course to download a fresh copy. We recommend keeping a complete set with you.

The workbooks will tell you all the tasks you need to complete. The first step is to simply circle any incomplete tasks you have left.

Then you want to mark on each task whether it is a need-to-have or nice-to-have.

Here are a list of things that you absolutely need-to-have when you first launch your business:

• Product/service

• What/how/why

• Cost per item

• Price per item

• Attract/inform/sell

• Place to record finances

• Legal structure

Everything else you can mark as a nice-to-have item. These are things that you don't need to launch with, but you should build out as your business progresses.

Remember, keep your plan simple, quick and cheap! Our immediate goal is just to test if people want what you're offering. That's it.

The faster we can get here, the better.

In the next lesson, we'll work out when each one of these tasks will get done using a launch calendar. I'll see you there!

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• Module 3 – Lesson 1: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Lesson 2: Nailing your to-do list...

Any last minute nerves about launching? Let's blast them in today's lesson...

Looking back on the last eight weeks, are you making the kind of progress that you want to make?

What if we can get you through your remaining tasks in lightning speed?

That's the aim of today's lesson. Let's get started.

We've already worked out what tasks you have left, so now we need to look at some strategies for breaking down a big to-do list into more manageable chunks.

One strategy is to break your tasks down into key stages of your business that you need to complete.

Your list might look a bit like this:

1. Finish your basic idea... DONE

2. Promotion and selling... DONE

3. Costs, pricing and revenue... DONE

4. Legal structures and insurance... DONE

Then you should mark each of these key stages on a calendar to say when each part will be complete. That will make sure you're taking consistent action, and getting things done.

Another good idea is to set time limits on individual tasks. I recommend using online timers to help you with that, in particular, something called a pomodoro timer. This has been proven to dramatically increase your productivity - and productivity means MOMENTUM in your business.

So I definitely recommend you check it out:

Use pomodoro timers and time-tracking apps to help you get things done faster!

• Pomodoro Tracker - Online free-to-use pomodoro timer

• Toggl - Free time tracking software for your computer

Here are some other things you ask yourself:

• Is this task important AND urgent?

• Will this help me complete my goals?

• Do I need this RIGHT NOW?

Remember to cut that perfectionism out...

... and take MASSIVE, IMPERFECT ACTION.

That's the name of the game at this stage...

DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT!

Next, we'll recap on your homework for this week.

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• Module 3 – Lesson 2: Presentation PDF (see resources)

Feeling OVERWHELMED or burned-out?

Don't worry, it happens to all of us.

If you're feeling the strain, I recommend checking out this bonus lesson on Dealing With OVERWHELM And BURNOUT!