Million Dollar Weekend: Entrepreneurial Guide for Side Businesses

Grant shares insights from "Million Dollar Weekend" about starting a side business efficiently and aligning conditions for success.

### "Million Dollar Weekend": A Practical Guide to Starting a Side Business in 48 Hours
* 📚 "Million Dollar Weekend" is a popular overseas book that provides a **step-by-step guide on establishing a side business within 48 hours**, authored by Noah Kagan, an American serial entrepreneur.
* 💼 Maintaining a full-time job while starting a side business is a recommended approach, especially for individuals not familiar with **stock investments** or those with **family and children**.
* 💡 The book outlines three chapters: **start, build, and grow**, focusing on **coming up with business ideas, validating them, and finding paying customers**.
* 🐕 The recommended approach to generating business ideas is the "**customer-first**" approach, which involves identifying problems through conversations with people, rather than spending time and money on ideas that may not be viable.
* 🏠 Grant applied the book's methods to identify two business ideas: **simplifying the home renovation planning process** and **creating a buddy system for achieving personal goals**.
* 📈 Practical steps for validating business ideas include using **Google Trends or Facebook Ads for market validation** and finding **three paying customers within 48 hours**.
* 🧘 After studying Buddhism, Grant learned to **evaluate the readiness of conditions for starting a business**, let go of the ego, and seek guidance by **reciting Buddha's name to determine the right timing**.
* 🤝 Grant shared his belief that the habit of giving and helping others can create a protective force that manifests as **unexpected opportunities and blessings** in times of need.

Today I want to introduce to you this book that has been very popular overseas recently called Million Dollar Weekend. It is a practical manual that guides you step by step on how to establish a side business within 48 hours. The author has succeeded seven times himself and has also helped many others succeed. I will also share my own experience of learning about financial planning initially and then unexpectedly starting a side business. Lastly, I will share as a practitioner, what tools can be used to determine if entrepreneurship is suitable, and when is the right time to start a business. Hello everyone, I am Grant. Welcome back to this channel. Today, I want to talk to you all about the second part of financial planning, which is about where exactly the supportive conditions come from. Many friends ask me how specifically my income increased. My initial experience was to take care of my main job and start running a side business. I believe that besides changing oneself internally through practice, wealth still needs to manifest through changes in conditions. So, if we only discuss the cultivation of the mind.

For example, after we have learned the Four Lessons, we may become more generous, less selfish, and more caring for others. If we don't discuss how income actually increases on the level of cause and effect, the whole story may lose a bit of credibility or operability. We know that when giving, we should not expect anything in return and should let go of all calculations. Okay, we can practice this slowly. But from the perspective of worldly methods, if opportunities are actually around you, why not learn about what tools can be used to identify these opportunities and make blessings manifest? Recently, a new book was released abroad called Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan, an American serial entrepreneur who was the 30th employee at Facebook but later got fired. It was precisely because of his firing that he had a series of brilliant entrepreneurial processes. So today, I will summarize some key points from it and share them with everyone. I think in terms of increasing wealth,

Maintaining a full-time job while starting a side business, I think it's a pretty good choice. Personally, I'm not that familiar with investing in stocks, and I also have a family and kids. It's not possible for me to quit my job and start a business immediately. Therefore, having a stable full-time job along with a side business, I think, is a great choice. Now, this book is divided into three chapters: start, build, and grow. Today, we will focus on the first two, start and build. First, the author shared how to come up with business ideas. The basic principle is that he believes all business opportunities should come from conversations with people. Don't sit around thinking of business ideas. It's best to encounter problems in your own life or in your work and social environment. He gave a good example. Suppose you want to create an app for dog owners. There are two ways. The first is the so-called founder's approach. What are the steps for that? First.

You might have spent several hours at home thinking about what features this dog-raising app has. Next, you might spend money asking a friend to design a cool logo. Then, you might invest ten thousand dollars to establish a company and another twenty thousand to hire an accountant for bookkeeping. Next, you may consider joining an app development workshop and realize, Wow, developing an app is quite challenging. Following that, you will buy a cool domain name and start looking for an app developer to outsource. Later, you realize it's very expensive, and in the end, you give up. This is what we call the founder's approach. A better recommendation is the customer-first approach. Step one, call three friends who have dogs and ask if they are willing to pay you to walk their dogs. Step two, the result shows that these friends have no issue with dog-walking itself; their problem lies in not having anyone to take care of their dogs when they travel or go on business trips.

So, you asked them when the next business trip would be, and requested some advance payment. When the time came, you would take care of their dog. Suddenly, you had your first income from the business. Reflecting on myself, the first time I thought about starting a business was probably around 1819. At that time, because I had been in the energy industry for a while and was quite familiar with it, I had seen many developers who actually made money. So, I was a bit naive and wishful thinking, thinking that I could start a business too. So, I found a few potential shareholders, set up a company, and planned out the business cards. I remember being so naive that I didn't even have the first order yet, but I was happily thinking about how to draw the company's organizational chart and design the business card. After talking for a while outside, I realized it was really competitive, and I couldn't close the first deal. Either the roof was suddenly found to have illegal structures.

Either the homeowner suddenly changed his mind and said he wouldn't rent it out. After a while, he felt it wouldn't work. It could cause trouble for families with children. So, after a few months, I obediently went to work. The mood in the first few months of going to work was actually quite stable. I was content. I didn't think about looking for other opportunities or doing side jobs. But one day, on a weekend, while chatting with a friend, I suddenly realized that one of my friend's cases couldn't get off the ground because he was facing a problem of not finding investors' support. At that moment, I had a sudden inspiration. I felt like I had the resources, connections, and skills to help him complete this task. So, I quickly took advantage of that weekend, even working late into the night during a business trip abroad, preparing presentations, brainstorming, building financial models, and so on. After a few months, the client found the investment and the terms were all settled.

I haven't even set up the company yet, and the clients are already ready to pay me. Looking back at this book now, it also confirms a few take-outs I feel. First, Buddhism talks about causality. If you are just wishful thinking about starting a business but actually haven't seen some friends' pain points around you, your own pain points, then at this time, it may indicate that the conditions are not sufficient yet. Don't act first. Wait for the conditions to come. Even if it's midnight, even if you're on a business trip, even if you're on vacation, the clients will push you to come up with a solution. So don't rush. First, evaluate how the conditions are. Second, let go of the ego. The example just mentioned in the book is very good, which is never to use the founder's approach but to use the customer-first approach. I think from our perspective of learning Buddhism, it means that when we are determined to start a business, we only see the good side. We think, Wow, I want to be the focus as a boss. At this time, you completely overlook where the customer's pain points are. You should first let go of yourself.

First, think about how to help others solve their problems. When you realize that you have the ability, resources, and skills to help solve someone else's problems, naturally, this business opportunity arises. At this point, you can then charge a reasonable profit. I think this aligns quite well with Buddhist thinking. Now, let's go back to how to come up with ideas. I actually applied the methods mentioned by the author in the book. For example, think about your surrounding environment. For instance, this morning, did you find any steps a bit inconvenient or annoying? Or in your to-do list, is there something that has been postponed for a long time, or something you keep doing but not doing well? Make a list of these problems and think about them carefully. I tried this out and came up with two points. I currently have an old house that needs to be renovated. It's an old house of over thirty years. The issue I encountered is that every time I start looking at various renovation plans online, I lose patience after about 10 minutes because ten minutes have passed.

I still can't see the price. I also can't see the scope of his construction, so every time 10 minutes pass, I give up. So, I was thinking, if today I can simplify this process. Suppose I just send a photo over. For example, suppose I like Nordic style. Then the homeowner can see my needs, match some background information, quickly reply to me with three price options (high, medium, low) and a quotation, as well as an approximate construction time. I think I should contact him soon. The second pain point is related to practice. In the early stages of my practice, I often felt like I was always in the middle of slackening and regressing until later, good knowledge began to appear around me. I was able to slowly control the slackening to a smaller degree of regression. Suppose in the past without good knowledge, it was regressing a hundred steps further. Now with good knowledge, it is regressing ten steps further. I think you should understand my feelings. So, I'm thinking, if there is a function that can help me find companions, these companions are not necessarily related to practice.

Possibly financial discipline or physical health, etc. Imagine having a real person who can regularly act as your so-called Buddy to remind and push you to follow through on your health, financial, or other scheduled progress every day or week, urging you to achieve the annual goal you set for yourself in early 2024. They would encourage you if you succeed, but if you fail, they would deduct the money you initially deposited. I think I would really start to make great progress. Now, onto the second practical step, we need to confirm the commercial scale of this idea. The author mentioned using Google Trends or Facebook Ads for confirmation. For example, we can actually check Google Trends in recent years for the popularity of home decoration or renovation, as well as what was just mentioned, like counseling. How popular are these two keywords? We can indeed see that the search popularity of these two ideas has been consistently increasing in the past five or ten years. Moving on to the third verification step, which I find extremely practical, you need to verify whether your idea actually has business opportunities.

The most effective way, this is also a condensed essence after the author's extensive experience. He believes that your idea must find three customers willing to pay you within the next 48 hours using this plan. How to get these three customers? You can start by asking friends and family around you. No problem. Not just asking if they are interested, but asking if they are willing to pay money to buy into this plan. In the past, everyone would politely say they are interested, but when asked if they are willing to pay, everyone would say, Let me think about it. This indicates that the business opportunity did not pass the test. So, last week, I actually tested these two plans on a few friends, and indeed, two or three friends were willing to pay a deposit immediately. So, I have a rough sense that this idea may be feasible. The next step is to come up with your solution. Here, I think this author...

One regrettable aspect is that he didn't delve much into this part in the book. However, he probably mentioned that the solution you design must be somewhat related to your own experience and skills. For example, if you happen to know a little about interior design, or if you understand a bit of psychological counseling, or app design, these could all become entrepreneurial ideas. In the end, the book mentioned that as long as you continue with these few processes - idea generation, confirming market valuation, confirming if there are paying customers - you will have 52 business ideas in a year. He said not to underestimate this process. Many big companies nowadays, like Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft, all went through similar processes in the beginning. Here I want to share a few of my perspectives after studying Buddhism. The feeling I had when I started my business was that I felt entrepreneurship is something that consumes a lot of sixth consciousness energy because it requires continuous expenditure of mental and physical energy to forge ahead. I think now, after studying Buddhism, I will rearrange things.

Discovering this would disrupt your peace of mind. For example, if you do this and encounter difficulties all the way, unable to find customers, leading to self-doubt, then I would slow down a bit, indicating that the conditions are not yet ripe. Noah provided a method here: within 48 hours, find three customers willing to pay you. I think it's a very efficient and quick way to verify. Secondly, as I mentioned earlier, when the conditions are truly ripe, from identifying the customer's pain points to thinking about resources, skills, and coming up with solutions, it won't take too long in between. And you will feel like everything is happening naturally. Thirdly, what I find amazing is a method taught to me by a senior on the channel, relying on reciting Buddha's name to determine whether something can be done. Before deciding, calm your mind and recite Buddha's name for a while. If you keep feeling noise and confusion during the recitation, unable to settle your mind, then it indicates that this may not be the right time for this matter to come to fruition.

However, if you are chanting the Buddha's name smoothly and vigorously, very pure and joyful, it means that the conditions for this matter may gradually come together. You can give it a try. I think it's fantastic. This aligns with all the teachings of Buddhism. Just seek within your heart, that's the way. Finally, going back to my personal experience, when I started this side business and made some money after a few years, I felt a shift in the industry. I wanted to close this side business, so I handed the company over to someone else. The incredible thing was that after transferring the company to someone else, during a job transition period, I received a call from a client asking if I was willing to take on a consulting role. At that time, I honestly told him that I had found a new job and would be starting soon, so I might not have time for this role. But the client said it was okay and accepted me to work part-time. It was truly miraculous. After the previous side business ended, I didn't even think about starting a second one.

The second sideline has emerged on its own, so my feeling is that once this practice of giving becomes a habit, you may no longer feel like you are doing a good deed. In fact, the power of this kindness is quietly forming a protective force. When one day you encounter a situation with your wealth, this power will come to protect you. I think this corresponds to what I mentioned in a video. I really like the idea of organizations like the Apple Foundation, which is a social welfare organization. If you are willing to use your salary to help a family in urgent need when someone else's life, family health, or financial situation is in trouble, and you are willing to lend a hand, then conversely, when you have a problem, this force will come back to help you. That's all for today's sharing. Although the tone may have shifted a bit, I still hope it can be somewhat helpful to everyone. See you next time, bye-bye.

48小時內開始一個副業？-財佈施案例分享+ Million Dollar Weekend介紹

格蘭修行日記

The "Million Dollar Weekend" Book and Entrepreneurship

The book "Million Dollar Weekend" is a practical guide to starting a side business in 48 hours, based on the author's successful experiences.

The key points from the book include the importance of maintaining a full-time job while starting a side business and the three essential chapters: start, build, and grow.

The author emphasizes that all business ideas should stem from conversations with people and solving real-life problems.

The founder's approach to starting a business involves investing time and money without a clear customer base, often leading to frustration and giving up.

On the other hand, the customer-first approach focuses on meeting the needs of potential customers, generating income from the start.

Utilizing resources and skills to help someone else with their business can lead to success and fulfillment.

Business Insights from Buddhist Teachings

Buddhism emphasizes the importance of causality in starting a business, advising not to rush but to wait for the right conditions.

It also highlights the need to let go of the ego and prioritize a customer-first approach over a founder-centered mindset.

The practice of observing and addressing pain points in daily life can inspire business ideas, as seen in the example of simplifying the house renovation process and creating a support function for personal development.

The Potential of a Accountability Buddy for Goal Achievement

Having a personal accountability buddy to provide encouragement and consequences for goal achievement could significantly boost progress.

Using Google Trends or Facebook Ads to confirm the commercial viability of the idea shows a consistent increase in popularity for related keywords over the past few years.

The author also suggests finding three customers willing to pay for the service within 48 hours as a practical way to verify the business opportunity, which has been successful in a preliminary test.

The Impact of Entrepreneurship and Buddhism on Business Ideation

The book emphasizes the importance of personal experience and skills in designing entrepreneurial ideas.

It also highlights the significance of idea generation, market valuation, and finding paying customers in the entrepreneurial process.

Studying Buddhism has led to a new perspective on entrepreneurship, emphasizing the need to conserve mental and physical energy, verify ideas efficiently, and rely on inner peace to determine the right timing for business matters.

The Power of Kindness and Giving in Buddhism

Chanting the Buddha's name with pure and joyful intent may help bring about positive outcomes.

The speaker's personal experience reflects how giving and kindness can unexpectedly lead to new opportunities.

The concept of giving is believed to create a protective force that can benefit individuals in the future, as emphasized in Buddhism.