School for Startups Minutes

Hosted by jim@schoolforstartups.com (Jim Beach)

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300

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Aug 2026

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About the show

The short vignettes are taken from School for Startups Radio. We release a quick thought to motivate or educate you about a different facet of entrepreneurship every day.

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60 recent

September 7, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1065: Something that Makes Money 24/7

Welcome to the School for Startups Minute with Jim Beach. This week we are talking about labor, work itself. Yesterday, I suggested that if you were depressed or unhappy, the best thing you can do is work. I know that sounds crazy, but it gets you active, it gets you perhaps out of the house. It changes what your mind is thinking about, and it gives you a new reason to exist and to be happy and to be a useful person in society. People like that. It makes them feel better. I have one more thing to think about right after this. Build something that works even when you're not working. When you're asleep. There is nothing better than having money coming in from your electronic business, for example, or having employees around the world that are working even when you're on vacation. Building something that works for you to oversee is the best way to do it.

September 7, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1064: Work Makes Things Better

Welcome to the School for Startups Minute with Jim Beach. Work, labor, our jobs. These are such politically charged things. Some of us hate our jobs and refuse to think good things about them, and other people have amazing jobs that they're passionate about. The question is, what can I do to make my life better using the work that I have to do to make money? And there are so many things that you can do to make your life better if you're doing the right job. Anyway, this week we're talking about work. I have one more piece of advice to add right after this. If you are down, if you are depressed, if you are not happy, the best way to feel better about your life is work. If your body hurts, the best thing for you to do is to go outside and take a walk. Work makes things better. It makes you feel better about yourself.

September 7, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1062: Work No One Values

This week we are talking about work itself. How we work. Do we work smarter? Can we work harder? What are the important criteria by which we should evaluate the work that we do? I've already pointed out that working harder is not the goal. We don't want to work harder. We want to work less. And so that should be one of our stated goals. Stop doing work that no one values. If you're making a video series and a blog, and the video series is getting tons of traction and the blog is not, simply kill the blog. You need to ask with every single project: Does this add value to the customer? Is the customer willingly going to pay me for this project being done? If I organize this warehouse, will the customer care?

September 7, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1061: Don't Work Harder

I hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekend, the extra Monday off. It was designed to reward us for our hard work, for doing the labor that keeps the businesses going, and so they created a holiday for the laborers, the workers. And so I want to spend all week talking and thinking about that, work itself, the idea. I'm going to evaluate some of the basic premises that we hold dear about labor.And I think it'll be an interesting week. The goal isn't to work harder. The goal is to work smarter. Think about Henry Ford. He built the assembly line so that more work could get done per hour. As entrepreneurs and business people, we need to think, how can I make an hour of my time pay again and again and again?

August 31, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1060: Permission

This week, we've been talking about all of the things that you don't need to start a business. All you really need to do is get off the sofa and quit complaining and do some of the things we've suggested this week, and it doesn't include finding a new idea. Copy someone else's. And it doesn't include raising a bunch of money. Bootstrap for as little money as you can. There's one more thing on our list of things that you don't need to do. I'll share it with you right after this. The thing that you don't need to start a business is anyone's permission. All you have to do is get off the sofa, take your right hand, put it up in the air, and say, "Me. I am going to do it." Find some idea, finance it for as little as you can, get it started with your money as much as possible, and get going. The only thing that it takes is your initiative. No permission needed.

August 31, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1059: Perfect Product

This week, we are talking about 5 things you don't need to start a business. I've seen the entire list. I'm going to add one in right now, a bonus item. You don't need passion. It's great if you have it, but you don't need it to start a business. Maybe you can love the process and not the product. Anyway, back to the official list now. I have one more. I'm going to give it to you right after this commercial. All right, the official list. One thing that you don't need is a perfect product. It is better to release half the answer, wait, and release all of it a year later. And this is particularly true in software. I know you've seen it. You've bought a software package that is buggy. It doesn't work, perhaps a game, and it takes them a year or 2 to fix it. That is better for the company, i.e., you, than to wait until it's perfect. It drives the customers crazy, but it's better to go ahead and release early.

August 31, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1058: MBA

This week, we are talking about things that you don't need to start a business. These all sound counterintuitive and may sound crazy, but I would swear by every one of them. We've already talked about money and new ideas. I'll throw out another one right after this. All right, another thing that you don't need before you start a business is an MBA. I had one, and nothing that I learned in MBA school was useful starting my own business. There's no schooling that can prepare you for it. I've even taught entrepreneurship at the executive MBA level, and I would advise you against thinking that that is useful for you. It just doesn't prepare you for an entrepreneurial career. Maybe it does for finance or marketing, but the last thing that an MBA prepares you for is running a business that you start yourself.

August 31, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1057: Investors

This week is a little bit different. Instead of talking about things that we need to start a business and be successful, we're talking about things that we don't need to be successful and to start a business. We've already done a couple. I'll share another one right after this. The average person on the street assumes that entrepreneurs start their business with millions of dollars. It's just the stereotype. They're rich people who start a business. As a matter of fact, almost the exact opposite is true. Most businesses start with under $10,000, and they do everything that they can to cut and eliminate costs so that they can keep going until they have some profit. My first business started with under $1,000 and grew to 89 locations in just 6 years. Don't tell me it can't be done. I've seen it done in almost every industry.

August 31, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1056: New Idea

Internet list shows just like this one are all telling you what to do, what to look for, and how to get ready for something.nThis week, I'm going to do the opposite.nI'm going to tell you 5 things you don't need to start a business. I'll start in just a second. One of the things you don't need to start a business is an idea. That's right. That sounds crazy, but it is true. 93% of businesses come from copying other businesses. They don't copy any trademarks, patents, or copyrights, but what they do is find a model, maybe in a magazine, maybe on a podcast, and copy it themselves. They do it a little bit differently, make it a little bit better. That's what I'm really good at. But the idea is a blatant copy of someone else. Just think of Hyatt and Hilton, right? They're both very entrepreneurial hotel chains. Can't find an idea? Look around for a few minutes. You'll find one.

August 24, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1149: Something People Already Buy and Do It Better

Welcome to the School for Startups Minute with Jim Beach. There are business opportunities sitting in front of us all the time. We just have to acknowledge them and look around for them. Instead of watching TV for a week or reading a silly magazine, why don't you spend an entire week or month focusing on looking for business ideas around you? I promise you will start to find one. Find something that people are already paying for and do it better with a unique twist. So, for example, lots of people are willing to have their houses cleaned. They want their houses cleaned, but not when you're going to wake up the babies. So offer a service that cleans houses only when you want us there. You don't want us there in the afternoon because the kids are home, we won't do it in the afternoon. That unique twist will give you an opportunity to excel in that space.