School for Startups Minutes

Hosted by jim@schoolforstartups.com (Jim Beach)

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300

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Oct 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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October 11, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1090: Pets

This week, we have been talking about depression and how to get better if you are suffering from depression. If you are having depression problems, please call someone who can help. Maybe you go to the bar and have a Coke and talk to the bartender. Maybe you go and get counseling at the church. Maybe you get medical counseling. Just do something. Do not let it fester and get worse and worse and worse. I'll give you my final tip right after this. This may sound crazy, but fighting depression is a lot easier if you get a pet. As a matter of fact, I got two cats a couple of years ago. Red and Green are their names. My kids think the names are horrible, but a lot of times in the middle of the night, they've helped a lot. If you are living alone and need some friends, go get a cat or a dog, or maybe even two. They will make you happier.

October 11, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1089: Sleep

Many Americans are depressed, and it's a very sad statistic. I admit that I have had extended periods of my life where I was not very happy, and I have had to reach out to get help from others. It's important that you reach out, accept help from others, and go find other new people if the current group of friends or counselors aren't helping you. I'd like to suggest one more thing you need to do to stop being depressed right after this. To stop being depressed, you need to have normal sleep hours. When I was really depressed, I would stay up all night and then sleep all day, and that's not right either. When you're depressed, you need to maintain normal sleep and food consumption, and exercise if possible. Keep it as normal as you can. Don't let yourself get into the horrible habits of staying up all night.

October 11, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1088: Get Help

Sadly, so many Americans are depressed, maybe 15%. And that makes me very unhappy because there are things that we can do to get better and to be less depressed. I've already mentioned that you could stop waiting. You must be proactive. You must stand up and say, "I am depressed, and I'm going to do something about it." That is the only way. You can't be depressed and hope that it will go away. You must be more proactive. In just a second, I'll give you another thing that you can do to just stop being so depressed. If you're depressed, go get some help. There are many telephone numbers that provide help. There are many churches and other organizations, and maybe some friends that you haven't reached out to. The main thing is, don't do it alone. Maybe you need medicine. There's nothing wrong with that. Maybe you need a doctor. There's nothing wrong with that. If you're depressed, don't fight it alone. Let someone else help you.

October 11, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1087: Stop Waiting

This week, we are talking about depression and how to do things that make you feel better. I've been honest that I've had periods where I was very unhappy, and I'm trying to share some of the things that make me feel better. The number one thing is to do some work. Get out there and be productive. Maybe it just means mowing the lawn and getting your shirt really sweaty. Or maybe it means doing some taxes or doing your dry cleaning or whatever, cleaning out the garage, or maybe just doing real work as your job. No matter what, it will help you. I have another suggestion right after this. If you are depressed, you must stop waiting for it to go away. It will not. You must be more proactive than that and do things to make it go away. Maybe that means medicines. Maybe that means seeing a doctor every week. Maybe that means you take up running, but you must be proactive.

October 11, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1087: Stop Waiting

Unfortunately, almost 14% to 15% of Americans say that they are depressed. 24% say that they have some sort of mental issue. These numbers make me so sad, and I want to admit that I have been depressed. I've had years where I was incredibly unhappy for a long period of time.nAnd I want to talk this week about how to get better, how to be less depressed, and how to regain your happiness. If you are depressed, you may not want to hear this, but the best single way to stop being unhappy is to work more. I know that's not what you want to hear, but it works every single time for me. If I am depressed, and if I start focusing on my work and getting production done, pretty soon I feel a lot better. I feel enough. I feel better enough.

October 5, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1085: Your Customer Doesn't Care About You

I hope you have seen the lesson from this week that you and your customers think about different things. You're excited about the new colors that you're offering, the new horsepower improvement, and the new gauge that you've introduced into the system, and the customer is excited because it fits into the slot right. You and your customer are not on the same wavelength, and your job is to get on the same wavelength, but there are a lot of things that you and the customer just think differently about. One more thing the customer doesn't care about is you. I know that sounds really mean, but your customers don't care about you, not at first. Maybe eventually, maybe they'll learn to share your dream or realize that you have a really, really great purpose, but until that happens, you can't expect them to care about it the same way you do.

October 5, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1084: Your Customer Doesn't Care About Your Business Plan

Welcome to the School for Startups Minute with Jim Beach. Five things your customer doesn't care about has been the topic this week, and I think we've been having some fun pointing out some of the silly things that customers really don't care about. And number one, really, on the list is your technology. No one cares how many horsepower you have. They just want to know if the car looks good and if it has fancy leather interiors. That's the thing that they're going to judge it by. I'll share another one of the things that customers just don't care about right after this. I go to lots of chamber events and entrepreneurship events, and you will see people there over time who, for the last 6 years or year, have been working on their business plan. People, don't spend more than a weekend on your business plan. Go out there and sell stuff. Customers don't care how long your business plan takes to write. I do, but your customer doesn't.

October 5, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1083: Your Customer Doesn't Care About Your Technology

This week, we are having fun talking about things that your customer just doesn't care about. We've already talked about your logo and your slogan and your company colors, and we've talked about how hard you work. Do the customers care about any of that stuff? It's just not something that they buy based upon. I'll share another one of those things with you right after this. Your customer doesn't care about your technology either. Our revolutionary, proprietary, AI-enabled, cloud-based algorithm uses advanced machine learning. Stop. Your customer's already fallen asleep. I have fallen asleep. Don't tell me about the technology. Tell me what it does. We really don't care how many horsepower the car has. We just want to know if it's gonna give us more dates or not, right?

October 5, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1082: Your Customer Doesn't Care How Hard You Worked

When you're starting a business, there are things that you're just so proud of. You spent so much time on it, and then all of a sudden, you had a light bulb moment in the middle of the night and wrote it down, and it's been working ever since, and you're so proud of it. Well, your customer doesn't care. And as a matter of fact, your love of it may actually scare some of them away. This week, we were talking about this. Five things that your customer doesn't care about. I'll share another one right after this. When a company says, "We've been working on this technology for five years," does it impress you? Does it make you care or want the technology more? Maybe they should have done it in only 4 years, and that's why it was so expensive. Another thing customers don't care about is how hard you worked. Don't tell me how many hours you put in on it. I don't care. I just want a good product.

October 5, 20261 min

SFS Minute 1081: Your Customer Doesn't Care About Your Logo

This week, I want to talk about a topic that's a little bit different. Things that your customer doesn't care about. That's right. You may care a lot about them, and they may be really important to you, the entrepreneur, and you may have spent hours on them. But unfortunately, your customer just doesn't care. I'll be back with the 1st thing right after this. One thing that your customer doesn't care about is your logo. They are already there. They're already validating your business with their money. There's nothing more that they can do to validate you. The logo doesn't matter, and I know you care about it, and you wear it on your shirt proudly, and you're so proud of it because you did it yourself. Change it later, but don't fall in love with the logo because no one else is in love with it.