← The Entrepreneur
The Entrepreneur · № 08

First Ten Customers

Sold to 10 different paying customers who were not family or close friends.

The idea

The first ten strangers are where most kid businesses die. Family buys to be supportive. Strangers buy because the thing is good. Your kid has to physically go where strangers already are: farmer's market, soccer sideline, school pickup. Sitting at a table waiting for ten strangers to walk past is how a one-day stand becomes a six-month failure.

Steps
  1. List ten places strangers already are: pickup line, farmer's market, soccer sideline.
  2. Go to the top three. Don't wait for strangers to find you.
  3. Track names or faces. The ten must be ten different people.
  4. Ask each one how they heard about you. The pattern is the marketing answer.
What counts

Ten different non-family customers paid for the product, and your kid can name where most came from. A first-name list is plenty.