1.
Grasshopper
Academy
Tips on how to turn your
hobby into a business
Brainstorming Your
Company & Culture

2.
Small Business and Startup Stats
Approximately 543,000 new businesses get
started each month … but more employer
businesses shut down than start up each month
50% of all new businesses fail
within 5 years
- Forbes
- Inc.

3.
How do you know if your business
idea will work?

4.
The success of a startup depends
on two things:
1) The Founder
2) The Market

5.
Founder & CEO
SpinGo
Kreg Peeler
The most important aspect of creating a
successful business comes from making
sure you do what you love. If you don't do
that, you will be miserable because it takes
a lot of time and a lot of money.
The Founder

6.
I encourage anyone who is passionate about his/her
hobby to explore it as a possibility, but I have also
learned that it is not all fun and games. Once I turned
my hobbies into my work, they lost their therapeutic
value. There was now pressure on me to deliver …
Be clear that you may lose your love for the hobby as
it becomes a job.”
The Founder
Founder & President
TridentDesign, LLC
Chris Hawker

7.
Founder & President
TridentDesign, LLC
Chris Hawker
Be sure that you want to spend a lot of time in the
industry of your hobby. If your hobby is beer
brewing, do you want to spend all your days and
nights dealing with all of the logistics of running a
brewery? If the answer is yes, then go for it. If you
aren't sure, I recommend staying away.
The Founder

8.
10 qualities/talents of successful entrepreneurs*
Business Focus
Confidence
Creative Thinker
Delegator
Determination
Independent
Knowledge-seeker
Promoter
Relationship-builder
Risk-taker
The Founder
*10 Talents That Drive Entrepreneurial Success, Gallup

9.
The #1 reason that startups fail is
the the lack of a market need for
their product - Fortune
The Market

10.
While it's still in its infancy, test out different
aspects of your business and be flexible.
Don't invest too much in one product or
service without testing the market first.
Take what you learn and adjust your
product/service.
The Market
Founder & CEO
SpinGo
Kreg Peeler

11.
How to test the market online
Search social media
sites for your product,
industry, or need.
Set up a "coming soon"
landing page to collect
emails
Crowdfund some of
your initial startup costs
The Market
Scout any possible
competitors

12.
We got to the point that the household hobby was taking
over our home, but there was still some question as to
whether it could be a viable business. As a way to judge
the market interest and also keep from having to spend a
lot of our own capital, we ran a Kickstarter campaign. We
decided if crowdfunding could pay for manufactured
products, we could probably move from hobby to
business successfully.
The Market
Co-Owner
Lyla Tov Monsters
Eric Black

13.
Founder & President
TridentDesign, LLC
Chris Hawker
You can evaluate interest in an idea by creating a landing
page to see how easily you can acquire email addresses
from potentially interested parties. For consumer products,
I use Facebook PPC ads to drive people to the landing
page where we describe the product as forthcoming and
invite people to give us their email so they can be kept up
to date on the release.
The Market

14.
How to test a local or niche market in real life
Use the product in public
Attend local events—
craft fairs, community events,
charity fundraisers.
Give away samples to
influencers in your industry
The Market

15.
Founder
Scrubzbody Natural Skincare
Roberta Perry
It was my sister who suggested I start selling, so
we set up an eBay store and sold at some home
parties. When I randomly met the owner of a chain
of hair salons, and he was willing to bring in my
line, I knew I had something more than a hobby
The Market

16.
Founder
Bad Pickle Tees
Cyndi Grasman
I had a pretty good idea that it would [work], since in the
beginning my company grew very fast, very organically.
I was in the restaurant business—surrounded by chefs
and foodies all the time (my target customer in the
beginning)—and I was able to wear my product, so I
was constantly getting feedback.
The Market

17.
How to turn your hobby
into your day job

18.
Fasten your seatbelt …
and then secure the person
sitting next to you.

19.
Founder
Bad Pickle Tees
Cyndi Grasman
Just as important is to talk to those around you to
see if they are ready to make the sacrifices too,
because believe me: you are not going on this
journey alone. You will need a strong support
system on board and be ready to make some
sacrifice.
Step 1

20.
Conduct thorough
online research.

21.
Founder & President
TridentDesign, LLC
Chris Hawker
Start by doing some very thorough research
online to carefully evaluate the competitive
landscape. Where does your idea fit in, and is it
easy to see (and explain) how it can compete?
What is your proposed advantage? What are the
barriers to entry that may not be obvious?
Step 2
Then, interview experts in the field. Entrepreneurs love to talk
about their businesses. Get the inside scoop on the industry,
what it's really like, and what it takes to succeed there.

22.
Adjust

23.
Founder
Bad Pickle Tees
Cyndi Grasman
We can be so passionate about what we love that we
sometimes don't listen to important feedback. I found it
important to find my focus group of customers, talk to
them face to face, and more importantly to listen and
implement changes. It can be hard to be honest when our
product and passion is such a personal part of us, but once
I did this I went from a very small group of potential
customers to a much larger one.
Step 3

24.
Do the math

25.
Founder & President
TridentDesign, LLC
Chris Hawker
Do some napkin math on your idea before you do
careful cash flow projections. You want to make
sure that your business makes sense using
realistic numbers, based on feedback from pros.
Make some assumptions about investment, sales
and expenses and see if it plays out. A lot of ideas
only work at massive scale, and you have to be
sure you can afford to get to that scale with your
available resources.
Step 4

26.
Don't quit your
day job

27.
Start off with your new business as a side
project. You don't have to throw away your
current job to start your new project. Spend
some hours at night working on it and
developing it small.
Step 5
Founder & CEO
SpinGo
Kreg Peeler

28.
This comprehensive, online guide will walk you through
proving your idea, confronting problems, building your
brand, networking, and more!
How to Transform Your Side
Project into Your Only Project

29.
Caution: Obstacles on Road

30.
The Market
The biggest obstacle we've faced is that you need to
personally run every aspect of the business. We're
not able to hire a staff, so we need to be managing
sales, marketing, finances, legal, shipping, and every
other department. That means we've needed to
study and learn subjects we knew absolutely
nothing about before starting this business.
Caution: Obstacles on Road
Co-owner
Lyla Tov Monsters
Eric Black

31.
How to overcome common startup obstacles
Remind yourself that
obstacles are normal.
The Market
Remind yourself that obstacles are normal.
Bill Gates’ first business failed. Steve Jobs was fired from
Apple. J.K. Rowling lived off government aid while writing
Harry Potter. Walt Disney was fired because he, “lacked
imagination.” Dr. Seuss’ first book was rejected by 27
publishers.

32.
How to overcome common startup obstacles
Abandon what is
not working
The Market
To sustain success, you have to be willing to
abandon things that are no longer successful.
What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of
Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition and Unstoppable Innovation
­ Gary Hamel,

33.
How to overcome common startup obstacles
Get creative
The Market
Get your team together. Think outside the box.
Write down every idea. Come up with 20 solutions
(no matter how ridiculous) for every problem.

34.
How to overcome common startup obstacles
Take a break
The Market
It seems counterintuitive, but most entrepreneurs end up
spending every waking moment on the business
—especially in the first year. Eventually your brain needs a
break to refresh and recharge, so you can come back to
face the obstacle with creativity and energy.

35.
How to overcome common startup obstacles
Stay one step
ahead
The Market
Scaling up is hard. Hiring your first employee is hard. Expanding
your marketing efforts into new channels is hard. Start thinking
about those things before you have to do them. If you don’t
learn how to scale before business takes off, you won’t be
ready to do it when scaling up can mean making or breaking
your business.

36.
How do you know if your idea
will work?
It depends on two things:
1) The Founder
2) The Market
Review

37.
Review
1) Make sure all seatbelts are fastened
2) Conduct thorough online research
3) Adjust
4) Do the math
5) Don't quit your day job (yet)
How to get started:

38.
Review
How to overcome obstacles
1) Remember you're in good company
2) Abandon what's not working
3) Get creative
4) Take a break
5) Stay one step ahead

39.
Next Steps:
Brainstorming Your
Business Idea Potential