Start a Small Business
Go from an idea to paying customers: test it cheaply, price it right, keep cash flowing and win your first buyers.
For anyone with a side-project, a skill to sell or a small shop in mind, whether online or on a real street. Twelve short lessons walk through finding a problem people pay to solve, testing it before spending much, the numbers that keep a small business alive, getting and keeping customers, and simple bookkeeping. You finish with a one-page plan for your own business.
By the end you can
- Tell a real customer problem from an idea only you like, and test it cheaply
- Set a price and work out your margin, break-even point and cash runway
- Write a clear offer and find your first customers online and in person
- Keep simple books and write a one-page plan for your own business
Find the idea
- A problem worth solving
Start from a problem people already feel, not a product you like. Learn the signs that a problem is real enough for people to pay to fix.
- Your customer
Swap 'everyone' for one clear customer: who they are, the moment they need you and what they use now. Then learn to interview them without fooling yourself.
- Test it cheaply
Before you spend real money, find the smallest test that shows whether people will act, ideally by paying. Learn to set a pass mark and run an honest pre-sale.
Make the numbers work
- Pricing
Set a price between your full cost and what the result is worth to the customer. Learn why a small discount can wipe out a large share of your profit, and how to compete without being the cheapest.
- Costs and margin
Split your costs into fixed and variable, work out what each sale really leaves you, and stop mixing up margin and markup.
- Cash flow
Profit on paper doesn't pay the rent; cash in the bank does. Learn why the two differ, how many sales you need to break even, and how many months your cash will last.
Get customers
- Your offer in one sentence
Write one clear sentence that says who you help, with which problem, and what they get. Then test it on real people in five seconds.
- Your first ten customers
Find your first buyers one by one: through people who already know you, direct messages to people with the problem, and referrals from happy customers. Learn to count your outreach so you know how much to do.
- Selling online
Use a social page, direct messages and marketplaces to sell to strangers: post content that shows the result, answer messages like a shop counter, count the marketplace fee in your margin, and give people reasons to trust you.
Run it
- Keeping customers
Work out what a returning customer is worth, handle a complaint so the customer stays, ask for feedback you can act on, and get honest reviews.
- Simple bookkeeping
Keep business money separate, record every sale and cost, and do a 30-minute monthly check that tells you your real profit and why it differs from the cash in the account.
- Your one-page plan
Put the whole course on one page by following Taraneh as she builds hers: the customer and the offer, the evidence, the numbers, how she'll find and keep customers, and the rule that tells her when to change course.
Keep it, don't just read it
Pathwise brings each idea back just before you'd forget it, with a quick question. Free on Android and on the web, in English and Persian.