profile

Nick Huber

How to analyze a business idea in 5 minutes or less

Published about 1 year ago • 3 min read

Before we jump in:

If you need a new website for your business, I highly recommend WebRun.com. They build simple, beautiful websites for small businesses designed to convert visitors into customers and help your company grow.

Here are four examples of beautiful websites the team built recently:

  1. ​Real estate project​
  2. ​Investment Firm​
  3. ​Residential contractor​
  4. ​HVAC maintenance​

If you'd like an intro to the team at WebRun - reply to this email and I'll make an introduction.

--

How to analyze a business opportunity in 5 minutes:

My friend in Athens told me recently that he wanted to start a house painting business.

We were sitting on my back deck on a Saturday at about 4pm. He asked me what I thought. I went to work.

I typed "House Painting" into Google Maps on my phone.

10 results popped up nearby.

I hit "call" on the first one. A guy answered on the second ring. He was nice. He told me he could come to my house anytime on Sunday or Monday to give me a quote. He could have a crew available right away.

I hung up and dialed another one. No answer.

A third one answered on first ring. Very nice. Wanted to take down my info right away. A trained salesperson. I deflected the question and asked how far out he was booked up. He said he could have a crew ready for me on Monday.

The 4th call also answered. At 4pm on a Saturday. He could also stop by for a quote on Sunday morning after I asked. I thanked him and hung up.

This was a terrible business opportunity. Of the 4 house painters I called outside of business hours 3 of them answered and had immediate availability. That means there isn't much work and I'm sure they are very competitive on price.

You can run this experiment on any business.

Power washing. Call around for a quote. Tree removal. Call around for a quote and ask the owner about availability.

If nobody answers the phone that is a good thing. Business owners are less likely to answer the phone when they are booked out 3 weeks and overloaded with work.

It is a great way to cross off a lot of opportunities. You don't want to compete against eager, hungry operators. You want to compete against folks who are overloaded with work. Simple.

So next time you have a business idea stop wasting your time. Stop working on your business plan. Don't take the franchise meeting.

Simply call around and get a feel for the market. It'll tell you a LOT!

--

A few tweets from this week:

--

--

--

Onward and upward,

Nick Huber

--

Before we go:

Titan Risk, an insurance company that I am a customer of and an investor in, hired a business insurance specialist.

If you run a business and you are unhappy with your premiums, coverage or service - reach out to Titan or respond to this email and I can make a personal introduction.

We'd love an opportunity to earn your business.

Share with friends, get cool free stuff

  • 1 Referral: 200+ Free Business Ideas cheatsheet
  • 3 Referrals: Delegation & Hiring (101)
  • 5 Referrals: Twitter Growth Course ($500 value)
  • 10 Referrals: Nicks Real Estate Starter Class ($749 value)
  • 100 Referrals: 30 Minute Call w/ Nick

Please note, these rewards are in limited supply, get moving while they last.

[RH_REFLINK GOES HERE]

Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Linkedin Email

PS: You have referred [RH_TOTREF GOES HERE] people so far

See how many referrals you have

Thanks for reading! If you loved it, tell your friends to subscribe.
If you didn’t enjoy the email you can unsubscribe here.
To change your email or preferences manage your profile.
113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205

I have financial interest in many companies mentioned in this newsletter.

Nick Huber

Entrepreneurship & Real Estate

I own a real estate firm with over 1.9 million square feet of self storage and 45 employees. I also own 6 other companies with over 400 employees. I send deal breakdowns with P&Ls. Newsletter topic: Real Estate, Management, Entrepreneurship

Read more from Nick Huber

Quick note before we dive in: Big news: The big beautiful bill passed which means 100% bonus deprecation is back and it's PERMANENT. If you bought property and placed it into service after January 19th, 2025 you can get a cost seg study and take 100% bonus depreciation in year one. That's 2.5X more bonus depreciation than the previous rate of 40%. I get all of my cost seg studies from RE Cost Seg. If you want to see how much you can save with this new law, click here. -- Don't chase status,...

5 days ago • 8 min read

Quick note before we dive in: Imagine building a business or real estate empire and not protecting it! If you don’t have insurance (general liability, errors and omissions, directors and officers liability etc) you are making a huge mistake. I get my policies from Titan Risk. Want to see where you might be exposed by not being insured? Just respond to this email and I’ll make an intro. -- If you work a W2 job and want to get ahead in life, I only have one piece of advice. Solve problems for...

13 days ago • 5 min read

Quick note before we dive in: I'm hosting several free online workshops over the next few weeks. 2 big ones coming up: How to Pay Less Tax (Happening tomorrow at 2pm EST!) Building Worldwide Teams (July 1st) If you register, I'll send you a copy of the recording even if you can't attend live. -- What is this all about? Almost everything I write about is related to business and the tools + skills you need in order to make money and grow companies. But what's the end goal here? Isn't it to live...

20 days ago • 7 min read