My Worst Investment Ever Podcast Nick Hutchison – Have a Proof of Concept Before You Dive Into the Big Idea
BIO: Nick Hutchison is the author of Rise of the Reader: Strategies for Mastering Your Reading Habits and Applying What You Learn and the founder of BookThinkers. This growing 7-figure digital marketing agency serves mission-driven authors.
STORY: Nick envisioned the first iteration of BookThinkers to be a grand mobile application. He got partners together, and they started working on the idea. Without much research or due diligence, the partners contracted an Argentinian company to build the app. Unfortunately, the company in Argentina went out of business under a year later.
LEARNING: Failure is a great thing. Before you dive into a big idea, have a proof of concept and spend tens of thousands of dollars on it. Do more due diligence and understand the process before jumping into it.
“I think that failure is a great thing. You should fail often and fast. Then make iterations and change.”
Nick Hutchison
Guest profile
Nick Hutchison is the author of Rise of the Reader: Strategies for Mastering Your Reading Habits and Applying What You Learn and founder of BookThinkers, a growing 7-figure digital marketing agency that serves mission-driven authors.
At the age of 20, Nick discovered the world of personal development and quickly used the books he was reading to improve every aspect of his personal and professional life. Now, Nick has dedicated his life to helping millions of readers take action on the information they learn and rise to their potential.
Nick’s podcast, BookThinkers: Life-Changing Books, features captivating interviews with world-class authors such as Grant Cardone, Lewis Howes, and Alex Hormozi. During these insightful discussions, Nick delves into the pages of their books, uncovering practical and transformative takeaways for his motivated audience.
Worst investment ever
As Nick was getting ready to graduate college, he knew he wanted to start a business and make a splash in entrepreneurship. Luckily, Nick had a safety net—a software sales rep full-time job that allowed him to make a lot of money right after graduating. So Nick had a bit of cash to spend on a side hustle idea he’d had for a while.
The first iteration of BookThinkers was supposed to be a grand mobile application that readers could use to categorize their favorite takeaways from each book they read, follow each other, and see the trending books within the platform. It was supposed to be a much better version of what Good Reads is today.
Nick connected with a couple of friends and started this business. The first order of business was how to build a mobile application. They found a firm in Argentina that would create the mobile application for them. They put all of their money that we’ve got into this mobile app.
The company in Argentina went out of business under a year later. The tech built so far wasn’t working, so they couldn’t test it. Nick and his partners never found a product market fit and had no successful monetization after spending tens of thousands of dollars on the mobile app.
Lessons learned
- Failure is a great thing. Fail often and fast, then make iterations and changes.
- Have a proof of concept before you dive into a big idea and spend tons of money on it.
- Do more due diligence and understand the process before jumping into it.
Andrew’s takeaways
- If you have to have a mobile app, the best way to do it is to create a tiny MVP that does one small thing and then release it to an audience.
Actionable advice
Speak to potential mentors or people who have severally done what you want to do and have also helped other people do it as well. Have them show you the roadmap.
Nick’s recommendations
Nick recommends reading $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No. In the book, the author Alex Hormozi talks about how 20% of your customers are willing to pay five times more if you could provide more value. He teaches how to have the same revenue but work with 1/5 of your clientele, serve them better, work slower, and offer more value.
Nick also recommends pre-ordering his book Rise of the Reader: Strategies for Mastering Your Reading Habits and Applying What You Learn. The book has the power to help readers rise to their potential.
No.1 goal for the next 12 months
Nick’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to make seven figures in revenue. He also plans to have a kid in the next 12 months.
Parting words
“The right book at the right time can change your life if you can apply it the right way. So, just remember that our life experiences aren’t as unique as we think they are. Billions of people have lived before us; millions of them have written books, and thousands of those books might be able to solve your problems.”
Nick Hutchison
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Connect with Nick Hutchison
Andrew’s books
- How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
- My Worst Investment Ever
- 9 Valuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
- Transform Your Business with Dr.Deming’s 14 Points
Andrew’s online programs
- Valuation Master Class
- The Become a Better Investor Community
- How to Start Building Your Wealth Investing in the Stock Market
- Finance Made Ridiculously Simple
- FVMR Investing: Quantamental Investing Across the World
- Become a Great Presenter and Increase Your Influence
- Transform Your Business with Dr. Deming’s 14 Points
- Achieve Your Goals