Questions to Ask An Antrepreneur (James Dooley Chats With Craig Campbell)

James Dooley: Questions to ask entrepreneurs.

There are a lot of people who attend entrepreneurship conferences, networking events and things like that. If someone is starting out as a business owner or wants to become an entrepreneur, what questions should they ask to get the most value from someone like yourself?

Craig Campbell: One question we always get is, “Why did you start that business in that niche?”

We spoke about it in a previous podcast. Why that niche? That is the biggest thing people ask me all the time. What niche do I go into? What do I do? I can do marketing, but what business am I going to start? I am going to throw the question back to you first. You have more companies than me. I am not going to say what your companies are because I do not know if you want me to say it publicly. But the company where I have been in your office, with PromoSEO on the top floor and the other company there, what made you start that particular one? Was it other people’s skills and you using your marketing ability? I am curious to flip that onto you and ask, why did you start that business?

James Dooley: That was to do with the who, not the what.

The business partner’s dad had chopped up truck tyres and invented doing that. It was used on safety surfaces for kids, and it happened to be a very profitable market. There were not many people doing it within the UK. I saw there was demand and there were not many people doing it, so I knew the profit margin was there. From that, the domino effect started. You realise you do a lot of work within schools and colleges, and it leads on to other products and services you can start offering. That was more down to me landing lucky and finding the right business partner. You have some great new ventures now with AI coming along. You have met some amazing people over the years and they have come to you with an idea. They are technical geniuses, and you have managed to leverage their skills to take AI to another level and build AI growth partnerships. You have done it through networking and being able to leverage those relationships. That was the same with me. At times, people ask entrepreneurs questions expecting a magic answer to find the next niche. The honest answer is the red car theory. If you ask a member of staff how many red cars they saw on their way to work, they will probably say they do not know. Then you tell them that tomorrow, when they walk into the office, they need to look out for every red car and count them. The next day, they come in and say they saw 17 red cars. Those red cars represent opportunities they missed yesterday but noticed today. Replace the red cars with opportunities. Wherever you go, there is opportunity. It could be a billboard, a bus advert, someone walking past, a bar, or a networking event. The person quiet in the corner could be your next business partner or investor. Asking questions to entrepreneurs at these events is the most important part. A lot of people are scared to go over and ask questions. What would you say to people who do not have the confidence to come over to you and ask a question? Do they need to go to the bar, buy you a drink and then ask the question? What do they need to do to get in with an entrepreneur like yourself?

Craig Campbell: Just do not ask basic questions like, “What niche should I go into?”

I do not care what you sell. You can literally sell anything. You can market anything, whether it is water, chairs, furniture, surfaces or whatever else. That is the easy part. Who can you leverage, and how can you monetise it? With your business partners, you saw that those guys knew what they were doing, not many people were doing it, and there was a lot of profit in it. You like marketing, so you knew you could do that. Those conversations are much better than someone asking, “What niche should I get into? I do not know what I am doing.” They want you to think up what they like, what they know and what they should do. I am not prepared to do that for someone I do not know. I do not know what they know or do not know. They need to come and have a better conversation with me. I can tell stories about niches I went into, why I went into them, who I stumbled across through networking and how opportunities like AI came about. I never sat there thinking I wanted to do this AI growth thing. The opportunity came to me because people wanted me involved. That came from networking, putting myself out there and doing that for years. I cannot tell someone to just wait until someone approaches them. I have been networking, travelling the world and doing that for years, so it is easier for me. If someone is a blank canvas, they have to create those opportunities and learn to see them. When people are looking for expired domains, for example, they are spotting an opportunity. They might think, “I could leverage this and turn it into an affiliate website,” or use it to power up their own website. That is the way you need to think. You need to spot opportunities. I think you are spot on with the red car theory. I think I am quite good at spotting opportunities because you might say something about what you have done, and my brain starts working. I might not be interested in your niche, but I might think, “I like what he has done here.” Then I think, “He found a guy who does this. I need to find a guy.” The guy I find might do something completely different, but it is about return on investment. What can I bring to the table and what can you bring to the table? If there are two things we can bring to the table, we can make money from it and build a business from it. It does not work if I go around asking someone to tell me who the great person is that I can do business with. Everyone will take you to the cleaners. You need to understand what you bring to the table as an entrepreneur. A lot of entrepreneurs do not even know what they have. They do not know marketing. They do not know how to do things.

James Dooley: I have a great question to ask an entrepreneur based on exactly what you are talking about.

For anyone watching this, I strongly recommend checking the link out. We do a whole episode on entrepreneurship versus intrapreneurship. That is the question I would ask. If someone is uncertain and wants to ask an entrepreneur a question, I would go over to them and say, “How would you know whether it is right for me to be an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur?” When they ask that question, you are probably going to respond by asking them several questions about themselves as a person. That helps them understand your answer. You might ask, “Do you want security? Do you want to take risks? Do you want this? Do you want that?” The entrepreneur can then understand whether that person is an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur. If they are not willing to take risks and want security, they are probably an intrapreneur. They want security within a job and want someone else to take the risks for them. Asking whether you are an entrepreneur or an intrapreneur opens up lots of other questions and starts a proper conversation. I think it is quite an intriguing question. If someone came over to you and asked that, it might spark your attention.

Craig Campbell: We have actually got a solution for that with the AI thing.

We can literally build you a website, social media, email, text, virtual receptionists and the whole works. I can build you a business like that, but are you prepared to put the marketing spend behind it? If someone is lazy or not prepared to take risks, that is where it falls down. We can make almost any business and automate 99% of it as long as you put the marketing spend behind it. That is why we wanted to go down the growth partner route. We can do it, but you put the money up. If you are a real entrepreneur, put the marketing spend up, we will build the thing for you and take a percentage for doing it. That is where you separate the entrepreneurs from the intrapreneurs. For me, I do not want to be doing a lot of work. I would rather invest money to make more money. That is where the entrepreneur comes from. Years ago, I did not want to take risks and I wanted everything to land in my lap. I am still waiting 25 years into business for something to land in my lap. It does not really happen. You have to decide what you are. For me, that is now what we say to people. If you have big money or you are an investor or entrepreneur, we can build you whatever you like. The rest is on you.

James Dooley: For sure.

Anyone watching this, make sure you check out the links about the advantages of entrepreneurship. We also do one on the disadvantages of entrepreneurship. If you are an entrepreneur watching this, what is the best question you have ever been asked that put you in an uncomfortable position? I would love to know in the comments section. What are the best questions you can ask an entrepreneur? Craig Campbell, it has been an absolute pleasure.

Craig Campbell: Cheers, mate.