Anyone Really Can Start a Business (And These People Just Did)
Learnings & successes from Briico Business Program's June 2024 cohort
In June, we held our most recent cohort of the Briico Business Program. The program builds on the work we’ve done over the last year and a half or so, creating the best ways to support people create thriving livelihoods through microbusiness.
We ran our first full cohort of the 21-day program in June, 2024. And the results were pretty incredible. During the 21 days of the program:
100% of people established their business.
Most people got to profitability.
Participants spent an average of just $200 on startup costs (which we covered.)
Read on to get the full rundown. Or watch this quick 40-second peek inside the program:
About The Briico Business Program
The Briico Business Program is a 3-week program run one-on-one (via WhatsApp) that helps participants start a profitable, fully legal microbusiness in 30 days or less.
It’s for people who have a skill in home services (cleaning, painting, construction, etc) OR food production and want to start a part-time or full-time business. Our focus is on new immigrants but all are welcome to apply (and many participants were not immigrants).
A quick peek inside how the project works
Online, one-on-one delivery. Our program is delivered on a one-on-one basis, daily for three weeks.
Clear, bite-sized training and to-dos. Each day, the participant gets nuggets of key information (via short videos) and small tasks they need to do.
We do key things for you. Our team also delivers key things at the right times (e.g., completing key paperwork for them) and is a sounding board for questions.
Pro coaching in your language. Each participant has their own coach who chats with them via WhatsApp, serving as an expert consultant, project manager, and trainer.
Crucial business foundations. Upon completion of the program, the participant has: a DBA or LLC, an EIN, business insurance, basic brand and marketing materials, a website, clear pricing and service offerings, an understanding of all the key levers in their business and how to grow, and a functioning system to get clients.
Moving from zero to revenue in less than 30 days. With every participant, our goal is to establish a strong business foundation, get to revenue, and be set up for continued growth. In other words, they are making money and know how to grow.
Grow Now, Pay Later. With this cohort, we experimented with a “grow now, pay later” model in which participants get the course (valued at $399) for free, plus $200 in cash to cover their startup expenses. In exchange, they plan to contribute a small percentage of their revenues 6-12 months later.
“I am thrilled beyond words to express my gratitude for the incredible experience I had with you. I want to thank you for all that you have done; your support, guidance, and advice have been invaluable. I am truly grateful and will utilize all of your insights to grow the business.” - Icienne
What Makes It Different
Believing in people.
You don’t need a fancy idea, education, money, citizenship, or even much time to start a successful microbusiness. You just need to want to do it, have a skill or passion you’re building on, and dive into our system.Focus on Lo-Hi Businesses. We support folks in starting businesses that are low-capital, low-regulation, low cost to run… but high demand, high hourly wage, and high potential. This model gives our clients a high chance of success.
A clear, effective, method to follow. In working with 2,000 business owners over the past 20 years, we’ve found a strong series of actions that give someone the best possible chance to thrive (especially when adapted to their unique situation.)
World-class coaching.
We honor our clients’ time by using a responsive concierge approach. For instance, communicating entirely on WhatsApp, accepting payment in cash if needed, creating videos in each person’s language, responding quickly and providing quick turnaround on information or support, and more.High-touch services.
Of course, capacity building is important. But at some key junctures, it works well to provide concrete, high-touch services rather than providing "advice.”Personalized curriculum and path forward.
We develop bite-sized and "just in time" education and training videos that are just the tidbit folks need at the moment they need it (in the language and delivery mechanism that they want.) Also, we make sure that each person’s path forward and curriculum are unique to their needs and vision.
“I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve given me in this program. You have taught me so much, you’ve stayed with me, been patient, and I’m in shock and how much I’ve accomplished in the last two weeks. THANK YOU.” - Lucia
The June 2024 Participants
The Briico Business Program does have an application process, but our criteria for acceptance are simple:
They want to start a low-capital microbusiness in home services or food.
They have a skill or passion to build on (e.g., you’re great at cooking for family).
They are ready to start now.
They are accountable and responsive.
They are willing to be uncomfortable to grow their business.
Our participants had those things in common, but other than that, each person came from a different background:
Some were US citizens, others new immigrants.
Some had legal immigration status in the US, others didn’t.
Some spoke English, others didn’t.
Some are adept at technology and have advanced degrees, others don’t.
Some were already working on their business, others hadn’t started.
Most were parents, women, and people of color.
There was about a 70/30 split between home services businesses and food businesses.
Countries of origin included Haiti, Afghanistan, Jamaica, United States, Ecuador, and Colombia.
It’s an extraordinary honor to work with these individuals. Every single of these people is optimistic, thoughtful, persistent, hardworking, kind, and generous. They’re going to be excellent business owners.
“It’s so easy to mistake a person’s material resources for his interior ones.” - Tracy Kidder
Outcomes of the June 2024 Briico Business Cohort
High Level Outcomes:
During the 21-day program:
100% of people established their business.
Most people got to revenue and profitability.
Participants spent an average of just $200 on startup costs (which we covered.)
Examples:
Zehra arrived to the US only a few months ago and did not have any income when she started the program. She established a cleaning business during the program and was making $2K/month with about 4 days/month of work.
Sophia started a homestyle meal takeout/delivery service, cooking from a commercial kitchen. During the program she developed the meals, got established with a commercial kitchen, set up the business, started selling wholesale to a local grocery store, and started her first weekly meal deliveries.
Vanika got her cleaning business running during the program and ended with 7 clients, making about $2500/month.
These results, while exciting and inspiring, are common among participants in the program.
*Names changed above
Outcome Details:
Every single person who completed the 21-day program started their business.
Of the 11 people we accepted into the program, 9 completed it.
About 60% of people moved fast enough to get to their revenue during the program and of those, the average "days to first dollar" was 15 days (with everyone under 21 days).
The other 40% are still putting final pieces together but should be to their first dollar within 45 days.
Why It Matters
The short answer:
Starting a business can change your life. If you do it right, it gives you an immediate income lift, lets you work around family commitments, and gives you a path to long-term growth.
The long answer:
Supporting high-potential, under-resourced people in achieving economic stability has large positive impacts on the health, achievement, and development of their entire family, their community, and even (due to remittances) on their communities of origin.
So how do you support people in achieving economic stability?
In my experience, starting a microbusiness is an incredibly effective, fast, high ROI way to consistently support people in creating a thriving livelihood. Microbusiness is an powerful leverage point because anyone, of any immigration status, can legally start a business in the US – if they know the right ways to go about it and have the right support to reach profitability. Most people have some existing skill from wage work (ranging from making tortillas to installing drywall) that can be turned into a microbusiness – often bringing them out of risky illegal wage work, increasing hourly rates by 2x-5x, and giving them pathways to ongoing income increases.
Surprisingly, there aren’t a lot of good global models for supporting microbusiness growth, especially for microbusinesses and lower literacy populations. As an example, providing a 15-week workshop, writing a business plan, and getting ready to access capital is a standard – but the randomized controlled trials around this, across multiple countries, prove it to be ineffective, not to mention expensive to deliver.
What We Learned
The program’s structure and content is roughly right.
Overall, the content and how we delivered it felt incisive and helpful.Program pacing is important (and should be fast, but steady.)
This cohort worked well overall in terms of structure, but there were a couple of periods of the program that felt too rushed, and a couple that felt too slow. So we’re expanding the program to be 4 weeks instead of 3, and rejiggering what goes where so that participants can keep up a fast but steady pace throughout.People’s ability to pay varies dramatically.
For some participants, even a $25 cost could have been prohibitive. But for others, money was not a barrier. This made us wonder about more of a sliding scale (or fee, plus scholarships) model moving forward rather than the “grow now, pay later” model which might benefit as much from participants who are happy to pay at the start of the program.Covering $200 of startup expenses is powerful.
It seemed to work well to cover $200 of folks' startup expenses. It didn't turn out to be hard to manage and people were judicious with their use of the funds. In several cases, a $50 or $100 expense would have stopped forward progress and the $200 funds were able to keep things moving forward (and ultimately towards profit.)We need to produce more, and better, video resources.
In some cases, we were scrambling to teach folks one-one-one when a well-produced video would have been more effective. Also, we found that very granular, practical videos are more useful than longer overview videos. We ended the cohort with a punchlist of video resources to produce.The subtitles on English videos aren’t adequate for understanding.
For participants who don’t speak English, there is often a literacy limitation as well. So it’s worth the time and expense to produce multiple videos in multiple languages, rather than depending on subtitles to do the work for us.It’s OK to help people develop their product/offering.
Several people didn’t have a firm product/offering when they started the program. We were worried that this product development phase would bog them down but overall, we were able to move through this phase with them productively and efficiently.We need to make sure people aren’t too busy to participate.
The only people who dropped out of the program did so because “life” got in the way. The program is flexible and allows for a full-time workload and family commitments — but for a couple of people, they got overloaded beyond that level. It may be good to make the time commitment clearer, earlier so that people can be realistic about what they’re facing and join at a later date if needed.
What’s Next
We're going to run our next cohort of the Briico Business Program starting July 29th.
We’re working on refinements and changes to the program structure as well as doing a lot of video production to support the program.
Business model, funding sources, and the best outreach approaches are all things we’re also exploring as we go. If you want to support the work or collaborate with us, we would greatly appreciate it (just reach out.)
THANK YOU to every single one of our program participants! You are inspiring and you are getting it done, every day! Thank you to Teju Ravilochan, Daniel Woodham, Joshua Stratton-Rayner, Lexi Hanauer, and Etan Kerr-Finell for your strategic and practical support with this cohort.