Episode Transcript
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 0:16
Once upon a time, there were 10s of 1000s of makers struggling every day they built for hours and hours, but didn't chip and didn't earn enough income. One day, the no Caldwells podcast came to help them find the way because of this, makers became founders and earn the money they deserve. Because of this, founders live lives of abundance, freedom, and creativity. That's what I'm really all about. Hello, my name is Aziz and from being a poor boy born to a single mother in North Africa, to failing multiple startups, yet, learning a whole lot to barely escaping alive the war in Ukraine. Even living as an illegal immigrant. I've lost everything twice. And now I'm rebuilding my life one more time, 1% a day, sharing the wisdom of luminaries have interviewed on this very podcast from Google executives to Amazon, Microsoft, Forbes, Technology Council, Harvard, Financial Times, and even a priest from the Vatican church. Everyone is welcome, here. So let's begin. My guest today is Jordan. Richardson. Jordan is the creator of no code advantage, V. Ultimate Academy for tech entrepreneurs and freelancers. Jordan has previously built a successful seven figure software business using no code that was accepted into ANGEL pad and is sharing the profitable lessons learned with the no code and startup communities. Jordan, how are you today?
Jordan Richardson 2:12
I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me here.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 2:16
I'm lucky privilege. And looking forward to this conversation. And in my experience, honestly, it's failure that makes people wise and interesting. It's failure that ingrained the lessons of success, not success itself. So how do you become comfortable with failure?
Jordan Richardson 2:40
That's a great question. And I would say, at least for me, it's just viewing failure as a stepping stone and not a stumbling block, as as a means to an end. I think it's, it's just part of life, we just, we have to fail, we have to be able to accept that failure is the pathway to success. So it's, it's I guess, it's, in some ways, it's not a it's not a bug. It's a feature of life. And it helps me to view it that way. Just being able to know that, that failure is just one step closer to success. So
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 3:23
I agree. 1,000%. And can you share your story, your experiences with failure, and later on with more success so that people have context of who you are? And the things you do today?
Jordan Richardson 3:38
Absolutely, yeah. So I've had many, many, many failures in my life. And I think, I mean, I've always been inspired by that quote, by Michael Jordan, you know, the great basketball player who, who said, you know, I've failed 1000s of times in my life, and that is why I succeed. And I can relate to that because I have failed many times in my life. I've always had this dream of being an entrepreneur and owning my own business and, and things like that. And I I was definitely not an instant success. I've I've tried and failed many different businesses. I did a little curbside painting business. Let's see, what else did I do? I've done lots of little things. Little attempts, you know that that did okay, but not much. I tried. My first attempt at no code or my first discovery of no code was back when I was a sixth grade math teacher. I actually was a, I did the Teach For America program and was a sixth grade math teacher in Las Vegas. And on the side, I was trying to make some side cash and I stumbled upon no code for the very first time. Bill box was the very my first taste of no code. And it was it was a really cool, I love Bill box. And there's some cool stuff you can do with it. But I just had no clue what I was doing in terms of marketing and market research and product strategy and all that stuff. I built some silly little games. And and I think pretty much the only downloads I got were from my students. I told them about it, you know, and we had some fun, you know, seeing who could which students could get the highest score and all that type of stuff. And I made maybe $1 a day and add click revenue, and that was about it. But I've always been trying things dabbling in, in different ideas, and never really succeeding. Until Until privatize. So I don't know if that fully answers your question or not. But that's kind of the, I guess, a quick backstory.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 5:52
Now. Thank you. Actually, it does, it does very much. And you spoke about the importance of market research, product, strategy, and all those things. What do you feel or believe within the no code community is missing? That is preventing most entrepreneurs and makers from becoming successful? What's the belief? What's a behavior? What's lacking? What's something holding them back? They're not even aware of themselves? And which lessons can you share? Yeah, that's
Jordan Richardson 6:30
a really good question. And it's something I've learned. Since since I've started Revit ties, I really have really tried to analyze what caused this, what caused my success this time. And I really do believe that it was just this principle of, you've got to go where the hungry hot market is, you can't, you can't invent some new pain that doesn't exist, you know, you've got to find the pain and solve it, that it's really that simple. You just, you've got to capture the red ocean, so to speak. I'm sure you're familiar with the red ocean slash Blue Ocean Strategy. But I'm a big believer in that, instead of looking for this new novel business idea that's never been done before, or instead of searching endlessly for some, some pot of gold, you know, that doesn't really exist, why not look and see, okay, what are the hot markets that I could compete well in? Or that I am well suited for? And then, you know, start there, start by looking for what are people buying? What are people needing? What pains are they currently pulling out their credit cards for? And then once you find the pain that that is proven, then I think you can work on finding a blue ocean solution and, and really bring those customers from the red ocean to Your New Blue Ocean solution to your new opportunity and excite people about your new way of, of solving that age old problem. But it doesn't need to be an age old problem. The solution can be totally new, obviously. But the problem needs to be proven. And I think, yeah, I think that's probably the biggest lesson. One of the biggest lessons I've learned from this is just solve problems that are proven to to be moneymakers. So
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 8:45
thank you. And I love everything you're saying. You're actually answered already the question that I'm going to ask, but some people might not be familiar with the red ocean and blue ocean and all that. So they will say, but if I go for a beam that is already known, there'll be too much competition in the marketplace, which you called, you know, red ocean. So why not go into something totally new that nobody has talked about so that I'm already in a green field or a blue ocean? While you're saying well create a blue ocean within a red ocean? Well, let's keep it simple. They tell you there are 1,000,001 competitors, if I go for something that people are aware of a pain point where there is a rabid market, so why are you telling me to go compete with all those or what is your answer?
Jordan Richardson 9:41
Yeah, that's a great question. So yes, it is wise to compete where if I guess I guess the easy way to say this is if there are no competitors, serving the market or problem that you're looking to solve or solve, then that's a bad sign. I used to think I used to think it was a good sign. I used to think that, oh, there's nobody else doing this. That's a great sign. I'm the first to market. Yeah. And, and, in rare cases, I think that may be true in some rare cases. But in most cases, that's a bad sign, that's a sign that the market maybe isn't quite as feeling quite the pain that you think it's feeling. And so, you know, when I first started Revit, ties.com, with my co founder, Richard, he presented this idea was his idea. And I said, Wait a second, there are so many companies that are doing this, this is not good. We should attack some other market. And he knew better he knew that, that this was pain validation. And so I do think that, that you need to find something that already has some players in the space. However, that doesn't mean you can't be new and interesting. And the way I would explain it is you need to find you need to find you need to search as deeply as you possibly can. And in today's online age reviews are gold in, in my opinion, you know, the, in the old days, it was the gold rush. And in today's software age, it's the review rush. Basically, as you scour reviews, and search through the three star, two star one star reviews, and even the five star reviews, you search for what people love, and you search for what people hate, and you find common themes. And then you find inefficiencies in the current solutions, you find maybe niche communities that are being underserved, or that aren't being aren't being given a perfect solution for their needs. And then you expose those inefficiencies. And you as as much as I hate to say it, you talk trash a little bit, as Russell Brunson says you throw rocks at it, you throw stones at the, the red ocean, and you you expose how it's currently not serving X or Y or Z niche or x or y or z aspect of the problem. And and then you create your solution, which is a new opportunity. So I guess just a quick example, to bring this to life that I love is, you know, for many years, there has the online dating and relationship market has been has been very tapped. You know, there's there's eHarmony and and oh man, my mind's blanking now there's a ton of different match.com. And there's tons of different online dating websites out there. But Shawn rad came along. And he saw an opportunity. Even though there was a very bloody red ocean, so to speak, and a highly competitive online dating market. He knew that there was a better way, there was a quicker way a more mobile friendly way. Something that he could he could expound upon and add value he could add that wasn't being added. And so he created Tinder, which is obviously now I think, last I saw was valued at $10 billion. And so he knew that tapping into a red ocean was wise because because not because the problem wasn't already being solved, but because the solution had that he had had not yet been presented. And so he was able to really, he was able to lead those fish in the red ocean over to his little blue corner of the ocean, and carve out his own little blue ocean by by exposing the inefficiencies of the current red ocean. So
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 14:15
thank you that's really interesting. And to speak a bit more about the work you're doing right now with no code advantage. What kinds of insights learning skills can people expect to develop when they join there? Is there a community that will support each other and therefore there won't be lone wolves doing it on their own? Like, what is your vision for it? Since you said, of course, in the marketplace, there are competitors What did you try to stress as your uniqueness and your blue ocean strategy within the marketplace? Yeah,
Jordan Richardson 15:00
That's a really good question. I would say that, in my opinion, the current no code market is extremely strong in many areas. But I think where it's quite weak is, is cranking out success stories. I think I think there have, there have been many inspiring success stories, but not enough, in my opinion. And I feel like no code is such a golden opportunity. I am just blown away at what I've been able to accomplish, not because of myself, but because of no code. And I, my dream is to give this gift to others. And that I've been able to have not only the gift of no code, but also the gift of the lessons I've learned to succeed. You know, I was able to learn from my co founder, Richard, who's a very wise entrepreneur, he comes from a family full of entrepreneurs. In fact, I think he has six brothers, if I'm not mistaken. And they all every single one of them are entrepreneurs, successful ones at that. And every single year they get together for their little bitten brothers symposium is what they call it, and they get together and they share ideas and collaborate and things like that. Anyways, I'm going off on a tangent, but I've learned from him. I've learned from Angel pad that that time learning in New York City from Tomas Courtenay and Karima Jessica, they are very wise when it comes to startup startups as well. And, and product market fit and growth, hacking and all that type of stuff. And I've just picked up a lot of lessons along the way. And I've been grateful to have found success. And I think I kind of in some ways, I kind of miss teaching. Like I said earlier, I was a sixth grade math teacher, I really do enjoy teaching my I guess my you could say my two passions are teaching and entrepreneurship. And so I feel like no code advantage.com is for me, the perfect Jordan Richardson business model, because I'm able to teach and serve people and help grow their businesses. So to answer your question, I hope that no code advantage can be a one stop shop for uniting, you know, savvy business principles with no code, where entrepreneurs who you know, who are like me, who have always wanted to start something, or had an idea, or been mulling over, you know, leaving their nine to five, or whatever it might be, they just don't really know how to get started, my hope is to be that place where they can come, they can learn, they can grow. And yes, we definitely have a community community has been vital in my no code journey. I'm super grateful to all the giant shoulders, I've stood on it when it comes to learning how to do this and how to do that. And there are too many to num too many to name of people that have helped me through my journey. And I'm hoping to kind of pass that baton along a little bit myself. So we will not only have, you know, a community aspect, and I'm building what's what I'm referring to as a live room, which is like a 24 hour 24/7 Zoom. room that's basically well not zoom, I'm using a different software, but it's basically a a place where anyone can come on at any time and collaborate with their peers, talk through ideas, whether it be no code techniques, or you know how to how to build this, how to build that, or business strategy, business ideas, I'll be joining the live room frequently as well. And I just really hope that this can kind of serve as maybe a synthesis of a no Code School, a product school as well as a business school, you know, startup accelerator, and just be kind of home to, to growth and helping no code founder succeed. So hopefully that answers your question. It does.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 19:07
And I love your thought and sharing and saying how important it was for you to stand on the shoulders of giants and how much people helped you. And actually, in my story of escaping the war in Ukraine, because I had another podcast about Ukraine that I used it for networking, when it was people who helped me be alive and evacuate in a country where I didn't speak the language where most people didn't speak English. So I'm very familiar with the power of people but to use specifically, I interviewed before a VC who deals with a lot of the founders and makers, whether the technical founders are in no code, and they seem to never value or appreciate or find time for networking and meeting new people. While he said you should focus 100% on networking and 100% on creating a quality app, or MVP, or something like that. So can you speak about networking? For you? How much do you focus on it? How different like the difference it made in your life as well? As? Do you notice that many within the community give it the respect and the effort? It is do or did it change the chain things change? Or is it something undervalued? But it really can transform lives?
Jordan Richardson 20:32
Yeah, yeah. To be honest, I think that I personally have undervalued, I think I'm probably more guilty than about you know, undervaluing its, its its extreme value, then, then the no code community, I think they have taught me honestly, and I have received so much value more than I've given, unfortunately. And I'm hoping to change that now. As well, as, you know, when I was in that startup accelerator, Angel pad, one of my favorite things was meeting brilliant people from all over that, that we all just cared about each other, and we all wanted to help each other, there was something special about that, just being able to network. And we're, we still we, in fact, just a couple of weeks ago, we had a little reunion over zoom, and we talked and, you know, got updates on everybody's businesses, how's everybody doing and those relationships have lasted for me and, and not only have they lasted, but they've led to profitable, certain profitable opportunities, as well as I've hoped, I hope we've been able to give some opportunities to, to some of the other founders, you know, anytime somebody needs, hey, who's a good HR guy, or hey, you know, I'm looking for a recruiter. Does anybody know anybody, you know, just just that the power of of, oh, yeah, I know a guy, he's great. Let me intro you to him. Just the power of being able to make those connections, is invaluable. And then on the flip side of the coin, just the bubble forum, back in the day, especially for me was just invaluable as I didn't really have anything like no code advantage, I didn't really have a guide or a mentor or a tutor. I really just, I relied on the giving help of other people in the community that, you know, when I had a question, hey, how do I build this? Or how would I go about doing this, or, Hey, what's the best practice for scalability on this particular aspect of my app, people would talk me through it, it's just astounding how much value people will give. And I love that. And I'm definitely a believer now of the power of networking, the power of community, the power of selfless service, and hopefully, you know, giving a ton of value for free, it's just, it's kind of interesting how that works. If you if you give a lot of value for free, it just seems like that karma principle, it'll come back to you in some way, shape, or form. And so I'm definitely a fan of this now. And I'm hoping to foster that a little bit more myself, in my community.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 23:21
So thank you. And it seems to me that there is some kind of like, escalation pyramid within any community, especially ours, where people first start as makers and then they become teachers, for makers and then they become community builders, and then they become investors within like, no code ideas and all that. Do you plan at some point to use the academy? Like you spoke about it as an accelerator incubator, but more as a private equity or angel investor pool or something like that? And do you see because people seem to miss the reality that yes, you can invest in real estate, you can invest in stocks and bonds, but learning how to be a serial entrepreneur is a kind of becoming an investor where you develop a skill, you create an asset and then you can either let it throw off money for you, or or sell it and then invest in something else or build a bigger thing. So what are your thoughts about this? Yeah,
Jordan Richardson 24:34
definitely. Definitely have given that some thought and, and definitely am open to that I think. I think for now, we're going to really focus on you know, the the community and the growth and the teaching side of things, but I definitely when an opportunity comes along for investment, I definitely won't hesitate to heavily consider that and and I do think that that's that kind of does seem to be the natural progression of things, being able to start something like that, where, where not only am I giving back my knowledge, but I'm also hopefully giving back in terms of putting my money where my mouth is in my belief of no code. So yeah, definitely excited about that those possibilities, but probably probably a little bit more down the road from here. I foresee. So,
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 25:29
thank you so much, Jordan. It's a privilege and honor. And if people want to learn about no code advantage, are there like some free resources or preview classes or webinars? Where should they go? And I will make sure to write some of those links in the description as well.
Jordan Richardson 25:51
Yes, thank you so much. Know, code advantage.com. Right now, it's just a quick little email forum where you can submit your email. And that's probably the best place to receive news and updates. I'm almost ready to launch I'll be launching here within a couple of weeks. I'm really excited. I've got a lot of people that are chomping at the bit begging me to get this thing released. And I'm super excited to finally have it released. I I have been battling post COVID long hauler syndrome. And so I've been in and out of dozens of doctors and things and also juggling trying to, to work on rabbit ties on the side and things but But finally, long overdue, we'll be launching here soon. So no code advantage.com, I will be heavily ramping up my YouTube channel, as well, I plan to give a lot of free value on that. So that's probably those are probably the two places that I would suggest visiting. So it's just at its no at no code advantage on YouTube. And it's no code advantage.com. And then also at no code advantage on Twitter. Those are probably I would say the three places that you can find the most value from me and I definitely plan to be ramping all three of those up very soon. So
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 27:13
perfect. Thank you very much. I encourage your success, your contribution to the community. And I wish you a great day.
Jordan Richardson 27:22
You too. Thank you so much and and props to you for such a great podcast. I've listened to many episodes myself. So I was really grateful when you when you asked me to be on myself. So thank you and congratulations on such a great podcast.
Abdulaziz M Alhamdan 27:38
You're welcome and thank you so much for the kind words
