Are you constantly failing at side hustles or startups? It’s because you’ve been treating business like a project

AI summary focused on the core points of the original article.

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1. Overview and core message

Key question: Why do so many people fail at side businesses or startups?
Reason: They approach entrepreneurship like a 'project.'
Core message: Stop running one-off planning/experience-based efforts (projects), and instead do 'real entrepreneurship' by targeting customer pain points and structuring the full value a single customer brings (LTV).

2. Project-style entrepreneurship vs. real entrepreneurship

Core value
- Project-style approach: Prioritizes the client’s or your own satisfaction above all else.
- Real entrepreneurship: Focuses on solving customers’ real pain points.
Focus
- Project-style approach: Focuses on the entire A to Z process of building and launching a product.
- Real entrepreneurship: Focuses on 'sales'—actually selling the product to customers.
Execution style
- Project-style approach: Moves as a short-term sprint, clearing weekly checklists.
- Real entrepreneurship: Keeps improving through constant contact with the field and adjusts pace from a long-term perspective.
Pricing
- Project-style approach: Worries about platform expectations and sets a one-off price in the 30,000 to 50,000 won range.
- Real entrepreneurship: Designs a revenue structure of 300,000 won or more based on the total value (LTV) of one customer.

3. Case analysis: the limits of an olive oil tasting meetup

Misconception of the expert host: If you open a meetup based only on deep knowledge and good intentions ('I want to spread olive oil culture'), then inside a platform it becomes just another form of 'weekend outing / one-time experience' consumption.
Inefficient pricing structure: If you spend more than 8 hours preparing/running it and charge only 30,000 to 50,000 won, you get no ROI relative to your labor, and you eventually burn out.
Mismatch with customers: If you try to teach a guest who came for weekend entertainment about harvesting methods or history, it will not lead to repeat purchases (retention).

4. How to design a 300,000-won LTV revenue structure (3-step funnel)

Instead of simply pricing a 50,000-won meetup product, set an annual LTV target per customer (e.g., 300,000 won) and design by breaking the funnel apart.

Step 1 (entry meetup, 50,000 won): A gate that attracts real customers who have a pain point
Step 2 (on-site purchase, 70,000 won): Customers buy olive oil directly at the meetup and take it home to experience for a month (the most important touchpoint)
Step 3 (online subscription, 180,000 won): After the one-month experience, encourage six months of recurring purchases based on the trust that has formed

###5. Customer targeting and hitting the pain point

Wrong target: People who do not eat olive oil -> communication costs explode because you have to both 'educate + sell' at the same time (campaign territory).
Right target: People who already buy and use olive oil but have complaints (e.g., 'How to buy olive oil reasonably without getting ripped off on Kurly').
Solution: If you run impact-driven sales that save customers time or money (e.g., offering 5 to 8 sampler types and explaining lifestyle guidance), customers will buy first without needing persuasion.

6. Core summary

"Business is not a cultural campaign; it is solving customers’ pain. Stop the 'projects' that provide one-off experiences, work backward from your revenue target, break it into steps, and build a revenue-structure funnel that increases customer LTV."

XPLORED View

This piece revisits why small businesses do not last, not through execution ability, but through customer problems and repeat-purchase structures.

Good timing to read this
- The difference between project-style execution and business design
- Customer desires and inconveniences hidden inside hobby meetups
- A structure that looks at customer lifetime value instead of price

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This article is summarized and interpreted by XPLORED based on publicly available original sources and related materials. Rights to the original source and materials included in it belong to their respective rights holders. If a rights holder requests a correction or removal, we will review and respond promptly.

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