From spark to turnover

thebrokernews took part in the webinar “From the idea to the first turnover” with Selma Kuyas and Frédéric Mathier. It shows: The path to self-employment is not a sprint, but a system. Two very different start-up stories show the clear steps that turn an idea into paying customers

At the Insurance Broker Forum 2025 in Rüschlikon, Selma Kuyas showed how to go from likes to leads using LinkedIn. The webinar in turn underlined the fact that many people remain in the “golden cage” of employees. With a good job, but no growth and little autonomy. This is exactly where the step into self-employment comes in. The message from the webinar: “Security is a fiction – the ability to act is not”. If you want to get started, you don’t need perfect circumstances, but a plan and the willingness to be visible.

Two paths, one goal: freedom

Frédéric Mathier quits his corporate career, goes on a trip around the world and starts his own business in 2019 without a return ticket. Today he is a negotiation expert, lecturer, keynote speaker and podcaster.
In 2018, Selma Kuyas slipped from her dual employment into self-employment without a business plan, but with a clear set of values (autonomy, integrity). Today, she is a LinkedIn Top Voice, consultant for personal branding & corporate influencing, trainer and content entrepreneur.

What the two have in common is that their paths differ. But the principles are not, because the important thing is to decide, focus and implement.

The oxygen is called turnover: and that comes from Marketing & Sales

Many founders underestimate the proportion of marketing and sales. The reality shows, especially at the beginning, that 90 percent marketing and sales are necessary and 10 percent delivery. Marketing creates visibility and leads and sales turn leads into orders with offers, prices and processes.

Practical examples:

• Call the first 50 contacts, including “Family, Friends & Fools”, because rapid market feedback suggests months of tinkering with the logo.
• Longform + Social: Use podcasts as a content source and create LinkedIn posts, newsletters and clips from them.
• Network online and offline: Give talks, build communities, send targeted direct messages instead of mass advertising.

Visibility instead of perfection

Perfection paralyzes. “Cringe Mountain” (the concept says: Publish → Learn → Improve → Repeat) is part of this: the first post, the first video, the first pitch. If you start imperfectly, you learn faster what the market really buys. Follower numbers are not sales: relevance > reach.

The ACDC business formula

The webinar condenses foundation into a lean system:

A – Attract
Sharpen positioning, understand target customers, build content & touchpoints (LinkedIn, newsletters, talks, recommendations).

C – Convert (sell)
Clear offers, clean sales conversations, negotiating prices with confidence, simple closing and offer routes.

D – Deliver
Deliver performance efficiently: Product/service design, onboarding, standards & templates, making results measurable (social proof).

C – Collect (collect)
Secure cash flow: Payment terms, installments/subscriptions, advance payments, dunning, liquidity planning.

Most common stumbling blocks – and antidotes

One of the most common stumbling blocks is a lack of planning. It is better to create a 12-week plan with weekly targets and a daily sales time block. In second place is invisibility, which is prevented by 2-3 fixed content formats, 3-5 weekly “money posts” and 10 daily relevant interactions. To protect against price anxiety, the benefit should be quantified in CHF, three offer levels should be created and the negotiation routine should be sharpened. Advance and partial payments, subscription models and recurring services protect against point 4: No cash flow. Kuyas/Mathier mention Shiny Objects as the last point, meaning that logo fetish and perfection loops are less important than customer acquisition. Only then does cosmetics count.

How to start the first week

• Monday: Create a list of the 50 warmest contacts.
• Tuesday: 10 outreaches (telephone/direct messages) with a clear benefit offer.
• Wednesday: Make your LinkedIn profile “customer-ready” (positioning, offer, call-to-action).
• Thursday: Create 1 long-form piece (podcast/article) → 3 social snippets.
• Friday: Define mini offer (clear output, price, duration) and book 5 meetings.
• Weekly: Review (leads, conversations, deals, learnings), determine next experiment.

Mentoring instead of going it alone

Both speakers emphasize the effect of mentors and sparring partners, which create shortcuts, fewer expensive failures and more focus. If you want to turn the corner faster, invest in skills and systems first, not in decoration.

Entrepreneurial thinking beats perfect timing

After all, self-employment is not an event, but rather training to make better decisions, test, learn and scale. With the ACDC concept, consistent visibility and saleable offers, the seedling becomes a viable business and “someday” becomes a date in the calendar.

Binci Heeb

Read also: Navigating global turbulence: Insights from Christian Takushi’s webinar