Mikkel
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I recently spoke with a forum member about a business they are trying to start. They recently switched business ideas, but the previous business had no similarities to his current business idea. Both businesses had large barriers to entry that required a lot of skills training and industry knowledge. To be successful, he should expect a minimum of one year of learning before making anything of substance due to its technical nature. This spurred the topic of choosing an industry and skillset.
I see many new entrepreneurs, I was one of them, that jump from one industry to the next, rarely bringing over transferable skills. Each time, they enter a market with little knowledge and months/years of learning ahead of them. At some point, every person will need to learn their field of choice. However, you shouldn't be repeating these months/years of learning each time you start a new business.
There will always be exceptions to the rule, however, most successful businesses have owners that have a deep understanding of their industry and can leverage their knowledge and skills to produce incredible value to their customers. It is hard to believe any person who jumps industry every few months or years will develop skills and a knowledge base worthy of starting a business.
This leads me to the point of this thread. I think it is beneficial for entrepreneurs to find the industry that interests them, learn a few skills, and stick to that for decades. The topic of what industry a person should pick is a different topic that is beyond the scope of this post.
My general rule of thumb is this. I only will spend time learning skills that I know I will use in the future. I am not willing to learn to code because none of my businesses will revolve around me knowing how to code. Now, I might need someone to code in the future, but my business will not rely on me being able to code. I would rather hire that out. That also means that all my business plans ensure they don't require coding early on in the business because I could not afford to hire someone.
Take me for an example. I am not successful in any traditional entrepreneurial sense at this time. However, I separate my entrepreneurial journey into two distinct phases. Pre-industry determination and post-industry determination. For approximately 7 or 8 years I aimlessly picked different businesses to attempt to start. Some of these businesses had hints of my future(I began inventing products) but I never decided on an industry or skillset. It wasn't until I decided I wanted to be involved with the import/export of products, that I started to hone in on what I would be doing. Today, my list of skillsets and industries are:
1. Physical Therapy (Core)
2. Import/Export (Core)
3. Inventing (Core)
4. E-commerce (Non-core)
5. Licensing (Non-core)
You can see that Physical Therapy, import/exports, and inventing are what I primarily focus on. That is what I want to know best. Right now I am working on learning both E-commerce as well as licensing. At some point, these might become core skills, but for now, it is not guaranteed that licensing or e-commerce will be my future. If my business fails, my core will stay the same, but my non-core skills may change. The benefit of this is that no matter what happens to my current business, I will ALWAYS have transferable skills when going to the next business. I don't start from scratch each time. My businesses always use some or all of my core skills. That is critical unless you are a first-time entrepreneurial success, which is unlikely but not impossible.
I have seen the most growth potential in my business with the clearest vision ever since I determined what my core industry and skills were, this was 2 years ago. If I figured this out at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey nearly 10 years ago, imagine where I would be now. Imagine the skills and knowledge I would have had to work with.
Imagine where you will be in 10 years if you lock in a few core skills and leverage them in your business.
I see many new entrepreneurs, I was one of them, that jump from one industry to the next, rarely bringing over transferable skills. Each time, they enter a market with little knowledge and months/years of learning ahead of them. At some point, every person will need to learn their field of choice. However, you shouldn't be repeating these months/years of learning each time you start a new business.
There will always be exceptions to the rule, however, most successful businesses have owners that have a deep understanding of their industry and can leverage their knowledge and skills to produce incredible value to their customers. It is hard to believe any person who jumps industry every few months or years will develop skills and a knowledge base worthy of starting a business.
This leads me to the point of this thread. I think it is beneficial for entrepreneurs to find the industry that interests them, learn a few skills, and stick to that for decades. The topic of what industry a person should pick is a different topic that is beyond the scope of this post.
My general rule of thumb is this. I only will spend time learning skills that I know I will use in the future. I am not willing to learn to code because none of my businesses will revolve around me knowing how to code. Now, I might need someone to code in the future, but my business will not rely on me being able to code. I would rather hire that out. That also means that all my business plans ensure they don't require coding early on in the business because I could not afford to hire someone.
Take me for an example. I am not successful in any traditional entrepreneurial sense at this time. However, I separate my entrepreneurial journey into two distinct phases. Pre-industry determination and post-industry determination. For approximately 7 or 8 years I aimlessly picked different businesses to attempt to start. Some of these businesses had hints of my future(I began inventing products) but I never decided on an industry or skillset. It wasn't until I decided I wanted to be involved with the import/export of products, that I started to hone in on what I would be doing. Today, my list of skillsets and industries are:
1. Physical Therapy (Core)
2. Import/Export (Core)
3. Inventing (Core)
4. E-commerce (Non-core)
5. Licensing (Non-core)
You can see that Physical Therapy, import/exports, and inventing are what I primarily focus on. That is what I want to know best. Right now I am working on learning both E-commerce as well as licensing. At some point, these might become core skills, but for now, it is not guaranteed that licensing or e-commerce will be my future. If my business fails, my core will stay the same, but my non-core skills may change. The benefit of this is that no matter what happens to my current business, I will ALWAYS have transferable skills when going to the next business. I don't start from scratch each time. My businesses always use some or all of my core skills. That is critical unless you are a first-time entrepreneurial success, which is unlikely but not impossible.
I have seen the most growth potential in my business with the clearest vision ever since I determined what my core industry and skills were, this was 2 years ago. If I figured this out at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey nearly 10 years ago, imagine where I would be now. Imagine the skills and knowledge I would have had to work with.
Imagine where you will be in 10 years if you lock in a few core skills and leverage them in your business.
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