I've been looking for a similiar topic on the forum and surprisingly couldn't find one.
I feel like so many people fail in business only because they lack the most important business skills. They have good product, good idea, but the execution sucks because they don't have the basic skills. Or maybe have not sufficiently developed them - for example, their understanding of "marketing" was very shallow or outdated ("yeah I tried the marketing thing, I created an instagram account and I have a mailing list - didn't work!!!)".
I'm talking the kind of general (and also more specific) crucial skills that once mastered set you for life - meaning that you will always be able to start a new business from scratch, anywhere in the world, in crises, in prosperity, both in bull and bear markets:
sales, marketing, copywriting, communication skills, branding, people management, time management, new skills acquisition etc.
When it comes to more specific stuff:
-FB Ads
-Google Ads
-Funnels etc.
-SEO
-(at least) basic web design
etc. (I'm not talking about very specific skillsets here, like python coding, more like the bread and butter of every entrepreneur).
I know that each of these fields is super-deep and also that "everything is available online dudeeeee".
But at the same time, we suffer from information oversupply.
These days everyone can start their youtube channel, or write a book, and it's getting harder and harder separating the wheat from the chaff. I'm getting more and more confused each and every year, as the information is plenty but also contradictive.
I also feel it's usually better to pay for a course that was recommended to us by someone successful, than to waste time browsing through 346 different blogs, forums and fb groups (oftentimes filled with noobs, toxic people and scammers) or random YT channels (well, the number of subscribers doesn't really tell us if somebody is good at their trade or not).
Personally, I've been doing the same business (KDP Publishing on Amazon) for 8 years now, and I often feel that I lost that time - In the sense that I ought to study way more marketing, copywriting, fb ads etc, which would now have resulted in higher confidence levels and ability to create new businesess way more easily.
But instead, I feel like I lack the most basic skills, because my business is super hermetic (you basically repeat the same steps again and again for years and "stack" your portfolio of books...).
I'm thinking to start a new venture and then it comes: "But I don't know crap about FB ads/SEO/marketing outside of amazon/etc etc)"
And I know - we should learn from doing and not overanalyze or wait until the mythical "I'm ready" comes - but anyway - constant learning is a must imo, especially in our rapidly changing times.
I hold that even if you want to hire people and outsource, it's still important to have some deep knowledge - imagine being green and hiring "marketers" while not knowing a thing about marketing, e.g seo, copywriting and web design. You could be sold a super crappy website, with a cheap and cheesy copy and not even know, and overpay (especially as a non-native speaker). That's only a quick example and maybe not the best one, but you feel me.
Hence, I was thinking to create a thread in which forum members would list the resources (be it books, courses, or even names of marketers/entrepreneurs worth studying) that helped
them immensely, have put them on a new track, gave them new ideas and specific skills that are transatable to all types of business (and oftentimes other life areas).
A topic to always go back to for learning reference.
TL/DR:
What general business skills are the most important according to you?
Where did you learn them? What's you "go to" learning place for new skills? The more specific the better. (E.g: Everybody knows that udemy exists, but how do you know if a course is good, or a total crap made for a quick buck? By the number of reviews/followers? Well, not really...)
What are the absolute classics that you think every aspiring and maybe also seasoned entrepreneur should go through?
If you were to start from scratch now in 2021, where would you go to learn and what skills would you begin with?
I feel like so many people fail in business only because they lack the most important business skills. They have good product, good idea, but the execution sucks because they don't have the basic skills. Or maybe have not sufficiently developed them - for example, their understanding of "marketing" was very shallow or outdated ("yeah I tried the marketing thing, I created an instagram account and I have a mailing list - didn't work!!!)".
I'm talking the kind of general (and also more specific) crucial skills that once mastered set you for life - meaning that you will always be able to start a new business from scratch, anywhere in the world, in crises, in prosperity, both in bull and bear markets:
sales, marketing, copywriting, communication skills, branding, people management, time management, new skills acquisition etc.
When it comes to more specific stuff:
-FB Ads
-Google Ads
-Funnels etc.
-SEO
-(at least) basic web design
etc. (I'm not talking about very specific skillsets here, like python coding, more like the bread and butter of every entrepreneur).
I know that each of these fields is super-deep and also that "everything is available online dudeeeee".
But at the same time, we suffer from information oversupply.
These days everyone can start their youtube channel, or write a book, and it's getting harder and harder separating the wheat from the chaff. I'm getting more and more confused each and every year, as the information is plenty but also contradictive.
I also feel it's usually better to pay for a course that was recommended to us by someone successful, than to waste time browsing through 346 different blogs, forums and fb groups (oftentimes filled with noobs, toxic people and scammers) or random YT channels (well, the number of subscribers doesn't really tell us if somebody is good at their trade or not).
Personally, I've been doing the same business (KDP Publishing on Amazon) for 8 years now, and I often feel that I lost that time - In the sense that I ought to study way more marketing, copywriting, fb ads etc, which would now have resulted in higher confidence levels and ability to create new businesess way more easily.
But instead, I feel like I lack the most basic skills, because my business is super hermetic (you basically repeat the same steps again and again for years and "stack" your portfolio of books...).
I'm thinking to start a new venture and then it comes: "But I don't know crap about FB ads/SEO/marketing outside of amazon/etc etc)"
And I know - we should learn from doing and not overanalyze or wait until the mythical "I'm ready" comes - but anyway - constant learning is a must imo, especially in our rapidly changing times.
I hold that even if you want to hire people and outsource, it's still important to have some deep knowledge - imagine being green and hiring "marketers" while not knowing a thing about marketing, e.g seo, copywriting and web design. You could be sold a super crappy website, with a cheap and cheesy copy and not even know, and overpay (especially as a non-native speaker). That's only a quick example and maybe not the best one, but you feel me.
Hence, I was thinking to create a thread in which forum members would list the resources (be it books, courses, or even names of marketers/entrepreneurs worth studying) that helped
them immensely, have put them on a new track, gave them new ideas and specific skills that are transatable to all types of business (and oftentimes other life areas).
A topic to always go back to for learning reference.
TL/DR:
What general business skills are the most important according to you?
Where did you learn them? What's you "go to" learning place for new skills? The more specific the better. (E.g: Everybody knows that udemy exists, but how do you know if a course is good, or a total crap made for a quick buck? By the number of reviews/followers? Well, not really...)
What are the absolute classics that you think every aspiring and maybe also seasoned entrepreneur should go through?
If you were to start from scratch now in 2021, where would you go to learn and what skills would you begin with?
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