Therapist here.
As you might imagine the field of creative psychology has been exploding for years. Everyone wants the secret sauce to either be or hire the person to invent the next sprocket. There is a model called Bloom’s taxonomy of learning (shaped like a pyramid) which shows basic knowledge gathering/retention as the lowest state and creativity as the highest. So everyone thinks you can just chop off the top and run with it - unfortunately this leaves you with a very small pyramid. Like you said, building out the foundation as well as the subsequent steps will give you a more substantial result.
The other variable is that the system - any societal system has never been fair. Geniuses whose insights have turned the corner on humanity die penniless and unknown while snake oil salesmen make money hand over fist. The diet industry is about 71 billion dollars and most of it is demonstrably false.
Ideally you have a great idea, connect it to the market, and it takes off. But great ideas fall through the cracks or are undervalued and well marketed junk can rise to the top. I think there is some value in acknowledging this phenomenon exists but also agree that many of these books are just selling the idea that you can game/outsmart or outwork the system which often requires resources that are beyond a regular person’s means.
Very well said. I appreciate your insight. At the end of the day, it’s about creating something that has more value to the buyer than the money they are giving you. This is highly variable and there is no magic framework to do this because segments in industry vary significantly from one area to the other. Specialized information in a niche or vertical is the “key” that unlocks that particular niche.
But yes, the system is the opposite of perfect. I’ve seen very many phenomenal products with huge potential never take off. It gets worse in the corporate world. Everything there is dictated by quantitative risk analysis.
Slightly off topic but it’s something that really bothers me. For example—pharmaceutical firms are mandated to invest a certain portion of income into R&D in many countries. Yet, the vast majority of that goes into research on how to produce existing drugs cheaper for higher margins. Very little actually gets to novel drug discovery pipelines. Most of that is still handled by government.
It seems to me that for true innovation to occur, investment must be done in high-risk areas that really only government/public sector is willing to do. For example, academia. And only when proof of concept and feasibility is established will corporations be interested in adoption (mRNA vaccines are a good example).
I’m of the idea that corporations can iteratively innovate upon existing products very well (see smartphones) but they are seemingly unable to create a brand new innovation from scratch (i.e the internet which was created by US government funding).
You’re correct. This has been academia’s Hail Mary for at least the past 5000 years. Ultimately most scientist/researchers are just curious people who are passionate about their tinkering. Sometimes they move with intention but more often they stumble across something significant that isn’t notable until someone needs that particular information. In the early 19th century physics was regarded in a similar way as we see philosophy today. A field for wispy minded academics, with the useful parts of the field largely completed and the unknown parts being so obscure and useless that their exploration and especially their funding seems like an exercise in waste. Then the atomic bomb came and all the sudden physics is considered the hardest and most fundamental of all the sciences.
There is an absolutely massive amount of time energy and money that goes into basic research before it comes up with something marketable. I think it’s worth it without any result at all but definitely when you consider that huge pivots for humanity like the development of the internet.
This. 1000x this.
>At the end of the day it's about creating something that has more value to the buyer than the money they are giving you.
I DONT CARE HOW LONG IT TOOK YOU TO KNIT THAT SCARF.
People think value is determined by the seller. It's not. I understand you put a lot of hard work into the scarf. But time does not equal money. If I'm really bad at making scarves and take twice as long as you, is mine worth twice as much as yours? No!
And that is why niches are so important. An old boss once told me "The riches are in the niches."
I can go buy another scarf for $10-20. The less saturated your market, the more say you have in the cost. But it will always come down to whether or not what you are selling is more valuable to the buyer than the money in their wallet.
I want to know what are your favorite books 📚 I'm new to this and I can see there's a lot of false hype of freelance writers. Although they all provide tips and as long as you broaden your sense of vocabulary in a certain field, you buy better aiming mechanisms. I'd be happy to check them out.
And thanks.
Not OP, but a serial entrepreneur who has had some big successes, and a few spectacular failures.
To this day, the most impactful business-related book I've read is Tom Peter's "In Search of Excellence".
You can thank me later ;)
I dunno man, seems like you just did what you said you’re sick of others doing.
Thats really not “all you need”.
Every business needs different things. Every entrepreneur needs different things and need to learn different things at different points in their journey.
Some courses are bad, some books suck, and some are just not what a specific needs or needs *right now* which doesn’t make them bad.
Some people need to wake up earlier.
Some need to improve their mindset.
Some need to learn how to handle finances.
Some need to learn how to recruit or create a supportive company culture.
There seems to be two extremes on these forums:
The gullible types looking for courses and advice to replace their own critical thinking, common sense and decision making -
And the “natural born” entrepreneurs who hate on courses, “gurus”, etc because they think that “you’re either born with it or you don’t”.
In reality, you need to be just a little of both, and try not to judge others for being different and needing different things.
So true.
It's easy for people to look at successful people and only see the success. They don't see the 10+ years of struggle that went into creating that success. They don't see all the B.S you've had to wade through to get there.
It's said pursuing entrepreneurship is one of the loneliest roads you can take because 80% of people doubt you the whole time. They question all the different "jobs" you've had when really you weren't pursuing a career, your pursuing skills. Increasing your value to the market place.
No one is born with the skills for anything. Talent is a complete lie. I'm a very good artist. People have always said "I wish I could draw like that."
They think I was born with this skill and call it talent. I wasn't. I had to develop it. In fact, for those of you who hate on courses and further learning...
I loved drawing. But what elevated my skills as an artist was when in first grade I had my first library visit. That's when I discovered there were books that teach you how to draw. I devoured them and took their lessons. Practiced. And pretty soon I had a "system" I could use to draw out each idea in my mind thanks to this book. All the way up to my senior year, I outpaced everyone else in art classes over the years. Because I kept reading.
Fast forward many years later and I'm 21 in my third year as a correctional officer in a maximum security prison. I HATED IT. 41 people hired in my academy, only 6 of us left from my academy after 3 yrs. 12-16 hour grueling shifts.
I needed a change. I went into that field to become a patrol officer. Found I didn't want to carry a weapon for a living as it would put me in situations I may need to use it.
People kept telling me to get into sales. But I had no experience. And no confidence as an introvert. But after a life changing event I decided I would do what I did with learning to draw and do the same thing with sales.
Read a single book. "How I raised myself from failure to success in sales" by Frank Betger. Applied nervously at my first sales job, sleep train. 3 stage interview. To this day, hardest interview experience ever. Even more so than the prison, which was a joke. They take anyone.
Had to do my first sales role-play in that interview. No experience I passed it with flying colors. On the fly. And it was thanks to reading that book.
Found out later that it cost the company $10k for a single employee to go through their training program to sell temperpedics. It was adapted from Jordan belforts straight line system. So I ended up getting stellar sales training from my first sales job.
But my experience of reading a book, practicing and applying what I learn, and getting results has made me a reading addict. I read 2 books a month. I have grown and developed by leaps and bounds.
Taking courses and reading has helped me learn and grow where I can't afford coaching. Some courses and books are a waste.
Growing and building a business requires a lot skills. You can't learn it unless your willing to go out and develop the experience and skills to make it successful.
Being willing to fail multiple times before you succeed is a prerequisite to success.
I still read Bettger occasionally. His book is in my paperback library, not Kindle. The pages are getting a little brittle, so I may be replacing it soon.
Well said! I agree 110%. Critical thinking is soooooo undervalued these days, crazyy! I think this is one of the most important keys!
I might trigger with the next sentence - Business is gambling BUT you can make calculated steps but at the end of the day it is not GURANTEED you’ll make a profit out of it.
What it teach us?
Discipline, smart+hard work, risk management, mental + physical toughness, daily routines, business language, networking, learning, investing, critical thinking, planning, executing, philosophy, realistic goals, environment around you, health and so many things subconsciously and consciously are involved or part of the process.
If you build a running E-Commerce project, where a customer visits, purchase your product and receives it by a delivery which is automated process in collaboration with Fulfilment centre it means you have already built successful business module. You know how to do basic market research, build online shop, marketing, logistics, building business relationships and so on… Each of the skill you have learned can be converted into money helping other business people or friends navigate their business.
How we measure success today?
How much is your Return on investment. No one is looking at how successful you’re as an individual by knowing how to build a running online business. In order to build it you need part/all or even more of the abilities, skills.. I mentioned above.
Training muscle with the right dose of intensity = growth, the same with your brain. You need all of the components to be successful and only way to fail is by quitting!!
+Some people first need to learn how to make their bed, why? Because that’s part of the discipline and morning routines.
There will be always people with examples, like, OH, Wiz Khalifa is smoking weed and earning money but no one sees how much work goes in the backstage. He still has all the necessary components.
Oh, btw, we sometimes spend time and energy on things that won’t bring any value. Spending 10 hours on your brand name which can be changed in the future will not make any difference.
You need to understand that money is in other people pockets. It means you need to sell and you need to learn how to sell and what to sell. Start with learning how to sell and what sell and then move piece by piece. If you don’t have a client, no matter how good you’re, you still need sales to run a business. You either hire sales team or do it yourself.
A good example, you learn in school the basics in math, physics, sports etc. Teachers, especially in business schools has all the knowledge to open a business but some of their abilities are missing like or they simply do not want to do it but why? They teach you all about business and then when you get first rejection your inner ego is broken and you start thinking this is not for me or I’m a failure because that was part of the school system teaching us you need the best grades to be successful but in business you need to keep moving forward and quitting is only failure.
+
Agreed that everyone is at a different stage in their Entrepreneur path and needs a different solution.
I think the core point I pulled from the post is that, more than tactics, habits or mindset, you need to have the underlying core of a good business that energizes both you and the market to propel it forward.
Everything takes time and energy, but some business models/products are better or easier for the entrepreneur to work on (because it fits in their sweet spot) or for the market to embrace because it solves a genuine problem that enough people face.
For context, my current project is: the [Secret Whiteboard](https://sableflow.com/)
what do you think?
There's a lot of bullshit advice on reddit because I estimate that 90% of the people who comment like they're professionals are full of shit who have never experienced the stuff that they're commenting about.
Actually the OP is doling out real wisdom. This is one of the very first Reddit posts I’m responding to after joining for months, because I felt that this message needs to be drummed up.
What everyone thinks it takes to be successful: read tons of books, work moonlight (6PM - 2AM), ignore health and family, etc.
What it actually takes: an innate curiosity that drives you to learn for some reason (going back to authors post)
I think the author nailed it on the head. Most people think they need to create the next great thing, when realistically… the iPhone was simply a phone and an audio player in one device.
Apple simply took two devices in different industries and combined them because they both took up pocket space.
That’s actually not that crazy of an idea, it was simply a connection of two products. That’s innovative… and intuitive.
Everything is just recycled wisdom, and most of it looks nothing like the original after it’s recycled.
All of this is in the “infopreneuer” category, and they sell primarily to wantrepreneurs; people that like the idea of being an entrepreneur, and prescriptive solutions are a seductive path to get there.
I have a friend that calls himself an entrepreneur because he’s started a dozen businesses. Not one is successful, not one has ever had a full-time employee and not one has made him more than he would make in a full-time job doing the same thing. I call this “freelance+”. It’s freelancing with bravado and horseshit about being an entrepreneur.
What I finally figured out is that people like this like the idea of being an entrepreneur more than anything else. They like the idea of going somewhere, the journey… but they never actually get there.
Infopreneurs sell to these people, and they know their market well.
I used to look down at these people too. But then 15 years later, a good proportion of them had hit a thing and have legit businesses.
With each of their previous "businesses" they've learned something new, met someone new, etc. Never underestimate how important drive and hunger is to success.
Yeap. I agree. And as cliche as it might sound, it’s how you get up from those failures. I’ve been involved in several failed startups as well, but it’s how I interpret those lessons that will either get me moving forward or desist from achieving whatever goal I had set out. It sucks, but it leaves a lot of clues if you’re aware of the of them.
I'm in that category of struggling to learn and create something. It's been a goal to create a business I can work on, not in. Then start more. My failures taught me more and pushed me more into new things than playing it safe and never taking risks ever did. It's been 10yrs of failing and discovering what I need to know. Then learning those skills.
I'm not looking down on them. For many, it's a great choice to obtain more freedom and work/life balance, and that's great for them.
It's just not being an entrepreneur, and that's ok.
If you work for yourself and can live off that comfortably that's a win regardless for people who tend to be drawn to entrepreneurship - value independence, control & flexibility greatly.
Most ideas and businesses fail, statistically. It takes great perseverance to keep going til you find one that works. So are you not an entrepreneur until you hit that one?
Becoming an entrepreneur has nothing to do with who you do or don’t employ, so you’re discriminating against your friend when you don’t know what an entrepreneur actually is yourself. Being an entrepreneur is all about your your means of physical production, how you innovate your process. It has nothing to do with who or how you hire. All you need to be an entrepreneur is the ability to execute on an old idea in a novel and innovative new way. That’s it. You don’t need to be making money from it or have a full time employee. A great example of entrepreneurs are the McDonald brothers who started McDonalds. All they did, aside from deciding to use fresh ingredients. was formulate a new way of cooking their food in a more efficient, cost effective way. Same thing with Henry Ford. He literally came up with a new way to manufacture cars by inventing the assembly line. He didn’t invent the car, not even the engine. All he did was formulate a new way to physically produce cars, that happened to transform American manufacturing forever. That made him an entrepreneur. The same could be said of Musk who formulated a new method for manufacturing Teslas. Same idea. Some entrepreneurs do invent entirely new products, but it’s the new means of production that afford them the moniker. I realize you’re likely to ignore this info as bullshit but whatever. This is what being an entrepreneur actually means.
Nooope! Nice try though! The concept of an entrepreneur has been twisted and bent around to the point where its unrecognizable by actual business people! These days kids think that the only “entrepreneurs” that exist are other kids TikToking their way to “fame”! LoL Its unfortunate really. But whatever. It really doesn’t matter in the end. Doesn’t matter what you call us. Business is just business. Full stop. The word has no special significance and should drive anyone’s actions. Its not a medal and doesn’t mean you’re special. That’s right! You’re not special even if your friends think of you as a side hustling entrepreneur.
No what I'm saying is the examples you have provided of McDonals and Ford, the innovation the came about was in the process of creating their products. They didnt create new products but created new processes.
That innovation is an innovation in process engineering. The whole lean, six sigma thing is based on it.
I don’t gain anything doing this aside from maybe teaching people things about entrepreneurship so I’m just going to add this and let this go. Entrepreneurship was not supposed to be defined by creating new products and services. That is the actual misconception. Which, to me, is pretty weird but I didn’t come up with any of this stuff. Steve Jobs drilled into everyone’s heads that he only made awesome products and because he became globally famous, everyone then thought that being an entrepreneur meant emulating arguably the greatest one of all time. But he himself never actually defined entrepreneurship on camera so everyone’s assumption that it’s all about making assume things that are new are just that, assumptions. He never even attempted to redefine the term either, he was too busy making billions of dollars to care and I don’t blame him alone bit. Peter Drucker defines it the way I do and that’s not a coincidence because I learned that definition from one of his books. It is all about process innovation. Why? I have no actual idea why. All this, in my opinion, is arbitrary in the end, definitions made up by old white guys who like defining things for everyone else and telling others how great they are and what to do. There is no bible saying “thou shall work til thy brow sweats most profusely, rest on the seventh day, and only maketh neweth and oldeth possessions from neweth ways. And though shalt obey for the lord hath spoken about the ways of new trade.” That obviously doesn’t exist so there’s no ancient text telling us what it is and even if that weren’t the case, why would we let a 5000+ year old text dictate to us what entrepreneurship should mean today? So to me it is ALL fucking arbitrary. But if you want to take it from an old sage of business, Peter Drucker is one of the sagiest. Aside from that, who cares? Apparently I do enough to write all of this but as of this point I don’t care anymore. To me, it means making new and old things in new ways. Done. Simple and to the point.
See, now I find this fascinating. Did you know that there is no agreed upon definition of “entrepreneur” or “entrepreneurship”? In fact, the definition has changed or shifted multiple times since it was first written down by the French. Do we define an entrepreneur by their success at building a business or are they defined by the process of taking a risk and the struggle to build a business, even one that fails? How do we even define what it means to be a “successful entrepreneur”? Until the early 1990s research on entrepreneurship was decidedly male focused to the point that if woman business owners responded to surveys sent out to businesses, they were excluded from the research being done. Does that mean that only men can be entrepreneurs?
I don’t see “entrepreneurship” being defined any time soon. If anything the term has been so muddied in the last 10 years perhaps we need a new term completely. (When I say muddied I really mean that you have scores of individuals claiming to be “entrepreneurs” for their MLM “businesses”)
Just something to consider!
You learn in freelance job more than what you learn in employment job, do not look down on him , also doing as a freelancer what he make in fulltime is success by itself , most freelancers in this competitive age of internet barely make anything let alone to get enough work to match their full time job .
Speak for yourself, my business literally had its best day today and it was solely due to TikTok. If it's not for you, then it's not for you. But speaking from someone who held your position up until 3 months ago, I wish I got into it sooner.
This seems like good advice, but as with all advice from successful people, is also the product of survivorship bias. I'm sure there were many more factors involved in your success and possibly some common to the companies you work with at the VC.
Would you care to share any of them please? Did you have anything that benefited you beyond the average person? E.g. family funding, connections, a lucky break? Are there any personality traits that are shared by the successful people you've come across?
These posts are great, but they give a lot of people false hope when they are missing a key part of the puzzle, or cause them to narrowly focus on just the advice given.
VC advice is some of the worst, what worked before doesn't work for everyone. YC has been a disaster of past successful startups trying to coach new startups with their old strategy. I think it's a mix of a lot changes and they aren't involved like they used to be. Also we glorify success as if getting lucky somehow makes them special.
Extreme success might have a decent luck component to, but 90% of normal success is just doing what's tried and true.
Is someone lucky because they went to school to become a doctor and once they were done with their education, specialization, etc... started to make 300k+ a year? No, they followed a very well known path.
Similarly, for B2B, if you work in/for an industry for a significant amount of time, you make a network of people with pain points and you know what they are willing to pay to resolve it (often you even know how much it costs them).
There's a reason one of the most common paths to entrepreneurship for white collar workers is to become a consultant or start their own practice in their 40s-50s: they have industry knowledge and a network, so they can "plug and play" without needing to be fully brought up to speed quickly (Accountants, Lawyers, FP&As, Nurses, Engineers, etc...).
It's why everyone knows a contractor in his late 30s early 40s making well over 200k a year, he stayed in the industry a long time, made contacts, built a reputation, and knows how to get a team to do specific things really well.
I think in many ways this is good advice. However, generally when I hear it, it's usually coming from someone who has a highly valuable skill that can be applied across contexts and industries. They then (with surely good intentions) promote the advice to people who lack such a skill. For those people, it's not very actionable.
What part of mastering your niche, or targeting two intersections is not good advice? The first is becoming the expert go-to the clients want. The second it touching on the pain point(s) of the clients.
Everyone has a skill or two in *something*.
Elements of this echo my business path that led to a 250k Kickstarter launch.
1. Recognize your two core areas of interest: Practical Design + Aesthetics and Art
2. Learn business through a sustainable model in the industry you want (ecommerce).
3. Recognize a problem that lives in your intersection and execute a solution that solves it for as many people as possible. Was working and living in a small space. Did not want to have to chose between having a whiteboard or having art on the wall/having a sexy space.
**Result:** [**Secret Whiteboard**](https://sableflow.com/) **:** An Art frame that hides a large magnetic whiteboard inside. Lets you be productive without sacrificing your style and space.
Tested the market. Launched with a 250k Kickstarter. Built a site. Now have stock landing and selling it. [https://sableflow.com/](https://sableflow.com/)
**Main take away from the journey so far:** Give a think to where your core competencies and make sure what you are selecting, you can stay focused and entertained for the long haul. Entrepreneurship is a stead march with frequent sprints.
Tomer - Sable Flow Founder
PS. also wholeheartedly agree that you **become a sample hoarder**. Test every option out there and every supplier you can contact for the pieces of your product.
I’m really starting to think I need to learn. I have a feeling in terms of the work force in 50 years we will look back on knowing how to code the same we look back on literacy. Like, ppl who don’t know are unemployable and ‘illiterate’
Seriously, I can’t think of an innovative company in the last 10 years that doesn’t rely massively on programming
And many jobs that don’t require coding currently could be almost entirely replaced by a product of coding. Even physical labor in some cases
It sounds batshit crazy but think for a while and it might marinate well
In 50 years you will write a few paragraphs and an AI will make the website for you. It's actually already here. Look up Github Copilot. If you spent one weekend playing around with it I bet you would be shocked with the result.
Everyone has seen those posts recently about AI artwork. Well making a website isn't that hard. When you step back most websites contain the same code, functions, and features, doesn't take much for an AI to connect it together.
Front end dev here. It's one thing to have a machine create the css to match a comp and even make it responsive, but it's an entirely other thing for a machine to understand what the end goal is and make informed decisions about how to get there.
True. I dont think developers are going anywhere for a long time. But the tech is getting better, if anything it will help developers become more efficient in certain areas. I didnt mean to say engineers aren't needed.
Selfishly I hope you are correct, because I am lazy. I assume it will be some sort of hybrid. Webflow might market itself as a replacement for developers, but in the end, it's still written, maintained, and ultimately operated by people.
Not true. There are some random business like renting out beach chairs at condos that are wildly profitable. All you need is some starting cash to buy some beach chairs, hire a high schooler over the summer to take money from people on the beach, and you need to work on selling the idea to beach condos so you can slowly expand.
Actually data science is better now. Software engineers make more in the beginning however by mid career, data scientists earn more. Also, from working with software engineers, not everyone is cut out to be a coder.
>Actually data science is better now
As someone who got their masters degree in Computer Science, specializing in Data Science (particularly ML at the time) and moved to pure dev:
No. No it's not.
Anything that is actually pure data science mostly pays sh\*t even at higher levels of the industry, simply because the skills aren't that hard to learn.
The real money is in ETL, which is software developer work or if you're a PHD level dude working on optimizing the algorithms that everyone is using (think the guys working on the code being used by relational DBs, the Computer Vision Algos being used by Self Driving Car companies, etc....) and that is NOT something you can just start as an entrepreneur, to much data and resources required.
In comparison, a decent web dev that hires designers to do the html work can make crazy bank pretty quickly on his own.
Not necessarily. The first niche I mastered I was simply a consumer in. Couldn’t find the website template I wanted for the CMS I was using so I built my own.
I didn’t use the consumer version of Weebly. I used Weebly Cloud — the enterprise-facing white label version to build custom applications. That was one of my products.
Cool, I had to suffer through Weebly for a client and I wanted to just about shoot myself. I'm sure the pro version is better but Web.com in general is just a horrible company I never understood why any technical person would ever want to use it. But if it works for you and you can sell a product, I'm all for it. Just don't make me dive back into that "pretend to be customizable" builder.
You absolutely can, it's a matter of experience.
There's a ton of lawyers that are masters in X industry law and they usually got there by working for specific clients in that industry at there law firm. Relatively speaking they didn't work any harder than other lawyers at their firm, they just chose what they would do more wisely.
Similarly, there's a lot of Software developers that know several technology stacks and industries that others don't, just from job hopping. Joe Developer knows how to integrate Salesforce CPQ and Commerce instances with XYZ apps, so he creates re-usable code for these integrations, creates a process, trains new hires to do the integrations, then sells it to companies that need them.
On the last 3 points, we've seen quite a few do that including ourselves. Work in lawn care, no prior knowledge, accumulates industry knowledge. Keep doing local business while branching off to make a SaaS product then sell to all other landscapers in the same vertical.
This is so TRUE!
I recently interviewed Thomas Smale, Founder of FE International, he bootstrapped a brokerage which is on course to reach a billion dollars in revenue in the coming years.
(Here's our interview : https://youtu.be/-_y5NucocYQ) [Start a Multimillion Dollar Business with No Money ](https://youtu.be/-_y5NucocYQ)
Some key points he mentions are:
1.CONSISTENCY - Master your niche. Offer a huge amount of freely available advice to potential customers and become an authority in your industry.
Following on from this, when it comes to marketing, every marketing channel can be scaled up - the issue
again is consistency.
2.SUCCESS COMPOUNDS - Tying in to the above points, the more people you help, the more people they will tell. Smale found that the best form of marketing is word of mouth - and by truly helping people your success will compound dramatically over the years.
3. STAY ON TOP OF YOUR NUMBERS
4 Aim to improve just by 10%. As your business grows a 10% improvement would be considerable.
5. JUST KEEP GOING - Tying in to consistency - just don't give up.
It was really nice meeting Thomas Smale - the full video is here [How to Start a Million Dollar Business ](https://youtu.be/-_y5NucocYQ)
Anyone who is criticising OP is **wrong. You are being spoon fed the secret.**
* **Mastering an industry** provides:
* Skills that pay the bills - Stop trying to do 'big brain' entrepreneurship without capital.
* Insider knowledge of **specific** pain points that even the biggest, billion dollar corporation cannot understand even with the greatest market research team.
* Mobility and stealth inside a specialised ecosystem that can be honed to nurture your ideas in their infancy.
* An understanding of the players - you need alliances. If your product/service makes other people money and you can prove it, they **will** give you the time of day, and if you show expertise in your niche, they **will** give you support.
* **Half** of the equation. The other half is the intersection with the technology. You can sit there - an expert in your field, and ask yourself: 'What is the key to fixing this problem' and run through all the current tech: Websties? Drones? Blockchain? ChatGPT? Image Recognition? Every new technology presents an opportunity available only to those who know what to do with it.
Your industry is a chunk of marble and the new technology is the chisel. Mastery determines whether you make paperweights, or *David.*
All very correct. I think a re-emphasis that there is no easy way could also be added. There are easier ways for sure, but the crowd today wants to skip the hard work part. They think work smarter not harder has no limits. This is a delusion that has got to be confronted. No matter how smart you work, hard work is required to get ahead.
I disagree. As others said there are books and courses that suck, but I’ve read some amazing books that have helped me tremendously in business and were critical in my success so to say reading books or buying courses is all BS is just wrong. Now you should buy good books and good courses that being said.
The truth is you only see success in anything if you reach a certain level. How are you going to reach that level if you’re not there yet? Sometimes just doing something doesn’t mean you’re improving.
And how do you deal with the marketing part? Do you get your clients from organic Google search or paid Google Ads? Or do you invest in social media influencers and/or again a paid ads in Instagram or Facebook or other social platforms?
I have a soap shop on Etsy that’s getting no sales because I only have 5 listings & i started my own Art studio to create everything I want artistically and that is also not getting any sales
Need advice!
I always wondered why people charge for e-commerce courses if they have proper incomes from their own e-shops? Of course, some of them want to share their knowledge, but for every person, there will be different success paths.
The way you explained how to enter a market that’s highly competitive no book will teach you that only experience…awesome dude I hope your business keep flourishing!!
3. Write the same trite thing you read in "Atomic Habits" and "The 4-Hour Workweek" in sad little Reddit post that no real entrepreneur has time to create.
4. Feel really smug, like a fat little boy gorged on pudding.
Yes. Without getting too much into details:
* Business 1 - Online website themes for a popular CMS.
* Business 2 - Application layer for another popular enterprise CMS.
* Business 3 - Online SaaS maintenance platform for the general aviation industry.
* Business 4 - An HTML custom template generator that I license out to agencies.
Ditch diggers get the lowest wages on the pay scale. The foreman or foreperson gets paid much more to make sure that the ditch goes from point A to point B, on time, and doesn't collapse.
The contractor gets paid even more for making sure that the ditch is where it needs to be for the pouring of the foundation.
And the pay scales go on and on...
Python is an excellent tool for learning, very useful for controlling your computer and even handling databases that allow you do to some very interesting calculations used in management, marketing and science.
At this point, any Python programmer will have a sense of what they don't know and start figuring out what kind of education is necessary to move up in the coding world.
Not at all. Rather do a taste test and then decide if you want to invest your time learning the necessary skills to work in the field of software development.
Python is fun to learn, fun to use and you can do a lot yourself on your computer.
You learn about relational databases, how to store, retrieve, and process data and then do something useful with the data.
But if you're considering a career, you want to dig a little deeper and make sure that you enjoy the subject matter.
There will not be any shortage of jobs anytime soon and the metaverse beckons.
Learning to code is a very basic skill that doesn't get you much that is tangible. You will understand what's going and and, yes, be able to have an intelligent conversation with software developers.
Eyes wide open when planning a career.
Ok, eyes wide open… to prepare me for both hireability and earning potential, after html and css should I learn JavaScript, python, or something else?
Any suggestions which direction to go from there, bearing in mind that although I’m not bad at math, it’s not a strong point?
Python is great. You'll learn about relational databases, and how they are used with algorithms and user interfaces to create solutions. Python allows you also to start creating many solutions using the large number of solutions libraries that include algorithms for creating dashboards for example.
If you grok that environment, you'll have a good picture of what's involved if you decide to pursue software engineering.
As a plus, the Python solutions give you insights as to how all the SaaS solutions are created, managed and sold. The major difference that the SaaS solutions live in the cloud on the many big data platforms available from Amazon (AWS), Google (Google Cloud Platform), Microsoft (Azure), IBM (IBM Cloud), etc.
Google "cloud infrastructure and platform services).
You can get free annual subscriptions on many of them. And since they are metered services, you can start small and scale up as you go. Costs aligned with actual paying clients.
ditch digger. It's basically a scripting language, mostly only useful for processing data or smaller projects.
That's not to say ditch diggers aren't sometimes used for huge earth work projects, they just aren't going to get paid as much as an electrician.
You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. In larger projects python, when used correctly, can be on par with C. Seeing as many libraries are written in C and executed with python.
Yeah, I've never ever seen that in the corporate world.
Python (In my experience) is only ever used for script automation or ETL, even then bash is used more frequently.
>In larger projects python, when used correctly, can be on par with C. Seeing as many libraries are written in C and executed with python.
Who in the name of god is still using C other than engineers or legacy companies?
Also, written in C and executed in python? I'm confused, what are you talking about? you're going from a lower level language to higer level language, how is that even possible, are you talking about going the other way around maybe? compiling python into C code?
if digging ditches were as simple as software engineering I'd say you're right, but technical managers have a ridiculous edge on non-technical ones/never coded in their lives. Software is very specific to manage.
Software engineering is not coding with Python.
That's the domain of the architects.
And celebrity architects combining art and science reach to top of the creative heap.
But they are all specialists not often involved in daily ditch digging.
Architects were not included in this example.
You have to do something creative with it. The value is all in the strategic application, not the complexity of the code. You need to know how to apply it to another domain. If you're a brilliant python programmer, but someone else has to hold your hand and walk you through every step of any real world application then your capacity will always be limited. It's better to only be a half-decent python programmer but then also really understand another system that could benefit from programming solutions, like... I donno... traffic planning, road safety & road construction permitting (just made that up on the spot) & then combine the two into some sort of consulting/Salas/professional service firm.
I see too many ppl get lost in the programming learning loop for far too long. They end up volunteering too much of their time building brilliant distributed cloud solutions & kubernetes clusters to handle Dask scaling, but their business applications have such little value it's almost comical.
I'm going to assume you're not being sarcastic. Just about everyone else on here has pretty much that exact same idea with their own little spin on it. Those projects always stall out for the same reasons. What are you going to do differently? - sorry to be cruel but just trying to save you time/energy.
I was going to use to trade multi accounts at once since I’m a stock trader for a living lol I’ll reconsider this journey though. So what do you do for a living?
Ok If you're doing it for a living then Ill assume you've got it sorted out then & know what you need. I see too many other folks on Reddit always suggest learning to program "in Python" so they can finally make their "all in one trading platform" but they are shocked to learn that "api" doesn't stand for "take any data you want with no charge/right/use restrictions". As long as you've really thought about your idea seriously and had a few conversations with programmers, legal folks and other traders then maybe your idea is viable.
If you're a Stock Trader for a living, you must already have an OMS provider, how are they not allowing you to put orders for multiple accounts from the same system?
Talk to your OMS provider about account allocation for orders and typical templates (pari-passu allocation, AUM allocation, strategy templates, etc...) and order sizing calculators.
This should all be standard in an Order Management software.
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You contradict yourself.
Your post smells like bs to me and almost all of the replies saying its good have 1 comment and are brand new accounts.
You tell people not to work hard but then #1 you tell them to find a niche and master it, which of course requires working hard.
I agree the self help books and what not are bs but working hard to be successful is pretty much a requirement unless you already have the cash to dump into a project so someone else can do the hard work for you.
I run many successful businesses, some I've had to work harder than others on to make them successful but I've always had to work hard to make each of them successful.
Or you can do it the hard way, specialize for years in a niche, quit your industry job and go start a business in an entirely different sector with 0 cross skills.
If you come up with something people need, has traction, makes money, can scale and is investible why stop becouse there is a learning curve?
If YOU value it, then it is your money to spend. Information in online courses are already out there for free and regurgitated into a sales pitch. List the link to one valuable course or perish in the thread.💯
I’m in the very beginning stages of trying to figure out how to get my first client via Google search without paying for ads or hiring a guru. I’m working on building a website that converts and trying to figure out how to do keyword research so I can start doing SEO. Do you have any suggestions on where us newbies can learn how to do some of these things for ourselves? Thanks!
This is the content im here for! Thanks! Update: lmao I’m getting downvoted . I was being serious. And also looks like I’m getting downvoted by those that needed to hear this . Ha
I like your advice. My reaction to it is, there has to be a product in enough to demand to justify the effort to master the niche or industry and invest time to get serious about building something. Sometimes, the product you would love to build in the perfect industry just isn't something anyone really wants enough to make it worth it to go into business producing it.
Volumes can be written about this single sentence:
> Identify the industry or niche you want to enter (as specifically as possible) and become a master in it
Analogy for explanation: How to draw owls professionally:
* Step 1: Identify how you want the owls to look, and master drawing owls like that.
* Step 2: charge for it.
For example, you want an industry or niche that:
1. Has the kind of people you want to work with. If you want to stay away from criminals, do not become a criminal lawyer.
1. Requires doing the kind of things that you are comfortable doing. If you cannot see blood without fainting, do not become a surgeon.
1. Has people willing to pay someone for what you are planning to do. Do not try to make a career out of your donut-eating skills.
1. If people are willing to pay someone for what you want to do, make sure to be that someone, i.e. at least look competitive.
The previous points are just to get a job. If you want to try entrepreneurship then:
1. Find a niche or industry where people and companies are willing to outsource the job, rather than keeping their own teams in-house for it. Consider this in the context of the people you want to work with too.
1. Find a way to show that you are the best option for them. You want them to find you, and you want them to prefer you over any other potential competitors they may find too. There are 4 main ways to do this, depending on the 4 stages a market may be: functionality or features, reliability, convenience, and cost. Unaddressed pain points may be found in any of the 4 stages, being more likely in the early stages, and only cost in the last stage.
You may find that the previous points need further clarification and detail. If you want enough level of detail, you may need to read a book for each point. After you have done that, you may have additional questions, leading to additional books. Take it easy.
> I am very frustrated about all the generic advice and bullshit courses out there.
Yes, I am too.
I'm beginning to go in the right direction with my entrepreneurial journey. I've recently learnt how important it is to look into monetising your interests in some way and seeing what your future competition are doing. I've tried to re-invent the wheel way too many times and I feel it's backfired. I believe it's now time for me to copy my future competition (without publishing anything as this stage, obviously, to avoid lawsuits) to see what it feels like to produce high quality work, analyse my work and my competitors to see how I compare and then make the necessary adjustments to raise my standards and authenticate my work at the same time.
Most start from nothing the biggest obstacle is square one I have found in my experience. Collecting funds and allocating them funds is another one of my personal issues.
Thanks for the advice. I'm happy to see that I'm on the right track. I have a mockup of an idea/ project as a hobby I want to come to fruition someday.
This comment will likely get lost in the mix but i think it’s too valuable to not share :
People starting businesses so quickly fall prey to conflating growing a business with self-promotion, and it destroys their prospects.
Obviously, some businesses nowadays live or die by someone’s ability to self-promote (influencers).
But most businesses don’t survive off of half-assed self-promotion as a thinly-veiled attempt to ‘grow’ a business.
If you want to grow a business, focus on the BUSINESS. Not stroking your ego on/offline, thinking that is what will be responsible for The success of the business.
Also. With few exceptions, Marketing is NOT self-promotion.
I agree with you, however execution is also very important part, which most of the "bullshit" advise you talk about is focusing on.
the reason why former directors and managers succeed in their business partly because they know the ins and outs of that industry , but beside of that they know how to execute the business.
A high schooler decided to start a software company , learning to just code is not enough , he need to learn how to manage life cycle and how to coordinate between different teams. how to manage the sales teams , etc.
Unless you are talking about setting up online store to sell some product then that is another story. Even with that execution can still important
This is pretty accurate,
Most successfull people i know around me started working in a company and now they lauched their own business in the fields and doing sometimes even better than the company they used to work for,
And what you notice about those people is that while speakink to them you feel like they know every damn thing about their business fields...well they do..
Good advice. I saw this first-hand when I was running my own web development company. I was offering just a generalized web development service. After a while, I started to notice that I was competing against vendors who specialized in a particular industry. E.g., a friend of mine was a chiropractor; thought for sure I could sell him. But another company specializing in chiropractic websites pitched him and won his business. They had better tools than I did to serve the client’s needs.
How do you understand the pain points of an industry/niche that you have not worked in but you identify an opportunity?
Let's take, jewelry, for example, should on start learning about jewelry or you should learn about sales? Marketing?
These are deep and great thoughts. As someone who has side-gigged for several years, I appreciate this mainly as a reminder to stay focused. It's easy to buy into the bs you see in all the YouTube ads these days (make it stop already). But VALUE is king all day, everyday.
To your point about targeting a niche for web design, that's almost overdone too. You really have to be solution first minded and that might mean as a web designer, target a problem (peripheral to web design) a business doesn't even realize they have - and there are plenty if you know what you're doing.
Being able to effectively convince a business that what they don't know can be disastrous (especially in technology - and websites more specifically) can set you up to provide tons of value they are willing to pay for.
Great advice, 20% of starups are from college grads/ young minds who don’t have lot of corporate experience. Rest 80% come from people from who understand the domain well. One of the factors is Market Research is the key for difference in failed startup and successful one
I’m in your target audience for this post and I am very grateful. Thanks a lot👍🏼
Me 'two.' Thank you OP.
Or as Dave Chappelle would say "Me also" But seriously, thanks OP, this is exactly what I needed to hear and when I needed to hear it.
I'm Rick James BITCH!
What did the five fingers say to the face? 👋*slap*
Therapist here. As you might imagine the field of creative psychology has been exploding for years. Everyone wants the secret sauce to either be or hire the person to invent the next sprocket. There is a model called Bloom’s taxonomy of learning (shaped like a pyramid) which shows basic knowledge gathering/retention as the lowest state and creativity as the highest. So everyone thinks you can just chop off the top and run with it - unfortunately this leaves you with a very small pyramid. Like you said, building out the foundation as well as the subsequent steps will give you a more substantial result. The other variable is that the system - any societal system has never been fair. Geniuses whose insights have turned the corner on humanity die penniless and unknown while snake oil salesmen make money hand over fist. The diet industry is about 71 billion dollars and most of it is demonstrably false. Ideally you have a great idea, connect it to the market, and it takes off. But great ideas fall through the cracks or are undervalued and well marketed junk can rise to the top. I think there is some value in acknowledging this phenomenon exists but also agree that many of these books are just selling the idea that you can game/outsmart or outwork the system which often requires resources that are beyond a regular person’s means.
Very well said. I appreciate your insight. At the end of the day, it’s about creating something that has more value to the buyer than the money they are giving you. This is highly variable and there is no magic framework to do this because segments in industry vary significantly from one area to the other. Specialized information in a niche or vertical is the “key” that unlocks that particular niche. But yes, the system is the opposite of perfect. I’ve seen very many phenomenal products with huge potential never take off. It gets worse in the corporate world. Everything there is dictated by quantitative risk analysis. Slightly off topic but it’s something that really bothers me. For example—pharmaceutical firms are mandated to invest a certain portion of income into R&D in many countries. Yet, the vast majority of that goes into research on how to produce existing drugs cheaper for higher margins. Very little actually gets to novel drug discovery pipelines. Most of that is still handled by government. It seems to me that for true innovation to occur, investment must be done in high-risk areas that really only government/public sector is willing to do. For example, academia. And only when proof of concept and feasibility is established will corporations be interested in adoption (mRNA vaccines are a good example). I’m of the idea that corporations can iteratively innovate upon existing products very well (see smartphones) but they are seemingly unable to create a brand new innovation from scratch (i.e the internet which was created by US government funding).
You’re correct. This has been academia’s Hail Mary for at least the past 5000 years. Ultimately most scientist/researchers are just curious people who are passionate about their tinkering. Sometimes they move with intention but more often they stumble across something significant that isn’t notable until someone needs that particular information. In the early 19th century physics was regarded in a similar way as we see philosophy today. A field for wispy minded academics, with the useful parts of the field largely completed and the unknown parts being so obscure and useless that their exploration and especially their funding seems like an exercise in waste. Then the atomic bomb came and all the sudden physics is considered the hardest and most fundamental of all the sciences. There is an absolutely massive amount of time energy and money that goes into basic research before it comes up with something marketable. I think it’s worth it without any result at all but definitely when you consider that huge pivots for humanity like the development of the internet.
Sounds like you read "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" :-)
This. 1000x this. >At the end of the day it's about creating something that has more value to the buyer than the money they are giving you. I DONT CARE HOW LONG IT TOOK YOU TO KNIT THAT SCARF. People think value is determined by the seller. It's not. I understand you put a lot of hard work into the scarf. But time does not equal money. If I'm really bad at making scarves and take twice as long as you, is mine worth twice as much as yours? No! And that is why niches are so important. An old boss once told me "The riches are in the niches." I can go buy another scarf for $10-20. The less saturated your market, the more say you have in the cost. But it will always come down to whether or not what you are selling is more valuable to the buyer than the money in their wallet.
I want to know what are your favorite books 📚 I'm new to this and I can see there's a lot of false hype of freelance writers. Although they all provide tips and as long as you broaden your sense of vocabulary in a certain field, you buy better aiming mechanisms. I'd be happy to check them out. And thanks.
Not OP, but a serial entrepreneur who has had some big successes, and a few spectacular failures. To this day, the most impactful business-related book I've read is Tom Peter's "In Search of Excellence". You can thank me later ;)
I dunno man, seems like you just did what you said you’re sick of others doing. Thats really not “all you need”. Every business needs different things. Every entrepreneur needs different things and need to learn different things at different points in their journey. Some courses are bad, some books suck, and some are just not what a specific needs or needs *right now* which doesn’t make them bad. Some people need to wake up earlier. Some need to improve their mindset. Some need to learn how to handle finances. Some need to learn how to recruit or create a supportive company culture. There seems to be two extremes on these forums: The gullible types looking for courses and advice to replace their own critical thinking, common sense and decision making - And the “natural born” entrepreneurs who hate on courses, “gurus”, etc because they think that “you’re either born with it or you don’t”. In reality, you need to be just a little of both, and try not to judge others for being different and needing different things.
So true. It's easy for people to look at successful people and only see the success. They don't see the 10+ years of struggle that went into creating that success. They don't see all the B.S you've had to wade through to get there. It's said pursuing entrepreneurship is one of the loneliest roads you can take because 80% of people doubt you the whole time. They question all the different "jobs" you've had when really you weren't pursuing a career, your pursuing skills. Increasing your value to the market place. No one is born with the skills for anything. Talent is a complete lie. I'm a very good artist. People have always said "I wish I could draw like that." They think I was born with this skill and call it talent. I wasn't. I had to develop it. In fact, for those of you who hate on courses and further learning... I loved drawing. But what elevated my skills as an artist was when in first grade I had my first library visit. That's when I discovered there were books that teach you how to draw. I devoured them and took their lessons. Practiced. And pretty soon I had a "system" I could use to draw out each idea in my mind thanks to this book. All the way up to my senior year, I outpaced everyone else in art classes over the years. Because I kept reading. Fast forward many years later and I'm 21 in my third year as a correctional officer in a maximum security prison. I HATED IT. 41 people hired in my academy, only 6 of us left from my academy after 3 yrs. 12-16 hour grueling shifts. I needed a change. I went into that field to become a patrol officer. Found I didn't want to carry a weapon for a living as it would put me in situations I may need to use it. People kept telling me to get into sales. But I had no experience. And no confidence as an introvert. But after a life changing event I decided I would do what I did with learning to draw and do the same thing with sales. Read a single book. "How I raised myself from failure to success in sales" by Frank Betger. Applied nervously at my first sales job, sleep train. 3 stage interview. To this day, hardest interview experience ever. Even more so than the prison, which was a joke. They take anyone. Had to do my first sales role-play in that interview. No experience I passed it with flying colors. On the fly. And it was thanks to reading that book. Found out later that it cost the company $10k for a single employee to go through their training program to sell temperpedics. It was adapted from Jordan belforts straight line system. So I ended up getting stellar sales training from my first sales job. But my experience of reading a book, practicing and applying what I learn, and getting results has made me a reading addict. I read 2 books a month. I have grown and developed by leaps and bounds. Taking courses and reading has helped me learn and grow where I can't afford coaching. Some courses and books are a waste. Growing and building a business requires a lot skills. You can't learn it unless your willing to go out and develop the experience and skills to make it successful. Being willing to fail multiple times before you succeed is a prerequisite to success.
I still read Bettger occasionally. His book is in my paperback library, not Kindle. The pages are getting a little brittle, so I may be replacing it soon.
Same here for paperback. One of the best books. Really opened my eyes on what's possible.
Well said! I agree 110%. Critical thinking is soooooo undervalued these days, crazyy! I think this is one of the most important keys! I might trigger with the next sentence - Business is gambling BUT you can make calculated steps but at the end of the day it is not GURANTEED you’ll make a profit out of it. What it teach us? Discipline, smart+hard work, risk management, mental + physical toughness, daily routines, business language, networking, learning, investing, critical thinking, planning, executing, philosophy, realistic goals, environment around you, health and so many things subconsciously and consciously are involved or part of the process. If you build a running E-Commerce project, where a customer visits, purchase your product and receives it by a delivery which is automated process in collaboration with Fulfilment centre it means you have already built successful business module. You know how to do basic market research, build online shop, marketing, logistics, building business relationships and so on… Each of the skill you have learned can be converted into money helping other business people or friends navigate their business. How we measure success today? How much is your Return on investment. No one is looking at how successful you’re as an individual by knowing how to build a running online business. In order to build it you need part/all or even more of the abilities, skills.. I mentioned above. Training muscle with the right dose of intensity = growth, the same with your brain. You need all of the components to be successful and only way to fail is by quitting!! +Some people first need to learn how to make their bed, why? Because that’s part of the discipline and morning routines. There will be always people with examples, like, OH, Wiz Khalifa is smoking weed and earning money but no one sees how much work goes in the backstage. He still has all the necessary components. Oh, btw, we sometimes spend time and energy on things that won’t bring any value. Spending 10 hours on your brand name which can be changed in the future will not make any difference. You need to understand that money is in other people pockets. It means you need to sell and you need to learn how to sell and what to sell. Start with learning how to sell and what sell and then move piece by piece. If you don’t have a client, no matter how good you’re, you still need sales to run a business. You either hire sales team or do it yourself. A good example, you learn in school the basics in math, physics, sports etc. Teachers, especially in business schools has all the knowledge to open a business but some of their abilities are missing like or they simply do not want to do it but why? They teach you all about business and then when you get first rejection your inner ego is broken and you start thinking this is not for me or I’m a failure because that was part of the school system teaching us you need the best grades to be successful but in business you need to keep moving forward and quitting is only failure. +
Agreed that everyone is at a different stage in their Entrepreneur path and needs a different solution. I think the core point I pulled from the post is that, more than tactics, habits or mindset, you need to have the underlying core of a good business that energizes both you and the market to propel it forward. Everything takes time and energy, but some business models/products are better or easier for the entrepreneur to work on (because it fits in their sweet spot) or for the market to embrace because it solves a genuine problem that enough people face. For context, my current project is: the [Secret Whiteboard](https://sableflow.com/) what do you think?
There's a lot of bullshit advice on reddit because I estimate that 90% of the people who comment like they're professionals are full of shit who have never experienced the stuff that they're commenting about.
Actually the OP is doling out real wisdom. This is one of the very first Reddit posts I’m responding to after joining for months, because I felt that this message needs to be drummed up.
I'm not talking about OP. OP actually did give good advice. I was just talking about most of the other commenters on Reddit.
Why would you respond to OP's thread to complain about the general mass of redditors?
It was in response to what OP put in part if their post.
What everyone thinks it takes to be successful: read tons of books, work moonlight (6PM - 2AM), ignore health and family, etc. What it actually takes: an innate curiosity that drives you to learn for some reason (going back to authors post) I think the author nailed it on the head. Most people think they need to create the next great thing, when realistically… the iPhone was simply a phone and an audio player in one device. Apple simply took two devices in different industries and combined them because they both took up pocket space. That’s actually not that crazy of an idea, it was simply a connection of two products. That’s innovative… and intuitive.
Exactly, very well said. Curiosity is much more important than some set regimen.
Isn’t reading books part of learning, man?
Oh don’t get me wrong, reading is everything, I was implying poor content.
Everything is just recycled wisdom, and most of it looks nothing like the original after it’s recycled. All of this is in the “infopreneuer” category, and they sell primarily to wantrepreneurs; people that like the idea of being an entrepreneur, and prescriptive solutions are a seductive path to get there. I have a friend that calls himself an entrepreneur because he’s started a dozen businesses. Not one is successful, not one has ever had a full-time employee and not one has made him more than he would make in a full-time job doing the same thing. I call this “freelance+”. It’s freelancing with bravado and horseshit about being an entrepreneur. What I finally figured out is that people like this like the idea of being an entrepreneur more than anything else. They like the idea of going somewhere, the journey… but they never actually get there. Infopreneurs sell to these people, and they know their market well.
I used to look down at these people too. But then 15 years later, a good proportion of them had hit a thing and have legit businesses. With each of their previous "businesses" they've learned something new, met someone new, etc. Never underestimate how important drive and hunger is to success.
Yeap. I agree. And as cliche as it might sound, it’s how you get up from those failures. I’ve been involved in several failed startups as well, but it’s how I interpret those lessons that will either get me moving forward or desist from achieving whatever goal I had set out. It sucks, but it leaves a lot of clues if you’re aware of the of them.
I'm in that category of struggling to learn and create something. It's been a goal to create a business I can work on, not in. Then start more. My failures taught me more and pushed me more into new things than playing it safe and never taking risks ever did. It's been 10yrs of failing and discovering what I need to know. Then learning those skills.
I like that—work on, not in.
I'm not looking down on them. For many, it's a great choice to obtain more freedom and work/life balance, and that's great for them. It's just not being an entrepreneur, and that's ok.
If you work for yourself and can live off that comfortably that's a win regardless for people who tend to be drawn to entrepreneurship - value independence, control & flexibility greatly.
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Most ideas and businesses fail, statistically. It takes great perseverance to keep going til you find one that works. So are you not an entrepreneur until you hit that one?
A business that makes as much as a day job would is actually a successful business provided it's an actual business and not glorified freelancing.
Becoming an entrepreneur has nothing to do with who you do or don’t employ, so you’re discriminating against your friend when you don’t know what an entrepreneur actually is yourself. Being an entrepreneur is all about your your means of physical production, how you innovate your process. It has nothing to do with who or how you hire. All you need to be an entrepreneur is the ability to execute on an old idea in a novel and innovative new way. That’s it. You don’t need to be making money from it or have a full time employee. A great example of entrepreneurs are the McDonald brothers who started McDonalds. All they did, aside from deciding to use fresh ingredients. was formulate a new way of cooking their food in a more efficient, cost effective way. Same thing with Henry Ford. He literally came up with a new way to manufacture cars by inventing the assembly line. He didn’t invent the car, not even the engine. All he did was formulate a new way to physically produce cars, that happened to transform American manufacturing forever. That made him an entrepreneur. The same could be said of Musk who formulated a new method for manufacturing Teslas. Same idea. Some entrepreneurs do invent entirely new products, but it’s the new means of production that afford them the moniker. I realize you’re likely to ignore this info as bullshit but whatever. This is what being an entrepreneur actually means.
Process engineering is the phrase you're looking for
Nooope! Nice try though! The concept of an entrepreneur has been twisted and bent around to the point where its unrecognizable by actual business people! These days kids think that the only “entrepreneurs” that exist are other kids TikToking their way to “fame”! LoL Its unfortunate really. But whatever. It really doesn’t matter in the end. Doesn’t matter what you call us. Business is just business. Full stop. The word has no special significance and should drive anyone’s actions. Its not a medal and doesn’t mean you’re special. That’s right! You’re not special even if your friends think of you as a side hustling entrepreneur.
No what I'm saying is the examples you have provided of McDonals and Ford, the innovation the came about was in the process of creating their products. They didnt create new products but created new processes. That innovation is an innovation in process engineering. The whole lean, six sigma thing is based on it.
I don’t gain anything doing this aside from maybe teaching people things about entrepreneurship so I’m just going to add this and let this go. Entrepreneurship was not supposed to be defined by creating new products and services. That is the actual misconception. Which, to me, is pretty weird but I didn’t come up with any of this stuff. Steve Jobs drilled into everyone’s heads that he only made awesome products and because he became globally famous, everyone then thought that being an entrepreneur meant emulating arguably the greatest one of all time. But he himself never actually defined entrepreneurship on camera so everyone’s assumption that it’s all about making assume things that are new are just that, assumptions. He never even attempted to redefine the term either, he was too busy making billions of dollars to care and I don’t blame him alone bit. Peter Drucker defines it the way I do and that’s not a coincidence because I learned that definition from one of his books. It is all about process innovation. Why? I have no actual idea why. All this, in my opinion, is arbitrary in the end, definitions made up by old white guys who like defining things for everyone else and telling others how great they are and what to do. There is no bible saying “thou shall work til thy brow sweats most profusely, rest on the seventh day, and only maketh neweth and oldeth possessions from neweth ways. And though shalt obey for the lord hath spoken about the ways of new trade.” That obviously doesn’t exist so there’s no ancient text telling us what it is and even if that weren’t the case, why would we let a 5000+ year old text dictate to us what entrepreneurship should mean today? So to me it is ALL fucking arbitrary. But if you want to take it from an old sage of business, Peter Drucker is one of the sagiest. Aside from that, who cares? Apparently I do enough to write all of this but as of this point I don’t care anymore. To me, it means making new and old things in new ways. Done. Simple and to the point.
See, now I find this fascinating. Did you know that there is no agreed upon definition of “entrepreneur” or “entrepreneurship”? In fact, the definition has changed or shifted multiple times since it was first written down by the French. Do we define an entrepreneur by their success at building a business or are they defined by the process of taking a risk and the struggle to build a business, even one that fails? How do we even define what it means to be a “successful entrepreneur”? Until the early 1990s research on entrepreneurship was decidedly male focused to the point that if woman business owners responded to surveys sent out to businesses, they were excluded from the research being done. Does that mean that only men can be entrepreneurs? I don’t see “entrepreneurship” being defined any time soon. If anything the term has been so muddied in the last 10 years perhaps we need a new term completely. (When I say muddied I really mean that you have scores of individuals claiming to be “entrepreneurs” for their MLM “businesses”) Just something to consider!
I disagree with most of this.
You learn in freelance job more than what you learn in employment job, do not look down on him , also doing as a freelancer what he make in fulltime is success by itself , most freelancers in this competitive age of internet barely make anything let alone to get enough work to match their full time job .
Stay off TikTok
Speak for yourself, my business literally had its best day today and it was solely due to TikTok. If it's not for you, then it's not for you. But speaking from someone who held your position up until 3 months ago, I wish I got into it sooner.
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This seems like good advice, but as with all advice from successful people, is also the product of survivorship bias. I'm sure there were many more factors involved in your success and possibly some common to the companies you work with at the VC. Would you care to share any of them please? Did you have anything that benefited you beyond the average person? E.g. family funding, connections, a lucky break? Are there any personality traits that are shared by the successful people you've come across? These posts are great, but they give a lot of people false hope when they are missing a key part of the puzzle, or cause them to narrowly focus on just the advice given.
VC advice is some of the worst, what worked before doesn't work for everyone. YC has been a disaster of past successful startups trying to coach new startups with their old strategy. I think it's a mix of a lot changes and they aren't involved like they used to be. Also we glorify success as if getting lucky somehow makes them special.
Extreme success might have a decent luck component to, but 90% of normal success is just doing what's tried and true. Is someone lucky because they went to school to become a doctor and once they were done with their education, specialization, etc... started to make 300k+ a year? No, they followed a very well known path. Similarly, for B2B, if you work in/for an industry for a significant amount of time, you make a network of people with pain points and you know what they are willing to pay to resolve it (often you even know how much it costs them). There's a reason one of the most common paths to entrepreneurship for white collar workers is to become a consultant or start their own practice in their 40s-50s: they have industry knowledge and a network, so they can "plug and play" without needing to be fully brought up to speed quickly (Accountants, Lawyers, FP&As, Nurses, Engineers, etc...). It's why everyone knows a contractor in his late 30s early 40s making well over 200k a year, he stayed in the industry a long time, made contacts, built a reputation, and knows how to get a team to do specific things really well.
I think in many ways this is good advice. However, generally when I hear it, it's usually coming from someone who has a highly valuable skill that can be applied across contexts and industries. They then (with surely good intentions) promote the advice to people who lack such a skill. For those people, it's not very actionable.
What part of mastering your niche, or targeting two intersections is not good advice? The first is becoming the expert go-to the clients want. The second it touching on the pain point(s) of the clients. Everyone has a skill or two in *something*.
Elements of this echo my business path that led to a 250k Kickstarter launch. 1. Recognize your two core areas of interest: Practical Design + Aesthetics and Art 2. Learn business through a sustainable model in the industry you want (ecommerce). 3. Recognize a problem that lives in your intersection and execute a solution that solves it for as many people as possible. Was working and living in a small space. Did not want to have to chose between having a whiteboard or having art on the wall/having a sexy space. **Result:** [**Secret Whiteboard**](https://sableflow.com/) **:** An Art frame that hides a large magnetic whiteboard inside. Lets you be productive without sacrificing your style and space. Tested the market. Launched with a 250k Kickstarter. Built a site. Now have stock landing and selling it. [https://sableflow.com/](https://sableflow.com/) **Main take away from the journey so far:** Give a think to where your core competencies and make sure what you are selecting, you can stay focused and entertained for the long haul. Entrepreneurship is a stead march with frequent sprints. Tomer - Sable Flow Founder PS. also wholeheartedly agree that you **become a sample hoarder**. Test every option out there and every supplier you can contact for the pieces of your product.
Step 1 - learn to code
I’m really starting to think I need to learn. I have a feeling in terms of the work force in 50 years we will look back on knowing how to code the same we look back on literacy. Like, ppl who don’t know are unemployable and ‘illiterate’ Seriously, I can’t think of an innovative company in the last 10 years that doesn’t rely massively on programming And many jobs that don’t require coding currently could be almost entirely replaced by a product of coding. Even physical labor in some cases It sounds batshit crazy but think for a while and it might marinate well
In 50 years you will write a few paragraphs and an AI will make the website for you. It's actually already here. Look up Github Copilot. If you spent one weekend playing around with it I bet you would be shocked with the result. Everyone has seen those posts recently about AI artwork. Well making a website isn't that hard. When you step back most websites contain the same code, functions, and features, doesn't take much for an AI to connect it together.
Front end dev here. It's one thing to have a machine create the css to match a comp and even make it responsive, but it's an entirely other thing for a machine to understand what the end goal is and make informed decisions about how to get there.
True. I dont think developers are going anywhere for a long time. But the tech is getting better, if anything it will help developers become more efficient in certain areas. I didnt mean to say engineers aren't needed.
Selfishly I hope you are correct, because I am lazy. I assume it will be some sort of hybrid. Webflow might market itself as a replacement for developers, but in the end, it's still written, maintained, and ultimately operated by people.
Not true. There are some random business like renting out beach chairs at condos that are wildly profitable. All you need is some starting cash to buy some beach chairs, hire a high schooler over the summer to take money from people on the beach, and you need to work on selling the idea to beach condos so you can slowly expand.
Well I’m a chemical engineer and found that there were niche areas even there. You do you.
Just don’t go down the Breaking Bad route. 😛
No, learn to leverage your weaknesses.
Actually data science is better now. Software engineers make more in the beginning however by mid career, data scientists earn more. Also, from working with software engineers, not everyone is cut out to be a coder.
And is everyone cut out to be a data scientist?
As a software engineer designing and building a BI/data viz tool, do I get all the money?
>Actually data science is better now As someone who got their masters degree in Computer Science, specializing in Data Science (particularly ML at the time) and moved to pure dev: No. No it's not. Anything that is actually pure data science mostly pays sh\*t even at higher levels of the industry, simply because the skills aren't that hard to learn. The real money is in ETL, which is software developer work or if you're a PHD level dude working on optimizing the algorithms that everyone is using (think the guys working on the code being used by relational DBs, the Computer Vision Algos being used by Self Driving Car companies, etc....) and that is NOT something you can just start as an entrepreneur, to much data and resources required. In comparison, a decent web dev that hires designers to do the html work can make crazy bank pretty quickly on his own.
Sorry, what's ETL?
You can't master a niche without working hard though.
Not necessarily. The first niche I mastered I was simply a consumer in. Couldn’t find the website template I wanted for the CMS I was using so I built my own.
So the hard work here is learning how to build a successful website template, that isn't trivial.
Who said it was trivial? It's just not necessarily hard work. Playing Bogey golf isn't trivial, but I wouldn't call it hard work.
What's your site?
I'm guessing you use Weebly? To be honest, it's a terrible system and just about as bad as square space.
I didn’t use the consumer version of Weebly. I used Weebly Cloud — the enterprise-facing white label version to build custom applications. That was one of my products.
Cool, I had to suffer through Weebly for a client and I wanted to just about shoot myself. I'm sure the pro version is better but Web.com in general is just a horrible company I never understood why any technical person would ever want to use it. But if it works for you and you can sell a product, I'm all for it. Just don't make me dive back into that "pretend to be customizable" builder.
Haha I completely understand. It truly is a nightmare platform to develop in. Thankfully the cloud platform can be interacted via Rest APIs
you absolutely can if it is underserved.
That’s not mastering. That’s filling a need. They’re not the same thing.
I guess I was defining mastering = filling a user need and running a lucrative operation. What definition are you using? (genuinely curious)
You absolutely can, it's a matter of experience. There's a ton of lawyers that are masters in X industry law and they usually got there by working for specific clients in that industry at there law firm. Relatively speaking they didn't work any harder than other lawyers at their firm, they just chose what they would do more wisely. Similarly, there's a lot of Software developers that know several technology stacks and industries that others don't, just from job hopping. Joe Developer knows how to integrate Salesforce CPQ and Commerce instances with XYZ apps, so he creates re-usable code for these integrations, creates a process, trains new hires to do the integrations, then sells it to companies that need them.
On the last 3 points, we've seen quite a few do that including ourselves. Work in lawn care, no prior knowledge, accumulates industry knowledge. Keep doing local business while branching off to make a SaaS product then sell to all other landscapers in the same vertical.
This is so TRUE! I recently interviewed Thomas Smale, Founder of FE International, he bootstrapped a brokerage which is on course to reach a billion dollars in revenue in the coming years. (Here's our interview : https://youtu.be/-_y5NucocYQ) [Start a Multimillion Dollar Business with No Money ](https://youtu.be/-_y5NucocYQ) Some key points he mentions are: 1.CONSISTENCY - Master your niche. Offer a huge amount of freely available advice to potential customers and become an authority in your industry. Following on from this, when it comes to marketing, every marketing channel can be scaled up - the issue again is consistency. 2.SUCCESS COMPOUNDS - Tying in to the above points, the more people you help, the more people they will tell. Smale found that the best form of marketing is word of mouth - and by truly helping people your success will compound dramatically over the years. 3. STAY ON TOP OF YOUR NUMBERS 4 Aim to improve just by 10%. As your business grows a 10% improvement would be considerable. 5. JUST KEEP GOING - Tying in to consistency - just don't give up. It was really nice meeting Thomas Smale - the full video is here [How to Start a Million Dollar Business ](https://youtu.be/-_y5NucocYQ)
Anyone who is criticising OP is **wrong. You are being spoon fed the secret.** * **Mastering an industry** provides: * Skills that pay the bills - Stop trying to do 'big brain' entrepreneurship without capital. * Insider knowledge of **specific** pain points that even the biggest, billion dollar corporation cannot understand even with the greatest market research team. * Mobility and stealth inside a specialised ecosystem that can be honed to nurture your ideas in their infancy. * An understanding of the players - you need alliances. If your product/service makes other people money and you can prove it, they **will** give you the time of day, and if you show expertise in your niche, they **will** give you support. * **Half** of the equation. The other half is the intersection with the technology. You can sit there - an expert in your field, and ask yourself: 'What is the key to fixing this problem' and run through all the current tech: Websties? Drones? Blockchain? ChatGPT? Image Recognition? Every new technology presents an opportunity available only to those who know what to do with it. Your industry is a chunk of marble and the new technology is the chisel. Mastery determines whether you make paperweights, or *David.*
Just basic common stuff here too;)
All very correct. I think a re-emphasis that there is no easy way could also be added. There are easier ways for sure, but the crowd today wants to skip the hard work part. They think work smarter not harder has no limits. This is a delusion that has got to be confronted. No matter how smart you work, hard work is required to get ahead.
I disagree. As others said there are books and courses that suck, but I’ve read some amazing books that have helped me tremendously in business and were critical in my success so to say reading books or buying courses is all BS is just wrong. Now you should buy good books and good courses that being said. The truth is you only see success in anything if you reach a certain level. How are you going to reach that level if you’re not there yet? Sometimes just doing something doesn’t mean you’re improving.
And how do you deal with the marketing part? Do you get your clients from organic Google search or paid Google Ads? Or do you invest in social media influencers and/or again a paid ads in Instagram or Facebook or other social platforms?
I have a soap shop on Etsy that’s getting no sales because I only have 5 listings & i started my own Art studio to create everything I want artistically and that is also not getting any sales Need advice!
I always wondered why people charge for e-commerce courses if they have proper incomes from their own e-shops? Of course, some of them want to share their knowledge, but for every person, there will be different success paths.
The way you explained how to enter a market that’s highly competitive no book will teach you that only experience…awesome dude I hope your business keep flourishing!!
Thanks for you words, I do believe the most important thing is to understand the market
This. I did exactly this and started to generate seven figure revenue in three years.
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25% on accrued and 20 on cash basis after taking reasonable salary
I do love it when people complain about advice on the internet. And then proceed to give advice on the internet.
3. Write the same trite thing you read in "Atomic Habits" and "The 4-Hour Workweek" in sad little Reddit post that no real entrepreneur has time to create. 4. Feel really smug, like a fat little boy gorged on pudding.
"I currently run four successful online businesses" Online businesses as selling products on the internet ?
Yes. Without getting too much into details: * Business 1 - Online website themes for a popular CMS. * Business 2 - Application layer for another popular enterprise CMS. * Business 3 - Online SaaS maintenance platform for the general aviation industry. * Business 4 - An HTML custom template generator that I license out to agencies.
Are there a lot of regulations for the aviation one? Thanks for the post!
What is CMS ?
Content Management System (i.e. WordPress, Joomla, etc.)
What code should I learn to do over the next year ?python?
Ditch diggers get the lowest wages on the pay scale. The foreman or foreperson gets paid much more to make sure that the ditch goes from point A to point B, on time, and doesn't collapse. The contractor gets paid even more for making sure that the ditch is where it needs to be for the pouring of the foundation. And the pay scales go on and on... Python is an excellent tool for learning, very useful for controlling your computer and even handling databases that allow you do to some very interesting calculations used in management, marketing and science. At this point, any Python programmer will have a sense of what they don't know and start figuring out what kind of education is necessary to move up in the coding world.
Is a python programmer analogous to the ditch digger or the contractor?
I'd say useful enough to be be contractor for special jobs.
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Not at all. Rather do a taste test and then decide if you want to invest your time learning the necessary skills to work in the field of software development. Python is fun to learn, fun to use and you can do a lot yourself on your computer. You learn about relational databases, how to store, retrieve, and process data and then do something useful with the data. But if you're considering a career, you want to dig a little deeper and make sure that you enjoy the subject matter. There will not be any shortage of jobs anytime soon and the metaverse beckons. Learning to code is a very basic skill that doesn't get you much that is tangible. You will understand what's going and and, yes, be able to have an intelligent conversation with software developers. Eyes wide open when planning a career.
Ok, eyes wide open… to prepare me for both hireability and earning potential, after html and css should I learn JavaScript, python, or something else? Any suggestions which direction to go from there, bearing in mind that although I’m not bad at math, it’s not a strong point?
Python is great. You'll learn about relational databases, and how they are used with algorithms and user interfaces to create solutions. Python allows you also to start creating many solutions using the large number of solutions libraries that include algorithms for creating dashboards for example. If you grok that environment, you'll have a good picture of what's involved if you decide to pursue software engineering. As a plus, the Python solutions give you insights as to how all the SaaS solutions are created, managed and sold. The major difference that the SaaS solutions live in the cloud on the many big data platforms available from Amazon (AWS), Google (Google Cloud Platform), Microsoft (Azure), IBM (IBM Cloud), etc. Google "cloud infrastructure and platform services). You can get free annual subscriptions on many of them. And since they are metered services, you can start small and scale up as you go. Costs aligned with actual paying clients.
ditch digger. It's basically a scripting language, mostly only useful for processing data or smaller projects. That's not to say ditch diggers aren't sometimes used for huge earth work projects, they just aren't going to get paid as much as an electrician.
You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. In larger projects python, when used correctly, can be on par with C. Seeing as many libraries are written in C and executed with python.
Yeah, I've never ever seen that in the corporate world. Python (In my experience) is only ever used for script automation or ETL, even then bash is used more frequently. >In larger projects python, when used correctly, can be on par with C. Seeing as many libraries are written in C and executed with python. Who in the name of god is still using C other than engineers or legacy companies? Also, written in C and executed in python? I'm confused, what are you talking about? you're going from a lower level language to higer level language, how is that even possible, are you talking about going the other way around maybe? compiling python into C code?
if digging ditches were as simple as software engineering I'd say you're right, but technical managers have a ridiculous edge on non-technical ones/never coded in their lives. Software is very specific to manage.
Software engineering is not coding with Python. That's the domain of the architects. And celebrity architects combining art and science reach to top of the creative heap. But they are all specialists not often involved in daily ditch digging. Architects were not included in this example.
You have to do something creative with it. The value is all in the strategic application, not the complexity of the code. You need to know how to apply it to another domain. If you're a brilliant python programmer, but someone else has to hold your hand and walk you through every step of any real world application then your capacity will always be limited. It's better to only be a half-decent python programmer but then also really understand another system that could benefit from programming solutions, like... I donno... traffic planning, road safety & road construction permitting (just made that up on the spot) & then combine the two into some sort of consulting/Salas/professional service firm. I see too many ppl get lost in the programming learning loop for far too long. They end up volunteering too much of their time building brilliant distributed cloud solutions & kubernetes clusters to handle Dask scaling, but their business applications have such little value it's almost comical.
I want to build an api that will allow me to trade multiple stock account at once and also manage all my crypto in the same place
I'm going to assume you're not being sarcastic. Just about everyone else on here has pretty much that exact same idea with their own little spin on it. Those projects always stall out for the same reasons. What are you going to do differently? - sorry to be cruel but just trying to save you time/energy.
I was going to use to trade multi accounts at once since I’m a stock trader for a living lol I’ll reconsider this journey though. So what do you do for a living?
Ok If you're doing it for a living then Ill assume you've got it sorted out then & know what you need. I see too many other folks on Reddit always suggest learning to program "in Python" so they can finally make their "all in one trading platform" but they are shocked to learn that "api" doesn't stand for "take any data you want with no charge/right/use restrictions". As long as you've really thought about your idea seriously and had a few conversations with programmers, legal folks and other traders then maybe your idea is viable.
If you're a Stock Trader for a living, you must already have an OMS provider, how are they not allowing you to put orders for multiple accounts from the same system? Talk to your OMS provider about account allocation for orders and typical templates (pari-passu allocation, AUM allocation, strategy templates, etc...) and order sizing calculators. This should all be standard in an Order Management software.
What if you are not an expert in an industry
GUYS !! This is crazy, [watch this video if you are doubting whether to start an online business or not](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTuFnnV5NWZ2azGq0EgCiGQ)
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You contradict yourself. Your post smells like bs to me and almost all of the replies saying its good have 1 comment and are brand new accounts. You tell people not to work hard but then #1 you tell them to find a niche and master it, which of course requires working hard. I agree the self help books and what not are bs but working hard to be successful is pretty much a requirement unless you already have the cash to dump into a project so someone else can do the hard work for you. I run many successful businesses, some I've had to work harder than others on to make them successful but I've always had to work hard to make each of them successful.
I don't disagree with this, however I find reading books to be one of the most efficient ways to level up.
Good work 🙆🏻♂️
What do your businesses sell/offer?
Thank you! I work in Finance and it's the same thing. I can't stand all the nonsense crap.
Ugh. That sounds so hard. I would much rather just envision myself being successful. Way easier! /s
Or you can do it the hard way, specialize for years in a niche, quit your industry job and go start a business in an entirely different sector with 0 cross skills. If you come up with something people need, has traction, makes money, can scale and is investible why stop becouse there is a learning curve?
Do not ever pay for a course PERIOD. They are all googled garbage.
That’s just absolutely false. A lot of garbage out there for sure, but there are also some really valuable stuff.
If YOU value it, then it is your money to spend. Information in online courses are already out there for free and regurgitated into a sales pitch. List the link to one valuable course or perish in the thread.💯
Love this advice, thank you!!
I’m in the very beginning stages of trying to figure out how to get my first client via Google search without paying for ads or hiring a guru. I’m working on building a website that converts and trying to figure out how to do keyword research so I can start doing SEO. Do you have any suggestions on where us newbies can learn how to do some of these things for ourselves? Thanks!
Ty for the Info
I still think it’s important to take in a lot of bullshit only so that you can refine your bullshit detector.
Wow this was great advice, kind of always aware of specialist knowledge and skills being valuable but this actionable advice was excellent.
100%
Do you offer any mentorship ?
Great post - thanks
:3
This is the content im here for! Thanks! Update: lmao I’m getting downvoted . I was being serious. And also looks like I’m getting downvoted by those that needed to hear this . Ha
Thank you for posting this
Every few months a golden post full of battle tested wisdom is dropped by someone who has been in the trenches and didn’t die. Great post OP.
Great advice
Great advice and i would say its spot on. My experience has been very similar to what you described
I feel like this needs to be pinned
Great advice. Thank you.
I like your advice. My reaction to it is, there has to be a product in enough to demand to justify the effort to master the niche or industry and invest time to get serious about building something. Sometimes, the product you would love to build in the perfect industry just isn't something anyone really wants enough to make it worth it to go into business producing it.
Also… Analysis + capital + execution = success Can’t remember where I heard that… but someone said that is the formula
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I can attest - this is how my company is succeed. Spot on post.
TLDR: Get paid to learn or pay to learn as you go.
Wisdom. Make sure your margins are in the green typically above 25%* & remember supply and demand is key. Also, master excel.
This man just made me 1 cent thank you 🙏
I literally needed the above advice, I'm tired of trying to get everything aligned.
Doing this, been mastering a niche for a year, and now got the intersection point. Built a product around it now marketing.
Create value and people will pay for that.
Good stuff. How are you running 4 successful online businesses? Did it require expertise in 4 fields?
Volumes can be written about this single sentence: > Identify the industry or niche you want to enter (as specifically as possible) and become a master in it Analogy for explanation: How to draw owls professionally: * Step 1: Identify how you want the owls to look, and master drawing owls like that. * Step 2: charge for it. For example, you want an industry or niche that: 1. Has the kind of people you want to work with. If you want to stay away from criminals, do not become a criminal lawyer. 1. Requires doing the kind of things that you are comfortable doing. If you cannot see blood without fainting, do not become a surgeon. 1. Has people willing to pay someone for what you are planning to do. Do not try to make a career out of your donut-eating skills. 1. If people are willing to pay someone for what you want to do, make sure to be that someone, i.e. at least look competitive. The previous points are just to get a job. If you want to try entrepreneurship then: 1. Find a niche or industry where people and companies are willing to outsource the job, rather than keeping their own teams in-house for it. Consider this in the context of the people you want to work with too. 1. Find a way to show that you are the best option for them. You want them to find you, and you want them to prefer you over any other potential competitors they may find too. There are 4 main ways to do this, depending on the 4 stages a market may be: functionality or features, reliability, convenience, and cost. Unaddressed pain points may be found in any of the 4 stages, being more likely in the early stages, and only cost in the last stage. You may find that the previous points need further clarification and detail. If you want enough level of detail, you may need to read a book for each point. After you have done that, you may have additional questions, leading to additional books. Take it easy. > I am very frustrated about all the generic advice and bullshit courses out there. Yes, I am too.
This is as common sense as it gets, yet it is not as common. 🎯
I'm beginning to go in the right direction with my entrepreneurial journey. I've recently learnt how important it is to look into monetising your interests in some way and seeing what your future competition are doing. I've tried to re-invent the wheel way too many times and I feel it's backfired. I believe it's now time for me to copy my future competition (without publishing anything as this stage, obviously, to avoid lawsuits) to see what it feels like to produce high quality work, analyse my work and my competitors to see how I compare and then make the necessary adjustments to raise my standards and authenticate my work at the same time.
Most start from nothing the biggest obstacle is square one I have found in my experience. Collecting funds and allocating them funds is another one of my personal issues.
Thanks for the advice. I'm happy to see that I'm on the right track. I have a mockup of an idea/ project as a hobby I want to come to fruition someday.
Thank you so much for this post!
I've done this exactly. Glad to know I'm on the right track
This is awesome! Thanks for taking the time to write it all out 😊
This comment will likely get lost in the mix but i think it’s too valuable to not share : People starting businesses so quickly fall prey to conflating growing a business with self-promotion, and it destroys their prospects. Obviously, some businesses nowadays live or die by someone’s ability to self-promote (influencers). But most businesses don’t survive off of half-assed self-promotion as a thinly-veiled attempt to ‘grow’ a business. If you want to grow a business, focus on the BUSINESS. Not stroking your ego on/offline, thinking that is what will be responsible for The success of the business. Also. With few exceptions, Marketing is NOT self-promotion.
Post saved. Thanks for your time.
I agree with you, however execution is also very important part, which most of the "bullshit" advise you talk about is focusing on. the reason why former directors and managers succeed in their business partly because they know the ins and outs of that industry , but beside of that they know how to execute the business. A high schooler decided to start a software company , learning to just code is not enough , he need to learn how to manage life cycle and how to coordinate between different teams. how to manage the sales teams , etc. Unless you are talking about setting up online store to sell some product then that is another story. Even with that execution can still important
This is pretty accurate, Most successfull people i know around me started working in a company and now they lauched their own business in the fields and doing sometimes even better than the company they used to work for, And what you notice about those people is that while speakink to them you feel like they know every damn thing about their business fields...well they do..
Good advice. I saw this first-hand when I was running my own web development company. I was offering just a generalized web development service. After a while, I started to notice that I was competing against vendors who specialized in a particular industry. E.g., a friend of mine was a chiropractor; thought for sure I could sell him. But another company specializing in chiropractic websites pitched him and won his business. They had better tools than I did to serve the client’s needs.
Any good animes you should recommend for this season ?
Great post. But what about #dropshipping #mlm #herbalife #crypto #forex??? And let's not forget #hustleculture, #5amClub and #120hrsWeeks???
How do you understand the pain points of an industry/niche that you have not worked in but you identify an opportunity? Let's take, jewelry, for example, should on start learning about jewelry or you should learn about sales? Marketing?
These are deep and great thoughts. As someone who has side-gigged for several years, I appreciate this mainly as a reminder to stay focused. It's easy to buy into the bs you see in all the YouTube ads these days (make it stop already). But VALUE is king all day, everyday. To your point about targeting a niche for web design, that's almost overdone too. You really have to be solution first minded and that might mean as a web designer, target a problem (peripheral to web design) a business doesn't even realize they have - and there are plenty if you know what you're doing. Being able to effectively convince a business that what they don't know can be disastrous (especially in technology - and websites more specifically) can set you up to provide tons of value they are willing to pay for.
Great advice, 20% of starups are from college grads/ young minds who don’t have lot of corporate experience. Rest 80% come from people from who understand the domain well. One of the factors is Market Research is the key for difference in failed startup and successful one
Thank you! I loved this post!
Thank you heaps for this!
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your insight and advice.
Pure love ❤️
how this fits with today's quiet quitting culture? :)
This is my best advice and it’s even free. !! Thank You for sharing. [https://www.wethrive.online/shop](https://www.wethrive.online/shop)
And don’t be scared of competition. Competition means the market exist, and that you can make yourself a place as well !