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MenuWhat jobs should your aspiring entrepreneurs do before launching their own fast growing startup?
Jobs that will help you learn the most on someone else's dime.
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I have two answers.
It depends on whether you've picked a specific field (eg. oil & gas, or fisheries, or biotech.)
If you haven't, then you need some technical skills and some sales skills. The sales skills are important because once you know how to sell, you'll be able to make money wherever and whenever you wish.
The technical skills are valuable because even if you don't open a business in the field you learned in, you'll understand the technician's mindset...and how to learn technical things.
Now if you have picked a specific field to work in, I have a somewhat different suggestion.
If your plan is to become a mover and shaker in a marketplace, you want to plan ahead.
And planning ahead in this case means learning how to MAKE DEALS in that field.
The kind of deals that buy and sell companies, get you new sources of supply, and employ more people.
Get the idea?
You aren't going to learn these things from a run-of-the-mill sales job, and certainly not by sitting at a computer crunching numbers or drawing things in CAD.
You need to get close to, and shadow, an existing company president in the industry.
Am I scaring you yet?
If I am, then you're probably not cut out for this kind of leadership role. Sorry.
If not, then read on.
You might think, "Wait, how can I possibly get close to a president and see how they're constructing and doing the deals in this industry?" It's not impossible. It's not even that hard.
But it takes guts.
I've had employers create roles for me that didn't exist before I showed up on four occasions.
Roll this around.
What does it mean in terms of your possibilities?
You are NOT limited to chasing Want Ads.
You can go out there and CREATE the role you desire.
And there's zero competition there. Everyone else is too gutless to do it!
Imagine...you put your information together on what you want (a role where you're the assistant to the president, so you can see exactly what they do and how they do it.) You are crystal clear and up front about this purpose.
Guess what.
Some presidents are going to be very, very impressed.
And one is going to make you an offer.
It will literally cut years off your career path...maybe even decades.
And this opportunity is there for the taking.
But you have to have guts. Good news: you kinda have to, to be a president.
I read a really good post on TechCrunch today that said if you are doing B2C - there is no value in joining a tech startup and you should just start. http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/13/youve-only-got-one-shot-to-build-a-consumer-unicorn/
The author countered that if you are doing B2B - then there is some transfer-ability and not just soft skills but perhaps industry connections may be useful.
Or you can come work for me, you'll learn how to set up and maintain legal entities. Working for us will provide important legal and financial experience that will translate for you as an entrepreneur in any industry - as you'll always need to form a legal entity and perform basic corporate governance as a the entrepreneur/founder/majority shareholder.
Happy to have you learn on my dime. :-)
A job that's related to the field that you intend the launch startup in.
Make sure you keep listening to EO Fire, Mixergy Ask Altucher podcasts.
Many entrepreneurs start a business because of a passion around an idea, product, or service. They usually have great ideas and can connect that with a customer need or problem. I also see that many entrepreneurs are really good at that passion; but may lack some skills or understand of the "running the business" side of the equation.
An example would be if you want to open your own manufacturing business - have you ever worked in a manufacturing business? I highly recommend working in a business that is similar for at least a year so you learn what works well or what doesn't work well on another person's dime. This is especially true when working with high start-up costs or a very limited initial cash flow which cannot tolerate costly mistakes.
Go work for someone or a business you can learn from is my answer :)
Related Questions
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If I have a business idea for a large company, how can I give it to them and mutually profit, without them just taking the idea and squashing me?
Probably not the answer you're looking for, but companies have so many unimplemented ideas that the likelihood of partnering to implement someone else's idea is really low. And besides which, the idea is not something that has much value in and of itself. If you're passionate in the idea, build it yourself. That's the only way you can have leverage.TW
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How do you make money to survive while you are building a business? What are some quick ways to make money with less time commitment?
I love this question. If you have to work on the side while building your business, I recommend doing something you absolutely hate. That keeps you hungry to succeed on your own. You'll also typically save your energy for the evenings and weekends where you'll want it for your business. Don't expect to make much money at your "other job" but you can work it to pay the bills while you build your business. This approach also forces you to build incrementally, and it keeps you frugal. This is not necessarily ideal. Having a bunch of money set aside sounds nice and luxurious, but not having the resources puts you in a position where you have to figure it out to survive. I love that. I started my business eight years ago on $150 and today we do a million a year. Don't wait until you have the resources to start safely. Dive in however you can. And avoid shortcuts. Don't waste your time scheming to make bigger money on the side. Do something honest to live on and create a business that drives value.CM
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How can I smoothly transition from full time worker to self-employment?
The ways I've done this in the past are 1) Find some customers that are willing to hire you (or your product) but know that you'll only be free nights & weekends to support/work with them. 2) Find a "partner" (co-founder or other) that's got a flexible schedule that can help build the business while you're at work. 3) Block out nights, mornings and weekends to build the business till you have enough orders to cover 50% of your salary. This might mean 7pm-11pm most nights, and 4 hours each day Sat & Sun. Make progress (sales $$$) and momentum. All that being said, it's risk reward. Sounds like you want to avoid taken the risk, and I get that .. but the upside is always smaller. Unless you put yourself in a position to have to succeed (ex: quitting your job) then you may never make the scary decisions that are required to build a company (like cold calling, going in debt, making a presentation, etc). I'm on company #5 with many other side projects started nights & weekends .. so I get it - but don't be afraid to bet on yourself and go all in.DM
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My startup just failed. What could I start to "immediately" generate $1,000/mo?
The quickest path to cash is almost always consulting. Be very specific about what it is you can offer. Don't just offer "business consulting". Find a niche and serve it. Reach out to your network, including friends and family and ask if they need or know of anyone who might want to hear about what your consulting has to offer. That will be way faster than trying to go at it from scratch or cold calling. If you call 100 people in your network this week, you will have a consulting gig within 3 weeks. Good luck, and let me know if you'd like advice on entering a digital marketing/lead generation consulting niche. I've grown from zero to $8,000 of monthly recurring payments in the last 40 days! DaveDR
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I have this social media idea,but no coding skills. How do I get someone to do the coding (cant afford to pay them) and not give away half of my idea?
Dilip was very kind in his response. My answer might be a bit on the "tough love" side. But that's for you to decide. My intention, just for the record, is to help you (and those like you) on your path to success. And that starts with having a viable philosophy about entrepreneurial-ism and business. And I'm going to answer this because I get asked some form / version of this question very frequently from newcomers to entrepreneurial-ism. The scenario goes something like this: "I have a great idea. It's amazing, I love it, and I just KNOW it's gonna make me a ton of money. But I have no money right now so I can't afford to (fill in the blank with things like "to build it / create it / market it / etc" or "to hire the required staff needed to work in my business to sell it / develop it / etc"). And I don't want to tell anyone about my great idea because I'm worried someone will steal it and make MY million / billion dollars. But I can't afford to legally protect it either... So how do I launch without the skills to personally create the product AND no money to hire anyone else to do that either??" The answer is ... You don't. Look - let's be honest. All you have is an idea. Big deal. Really. I'm not saying it's not a good idea. I'm not saying that if properly executed it couldn't make you a million / billion dollars... But an idea is NOT a business. Nor is it an asset. Until you do some (very important) initial work - like creating a business model, doing customer development, creating a MVP, etc - all you really have is a dream. Right now your choices are: 1. Find someone with the skills or the money to develop your idea and sell them on WHY they should invest in you. And yes, this will mean giving up either a portion of the "ownership" or of future income or equity. And the more risk they have to take - the more equity they will want (and quite frankly be entitled to). 2. Learn how to code and build it yourself. MANY entrepreneurs without financial resources are still resourceful. They develop the skills needed to create what they don't have the money to pay someone else to do. 3. Get some cash so you can pay someone to do the coding. You'll probably have to have some knowledge of coding to direct the architecture of your idea. So you will likely still have to become knowledgeable even if its not you personally doing the coding. (This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of options... And I'm sure some of the other experts here on Clarity have others to add - and I hope they do) To wrap up - Here's my final tip to you that I hope you "get"... It's FAR more valuable to have an idea that a very specific hungry crowd is clamoring for right now - One that THEY would love and pay you for right now - Maybe even one they'd pre-order because they just have to have it - Versus YOU being in love with your own idea. [Notice I didn't say "an idea that some as-of-yet-undetermined market would probably love"] I wish you the best of luck moving forward.DB
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