Thread: Learn from your JOB

for those of us with jobs, I want to encourage you to learn as much as possible from that experience so that you can apply it to your entrepreneurial ventures in the future.

look at everything as an opportunity to learn about the industry that you are in, the way things operate, the inefficiencies that are in the organization and how you could streamline the process to make it better.

I work for my school and I have found some BIG problems that need to be much more efficient, and solving these issues are going to be the basis for the company I plan to start soon

like MJ says, focus on creating value and solving needs...not making money, and you will have much better chances at success.

There was a thread the past couple days about why you should never have a job...

While some of the points that were made were good ones, I think the notion that having a job is inherently a bad thing is not well-founded. As someone who had a job for quite a while (probably longer than I should have) before venturing out on my own, I was able to find a good many benefits in the experience.

Here are some reasons why you might want to have a job before starting your own gig:

1. Seed Money: Working a job is a great way to build seed money for future endeavors.

2. Security While Building: Working a job provides secure income if you want to build your own business on the side.

3. Networking in your industry: You get the opportunity to meet people who can later become your investors, partners, mentors, salespeople, etc.

4. Gaining experience: If you work in the same industry that you want to build your empire, working a job can provide great experience and education at a relatively low cost (some of your time)

5. Gaining credibility: Also, if you work in the same industry that you want to build your empire, you have the opportunity to gain some credibility among your peers (and superiors) that can go a long way towards helping you successfully launch your own company.

6. Finding your customers: Working for a company will allow you to figure out who the customers are for that market, and will even introduce you to those customers. If you plan to build a business with the same customer base, you now have customer insight and contacts that you can use to bootstrap your own enterprise.