My journey to start a business Part 1: What am I good at?

[Ajbuck68]

I just joined this forum a few days ago, you can see my whole intro here. The short is that I found the Millionaire Fastlane a week ago and I'm dead set to go down this path. As I'm writing this, I'm in an ideation phase: brainstorming business ideas, reading, learning, and preparing to dive in. Dive in to what? Not sure yet, we'll get there. I'll figure it out (**hint hint**). While trying to figure out what I'm good at, something hit me. And I thought I could document my journey as I go in this forum (hence the part 1). Hopefully this series will be unique and helpful in the future. And I'm sure hearing responses from you all will be helpful based on what I've read from here so far.

Let's get into it.

While brainstorming some ideas, I stepped back to try to think about what I'm best at. If you read my intro, you know I'm a successful tech consultant. By pay, internal reviews, and customer reviews, I'm very good at what I do. So how can I weaponize that into my own business? Well first I need to know what makes me a good consultant.

Am I a good consultant because I know everything? Definitely not. Am I a good consultant because I know exactly how to execute every project start to finish from the beginning? Definitely not. I believe I'm a good consultant because I'm good at figuring it out. I just make it work.

The more I've been thinking about starting a business, the more thoughts I have of "but I don't know how to do xyz". I don't know how to find customers. I don't know how to file for an S-Corp. I don't know how to sell. I don't know if I have enough time for what will be required.

Well that's everyday life in consulting. When I started on my most recent client they hated my company and were threatening to sue because of a botched implementation by a crappy partner. I had no idea how to make them trust and like us again. I had no idea how to fix the problems that were created. I had no idea how to get everything built within the go-live timeframe already in place. But I figured it out. I always do. In fact, that's why my boss picked me to take on this project, because he knows I always figure it out. That's why he called me 2 years ago and told me he wanted me on his team at this 20 person startup.

So what do I need to do to start a business? Just do it. I can't rely on knowing what to do every step of the way right now. I have to rely on my own proven ability to figure it out. If I don't just start the business, then I have nothing to figure out, and it will never work.

 

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[Ajbuck68]

tl;dr

My most valuable skill is just figuring it out. So I need to just dive in, create a business, and trust in my proven ability to figure it out.

 

[PowerJen]

Hi AJ
The thing about business is you pretty soon find out what you are lousy at. So, here are some things I learnt to focus on:

Timekeeping. Turn on Clockify for every project, including your own marketing.

Support. Get one or two freelancers to help in specialist areas. I tried to do everything and it's hard to make any money when too busy with admin.

Sales. The most important area. I think of this as getting to know people, if a right fit then proposing a solution to fit their needs, and starting the service. Not exactly frightening. Listen and pause a lot.

Marketing System. Having all the pieces for induction in a doc (client system), having a Leads sheet, an EMS to send out news every month, a blog, and tips or commentary for LinkedIn you write, based on your observations. All these are a system that keeps the wheels turning.

Well, good luck with it.
(Book coach, editor and content marketer)