Jack Daly

This article’s title has been sitting, or rather wedged, between my ears this entire year. Heck, now that I am writing this down, it has definitely been stuck there for much longer than that.

Since I was very young, I admired and idolised entrepreneurs. I read their books and devoured their stories. I knew what they had accomplished, was incredible and led to wealth most only dream of. But¹, when it was packaged in a nice little summary in the form of a biography, it sounded not easy, but absolutely doable.

I was enraptured at these real stories and how much fun they seemed to have while throwing caution to the wind and just going their own way. Yet somehow, when reading their stories, it really felt ² like they were following a guaranteed path. Like there were runway lights guiding the way, even when they ran into trouble. To my inexperienced mind, there was a destiny to them that I was convincing myself that I could easily share in. That my own story would follow suit and all I had to do was to seek that divine inspiration.

Needless to say, such interventions are hard to come by. So, I continued reading about entrepreneurs and their stories. And the stories continued to always make sense and sound so great in summary. But then I started to notice how few of them really told how they did it – and I mean in detail. It got to bother me. Of course, they gave the broad strokes, they were biographies after all. But I still found myself coming away wondering, how did they actually do it?

Too many people are deluded these days by those who would profit of such delusion into thinking that anyone can run a successful business.

Suddenly I began to see it more and more, especially with the advent of platforms such as twitter, youtube and the like. Business / entrepreneurship stories and advice that used broad brushes or gave information that is so surface level that was in truth irrelevant to those like me, who didn’t even know what I didn’t know. Someone like me who was at the time unable to see beyond my perceivable reality. Recognising my ignorance, I began digging further and soon began to slowly peel back the lid on how those that have made it, really did it.

Firstly, the few good examples I found took a lot of filtering to find³ and what struck me was just how varied each successful entrepreneur’s journey is. This led me to understand that it wasn’t a step by step guide to how successful entrepreneurs accomplished their goals that I was looking for, but rather the skills they needed to do so. The vital skills for business⁴ are not taught in schools and universities, they must be learned and practiced.

When I finally started my own business, I quickly realised just how difficult and risky it can be. Too many people are deluded these days by those who would profit of such delusion into thinking that anyone can run a successful business. And there are plenty that do. In reality, it is incredibly hard and is a decision that should not be taken lightly by most people.

I believe everyone can be a successful entrepreneur, which doesn't need to include running a company. The entrepreneurial mindset inspires creativity and intense focus. It is an essential ingredient to building great products and services. But it is worth remembering that most successful business are started by those with years of earned skill and experience.

So, if you are someone looking to dive headfirst into a big entrepreneurial venture, know that being aware of your knowledge and skill limitations is vital for seeking the right help and information and ultimately, choosing the best path forward.

¹    I am going to play the “young and naive” card here because I was 12 years old. At the time Dragons Den and The Apprentice was major TV shows and I was hooked on them.

²     I can’t overstate how much the feeling took over during these moments and turned the world rosy as I superimposed myself on their story, though I had no resemblance to them in almost any way.

³   What I was after was what they did differently and the skills and techniques they monetized. Val Katayev and Nick Huber are some examples of people who have expanded my view on what is even possible in the business world and where value can be found.

⁴   Skills like selling, managing, negotiating, decision making and so forth. Also an invaluable skill in itself is recognising the surface level, no substance and the “just giving barely enough baited information” to get the article / video click or course / book purchase types that the internet is abound with these days.