Starting a Business is One Massive Learning Experience
There’s nothing like starting a business to put your proverbial feet to the fire. Over the past 10 years as a Web and software entrepreneur I’ve learned an incredible amount. There have been times where my learning ebbed, and looking back, those were some of the most frustrating and depressing times.
Adam Kayce (from the brilliantly named, Monk at Work) asked, “What’s your learning edge? Where are you pushing the envelope of your learning? What are you into right now?”
Learning is like life - an evolution from something small to something bigger. We grow as people over time, and a big part of that is based on what we’re learning.
For me, it’s all about taking my startups to the next level. I achieved a certain level of success in the past, and I want to go far, far beyond that with Standout Jobs. And after Standout Jobs, we’ll go further still. That means a massive expansion in my learning.
Currently, I’m reading Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston. It’s the culmination of numerous interviews Jessica did with top Web/Internet and software entrepreneurs. Lots of lessons learned, and more blog posts coming in the future (as soon as I finish the book!)
Some of my most recent lessons learned:
- How to scale quickly and properly
- How to deal with financing and venture capital (this includes lots of reading: Fred Wilson, Venture Hacks, Ask The VC)
- More tracking of the Web 2.0 industry and where things are going with social networking, video, etc. (again, this involves lots of reading: Frantic Industries, GigaOM, Paul Kedrosky, etc.)
Part of my job with Standout Jobs is to build key relationships in the HR and recruiting worlds. This means an insane amount of learning, and this is perhaps truly my “learning edge” because it’s so new. I look at much of my development and learning in the startup world as an evolution of what I had previously done, but burying myself in the world of recruiting is new, refreshing and incredibly challenging.
The best way to learn is to live. And do. Books will only take you so far. Get out there, start something, and learn on the fly.
“The best way to learn is to live. And do. Books will only take you so far. Get out there, start something, and learn on the fly.”
True wisdom there Ben!
I’ve learned so much more from my businesses that I started over the years than I did in my MBA program. And I sure had a lot of fun doing it.
The only down side of running your own business is that you know and live a basic freedom - and it makes it darn near impossible for you to ever assimilate into the corporate world. Actually that’s a very good thing - just a downer for some people.
Have an awesome day!
Dan
Experience is the best teacher of all. There is only so much that you can learn from books. In business, you will learn it firsthand through trial and error. A lot of top businessman have experienced failure before they become very successful!!
It has been my general experience that it takes a week or less of talking with people from different levels and different companies (you would be surprised at the variability of operations from company to company it what seems like the most plain vanilla of businesses) in an industry to learn 95% of what that industry is all about.
The other 5% takes upwards of 20-30 years.
Most of the time, however, you only need to know the 95% in order to be effective in what you are trying to do, assuming it isn’t be directly successful in that specific industry.
CapForge - Great comment. I would tend to agree. You can learn a great deal about an industry quickly. The magic behind it - that 5% - is going to take a lot longer, but you can really get into something only knowing 95%.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
I agree with the notion that experience is the best teacher, especially when starting a small business, or for that matter, an online business.
I had several part and full time business’s thru the years before I actually had one that was successful. Even though I had read nearly all the “How To Start A Business” books I could, they were not substitute for experience. My failures early on taught me many valuable lessons. Think of your failures as learning opportunities.
Don
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