Question: What's one skill you wish you learned earlier that would've helped you launch your business?
Basic Bookkeeping
"Starting as a solopreneur, it was easy to keep books in a simple spreadsheet. However, I kept at that for a year longer than I should have. It's worth investing a couple thousand upfront to get someone to set up your books and accounts the right way."
@johnrood
Grace
"I have always been agenda driven. As I get older, I find that I'm learning the skill of grace, which is about being present with people where they are, with no agenda. So rather than approaching sales from the standpoint of closing, grace allows me to approach sales from the standpoint of alignment. That saves massive headaches down the road, breeds confidence and adds value, which adds revenue."
@CoreyBlake9000
Leadership
"When I first started out, I thought that leadership was about being nice and making people's lives as easy as possible. While I do still think it's paramount to be kind and compassionate, I've learned that leading means challenging people, and encouraging them to do something that's outside of their comfort zone. This perspective shift has helped accelerate my business at high octane speeds."
@MarkKrassner
Adaptability
"In retrospect, I think one of the things that slowed us down in the early days of our business was our attachment to our original vision and expectations of how it would evolve. Instead of learning from moments of resistance along the way, we tried to force our assumptions into reality. Now, I try to remain open to surprises and change course accordingly."
@martinawelke
Reverse Thinking
"Earlier in my career and when I first launched my business, I thought very much in terms of the "next step" without giving as much attention to the impact those decisions would have on my business down the road. Now, my decision making process involves reverse thinking. It works by taking the desired end result and building the required steps leading up to it."
@dnevogt
Graphic Design
"I own a content creation company but have no design experience. When it’s difficult to express an idea or concept, I have to try to hack my thoughts together on paper or in PowerPoint. I wish I’d taken the time to learn InDesign in college."
@brittanyhodak
Risk Assessment
"The ability to accurately assess risk is a skill I have learned over time yet wish I had learned earlier. I can certainly point to opportunities that I did not pursue because I overestimated the risk. You can take a few more chances when you are young and I wish I had approached those opportunities from the "why not" perspective that I do now."
@apthomas
Sustained Networking
"Early on in my career, I thought of networking as a discreet task that could be started and finished. I've come to learn that networking never ends and is simply an extension of relationship (and friendship) building, which is something I've always been great at. Once I took the label away and realized I already possessed the needed skills, my businesses have taken off in new, exciting ways."
@Brenomics
Employee Management
"The skill I'm really trying to learn is how to become a good manager. I've discovered that employee management is a lot more difficult than I thought, and that to continue to scale I have to spend more time managing people than actually doing tasks. For entrepreneurs this can be difficult, and if I had worked under a good manager previously it probably would have helped me considerably now."
@vtamethodman
Coding
"Finding quality developers inexpensively is really difficult. Had I known how to code, I could have not only built a prototype of our business model much faster, but also increased the rate at which we developed the actual platform. What at times has taken months to complete would have taken days -- which would have allowed the company to quickly understand what worked and what didn't."
@jkrums
Delegation
"Money is always tight in the startup phase. Don't let that lure you into trying to do everything yourself. Focus on your strengths, utilize them and delegate other mission critical roles. You might have to hire a professional, but when compared to the fact that you might not launch at all because of your DIY approach? It’s just not worth it. Value your time and delegate."
@juhaliikala
