Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs: One Key Observation

Recently, I've been thinking about the secrets of successful entrepreneurs. I've co-owned a business, the International Leadership Institute, for 31 years and can share a few insights and observation about how to keep a business afloat through economic downturns, social upheavals, and a pandemic.

Based on my own business, here is one key observation: 

• you can do something yourself, 
• teach someone else how to do it, 
• or write about it. 

I like all three roles and find that they blur and overlap. So if you have a talent or skill, you can slip in and out of these roles and build yourself a business.

This runs counter to prevailing advice for entrepreneurs, which is to narrow down your focus to one marketable niche and stick to that alone. Maybe this is good advice once you have done all three roles--you can choose the one you like best and go after a particular niche, but personally, I would be bored pretty soon.

What I like about running my own business is the freedom to explore what works and what does not. Sometimes you have to get started by gathering people who just want something for free, then showing them the tremendous value of your service. It's hard to keep a free group going, as people have no financial commitment to make them stay, so if you can get people to do it for free, you are a master of your trade/craft.!