Great at one thing OR good at everything?

[Kevin Lee]

As an entrepreneur, would you consider yourself great at one thing OR good at everything? How has this helped or hurt your business?

[ChrisH]

As an entrepreneur, would you consider yourself great at one thing OR good at everything? How has this helped or hurt your business?

My biggest strength is spending money, but....

I don't think many people are good at everything, they may be able to do many things. With the help of the office manager and partner I had for four years, I've learned to pursue the things that are definitely my strengths and there are a good number of things that I should focus on because they are things I'm good at and some are things I simply have to do. Another key she helped me understand is to work harder at finding people who are qualified to do the things that I'm not as good at or that I really don't want to do

Chris

[babyjoy214]

As an entrepreneur, would you consider yourself great at one thing OR good at everything? How has this helped or hurt your business?

I heard this from my dad "Jack of All Traits, Master of None" She was referring to my aunt who was and still a business enthusiast, she keeps on joining networking businesses and convinces everybody to join, afterwards get convinced again by another kind of business and the ball is rolling again and again, making her now unbelievable..

I think there should always be a specialty, as what the previous poster said, you can do a lot of things but you should have this one thing that people can say its you or yours.. signature line..

[jvprosperity]

I beleive personally that I like to be good at one thing but I need to have basic knowledge of most things.

E.g. I am by no way a professional web designer (my love is marketing) but I know basics of SEO, web programming and usability that when I speak to a designer I know how to communicate with them.

[Kevin Lee]

I heard this from my dad "Jack of All Traits, Master of None"

Personally, I see myself as being a good at a lot of my passions, but not "great" enough to earn a living from any of them. I feel that our society favors those who specialize and pigeon hole themselves into one thing. In fact, I don't think you can even get a high paying job without spending 6 years studying that one subject in college + post grad studies.

[verbul9]

Its soooo funny, I just had this conversation with one of my youngins last week!!

I feel that I am a Jack of all Trades...Acing several categories too!

However, I used to feel I was in a rut because I didn't have that ONE Thing that I could always point towards as MY FAVORITE. It hasn't really hurt any business ventures in particular. However, the idea of me not being attached to any one skill/venture, has to have been a time consumer in the long run.

I feel that if I sucked at almost everything, and excelled at one thing--then I could focus on that one thing and master it. Then become rich and famous thru that venture!

What I realized (to my benefit) is that once you get older--alot of your old passions fall to the waist side. You begin to find yourself and your true calling...I Feel that I have arrived!!!

[Kevin Lee]

What I realized (to my benefit) is that once you get older--alot of your old passions fall to the waist side. You begin to find yourself and your true calling...I Feel that I have arrived!!!

Hi verbul9,

Can you share with us what your true calling is and what are some of your old passions that you lost interest in?

[Evan]

Hi Kevin - great topic!

I think to start a business you need to have enough of the general skills to get going. You end up having to do so many things that you need to wear many hats in your business. Even if you have partners there will always be more tasks to get done than time and people available.

That being said, you need to have a vision, lead your company forward and be an expert in your field. If you're not one of the best at what you do then it will be hard to stand out and build a successful company.

I think the most successful entrepreneurs are experts in a particular field but also have enough skills to be generalists when need be.

[Kevin Lee]

Hi Kevin - great topic!

I think to start a business you need to have enough of the general skills to get going. You end up having to do so many things that you need to wear many hats in your business. Even if you have partners there will always be more tasks to get done than time and people available.

That being said, you need to have a vision, lead your company forward and be an expert in your field. If you're not one of the best at what you do then it will be hard to stand out and build a successful company.

I think the most successful entrepreneurs are experts in a particular field but also have enough skills to be generalists when need be.

Hi Evan,

I think there should be a website out there that lists all of the job functions (or "hats" needed) for a particular entrepreneurial endeavour to succeed. Moreover, each task would be rated on whether it should be outsourced or handled by the small business owner. Such a resource could prove useful as the "decisive factor" on whether to pursue a business idea or not for many startups.

For example, if I wanted to start a social networking site, the list would say you'd need to be good with online marketing, database management, SEO tactics, etc.

[litekepr]

Hi Kevin - great topic!

I think to start a business you need to have enough of the general skills to get going. You end up having to do so many things that you need to wear many hats in your business. Even if you have partners there will always be more tasks to get done than time and people available.

That being said, you need to have a vision, lead your company forward and be an expert in your field. If you're not one of the best at what you do then it will be hard to stand out and build a successful company.

I think the most successful entrepreneurs are experts in a particular field but also have enough skills to be generalists when need be.

You make great points about what is needed and ways to bring in others in a productive way. I was on a discussion panel a couple of weeks ago with a man who delegated everything in the business venture and he spent a lot of time raising money to pay all these people. I kept thinking that it would've been a vastly different venture if he had ANY of the skills needed to create and build the business. It seems much more rewarding to actually be involved in the creation of the business

Shri

[verbul9]

What I realized (to my benefit) is that once you get older--alot of your old passions fall to the waist side. You begin to find yourself and your true calling...I Feel that I have arrived!!!

Hi verbul9,

Can you share with us what your true calling is and what are some of your old passions that you lost interest in?

My newest passions are motivational speaker/spiritual advisor--also playing poker!

My old passions were: basketball and writing music

[Kevin Lee]

My newest passions are motivational speaker/spiritual advisor--also playing poker!

My old passions were: basketball and writing music

Hi verbul9,

Thanks for sharing your passions with us! So how and when did you realize that motivational speaking/spiritual advising was the key to both your personal and professional fulfillment?

Have you ever considered becoming a professional poker player ?

[verbul9]

Hey Buzz, Good Questions

You know it must've started since i was a small child--however, the breaking point was definitely in college, when I met a very important wise man... My ex-girlfriend's father (may be the only reason i even met my ex-girl in the first place) LOL

This wise man helped to awaken me and taught me knowledge of SELF

After that, it just went downstream...giving many people advice and jewels about the Sciences of Life.

[verbul9]

Oh and by the way...

Yes, I am on the road to becoming a professional poker player!!

[Kevin Lee]

Oh and by the way...

Yes, I am on the road to becoming a professional poker player!!

Sounds great verbul9 So what kind of things are you doing in preparation to reach do your goal of playing poker for a living?