By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker
There are a lot of ways to be an entrepreneur. Familiar stories all seem to involve a blinding insight that manifests as a spectacular, game-changing product, à la Facebook. But that’s definitely not the only way. Don’t be intimidated by those flash-of-brilliance stories, because I truly believe entrepreneurship is possible for anyone.
Though all the stories are different, they share qualities that demonstrate the elements that make for success. The following questions are designed to help you figure out what your spin on those qualities is. I’ve written before about distinctive competence, and now as then, I believe it to be the first step on the road to creating your own company. These four questions, if answered honestly and positively, will help you complete that step.
- Do you have a unique skill, special knowledge, experience, or talent?
This is where a lot of people get intimidated. They think they need a talent unlike anything that has ever existed before, but that’s not the case. My distinctive competence was in real estate outsourcing, a new spin on an existing market. I don’t have superpowers, and you don’t need to have them, either. If you have an improvement to make to an existing industry, you have something new to contribute.
- Does your skill or knowledge have value in the marketplace?
You might have a really distinctive talent, but it’s not a distinctive competence unless it’s marketable. Take a look at the industry you’re interested in and imagine your talent brought to bear on it. Is your talent an improvement on what’s there now?
- Can you use your unique competence to create something disruptive, innovative, and/or valuable?
This is where your talent gets realized as a product or service, and the rubber meets the road. Can you translate your special ability into a saleable good or service? If your product or service isn’t world-changing, that’s fine, as long as it has added value to your customers.
- Can you monetize your distinctive competence?
Again, this is the rubber meeting the road, this time in terms of money. The last box to check on distinctive competence is your ability to get people to pay for it. If all the pieces from other questions come together into something bankable, you’re good to go. A great way to test this is by securing pre-orders, a process I wrote about in Balancing Confidence and Confirmation. Take a look at my story and think about how you can try the same thing.
These questions may take time to answer! Knowing you have a talent doesn’t mean you automatically know what business model will take best advantage of it. It’s okay to take the time to figure it out. In fact, it will hugely increase your chances of success to take that time and solidify your position.
Once you’ve figured out the answers to these questions in the positive, you know you have a real, actionable idea. You’re ready for the next step toward owning your own company!
Ed McLaughlin is currently co-writing the book “The Purpose Is Profit: Secrets of a Successful Entrepreneur from Startup to Exit” with Wyn Lydecker and Paul McLaughlin. Copyright © 2014 by Ed McLaughlin All rights reserved.
You shed light (excuse the pun) on the “flash of brilliance” intimidator. I used to believe that true success can only come from those with a very rare talent. This belief blinded me to my own distinctive competence that was staring me in the face. Once I took away the blinders and realized that I didn’t have to possess superpowers to be distinctively competent, the truth was set free. How many of us walk through life with bankable distinctive competence that is never realized because we’re too busy feeling intimated by what we perceive as the “superpowers” of others? Thank you for helping people like me have the eyes to see our own true potential.