Stop trying to learn everything
Years ago, I heard Bono of the Band U2 say in an interview that he and the lads were a band before they knew how to play their instruments. They knew they wanted to make music. They were so committed to becoming a band that learning how to play music was just a formality. Imagine if you approached your goals that way? Decide what you want more than anything else. Have faith that you can achieve it, seek the specific knowledge you need and take massive action. The most important part of starting a business is to get started.
Knowledge is only potential power
Knowledge is power only when a lack of know is holding you back. If you are ready to take action and you need some useful information in order to move forward, then the knowledge you need is powerful. It is valuable to you, but the law of diminishing returns applies. If you get 5 answers to your question and ANY of them will work, then that extra knowledge can actually inhibit your progress. When you are starting a business, you don’t need to know everything, you just need to know the next step you need to take.
The value of information depends on your situation
If you need to get your car fixed, what’s more valuable to you? A book on car repair. A list of the top 10 mechanics in your neighborhood. Or a recommendation from a friend for a mechanic she knows and trusts. The answer may be obvious and the point is that the value and power of knowledge is dependant on your needs. You can see how it depends on what you are trying to do. The recommendation from a friend might be the most valuable if the mechanic is a good fit for what you need. The book on car repair might be incredibly valuable to a young person who is fascinated by how cars work and needs some direction in life.
Filtering through the noise
We live in a unique time in history. We actually have access to way too much information to be useful. It’s so easy to get information that we have to get better at filtering it. We need to learn to sift through all the information to find what we really need at the right time. If you are learning about starting a business, it’s really easy to find more information than you can use. Information overload can slow down your progress.
You don’t need to know everything to get started
You can spend months or longer learning about all the ways to make money online before you start learning the specific knowledge you need for starting a business. What product or service to sell? How will you sell it? What platform(s) will you use? What type of website/social media do you need? How do you set it up? Where will you advertise? What type of marketing should you do? Who will you sell to? What will you call your business? What will your logo look like? Should you form a legal entity? Should you open a business bank account? What should you do yourself and what should you hire other people to do? It can be overwhelming.
‘Just in time’ knowledge
You don’t need to know everything now, you just need the right knowledge at the right time. If you know you want to learn about starting a business and to be an entrepreneur, then decide that you want to be an entrepreneur and take some action now. Keep taking action until you determine the specific knowledge that you need to keep moving forward. Pursue that knowledge, consume it and keep moving forward. If you want to drive across the country, you don’t need to buy all the fuel for the whole trip, you just need enough to get you started and you can fuel up as needed along the way.
Starting a business? Find a mentor
If you want to get started but aren’t sure where to start. Look for someone who is getting the results you want and learn what they did. When I was first starting out, I began seeking mentors. I looked for people who were able to live the lifestyle that I wanted to live and tried to learn how they did it. I started off with a dozen or so people and filtered down to only a few.
Recently, I have been focusing on Jeff Lerner’s training. He explains things in a way that makes sense to me. His focus in on helping people to have an awesome life by being successful in online business. It’s really good training and gives you the information you need at the right time to keep progressing. If you want to learn about starting a business, I would definitely check it out. You can find out more below.
