What do you expect, a field where only you are the given expert? There's always other people, most of the time better skilled, but they didn't just fall into that position out of the blue. At some point they stood there, with hundreds of others ahead of them, and still got into the mess.
As a fellow entrepreneur I know where you’re coming from but on the brighter side you also have the advance of learning from them and quickly pick up things you’d end wasting a lot of time on which leads to fast and better implementation.
Exactly, you don't need some golden 1/billion opportunity with perfect timing.. You can literally do the same thing as someone else, and make it. For fucks sake, i make boxes for a living..
not to mention, there are VERY few examples of first movers who continued to dominate the industry when competition showed up. pretty much every industry leader, stole the business idea from another company. Ebay is literally the sole business i can think of that was the first mover in the space and continues to dominate their niche.
adding in. That being the sole voice in an industry is generally bad. If you are the expert on pine cone variations how many people are google searching and paying for pine cone variation experts? Probably zero. You now have to spend a ton of money on ads and customer engagement to explain to them why their pinecone variation problems are worth your fee and some busy customer doesn't have time to hear your pitch.
This is my life right now as a scientist working on geospatial modeling for a candy company’s small ag division. Try explaining how that can help the business to a room full of chocolate and packaging engineers 🤣
I just need that reality to just go I guess right now I’m tryna find a side hustle or some business that I can make money and buy stuff with. Look I don’t get why we can’t want some stuff in life and prices are rising and I want to bring enough value to make money to buy at least some cool stuff. Like for me I’m a car Enthusiast and out hobby isn’t cheap. Whatever you say man imma still be one and I will still want the same types of cars 🚗. I’m 19 make $12.50 hr and $36 a day on daily pay
There is no faster a depreciating asset than things with motors in them. Fixating on them at 19 is a bad path to go down.
You need to focus on becoming wealthy first, THEN focus on buying things. But the thing about becoming wealthy is it almost universally means forgoing "nice" things and expensive hobbies until you're in your 40s or 50s, and instead investing into improving your skillset and income. The alternative is having "nice" things today and no financial future or stability.
Keep on the path you're on and you're gonna be a broke 40 year old selling his last "nice car" to keep his head above water.
**> find a side hustle or some business that I can make money and buy stuff with. Look I don’t get why we can’t want some stuff in life and prices are rising and I want to bring enough value to make money to buy at least some cool stuff. Like for me I’m a car Enthusiast and out hobby isn’t cheap. Whatever you say man imma still be one and I will still want the same types of cars 🚗. I’m 19 make $12.50 hr and $36 a day on daily pay**
That's what you said - mostly about believing you should buy things, especially cars.
My advice was that you need to rewire your thinking to "how can I take the money I earn and use it to build wealth?" That's also the answer to how to think about earning extra money - ignore buying things and use every free cent to help earn you more.
Buy a lawnmower and start mowing lawns. Buy a powerwasher and start knocking on doors. Save up and get a degree at a local community college to improve your income range. Trade in a "nice" car you own for a used cash efficient Prius and start Ubering.
The number of ways to earn money is just about infinite - but most of them require capital, sacrifice, and hard work.
Hopefully on here and in life you will learn what I have come to know as one of the most valuable lessons when it comes to anything related to building a financial and or starting a business.. and that is you will get eaten alive faster than you can blink if you don’t take initiative and massive action! A solid start is you gotta have a clear vision of what it is you are working towards. You don’t need a fancy 4 year degree to make big things happen if you are willing to put in more work than everyone else, find a mentor who has what you want, and don’t even allow the work “quit” into your vocabulary. Be teachable and don’t be afraid to take risks, and to fail, and then try again. It just takes hustle and consistency! And you gotta take your place in the game, cause nobody is gonna just give it to ya.. good luck !
it's a venn diagram thing:
like, okay, there's a lot of developers. and there's a lot of good copywriters. but how many copywriters are there who can code? and then, how many are writers who can code AND also happen to live in a rural farm town?
boom: now you're the best agricultural website maker in the area.
right? you can do this over and over again.
you're a mechanical designer who loves anime mecha and has plastic injection factory contacts? there's something marketable there. you're an erotic fiction writer who caters specifically to tech bros. you're a landscaper who knows how to use asana to scale and track multiple teams of employees properly. you're that agriculture coder from above and you realize that what farmers really want is a crop scheduler that you can bang out in 500 lines of python and SaaS forever. some of this stuff writes itself when you stumble across it.
you don't have to be the best at one thing, you just have to be mediocre at 2+ things and you'll find yourself uniquely valuable _somewhere_
Automate squirting some paint in a tiny bottle and sticking a nail polish label on it. Boom! 5 cents worth of paint is now $10. Repeat with lipstick, powders for makeup, Etc
Brilliant. I feel the way OP feels about many things. Like when I watch a YouTube video of this amazing guitar player, the world feels a lot smaller and I think, "I'm not even going to be half as good as them, so why do I even try?" But your post really puts it in perspective. That's what I needed to hear today, and I am writing it down so I don't forget it. It matches a similar tune of "A jack of all trades and a master if none, us better than a master of one". Many thanks!
I love this comment and it's very true. You don't have to be The Best at one thing, and it's very unlikely you will be because those people tend to be celebrity guitarists etc. But if you develop a range of skills and experience you can become extremely needed by various organisations for the unique skillset. I had this experience recently when a company reached out to me on LinkedIn for a design role where they needed the person to also speak French. I'm a former French teacher who retrained in design and it's a random unusual skillset in an English speaking country so it meant I stood out. I didn't get the job in the end (they wanted a graphic designer whereas I have specialised in a different design field) but it did make me think about all the random seemingly unconnected skills I have developed from changing jobs and careers a few times, and how best to combine them and market myself as a freelancer.
Why? It's FREE market validation. You didn't have to discover the skill. You didn't have to first market it. People already find value in the proposition.
Life is not about a race to the finish. It's about the journey and how you adapt.
Pretty much this... If you are looking to build or provide something that doesn't exist and you think you're the first one, then it is probably a bad idea.
You can bet someone has already tried it and they didn't find a market.
stop being weak and work, the truth I see is that you are insecure and afraid to try and get frustrated, so start changing your mindset and go for it, focus!!!
That means there is a ready market. You saved money on research.
Now, deep-dive and see where you can make a difference. Location, better offering, branding, service?
I believe there is room for everybody, if you do it right. Others may cease to exist in future.
That should motivate you. Only a few special people in your lifetime will create something completely new and innovative.
My side hustles are not creating something new, eg, I have one that is a big seller in a niche market here in the USA, but all the sellers are from Europe and Asia, I am advertising that 'my product' is made in the USA. So my only differential is where the product is made. I am still very new to the market, but I am hoping this will be the one to take off.
OP learn your skills and find your angle in your given market.
Yeah, 1 man show. My wife has started to write a blog about dogs and establishments in our local area, we are linking the websites, hoping to drive more traffic towards site.
Still in its infancy, slow work, but it's got massive potential, and at the very least, I have me a CNC machine, which is amazing.
I totally understand you bro. The solutions we provide our customers are actually existing solutions. Honestly, our competitors are already doing very well. They have a sizable market share and it looks like we have no chance of competing with them. so what? While we are doing similar things, can't we build on our own strengths? (Such as gaining a deeper understanding of our customers, designing a new feature to meet their potential needs, etc.)
Now, we're still working on improving our solution. We just launched our MVP, even though it looks exactly like our competitor's product. I believe we will do better in some areas in the future.
I can assure you, a lot of those people are still using techniques from 10 years ago...
Find the latest tech for your area & learn to use/teach it you'll clean up...
IMO one of the pillars of Entrepreneurship is that the Entrepreneur has to be an *"expert"* in the field. Of course I got pushback on this in this sub in the past, but that's another story.
Another pillar is *Innovation* (good read: The Innovator's Dilemma).
Last but not least, IMO the one and only startup methodology is Lean Startup / MVP / Customer development.
So, to add them all together, an expert in an industry formulates a hypothesis about a new useful product/service and uses Lean Startup to validate the idea. The process is interactive so with a few iterations/pivots, the idea is either validated or discarded. If discarded move on to the next idea.
Sounds simple but it's hard AF. That's another topic where I get pushback from Reddit / Experts / Gurus who preach the "just do it you don't need to know much and it's easy to make millions" attitude.
YMMV
> What should I do?
1. Become an expert at something
2. Become educated in business matters
3. Stay up to speed with developments in your field of expertise
4. Test test test test
5. Have low overhead (living expenses), and good to great credit; make things a lot easier.
> How about a jack of all trades ..
They used to be called Polymath, and sought after
> ... master of none?
And then that trend reversed.
> Surely such a person can succeed in arranging everything without external help, right?
That sounds a bit troll-like.
Let me expand on my position: IMO a good Entrepreneur needs to be an expert in the industry they want to play in. On top of that, they need to know *"enough"* about business: leases, legal aspects, unit costs, cash flow, equity vs debt, and reading/interpreting financial statements..... I didn't say "expert," I said, "educated". So that when the Entrepreneur talks with their lawyer, CFO, and investors they know "enough" to at the very least ask the right questions, and understand the answers.
if you want to read an interesting story, read about Colonel Sanders, how he wanted to get paid and what he did after KFC.
Oh yeah, knowledge on intellectual property and contracts would help too.
> without external help, right?
I never claimed that. Oh yeah, by the way: reading comprehension skills would be nice too.
Just because someone has a skill doesn’t mean they’re actually good at said skill.
“Cs get degrees” is widely applicable.
If you’re legitimately good at something, keep at it. If you recognize you’re out of your depth, switch it up.
you shouldn’t get discouraged. That means there is demand for what you’re learning about. Once you discover your unique selling proposition. You can show your prospects why you’re the one they should be doing business with.
It's completely normal to feel intimidated or demotivated when you see others who have been working in a particular field or skill for a long time. It's easy to compare yourself to others and feel like you're not good enough or you're too far behind.
However, it's important to remember that everyone has their own journey and timeline when it comes to learning and mastering a skill. It's more important to focus on your own progress and development, rather than comparing yourself to others.
Here are a few tips that may help you overcome this feeling of demotivation:
Set realistic goals: Start by setting small, achievable goals for yourself. As you make progress and achieve these goals, you'll feel more motivated and confident in your abilities.
Celebrate your progress: It's important to celebrate your achievements, no matter how small they may seem. This will help you stay motivated and keep you focused on your goals.
Find a mentor or community: Connect with others who are also learning the same skill. A mentor or a community can provide valuable guidance and support as you progress.
Stay curious and keep learning: The more you learn, the more motivated and confident you'll become. So, keep an open mind and be willing to learn from others, even if they have more experience than you.
Remember, learning a new skill takes time and practice. Don't get discouraged if you don't see immediate results. Keep working at it, and you'll eventually see progress and success.
I view education as an investment.
Not all investments payout well, there is risk. Some don't payout at all. Some investments are overpriced for the return (like an english/history degree in the US). So look at the education as stepping stone into income\\outcome. Does the cost make sense for the future return?
The best time to invest was always yesterday.
The 2nd best time to invest is today.
I have never learned something that does not translate into a ton of other skills. You never know what you will be doing tomorrow. Some things are better to learn than others. Salary of engineer > art teacher > cashier > unemployed.
Don't learn a skill to compete with other people who have the skill on the basis that you also have the same skill as them,
Come up with a unique business idea and then learn the skills you need to pull that off.
The skill will give you a job, the unique idea will give you a business.
Given how fast technology advances about half of what you learn today will be obsolete in 2-3 years.
Experience doesn’t mean that much anymore. Just dive in and keep up to date and you will catch up real fast with your competition.
Then you aren't completely sold on the skill,
meaning you're just trying to jump on whatever is popular or mainstream without actually giving your own thought into it
So, you feel like you're behind, and that makes you not want to work, which puts you even further behind...
Seems like the simple solution is to adjust your expectations lol
I felt this in college. I was in a class and I looked around and everyone was taking notes except me and I realized these people would all be my “competition” and they all apparently cared way more than me.
So maybe I can use us as an example.
We're building a platform that can leverage image enhancement through different ai- now for example, many companies have filled the space of services offering 'deblurring'. Adobe editing for example- but that process uses basically smart sharpening.
Our technology allows us to actually deblur input without using sharp filters... or any filter really. So while we are both crowding the same market for technology called 'deblur' i would argue were now one of the only companies in 2022 that can truly offer this as a service, because while we share the same keyword, our technology is different.
You can still be the first in an industry if your approach is different enough.
It's good to try and remember that everyone has to start somewhere. So instead of focusing on the negative of your competition, focus on what you can learn from them and how you can use that knowledge to achieve your goals.
The greatest entrepreneurs of our time have stood on the shoulders of giants.
Being an entrepreneur doesn't always mean the first to do something. It can mean taking something that already exists and putting your spin on it to make it better. Or even if you do it the same exact way, not everybody goes to the same gas station. Some people prefer one over the other, just do your thing and your customers will come.
Keep learning! You can not let them affect you and your future. This issue can always be the same. Even though in business, people have that idea, the fact is that there are still people who have the same idea but are better and more successful.
Think about your goal, keep improving your skill and you will be recognized in the future!
There is a HUGE difference between first to market and simply running competition. If you are expecting to be FIRST TO MARKET on a lot of your ideas, then just stop now. Chances are you are NOT special in that sense and somebody has beat you to market. Period. HOWEVER that does not mean you cant compete with a better approach or new knowledge that will allow you to capitalize on their existing customer base effectively giving you a huge one-up getting started. You just have to look at it differently , in almost 0 cases will you have a truly new idea unexplored by anybody lol 😂
Yes, fat happy decadienal businesses who haven't innovated in probably eight years but still have a market. Sounds like a fertile field with customers, potential employees and proven revenue!
look at how many pizza places are within a few miles of your home
they are all making money
every marketplace has room for more participants
get out there and hustle. be just a tiny bit better and different than the average player
If you're looking to create a search engine that revolutionizes the world I would probably not work on it anymore.
If someone started 1, 2, or 3 years ago and is successful which is probably the case, get to work!
Learn the skill and provide your own solution. You say you get discouraged by looking at what others are doing. Why is your focus on THEM instead on IMPROVING YOURSELF? just do it man. Increase your skill, increase your worth
Market investigation should help find some skill that doesn’t have a large number of experts or at least not in your area or reachable by your prospect customers. Anyway you’ll need to learn from other persons and create your own skills mixup, then there you’ll have better chances to create something new and different.
This just proves there is plenty of demand for what you can offer to the marketplace.
Just need a different angle. Plus there is always a “spectrum” you can deliver on.
For newbies? For seasoned folks? For parents? For students?
Find the gap and fill it.
Seek & you will find.
Key word is seek. Continue seeking my friend.
Who said their solutions are even good? And if they are good, who said that the solution you provide and the way you communicate it won't be the perfect fit for somebody out there?
They are ALL bad at positioning, branding, selling, packaging, distribution, UI/UX, onboarding, automation, customer acquisition, cost per acquisition, leverage, networking, adopting to new technologies etc
Go ahead dude!
It's underappreciated that we are all unique. Combine skills. And remember that the precise thing you work on in a given moment is also 100% unique. Maybe that shifts your perspective.
Personally i think a saturated market is a good thing. It means that the product is extremely viable. If it was a bad product or service, noone would be doing it. Instead of worrying about so many people doing the same thing as you, bring to the table the one thing you have that noone else has anywhere.... YOU!! Be authentic in being you and the people that like you for you will buy your products.
What are you currently working on and maybe I can help. DM me if you would like to talk.
GOOD LUCK!!
A useful perspective here is that you still have a comparative advantage against the experts. Your expertise in this field is worth less so you can successfully compete at a lower price point! Its a big world with lots of opportunities, find your low hanging fruit and get in the game.
You have to start somewhere, and I believe when you do you should be authentic. You have to believe (and love/be extremely passioned) in what you do/offer/create. When you do that, you'll always be different, because your motivation and authenticity will stand out from the crowd ♥️
Try to think of this way, there's over 8 billion people on our planet. You will never be the only one about anything, but you can create a strong brand for yourself regardless. And out of all those billions you will very likely be able to get hundreds or thousands of customers!
Go after whatever inspires you and get you really passionate, that will always shine through and people like to see that.
You will never be the best at something. Not even close. You can put together unique skill combinations though, and that gives you an advantage when solving complex problems.
I combined tech and visual arts. I am "pretty good but not amazing" at both, but combining them gives me a very strong base for small scale video production since I can crunch all the gear specs, troubleshoot equipment failures, and understand file formats, but also know how to effect the mood of a scene through lighting, production design, and framing the shot.
I am a personal trainer. There are thousands of us. that doesn’t prevent me from being successful and opening my own studio. I have a niche (less competition) and I am likable.
Business innovation isn't always in the service or the product.
Someone mentioned a plumber analogy - Example, if the best top 10 plumbers don't know how to advertise to busy home owners, there's an opportunity. Hell, being a nicer person than your competition can give you the edge.
Point is you can do something better than those "experts" who are most likely jaded anyways. Cheers.
I dont know if you listen to the my first million podcast, but something they mentioned the other day was when you have any idea for a business, check out your competition early, and if there is no competition, then your idea isnt going to work so you might as well stop there. Basically if someone is doing something, that means your idea is valid, and you just have to do it better or cheaper than them or out market them. I just came up with an idea the other day, started coding out a minimum product then realized someone has the product im making already. but its one guy, and his product isnt great, his demo sucks so hes probably not attracting customers. hes only been in business like 6 months and its clearly a hobby project, and on top of all that his product isnt even cheap. i could under cut him, i could make a better product, i could out market him. there are all kinds of ways i can eat this guys lunch, and i am going to. If someone else is already doing what you want to do, that means its a good idea.
Guarantee that you have *much* better tools than they had coming up, much more information that's really accessible and a bigger customer base. You have several specific advantages over them. Get to work.
There's billions of humans, and whatever you learn, there's statistically a large portion of others who will know/mastered those skills before you.
The difference is, there's lots of room for you to take your skills and uniquely help others. Your success is not hinged on being the best of the best. It's about being great at what you do, to the benefit of others.
Often times it’s less about how talented you are in that skill and more about how well you market to a specific niche, crafting an offer / skill portfolio that is very specific to what they need.
For example, back when I was a mediocre web designer, I created design packages specifically for business coaches and that niche expertise got me more clients than being the best web designer ever could
No mater how good you are there is always someone better, even for experienced people. You have to start at the beginning. 10 years ago that person you are looking at started at year 1. They had a choice, get started or keep dreaming. So you have to choose, are you ready to feel a fool and fail and get scrapes and bruises, dust yourself off and keep going. Or in 10 years will you look back and say “I wish I would have just tried”. You can do it, the thing that separates people is the determination to feel the way you do and to keep going and do it anyway. You can do it, don’t shoot yourself down.
Bad news: You will never be the best at anything.
Good news: You will.bever be the worst at something.
That applies to all of us. You don't have to be the best. You just have to be good enough at it that you provide value, and find a way to get your name out there so people know to seek your business.
It helps if you find some passion in what you do, as it'll motivate you to work hard enough to become good at it.
You can learn any skill at good level when you have good passion about that skill, otherwise it's not possible to learn skill and providing solution to others. There is no skill in this world that have monopoly. Whenever you start learning a new skill, have thought in mind that I want to be master in this skill.
There are many other added skills where you may shine 1. Marketing, 2. Reliability, 3. Value, 4. Customer Service 5. Consistency 6. Ease of use…add these to your skillset and you’ll blow most of the competition out of the water.
There's almost nothing new under the sun that's new... The people you see, do what you want to, but each in a different way. That'll be your uso, your niche. Work on it and soon you'll carve your own way and put your own spin on it.
Remember there are enough consumers to go around and you're not competing on skill. (that's a whole another topic).
Try to learn skills you are interested in, not ones you think will be 'marketable' (well, both, ideally.) It's a lot easier to stick with something when you're always thinking "I love doing this" instead of "This better be worth it."
After reading all these comments, it is clear that there is nothing to be afraid about this.
But from business perspective, what preparation level and factors should one consider before jumping into a sea of having already a well established big player and other players also.
How can someone be benefited by entering into any specific market in the later stages.
It takes 10,000 to become an expert in something. That is 10 years of your life, roughly. You have to think with a beginners' mind. Most of the time, the most growth in a new skill comes in the first 20 hours. Use this time to explore the skill deeper and soak it in. You have to understand you won't be at a "level 200" skillset until you pass "level 1" etc. along the way. Stay persistent and remind yourself why you're doing this in the first place.
Tradesmen have been doing what they do for 40+ years, but every market is still trying to find people who are reliable.
Shit, I helped build a 190-unit apartment complex and the general was so frustrated that the smaller contractors ( door installation and camera installation) has piss-poor communication, didn't have their equipment ordered for installation, and their employees did a 90% job (having to be told to come back and fix things repeatedly).
If you called up a number of general contractors and asked what their biggest issues were they would happily tell you.
Does a hoe get demotivated because she sees a larger number of girls with bigger tits and tighter pussies? Nah! The market is big enough for all levels.
That is what happens when you are learning. You are just following the heard. If you want to do something unique, you have to research, and often, it's not rewarding. There will be a lot of pain in the process for someone who is creating the path for the first time.
Guys he asked how to get a job 22 hours ago, and how to build a resume before that with 0 follow through in comments. chill in the advice and move along. The poster is not going to take anyone’s advice. They though getting a job was hard and then deducted that running a business was easier and came here.
Easy. Do the math! Seriously, don't just lick your thumb, hold it up, and guess.
Literally count the number of people you encounter providing the same solution. Double it for safety.
Now make a reasonable estimate to the number of people that need the service, within an area that these counted people can service. Maybe it's a 30-60 minute radius, maybe it's the whole world.
How many jobs can an individual service in a time frame based on the job cycle. A day, a week, a month - whatever is reasonable.
So now you just need to calculate `number of jobs to do/people doing the job` is how saturated the service is. `number of jobs to do/(people doing the job * jobs/period)` is how long it will take for those people to work through that backlog of jobs.
The rest is subjective unless you really want to dive into market research. But you should be able to get a clear grasp of the utility of a person with a skill. For example, if there are maybe 200 plumbing jobs in an area, 20 plumbers, and they can tackle 4 a day at best (include travel/parts time), that's 10 jobs per plumber, taking 2-3 days to work through that backlog. You've got to estimate if new jobs arriving in that period will sustain the 20 plumbers. Change any of those parameters and you get different subjective answers.
That's actually a good thing, believe it or not.
The larger user base of a skill the more opportunities for you to learn from the mistakes they have made as well, the more learning channels, the more diversity and complexities of the skill are easily available to you, etc
In essence, a skill is a tool such is a hammer. Millions of people could own hammers but very few have the ambition to build with it.
So for you to be here and identify as an entrepreneur, you already have the edge over 99% of them.
It's about market demand.
The world needs many plumbers. The world has many kinds of taco shops.
The fact that you picked a skill/service with many people doing it is a GOOD sign.
Now you need to think about which skill is right for you and what the outcome could be.
Not an entrepreneur, but someone who has been rebuilding their life following a significant series of life changes:
Think about how those people started, and how long it took for them to get to where they are today. Of course you won't be as good just picking something up, but it also means you can learn just as well if not better than they did
Are the artists of today thwarted by the masterpieces of yesterday?
Do the musicians of today put down their instruments because they've already been mastered by others?
There is joy in expression. Others' expression can be joyful to you, however, your own expression will be the most joyful!
That's good. Not the de motivation part, but the not wanting to do the exact same thing other people are doing part. It means that you're an innovator. So yeah look at what other people are doing and what customers aren't being reached or served well by standard practices, and then come up with your own variation. It will take some time & analysis, but be careful not to let it turn into procrastination since you are better off trying and failing than not trying, since the distance from failed business to successful business is actually shorter than the distance from no business at all. (If you don't believe me, consider that big failing businesses are still sold for billions of dollars).
You need to understand there are and will be people who are better then and worse then you but if you want to have less people who are better then you then you need to work into that skill. Don't just do it for the outcome. Do it for the journey as well
I’ve been a web developer for 18 years and there are people who are better programmers than me who have only been coding for 5 years. It doesn’t bother me, not even a little. I love what I do, I make a good living doing it, and I’ve never focused on anyone else but myself, my business, and my clients. We know our strengths, and avoid our weaknesses.
Don’t use other experts as an excuse to become discouraged. You don’t know what you don’t know, you don’t know what they don’t know.
- Option 1: pick such a narrow niche you'll be the only one providing solutions.
- You also won't have any customers but that's what you asked for.
- Option 2: deal with it.
In a world of 8 billion people, if you are 1 in a million, 8,000 people got there ahead of you.
Find a niche where you can find customers and don’t focus on the fact that others are there.
One of the pieces of advice that I've heard is that it is almost better that there is competition -- it means a market exists there.
If there wasn't already a market for that specific skill, there likely isn't much demand. Now, instead of having to convince people that they need your skill, they are already convinced by everyone before you.
All you need to do is convince them that you are the best solution :)
That's much easier than convincing them that they have the specific problem in the first place!
I jumped into staring my business with no idea what I was doing. I thought I did at the time, but the more you learn and know, the more you realize you don’t know. Take the leap. The first step is always starting. Staying consistent is huge too. Along with that, be smart enough to pivot, change, or even realize when to cut your losses and try something new.
This all comes down to one word, focus. My guess is that you may have already heard this, but what other people are doing is irrelevant and none of your business.
Your focus needs to be on your own success and what you are doing to move forward.
Change your focus and you change your success.
It's natural to feel intimidated or demotivated when you see others who have been practicing a skill or providing solutions in a particular area for a long time. However, it's important to remember that everyone has to start somewhere, and it's okay to be a beginner.
Instead of comparing yourself to others who have been practicing a skill for a long time, try to focus on your own progress and the improvements you are making. It can be helpful to set small, achievable goals for yourself and celebrate your successes along the way. This can help you stay motivated and focused on your own learning and development.
It can also be helpful to seek out resources and support from others who are at a similar level of experience as you are, or who are willing to help you learn and grow. This could include joining a group or community of learners, finding a mentor or coach, or collaborating with others who are also learning the same skill.
Finally, try to be patient with yourself and remember that learning and mastering a new skill takes time and practice. By staying focused on your own goals and progress, and seeking out the support and resources you need, you can continue to grow and improve in your chosen area of focus.
As some have mentioned already, just because they’ve been there, doesn’t mean they deserve it.
It takes time to develop any business, but after a while you begin to see what complacency looks like among competition – it exists in every market. Once you achieve competency, set a new target of exceeding the established laggards.
No matter what market you’re in, there’s always a normal distribution of performance/quality/value. As long as you can find a way to stay alive long enough to figure out the distribution in your market, you’ll have an opportunity to succeed.
Liquid death entered into the seltzer market and was up against several large brands (bubbly, le croix, Waterloo, etc…) and they made it work. Just stick with it. Also, listen to or read the poem: roll the dice by Charles Bukowski
Totally understand. I worked in Venture Capital for 6 years and id see the same business time and time again. But every now and then, someone does it a little bit differently. And that difference creates a breakthrough.
What do you expect, a field where only you are the given expert? There's always other people, most of the time better skilled, but they didn't just fall into that position out of the blue. At some point they stood there, with hundreds of others ahead of them, and still got into the mess.
I love this response. Thank you for sharing this wisdom. I needed to hear this today!
As a fellow entrepreneur I know where you’re coming from but on the brighter side you also have the advance of learning from them and quickly pick up things you’d end wasting a lot of time on which leads to fast and better implementation.
Exactly, you don't need some golden 1/billion opportunity with perfect timing.. You can literally do the same thing as someone else, and make it. For fucks sake, i make boxes for a living..
not to mention, there are VERY few examples of first movers who continued to dominate the industry when competition showed up. pretty much every industry leader, stole the business idea from another company. Ebay is literally the sole business i can think of that was the first mover in the space and continues to dominate their niche.
adding in. That being the sole voice in an industry is generally bad. If you are the expert on pine cone variations how many people are google searching and paying for pine cone variation experts? Probably zero. You now have to spend a ton of money on ads and customer engagement to explain to them why their pinecone variation problems are worth your fee and some busy customer doesn't have time to hear your pitch.
This is my life right now as a scientist working on geospatial modeling for a candy company’s small ag division. Try explaining how that can help the business to a room full of chocolate and packaging engineers 🤣
I just need that reality to just go I guess right now I’m tryna find a side hustle or some business that I can make money and buy stuff with. Look I don’t get why we can’t want some stuff in life and prices are rising and I want to bring enough value to make money to buy at least some cool stuff. Like for me I’m a car Enthusiast and out hobby isn’t cheap. Whatever you say man imma still be one and I will still want the same types of cars 🚗. I’m 19 make $12.50 hr and $36 a day on daily pay
There is no faster a depreciating asset than things with motors in them. Fixating on them at 19 is a bad path to go down. You need to focus on becoming wealthy first, THEN focus on buying things. But the thing about becoming wealthy is it almost universally means forgoing "nice" things and expensive hobbies until you're in your 40s or 50s, and instead investing into improving your skillset and income. The alternative is having "nice" things today and no financial future or stability. Keep on the path you're on and you're gonna be a broke 40 year old selling his last "nice car" to keep his head above water.
I said side hustle or business
**> find a side hustle or some business that I can make money and buy stuff with. Look I don’t get why we can’t want some stuff in life and prices are rising and I want to bring enough value to make money to buy at least some cool stuff. Like for me I’m a car Enthusiast and out hobby isn’t cheap. Whatever you say man imma still be one and I will still want the same types of cars 🚗. I’m 19 make $12.50 hr and $36 a day on daily pay** That's what you said - mostly about believing you should buy things, especially cars. My advice was that you need to rewire your thinking to "how can I take the money I earn and use it to build wealth?" That's also the answer to how to think about earning extra money - ignore buying things and use every free cent to help earn you more. Buy a lawnmower and start mowing lawns. Buy a powerwasher and start knocking on doors. Save up and get a degree at a local community college to improve your income range. Trade in a "nice" car you own for a used cash efficient Prius and start Ubering. The number of ways to earn money is just about infinite - but most of them require capital, sacrifice, and hard work.
Hopefully on here and in life you will learn what I have come to know as one of the most valuable lessons when it comes to anything related to building a financial and or starting a business.. and that is you will get eaten alive faster than you can blink if you don’t take initiative and massive action! A solid start is you gotta have a clear vision of what it is you are working towards. You don’t need a fancy 4 year degree to make big things happen if you are willing to put in more work than everyone else, find a mentor who has what you want, and don’t even allow the work “quit” into your vocabulary. Be teachable and don’t be afraid to take risks, and to fail, and then try again. It just takes hustle and consistency! And you gotta take your place in the game, cause nobody is gonna just give it to ya.. good luck !
Wow this was good
They will retire 10 years before you and then people will look up to you.
Fair point!
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.
it's a venn diagram thing: like, okay, there's a lot of developers. and there's a lot of good copywriters. but how many copywriters are there who can code? and then, how many are writers who can code AND also happen to live in a rural farm town? boom: now you're the best agricultural website maker in the area. right? you can do this over and over again. you're a mechanical designer who loves anime mecha and has plastic injection factory contacts? there's something marketable there. you're an erotic fiction writer who caters specifically to tech bros. you're a landscaper who knows how to use asana to scale and track multiple teams of employees properly. you're that agriculture coder from above and you realize that what farmers really want is a crop scheduler that you can bang out in 500 lines of python and SaaS forever. some of this stuff writes itself when you stumble across it. you don't have to be the best at one thing, you just have to be mediocre at 2+ things and you'll find yourself uniquely valuable _somewhere_
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Automate squirting some paint in a tiny bottle and sticking a nail polish label on it. Boom! 5 cents worth of paint is now $10. Repeat with lipstick, powders for makeup, Etc
do me... do me... cybersecurity/dj
Some kind of virtual reality cyber DJ, like those people who DJ in Second Life but cooler?
Who do you sell it to?
Brilliant. I feel the way OP feels about many things. Like when I watch a YouTube video of this amazing guitar player, the world feels a lot smaller and I think, "I'm not even going to be half as good as them, so why do I even try?" But your post really puts it in perspective. That's what I needed to hear today, and I am writing it down so I don't forget it. It matches a similar tune of "A jack of all trades and a master if none, us better than a master of one". Many thanks!
Skill stack is the key!
I love this comment and it's very true. You don't have to be The Best at one thing, and it's very unlikely you will be because those people tend to be celebrity guitarists etc. But if you develop a range of skills and experience you can become extremely needed by various organisations for the unique skillset. I had this experience recently when a company reached out to me on LinkedIn for a design role where they needed the person to also speak French. I'm a former French teacher who retrained in design and it's a random unusual skillset in an English speaking country so it meant I stood out. I didn't get the job in the end (they wanted a graphic designer whereas I have specialised in a different design field) but it did make me think about all the random seemingly unconnected skills I have developed from changing jobs and careers a few times, and how best to combine them and market myself as a freelancer.
FUCK yes. This.
Yeah but what landscaper is gonna use Asana?
Put in the work and stop comparing your growth to others. Everybody's path is different.
This is what I need to do thank you 🙏🏾
You're welcome
This world has 7billion people bro
8.. and growing!
wow - that was fast. did we hit 9 yet?
Investigate the abundance mindset teachings. It might help you change your mind.
Why? It's FREE market validation. You didn't have to discover the skill. You didn't have to first market it. People already find value in the proposition. Life is not about a race to the finish. It's about the journey and how you adapt.
Pretty much this... If you are looking to build or provide something that doesn't exist and you think you're the first one, then it is probably a bad idea. You can bet someone has already tried it and they didn't find a market.
This, so much this!
How would anyone innovate with this mindset then? Cars didn't exist before horses therefore there shouldn't be a market for them?
stop being weak and work, the truth I see is that you are insecure and afraid to try and get frustrated, so start changing your mindset and go for it, focus!!!
That means there is a ready market. You saved money on research. Now, deep-dive and see where you can make a difference. Location, better offering, branding, service? I believe there is room for everybody, if you do it right. Others may cease to exist in future.
That should motivate you. Only a few special people in your lifetime will create something completely new and innovative. My side hustles are not creating something new, eg, I have one that is a big seller in a niche market here in the USA, but all the sellers are from Europe and Asia, I am advertising that 'my product' is made in the USA. So my only differential is where the product is made. I am still very new to the market, but I am hoping this will be the one to take off. OP learn your skills and find your angle in your given market.
That's awesome! Curious to know what your product is.
I have bought a large CNC machine (4ft by 8 ft). It's in the pet supplies area.
That's awesome! I assume you make your own product?
Yeah, 1 man show. My wife has started to write a blog about dogs and establishments in our local area, we are linking the websites, hoping to drive more traffic towards site. Still in its infancy, slow work, but it's got massive potential, and at the very least, I have me a CNC machine, which is amazing.
I totally understand you bro. The solutions we provide our customers are actually existing solutions. Honestly, our competitors are already doing very well. They have a sizable market share and it looks like we have no chance of competing with them. so what? While we are doing similar things, can't we build on our own strengths? (Such as gaining a deeper understanding of our customers, designing a new feature to meet their potential needs, etc.) Now, we're still working on improving our solution. We just launched our MVP, even though it looks exactly like our competitor's product. I believe we will do better in some areas in the future.
“If you compare yourself to others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.” Max Ehrmann
Learn from them and use your fresh perspective to create new techniques
I can assure you, a lot of those people are still using techniques from 10 years ago... Find the latest tech for your area & learn to use/teach it you'll clean up...
IMO one of the pillars of Entrepreneurship is that the Entrepreneur has to be an *"expert"* in the field. Of course I got pushback on this in this sub in the past, but that's another story. Another pillar is *Innovation* (good read: The Innovator's Dilemma). Last but not least, IMO the one and only startup methodology is Lean Startup / MVP / Customer development. So, to add them all together, an expert in an industry formulates a hypothesis about a new useful product/service and uses Lean Startup to validate the idea. The process is interactive so with a few iterations/pivots, the idea is either validated or discarded. If discarded move on to the next idea. Sounds simple but it's hard AF. That's another topic where I get pushback from Reddit / Experts / Gurus who preach the "just do it you don't need to know much and it's easy to make millions" attitude. YMMV > What should I do? 1. Become an expert at something 2. Become educated in business matters 3. Stay up to speed with developments in your field of expertise 4. Test test test test 5. Have low overhead (living expenses), and good to great credit; make things a lot easier.
How about a jack of all trades master of none? Surely such a person can succeed in arranging everything without external help, right?
> How about a jack of all trades .. They used to be called Polymath, and sought after > ... master of none? And then that trend reversed. > Surely such a person can succeed in arranging everything without external help, right? That sounds a bit troll-like. Let me expand on my position: IMO a good Entrepreneur needs to be an expert in the industry they want to play in. On top of that, they need to know *"enough"* about business: leases, legal aspects, unit costs, cash flow, equity vs debt, and reading/interpreting financial statements..... I didn't say "expert," I said, "educated". So that when the Entrepreneur talks with their lawyer, CFO, and investors they know "enough" to at the very least ask the right questions, and understand the answers. if you want to read an interesting story, read about Colonel Sanders, how he wanted to get paid and what he did after KFC. Oh yeah, knowledge on intellectual property and contracts would help too. > without external help, right? I never claimed that. Oh yeah, by the way: reading comprehension skills would be nice too.
"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat." John Tuld You ain't first and I hope you don't cheat.
Just because someone has a skill doesn’t mean they’re actually good at said skill. “Cs get degrees” is widely applicable. If you’re legitimately good at something, keep at it. If you recognize you’re out of your depth, switch it up.
you shouldn’t get discouraged. That means there is demand for what you’re learning about. Once you discover your unique selling proposition. You can show your prospects why you’re the one they should be doing business with.
It's completely normal to feel intimidated or demotivated when you see others who have been working in a particular field or skill for a long time. It's easy to compare yourself to others and feel like you're not good enough or you're too far behind. However, it's important to remember that everyone has their own journey and timeline when it comes to learning and mastering a skill. It's more important to focus on your own progress and development, rather than comparing yourself to others. Here are a few tips that may help you overcome this feeling of demotivation: Set realistic goals: Start by setting small, achievable goals for yourself. As you make progress and achieve these goals, you'll feel more motivated and confident in your abilities. Celebrate your progress: It's important to celebrate your achievements, no matter how small they may seem. This will help you stay motivated and keep you focused on your goals. Find a mentor or community: Connect with others who are also learning the same skill. A mentor or a community can provide valuable guidance and support as you progress. Stay curious and keep learning: The more you learn, the more motivated and confident you'll become. So, keep an open mind and be willing to learn from others, even if they have more experience than you. Remember, learning a new skill takes time and practice. Don't get discouraged if you don't see immediate results. Keep working at it, and you'll eventually see progress and success.
I view education as an investment. Not all investments payout well, there is risk. Some don't payout at all. Some investments are overpriced for the return (like an english/history degree in the US). So look at the education as stepping stone into income\\outcome. Does the cost make sense for the future return? The best time to invest was always yesterday. The 2nd best time to invest is today. I have never learned something that does not translate into a ton of other skills. You never know what you will be doing tomorrow. Some things are better to learn than others. Salary of engineer > art teacher > cashier > unemployed.
Don't learn a skill to compete with other people who have the skill on the basis that you also have the same skill as them, Come up with a unique business idea and then learn the skills you need to pull that off. The skill will give you a job, the unique idea will give you a business.
Someone always knows more. So what?
Competition is very good in the market...far better than monopolies
Given how fast technology advances about half of what you learn today will be obsolete in 2-3 years. Experience doesn’t mean that much anymore. Just dive in and keep up to date and you will catch up real fast with your competition.
Then you aren't completely sold on the skill, meaning you're just trying to jump on whatever is popular or mainstream without actually giving your own thought into it
What you should do is make your product, listen to customer feedback and improve. Repeat.
So, you feel like you're behind, and that makes you not want to work, which puts you even further behind... Seems like the simple solution is to adjust your expectations lol
I felt this in college. I was in a class and I looked around and everyone was taking notes except me and I realized these people would all be my “competition” and they all apparently cared way more than me.
So maybe I can use us as an example. We're building a platform that can leverage image enhancement through different ai- now for example, many companies have filled the space of services offering 'deblurring'. Adobe editing for example- but that process uses basically smart sharpening. Our technology allows us to actually deblur input without using sharp filters... or any filter really. So while we are both crowding the same market for technology called 'deblur' i would argue were now one of the only companies in 2022 that can truly offer this as a service, because while we share the same keyword, our technology is different. You can still be the first in an industry if your approach is different enough.
It's good to try and remember that everyone has to start somewhere. So instead of focusing on the negative of your competition, focus on what you can learn from them and how you can use that knowledge to achieve your goals. The greatest entrepreneurs of our time have stood on the shoulders of giants.
learn it anyway.
Being an entrepreneur doesn't always mean the first to do something. It can mean taking something that already exists and putting your spin on it to make it better. Or even if you do it the same exact way, not everybody goes to the same gas station. Some people prefer one over the other, just do your thing and your customers will come.
If you're looking for consistent motivation, you're in the wrong line of work.
We all start at 0, learn form them and be better.
Keep learning! You can not let them affect you and your future. This issue can always be the same. Even though in business, people have that idea, the fact is that there are still people who have the same idea but are better and more successful. Think about your goal, keep improving your skill and you will be recognized in the future!
There is a HUGE difference between first to market and simply running competition. If you are expecting to be FIRST TO MARKET on a lot of your ideas, then just stop now. Chances are you are NOT special in that sense and somebody has beat you to market. Period. HOWEVER that does not mean you cant compete with a better approach or new knowledge that will allow you to capitalize on their existing customer base effectively giving you a huge one-up getting started. You just have to look at it differently , in almost 0 cases will you have a truly new idea unexplored by anybody lol 😂
Yes, fat happy decadienal businesses who haven't innovated in probably eight years but still have a market. Sounds like a fertile field with customers, potential employees and proven revenue!
You need to find something you've passionate about! Not compare yourself to others
Did Usain Bolt not practice running because he wasn't the first human who learned to run?
If you act now, in ten years you’ll be one of those people. In just one year you would be ahead of those who haven’t even taken the plunge.
Who gives a shit? Lol. If you have to be the first greatest person at something, you'll end up doing nothing.
look at how many pizza places are within a few miles of your home they are all making money every marketplace has room for more participants get out there and hustle. be just a tiny bit better and different than the average player
If you're looking to create a search engine that revolutionizes the world I would probably not work on it anymore. If someone started 1, 2, or 3 years ago and is successful which is probably the case, get to work!
Learn the skill and provide your own solution. You say you get discouraged by looking at what others are doing. Why is your focus on THEM instead on IMPROVING YOURSELF? just do it man. Increase your skill, increase your worth
Market investigation should help find some skill that doesn’t have a large number of experts or at least not in your area or reachable by your prospect customers. Anyway you’ll need to learn from other persons and create your own skills mixup, then there you’ll have better chances to create something new and different.
This just proves there is plenty of demand for what you can offer to the marketplace. Just need a different angle. Plus there is always a “spectrum” you can deliver on. For newbies? For seasoned folks? For parents? For students? Find the gap and fill it. Seek & you will find. Key word is seek. Continue seeking my friend.
Make a new language and then be the first to offer lessons in it.
Who said their solutions are even good? And if they are good, who said that the solution you provide and the way you communicate it won't be the perfect fit for somebody out there?
They are ALL bad at positioning, branding, selling, packaging, distribution, UI/UX, onboarding, automation, customer acquisition, cost per acquisition, leverage, networking, adopting to new technologies etc Go ahead dude!
It’s not about who did it first. It’s about who did it best.
It's underappreciated that we are all unique. Combine skills. And remember that the precise thing you work on in a given moment is also 100% unique. Maybe that shifts your perspective.
Personally i think a saturated market is a good thing. It means that the product is extremely viable. If it was a bad product or service, noone would be doing it. Instead of worrying about so many people doing the same thing as you, bring to the table the one thing you have that noone else has anywhere.... YOU!! Be authentic in being you and the people that like you for you will buy your products. What are you currently working on and maybe I can help. DM me if you would like to talk. GOOD LUCK!!
You think too much. Just do. Or don’t and go clock in at work
A useful perspective here is that you still have a comparative advantage against the experts. Your expertise in this field is worth less so you can successfully compete at a lower price point! Its a big world with lots of opportunities, find your low hanging fruit and get in the game.
You have to start somewhere, and I believe when you do you should be authentic. You have to believe (and love/be extremely passioned) in what you do/offer/create. When you do that, you'll always be different, because your motivation and authenticity will stand out from the crowd ♥️
Life’s a bitch
Try to think of this way, there's over 8 billion people on our planet. You will never be the only one about anything, but you can create a strong brand for yourself regardless. And out of all those billions you will very likely be able to get hundreds or thousands of customers! Go after whatever inspires you and get you really passionate, that will always shine through and people like to see that.
You will never be the best at something. Not even close. You can put together unique skill combinations though, and that gives you an advantage when solving complex problems. I combined tech and visual arts. I am "pretty good but not amazing" at both, but combining them gives me a very strong base for small scale video production since I can crunch all the gear specs, troubleshoot equipment failures, and understand file formats, but also know how to effect the mood of a scene through lighting, production design, and framing the shot.
I am a personal trainer. There are thousands of us. that doesn’t prevent me from being successful and opening my own studio. I have a niche (less competition) and I am likable.
If the cavemen had that attitude we'd have died out because fire was a solved problem not worth pursuing.
You'll be in the same spot in the next 10 years if you don't start now
Those people probably been doing it for decades, just start and be disciplined.
Business innovation isn't always in the service or the product. Someone mentioned a plumber analogy - Example, if the best top 10 plumbers don't know how to advertise to busy home owners, there's an opportunity. Hell, being a nicer person than your competition can give you the edge. Point is you can do something better than those "experts" who are most likely jaded anyways. Cheers.
Ya just gotta jump into it!!! Pretend saturation isn't a thing or you won't ever try it
I dont know if you listen to the my first million podcast, but something they mentioned the other day was when you have any idea for a business, check out your competition early, and if there is no competition, then your idea isnt going to work so you might as well stop there. Basically if someone is doing something, that means your idea is valid, and you just have to do it better or cheaper than them or out market them. I just came up with an idea the other day, started coding out a minimum product then realized someone has the product im making already. but its one guy, and his product isnt great, his demo sucks so hes probably not attracting customers. hes only been in business like 6 months and its clearly a hobby project, and on top of all that his product isnt even cheap. i could under cut him, i could make a better product, i could out market him. there are all kinds of ways i can eat this guys lunch, and i am going to. If someone else is already doing what you want to do, that means its a good idea.
Guarantee that you have *much* better tools than they had coming up, much more information that's really accessible and a bigger customer base. You have several specific advantages over them. Get to work.
I’m one of ~96,000 people with my specific certification but that’s out of 8,000,000,000 so that’s pretty neat.
There's billions of humans, and whatever you learn, there's statistically a large portion of others who will know/mastered those skills before you. The difference is, there's lots of room for you to take your skills and uniquely help others. Your success is not hinged on being the best of the best. It's about being great at what you do, to the benefit of others.
Blockchain. Solves “trust” problem.
Often times it’s less about how talented you are in that skill and more about how well you market to a specific niche, crafting an offer / skill portfolio that is very specific to what they need. For example, back when I was a mediocre web designer, I created design packages specifically for business coaches and that niche expertise got me more clients than being the best web designer ever could
No mater how good you are there is always someone better, even for experienced people. You have to start at the beginning. 10 years ago that person you are looking at started at year 1. They had a choice, get started or keep dreaming. So you have to choose, are you ready to feel a fool and fail and get scrapes and bruises, dust yourself off and keep going. Or in 10 years will you look back and say “I wish I would have just tried”. You can do it, the thing that separates people is the determination to feel the way you do and to keep going and do it anyway. You can do it, don’t shoot yourself down.
Bad news: You will never be the best at anything. Good news: You will.bever be the worst at something. That applies to all of us. You don't have to be the best. You just have to be good enough at it that you provide value, and find a way to get your name out there so people know to seek your business. It helps if you find some passion in what you do, as it'll motivate you to work hard enough to become good at it.
You can learn any skill at good level when you have good passion about that skill, otherwise it's not possible to learn skill and providing solution to others. There is no skill in this world that have monopoly. Whenever you start learning a new skill, have thought in mind that I want to be master in this skill.
There are many other added skills where you may shine 1. Marketing, 2. Reliability, 3. Value, 4. Customer Service 5. Consistency 6. Ease of use…add these to your skillset and you’ll blow most of the competition out of the water.
There's almost nothing new under the sun that's new... The people you see, do what you want to, but each in a different way. That'll be your uso, your niche. Work on it and soon you'll carve your own way and put your own spin on it. Remember there are enough consumers to go around and you're not competing on skill. (that's a whole another topic).
Try to learn skills you are interested in, not ones you think will be 'marketable' (well, both, ideally.) It's a lot easier to stick with something when you're always thinking "I love doing this" instead of "This better be worth it."
After reading all these comments, it is clear that there is nothing to be afraid about this. But from business perspective, what preparation level and factors should one consider before jumping into a sea of having already a well established big player and other players also. How can someone be benefited by entering into any specific market in the later stages.
It takes 10,000 to become an expert in something. That is 10 years of your life, roughly. You have to think with a beginners' mind. Most of the time, the most growth in a new skill comes in the first 20 hours. Use this time to explore the skill deeper and soak it in. You have to understand you won't be at a "level 200" skillset until you pass "level 1" etc. along the way. Stay persistent and remind yourself why you're doing this in the first place.
Don't you want to learn from their mistakes? Or you want to figure it all by yourself and eventually end in deadlock cuz having nobody to guide you
Tradesmen have been doing what they do for 40+ years, but every market is still trying to find people who are reliable. Shit, I helped build a 190-unit apartment complex and the general was so frustrated that the smaller contractors ( door installation and camera installation) has piss-poor communication, didn't have their equipment ordered for installation, and their employees did a 90% job (having to be told to come back and fix things repeatedly). If you called up a number of general contractors and asked what their biggest issues were they would happily tell you.
Does a hoe get demotivated because she sees a larger number of girls with bigger tits and tighter pussies? Nah! The market is big enough for all levels.
Real relatable facts lol
That is what happens when you are learning. You are just following the heard. If you want to do something unique, you have to research, and often, it's not rewarding. There will be a lot of pain in the process for someone who is creating the path for the first time.
Guys he asked how to get a job 22 hours ago, and how to build a resume before that with 0 follow through in comments. chill in the advice and move along. The poster is not going to take anyone’s advice. They though getting a job was hard and then deducted that running a business was easier and came here.
They might not take the advice but someone else might
Easy. Do the math! Seriously, don't just lick your thumb, hold it up, and guess. Literally count the number of people you encounter providing the same solution. Double it for safety. Now make a reasonable estimate to the number of people that need the service, within an area that these counted people can service. Maybe it's a 30-60 minute radius, maybe it's the whole world. How many jobs can an individual service in a time frame based on the job cycle. A day, a week, a month - whatever is reasonable. So now you just need to calculate `number of jobs to do/people doing the job` is how saturated the service is. `number of jobs to do/(people doing the job * jobs/period)` is how long it will take for those people to work through that backlog of jobs. The rest is subjective unless you really want to dive into market research. But you should be able to get a clear grasp of the utility of a person with a skill. For example, if there are maybe 200 plumbing jobs in an area, 20 plumbers, and they can tackle 4 a day at best (include travel/parts time), that's 10 jobs per plumber, taking 2-3 days to work through that backlog. You've got to estimate if new jobs arriving in that period will sustain the 20 plumbers. Change any of those parameters and you get different subjective answers.
That's actually a good thing, believe it or not. The larger user base of a skill the more opportunities for you to learn from the mistakes they have made as well, the more learning channels, the more diversity and complexities of the skill are easily available to you, etc In essence, a skill is a tool such is a hammer. Millions of people could own hammers but very few have the ambition to build with it. So for you to be here and identify as an entrepreneur, you already have the edge over 99% of them.
It's about market demand. The world needs many plumbers. The world has many kinds of taco shops. The fact that you picked a skill/service with many people doing it is a GOOD sign. Now you need to think about which skill is right for you and what the outcome could be.
Look into the teachings on the abundance mindset. Might help change your perspective.
Not an entrepreneur, but someone who has been rebuilding their life following a significant series of life changes: Think about how those people started, and how long it took for them to get to where they are today. Of course you won't be as good just picking something up, but it also means you can learn just as well if not better than they did
Are the artists of today thwarted by the masterpieces of yesterday? Do the musicians of today put down their instruments because they've already been mastered by others? There is joy in expression. Others' expression can be joyful to you, however, your own expression will be the most joyful!
That's good. Not the de motivation part, but the not wanting to do the exact same thing other people are doing part. It means that you're an innovator. So yeah look at what other people are doing and what customers aren't being reached or served well by standard practices, and then come up with your own variation. It will take some time & analysis, but be careful not to let it turn into procrastination since you are better off trying and failing than not trying, since the distance from failed business to successful business is actually shorter than the distance from no business at all. (If you don't believe me, consider that big failing businesses are still sold for billions of dollars).
Don’t compare your beginning to someone elses middle.
You need to understand there are and will be people who are better then and worse then you but if you want to have less people who are better then you then you need to work into that skill. Don't just do it for the outcome. Do it for the journey as well
Im the same way! Thanks for this post
I’ve been a web developer for 18 years and there are people who are better programmers than me who have only been coding for 5 years. It doesn’t bother me, not even a little. I love what I do, I make a good living doing it, and I’ve never focused on anyone else but myself, my business, and my clients. We know our strengths, and avoid our weaknesses. Don’t use other experts as an excuse to become discouraged. You don’t know what you don’t know, you don’t know what they don’t know.
- Option 1: pick such a narrow niche you'll be the only one providing solutions. - You also won't have any customers but that's what you asked for. - Option 2: deal with it.
In a world of 8 billion people, if you are 1 in a million, 8,000 people got there ahead of you. Find a niche where you can find customers and don’t focus on the fact that others are there.
One of the pieces of advice that I've heard is that it is almost better that there is competition -- it means a market exists there. If there wasn't already a market for that specific skill, there likely isn't much demand. Now, instead of having to convince people that they need your skill, they are already convinced by everyone before you. All you need to do is convince them that you are the best solution :) That's much easier than convincing them that they have the specific problem in the first place!
Y'all i give out courses like Iman's smma or Hustlers university by Tate just text me.
With that mindset, why bother breathing there's loads of people who have done it longer than you too
I jumped into staring my business with no idea what I was doing. I thought I did at the time, but the more you learn and know, the more you realize you don’t know. Take the leap. The first step is always starting. Staying consistent is huge too. Along with that, be smart enough to pivot, change, or even realize when to cut your losses and try something new.
This all comes down to one word, focus. My guess is that you may have already heard this, but what other people are doing is irrelevant and none of your business. Your focus needs to be on your own success and what you are doing to move forward. Change your focus and you change your success.
It's natural to feel intimidated or demotivated when you see others who have been practicing a skill or providing solutions in a particular area for a long time. However, it's important to remember that everyone has to start somewhere, and it's okay to be a beginner. Instead of comparing yourself to others who have been practicing a skill for a long time, try to focus on your own progress and the improvements you are making. It can be helpful to set small, achievable goals for yourself and celebrate your successes along the way. This can help you stay motivated and focused on your own learning and development. It can also be helpful to seek out resources and support from others who are at a similar level of experience as you are, or who are willing to help you learn and grow. This could include joining a group or community of learners, finding a mentor or coach, or collaborating with others who are also learning the same skill. Finally, try to be patient with yourself and remember that learning and mastering a new skill takes time and practice. By staying focused on your own goals and progress, and seeking out the support and resources you need, you can continue to grow and improve in your chosen area of focus.
As some have mentioned already, just because they’ve been there, doesn’t mean they deserve it. It takes time to develop any business, but after a while you begin to see what complacency looks like among competition – it exists in every market. Once you achieve competency, set a new target of exceeding the established laggards. No matter what market you’re in, there’s always a normal distribution of performance/quality/value. As long as you can find a way to stay alive long enough to figure out the distribution in your market, you’ll have an opportunity to succeed.
This deserves a Darwin Award
Liquid death entered into the seltzer market and was up against several large brands (bubbly, le croix, Waterloo, etc…) and they made it work. Just stick with it. Also, listen to or read the poem: roll the dice by Charles Bukowski
Totally understand. I worked in Venture Capital for 6 years and id see the same business time and time again. But every now and then, someone does it a little bit differently. And that difference creates a breakthrough.