What Are the 3 Skills You Should Master Before Going Independent?

Among people thinking of starting a business, many may choose a business that extends what they did as a salaried employee.

However, fundamentally, a salaried employee and an entrepreneur are different professions. The skills they use are similar yet different.

So this time, I'll introduce the skills you want to master as much as possible while you're still a salaried employee.

Of course, needless to say, after going independent you'll be required to brush up your skills regularly.

Mindset

First, the entrepreneur's mindset — isn't this the most important part? In short, it's the foundation for living as an entrepreneur.

Mindset is vague and doesn't show up as results right away, so it tends to be taken lightly, but just as the word foundation suggests, if you don't firm it up properly, your subsequent life as an entrepreneur won't go well.

For example:

And so on.

People are often described as vessels, and it's said that you won't succeed unless you make your vessel sturdy and attractive.

Mindset is, so to speak, "polishing yourself," and you can learn it from self-help books and programs.

The following books are recommended as an introduction.

Also, if you can find an excellent mentor, your mindset will likely improve greatly.

If you can find a mentor even before starting your business, I think your chances of success rise considerably.

Here are the "mottos" that have shaped my mindset the most.

Whatever path you choose, if you can't find a successful example to model, look at what the people around you are doing and simply do the opposite. Because the majority of people are always wrong.

Earl Nightingale

Not learning history is a waste of time. Because you have to reinvent, pointlessly, what has already been "invented."

Dan Kennedy

(In response to the question "How can you earn such a high income as a sales writer?")
I'm not in the sales writing business. I'm in the business of increasing my own value.

Gary Halbert

Sales and marketing

What you need to do right after starting a business is "generate sales as fast as you possibly can".

So the skill to acquire before anything else is sales and marketing.

When the money runs out and the cash flow stops, the business ends just like that.

A common mistake is to make a company logo, work hard on launching a corporate site, and eagerly do things that don't lead to money first.

Some people may not be very keen on sales and marketing, but consider this.

Roughly speaking, marketing is "building a system that keeps things selling."

Peter Drucker, the greatest management scholar, says, "The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous".

In today's Japan, which isn't on an upward trajectory, marketing can't be avoided.

Also, marketing for entrepreneurs is "direct response marketing (DRM)," characterized by measurable measures and building deep relationships with customers.

It's often different from the marketing large companies do, so be careful.

As introductory books on marketing, the following are recommended.

Technology

This could perhaps be treated as synonymous with innovation.

In this era when everyone has a smartphone, you can't avoid technology in general, including the internet.

The digital realm evolves quickly, so many people seem to shy away from it, but failing to catch up can be fatal.

If you start a business such as a community-based store or service business, flyers and paper direct mail are often effective. But that's no reason to avoid the internet and technology.

The internet and technology destroy common sense at a ferocious pace.
Even if you don't go as far as becoming an engineer or the CTO (chief technology officer) of an IT company, without knowledge of the internet and technology as business literacy, you'll find yourself at a disadvantage in many business situations.

In particular, direct response marketing, mentioned above, goes extremely well with the internet, so there's no reason not to use it.

For acquiring internet-related skills, I recommend online programs rather than books. With books, the information quickly becomes outdated and can't be updated.

Video-based Udemy and text-based note are good. Both offer lots of usable know-how more cheaply than books (from free to a few hundred or a few thousand yen).

Of course you'll need a discerning eye for information, but it's also good to make use of free specialist online media, personal blogs, and PDF reports (white papers) provided by production companies.