Startup Business Tip - Be Versatile

Many people think the life of a business owner involves sitting in an office looking at charts and graphs all day, while making decisions that someone else takes care of for them. In the startup world, nothing can be further than the truth.

Even though it is one of the most rewarding experiences, it does include doing many things that you simply do not want to do. Get ready to opening large amounts of mail, accepting phone calls from other businesses trying to sell you something, thinking about work 24/7, receiving an insane amounts of emails from businesses that you have no idea how they got your email, making phone calls to suppliers, problem solving how to fix your computer when it crashes, tracking leads, customer questions, thoroughly understanding services like paypal, diving deep into the accounting right and wrongs, visiting the post office more than you want, driving to officemax to pick up ink at 8:55pm, understanding interest rates and fine details regarding your credit cards, analyzing your balance sheet and income statements, and putting out fires day in and day out.

The point is you are going to have to do a lot. Not only that, you are going to have to be good at them. Of course, none of this is a bad thing. Personal development in all aspects of your life is always good – which is one of the allures of entrepreneurship. Having the ability to do many things allows you to be versatile, thus making you into a well-rounded individual.

When a person is a “jack of all trades” so to speak, there are very few situations that he/she cannot fix. They can put away the panic button and deal with the problems at hand. The “I can fix it” mentality will get you through the darkest of days and will begin to translate from your business life into your personal life.

One of my heroes, Richard Branson, is a true jack-of-all trades. He can solve problems in many different business that are in many different industries. To be that versatile takes a great deal of time and experience. He has the confidence to dive deep into the music industry, airline business, and cell phone trade and revamp them – an art that is a direct extension of his “I can fix it” mentality.

One of my other heroes, Bruce Springsteen, wrote a song called “Jack of All Trades” (seen below). It’s a song about this very subject and includes powerful lyrics that any business owner can relate to –

“Now sometimes tomorrow, comes soaked in treasure and blood We stood the drought, now we’ll stand the flood There’s a new world coming, I can see the light I’m a jack of all trades, we’ll be all right”

When all your skills, drive, and resources are used to create a business, you can be sure that some days will not go as planned. Few ever do. What matters is you are ready for it. Be versatile. Be a jack of all trades. And you will be all right.