What are you selling? This must be one of the first questions we answer. I often hear young professionals tell me they have started their own business. I respond with, “That’s great! What are you selling?” Depending on how they respond I will have a sense of whether they will be immediately successful. The tough part is not always entry. Most of us have studied the barriers to entry versus ease of entry into the marketplace.
Here you can think of your local hotdog vendor versus computer chip manufacturer. To be sure, these are two extreme examples. One has a low skill labor but does require a license and location to sell hotdogs. The other has a very high barrier to entry from capital cost to the knowledge, equipment, and ability to make computer chips.
Although most of us don’t like to think about sales we should always answer this question to ourselves first. After that we can refine our answers as we interact with others. What are you selling?
I occasionally like to remind my students and myself of Richard Feynman’s quote, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.”