Just because you're good at something doesn't automatically mean you will be good at running a business where you do that thing for money.
Recommended Reading: The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber.
Principle: Having great technical skills does not mean you know how to run a business.
4 out of 5 small businesses never make it past the 5-year mark, which is quite a depressing statistic. Why is that?
Gerber says it’s because of the entrepreneurial myth. People think being great at a technical skill also makes you great at running a business. This is just wrong.
Being a great baker, painter or writer, does not make you good at running a business in that industry. These are two entirely different things. In fact, I just recently learned that being a good writer doesn’t even make me a good freelancer.
Once you start a business, you’re not just the person doing the technical work, all of a sudden you’re also the CEO, CFO, CTO, CMO, and a whole bunch of other things.
You have to get customers, track and manage finances, create advertising material, answer customer requests, set a strategy, and, and, and…
If all you know is how to make great coffee, then your first café is very likely to fail – after all you have no clue how to hire, outsource tasks, manage people and grow a business! - Source
“If your business depends on you, you don’t own a business—you have a job. And it’s the worst job in the world because you’re working for a lunatic!”
“the Entrepreneurial Model has less to do with what’s done in a business and more to do with how it’s done. The commodity isn’t what’s important—the way it’s delivered is... Thus, the Entrepreneurial Model does not start with a picture of the business to be created but of the customer for whom the business is to be created.”
“Once you recognize that the purpose of your life is not to serve your business, but that the primary purpose of your business is to serve your life, you can then go to work on your business, rather than in it, with a full understanding of why it is absolutely necessary for you to do so.”
― Michael E. Gerber