I frequently have conversations with entrepreneurs, many of them are first time entrepreneurs, who are enthusiastic about an idea but don’t know where to start. Sometimes they just need a little bit of help and then they are on their way to making a successful launch. But then there are those times when the entrepreneur I am talking to just doesn’t fit their idea.

They don’t fit their idea for any number of reasons but one of the main reoccurring reasons is that they don’t have the necessary skills to make their idea into a business. It’s a tough situation because I can see the obvious passion they have for their idea but it just doesn’t make sense for them to pursue that idea the way they are thinking they should.

For any entrepreneur considering the launch of a new business a good exercise to do is to sit down and honestly assess your skills. After you have written down your skills go back to your idea, or concept, and determine how good of a fit you are for your idea. If there is a mismatch you can tweak your idea to make it a better fit or you can add people with the skills you are lacking onto your startup team.

Perusing through the Success Stories from the CSUF Entrepreneurship community you can quickly see that those entrepreneurs have successfully leveraged their skills to start their businesses. And I have to thank Damon Brown for bringing this topic up at his recent talk. This is a simple but important lesson that many people don’t consider before starting a business.

John Bradley Jackson
Director & Professor
CSUF Center for Entrepreneurship, CSUF Consulting, & CSUF Startup Incubator

Find Your Fit as an Entrepreneur