Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Inventor/entrepreneur for over 30 years - still struggling!  Have created many very unique, innovative product and business ideas and can still produce more - track record of unique products sold all over world..  Great at: producing products and ideas (niche and ahead of rest of industry in some cases), running a small one man operation, finding inexpensive manufacturing methods.  Poor at marketing, computers/internet, expanding my business enterprise(s).  Either I get help or give up and lose 30+ years of BST.

Hi there, Sonofagun... :-D

I used to do a lot of low-level production work at Arthur Andersen. Much of it was desktop publishing and formatting their educational materials used by the Andersen college, located in the next town over. So I was always reading all these important whatevers people were writing.

I also had a chance to do the transcripts for a partner-level world meeting when the company was about to split into Andersen Worldwide and Andersen Consulting. I was privy to all sorts of high-end discussion by really important people in the world of business and finance. All because I was a "nobody." :-D

One of the major lessons I learned is that we can broadly categorize people in business two ways. One group is the "rainmakers," the people good at marketing, sales, talking, getting customers. The other group are the "engineers," the people behind the scenes who build things, make things, invent things, and are the hands-on folks.

It`s a wonderful thing when someone is skilled at both types of processes. But in most cases, we`re really good at one category, and so-so at the other.

The problems begin when we start to beat ourselves up for not being great at the other skill-set. In your case, you`re not that great at marketing and sales, but you`re thinking you should blow off your whole life experience. Why?

For each person like yourself, who`s great at bringing new products into existence, but who believes they`re "no good" at marketing, there`s a person on the other side. There are people who are terrific at marketing, selling, getting customers, finding capital, but they aren`t very good at coming up with a product.

The key is to partner up. Team up with someone who`s your peer but in the other category.

I remember being a teenage guy and assuming that girls were an entirely different species. They were incomprehensible, and I just assumed there wasn`t any possible way to ever connect with a girl in high school.

Then I talked with a woman who was friends with the family, helping my mom while she was back in school for a degree. I told her my problem, and she laughed a bit, then explained that almost ever girl in school was thinking exactly the same thing. They all just assumed that boys were utterly incomprehensible, and that there was no possible way to ever connect with them.

As you know, it`s just not true. But the analogy is there. "Rainmakers" know there are production "engineers" around all over the place. They often can`t figure out how to connect with them. So too, engineers are aware of the marketing and sales folks, but can`t figure out how to find them either.

That`s why places like SuN, and other business forums are helpful. Y`know? :-)

You read my mind - yes, have realized this for quite sometime - part of what I hope this site can do for me.

I`ve been advertising and selling on the internet myself for several years already.

Thanks.   Any advice here from anyone on what I can do on this site to improve my entrepreneurial situation is appreciated.

Still looking - have a store front now also...and MORE ideas - need HELP BADLY!!!!!!

Not just talk!

 

It's cheap!