A non-courtesy and well meant “thanks for sharing”!

Your post really got my attention when you quoted Michael Gerber, saying “almost every technician begins their business by looking inwards to define their skill”.

I’ve been reading up on psychology the past few days, and concluded that I fit the INTP personality profile (Jung – MBTI type). Check http://www.personalitypage.com/INTP.html if you want to read up.
I quote the beginning:
“As an INTP, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you deal with things rationally and logically. Your secondary mode is external, where you take things in primarily via your intuition.”.

Many technicians fit in this category, they analyze every bit of their surrounding in search of The Truth. If you read up further, you’ll note in the strengths & weaknesses that most succesful INTP’s emphasize their Extraverted Sensing, in order to sense where their vast knowledge could really be applied.
Placing themselves in exciting new circumstances is just another trigger for learning and analysis.

I have a vague feeling you and Gerber are explaining here how to develop that Extraverted Sensing into a business trait. You’re detailing a focus from IT data & work surroundings, over a client-oriented focus (selling your knowledge), to a business-oriented focus – in which you’ll apply knowledge over long term, AND giving you the necessary time to reflect on matters and acquire new traits.

This, imho, shows from the fact that you plan to take a retreat. Only when you take distance from day-to-day topics, preferrably by physically and mentally removing yourself, you create the distance you want in the first place.

It is really extremely interesting to see you detail the process like this, it is an example for a young task-oriented coumpany dweller like myself. I feel the day I can let go of the current challenges come closer. I’m having illusions that I can really change something in my current job, but the problems are so deeply rooted that it would require about a year of hard CEO-convincing to pull off.

After analyzing some companies and somewhat subconciously realizing the errors in management there will lead to certain no-success (I purposefully did not choose ‘fail’), I like seeing you being so transparent that you allow other people to comment on your doubts and/or weaknesses. You remind me of my first boss, who I still see as a great mentor and one of a kind guy.

Well, sorry for the long post, I could actually start a blog and link to it in stead of taking up space here

You just touched me (that sounds somewhat dubious), and I wanted to fully show what you can bring up in the mind of a technician with your writings.

I hope I get the chance to follow in your footsteps, or find an equally capable technician/entrepreneur who I can team up with!

There is a ton of great material on this site and I am anxiously awaiting more posts to show up in my Google Reader.

Currently I’m going through your Entrepreneur Blogs I Read post. I see several on there I already read, and several I’ve never heard of.

Regardless, thank you for the great site and keep up the good (albeit hard) work.

Peter made a great point the other day. When working on your list, some of the things will be earth shaking, but most of them will be little things that make you smile or intrigue you. Things that would be cool.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this. The fact that you are pondering this and reading and consuming and learning means you are on the right track. I’ve been debating internally about what the differences are and how they apply to my life and others. Peter & I are in an interesting place right now. Our old business plan (do you have a business plan?) no longer presents the future we see for our business. It was a phenomenal little document and was really instrumental in helping us transition to where we are at now. That said, it won’t get us further and we have acknowledged that. What’s tough for me is that we don’t have the new one all worked out yet.

As the CEO / entrepreneur in the enterprise, that kind of excites me and freaks me out all at once. The part of me that yearns for a blank canvas to create is completely excited. The part of me that likes to make decisions and get things done is in complete paralysis. Simply put, if I don’t know where the business is going and what its goals are, how do I make decisions? We have hundred of things pulling for our attention minute after minute, day after day. If I don’t know where we are going, how do I decide what is important and what is a distraction from that goal. And if I can’t prioritize, then everything begins to look important, urgent even. And that is a tough place to be. I often see this as a core issue for the technician. Since they do not have a concrete end point beyond “get this project done”, or “make this client happy”, or something generic like “make more money”, they are unable to make any kind of long term decision. Their business is at the whim of their clients. And if your current clients rule the future of your business, then you are not the owner, you just have a job, working for them.

So – task #1 – create a business plan. I have a post coming in 3 days on how to not work for free which should also help out with critical tools in the business planning stage.

I had a pretty good day yesterday as I developed a nice design (that I like too which is pretty rare) for one of the clients I am working with. I got a lot of good feedback from a lot of people which really brought my spirits up.

It has helped to become more relaxed and be comfortable with my skill set after I have refined them over the years. I too and just starting out with freelancing even though I have been developing Web sites for around 5 years. But I’ve found that as more and more people start liking my work they start requesting my services and I am not trying to sell them as much.

This has somewhat made me feel more like an entrepreneur. Am I on the right path?

What I find fascinating though, with the recent changes in technology is the sudden accessibility to be self employed to the masses. This was a tough article for me to write because I was trying to hit 2 points.

#1 – it used to take serious money and courage to become self employed (let alone an B business). With the advent of broadband technology – you can now live a pretty amazing lifestyle being a 1 man show from home. That is new in my lifetime.

#2 – Explain the difference between technician (what do I have that I can sell) – notice all the I words and an entrepreneur (what do clients need that would improve their lives). This is mostly a state of mind, though it leads significantly different behavior patterns. It is the core difference between an S & a B business owner, but I do not believe that either will get far without some focus on self and some focus on customer.

Jeremy – I have an answer for you but want to think about it first.

You might want to take a look at a book called “Cashflow Quadrant” by Robert Kiyosaki. In he describes four types of income “E”, “S”, “B”, and “I”.

* “E”mployee income – think W2, salary, 9 to 5 type income. Taxed like crazy.

* “S”elf Employed income – think 1099, potential for large amounts of income (and large taxes).

* “B”usiness owner income – keyword is “owner” not “CEO”. This is owning stock in a business, not managing it. Passive income.

* “I”nvestor income – income made because money was invested. Dividends from stocks, real estate revenue, licensing. Passive income.

Most people make income from only one quadrant, typically the E or S. But the only way an E or S can make more money is to work harder. You have heard of the phrase “There are only so many hours in the day”. The B and I on the other hand make money by working smarter. Smarter decisions, smarter investments, more education.

One of the main ideas I got from Kiyosaki is that you need to turn your E and S income into B and I income. From your post, it sounds as though you are making S income and are trying to build the business structure to turn it into a B. Your mentor Tom appears to have a B type business, which gives him the freedom and flexibility to travel without working.

Good luck, you are starting on a long journey and I wish you the best of luck.

I don’t quite understand how you actually transition as I don’t think I quite understand the entrepreneur’s role in a self-employed state. My clients will buy my services/products (pretty much me) unless I hire employees or subcontract design out while I work the simple programming.