Written on April 30th, 2010 by Matthew Alberto

Work On Your Business, Not In It

Work ON your business. Not IN your business.

Now what does this tip mean?

Technical Skills vs Business Skills

As a social entrepreneur, especially for entrepreneurs trying to build their own start-up company or organization, many of them come from a technical background working as a technician of sorts.

Think of yourself even. Before you even thought of the entrepreneurial journey, where were you? What technical skills did you focus on? What technical skills were you an expert at?

Now my tip for you today is that even though you have these technical skills, it does not necessarily mean that those technical skills can immediately translate into a successful social business.

When you’re starting up, and as you grow your own social organization, don’t just work ‘in’ it, but work ‘on’ it.

Examine Your Social Business System

Don’t just be focused on providing the technical aspects, on providing the product, on providing the service. Also, look outside of the organization. Look above and beyond it and look down on how it actually is working – how the system of the social business is working (or not).

Look at your finances. Look at your accounting. Look at your growth potential. Look at your strategy. Look at your cash flow. Look at the types of advertising or marketing you have. Look at your human resources. Look at your organizational strategy.

You have to look at all these things as well as looking at the technical aspects.

My advice to you is that if you want to be leading your own organization – your own social business – then don’t just work in it because you will get drained. Your organization will get drained, too, as you’re trying to do everything. In fact, work on it.

Work on trying to improve the various different aspects that breathe life into your social business.