Wheelhouse entrepreneurship

Contest:

You win $1,000,000 if the batter of your choice hits a homerun on his next swing.  The two choices are…

1)  Albert Pujols in his next regular at-bat.

2)  Greg Halman in batting practice, and he knows the next pitch is going to be a belt high 75 mph fastball.

Of course, Pujols is the superior batter and homerun hitter….but I’d bet on Halman and so would you.

Because the next pitch is going to be in his wheelhouse and he knows it.

The same thing goes for entrepreneurship.

It’s the question that investors should DEMAND to be answered, and the questoin that entrepreneurs should be honest with themselves about: Is this idea in my personal wheelhouse?

Of course, this leads us to three basic principles of entrepreneurship:

Dominate your wheelhouse. You can be the best of the best of the best at that little niche that you roam.  It just takes deliberate practice, focused effort, continuous learning and unwavering commitment.

Expand your wheelhouse deliberately. Once you find that you are excellent at something, you’ll also find that becoming excellent at other similar things is much easier.  This is why a world-class piano player would probably become an expert on the xylophone about 15 times faster than me.   The key here is to expand slowly and with purpose by refusing the trap of only practicing the things you’re good at.

Stay within your wheelhouse.  The beauty of entrepreneurship (and this goes for poker, trading, etc as well) is that you get to choose which pitches you want to swing at.  It just takes discipline and patience, which is difficult.

Dominating a blue ocean is a smart, risk-limiting and reward-maximizing approach to entrepreneurship.  And don’t start with the “ya but my industry is boring” BS.  It’s not true.  No industry is boring.  There are boring companies and boring people….but THAT is the opportunity!  Because this is your wheelhouse, you KNOW what can change things….and that’s never boring.

Oh….and if you aren’t in your wheelhouse now, do yourself a favor and get there TODAY.  Life is too short to waste time in exchange for money.