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Entrepreneur vs Employee

The Entrepreneur vs Employee Mindset: How We Must Think Different

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With the beginning of a New Year, comes new beginnings. One of my new beginnings that I’ll be starting is to write blog posts per month based on a particular theme. Not only will this help me curate material, but it will be a bit more organized for you guys.

I thought we’d start this month focusing on getting started and implementation of your new creation.

 

Using the Word Entrepreneur:

The first thing that we should focus on is that this: if you’re looking to create a lifestyle based on something you like to do and/or create, then you’re going to realize you are technically an entrepreneur.

The term entrepreneur simply means this:

a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk.

Many folks get hung up on that word business.

That word has several meanings.

When I use it, I think of definition 1:

an occupation, profession, or trade

Or more to the point – what we’re more concerned about here at New Inceptions – definition 3:

a person, partnership, or corporation engaged in commerce, manufacturing, or a service; profit-seeking enterprise or concern.

So just to set one thing finally straight. If you are creating something and building a lifestyle from the fruits of that creation, then you are an entrepreneur. It might not be a startup entrepreneur, or you might be doing it on your own (which makes you a solopreneur), but you are an entrepreneur. Personally, I’m a lifestyle entrepreneur and really, I always have wanted to be one.

 

Entrepreneurs Think Different

Do you remember the ad campaign of Apple’s back in the 90’s? It was called “Think Different”. Here’s one of their ads:

That campaign gave me shivers. It just made me smile everytime I saw it. It still does.

The majority of the folks in those commercials were entrepreneurs.

Sure, you had people like Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Einstein in it – and while we don’t think of them as typical entrepreneurs, they were. They were what we call thought leaders. Which is one of the 10 archetypes of online business.

But how do they actually Think Different?

 

Differences in an Entrepreneur and Employee Mindset:

Most people in the world are employees if they’re not an entrepreneur. They have to make a living somehow, right?

And the truth is that you can be an employee at all levels – anywhere from a janitor to a scientist or government worker.

The same thing can be said about being an entrepreneur – from your neighborhood mechanic to your local startup business owner, all the way to your Steve Jobs and Elon Musk types of the world.

That said, each of the two groups thinks differently.

Here’s how:

 

Full Responsibility vs Limited Responsibility:

As a business owner, the buck stops with you. If anything goes wrong, it’s ultimately something you have to deal with. For example, if you have employees and your company doesn’t make as much as you would have liked, then you’ll pay them first and you get whatever is left.

On the other hand, if you have success, you’re going to be happier with it as the business is your baby. If you get a big client or land on a big show as a guest, you’re going to be happier about it than your employees might.

 

Emotion Scale:

Entrepreneur vs Employee

Taking responsibility into account, your emotions are going to be a bit more up and down as the business owner.

Keeping with the previous example, if you have employees and you won’t be able to pay them, you might feel really bad if you have to let some of them go. The more employees you have to let go, the worse you’re going to feel.

That said, if you’re suddenly interviewed by a big show host or get a big time client, you’re going to feel the high side of that emotion as well.

As an employee, your emotions don’t vary as much because your life isn’t going to change over time as much – even if you’re suddenly looking at having to get a new job. You’ll have unemployment income as you transfer – so it’s just a matter of getting that new job.

On the other hand, the greatest joy someone might have as an employee is the day they learn they got a new job.

 

Constant Uncertainty vs Constant Stability

As an entrepreneur, you’re constantly struggling to make sure you have money to cover your overhead and make profits to potentially build your company and pay yourself.

There’s ways to mitigate that struggle, but in the great scheme of things – your control of it is as likely as you controlling the weather.

Sure, you can plan for the market to act a certain way, but if there’s a sudden change in technology that makes your company obsolete or someone ends up doing something better than you do, then you’re going to have to figure out how to change course quickly.

Otherwise you’re going to go the way of Circuit City, Blockbuster, and other companies that are no longer around

On the employee side, your contract with your employer basically states that your wage stays the same no matter what. Well, I take that back. You might actually get a bonus. Point being is that you have a safety net.

Many people who have chosen to be an employee have done so because of this stability factor alone.

 

Value Economy vs Time Economy

The reason why Circuit City, Blockbuster, and other big companies have had to shrink is because they’re not valued by the market as much as they once were.

As an entrepreneur, this is the world you live in. You’re thinking about how you can bring more and more value to your audience and/or customers. You do this through selling better products and/or services. The more value you give, the more income you get.

As an employee, you’re not selling services or products – you’re selling yourself. You’re trading your actual time for money.

You only have so much time you can trade away so if you want more money as employee, the more of a specialist you want to be so there’s a need for your skills. That’s why it makes sense for those who want to be employees to go to college – especially if they want to focus in something that is in a STEM field.

 

Take Action

So now that you have this new perspective, think about it a bit before you jump into one or the other.

For me, I know I hate the idea of selling my time. I’d rather be paid by the job or by my value. Even when I had a job, I’d have a better work ethic than those around me and I often found myself being given more work to do. Not cool.

Also, I personally think that signing my income over to someone else is more risky than seeking my own income.

As I’ve mentioned before, working for one company for the rest of your life is a thing of the past. This is why I say people need to realize that it’s better for yourself to at least treat your career as a consultant would. That way when you’re forced to go to the next job, you’re not surprised.

For more information on this topic, you can listen to my conversation with Dr. Joe Albano here.

John Powell

John Powell: Leave All Excuses at the Door: How to Embrace the Truth About Who We Are (AoL 068)

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This is the time of year when people are either making New Year’s resolutions or planning out their next year – especially if they’re a creative.

However, you might find yourself in a situation where you’re not entirely comfortable with where you are in life so making plans might be the last on your mind.

Well, the truth is that if you’re not making plans to succeed, you’re automatically going to fail.

So how can you get started if you’re not sure where your inner self wants to go?

In our chat with today’s guest, John Powell, we discuss this and much more, including his book My Journey, My Truth.

At first glance, it might seem that the book is all about him – but it’s much more than that. It’s actually about the reader.

You see, John has gone through many struggles in his life and now finds himself helping many people with many of the same struggles.

The book shares quite a bit of what he’s learned through the years through the hardships that he’s had to go through.

In this interview we also discuss the creation of the Expert Community as well as why he loves coaching so much.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • What’s the purpose of the Expert Community? 6:51
  • Where did the inspiration of his book, My Journey, My Truth came from? 9:29
  • Has transparency always been a strength for John? 13:33
  • What would people that have already overcome difficulties in their life be able to get from his book? 15:41
  • What was it like for John to write the book? 17:42
  • How he knew he was done with all the edits of the book. 21:36
  • What was the hardest part of the book to write about? 23:19
  • What made John get into coaching? 27:17
  • Who does John like to coach? 28:59
  • What would John say to those folks who are stuck after the age of 25 and want to build some momentum? 31:22
  • John’s thoughts of the broken schooling system. 34:40
  • Does he have a process of helping people get out depression since he’s been there a couple of times? 40:03
  • What is John looking forward to in 2017? 42:22
  • Three top favorite books or movies he tells others about. 45:13
  • One gift John likes giving others. 47:05
  • Something that he believed when he was 25 but doesn’t now. 47:56
  • Who’s the most awe inspiring person he’s ever met? 52:31
  • Who comes to mind when he thinks of the word success and why? 55:05
  • What are 4 steps to a better future? 56:30
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Vincent Van Gogh visits his work in the Gallery:

Les Brown on Learning to Trust Yourself and Pursue Your Dreams:

Lindsey Stirling interviewed by Larry King:

Tony Robbins on Building Lasting Change:

john powell

Thank You For Sharing Some Time With Us!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

achieve what matters

Getting Prepped for 2017: Achieve what Matters in the New Year

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It’s the last week of December. Are you ready for 2017?

For many, this is a week of reflection. New Years gives people a chance and a reason to start a new cycle – a new beginning. Due to this, it’s a tradition to have New Year’s resolutions or goals that they want to achieve in the next year.

However, at the same time, it seems like a tradition for people to not to stick with those goals or resolutions.

So it seems there’s something missing that successful folks do.

In this post, I’ll be sharing a couple of methods that work for many successful online entrepreneurs.

 

Yearly Achievement Method 1: Check last year and set New Goals

Ok, so this first method is one I’ve seen being promoted by Michael Hyatt this past month. He interviewed several successful folks and found out what their success making habits were as they were planning. Those folks included people like Chalene Johnson, Marie Forleo, Pat Flynn, Chris Ducker, Andrew Warner, and John Maxwell – just to name a few.


What he found out wasn’t anything new to me. In fact, there was only one different thing that he found that I’ll point out here in just a second.

But first, here’s the findings of his interviews…

When planning for a new year, the folks that Michael interviewed said that they had to do these things:

  1. Reflect
  2. Stay Positive
  3. Express Gratitude
  4. Eliminate the Excess
  5. Set Compelling Goals
  6. Break those Goals Down
  7. Schedule the Year
  8. Don’t Forget to Plan to Unplug

Now, as I said before, this isn’t brain science.

In fact, most of these steps I personally already employ.

But the one that really got to me was the plan to unplug step.

Because, I’ll tell you, I did not plan to unplug from NI at all this year and… I didn’t.

It’s not that I’m complaining. Any spare second I found, I was working on one thing or another.

But I didn’t have a light at the end of the tunnel like these folks build in. In his report, Michael shows that many big names actually go off the radar in late December (and here I am writing!) or the entire month altogether. And they’re able to do that because they actually PLAN to do it.

 

Yearly Achievement Method 2: BRINGIT

Now, if Method 1 seems like a lot of work and lots of things to remember or maybe you’re thinking that starting off with the reflecting part is a tad on the slow and tedious side, then I have an alternative for you.

Here’s the plan that I actually use.

Personally, I like to use a process that starts off with momentum building and ends with a plan to check periodically throughout the year to make sure you’re on the right path.

Here’s the acronym:

BRINGIT

Which means…

Brain dump
Reflect
Inspect for Good Opportunities
Nominate the best
Great Goals
Identify Steps
Touch base

A few notes to add about these are as follows:

Brain Dump:

When you’re brain dumping at the beginning, go as big as you want to go in your career. Starting with the end in mind has always been a good plan. Set a time for 10 to 15 minutes and just see what comes out. This can be anything from write a book, appear in media, to becoming a speaker – anything.

Main thing – DON’T EDIT. There will be time for that soon.

 

Reflecting:

When reflecting, sure you can take an entire week to do it like John Maxwell does, but really, you can do it in as much or little detail as you want.

Main thing here is to just make an evaluation of where you spent your time. What should take less and what could use more?

 

Inspecting and Nominating Good Opportunities:

Now that you have a list of things that you think might be great ideas to pursue or things that might not necessarily be useful, make a list of 25 things that sound like something you can definitely achieve in the new year if you put your mind to it.

 

Great Goals:

Now that you have 25 possible things you could do the next year, now would be a good time to come up with 10 great goals. And what I mean by a great goal are those opportunities that you can put a definite Why to. If you can’t put a Why to it, then forget it and move on to the next opportunity.

 

Identify Steps:

After you have your goals, make 3 to 6 steps to complete each. If you’re creating a course, for example, then your steps might include creating an outline, ask high level folks to make parts for your course, build a launch schedule, then begin.

 

Touch Base:

The last part here, is to touch base. And what that means is to one, make sure when you’re just about to start implementing – make sure that everything ties together. Think about how they do for a few minutes.

Then, when you have time in the future and you’re questioning whether your actions are moving you towards your goals, just touch base again. Ask yourself are your actions reflecting your goals?

 

Take Action:

Ok, guys. There are two methods you can take to plan out this next year. I know there’s plenty of other plans to get going in this next year that you could probably find as well. Find one that you like.

In this instance, you can pick one that’s kinda analytical based… gets it’s momentum from facts and figures. Or you can go with the plan I use which is more focused on creativity.

Whichever one you find, the trick is to have the determination AND discipline to stick with it. Commit to yourself first and then commit to your plan.

Also, don’t expect the world from yourself at first as this new year is getting going – especially if you’ve never been an entrepreneur or creative in your life before.

Just like any transition, there’s going to be a time to go from the ending of one stage to the beginning of another. This is called transition time. Give yourself some time to become your new self.

 

rebranding a business

Sharlotte Bouniol: Rebranding, Hustling to Provide Value, and Growing Like a Boss (AoL 067)

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When crap hits the proverbial fan, what are you going to do? Do you buckle down and get through whatever has come your way? Or, does something else distract you from what you were already doing?

What if you were starting a successful little business and then all of a sudden you got a cease and desist letter? On top of that, the social media accounts that you had been building suddenly disappeared?

This is exactly what happened to one of our guests last year.

Sharlotte had every reason to pack it in and say that being a freelancer wasn’t for her.

But she didn’t. She kept plugging on.

Find out in our interview with her how she was able to get through her rebranding, what’s up with her new mastermind group, and some of the decisions she’s had to make to become more successful since we last spoke.

And for those keeping score, this is Silver Edition number 2!

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • Why Sharlotte had to reboot her company 9:35
  • What kept her from giving up when she did reboot 13:55
  • What she’s changed for her marketing strategy as a result 15:16
  • Where the idea of her mastermind group come from and what does she offer with it? 16:25
  • What does it take to run a successful mastermind? 20:09
  • How has she been able to use her strengths to be a good facilitator? 23:31
  • What kind of travel has she been able to experience since she was last on the show? 26:41
  • How does traveling inspire her work? 27:46
  • How does she find time to enjoy the fruits of her work versus actually do it? 31:04
  • What’s her take on time management? 33:14
  • What kind of things has Sharlotte hired people to help her with? 35:04
  • What’s going on with her Branding Like a Boss Academy? 40:42
  • Top books that Sharlotte tells others about 44:02
  • One gift she likes giving others 44:35
  • What she would do if she woke up tomorrow and she was her 10 year old self 45:30
  • How can someone be a difference maker in their online or offline community? 46:18
  • What’s the secret to achieving personal freedom? 47:15
  • What are three or four steps to making a brand better today? 47:50
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Magic Makers Mastermind Group:

iOS 7 Review:

Elizabeth Demeusy’s Testimonial of Sharlotte’s work:

Cyril gets his Green Card:

rebranding a business

Thank You For Sharing Some Time With Us!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

Jesse Winton: Making Movies, Millennials, and Learning to Mind the Gap (AoL 066)

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People will come up with a million excuses not to do something. But it takes one good one – one why – to actually go and accomplish a big lofty goal.

Case in point – Jesse Winton, had never made a movie before. But yet, his first one, made it national.

Sure, he could have psyched himself out by saying that his goal was unattainable, but instead, he chose to kick those thoughts to the side and go after this goal.

In this session, learn from Jesse how he was able to get his idea off the ground, what his perception of Millennials are when it comes to how they’re viewed, and how he handles discomfort during the middle of a project – aka The Gap.

Enjoy!

SPECIFICALLY, YOU’LL FIND OUT MORE ABOUT:

  • How did his homeschooling background contribute to where he’s at now? 6:01
  • Were his parents supportive of his aspirations? 8:07
  • What kind of specific knowledge or training did he have to get his ‘Targeted’ off the ground? 11:16
  • Jesse’s perception of Millennials vs what others view them as. 15:34
  • How do we convert more Millennials to become creatives? 21:03
  • What sparked Jesse to create the film? 25:07
  • Why Jesse identifies with Libertarians. 28:27
  • Why did Jesse create Wintons Motion Pictures? 33:00
  • What goes into preparing for pitch meetings? 35:34
  • How Jesse went national with his documentary. 31:33
  • Was there any fear in reaching out to influencers? 42:29
  • How did Jesse and his dad find interviewees for the documentary? 46:26
  • How does he handle discomfort that comes up during the middle of a project? 51:57
  • What’s coming next for Jesse? 58:50
  • Who are three influencers that have helped him get to where he is today? 1:01:17
  • Top Favorite Books that he recommends 1:02:22
  • Smallest decision he’s made that has had the largest impact on his life 1:03:18
  • What is one thing that all high school students must know… even if it involves Dane Maxwell. 1:04:08
  • What’s it mean to live a life of abundance? 1:06:14
  • What can people do to live an inspired life? 1:07:15
  • … and MUCH more!

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

ITEMS and PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SHOW NOTE EXTRAS:

Targeted DVD Promo:

Interview with Glenn Beck:

Interview with Perry Atkinson via theDoveTV:

The Gap by Ira Glass:

Jesse’s mad skills on the Fiddle:

making movies

Thank You For Sharing Some Time With Us!

Thanks so much for joining us again this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the comment section below!

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the top of the post.

Also, please leave an honest review for The AoL Podcast on iTunes! Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and we read each and every one of them.

If you have any questions feel free to email them over via the email mentioned in the show or by our contact form.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and/or Google Play Music. It’s absolutely free to do so.

A huge thank-you to you guys for joining us!

Cheers!

Becoming an Expert

Becoming an Expert: Taking Freelancing to the Next Level

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In last week’s post, we discussed the answer to the age old question “What Should I Do with my Life?”

In the answer, I talked about how the best solution is to find out where you fit into the world. Meaning, you need to figure out where it is that you’re adding the most value.

In this week’s post, I’m going to add onto that by suggesting that everyone needs to start looking at themselves as at least a freelancer in our new economy and how you could capitalize on that.

I’m going to say it right now – in the future, jobs won’t be about working for a company. Instead, they’ll be geared towards working with that company.

In my chat with Dr. Joe Albano, we talked about how the employee mindset no longer works in today’s world. His reasoning was those people who can think outside of the box and act on their own are much more desirable than those who have to be told to do – and how to do – everything.

Automation is Happening Whether We Want It Or Not

According to Michio Kaku, there’s another reason why we need to get ourselves out of the traditional employee mentality that we’re all used to:

Automation.

Everywhere you look, you can see that what he’s saying is true. It’s been happening for several decades already in many of our industrial areas.

In fact, the most recent big news about automation happened just this past week when President-elect Trump nominated Andy Puzder as Secretary of Labor. If you don’t know Andy, let’s just say that he’s pretty favorable of automation in the fast-food industry.

But this shouldn’t be big news! Remember this scene from Back to the Future 2?

That movie came out in 1989. Talk about delayed!

Needless to say, I think it’s just a matter of time before automation in general changes everything up that we’re used to.

Automation is going to happen. It’s not a matter of if but when.

Adjusting to the New Economy: Freelancing

More automation means we’re going to see a lot more people out there looking to make an income in new ways.

The problem is, there’s only so many traditional jobs that those folks can have. And, as we heard from Michio, even those aren’t safe from automation.

So what do all those folks do that are out of work and looking for a paycheck?

Typically speaking, they become a freelancer.

They give themselves the freedom to work with multiple companies at once or one for a prolonged period of time as a contractor.

Whether or not they’re a consultant, an Uber driver, a Rover dog sitter, or a Airbnb host – freelancing is picking up. In fact, by 2020, 40% of American workers will be considered freelancers.

But Why Stop There?

Remember, Michio mentioned that those who are going to benefit the most from this new world are going to be those who engage in intellectual capitalism.

Again, these are people who use the following to do their job: creativity, imagination, leadership, analysis, telling a joke, writing a script or a book, or doing science.

Now, don’t get me wrong. You can be a freelancer and do work you love. But the one thing that many people don’t think about is that freelancers trade hours for dollars.

That’s not really leveraging the power of the internet.

The big companies I already mentioned (Uber, Rover, and Airbnb) do leverage it in a SaaS (Software as a Service) format.

There’s several ways of doing that, but one of the most common and easier methods is to simply bottle up your talent into little informational robots – or as they’re more commonly known –  books, audio programs, courses, and videos.

Having these products out there working for you will allow you build passive income streams so you won’t have to trade hours for dollars.

Don’t think you can call yourself an expert yet? Ha! An expert is only a person who knows more than their audience. You can be 10 steps ahead of them, or just 1. Either way, they can still learn from you. So that means that anyone can become one. It’s just a matter of putting your mind to it once you decide if it’s something you want to really pursue.

Are You Cut Out to Be an Expert?

The next question is this: are you made of the right material to be an expert? Is it something that you should be pursuing as part of your career? Cause you might have the knowledge, but if don’t have the correct mindset, then you’re not going to be too successful at it.

So to see if you have the right mindset, let’s see if this list from Brendon’s Burchard’s book, the Millionaire Messenger, vibes with you:

    1. You’re willing to do work based entirely on your passion and knowledge. You’re going to be the engine behind this train. Do you like helping people by being an educator?
    2. Your work activities center on “relating and creating.” This means that you focus creating products that are useful for your audience.
    3. You work anywhere and anytime, starting now. Armed with a laptop, phone, and a broadband connection to the web, you’re ready to work anytime, anywhere.
    4. You work with whom you want. It’s up to you to make your job as easy, fun, or complex as you want. This means that you can hire and fire any help you have as well as getting rid of annoying customers.
    5. Your promotions are based on your promotions. The great thing about this field is that if you make a product that is in demand, the hard part is going to be getting the word out there. Find out what people want and deliver, deliver, DELIVER!
    6. Your pay equals the value you deliver, not the hours you work. We already covered this one. But make yourself valuable and the products will work for you.
    7. You don’t need or want a big team. Eventually you’ll have to hire your own help to cover your own blind spots or to simply do the work that you shouldn’t be doing. However, as an expert, your team will be small. You’ll need help with media, marketing, and admin – and that’s about it.  This is not something where you need many bodies to do all kinds of work – so don’t get them involved until you need them. Also, starting out as a solopreneur might even prove to be beneficial so you can properly scale your business over time and create systems to help your future crew.
    8. You like using simple and inexpensive tools to achieve success. Each successful expert has basically had to go through the same path to become that expert. In the past, the jobs that needed to be done had to be done by the expert or by hiring out those jobs. In today’s world, many of those jobs can be done by simply, cheap, and often free online tools and software.
    9. You like the idea of making more income on your efforts than you could in any other industry. Instead of letting the robots work against you, you let them work for you. The more people you help, the higher value your work is perceived to have. The higher the value your work has – the more people will want it.

If you’re ok with all of these points, then you should look into becoming an expert at something that you could teach others about.

If you’re not ok with them, then you might want to consider doing something else. Maybe like building a software solution for a particular industry.

Action Steps:

So, you’re now aware that the expert industry exists. I’ve given you 9 criteria to help you determine if it’s something you might want to consider as a career.

If it does, then there’s a few things you can do next.

  1. Get Brendon’s book: The Millionaire Messenger. It goes deeper into what this world is like.
  2. Join us in The Expert Community and start networking with other like minded people.

If you feel like it’s not necessarily something that fits what you want to do, then there’s other options. There’s a total of 10 different online businesses you can pursue. Maybe something like The Foundation is in your future?

4 levels of learning

The 4 Levels of Learning – The Secret to Hacking New Skills

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McDonald’s just mentioned this past week that they’re going to be introducing automation to their restaurants in a big way this next year.

I shared it on Facebook and the overwhelming thought process is that the world is moving to a more and more automated society.What does this mean for people who work the jobs that are affected by automation?

Well, here in Indiana, it’s meant that many of those displaced workers have had to go to school and get taught a new set of skills for a changing economy.

In this post, I’m going to share with you the 4 Levels of Learning and how we all should navigate them to master our new skills.

Why This is Important

You might be thinking, “JC, I know if I know something or not. Why do I need labels?”. The truth is that you might not need labels.

But some of us – me included – want to decipher the world that’s going on around us. I like to categorize people by their personalities, their strengths, their age, and their education level because I know that each one of those things will tell me a little about where they’re coming from.

That’s just one example of breaking down a complex system into smaller ones. It helps me relieve stress in trying to figure out where people are coming from. With those labels, I kind of know what to expect.

Same thing is true when it comes to labeling where you are in your learning journey. It helps you realize where you are in your process so you know whether or not you have more things to learn or if you’re ready to help other people know what you know – if that’s your type of thing. 🙂

So, let’s get started:

Level 1: A grandson getting to see what biking is all about.

Level 1: Unconscious Incompetence

Do you remember the first time that you found out that something existed and you had to find out more about it? Probably not. When was the last time? Probably today, huh?

That state that you were in before you found out that thing existed was you being unconsciously incompetent. In other words, you didn’t know what you didn’t know.

In this state, you might have a sense of wonder, awe, and excitement – just like the grandson in the image to the right.

 

Level 2: Starting out on his first bike ride

Level 2: Conscious Incompetence

Ok, so you know this entire new world exists now of this new thing. Let’s say it’s riding a bike.

You might have seen all the big kids do it in your neighborhood. Heck, they might have been doing tricks on them.

As you start trying to start to ride a bike, you realize that you can’t even keep the damn thing up – let alone jump.

There’s just so much to learn and to do.

The thing with this phase is to know that you’re going to suck for awhile. You might even hate it and stress out a bit.

Learning to pedal and steer on training wheels all the way up to learning to keep balance. These were all things we had to learn to ride.

But in retrospect as someone who’s learned to ride now, you realize that you needed to “embrace the suck” in learning to ride a bike.

How many times did you fall off your bike when you were learning to just ride it?

I know I started laughing so hard everytime I fell off. I didn’t know what hurt more – my chest from laughing or my stomach from getting hit from the handlebars! 🙂

 

Level 3: A more seasoned vet saves himself from a spill.

Level 3: Conscious Competence

After enough practice, things to get a bit more fun. You’ll begin to realize that you know the basics of what you’re doing and you’re aware of what’s going on.

When I was learning to ride my bike, I didn’t really care about doing jumps. I just wanted to learn to ride FAST! Once I figured that out, I then wanted to get better at using my gears to get up hills better. Later, as I picked up riding again in college, it was going down small stairs and popping small hops to get on sidewalks.

In your situation, it might take you a shorter time than a year plus to figure out your new skill. It might take you more time. Again, it depends on how often you practice your skill (once a week vs 10 days straight) and how focused you are when you’re doing it.

 

Level 4: A young master working on his craft.

Level 4: Unconscious Competence

By the time you reach level 4, you’ve hit a certain level of mastery of the skill. You might not have everything down, but you’ve learned enough that new people are coming to you because you just seem to have the answers. Your skill is really just a part of who you are at this point.

In the biking example, I can think of the process it took me to learn how to ride, but that process was over many years as I needed to learn bits here and there. As I was learning them, I wasn’t thinking of the process it took me to get to that point.

All masters have this problem.

That’s why I say you should make it a usual practice to meet and engage with people who are just one or two steps ahead of you. They can teach you things better than if you were talking with a master. In fact, that’s exactly why, I’ve had to tune out Pat and other experts more recently. It’s not that I don’t think they know what they’re talking about. It’s simply that they’re so far up in their experience that they’ve gone into what I call “professor mode”. Thankfully Pat still explains things now in 2016 like he always has, but I’d really like to be talking to 2011 Pat as he was discovering things that I’m discovering myself today. Thankfully that Pat is still available in the archives (via the Wayback Machine.)

Bonus! Level 5: Shared Competence

You might have heard that the quickest and easiest way to learn something is to try and teach it to someone else. I heard this all the time as I was going through college and it wasn’t really until my first time as a lab TA that I found out what this really meant. I was used to teaching my friends who were closer to me in skill, but when it came to teaching freshman students, wow – there was definitely a difference!

If you are trying to become an expert in a field or someone who is trying to teach to others how to do something, you’re going to have to break down what you already know into steps your audience can follow. The higher your expertise, the trickier that’s going to become.

That’s why the best way to do it is to think of a transformation you want someone to go through and then make a 5 to 7 step process that they’ll make that transformation in.

That way, you’ll have it in small enough bites that the new person doesn’t get mind blown by all there is to know and you’ll be able to keep on eye on their progression easier.

How would you teach someone to ride a bike? What would those 5 steps be?

Action Steps:

So I hope that this process gives you a little more of an understanding of where you are in learning your new skill in whatever it is that you’re learning to do.

I think if you know that these are all part of doing something new, then you’ll probably have less stress about the small stuff… (unless you’re in engineering in college. Than it’s always going to suck until you graduate! Lol. jk!) Having less stress about learning something new will empower you to embrace who you are even more and just take things in stride a bit more.

Below I’d love to hear from you guys where you’re at in your journey of learning a new skill. Have you learned to embrace the suck? Do you find it hard to explain certain things to newbies? Let me know!