The Art of Business Without Owning a Business

You know I like to start these things off with a little about me...

If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s start a business and get it to market FAST. I get obsessively laser-focused on something, take some risks, and just do the sh*t. It’s great for proof of concept but makes it hard to have relationships, but that’s another topic...🫣😬

Last year alone, just to try and see what happened, I started three ventures:

Amazon Seller
Sneaker Reseller
eBay Seller

I'm not one to talk about how much money I earn, but I will say I made a full-time income from those combined efforts, well above the average median for where I live.

"Why aren't you doing one of those previous businesses now?" you ask... Because they all helped me realize what I DON'T want to do.

If you notice, from a high level, everything I talk about can be correlated with 3 things:

Entrepreneurship
Using the power of the mind to achieve
Software engineering

Today's topic is no exception; In fact, it's the culmination of all 3 of these things.

The Blueprint:

So, suppose you're risk-averse and don't have the time or energy to take on additional responsibilities after work and family stuff. In that case, I've got a way to help you test your metal as an entrepreneur within your current place of employment in 2 words.

INTERNAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

This is a concept I found in Guy Kawasaki's The Art of the Start. Heard of it?

It's a way to 'start a business' inside your current organization by creating solutions to challenges within the company and owning the implementation, testing, and eventual release of those ideas. You also can create a personal brand through this exercise, giving you a way to stand out from the rest of the pack.

The best thing about this concept is that you can see if you have what it takes to create a product from start to finish, brand it, market it, perhaps replace an outdated product from your company, and get the credit for being a visionary within your organization. This is just like running a business, but it has the added benefit of making you look incredible on your yearly review. 🥳

That sounds like a BIG Win to me.

I've done this before quite a few times, and some ideas fizzle, and some succeed. The point is, I tried. That's always the point, to try something new. I hope to lay out what I did successfully in those situations for you to get an idea of how to do it. So that at the points where I failed, you shall succeed.

Just remember me when you become CEO, ok? LOL

So, just like independent entrepreneurs, Intrapreneurs encounter the same challenges, just with a slight twist. For instance, you will still need to:

Innovate
Position
Pitch
Write business plans
Bootstrap
Recruit
Raise capital
Partner
Establish a brand

However, being that you're still technically employed, you avoid the stress of having to 'hunt for your next dollar' because you're still getting a paycheck and benefits. It’s like getting paid for learning how to start a business. 😎

Getting Started:

So, let's get into how to get started. I'm Hyped just thinking about it!

First things first, imagine an idea that solves a problem. This should be super easy because large corporations have built up years of issues and challenges. You can probably think of one right now as you're reading this.

This is the innovation. This is what will drive you to see it through.

Today, we'll use an idea I had recently as an example.

One issue that continuously reared its hideous, grotesque face was the lack of metrics for the build pipeline. You would think this sort of functionality would be built in, but alas, it’s not… I'm sure many organizations face this challenge.

We would have random failures constantly, whether due to the pipeline, server configurations, or code; it was happening, and my team was taking the heat for it.

One piece that is essential to any effort is analytics or metrics. How can you know how you're performing if you don't know where you're at, and how has your solution performed over time?

So my 'product' was to solve that problem. So, just like an external business, I took the steps to bring my product to market. I had to:

Innovate: Figure out ways to use the current systems in cooperation to produce something new from what already existed.
Position: Understand 'the market' and conduct research to identify the exact needs and ensure my 'product' would resolve the roadblock.
Know my target audience: I had to remember that the end product, though it was for me, wasn't for me. The clients or consumers were the teams, managers, directors, and VPs using the data and its presentation to make decisions and take action.
Pitch: Bring the idea to supporters and covertly pitch it to stakeholders. As my mentor at the time would say, "You have to present it with a pretty bow." Make the proposal a professional, well-presented one that speaks to the people needed to ensure its success.
Business Planning: I wrote a document in Confluence explaining the problem, the solution, who needs to implement it, how much time it would take, and how to measure its success.
Recruiting: I asked a couple of super bright people to review my plans when they had the chance and asked if they could help me with any questions. The last thing I wanted to do was to increase their workload; however, if they were willing to help, I'd be able to credit them on the solution and give them something to include in their performance reviews. Your Product Owner is your supreme ally.
Raise Capital: This should be one of the final steps because it's easy for the money people to kill your idea with all the reasons why you can't do it. If you can do it in your spare time without costing the company money, that's a plus.
Branding: This is simple because you can use your team or organization as the brand.

The ideas are already bursting from your brain aren’t they?! uh huh! I knew it!

Conclusion:

I don't want to keep you long, so I'll wrap this up...

As you can see, this is a complete "new product concept" within an existing organization.

It creates a new product, solves a BIG problem, and allows you to practice leadership, collaboration, and innovation. Not to mention, it uses existing resources, so no additional funding is needed to get it started. The cost of your time could be a factor. However, if you've got extra bandwidth, you can also do it in your spare time.

This gives you a sandbox to see if you'd be interested in entrepreneurship while getting paid. You help the organization and yourself immensely in tandem. It's a win/win!

You may also have talents in other areas besides your current role that you can utilize to implement the plan. Remember, you can use this set of efforts as topics to gain higher performance evaluations, the respect of your team and everyone else who uses your product, communication, and the spotlight you need when you're going for that promotion to Supreme Lord of Engineering.

This will be a learning experience and can only support your growth in whatever role you're currently in and in entrepreneurship.

After you complete the project, start looking for the next one; we both know there are plenty of challenges within organizations.

Quick Recap:

Find a painful problem in your current role, preferably one that would boost efficiency for many people. The more, the better
Craft a solution using systems your employer already has to create something new that solves the issue. Clearing the roadblock
Think about the stakeholders, allies, and support you’ll need.
WRITE. IT. DOWN.
Find a way to bring it to reality, help tons of people reduce stress or improve work-life quality, and become the champion for your product.
Release it and be prepared to support it. If your documentation is good, other people can also support it. Always have a maintenance plan!
Include your awesome product and its accomplishment in your yearly review. Include it in your goals ahead of time so you can use it for a promotion or a more significant raise!

Ok, hope this helps you get some ideas to put into action. It’s all about trying something new, stretching yourself and evolving! Good Luck!!!

I could go on and on about this, but the point of the newsletter is to keep it short, so we'll stop here for now. If you want to hear more about this topic, reach out to me on linked in or contact me through my website.

Until next time!

Ps…

Let’s Talk!

These are the topics I love to talk about. If you're not already subscribing to this newsletter... dude.. come on. * Schwarzenegger voice * DO IT NOW!!

If you want to start your own brand or business as a software engineer, or if you own a small business and want to talk about a project you have and I can help, CONTACT ME!!!

Later…