Simple, not easy

Increasingly my motto in business is 'simple, not easy'. If you are dedicating your time trying to solve enough problems using technology, you will see plenty of opportunities where you can build a business. Many of these are not complicated. The hard part comes from having the discipline it takes to do simple things over and over again.

To begin with, it is difficult to get the time that it takes to focus on solving real problems for others. This is because in typical day-to-day jobs, you are forced to focus on one narrow specialization. As a result, you lose sight of the actual problem the business you work for solves for customers. So, the first step that is simple but not easy, is breaking free and getting into a more flexible, freelance or entrepreneurial situation where your day's work is directly solving problems for customers.

This can take time and often involves either starting something on the side, where you need dedication to work on your business after a long day's work, or you need to have financial discipline to save enough money so you have sufficient runway to quit your job and strike out on your own full-time. Neither of these things are complicated, but to work at them every day takes a lot of work.

Once you are out on your own, you will see lots of problems that are worth solving. Here the hard part is focusing on just one of these problems and having the discipline to drive its solution to completion. Very often it is tempting to jump from one problem to the next. By doing this, you avoid the boring, hard work of execution while living in a permanent fantasy world imagining what life will be like when that next thing pays off.

Pick one thing and execute until it is properly done. This is the way I'm currently trying to build my business. It's not hard, but it is far from simple.