How to keep Learning costs low as a Solo Entrepreneur

Move Fast Break Things: that's a well known Silicon Valley's motto.

The process of starting up a new company can have the following cycle:

express hypotheses on markets and customers;
test those hypotheses in the real world;
make this cycle as fast as possible.

Performing mistakes is not a big problem for startups, as long as it increases the most valuable asset: validated learning. But not all things an entrepreneur should understand are about startup's markets or customers. Sometimes problems they are facing were already solved by someone else out there in the world. Today, we have so much free knowledge on the Internet, learning a new skill seems similar to the famous scene in The Matrix: "Now I know Kung Fu!".

The objective of this blog is to explain my recipe to achieve Financial Independence and get rid of the obsolete full-time job scheme. Not everybody can do it now. For some people, that can take years of preparation. For others, technology is just not ready for it. But I will try to cover some points that I believe are key. I will present them with some practical suggestions on how-to-use low-cost tools.

The first mandatory asset for a successful part-time entrepreneur is knowledge. We shouldn't let our entrepreneurial tasks devour our days. Even Warren Buffett and Bill Gates take their time to study and understand how the world works.

Books:

I use a Kindle DX (9 inches) to read PDFs, it was an investment, but it repaid everything.

The Kindle DX model screen perfectly fits PDFs sizes and is the bigger among all Kindles Amazon manufactured. It is easy to read PDFs with it. In my opinion, its users were less prone to buy DRM covered e-books which were part of Amazon's business. Maybe, that could have been the cause of why Amazon manufactured all subsequent models with a smaller screen. Here's an example of how we can own automation to keep our living costs close to zero.

Pomodoro Technique:

I use 25 minutes Pomodoro sessions for study. I turn off all my devices. I do my sessions during my most clear-minded moments of the day and before starting any screen-related work. I love libraries.

Podcasts:

One of the best sources for becoming a solo-entrepreneur is Indiehackers podcasts. That's a valuable source of experiences and examples of successful professionals sharing experiences and knowledge. I listen to podcasts after going to bed and before falling asleep, so I will not stress my eyes using any screen-related artificial light.

Conclusions:

I named this blog part-time entrepreneur because I work half of my time on my actual product. I use the rest of my time for other activities like studying, thinking, writing, walking, doing sport and enjoying life. Those are all aimed at the final objective, don't waste our lives on the wrong paths: the ones that break things.

I will share in this blog all meaningful experiences and stories that I will face during my journey as a solo entrepreneur.

So, follow me on Twitter and stay tuned!

Books:

Pomodoro Technique:

Podcasts:

Conclusions:

Comments