AP 0287: What Is a Good Day Job for Online Business Skill Building?

AskPat 287 Episode Transcript

Pat: What's up, everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to Episode 287 of AskPat. Thank you so much for joining me today. Before we get to today's question from Nick, I do want to thank today's sponsor, which is SkilledUp.com.

SkilledUp is an online course discovery platform built to help shape the future of learning. You seriously have to check it out, because they've sourced the largest collection of online courses and put it all under one roof. It's really easy to search through, and they'll help you learn the skills that you need to succeed at, really, whatever you want to do. So check it out, and also, they're offering a really cool tool kit, you can download it right now if you go to SkilledUp.com. Now, let's get to today's question from Nick.

Nick: Hey Pat, my name is Nick. I live out in San Francisco, and first of all, thanks for everything you do. Your website is super duper helpful, so thank you so much, and thanks for taking my question. I am just beginning to build an online business, maybe a lifestyle business, maybe a coaching business, I'm not sure yet. But I can't yet afford to quit my day job, so I'm looking to pivot in my day job, and maybe get a job in a field that would help me learn about creating an online business. I'm thinking maybe digital marketing or something like that, so I wanted to ask you, if someone was going to get a job in a field that is hopefully related to doing the kinds of things that you do, if someone wanted to follow in your footsteps, what might a good day job be to get, so that they could have a learning opportunity, maybe an apprenticeship of some sort, to help them learn while they build an online business? So, that's my question, and thanks so much.

Pat: Hey Nick, what's up? Thank you so much for the question today, and I appreciate the kind words there at the beginning, and the support for AskPat and everything I do, I think it's really cool, and I want to do my best to help you. So, I will say that this is a really smart question, because you don't always have to go all in, and I know from me and my experience, with getting laid off in 2008, that was essentially an all in, which did help me in terms of doing things that I normally wouldn't have done if I still had a job, and I will say today that if I didn't get laid off, I wouldn't be where I'm at today. That's because I was happy with where I was at, and looking back, I guess maybe I was a little complacent, and so I wasn't really aware of all the possibilities that are out there, but obviously you are, and I know a lot of people out there who listen to this show are, whether they have a 9 to 5 job or not.

So, you're going to look for ways to get ready, and prime yourself, and train and educate yourself to be able to start your own online business, and I think that's really smart. I will say that getting a job that's related to online business is an interesting concept, and I say that because, I mean, really any business today that is successful is going to have some sort of online component, and if you want to get the best skills, and acquire the best skills to do the job that you want to do in internet marketing, or, excuse me, online business, you're going to have to figure out what interests you in online business, and more specifically, what target market interests you the most. This is how you're going to jump ahead, I mean, just light years ahead of where most people are going to be, who are going to try to serve an audience when they begin to build an online business from scratch.

If you are in that industry already, you're going to be far ahead of everybody else who is just getting in. So instead of getting into a position that's going to help teach you email marketing, and blogging, and maybe podcasting, and, you know, re-targeting and all these other fancy internet marketing things that you can do, what you want to do is you want to align with yourself in the space, in the market, in the niche, with the people who have these problems that you and this company that you're going to work with will provide solutions for. The better you get to know those people, the easier it is for you to come up with a solution, and you can figure out what the tactics are in any niche really, and most of the education from doing those things comes from exactly that, doing those things, but the most important thing is aligning yourself with a market that you're interested in, and then getting to know the ins and outs of that market.

How is this company that you potentially might work for, or how are other companies out there that you could potentially work for, providing solutions for that target market? Find one that interests you, a company, and then go in there and keep your eyes and ears open the whole time, and discover, okay, this is how it works, this is how we saw these solutions, and man, there isn't a solution like the one that's in my head. That's going to give you the best training. You're going to be able to discover where the holes are in that particular market, because, again, it's not about the tactics, it's not about the strategies, it's about the market you're serving and how you're able to do that. The marketing and the strategies, that all just happens around that particular point.

So again, I can't reiterate this enough, find a target market, or an industry you're passionate about, and then insert yourself there, and then you can get to know those people, get to know the people in your workspace and how they're thinking about this entire industry, and how you can come in and perhaps enhance it. I know a lot of people who have done this, who have partnered with the companies that they then hired with, knowing that they had a skill that this company didn't yet provide, but they liked the company, so they kind of worked together, and so that was pretty interesting. Now I also will say that even beyond finding a company that's existing out there, and serving that target market, and learning about the market, and then potentially starting something on your own on the side, and then transitioning into perhaps something full time, freelancing is probably the best thing you could do, because then you are doing all of those things at the same time.

You are targeting a specific niche, and using the skills that you have acquired or are learning to acquire, to serve those people who need people who have that skill, but at the same time you are learning business too. So, instead of being an employee and having just one job description, you have all the hats, and that's going to help give you the best education in terms of eventually creating your own online business. That's why, whenever somebody says to me, “Pat, how can I get involved with online business but make money fast, like, I need money now?”, and I say, “Well, it's really hard to find overnight success in online business, in the sense that it's really hard to build up an audience to a point where you could generate passive income. You can't do that overnight, and even in a year.”

Most of my most successful sites have reached that point after a year and a half. SmartPassiveIncome.com after almost two years, with GreenExamAcademy.com, my LEED exam prep website, about after a year and a half of pumping content on that site and building an audience. With FoodTruckr.com, just now we're starting to put products into that site a year and a half later that are monetizing it, and we've become an authority in that space, but it didn't happen overnight. But, you can, overnight, sell services to companies who really need the skills that you have to provide, and even if you just start with one, maybe you'll continue with your current job and you just freelance on the side, and serve people in that target market, and just figure it out along the way. You'll learn the skills that you need to serve that market in particular, but also just generate money online and eventually begin to either take yourself out of that by hiring other people under you to provide those same services, or, begin to automate things by creating digital products or software to do what it is that you did manually yourself to serve that audience as well.

So, Nick, I'm curious to hear what you think, and I'm curious to hear what everybody else out there thinks as well, so if you're on Twitter, use the hashtag #askpat287, and you can respond to Nick, we can continue this conversation. You can comment on my thoughts as well. Do you agree with me, that it's not really about getting involved with the strategies and finding the company that will allow you to do that, it's more about finding a niche that you are not just passionate about, but that you are interested in? You don't necessarily need passion, that's another big differentiator, and something that often holds people back from either making a decision to move forward, or they go into a passion project that isn't going to pay off. There needs to be an interest there, there needs to be a market there as well.

So, what do you think? Use #askpat287, and let me know your thoughts. I'm really interested to hear about it. And Nick, an AskPat t-shirt is going to be headed your way for having your question featured here on the show. For those of you listening, if you have a question you'd like potentially featured here on the show, all you have to do is head on over to AskPat.com and you can ask right there on that page. Again, that's AskPat.com. Thank you again for all of your questions, everybody, I mean, obviously this show wouldn't exist if there were no questions. I also want to thank today's sponsor, which is SkilledUp.com. Again, SkilledUp.com, a really cool site that makes it super easy to find education for anything that you're interested in learning.

And, as always, I want to end with a quote today, and that quote comes from Earl Nightingale, and he says, “We become what we think about most of the time, and that's the strangest secret.” Cheers, take care, and I'll see you in the next episode of AskPat.