Entrepreneurship and The Art of Pivoting

 I am an entrepreneur.  I have worked for myself for 22 of the last 28 years, and have had to dodge and pivot often along the way.

Sometimes I try new ideas (like starting the Automation Academy site 4 years ago). Sometimes they work out OK, and sometimes they don’t. When I restarted my business 12 years ago, I made an agreement with my wife that I would never have employees again. I will contract or partner with other people and companies, but not hire.

I think partnering on ventures can be a great way to approach entrepreneurship. Each partner needs to be responsible for their own income and basic business when starting a venture, but if they have extra bandwidth can provide some element that adds value. As for what I can provide, I have a software/web platform, a training and fabrication facility, content creation talent, fabrication equipment, software and technical ability (especially in industrial automation), and lots of ideas. What I do not have: marketing and sales expertise, the ability to scale (because I don’t want to hire), and probably a host of other skills that others do much better than me.

I find myself pivoting once again, getting back into system integration in addition to training. I am also considering selling products, but this will definitely require help. If anyone is interested in discussing this further to brainstorm, hit me up!

As some of you know, I am no longer working two weeks a month at Automation NTH, which opened up some time for me to study Ignition and get certified, and hopefully produce some more videos. Other than a week in early December, I don’t have any classes booked, but will be doing more aggressive marketing and looking for integration jobs and classes next year. Fortunately I am in a good financial and mental position to make plans for the upcoming years. Things are changing, this may be a good time to take advantage of it with new ideas.