#8 – The million skills needed

FIRST, a big THANK YOU for being part of the 1’000 cool people who signed up to read my rants, braindump, and other life struggle essays on LinkedIn on a weekly basis. Let’s hope you will enjoy this week’s one.

I always was fascinated by Swiss knives when I was a kid. One tool that can do it all…and it fits in your pocket.

I always wanted to get a more advanced version with more tools in it, thinking it would allow me to do more. I never really used all the tools in it but I was prepared to face anything.

Starting a brand or any other entrepreneurial endeavour feels somewhat the same, except that you will have to figure out how to do many things along the way as you may not have all the tools and skills ready and fully developed when you start.

This is what is exciting! Taking what you know and finding a way to tackle something that you have never done before. From retouching photos to raising money the skill set is wide.

I have been called a jack of all trades a few times in my career as I always tried to tackle a wide array of tasks. In some places, this is unfortunately seen as something that makes you limited in terms of expertise as you rather play with all things instead of mastering one.

I don’t agree there, especially if you show good results in all aspects and you take part in complex projects that require a strong holistic understanding.

I believe that one can excel on both ends of the spectrum. It is a matter of being curious, creative and constantly trying to solve problems while thinking outside the box.

In my case, it is also some of my hobbies that have become skills I use regularly for the business such as photography or front-end coding.

Of course, one cannot cover 100% of what is expected to run a business and this is where my co-founder steps in and helps me cover the areas where I am weaker and vice versa.

For certain things, we let the pros step in as well, such as Accounting, E-commerce top-grade photography or advanced digital advertising management but for the vast majority of things we do it ourselves.

I tried to list all the skills and even though I am sure to have forgotten a few it is quite scary to look at it and think that you need to be comfortable with all of them.

Personally, this is what gets me going - it makes each day different and as I learn new things, work faster, and better, and create more value along the way.

What are the skills you would like to develop in 2024?

For me, these days I am trying to learn digital marketing ads management in depth to understand better how to optimise our e-commerce performance.

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See you next week!

Where to meet me in March

???? If you are quick enough I will be in Gothenburg tonight for less than 24h!

???? Home! Past Tense AW24 season is closing, SS24 is online and we are already preparing SS25!

Also something quite cool is happening on another project - but for now ??