I was having a conversation with a friend of mine recently at a local bar whose working on a cool new internet startup. Right now, his job primarily consists of managing others and doing the nitty gritty that comes with establishing a new business.

He was telling me about the progress he’s making on the software product, the process of raising money, and several trade shows that he’s going to be attending in the future. All of a sudden, he stops mid-conversation, examines the table that we’re sitting at, and says “This is really poorly designed. You know what they should do?”

Seconds later, he’s drawing on a napkin the design for a table that he’s been thinking about making and he’s talking about the various features and why it’s superior to the table we’re sitting at.

Forgetting the fundraising, management of developers, and legal paperwork he’s going through, he went on to describe in detail several other physical products that he’s wanted to make and the design specifications. I could just see his eyes light up as he started speaking enthusiastically about each one.

I couldn’t help but ask, “Wow. Why aren’t you working on one of these instead of this internet venture?”

He paused and thought for a second. “You know, I’m really not sure. Other people tell me I should bring this one physical product I made to market, but I just never have. There is also a ceiling for the amount you can make in a venture that is focused on a physical product.”

Now, I’m not arguing that my friend should pursue a physical product venture or that he’s not capable of launching a successful tech startup. However, I do think that he would likely have quicker success if he did, which could be built upon with other ventures.

I invite you to watch the video below, which I believe is the formula for building a successful business.

“Way too many people are going to spend the next 30 years of their lives trying to check the boxes of the things that they are not as good at and they are going to waste a lot of time and lose. You need to bet on your strengths and not give a f*** about what you suck at. Put yourself in a position to succeed at what you’re good at, and that is the straightest road to success.” – Gary Vaynerchuk.

So, can you build a successful business around someone else’s skill set? Of course! However, then your success is going to be dependent on their work ethic, the number of product/service iterations that you can finance or persuade them to go through, and your aptitude for judging the quality of their work and the needs of your customers.

If you want to build a big company, you are going to manage individuals with skill sets and emotional dispositions that are very different than yours. However, just starting out, I think that the fastest and surest way to build a full-time business that financially supports you is to embrace your own skills.

You will only truely figure out what you’re good at by doing (not by thinking or taking some kind of test). But, I think some of the questions below will help.

Answer these questions

• What do you spend your time thinking about? As a writer and marketer, I give a lot of thought to logic, strategy, having a clear-cut understanding of how the world works and how to articulate it, and how other people think. An engineer or designer would spend their time thinking about a particular product or building gadgets.
• What have other people told you you’re good at? This one is simple, but many people ignore the feedback that they get from others, whether it’s “Wow, I loved that story you wrote” or “That’s a really cool app. How long did it take you to make?”
• What is easy for you that is difficult for other people? It might be as basic as talking in public, making friends, doing math in your head, or learning a new language.
• What do you spend your time doing? Be very objective about this. As much as I like the idea of being a hardcore programmer, I naturally spend the majority of my time writing, speaking, and engaging with partners or customers (things I enjoy). I can program, but it’s not my natural use of time.
• What is hard for you and that you don’t want to get better at? Building a business is so hard already and requires so much sustained passion over a long duration that it makes no sense to be in a field that you’re not interested in or that you suck at.

I would divide your skills into soft skills and hard skills. Examples of soft skills might be giving an engaging talk, persuading someone to your point of view, or empathizing with coworkers and leading a team. Examples of hard skills might be coding, writing, performing biological tests, or designing a prototype on the computer.

After you have your list of hard and soft skills, I would rank them based on what you are best at. Be objective.

Choosing the product or service

To be in business, you need to sell a product or a service to a specific target market. This is the part that usually trips people up.

Considering that it’s going to be a significant time investment to build a business, I would start researching a marketplace that you are truly passionate about and interested in.

Ask yourself:

• What problems do businesses and individuals in that market experience?
• Why are you passionate about this marketplace?
• How do individuals with your skill set in this marketplace make money?

I would also look at the job openings in this marketplace, as it will give you some clue as to the types of skill sets that existing companies in the marketplace prize and ways that you can add value.

Speaking from previous experience, it’s going to be fastest and easiest to set up a service business and later expand that business with products that either you develop or that you can guide the development of because of your experience in the marketplace.

Figure out the type of animal you are.

Amazon is a very different company than Facebook, which is a very different company than Buzzfeed or Vox Media. An internet marketer is different from a sales trainer. A backend developer is different than a UX designer.

Elon Musk is very different than Steve Jobs, who is very different from Bill Gates in terms of skills.

The great thing about business is that it doesn’t matter what type of animal you are. The most important thing is to find out what type you are as quickly as you can, and then find out how individuals with your skill set and resources were able to be successful.

Some more great news: the sooner you are successful by leveraging your skill set, the faster you can hire others and leverage their skill set to build new companies or expand the operations of your own business.