The Entrepreneur's Formula: Money, Time, or Skill — Pick Two | No Nonsense November (17/26)

Entrepreneurship requires two of three: time, money, or skill. Discover how to leverage your strengths and build your formula for success.

Mostly Media

20 Nov 2024 — 17 min read

Imagine you are standing at the edge of vast, uncharted territory. You’ve got the vision, the drive — but what’s in your backpack? Entrepreneurship isn’t just about ideas; It’s about the resources needed to turn that idea into reality. Time, money, and skill: these aren’t just buzzwords — they’re the currency of the entrepreneurial world. Here’s the catch: you don’t need all three, but without at least two, the journey becomes a whole lot harder. So, which ones do you have? More importantly, are you ready to leverage them to build something substantial?

No Nonsense November is a challenge that’s been all about cutting through the noise and diving into the truths that matter. It’s a commitment to producing raw, impactful insights daily — no fluff or filler. The goal? To explore topics that challenge, inspire, and provoke thought while staying grounded in authenticity. Each article has been a piece of a larger puzzle, building a narrative about growth, resilience, and navigating life’s complexities with intention. If you want to read the full article that explains everything about it you can check it out here:

Introduction:

Entrepreneurship is often portrayed as a dream reserved for the naturally gifted — those who can micromanage, adapt, and persist despite uncertainties. While there’s some truth to this, entrepreneurship is also a skill you can learn. While that is to some degree true, being an Entrepreneur is merely a skill one has to know to find success.

It’s not just being passionate about a project, being naturally creative, or even just having a good idea; sure, those can be beneficial in a lot of ways, but they are just starting points. At its core, it comes down to three key core aspects: time, money, and skill. To start, you don’t need all three, but for the easiest start, it’s safe to assume that having at least two of those will make getting started far less difficult. Each of them of them plays a unique role, each balances out the others and compensates for the ones missing.

This article isn’t intended to be a detailed playbook; that will likely come at a later time so keep an eye out for that, but rather think of this article as the recipe list need to get started, by understanding these three pillars it will help you focus your energy, prioritize what’s missing, and help you develop a strategy that is suitable for your current circumstances.

1. Money: Fuel for Speed

Starting with money, straight off the bat, we can assume that money is a strong catalyst for any entrepreneurial endeavor; it seems like it would serve as the ultimate constraint and or shortcut to developing an idea, depending on who you ask. While it’s not a guarantee of success that having enough of it will make or break your progress, it's hard to deny that it's the fuel that powers the speed of progress. With money, you can outsource the skills you lack instead of having to learn everything yourself. It also allows you to invest in technology and resources to save time, streamline processes, and experiment with tools that might otherwise be inaccessible.

Why Money Matters:

Money is what provides you options and flexibility with the right amount you can:

Outsource tasks to focus on core strengths, delegating your attention to what you can do to move the needle.
Invest in the right tools, systems, software, and applications that can streamline internal operations.
Test and refine your ideas without the fear of things falling apart or coming at the cost of having to delve further into your personal funds.

For these reasons, it is a strong starting point; if you have ample means, a fund of sorts, that can serve as starting capital to kickstart your vision, it's safe to say you are far better off as opposed to having none at all. When cash flow is tight it can make all the difference between persistence and folding under the pressure of having to generate income by other means to fuel the project you have set out to do.

The Caveat:

While money is indeed a solid asset to have to ensure consistent speed, it can’t buy the things required to hone in on what else is necessary to grow your product. Throwing cash at problems without a clear plan can often lead to waste. Many well-funded startups suffer from this concept as they rely solely on financial resources to address the gaps in vision, execution, or adaptability. It’s not just about having the money; it's about knowing where and when to spend it while ensuring proper allocation.

How to Leverage Money (If You Have It):

Invest in Expertise: depending on how well versed you are it can be extremely beneficial to invest in people that are more proficient at certain skill or task that’s crucial to the full scope of the operation. Not only but if it can be a time save allowing you to maintain you energy for the more important things it can save you the hassle of having to deal with a far less efficient speed then the experts might be able to do.
Focus on ROI (Return on Investment): Treat every dollar out as an investment towards the business, but make sure you are keeping track as, ultimately, the goal is to be as diligent as possible to reduce burning through funds. It’s essential that you make sure whatever is going out is seen as something that you will replenish later down the line; in the early stages, it’s important to ask yourself, “Will this help me grow faster or more efficiently?” if the answer is now considering saving it and prioritizing spending money on that which will indeed ensure that it is serving a better role.
Creating a Cushion or Safety net: At the very least, if there is nothing else you can put your money toward to accelerate things now, then consider saving it and using it as a backup that will keep your current progress afloat when you either have yet to generate any income or to maintain the current infrastructure. Most often, you neglect the longevity of funds; if your operational costs are low, a more significant fund can make all the difference when it comes down to the urgency of having to generate additional funds to keep things running.

If you Lack Money:

Not having enough money doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t start; it just means that you’ll need to direct your focus on what you have and develop those other pillars (time and skill) to compensate for limited funds.

Bootstrap with creativity: By focusing on the problems on your own rather than delegating them to outsourcing. Ideally, you would take the time to find free tools, software, and resources and take advantage of free trials or online education.
Trader Skills for Resources: It’s not uncommon to reach out to a smaller company or creators whose service you require and propose trading services for what you need.
Reinvest Early Revenue: Anything you make early off consider putting in back into the business rather than spending it elsewhere, additionally if you have residual income and have covered all of your main expenses its good practice to re-invest it into you business give it as much resources as possible to eventually become self-sufficent.

In reality, the main tradeoff for money can be a combination of both skill and time; you can take the time to learn things that you would’ve otherwise outsourced and, in doing so, also refine the skill. Or if you possess the skills to begin with you can take the slow route and save yourself money for the other things that might arise in the future.

Closing Thoughts on Money:

Money doesn’t make an entrepreneur, but it can amplify what is already there. In a lot of cases, it serves as the boost to get things rolling. Whether or not you have the money isn’t what is going to make or break your process; instead, it will simply adjust your approach; it’ll fall on you to determine if it’s utilized as a tool for growth or a crutch that reveals deeper flaws in your operation. Ultimately, it’s not just about the amount you have or how much you start with, but it’s about how you leverage it to create momentum.

2. Time: The Hustler’s Resource

Time is the universal resource that every entrepreneur should have at their disposal. Unlike money or skill, time is finite — you can’t create more of it or buy it. How you use it will ultimately determine the trajectory of your journey. Without the money, you can leverage time as your greatest asset, but it requires discipline, vision, focus, and prioritization.

That said, it is the one thing that doesn’t discriminate. Every entrepreneur gets the same amount of 24 hours in a day, and how you choose to spend what hours you have defines your success. When money is tight, and you are still in the process of developing the skills, time becomes one that will drive progress for those willing to put in the effort and time and bridge the gaps that money and experience cannot.

Why Time Matters:

Time gives you the space to:

Experiment and iterate without the pressure of expecting an immediate return.
It allows you to develop expertise in areas where you may lack, by allowing you to dedicate hours in research what you are lacking, and spend it learning and practicing.
You can build networks and relationships with others who are more well-versed in skills you lack through consistency and persistence in outreach.

In the earlier stages, it can often replace money. Instead of outsourcing others, you can instead take the time to do the work yourself. Instead of paying cash for shortcuts, you can take the slow and steady approach, figuring out what you need as you go. It’s not the most glamorous of methods, but it's essential and is the basis of resilience and creativity to start to manifest. Adopting this mindset will leave you far better off not only at the beginning but later down the line, as they are crucial for any aspiring entrepreneur.

Time, similarly to money, can be wasted if spent on low-value activities or distractions. Without deliberate intention, even the most well-meaning entrepreneurs can find themselves spending too much time and energy on things that don’t move the needle. Unlike money, lost time can’t be earned back, making every moment spent a more critical asset for progress. Mismanaging time can often lead to burnout or slower growth, as small inefficiencies can build up over time, resulting in a higher chance of missed opportunities.

The Caveat:

While we may have a lot of time it’s not something that we can replenish like we can with funds. Wasting time on tasks that have little to no importance, procrastination or unfocused efforts can derail progress for even the most determined entrepreneurs. That’s why it’s important to acknowledge you can’t earn back lost time, and why leveraging it wisely is crucial.

How to Leverage Time (If You Have It):

Focus on High-Value Activities: make sure you are putting most of your energy into the things that require the most and directly contribute towards your goals. This can be anything from building out the product, learning the essential skills you are lacking, or networking with those that might prove helpful in realizing your goals.
Setting a schedule: Once you have successfully figured out how much time you can dedicate towards this new endeavor, it is crucial that you consistently cut out enough time to work on things, it's vital that you set a schedule on a recurring basis, allowing you to constantly come back to the project for the best results. Haphazardly working on it will cause the pacing of development to suffer drastically, so it’s important that you also learn to prioritize your time, and that might come at the cost of having to sacrifice other activities you would’ve typically indulged in if you really want to see significant progress.
Compound Your Efforts: It’s not only about spending the time but doing so strategically, using the time now to layout infrastructure for later down the road is super important if you want to avoid having to make them time for the more cumbersome aspects of the project when you have far less time later. Working on the harder, more time-consuming things early off can set you up for far greater progress than leaving it for the future, where your time can be required elsewhere.

Understand that time can be supplemented with financial investments. By automating your more repetitive tasks or hiring some extra hands to streamline your process can free up several hours that will allow you to focus on your core strengths. The key is to ensure you are balancing short-term sacrifices with longer-term payoffs: dedicating time now to streamline your future operations will give you far more freedom to scale when it matters most.

If You Lack Time:

Entrepreneurs lack time due to having other obligations, like a full-time job, family, or other commitments. They might start to feel the toll of spreading themselves too thinly; that’s why it’s important to make sure you are focusing on efficiency by:

Automating repetitive tasks: Such as scheduling posts for social media, streamlining content creation and working on tasks un bulk when you are presented with more time.
Outsourcing when possible: If it saves you far more time and takes up little funds its better to have someone more versed to do it for you rather than you wasting time doing it sub-optimally and it taking up more of your time.
Eliminating distractions: ensuring you set up a not only a proper environment in which you can be the most productive but also limiting the amount of external interferences to manifest.

The main tradeoff of time in a lot of cases is money, if you want to make more time you need to make more money. Time can be supplemented by money, but like we said money can be replenished time can’t. At its core time is the brains of the operation and if that's being the most expended resource at all costs it will limit your ability to work on leading the direction of the project.

Closing Thoughts on Time:

As we discussed time is the hustler’s greatest ally, but that also means it demands the most respect. The most successful entrepreneurs aren’t those who inherently have more hours than others but rather extract the most value from what hours they do have. Whether you have a lot of time or you’re spread thin. Navigating how you spend it will ultimately determine the momentum you generate. When time is deliberately spent, it transforms something that is finite into the foundation of your entrepreneurial success.

3. Skill: The Foundation of Value

Skill is the entrepreneurial currency that creates value and establishes credibility. Whether it's technical expertise, creative talent, proficiency, and efficiency, or strategic acumen. Skills are the backbone of your ability to capitalise on ideas and your innate ability to solve problems. Both money and time are often external factors, skill on the other hand is internal — it’s what transforms opportunities into tangible achievements and in a lot of cases ends up being the product that you are providing.

In the entrepreneurial world, skill is what the value the creator provides. It’s what makes the difference in an oversaturated industry, gives your ideas any degree of substance or worth, and turns visions into actionable results. Skill is a double-edged sword. While it can serve as the backbone of any successful endeavor, over-relying on skill alone and putting all of your attention on one area of expertise can hinder your adaptability and stunt your growth. In many ways, focusing solely on technical aspects could result in you struggling with the operational side of things or vice versa. Establishing a well-rounded skillset is as crucial to as refining your existing abilities, making sure that you can overcome obstacles from multiple angles.

Unlike time or money, skill isn’t something you can fully borrow or outsource. It’s part of your unique value proposition (UVP), defining your contribution to the industry. For entrepreneurs, optimizing or learning the right skills can be the thing that makes or breaks their journey.

Why Skill Matters:

It’s not only your competitive edge — but it is what enables you to:

Execute ideas effectively without having to rely heavily on others' ability to bring your ideas to fruition.
Solve complex problems with creativity and efficiently
Establish credibility by standing out by differing from the many others that offer the same service or product.

Without the skill, having time or money is like having a flashy car with no engine. It might show promise or have potential, but it won’t get anywhere without that, which makes things move. Having the skill either to get it going on your own or the mastery to guide the direction of the course of action, you won’t get anywhere.

The Caveat:

Skill is both the strength and what gives your entire concept validity, but it is also your bottleneck. Over-relying on a narrow skill can limit your adaptability in a significant way. While neglecting the development of your most essential skills can make you over-reliant on others, it can also stunt your progress. Your skills need to grow at the same pace that you goals continue to expand, putting all your focus in one skill might render you stagnent without the ability to move forward.

How to Leverage Skill (If You Have It):

Specialize first, Diversify Later: Take the time at the beginning to hone in on your existing skill once they are at a level that you deem to be proficient enough to maintain progress with far greater ease, then you can worry about expanding your skillset by broadening the scope of your expertise to adapt to new difficulties you may encounter. At the end of the day, keep in mind that honing in on skills development requires both dedication and consistency. If you are spreading yourself too thin across multiple sectors, you risk diluting your efficiency. Similarly, over-emphasizing one skill can make your venture vulnerable to unpredictable circumstances that may occur. The goal is to identify the skills that have the most impact early on and work on developing them from there, making sure that you grow as your journey evolves.
Teach to Build Authority: Share your skills not only as social proof of your proficiency but also to establish credibility. By sharing with others via social media how well-versed you are, you are allowing them to validate how well you get the job done and acknowledge the complexities that come with the mastery required to get the job done right, giving them a better sense of why they could benefit from your expertise.
Invest in Mastery: Even when you deviate from your focus to develop other skills, make sure you always come back and take the time to refine your existing skills. The deeper and more prolific you are at what you do, the harder it will be for others to replicate what you do so well. You start to solidify yourself as the go-to for getting the job right.

If You Lack Skill:

When your existing skills aren’t at the level where they can singlehandedly drive your entrepreneurial goals, consider focusing your attention on:

Learning over Earning: Rather than dedicating your energy on profit, consider taking on projects or delving into other skills that allow you to refine them without worrying solely on making profit but challenging your and getting in the additional practice. Many people strongly advocate for even providing free services, not only does it allow you to widen your portfolio but also give you more attempts to develop your skills.
Leveraging Online Resources and Mentors: Utilize that are more proficient at that which you wish to accomplish and learn form their actions, it not only helps you grow via learning but might also help you discover flaws in their process that they are slacking on, something you can learn to a higher degree and capitalize on. Your mentors are your teachers but also you competition so learn form where they excel and where they fall short.
Start Small, Scale Up: Build a basic competence first and as time progresses take up the level of difficulty as you get better with time. It’s all about setting smaller achivieable goals and increasing the bar as you develop.

If time and money are on your side consider outsourcing or partner with skilled individuals take make more time to work on your skills. Collaborating with others can not only make all the difference by filling in existing immediate gaps, but it can also provide opportunities to learn so you can grow alongside those that you surround yourself with. However, keep in mind to not become overly dependent: the goal is to develop a self-sufficient foundation whilst simultaneously leveraging external assistance.

Closing Thoughts on Skill:

Skill is the engine that powers your entrepreneurial vehicle. Whether or not you’re starting with a full tank of expertise or just a few drops of talent, the journey and the path ahead hinges on your ability to constantly upgrade through learning, adapting, and applying the upgrades to what you already know. Skills aren’t just problem solvers — they’re also the keys that unlock the doors to new opportunities, opening up a world of possibilities. By committing to lifelong growth and leveraging what you enjoy doing and excel at, you can establish a strong foundation that supports every other element of your entrepreneurial journey, ensuring stability and success as you move forward.

Defining The Combinations

1. Money + Time: Hiring the Missing Skills

With financial resources and enough time to dedicate we can bring in skilled professionals to fill in gaps in our knowledge or process. This can be in the form of hiring experts, freelancers or consultants or staff to oversee the strategy and execution.

Strengths: This combination allows for high-quality output without having to constantly deal with the turbulence of having to develop each and every skill personally

Weaknesses: Time management and dedication to proper finance management are required to ensure the appropriate allocation of funds to avoid overspending.

2. Money + Skill: Scaling with Support

Having the expertise and practice alongside the financial resources allows you to spend your energy on developing your product or service whilst outsourcing the more repetitive or time-consuming tasks. In other words, invest in tools, software, equipment, or add members to your team to not deplete your energy.

Strengths: It allows for much more rapid growth by taking advantage of the funds to keep progress steady.

Weaknesses: You have to be diligent about which tools are constantly serving their purpose so as not to burn through the funds or oversee the team and manage them carefully so as not to burn through the budget.

3. Time + Skill: Bootstrapping with Grit

If you have limited funds, time and experience are essentially your most valuable assets. You can rely on your effort, dedication, and ingenuity to maintain momentum. This can be done by learning new skills, spending more hours working, or adopting DIY solutions to save money while still building a solid foundation.

Strengths: Offers the highest degree of control over progress while focus on building resilience and creating a deeper understanding all of the different aspects of your business.

Weaknesses: Progress can feel quite slow at times and there is a higher chance you will encounter burnout due to the heavier demands of juggling multiple different task having to rely heavily on personal effort.

These combinations, while crucial, still don’t guarantee success. Instead, they serve as a framework to visualize the structural integrity of your soon-to-be venture. Think of it like a small table: for any chance of stability, you need at least to have opposing legs hold it up before placing anything on top. With just one leg, you might manage to balance it temporarily, but the chance of it toppling over is high. That’s not a failure — it’s simply physics. The goal is to identify and strengthen those legs, ensuring a sturdy foundation for the weight of your vision.

Concluding Thoughts:

Understanding which combination you possess allows you to approach entrepreneurship, giving you a sense of what you are lacking and or what you already have. The idea isn’t to lament what is missing but to lean into your existing strengths and create a diligent plan to fill in the gaps effectively. By keeping this formula in mind, you can transform your potential limitations into actionable steps that outline what needs to be done to move you closer to your vision with far more intention and purpose.

If you find yourself with only 1 out of the 3 three things needed, it's not impossible to get started, but you can imagine how it will be far more difficult as you will have to make up the difference of the other two missing aspects. Depending on which of the three you have, consider holding off slightly until you find yourself in a position where it will be easier for you to unlock one of the other two.

If you have time, focus on refining your skills. If you have money, invest in ways to create more time. If you have the skill, consider leveraging it to generate income or free up your schedule.

Entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With a clear understanding of what you’re missing and how to fill those gaps, the journey becomes far more manageable. It’s about being able to leverage what you have and use that to build up the rest. No matter what you have—one or the other or a combination of two—there’s a path forward regardless. It's all about your willingness to plan and act with intention.

Now it’s your turn: Take note of what you possess. What do you have in abundance? Where do you need support? Identify your magic formula and take one actionable step today toward building your vision.

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If you missed yesterday’s article, be sure to check it out below: