The Entrepreneurial Ladder

I have been studying ActionCoach’s Brad Sugars Entrepreneurial Ladder – a map for budding entrepreneurs.

Most people start at the bottom of the ladder as an Employee, trading time for money.  Those with entrepreneurial aspiration make it a point to learn as much as possible with eye towards moving up the ladder. You’ll never out-earn your learning capacity – learn less, earn less.

Strive to learn as much as you can about how the business is run – accounting, marketing, sales, purchasing – to prepare yourself to be Self-Employed, the next rung of the ladder. Most self-employed need to do almost everything themselves in the beginning.

The next step on the ladder in Manager.  Again, you will need to learn much more – recruiting, leadership, training, induction, delegation, and much more.  It’s important to be an effective leader who leads employees towards the next step on the ladder – Owner.

By ActionCoach standards, an Owner doesn’t have to show up for the business to run – the business is set up well enough to run without the Owner’s presence.

But you are not done yet – being an Owner allows you the time to climb to the next rung:  Investor.  As an investor, you will invest in businesses, property, and the stock market – in that order.   As an investor, you will be putting your money into investments and learning how to make more money that way.  Learning to do that will lead you to the final rung on the ladder:  Entrepreneur.

The Entrepreneur uses other people’s money to invest by putting together deals for others to invest in by, for example, taking companies public or developing properties.  Essentially you will be selling investments, not buying.

While this may not be for everyone, for those looking to achieve wealth and independence, this is an solid and proven path forward.  You can learn much more about climbing this ladder by hiring a good business coach.