Technical Skills Don’t Build Great Businesses
Good Morning!
One of the best pieces of advice I got early in my career came from a manager who told me: “Don’t avoid—and don’t delay—awkward conversations.” Whether it’s a personal relationship or a work situation, once you’ve gathered the facts and taken time to think it through, the best move is to face it head-on.
Avoidance just allows for issues to fester.
On the Mat
- The Gap Between Skill & Business
- Scaling a Local Business Nationally
- Increase Your Perceived Value with Prospects
- The 4 Hidden Forces That Kill Businesses
Let's Train
The Gap Between Skill & Business
Deep expertise alone rarely translates into business success.
I see this often: highly skilled professionals who excel at their craft but struggle to convert that expertise into a scalable business. Performing technical work is one discipline; sales, marketing, and business operations are entirely different.
Technical skill alone rarely creates a sustainable company. What’s missing is the business infrastructure that allows expertise to turn into consistent revenue and growth.
I once worked with a highly specialized supply chain analyst.* She could model complex inventory systems and optimize logistics for multi-million-dollar companies. But when she launched her supply chain consulting business, she stalled. She lacked a clear offer, didn’t know how to price her engagements, and had no structured sales process.
As a result, she struggled to generate leads.
The technical expertise was there, but without the commercial skill set, the business couldn’t gain traction. Bridging that gap is where success happens—and there are three ways to do it.
1. Self-Reliance (learn by yourself)
This path requires time. You spend 12 to 18 months learning sales, marketing, client management, and operations while delivering your service. The benefit? Full control and deep understanding of your business. The tradeoff? Slower growth and depletion of your financial resources, while you're learning.
2. Outsource (buy the expertise)
You hire or contract help—marketers, sales reps, operations managers—to cover your weak spots. This allows faster progress (3-6 months) while you focus on your core skill. The catch is the capital investment and the responsibility of managing the people you hire.
3. Partnership (bring on complementary co-founders)
This is the route I’ve personally favored across my seven businesses. You partner with someone who brings the business-building skills you lack. Yes, you’ll give up some equity and some control, but the right partner allows you to stay focused on what you do best while your partner drives growth.
Speaking of partnerships, here are a few critical things I’ve learned over the years:
- Complementary skills matter more than shared interests. You don’t need two people who both know the technical work—you need one who loves sales, marketing, or operations.
- Clear roles from day one. The more you define who owns what, the fewer future headaches.
- Alignment beats excitement. You can get excited about a business idea with anyone. But alignment on risk, pace, and long-term goals is what sustains a partnership.
- Watch out for big egos. Few things in business are harder than working with someone who won’t admit when they’re wrong or makes decisions to protect their self-image instead of doing what’s best for the business.
No matter which path you take, you need a plan to bridge the gap. That’s how you move from being great at your craft to actually building a business around it.
Ask Feras Recaps
Scaling a Local Business Nationally
Brian has done what many founders dream of: he's built a successful, profitable local IT consulting services business. But now comes the harder part: taking what worked locally and scaling it nationally. But he has no idea how to approach the next stage of growth.
🔥 Challenge:
Brian wants to expand nationally. But his local model relies heavily on personal relationships, hands-on oversight, and processes tailored to a single region. Scaling beyond that feels overwhelming, with no clear blueprint for how to replicate his success at a larger scale.
💡 What He is Doing Right:
Brian already has a proven offer, happy clients, strong referrals, and operational processes that work well in his local market. He also has a good sense of what makes his service different and valuable.
🛠️ My Advice:
- Standardize the offer: Simplify and tighten the core service to make it replicable across markets. Not every local nuance needs to scale.
- Document systems: Build SOPs (standard operating procedures) for every marketing, sales, operations, and client delivery process. These create consistency and reduce reliance on personal involvement.
- Decide the expansion model: He has two main options—open company-owned locations or build a franchise/licensing model. We explored the pros and cons of both.
- Strengthen marketing: National expansion requires predictable lead generation that isn't reliant on local networks. Invest in scalable acquisition channels.
- Build management depth: Scaling means hiring managers who can run new locations independently while protecting the brand and client experience.
📈 Progress
Brian now has a clear, phased roadmap:
- First, systematize everything.
- Second, run a few test markets.
- Third, build the leadership team.
- Finally, expand nationally using whichever model proves most scalable.
The big shift is moving from "founder-run local business" to a "team and systems-run national" one.
* Some details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance storytelling.
You Might Like These
A lot of founders think “value” is just about the service itself. It’s not. This guide breaks down how to shape perceived value — the kind that makes prospects say yes faster.
Testimonials, credibility markers, scarcity, and smart bonuses all create momentum before you even pitch. I like this guide because it's not theory — these are practical moves any service founder can build into their process to close better deals without lowering prices. It also forces you to shift the conversation away from what you do, and focus instead on why you’re the safe, obvious choice. That framing is what lets you charge premium fees, even when you’re not the biggest player in your space.
Sharpen Your Blade
Most business owners don’t fail because they lack skill, passion, or capital. What derails most founders are four forces they underestimate when they start:
1. Mindset
Entrepreneurship isn’t just “working hard.” It’s building with incomplete information, limited resources, and constant uncertainty. There are no shortcuts, but there are patterns. The faster you recognize them, the faster you move.
2. Planning
Many founders either overplan to the point of paralysis or wing it entirely. I use what I call the 10+5 rule: speak with 10 potential customers and research 5 competitors. Plan just enough to get moving, and refine your plan based on real response in the marketplace, not hypotheticals.
3. Partners
Partnerships are multipliers when done right, but destructive when done wrong. Look for complementary skills, not duplicates of yourself. Shared values beat shared personalities. And get everything in writing early — misunderstandings can break even the strongest partnerships.
4. Life
Your business doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Family, health, and timing matter. Sometimes it's simply not the right season, but when it is, you have to fully commit.
Subscribe to the Black Belt Startup Newsletter
Weekly, 5-minute insights to help you escape the 9–5, land your first clients, and grow a thriving business.