This excerpt is from a YouTube talk in which the speaker (Jason S Bradshaw) warns entrepreneurs that the learning curve often lasts longer than expected and can create severe financial strain. He describes three approaches to navigating the learning curve, recounts that he personally self-funded (including using credit cards), and recommends working for an established entrepreneur for free as a practical way to shorten the learning curve.
Chapters
So a lot of entrepreneurs don't plan for the learning curve and they don't earn income for much longer than they expect. So what I learned is that there's three ways to go through a learning curve. I went through the hardest and most unintelligent way. Which is the worst way is what I did, which is you self fund the learning curve, right? So you're not earning any money, you've got to self fund yourself and you got to self fund your learning. So I wasn't just earning zero, I was also investing from this 10 grand credit card into whatever I thought would help me. Then in the middle there is, you still got a self fund yourself, but you might work with an entrepreneur for free. And anyone can do this. And I really recommend this. Some people, it might trip their ego a little bit. But looking back at it, if I had just approached most impressive entrepreneur I could find and said, hey, look, Jason, I like what you're doing. I'm a new entrepreneur, can I be your executive assistant for free? And that would have just cut my learning curve in half.