Right then. Let’s catch up.
If you’ve been wondering where I disappeared to, don’t worry — I haven’t joined a cult, won the lottery, or run off to live in the woods (although all three remain possible future options). I’ve just been busy doing something a bit… mmm, odd.
I decided to contact 200 entrepreneurs — yes, two hundred — and ask them a simple question:
“If you had to start again from zero, how would you make your first £10K?”
Now, depending on how you look at it, this is either a brilliant idea… or the behaviour of a man who has clearly run out of sensible hobbies. Either way, I sent the messages.
And here’s the surprising bit:
Out of the 200 people I contacted, nine replied with proper, decent, thoughtful conversations. Put another way – I’ve now got nine mentors!
That might sound like terrible odds. But honestly, when you think about people’s inboxes, to-do lists, and general life chaos, nine is basically a miracle. A free mentoring session it most certainly is.
And those nine conversations gave me more insight than I expected.
The Practical Ideas (AKA The Stuff That Wasn’t Exactly Mind-Blowing)
Let’s start with the obvious answers I got — the ones you’d probably expect from entrepreneurs:
Three people said they’d flip products on Facebook Marketplace or eBay.
Buy cheap. Sell higher. Repeat. Simple. Practical. Boring? Maybe. Effective? Definitely.
Two said they’d spend the tiny bit of money they had on a decent light and microphone and start building an audience first.
Content is apparently still king, queen, and all the royal cousins (apart from ‘the one’ we no longer mention).
One said they’d go door-to-door offering to do odd jobs for neighbours.
Old-school. Slightly terrifying. But again — practical.
One said high-risk crypto.
We’re moving on swiftly from that one.
So far, nothing shocking. Nothing life-changing. All fine, reasonable ideas.
But the magic — the proper gold — came from the final two conversations.
The Two Answers That Stopped Me In My Tracks
These two entrepreneurs didn’t tell me to flip anything, buy anything, invest in anything, or do anything clever.
Nope.
They said something far more annoying:
“Forget what everyone else does. Forget what anyone else suggests; Work out your own strengths and interests first — and build something around that.”
At first, I’ll be honest, I thought:
Great. More vague self-help wisdom. Cheers.
But then we dug deeper. And something unexpected happened.
They started listing things I might be good at.
Things I didn’t even think counted as “skills”.
Things I’ve done for years without noticing.
And suddenly, the whole idea of “starting from zero” didn’t feel so impossible.
The Power of One Tiny, Overlooked Skill
Here’s the bit that genuinely stuck with me:
You don’t need a big idea.
You don’t need a world-changing invention.
You don’t need to charge a fortune, or build an empire, or become the next viral sensation.
All you need is one micro-skill — something you take for granted that someone else would happily pay for.
It might be:
- The way you explain things
- The way you organise things
- Your patience
- Your ability to simplify complicated stuff
- Your sense of humour
- Your writing
- Your listening
- Your creativity
- Your knack for solving weird little problems
These aren’t things you put on a CV.
These aren’t things you boast about at parties.
These are the tiny, almost invisible skills we don’t even notice about ourselves — because they come so naturally.
But to someone else?
They’re valuable.
And here’s the big realisation:
People rarely pay you for something extraordinary.
They pay you for something they can’t do — or can’t be bothered to do — themselves.
That’s it.
That’s business.
But What If You Think You Don’t Have Any Skills?
Ah yes, the classic –“I don’t have any skills” ,“I’m not good at anything” and “I’m just… me.”
Trust me — you do!!!!!!!! (I don’t use EIGHT exclamation marks lightly)
But we’re terrible at noticing our own strengths.
It’s like being inside your own house: after a while, you stop noticing the creaky floorboard or the dodgy cupboard door. Someone else sees it immediately.
So if you genuinely can’t spot your micro-skill, do me a favour:
Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Drop a comment. Message me on TikTok (@strategicidiot). DM me on Instagram (strategic.idiot), or comment on here.
Give me five minutes with your story and I’ll help you find your skill — the one you can build something on today.
Because once you see it…
Things suddenly get much clearer.
Why This Matters (Even If You’re Not Trying to Make £10K)
Here’s the bit nobody tells you:
Identifying your micro-skill isn’t just a business thing — it’s a confidence thing.
Once you understand what you bring to the table, you:
- Stop guessing
- Stop comparing
- Stop copying every “guru” online
- Stop thinking everyone else has something you don’t
You finally know what you can do — the thing that makes you uniquely useful.
And that changes everything:
Your decisions.
Your direction.
Your confidence.
Your ability to start.
Making money becomes less about “hustle” and more about being yourself — on purpose.
So… What Did 200 Entrepreneurs Teach Me?
Not how to flip products.
Not how to invest in crypto.
Not how to hack the algorithm or scale a business in six seconds.
They taught me something much simpler:
If you want to start from zero, stop trying to copy everyone else.
Start with the skill that makes you… you.
One tiny skill.
One overlooked ability.
One thing you take for granted.
Build on that.
That’s your path to £10K.
But more importantly — that’s your path to something that actually fits you.
Because once you spot that micro-skill, you stop feeling like you’re starting from nothing.
And you realise you were never really starting from zero at all.
— James (now on £54.12!)
(@strategicidiot on TikTok, and strategic.idiot on Instagram)
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