Today I learned that my PM skills are not just for software
Technical PMs - you know more than you think about entrepreneurship. I read that on the internet, so it must be true. Also here's a pic of a dancing sleeveless skateboarding trucker, because AI.
Sidenote: This image is literally what AI gave me when I asked for a skateboarding dancing trucker with no sleeves. Maybe we have a ways to go still with this whole AI thing…
Quite a few PMs I'm chatting with are looking for a better way to earn money than the single source of income that corporations provide (and, especially recently, take away at a moment's notice).
Whether as a side hustle or as a means to leave the corporate system, PMs are realizing that they have many of the skills necessary to bring products—their own products—to market.
I'm one of them.
Setting aside the obvious financial risk, as an introvert by nature, becoming a solo entrepreneur seems ideal to me. Well also health insurance - set that aside too. That’s not great.
As I started this journey, the steps seemed straightforward and familiar. There was a ton to learn (I haven't built a website in years, for example), but it was attainable.
In fact, having done technical product work for so long, I was amazed at how much my product experience applies to non-software products.
To get started, having some extra time on my hands, I decided to educate myself a little on what all the kids are doing to make that crazy cash money on the internet these days.
My conclusion?
I'm pretty sure I'd get immediate product market fit if I became a masked dancing AI-modified skateboarding trucker selling dance courses on TikTok (I use AI to remove the sleeves from my shirts, because I don't have any shirts like that).
Is anyone willing to pay for that? Product market fit all day, yo!
It turns out that most of the revelations on YouTube or in paid courses are actually Product Management 101.
This I find satisfying and also somewhat disappointing. I was hoping for magic beans or an elixir of otherworldly sales motions. Instead I got…things I already know.
Things like, "OK, you paid for the course. So here's the big reveal that only we, in this $900 value-packed infomercial, have figured out will make you millions. Are you ready? Here it is:
If you want to sell things…shhh no come closer…it turns out…you have to like, actually know that people have problems and then, no wait… here's the thing…if you like, actually solve those problems, all you have to do is make a course, sell that course like 100,000 times (easy), get your 1000 ride-or-die fans on the social medias (like, so easy bro), write some mad AI-gen'd blogs (easy as yeeting that Pepe coin when it tops out, my dudes), make the SEOs (duh), be a trust fund kid - and boom - YOU'RE RICH!"
"Also? You can double your money if you sell people this secret as my course affiliate! BROOOO!! LFGGGGGGG!!!"
OK, "educate" might be a bit of a stretch.
But after 2000 YouTube videos and 900 subs for cooking, outdoor adventuring, and self-described, “making money online the lazy way” channels, with my Sam the Cooking Guy certified training (I'm a subscribed fan, Sam, jokes aside), I can confidently say that as an entrepreneurial PM, I now know that I already knew how to make metric boatloads of money online:
Obviously - By selling cat-wif-toque meme coin t-shirt 3D-printed light switch low content coloring book covers on Etsy.
Simple. Please like and subscribe.
Or maybe…
Build a deep understanding of my customer. Talk to people and get to really understand their underlying needs. Know them to serve them, as we used to say at a former athletic apparel employer.
And then, Give away the information - sell the transformation.
Things like that.
So that’s what I’ve learned. Apparently we as PMs know things.
But wait - there’s more!
Over the coming weeks I'll actually be writing about things of substance on how PM skills make great entrepreneur skills, and how I'm using them on my own entrepreneurial journey.
Today was just for fun, because I need more fun in my life. Not kidding.
Also? One last thing: Click the link in the description if you want to join my limited-availability high-ticket affiliate mastermind group exclusively through my super secret Discord Telegram What's App, where my mega elite followers get all the alpha a day early. And don't forget to like and subscribe.