I have been running Sloane as my side hustle for 10 years now.  I work at Procter & Gamble full time.  P&G is a 185 year old global company with $70B in sales.  It's huge!

I started Sloane because I was passionate about the product and wanted to bring it to life.  I THOUGHT I was going to get rich off it quickly, but from reading this blog you know that was idiotic to think.  The company has humbled me beyond belief.  The company has also given me this amazing tool to learn.  I have been able to directly take my learnings to my full time job, which has allowed me to stand out and succeed. 

Now that I look back on things I believe I have been able to learn at a 2X pace from many of my peers.  I would learn my P&G job during my normal work hours and then learn the entrepreneurial skillsets in the nights and weekends with Sloane.  I believe the biggest differentiator with people in this age of rapid disruption is learning.  Are you learning/growing/testing or are you remaining stagnant?  You will get sprinted by if you aren't broadening your understanding and skills. 

I'll talk more about this in future blogs.  I want to get very specific in the skillsets that I've learned on Sloane and been able to apply.  These skillsets just can't be taught in a course.  The principles can, but living them cannot.  I think school is helpful in teaching fundamentals, but gives students too much confidence in their skills because nothing plays out in the real world. 

The real world is where pain is inflicted for bad decisions.  And many decisions you make as an entrepreneur that might lead to poor results actually weren't bad decisions!  Timing might have been off.  COVID could hit at the worst possible time.  A vendor screws up something.  How is the person going to bounce back?  That is what true entrepreneurship is about.  It's about living it.....not theory. 

Sloane has given me so much that has allowed me to be very innovative at P&G.  I have been able to overcome challenges that other people have not strictly because I have a skillset that others have not been able to develop.  Sloane has actually brought me more benefit at P&G than it has anywhere else. 

I still drive the same 25 year old car, so Sloane hasn't given me the riches I first thought I would have.  I think the experience I've been given by working on Sloane is way more valuable than a new car though!

More to come on this topic.  It is a deep one and one that I think a lot of people could learn from.