Would you take a wine recommendation from a teenager? Of course not. People want to partner with someone who has experience.

Which is why the question Tom sent me is so common among those of you considering entrepreneurship: “How much experience would you recommend having before going it on your own doing the consulting route? Do I need to consult beforehand?”

Though it might look like it on the surface, this question is not just for newbies.

Seasoned entrepreneurs who want to expand their empires into new (and perhaps more lucrative) markets run into this same issue.

People pivoting to new fields, despite a decade of experience, face the same fear.

No matter how long you’ve been on the block, you need two key phrases in your entrepreneurial vocabulary:

“In my experience with similar situations, I recommend…”

The purpose of this phrase is to convey confidence to your clientele. You can be trusted. You’ve done this sort of thing before.

All this means is that you need enough experience to say I’ve seen this.

You don’t have to have that experience in the same industry you’re trying to break into right now. In fact, your cross-industry experience is an asset.

You don’t have to have that experience through paid work. Real life grad school projects or free time portfolio development exercises absolutely count here.

But the truth is that even though I’ve been in business for a dozen years and I like to think I’ve seen it all, a client will still surprise me every once in a while. That’s why you need this second key phrase:

“I haven’t run across this yet, but I have some ideas and I’ll do some research and get back to you.”

You don’t need to know e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g but you do need to have the unwavering faith in yourself that you can figure it out.

Talented entrepreneurs can find the answer even if they don’t have it right now. They’re resourceful. They’re also timely – you’ll get those ideas back to your client within 48 hours.

I’ve seen the experience question hold too many would-be successful entrepreneurs back from starting their empires.

How much industry experience did you have before you launched your business? Click here to tell me in an email. My hunch is that it’ll be a very wide range. The path into entrepreneurship has 1,000 different entry points.