Want To Build Your Business? Then Be A Specialist. By Robert Cooper, Wildix Being a Jack-of-All-Trades might get a VAR short-term cash, but to create a business that lasts, you’ll need expertise and services that work to your strengths. On a grand scale, you can label nearly any VAR in one of two ways: as a generalist, or as a specialist. Conveniently enough, the difference between the two is straightforward. Generalists are the telecom businesses that try to do it all, the proverbial jack-of-all-trades; they see all sectors of the market as an opportunity, and they try to expand in all directions at once. Specialists, meanwhile, focus on one skill or element of technology—ideally one that's highly in demand in their market—and dig deep into that niche. Rather than pursue every possible market trend, they invest time, effort, and capital into that one core strength, and they make that skill the pillar of their business.