If you’re like me, you constantly have ideas of new business ventures flowing through your brain. It’s the curse of the entrepreneur: no matter where you are, no matter what you are doing, ideas for ways to make money always seem to pop into your head.
Many of your ideas will be absolutely ridiculous, doomed to fail in the real business world. Yet a few of your ideas might show some true potential, and you bounce them off of many different people — just to get some unbiased feedback. We often ask family members, friends, co-workers, and others if they think our ideas will succeed.
Yet, we sometimes need to take the feedback of others with a grain of salt. Is it ever okay to disregard the opinions of those that say our idea won’t work? When do we follow our gut feelings, even amidst the naysayers?
What About the Television? Or Nuclear Power?
Naysayers aren’t always correct. Lee DeForest, American radio pioneer and inventor of the vacuum tube, said in 1926:
While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially I consider it an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming.
We’ve heard of many other instances like this one: in 1878, Western Union scoffed at the idea of a telephone; in 1932, Albert Einstein thought nuclear energy was impossible; and so on. I bet there have even been naysayers against the potential of the Internet — and look how wrong they have been!
Don’t believe everything that is said about your venture ideas. As an entrepreneur, you have something that most other people don’t have: a gut feeling! Oftentimes your gut will tell you that something will work, even when everyone else says it won’t.
Confirm Your Gut Feelings by Listening to Your Customers
Many people have followed their gut feelings on dead-end venture ideas, and have lost millions of dollars in the process. Entrepreneurs become “married” to their ideas, and start chasing their tails in vain pursuit of financial success. That’s why so many businesses fail, even within the first year of opening shop.
Among all the voices that you hear as an entrepreneur, only one can save you from absolute of failure: your customers. No matter what anyone else says, your customers will decide whether your company succeeds or fails.
So, you want to know whether you’ve got a good idea or not? Ask those who would be your potential customers. If they’re not going to buy, then you know your idea won’t work! It’s that simple.
Save yourself some heartache by going to your customers first. Often you can adjust your ideas to make them work, according to the advice that they give you. Your selective hearing as an entrepreneur should always be focused towards your customers.
Photo on main page by striatic.
Related posts: