As an entrepreneur myself, I think it’s very, very important to believe in yourself. If you have a dream, that’s great. Don’t let other people put you down, tell you that it’s a bad idea or that it’s impossible because nobody has ever done it. Most things at some point in history have never been done before. It took somebody with guts, somebody with creativity and somebody as an entrepreneur to really open up a new market or create a new product or service.
If you have an idea, go for it.
Next, write things down. It is very important as an entrepreneur to conceptualize your idea on paper or on a computer. This is critical, otherwise it really is just a dream. While it’s great to dream as an entrepreneur, in order to take it to the next step you have to be able to write things down. Develop the concept on a medium.
From there, make all your mistakes on paper. As an entrepreneur your first idea is probably pretty raw, and that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with having an idea or a concept and developing it from there. It’s important to pivot, to make mistakes on paper, to think things through. You can still be enthusiastic but it’s okay to admit to yourself that your first concept was too raw or too underdeveloped. Most importantly, make mistakes on paper first.
After you’ve done that, go out and do. Test your concept. Once you’ve made as many mistakes as you can on paper, now it’s time to actually go do it. Just talking about it and writing about it is simply not enough. You need to prove it, not to anybody in particular, but prove it to yourself.
The last piece of advice I would suggest to emerging entrepreneurs is that your job is to make mistakes as quickly and as cheaply as possible. While your final concept may have made as many mistakes on paper as it could, once you’ve gotten feedback, don’t do the same thing over and over again. If it doesn’t work then that’s the feedback. Listen to the feedback and be honest with yourself. From there, either pivot or move on. You don’t want to keep spinning your wheels on something that doesn’t work.
There’s one quote by Thomas Edison that I really love. When he was creating the lightbulb, a lot of people were critical and asked him “Why do you keep doing it the same way? It doesn’t work.” And Edison said, “That’s not true. I’ve never failed. I’ve just found a thousand ways that don’t work.”
It’s great entrepreneurial spirit and a great philosophy to live by. Thomas Edison didn’t do the same thing over and over again. Everytime he made a mistake or he found a way that didn’t work, he wrote it down and he changed the methodology until he finally created the incandescent light bulb.