In the world of small business — or any kind of
business building or creative pursuits, for that matter
— there are two schools of thought:
A) You have to know everything, research everything, plan
everything, measure everything, analyze everything,
evaluate everything, anticipate everything, budget for
everything, and have the means to finance
everything...BEFORE you start.
B) You don't.
"Group A" types are the Sensibles. "Group B" folks? The
Nuts.
To the sometimes dismay of my husband/business partner, a
Sensible who likes to operate in the world of concrete
deliverables and see nets before he leaps, I happen to be
in that "Group B" category.
Sensibles aren't stupid or unimaginative. On the contrary.
They're often bright, reasonable, practical professionals.
More often than not, they have read the text books, know
the elements of growing businesses and bottom lines, and
have sound, informed advice to offer on the subject of what
works and what doesn't.
Many brilliant, wonderful, seasoned SCORE counselors are
Sensibles. They've owned and managed all types of
businesses for multiple decades, so they've made their
mistakes and purchased countless hard-won lessons with
their own sweat equity.
Nuts understand and respect Sensibles (though we can be
delinquent in showing it). Whether Sensibles believe this
or not, Nuts listen to their input, value their point of
view, and often think they're probably right.
Why, then, do Sensibles usually see us doing exactly the
opposite from what they recommend? Because we, too, know
— or think we know — a thing or two about
business ourselves.
Right or wrong, here's what we believe, whether we admit it
or not:
1. Perfection Is for Sissies
The widely-held assumption is Perfectionists operate with a
higher set of standards than most of us. To that I say
"Phooey!" Perfectionists gouge ideas, scrape up strategies,
and poo-poo planning docs until all the lifeblood is
drained out of them. Why? They're frozen with fear! It's
scary to put your stuff "Out There," to the discerning
public, where critics lurk, markets speak, and well-meaning
friends and relatives tell you exactly what they think of
your ventures, whether their feedback is positive or not.
I've seen some very smart and talented people wait for
decades to act on an idea or passion because the timing,
environment, circumstances, and/or equipment weren't
exactly perfect. Oh, it hurts to watch!
2. Failure Is ALWAYS an Option
We've all heard the allegedly hard-core creed "Failure's
Not an Option." Au contraire, my friend. Failure is not
only an option, it's a statistically high probability. Next
time you have lunch with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Albert
Einstein, or any of the countless other inventors and
innovators who lived on nothing but failure with a side of
"Oops!," just ask them. They'll tell you if you're not
failing, you're not doing enough. Failure pushes limits,
forces unconventional solutions, and tests mettles without
kid gloves. Are you serious about success? Then you better
love the smell of Failure, because it's part of the
entrepreneurial experience.
3. You CAN Build Your Wings on the Way Down (and It's a
Downright, Rock 'n Roll Rush When You Pull It Off!)
Comfort Zone? No, not for Nuts. I wouldn't say we're all
adrenaline junkies, but our closest Sensibles may tell you
otherwise. Still, when the luxury of looking back at an
unlikely victory presents itself, there's definitely
something very cool about replaying the scene. Back against
the wall, warnings everywhere, total annihilation just
millimeters away from every move and decision you
make...Yeah. When you have no choice but to remove life's
distractions to avoid a physical or metaphysical SPLAT,
those wings get built. They may not be pretty, but they
flap like heck and carry you somewhere you can pause to
catch your breath.
4. Ignorance CAN Be Bliss
Look. We don't want to appear or admit to being - for lack
of a better word - stupid. But the truth is, the less we
know, the less we're bullied by total downers like "What's
Possible," "What's Realistic," and that pesky tagalong,
"Our Limits." Let's face it: Sometimes "The Facts" can
really squelch a person's creativity. So sometimes we
ignore them. Or choose to do things without the proper due
diligence. Or skip along like the village idiot while our
profit and loss statements are making our bookkeepers weep
uncontrollably. Sorry. But sometimes - only sometimes -
those numbers have less meaning to us and our plans than a
petrified legume has to a carnivore. Tra-la-la...we can't
hear you...
5. Life's Short. Play Hard...and for Cryin' Out Loud,
LIGHTEN UP!
Mortality. Ugh. Yet another buzzkill to deal with. Sadly,
though, we can't seem to kick this one to the curb. One of
my favorite poems, Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress,"
does a good job in putting the whole Mortality thing into
perspective. The poem is one giant, beautiful, exquisitely
hilarious pickup line. He's trying to convince a young
maiden to sleep with him, and tells her if he had all the
time in the world, he'd admire each of her body parts for
thousands of years, and wait patiently for her to come
around. But that's not the case, is it? So with his last
six lines, he says:
"Let us roll all our strength, and all
Our sweetness, up into one ball;
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Thorough the iron gates of life.
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run."
The Nuts say, "Ditto."
So the next time you see us across your conference table,
nodding politely in response to your very rational and
comprehensive list of why our ideas, suggestions, and
solutions would never work for your business or anybody
else's, look more closely. Odds are, while our eyes are on
you, our brains are somewhere else in our own indexed
resource library of "What's Possible" and "What's
Realistic."
While you're citing statistical probabilities and telling
us about industry expectations, existing norms, and
outdated rules, we're off in our wild 'n wacky fourth
dimension. That's the place where we twist words, scour
success stories, flip visuals, and mash up mountains of our
own data.
It's the place where we know beyond a shadow of a doubt
that more things are possible and realistic than most of us
dare dream. And if everyone remained governed by the keen
and well-intended Sensibles, most microbusinesses,
solo-preneurs, and small business owners would never even
attempt the impossible and ridiculous — i.e. going
into business for ourselves.
What a shame that would be, because it's REALLY fun out
here in Nutty Land.
----------------------------------------------------
Lani & Allen Voivod, aka 'The Content Lovers,' help
lifestyle entrepreneurs and million-dollar businesses 'A-Ha
Themselves!' in fun and profitable ways. For immediate
access to insider knowledge on more than 12 of the easiest,
most effective, and most affordable ways to market your
products and services for long-term success and
profitability, check out "The 'A-Ha Yourself!' Action
Guide" at http://www.epiphaniesinc.com/actionguide.php .
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