Startup Tips - You Don’t Have To Like It - You Just Have To Do It!

by Startacus Admin

Joseph Benn, author of 'Brilliant Business Ideas' makes the point that action at least equal results, which is more than can be said for just talking a good talk about your great idea and never getting passed the talking...

"I am afraid that this post is more of a rant but I hope it contains some nuggets of useful information for you. One of the most common questions Im asked by people thinking of setting up a business is “will it work?”

They then hurriedly go on to add they’re willing to put the time and effort into it as long as it will work. First off this is the wrong attitude and secondly no one can really tell you whether your business will work or not. Even the so called business experts on Dragons Den get it wrong fairly consistently. I can think of at least 6 business ideas they rejected (often in quite a cruel way) that have gone on to make their owners a fortune, amongst them specially designed luggage for children, wine glasses with wine in them, and the Destination London board game. If they cant get it right then the rest of us are probably going to have some problems.

The truth is that failure is not something to be feared as long as you don’t take risks you are too uncomfortable with. Recently, especially in enterprise education, theres been a focus on failure as something to celebrate. I think that’s wrong! I will never celebrate or focus on failure but I will learn from it and I won’t let it dishearten me. And don’t bother with positive thinking either!

Sound like a bold thing to say?

Ive worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs. Some of them were really positive thinkers and some of them were miserable and at times unpleasant. It didn’t seem to matter about their attitude they were either successful or they weren’t. The thing that set them apart was they all took action. There are any number of books out there that will tell you that you need to be a positive thinker and visualise what you want before you can have it. Load of rubbish! You want something scrap the visualisation and just go for it –take massive amounts of intelligent action. Then rather than visualise yourself being successful you will actually be successful! Cultivate the action taking habit. In the words of a famous sports footwear: Just do it.

Don’t worry about being successful or a failure just make sure the actions you’re taking make sense and then carry them out.

For those of you who are scared of failure – don’t be!

The only failure you need to worry about is the failure to actually do anything. Failing usually means you’ve at least done something. And doing things is what it’s all about. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t be pleasant to people or try to maintain a positive attitude but it concerns me when I see self help “philosophy” starting to sneak its way into business and enterprise.

I was discussing these concerns (ranting is probably a better word) with an entrepreneur in our local pub. This is a man who has made a lot of money in various business ventures. After listening to me go on about this he sipped his pint thoughtfully “I decide what I want, break it down then get my head down and get on with it” he said “plenty of obstacles on the way but I just deal with them when they arise” “Do you try to cultivate a positive attitude then?” I asked. “Nah infact theres been more than a few times when it was really hard going and I didn’t want to have to do it.”
“So what did you do?”

“I just told myself you don’t have to like it you’ve just got to do it…then I got on with it”

Here endeth the lesson.

Joseph Benn is the author of Brilliant Business Ideas and writes at www.ideasmapping.com. Sign up at his website for a free 10 day creative thinking course.

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.

• #
• #opinion

Published on: 9th November 2012