The Blog For Entrepreneurs

In my standard apology I would say ‘Someone would do very well if they just had a little program that recognized when you were going to attach something’.

Et Voila!:

Google 'steals' my invention

It is just another one of those examples where someone took action and someone didn’t (i.e me!). Clearly it is not a world changing invention, but it does illustrate that ideas have a finite time to percolate around your mind. It makes sense to think on ideas and refine them, but the thing to do is take action and get something started before someone else does.

Can’t be Done

Many entrepreneurs that I have met are confident and single minded, however, most are ‘mercurial’. They can swing from one mood of amazing positivity to that of amazing negativity. I will be writing more on the ‘Mercurial Shift‘ tomorrow, but for now, trust me, lots of entrepreneurs do it.

The root of this shift can be triggered by many things, but one of the issues that innovators battle with is the negative energy that is thrown at them by people who really know sh*t.

These people are the ones who always see things on why and how they can’t be done. The classic that they come up with is ‘If it was such a good idea, why is nobody else doing it?’. Ever heard that? I have, hundreds of times.

These people can be valuable, they can inject some element of reality into an idea or concept, but it is important that you are prepared to take these statements (which they almost always are – there are hardly ever any facts) and either prove them right, via your research, or prove them wrong.

You should learn to use this negative energy as stone on which to sharpen your idea not a hammer with which to blunt it.

Here are some classic neg-heads telling innovators what will happen to their ‘useless’ products:

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” – Western Union internal memo circa 1876. By the end of 2006, global mobile phone usage hit 50 percent.

“I have anticipated radio’s complete disappearance … confident that the unfortunate people who must now subdue themselves to listening in, will soon find a better pastime for their leisure.” – Science fiction author H.G. Wells circa 1925, erroneously predicting the end of a technology that not only still exists but has morphed.

“Television won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” – Film mogul Darryl F. Zanuck of 20th Century Fox, in 1946, not the only famous figure to doubt the popularity and persistence of Americans’ most popular leisure activity.

“The cinema is little more than a fad. It’s canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage.” – Film star and famous funnyman Charlie Chaplin circa 1916, possibly toying with his audience. American film admissions did drop by 2.6 percent in 2008, to 1.36 billion.

“There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.” – Ken Olson, founder of Digital Equipment Corp., circa 1977.

Just remember the words - ‘Thanks for your input’, whenever you are subjected to the verbal diahorea of someone who wants you to succeed about as much as they want to catch hemorrhoids.

Regards
David
@OneLIfeNoFear