Why thinking of money will make you fail
Posted: January 30th, 2011 | Author: Christian | Filed under: Business | Tags: failure, MLM | No Comments »
I was recently following-up on a deadbeat client. In his blah blah blah about working on something that will bring in the big bucks “really soon”, he mentions this business he’s working on. I check it out and of course it’s MLM. As you may know, I’m not fond of MLM crap.
I call him out on it and say it will fail. His response:
Whoa, a little optimism is sometimes helpful. How legit was “google” when it first came out? Some partners and I are working together to launch the product.
The response was so typical and good that I had to write about it.
Google, Yahoo, Facebook and YouTube did it! Why can’t I?
One of the delusions people get in when starting a business (myself included) is comparing their venture to the greats that started out with humble beginnings. The problem with a lot of new business is that they don’t start off like that. The companies above were created out of a passion to solve a problem, not to make money. If you think about money right away and focus your energy on that instead of creating remarkable, it will fail.
2 examples
CDBaby started out because a frustrated musician who couldn’t get online retailers to sell his CD. He wrote a script to sell his CD on his website. Soon, he was selling his friends CDs then to others. The intention was to do away with the roadblock of getting your music online.
My Filipino Tattoo site started out because I wanted to see photos of Filipino Tattoos. As I posted some tattoo photos of the Filipino writing system, I also translated them. Soon, people started asking me to do translations for them. I did dozens a week for free and then started experimenting with pricing to see what the market would pay. I started a viable side-business when I didn’t mean to. It’s all about intention.
These stories are repeated again and again.
So if your thinking of starting a business, don’t think money at 1st. Think about what interests you (besides money). What would you do in your spare time on a Saturday afternoon? Make that your starting point.
