My father, a lifelong entrepreneur, has said many times while talking about his friends’ business mistakes, “They thought everything they touched turned into gold.“ It’s not hard to slip into this mentality if you’ve had a few past successes. Because when you’re in charge and doing well everyone around you will sing your praises, it’s easy to become overconfident.
Even in our silly tech industry there are seemingly golden prophets. These enlightened ones are held high because in days gone by they made a successful exit from their company and quite possibly made millions. Feeding on their former glory, their followers diligently study their ways and praise their every word. Without question their commandments are our new rules.
But every company, person and application has flaws. Sometimes it takes a little time to find them, but they’re just under the surface.
People and companies get into ruts. If someone is “working hard,” they follow the same established pattern. They’ll work diligently until they hit a wall. Drinking your own Kool-Aid paralyzes your forward thinking and numbs your creativity. So beware of overconfidence and “working hard,” unless you aren’t worried about your users’ changing perception of value, a turn in the market and your fleeting clients’ needs.
"Your successful past will block your visions of the future.” – Joel A. Barker
If you wanted it to build a product you’d find a way to get time to work on it. If you really wanted to start that new hobby you’d sacrifice something to find the time and money to do it.
I'll define a "Wannabe Entrepreneur" as someone who has never made money from their businesses. Here are the different types of wannabes.
In the past few years I've built go-carts, built a 200+ sq ft workshop, written several eBooks. How do I create a life where I have time to work on side projects?