When starting a new business or doing something in general, for the first time, you are better off not knowing what’s going on inside, not knowing too much about the industry or getting too much into details. One of the reasons is that you are more likely to do a better job of creating something from a perspective of a consumer or a fan, then from a perspective of a person who is too cought up into selling, marketing and research, who has changed his perspective. That person will always be coming from a mindset of how he should do it. It’s a lot easier to make a change when you are starting from where your customers are because you are still one of them, at the point of creating an idea. If you want to succeed, you have to make a change. You shouldn’t do it the way it has already been done; following those guys inside will only lead you to make the same mistakes they are doing.
Also, if you know too much about what’s going on inside, it will be a lot harder for you to be original and continue being passionate about your work. Some will find passion is not as strong as it seemed at the begining. As soon as you focus too much on how other people are doing it and begin to imitate them, your passion will vanish and you will be asking yourself why you started this in the first place.
Getting all the inside information to predict what’s going to happen in the future so you can start a business one step ahead of the others will inescapably turn into a failiure every time. There is only one reason for it – that is not what will get you a step ahead of everybody. Trying to “obey” to some imaginary conditions, without even having fans and customers, with a mere wish to succeed won’t work. You can always follow trends and see where markets are going to go, which small changes are going to happen. That is something you can pick up along the way and definitely not something you should build your business upon because there wouldn’t be enough to build it on.
You should focus on things you can control, not try to chase something that is not within your reach. You will not impress anyone by knowing all the news and stories or marketing strategies, you will impress people with your knowledge and success rate, with your speciality and your customer service or public performance.
Knowing it all before you even start will, more likely, make you quit now then it would half way down the road. When you go through ups and downs, become successful and enjoy your business, you will be glad you did all of it to get to where you are.
You can always learn and improve as you go.
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* photo courtesy Christine & Eric
