Your Idea Probably Sucks
My cofounder Alex Liggins and I were debating recently about what topic she should cover at a conference presentation she has to give. Her fear was that people were wanted to sign up for presentations with fluff titles like, “How to Win at Winning” and “Being the Best Version of You”. She really wanted to provide value to the people attending and share some valuable wisdom nuggets around starting a business.
As we talked more about how a lot of people follow Instagram accounts with an obscene amount of memes with expensive cars, lions, and Malibu Barbie dream homes, we realized that a lot of people really just want to see a photo of a private jet and a caption that says, “Make Your Passion Your Paycheck”, and feel that vicarious entrepreneurial rush that only Instagram posts can supply.
There are a lot of people shilling entrepreneurial books, webinars, podcasts, magazines, etc. geared toward the “3 steps it takes to make a sale” or “the top 10 things you need to do when starting your business”. Most of these people are selling the concept of entrepreneurship, but very few are giving you what you actually need to make progress with your business for the very simple reason that they can’t.
The truth is that the success of your business is dependent on your ability to listen to the market and give them a product they will buy. Another tip is that every entrepreneur attempts to sell an idea that sucks to the market and flops. The difference is those who reflect and adjust when the market doesn’t buy anymore so they can figure out how to tweak or edit their product to get better results. This is how growth occurs.
Some of you out there know that this describes you and you know that you haven’t taken the time to adjust to the market. Some of you will read this and think something along the lines of, “Yeah! I reflect and adjust!” before you go back to trying to continue selling the same exact product you’ve been trying to sell for 5 years with no customers.
If you aren’t getting the traction you want it’s probably because your idea sucks. That’s okay. Go make it better.
Author’s Note: The quotes and Instagram posts described in this post actually exist…..for real.
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Alex Sejdinaj is a cofounder of South Bend Code School, GiveGrove, and Code Works. He loves building cool stuff that helps people.
