Dream Crashers All Around? Are you ready?

Not many people comeup with Ideas and Opinions on any given subject on their own.  But when some one express an opinion or share an Idea, the whole world wakesup. Some try to tear the opinion or idea apart by giving their 'expertise' judgement. Some express 100s of reasons why it will fail. Some question the motivation behind the idea or opinion. Some shoots the messenger itself. A very few, believe me, you can count them on fingers, see the potential and will try to understand the implications.

These days, we see 100s of them in blogs, articles, magazines, conferences, reviews, interviews, commentaries and every social gathering that try to offer and market their judgements, comments and suggestions. I guess, this is a natural tendency and human nature that is completely in line with Darwin's law of 'survival of the fittest'. Not everybody is humble to see through. And truly and honestly, not everybody is competent to see it.

And there is nothing absolute about somebody always on one side of it. We all come under that 'many people' in one instance and we will be on the receiving side in another instance.

If You Have a Dream

If we you have a dream, a new idea about a product or service, you approach the same community for one or  the other reason. And we are sure on the receiving side  this time. There will be 100s people telling you what is wrong, what is right, what is the better way and why you must listen to them.  This is something you can not avoid. But You could take advantage of it if you give it a thought and be prepared for it.

Not Everybody Can See Your Idea

The reason Your idea is brand new, because No one ever thought about it or precisely no one ever expressed it. Most probable reason could be that they don't see the potential or feasibility of the idea itself, since Many of us who are regular readers of blogs, frequent attendees to conferences and social gatherings have a sense of different market opportunities. And, Probably we are trying to 'convince' the same people about the idea. 

Your gut feelings say it. Your intuition says it.  But it is almost impossible to prove it. 

Hugh MacLeod's manifesto on 'How to be Creative' says it with a pinch of salt.

The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you. When I first started with the cartoon-onback-of-bizcard format, people thought I was nuts. Why wasnʼt I trying to do something more easy for markets to digest, i.e., cutie-pie greeting cards or whatever?

You donʼt know if your idea is any good the moment itʼs created. Neither does anyone else.The most you can hope for is a strong gut feeling that it is. And trusting your feelings is not as easy as the optimists say it is. Thereʼs a reason why feelings scare us.

And asking close friends never works quite as well as you hope, either. Itʼs not that they deliberately want to be unhelpful. Itʼs just they donʼt know your world one millionth as well as you know your world, no matter how hard they try, no matter how hard you try to explain.

- Hugh MacLeod (GapingVoid) [ChangeThis Manifesto]

It is not confined to a few individuals that we often fail to see. We all tend to argue if we take some real life examples that are happening at this moment. But have a look at some of the following well known stories, we all might see the point.

How many Computers The World Need?

I think there is a world market for about five computers" — Attributed to Thomas J. Watson (Chairman of the Board of International Business Machines), 1943.

About feasibility of FedEX

“This concept is interesting and well formed, but in order to earn better than a C, the idea must be feasible.”  - Fred Smith's Professor at Yale

About Apple's, CEO of Dell at the Gartner Symposium and ITxpo97:

"What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders"

How Relationships affect?

One of my favorite bloggers, Pamela Slim at Escape From Cubicle Nation shared another interesting aspect of becoming an Entrepreneur. The shift in your relationships, the moment you share your idea.

One of the unexpected parts of heading towards your right life is discovering that sometimes those around you are not ready, willing or able to see you change.  This can result in disagreements, fracturing or even ending long-term friendships and relationships.

Relationships put a serious pressure on your motivation and commitment towards our goals and for some of us it might crash the dream itself.

There is a wonderful presentation at TED talks by Richard St. John that mentions one of the key factors of success as persistence against failure and crap. And here is a snapshot of what he defines as Crap:

So be prepared and expect that every other person you come across will try to crash your dreams. Surround yourself with trusted friends and partners and people who honestly encourage you.  Friction and Rejection is inevitable and quite needed to move forward. So are the dream crashers. You can't avoid them. Try to see if you can take advantage of the ideas and objections raised. You might well find a new opportunity to grow your business.

Wish you all find an Inspiring band of partners and friends and Good Luck.