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If you’re like us at Startup Connection, you have big ambitions. You don’t see the world as it is; you see it as it could be.
We pride ourselves on this style of thinking, and we admire anyone who shares this kind of vision.
Sometimes, it gets hard to keep reaching for the stars, so that’s why we put together Five Big Ideas Every Entrepreneur Needs to Hear in today’s post to give you the inspiration you need to keep pushing forward with your business on the pathway to success.
1. “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” – Sheryl Sandberg
We love this kind of thinking because it’s so incredibly vital to remove fear as the chief motivator of our decision-making.
Yes, you should weigh risk when making decisions, but fear is different than risk. Risk says, “Hey, if you do this, you have a 40 percent chance of losing $20,000 per month.” Risk then leaves it up to you to decide.
Fear says, “Oh no, you can’t do this! You might lose $20,000 per month and embarrass yourself and not be able to pay for your kids’ college!” Fear doesn’t leave you the room to decide. It tries to bully you into doing what it wants.
If you’re able to do what you want and conquer fear, you’ll be amazed and what you can accomplish, and how much more fulfilled you are, along the way.
2. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” – "Think Different” campaign for Apple by Chiat Day
Apple has had some of the best ads of all-time because they focus on the values of the company, instead of the offerings. In their “Think Different” campaign, they asserted that big ideas can change the world. It’s true.
When you have big, bold ideas, some people are going to find that a little crazy. That’s okay. Maybe it takes a little crazy to change the world.
3. “A vision without execution is hallucination.” – Thomas Edison
We preach this very principle here at Startup Connection all the time. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve seen a truly good idea struggle to get off the ground because the person or team behind it wasn’t adept at implementing it.
Don’t get me wrong, ideas matter. Ideas are where it all gets started. Without great ideas, you will always have a tough time. But, once you have that idea, you need to build the infrastructure and processes to put it into action – otherwise the idea has no value. As an entrepreneur with tons of ideas, it can be easy to forget that, so always take time to remind yourself of this truth.
4. You will make mistakes. Treat them as learning experiences.
Have you ever made a mistake? If you answered “no,” then you have a much bigger problem than the person who answered “yes.” If you’ve never made a mistake, then that means you’ve lived your life by making the safest possible decisions and never ventured outside of your comfort zone and never learned a whole lot.
Society often perceives mistakes as failures. That’s usually not true. If you make a mistake, you usually learn something for next time, and that makes you smarter and more experienced. The only time you fail by making a mistake is when you don’t learn anything and keep making that same mistake.
5. Why are you different, how do you communicate your difference, and does anyone care about it?
Herein lies the key to marketing. Anytime you’re developing a new product, make sure to address these three questions. If your product is like everyone else’s, then there really isn’t a need for it. If it is different but you can’t communicate that difference clearly or without spending millions upon millions to educate the consumer, that’s a red flag. And, if your difference is something insignificant or irrelevant to your consumer, then your difference doesn’t have any value.
Seek to stand out, but do it in a way that means something to your consumers, and make sure it’s a difference that you can clearly and easily explain.
These are things we believe here at Startup Connection. Being an entrepreneur is hard work, and to get where you want to go, you need to think big, believe in yourself, and make sure you have developed sound mechanics to actually get there.