Farmer Blow – The Entrepreneurial Instinct
There are things in life that are instinctual, they are part of our nature. There are things in life that you learn, these are part of our nurture…then there are things that are neither. Some skills come from this grey area called common sense. You know these skills are not part of the evolutionary plan, grand or not. But you don’t know when, where or from whom you’ve learned it.
The skill of the Farmer Blow is one of these, also knowing WHEN to do a Farmer Blow is another. Note to the obscure few, we are not talking about cocaine. We are talking about the lack of tissues.
So where do you get the skills and the knowledge of when to apply those skills? Odd question. Most people get the same skills from different places, via different methods. How do you know what you know? ‘Well I just know’ I hear often. Lame. Think about how you know what you know.
Serious now. An entrepreneur learns skills over time, known truths to others are lessons for the new comers. The tenacity and determination needed to learn, is so similar to the emotions that keep them from learning without a direct relationship with failure; ego and pride.
I see good entrepreneurs do things on instinct and when asked how they ‘knew’ to do that, a look of puzzlement comes across their face. Aaaahh…the grey area of entrepreneurial common sense.
If I could go back to my entrepreneur beginning, I probably would teach myself these 3 things, without it; failure is certain. Not the kind you learn from, but failure where there is pain, suffering, impact to others, missed opportunity, etc.
1. Solve an existing problem, don’t create a solution to a problem only you created.
2. Build a network of people you trust and that trust you enough to tell you the truth.
3. Accept that it will be 3x – 3 times as hard, cost 3 times as much and take 3 times as long.
Save As….Build Value, not a Company
In the last month, I’ve had the chance to meet THREE intelligent entrepreneurs. I’ve met more, three had awesome ideas and I think they have what it takes. But they all miss something that I’ve learned is an important catalyst to their potential success.
I call it the ‘Save As…’ approach to business development.
I guess I could pontificate (only big word I know) about how I’ve come to this conclusion; I’ll just share two.
(1) I’ve wasted money prior to this discovery, it would have been better just to burn it to save on the heating bill. (2) I had a multi-win serial entrepreneur tell me ‘build value’ not a company. (thanks Josh)
When you begin to build something in the digital space, think about why you are building it, for who and this helps define the what. If you don’t already know to solve problems, not build solutions, I would suggest getting some matches and lowering your heating bill.
Let’s say you are all jacked up on caffeine, high from the entrepreneur disease and you want to GET GOING. This is where you need to stop..just for a little bit.
Try and answer the questions again; but in REVERSE…WHAT are you building, for WHOM and WHY. Think BIG…who else, what else?
Goofy example
So you are building a website that helps people rent their RV’s to other people, and you have the URL reserved: http://privatemotorhomerental.com/
This is where you need to STOP….your business model is NOT connecting people who have RV’s with people who want to rent RV’s. Your business model IS connecting the DEMAND with the SUPPLY at a price point. Geek Link – Equilibrium Price Explained
What about the people who have ATVs…what about Lawn Mowers, Chain Saws, Mountain Bikes…etc.
I think AirBNB missed a big opportunity to Save As….
You might be thinking, whoa now…..what about lean startup, what about focus, what about niche audience proof of concept. All that is true.
Here’s the point
In the SAME amount of time it takes to develop a solution for one problem, you can develop the SAME thing for hundreds of problems….dare say thousands of problems?
Come on..please read that again. Stop and think about building value, not a company.
I need to go start a fire.
