Inspired by a recent series of posts (as well as recent personal experience).
The market has spoken. They don’t want what you have to offer.
You’ve tried something and you’ve failed. It hurts. I get it.
You’re out some money, time, and you’ve embarrassed yourself in front of friends and potential customers. You told people about your great idea, showed them your prototype, and got to trying to sell the thing and…
…nothing. Nada. $0 in sales.
Not only have you lost confidence, but you’re confident that what you’ve got is just not going to work.
“What do I do now?” you ask. “I clearly don’t know what I’m doing. Am I really cut out for this?”
I’ll address this backwards.
Are you cut out for this? I don’t know, but you’ll know by the end of this post.
And it’s true. You don’t know what you’re doing. But that’s okay.
What do you do now? I’ll tell you what you DON’T do…
Don’t mope.
Don’t drift into self-pity. Don’t feel sorry for yourself because what you tried didn’t work.
People smarter and more experienced than you have failed in more spectacular and embarrassing ways. You’re not a loser because you failed. But you will be a loser if you sit there and mope. Why?
Because you won’t want to try again. You’ll remember the pain of failure and not the exhilaration of providing value. Your friends will say “remember last time? It won’t work.” Your parents will say “Oh, honey, not again.”
So what do you do?
Be a goldfish. Forget about it. Move on.
Back to the drawing board. You came in trying to solve a problem, and it turns out people either (1) didn’t care about that problem nearly enough to pay for it or (2) had objections to your solution to the problem that you didn’t know about.
Now go back.
Who were you trying to help? (Market definition)
What do they really want? (Dream outcome)
What gets in the way of getting what they want? (Problems, pain points, “bleeding necks”)
What already exists to solve those problems? (Competition)
What do they love and hate about those solutions? (Value skews)
Do this quick. The more time you waste moping, the longer it’ll take for you to succeed.
I wasted years moping. Don't do that.
The market has spoken. They don’t want what you have to offer.
You’ve tried something and you’ve failed. It hurts. I get it.
You’re out some money, time, and you’ve embarrassed yourself in front of friends and potential customers. You told people about your great idea, showed them your prototype, and got to trying to sell the thing and…
…nothing. Nada. $0 in sales.
Not only have you lost confidence, but you’re confident that what you’ve got is just not going to work.
“What do I do now?” you ask. “I clearly don’t know what I’m doing. Am I really cut out for this?”
I’ll address this backwards.
Are you cut out for this? I don’t know, but you’ll know by the end of this post.
And it’s true. You don’t know what you’re doing. But that’s okay.
What do you do now? I’ll tell you what you DON’T do…
Don’t mope.
Don’t drift into self-pity. Don’t feel sorry for yourself because what you tried didn’t work.
People smarter and more experienced than you have failed in more spectacular and embarrassing ways. You’re not a loser because you failed. But you will be a loser if you sit there and mope. Why?
Because you won’t want to try again. You’ll remember the pain of failure and not the exhilaration of providing value. Your friends will say “remember last time? It won’t work.” Your parents will say “Oh, honey, not again.”
So what do you do?
Be a goldfish. Forget about it. Move on.
Back to the drawing board. You came in trying to solve a problem, and it turns out people either (1) didn’t care about that problem nearly enough to pay for it or (2) had objections to your solution to the problem that you didn’t know about.
Now go back.
Who were you trying to help? (Market definition)
What do they really want? (Dream outcome)
What gets in the way of getting what they want? (Problems, pain points, “bleeding necks”)
What already exists to solve those problems? (Competition)
What do they love and hate about those solutions? (Value skews)
Do this quick. The more time you waste moping, the longer it’ll take for you to succeed.
I wasted years moping. Don't do that.
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