It Starts With a Hunch

Photo credit to Joey Gannon

All businesses start with a hunch. 

A feeling in your gut that "there's something here".  That someone (or lots of someones) might actually pay for the product or service that, for now, brews in your head.

For many, the hunch ends there. It remains an idea, consigned - sometimes rightly - to the waste bin of Businesses That Weren't Meant To Be.

For others, though, the hunch is strong enough. Real enough. Tangible enough.

Strong enough that you feel compelled to take the next step.

Real enough that it just intuitively makes sense. It resonates. (Even if only to you.)

Tangible enough that it gets you excited just thinking about it. That you just can't get it out of your head. 

Sometimes, there are facts and figures you can find to back up your hunch. But many times, there aren't. You look for it, but the data is nowhere to be found. And yet your idea still won't go away. There's something there.

Sometimes, you'll discuss it with others, to get their reasoned perspective. And 9 times out of 10, you'll hear The Refrain of The Considered: If that's such a good idea, why hasn't anyone else thought of it? Why would you give up a well paying job to go do something like that? Did you know 90% of businesses fail in the first year? We're in a/about to enter a/just emerging from a recession, and you'd be crazy to start a business now. You have a wife and kids and family to look after, don't be stupid. 

I'm here to tell you: Don't. Give. A. Fuck.

If your hunch is strong enough, be crazy. If you're solving a problem that you know exists, be 'stupid'. If it meets a need that your personal experience tells you makes sense, believe in it.

Everything else represents technicalities that you can deal with. 

I felt, heard and experienced all of the above when The Smart Cube was just an idea. When I had a wife, a 4 year old and a 6 month old; a great job, a nice office and a career path forward.

But the idea stuck. It resonated. It made sense. It gnawed at me to the point where I realised that it wasn't that I would regret taking the chance to start the business. It's that I KNEW I would regret it if I didn't. 

Don't consign your idea to 'Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda'. Don't live some life that isn't yours. Don't regret not doing it. Be one of "the crazy ones".