The Trail is Yours

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

One of the hardest things to get your head around when you’ve decided to create something new, is that no one has the answer to what you need to do.

How your offering should be designed, what it should do, how it should be priced - all of this is up for debate. There may be comparables out there - models that you can compare to and get ideas from, and they can offer a guide, a few suggestions along the path.

But unless what you’re planning to build is a “me-too” offering (and perhaps even then), you’re genuinely blazing a new trail. And that means accepting the fact that part of your job is to figure out what that trail needs to look like.

This means, by definition, trial and error. It means trusting your gut. It means - sometimes - throwing things at a wall to see what sticks (when you don’t know what the heck else to do). Believe it or not, those are all time-tested, viable options. 

You’re going to be wrong a few times. You’ll do some things that you’ll look back on and wonder why you ever thought that would work. That’s par for the course. In fact, the beauty of creating is to do something that hasn’t been done before. That’s exactly the point, and the thrill.

The key - to me at least - is that if you stay true to a vision and core ethos, if you trust yourself despite the inevitable doubts, if you always do what you think is the right thing, I really believe you’ll be fine. 

Steve Jobs once said that everything around us was created by people no smarter than ourselves and when you figure that out - really internalize it - it frees you up to understand and accept (internalize) that your act of creation is every bit as valuable, as viable and as potent.

Merry Christmas, folks.