Entrepreneurs are naturally optimistic people. They are thought to be as fearless, ambitious folks, ready to do whatever it takes to reach the pinnacle of their business success. And that is true to some extent. Optimism is an inherent quality you absolutely need in order to survive as an entrepreneur. This quality helps you get out of bed in the morning, and get through the trials and tribulations of the day. An entrepreneur without optimism is bound to collapse, ten times out of ten. You have to have the ability to spot the silver lining in the worst of the situations.
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However, sometimes, too much optimism can lead to huge business failures as well. Looking at the world through rose-colored glasses can cloud your rational judgment and get the better of you. I have seen enough young entrepreneurs losing their plots due to irrational self-belief and optimism. Too much of anything can be harmful; in the world of business, it can even be fatal. Let’s go back in the archive of failed businesses to see how unfettered optimism ended up in the ruins of the business.
In the year 2000, pets.com launched its pet supply website. Its model was built upon early marketing investment without the presence of any actual market research to base their decision making. The company succeeded in making its sock puppet spokesman famous, but there was no demand for its services. In effect, the company failed within a year of its IPO.
This is a classic example of unfettered, irrational optimism taking over objective and rational decision making. To ensure that you do not fall prey to unrealistic optimism, bear in mind the following things:
1. Keep a check on your passion
The one quality that unites all the young entrepreneurs is the fact that they are all brimming with passion. Every entrepreneur wants to achieve great things in life, all of them are prepared to put in the efforts, but a question arises: will all of them make it?
Much as we’d want it to happen, not everyone who has the passion and willingness to achieve great things invariably achieves it. We do not exist in a state of utopia. Passion does not determine whether or not you make it. It’s a mixture of hard work, intelligence and cashing in on opportunities. The permutation and combination of these three determine whether or not you make it in the business.
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Passion is a must, though. For it gets you to begin doing things. It’s a great place to start from. But if you have to make business decisions, you must keep a check on your passion. Make sure that your passion does not spill over to your rational brain and cloud your judgment. To succeed in the business world, you have to make decisions based on statistics, and numbers — sometimes the gut feeling too but never based on your passions.
2. You cannot impress everyone
Young, optimistic entrepreneurs must carve this fact in stones, so they never forget it: YOU CANNOT IMPRESS EVERYONE. It’s futile to even try. I’m saying this because sometimes, young entrepreneurs forget about it while they are carving out their business strategies. They strive to come up with a strategy that works with every stratum of the society and end up falling head over heels. Businesses have never worked like this. Strategies are not MEANT to be loved by everyone. Instead, while coming up with your business strategies, you must select a really specific target group, and look to impress only them. All your efforts must be targeted to the demands and convenience of that group. What anyone else thinks doesn’t matter. If you go ahead trying to make everyone happy, you will end up sad.
3. Be prepared for failure
In business, like every other sphere of life, failure is inevitable. No matter how positive minded you are, or how hard you have worked for something, the chances of you failing will always be 50 percent. As entrepreneurs, our fight is not so much to succeed, as it is to negate the probability of failure. But it still happens. And it will happen. Not even the most excellent of strategies can prevent failure.
For the people who are too optimistic, failure can come almost as a surprise. Constant failure can alter the positive man’s mind negatively, and it may result in eventual quitting. You have to maintain an objective stance towards failure. You have to realize that failure is not the opposite of success. Instead, it is a stepping stone to success. As entrepreneurs, it is highly likely that within your professional life, you will get through more failure than success. If you don’t learn how to take failure in the right light, you can never survive in this turbulent world.
Conclusion
A healthy dose of optimism is a must when it comes to entrepreneurship, but too much of it — and you are bound to lose the plot. Keep the above mentioned points in mind the next time you find yourself being a little ‘too positive.’