Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

On Finding Buried Treasure
Yesterday's post got me thinking some more about the foolishness of developing a product (or any kind of content that you want to draw people into) strictly out of your own thinking.

It's kind of like taking a shovel out into a field, choosing a spot at random, and digging with the expectation that the spot you chose will produce buried treasure. You won't find any unless someone has buried some at that spot. And what are the chances that you'll pick at random the exact spot that someone chose long ago to bury treasure?

Yet choosing a niche, or developing a product, or planning content on the basis of what pops into your mind is no different than that. Both practices are based totally on guesswork and depend totally on luck for success.

Yet it's so enticing to think that whatever idea pops into our head will be exactly what others are looking for. Certainly ego is involved in such thinking. But I don't think that ego is the biggest problem.

I think the biggest problem that often leads us to rely only on our own thinking in developing tools that will appeal to others is fear. Yes, fear.

If we close ourselves off to anything but our own ideas, it feels safe. It feels like we have everything under control. We can feel like we're the big, all-knowing wizard who knows all and sees all and succeeds at all.

Cutting ourselves off from others in the name of feeling like we have everything under control, though, is fatal to success. Opening ourselves up to others and to their ideas and needs feels risky. It can feel downright scary if we've lived our lives holding others at arm's length for the sake of feeling like we're "in control."

But there's no substitute for letting others into our decision process when it comes to deciding what others want. That's why research is crucial.
Jeff

Labels: mindset, start business, successful business