In business we all fail. Just fail quickly…

‘The challenge of a problem, or it’s importance, isn’t that related to how likely you are to achieve it…..all the side affects that come along the way can be that much more rewarding and significant in their own right’ Sergey Brin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyKoq-ihao0

The point of my blog is to teach others about business. I am inexperienced myself and used to be a language teacher. However, I want to become an entrepreneur and decided that after leaving my last job now would be a great time to start. I am keeping a blog to apply the idea that ‘you can only teach something if you know it’t. I hope that I can document my knowledge and experiences well enough so that they can teach others, I can learn myself, and ultimately I can launch my first business. Wish me luck.

Today I would like to talk about prototyping or the development cycle. When going through the concept phase for a new idea or product the development cycle is key. In the words of Sergey Brin ‘you need to be able to churn through things quickly.’And you are obviously going to have failures and bad ideas but it’s really important to fail quickly and move on

In my case, I have an idea for a french gourmet pastry item sold at busy areas or catered to events and businesses in my country. I am no chef or baker, not even close. Which brings up another really importatn idea I ran across over the last week. It’s from a self help book/cd called ‘The Truth About You’. The author suggests that:

‘Your strengths are not what you’re good at and you’re weaknesses aren’t what you are bad at.’

I am still trying to apply the best parts of the idea. However, what I did really appreciate was the really insightful way to help figure what type of business or career might best suit you. The author asks you to make lists of things that you do that make you feel excited, more energetic, or that you can kind of do for hours without becoming bored or tired.

These things he says are your strenghts. Notice, that I didn’t necessarily say things you are good at. In my case, for example, when I started paying attention I realized I felt really energetic and in a good mood when studying foreign languages, playing soccer, cooking and reading. That was a relief, since my new business idea involves food and cooking in the development stage.

I am no chef. I also don’t have any formal cooking or baking experience. I simply enjoy the process of trying to make certain foods and getting the recipes perfect. Some would disagree but this is the strategy I will use to get my first business going. And so far it’s been pretty enjoyable, I have spent lots of time with my son and I am not too far off from having the basic version of the product I have in mind.

Forget about improving your weaknesses. We all have weaknesses and they are nothing to be ashamed off. I am really good at organizing and administrative type work but it bores me to tears. This is a weakness. If you spend a significant portion of time doing something you are good at but you hate it or can’t wait to stop, it’s a weakness and you would be better off getting better at your strengths.

That said, It’s important to be humble and to know where you are weak however, this is a great opportunity to add people to your team who compliment your weaknesses. I am at the stage of planning how to ideally set up my new business idea and getting the types of people to work alongside who can add the most value.

In the picture above I am showing my own development cycle at home. It’s my fourth attempt and each time they keep getting better. I take careful notes of the recipes I use and try to improve upon the things that I think should be better. In my most recent attempt I need to improve on: 1. making them with a consistent size and shape 2. cook more inside without burning 3.how long they are at their ‘best’ for etc.

In my next blog I hope to spend some time teaching about my experience of coming up with a business plan and whether it is something I enjoy doing or whether I might be better off working with someone who sees this type of activity as a strength and who can help me make a far better plan than I could come up with myself.