Introduction
Sitting in entrepreneurship class during my sophomore year of college, I started off bright-eyed and enthusiastic about the prospects of maybe striking collegiate gold by having a great idea come to me and leading my own start-up at nineteen. We hear of so many students starting their own businesses nowadays, I thought, “Why not me too?” I’m not audacious enough to compare myself to Mark Zuckerberg who started Facebook when he was in college and dropped out to lead one of the most influential and innovative companies of the twentieth century. But, I believed in myself enough to start something. As the semester rolled on, I remained enthusiastic, but my bright eyes started to dull when the realization slowly dawned on me, “I don’t think I’m that creative. How do I come up with something that doesn’t already exist?”
This question has stayed with me over the years, filling a little space in the corner of my mind and nagging at me like a browser ad that just won’t quit. I thought that all the entrepreneurs I know of created something that didn’t exist before: Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Huda Kattan, Tory Burch, Sara Blakely. Then, I realized I was wrong and giving each of these people too much credit.
Don’t get it twisted. These are some of the finest business minds who have reached successes I can only dream of matching, but alas I was wrong about them. They’re great, but even they aren’t “creating something that never existed before” great. Myspace, telephones, Mercedes- Benz, false lashes, high fashion, and hosiery all existed before each of these founders started their great companies. These entrepreneurs didn’t create something that the world had never seen before; these people reinvented and improved on things the world had already seen.
If these titan entrepreneurs aren’t responsible for plucking things out of thin air, then you and I should both be able to let ourselves off the hook for that too. This is what Fly By is all about.
The way we think of innovation is too sheltered. Oftentimes, we think that inspiration must come from within, invention has to be completely original, and founder creation lies in the individual. We glorify the entrepreneurs who came up with it all by themselves. We think that success starts from ground zero.
Steve Jobs and Apple.
Jeff Bezos and Amazon.
Bill Gates and Microsoft.
Most other companies do not start out like this at all. Most other companies do not create something the world has never seen before. Usually, companies capitalize on the reinvention of things that the world has seen many times already.
Millions of businesses in the food, service, home goods, and financial industries also have compelling stories and lessons that can benefit aspiring entrepreneurs looking for their next Big Idea. And there is no better inspiration than a trip around the world.
Hope you enjoyed this excerpt from the introduction of my upcoming book Fly By! You can join me on this international journey!
In the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing more articles, excerpts from the Book, and other stories from my book Fly By, which launches next week on Amazon, Rakuten, and Kobo! If you want to read more stories and articles or get updates on the launch of Fly By, you can fill out this link. If you want to connect, you can reach me here via email or connect with me on social: @gracehuang_author on Instagram and this link on Linkedin.
