An Important Reminder: It's Not About What You Like

[Prince33]

Reminds me of this vid. Why work has to suck.

 

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[Burtronnegut]

"We do not get to decide what works." - Dane Maxwell

"You have a place in the universe. And that place is not to make the universe be what you want. The place is for you to serve. You serve the moment, you raise the moment, you help, you bring love. You never take. You wouldn't even know what taking means. You have no preference about what that moment is. When you have no preferences, everything is beautiful. The highest life you can live is that every single moment that passes in front of you is better off because it did." - Michael A. Singer

A Quick Thought Experiment First...​

Imagine I'm giving you two businesses.

Business A is a beautiful business. It sells a product you would absolutely use. It ticks all your personal boxes for how a business needs to be set up to work well. Its marketing strategy, its brand, its story—it's so beautiful you could grab some popcorn and sit and watch how beautiful it is.

Business B is a disaster. It sells a product you think is silly. You find the way marketing strategy embarrassing. The brand is ridiculous and you have no idea who would ever buy anything from this business. In fact, it's so bad you don't even want to think about it anymore.

Without extra information, you'd surely go with business A. It seems like a perfect fit for you. There's no way whatsoever it wouldn't work.

And if the world behaved according to our own likes and dislikes, that's what would happen. But surprise! In my completely made up for the purposes of this thread example, it's the business B that's getting all the customers and business A that's struggling. Why? Because what you prefer has no impact whatsoever on whether it works. You don't get to decide which business works because you like it.

A Tough Pill to Swallow...​

As entrepreneurs, we love our ideas. We love our opinions. We love believing in our superiority, that we know better than others. But what we want and don't want has no impact on the world and it doesn't make others want or not want the same things.

As a self-published author, I wrote dozens of books. A few of them produced the vast majority of my income. And the funny part is that most of them—according to me—are some of my worst works. Yet, the world doesn't care about my opinion. The reality is that for some reason, those books appealed to people. Meanwhile, the books I loved writing so much didn't work. There's no right or wrong in business (ethics aside). It either works or it doesn't.

I'd be lying if I said I'm okay with that. There are lots of things I don't like in business (again, ethics aside), yet that work well. It's a work in progress for me, too. It's a lifelong practice. Every day, you work on letting go of your opinions to become more flexible and adapt to the changing world.

You're free not to do the things that you don't like. You don't have to use that new hot platform if you think it's stupid. You don't have to offer a new line of your products that would appeal to a new hungry demographic that you don't like. You don't have to put out a product whose design you hate, even though it seems to work for your competitors. But if you choose not to engage in any of these things, at least admit that YOU are the problem, not the market. Because again: you don't get to decide what the market wants and your preference has no impact either way.

What you like or don't like is irrelevant in business.

If it works but you don't like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and do it.

If it doesn't work but you like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and look for something else.

And if it works and you like it, STILL swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and keep working on it while it's working. Your preference DID NOT make it work. In the end, your only responsibility is to serve your customer. Their needs may change. For now, theirs and yours preferences align but soon they may stop doing so.

If you let your own opinions stop you from doing what works, you may become that person wasting their life stubbornly working on business A. Meanwhile, you could have focused on serving the market regardless of your preferences with business B (and become rich the easier way).

P.S. The more opinionated you are, the more difficult life is in general. When you have strong likes and dislikes, you have a narrow band of experiences when you feel okay. Any situation, person, place, experience that doesn't match your opinions makes you miserable. Opening yourself to all kinds of things, without any judgments, is one of the easiest ways to make your life a whole lot more peaceful.

In all honesty, I struggle with this. I've read MFL, Unscripted and TGRRE and have achieved a little success. Mostly by luck though. If I'd prioritised doing what others want and need I'd be a lot more successful, that's for sure. So I can testify to this from the other side. Don't do WHAT YOU WANT. It will only lead to a little success, if you're lucky.

I'm working on this. I think i spent too long believing my own ideas are so great that I don't need to listen to what others want. Perhaps a better route would be to have no ideas and follow only what the audience I'm serving wants from me.

Thank you for writing this post @MTF - I needed the kick up the arse.

 

[T. Davis]

Ya, most of the people I talk to who are thinking of starting businesses talk about them like they are hobbies. "I want to do this so I'm going to do A, B, and C."

Um... Good luck with that because what you want to do is irrelevant...

 

[Drchainsaw]

Thank you for this post I have taken a great deal of insight from it. I've stopped development of my current project recently to get more information on its viability from other people , I know the product is something I'd be willing to pay for but not necessarily other people.

 

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[MTF]

Thank you for this post I have taken a great deal of insight from it. I've stopped development of my current project recently to get more information on its viability from other people , I know the product is something I'd be willing to pay for but not necessarily other people.

Yeah I think it's risky to rely on "I'd buy it." There's a lot of stuff I'd buy but most people probably wouldn't.

 

[Drchainsaw]

Yeah I think it's risky to rely on "I'd buy it." There's a lot of stuff I'd buy but most people probably wouldn't.

Completely agree, unfortunately this mentality has caused me to be a bit more unconfident about what projects to work on but i think this is probably for the better.

 

[Ytcho's]

"We do not get to decide what works." - Dane Maxwell

"You have a place in the universe. And that place is not to make the universe be what you want. The place is for you to serve. You serve the moment, you raise the moment, you help, you bring love. You never take. You wouldn't even know what taking means. You have no preference about what that moment is. When you have no preferences, everything is beautiful. The highest life you can live is that every single moment that passes in front of you is better off because it did." - Michael A. Singer

A Quick Thought Experiment First...​

Imagine I'm giving you two businesses.

Business A is a beautiful business. It sells a product you would absolutely use. It ticks all your personal boxes for how a business needs to be set up to work well. Its marketing strategy, its brand, its story—it's so beautiful you could grab some popcorn and sit and watch how beautiful it is.

Business B is a disaster. It sells a product you think is silly. You find the way marketing strategy embarrassing. The brand is ridiculous and you have no idea who would ever buy anything from this business. In fact, it's so bad you don't even want to think about it anymore.

Without extra information, you'd surely go with business A. It seems like a perfect fit for you. There's no way whatsoever it wouldn't work.

And if the world behaved according to our own likes and dislikes, that's what would happen. But surprise! In my completely made up for the purposes of this thread example, it's the business B that's getting all the customers and business A that's struggling. Why? Because what you prefer has no impact whatsoever on whether it works. You don't get to decide which business works because you like it.

A Tough Pill to Swallow...​

As entrepreneurs, we love our ideas. We love our opinions. We love believing in our superiority, that we know better than others. But what we want and don't want has no impact on the world and it doesn't make others want or not want the same things.

As a self-published author, I wrote dozens of books. A few of them produced the vast majority of my income. And the funny part is that most of them—according to me—are some of my worst works. Yet, the world doesn't care about my opinion. The reality is that for some reason, those books appealed to people. Meanwhile, the books I loved writing so much didn't work. There's no right or wrong in business (ethics aside). It either works or it doesn't.

I'd be lying if I said I'm okay with that. There are lots of things I don't like in business (again, ethics aside), yet that work well. It's a work in progress for me, too. It's a lifelong practice. Every day, you work on letting go of your opinions to become more flexible and adapt to the changing world.

You're free not to do the things that you don't like. You don't have to use that new hot platform if you think it's stupid. You don't have to offer a new line of your products that would appeal to a new hungry demographic that you don't like. You don't have to put out a product whose design you hate, even though it seems to work for your competitors. But if you choose not to engage in any of these things, at least admit that YOU are the problem, not the market. Because again: you don't get to decide what the market wants and your preference has no impact either way.

What you like or don't like is irrelevant in business.

If it works but you don't like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and do it.

If it doesn't work but you like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and look for something else.

And if it works and you like it, STILL swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and keep working on it while it's working. Your preference DID NOT make it work. In the end, your only responsibility is to serve your customer. Their needs may change. For now, theirs and yours preferences align but soon they may stop doing so.

If you let your own opinions stop you from doing what works, you may become that person wasting their life stubbornly working on business A. Meanwhile, you could have focused on serving the market regardless of your preferences with business B (and become rich the easier way).

P.S. The more opinionated you are, the more difficult life is in general. When you have strong likes and dislikes, you have a narrow band of experiences when you feel okay. Any situation, person, place, experience that doesn't match your opinions makes you miserable. Opening yourself to all kinds of things, without any judgments, is one of the easiest ways to make your life a whole lot more peaceful.

This post is amazing, thanks for sharing! @MTF

I was thinking about looking for something to do that I really liked because I thought it would be "easier" to perform, the fact is that I don’t even know what I really like because I lived in a Matrix (shadow of others) Until the age of 22, today I have 24 and 2 years frustrated in the affiliate market.

I still have difficulty looking at the world and seeing opportunities because my mind is focused on passive income and not doing things that I find uncomfortable, but now I realize that at first it takes a lot of effort to achieve the ideal.

And when I started it was because of ads I received and not looking for a need and looking for how to solve it.

But I have a question, if I have a personal problem, a pattern that I see in many people (even if they don’t consciously know it) and create something to solve it, would it be viable as a business?

I hope I have spoken correctly, my English is still amateur.

 

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[MTF]

But I have a question, if I have a personal problem, a pattern that I see in many people (even if they don’t consciously know it) and create something to solve it, would it be viable as a business?

If people aren't aware of the problem, then when selling it you need to educate them on it. This makes it a hard sell.

 

[augustsenna]

"We do not get to decide what works." - Dane Maxwell

"You have a place in the universe. And that place is not to make the universe be what you want. The place is for you to serve. You serve the moment, you raise the moment, you help, you bring love. You never take. You wouldn't even know what taking means. You have no preference about what that moment is. When you have no preferences, everything is beautiful. The highest life you can live is that every single moment that passes in front of you is better off because it did." - Michael A. Singer

A Quick Thought Experiment First...​

Imagine I'm giving you two businesses.

Business A is a beautiful business. It sells a product you would absolutely use. It ticks all your personal boxes for how a business needs to be set up to work well. Its marketing strategy, its brand, its story—it's so beautiful you could grab some popcorn and sit and watch how beautiful it is.

Business B is a disaster. It sells a product you think is silly. You find the way marketing strategy embarrassing. The brand is ridiculous and you have no idea who would ever buy anything from this business. In fact, it's so bad you don't even want to think about it anymore.

Without extra information, you'd surely go with business A. It seems like a perfect fit for you. There's no way whatsoever it wouldn't work.

And if the world behaved according to our own likes and dislikes, that's what would happen. But surprise! In my completely made up for the purposes of this thread example, it's the business B that's getting all the customers and business A that's struggling. Why? Because what you prefer has no impact whatsoever on whether it works. You don't get to decide which business works because you like it.

A Tough Pill to Swallow...​

As entrepreneurs, we love our ideas. We love our opinions. We love believing in our superiority, that we know better than others. But what we want and don't want has no impact on the world and it doesn't make others want or not want the same things.

As a self-published author, I wrote dozens of books. A few of them produced the vast majority of my income. And the funny part is that most of them—according to me—are some of my worst works. Yet, the world doesn't care about my opinion. The reality is that for some reason, those books appealed to people. Meanwhile, the books I loved writing so much didn't work. There's no right or wrong in business (ethics aside). It either works or it doesn't.

I'd be lying if I said I'm okay with that. There are lots of things I don't like in business (again, ethics aside), yet that work well. It's a work in progress for me, too. It's a lifelong practice. Every day, you work on letting go of your opinions to become more flexible and adapt to the changing world.

You're free not to do the things that you don't like. You don't have to use that new hot platform if you think it's stupid. You don't have to offer a new line of your products that would appeal to a new hungry demographic that you don't like. You don't have to put out a product whose design you hate, even though it seems to work for your competitors. But if you choose not to engage in any of these things, at least admit that YOU are the problem, not the market. Because again: you don't get to decide what the market wants and your preference has no impact either way.

What you like or don't like is irrelevant in business.

If it works but you don't like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and do it.

If it doesn't work but you like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and look for something else.

And if it works and you like it, STILL swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and keep working on it while it's working. Your preference DID NOT make it work. In the end, your only responsibility is to serve your customer. Their needs may change. For now, theirs and yours preferences align but soon they may stop doing so.

If you let your own opinions stop you from doing what works, you may become that person wasting their life stubbornly working on business A. Meanwhile, you could have focused on serving the market regardless of your preferences with business B (and become rich the easier way).

P.S. The more opinionated you are, the more difficult life is in general. When you have strong likes and dislikes, you have a narrow band of experiences when you feel okay. Any situation, person, place, experience that doesn't match your opinions makes you miserable. Opening yourself to all kinds of things, without any judgments, is one of the easiest ways to make your life a whole lot more peaceful.

Excellent post, thank you so much for sharing!

 

[Antifragile]

The more opinionated you are, the more difficult life is in general.

Picking one line, totally out of context because it stood out to me.

On the one hand, I struggled in my younger years because my opinions were shit. I knew nothing but had confidence. However, later the same confidence combined with experience led to success. But people who aren't "opinionated" and easily swing from one side to another can't accomplish much either. So I struggle to say whether I agree or disagree with that statement. Be open minded, but have an opinion too. You must. Because if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything.

Thoughts?

 

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[MTF]

Picking one line, totally out of context because it stood out to me.

On the one hand, I struggled in my younger years because my opinions were shit. I knew nothing but had confidence. However, later the same confidence combined with experience led to success. But people who aren't "opinionated" and easily swing from one side to another can't accomplish much either. So I struggle to say whether I agree or disagree with that statement. Be open minded, but have an opinion too. You must. Because if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything.

Thoughts?

I agree with that. I should have said "the more close-minded you are" as this would be a more accurate statement. You can be opinionated but keep your mind open to changing your opinion if it makes sense.

For example, I was very opinionated about crypto being BS. But thankfully I was exposed to evidence/thoughts that made me change my mind. So you can still swing from one side to another even if opinionated.

 

[Andy Black]

Picking one line, totally out of context because it stood out to me.

On the one hand, I struggled in my younger years because my opinions were shit. I knew nothing but had confidence. However, later the same confidence combined with experience led to success. But people who aren't "opinionated" and easily swing from one side to another can't accomplish much either. So I struggle to say whether I agree or disagree with that statement. Be open minded, but have an opinion too. You must. Because if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything.

Thoughts?

I thought opinionated meant you have strong opinions and refuse to accept they could be wrong? That’s different from just having opinions.

 

[Hai]

If you only react to what others want, you'll not be a leader.

 

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[EMH]

Great post, thank you for making it. Something to keep in mind while fleshing out Fastlane ideas.

 

[ALC]

This is a great point. Imagine you're looking for a birthday gift for your loved one.

If you're egoistic, you'll buy them what you want to give them. That's a great way to give a crappy gift.

If you want to serve them, you'll find out what they love and find the best gift for them, even if you don't like what they like or would otherwise want to give something else.

This is Gold

 

[raylech1986.it]

P.S. The more opinionated you are, the more difficult life is in general. When you have strong likes and dislikes, you have a narrow band of experiences when you feel okay. Any situation, person, place, experience that doesn't match your opinions makes you miserable. Opening yourself to all kinds of things, without any judgments, is one of the easiest ways to make your life a whole lot more peaceful.

Damn, that is some clean a$$ advice bruh!

 

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[raylech1986.it]

What you like or don't like is irrelevant in business.

This is so true. Not just in business but in life.

In fact, that's Marc Randolph's (founder of Netflix) whole messaging with his brand.

So the "do what you love" and "passion-to-profit" is non-sense and really messing everyone up. Messed me up for years.

 

[raylech1986.it]

you can't bend the market to follow your will, your passions, and your preferences

It's almost like trying to surf in the ocean and getting mad with the waves because they don't do what YOU want. LOL!

All you can do is ride it and adapt.

As mentioned before and tailored by me:

"your preferences about the waves have no impact on them."

 

[ASINGH]

"We do not get to decide what works." - Dane Maxwell

"You have a place in the universe. And that place is not to make the universe be what you want. The place is for you to serve. You serve the moment, you raise the moment, you help, you bring love. You never take. You wouldn't even know what taking means. You have no preference about what that moment is. When you have no preferences, everything is beautiful. The highest life you can live is that every single moment that passes in front of you is better off because it did." - Michael A. Singer

A Quick Thought Experiment First...​

Imagine I'm giving you two businesses.

Business A is a beautiful business. It sells a product you would absolutely use. It ticks all your personal boxes for how a business needs to be set up to work well. Its marketing strategy, its brand, its story—it's so beautiful you could grab some popcorn and sit and watch how beautiful it is.

Business B is a disaster. It sells a product you think is silly. You find the way marketing strategy embarrassing. The brand is ridiculous and you have no idea who would ever buy anything from this business. In fact, it's so bad you don't even want to think about it anymore.

Without extra information, you'd surely go with business A. It seems like a perfect fit for you. There's no way whatsoever it wouldn't work.

And if the world behaved according to our own likes and dislikes, that's what would happen. But surprise! In my completely made up for the purposes of this thread example, it's the business B that's getting all the customers and business A that's struggling. Why? Because what you prefer has no impact whatsoever on whether it works. You don't get to decide which business works because you like it.

A Tough Pill to Swallow...​

As entrepreneurs, we love our ideas. We love our opinions. We love believing in our superiority, that we know better than others. But what we want and don't want has no impact on the world and it doesn't make others want or not want the same things.

As a self-published author, I wrote dozens of books. A few of them produced the vast majority of my income. And the funny part is that most of them—according to me—are some of my worst works. Yet, the world doesn't care about my opinion. The reality is that for some reason, those books appealed to people. Meanwhile, the books I loved writing so much didn't work. There's no right or wrong in business (ethics aside). It either works or it doesn't.

I'd be lying if I said I'm okay with that. There are lots of things I don't like in business (again, ethics aside), yet that work well. It's a work in progress for me, too. It's a lifelong practice. Every day, you work on letting go of your opinions to become more flexible and adapt to the changing world.

You're free not to do the things that you don't like. You don't have to use that new hot platform if you think it's stupid. You don't have to offer a new line of your products that would appeal to a new hungry demographic that you don't like. You don't have to put out a product whose design you hate, even though it seems to work for your competitors. But if you choose not to engage in any of these things, at least admit that YOU are the problem, not the market. Because again: you don't get to decide what the market wants and your preference has no impact either way.

What you like or don't like is irrelevant in business.

If it works but you don't like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and do it.

If it doesn't work but you like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and look for something else.

And if it works and you like it, STILL swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and keep working on it while it's working. Your preference DID NOT make it work. In the end, your only responsibility is to serve your customer. Their needs may change. For now, theirs and yours preferences align but soon they may stop doing so.

If you let your own opinions stop you from doing what works, you may become that person wasting their life stubbornly working on business A. Meanwhile, you could have focused on serving the market regardless of your preferences with business B (and become rich the easier way).

P.S. The more opinionated you are, the more difficult life is in general. When you have strong likes and dislikes, you have a narrow band of experiences when you feel okay. Any situation, person, place, experience that doesn't match your opinions makes you miserable. Opening yourself to all kinds of things, without any judgments, is one of the easiest ways to make your life a whole lot more peaceful.

This is an excellent piece. Being in Sales, on a daily basis I say, "People are not going to be my way. They are going to be their way and my job is to help and serve, not judge them. I accept them as they are, not as I am."

 

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[dr_mahili]

"We do not get to decide what works." - Dane Maxwell

"You have a place in the universe. And that place is not to make the universe be what you want. The place is for you to serve. You serve the moment, you raise the moment, you help, you bring love. You never take. You wouldn't even know what taking means. You have no preference about what that moment is. When you have no preferences, everything is beautiful. The highest life you can live is that every single moment that passes in front of you is better off because it did." - Michael A. Singer

A Quick Thought Experiment First...​

Imagine I'm giving you two businesses.

Business A is a beautiful business. It sells a product you would absolutely use. It ticks all your personal boxes for how a business needs to be set up to work well. Its marketing strategy, its brand, its story—it's so beautiful you could grab some popcorn and sit and watch how beautiful it is.

Business B is a disaster. It sells a product you think is silly. You find the way marketing strategy embarrassing. The brand is ridiculous and you have no idea who would ever buy anything from this business. In fact, it's so bad you don't even want to think about it anymore.

Without extra information, you'd surely go with business A. It seems like a perfect fit for you. There's no way whatsoever it wouldn't work.

And if the world behaved according to our own likes and dislikes, that's what would happen. But surprise! In my completely made up for the purposes of this thread example, it's the business B that's getting all the customers and business A that's struggling. Why? Because what you prefer has no impact whatsoever on whether it works. You don't get to decide which business works because you like it.

A Tough Pill to Swallow...​

As entrepreneurs, we love our ideas. We love our opinions. We love believing in our superiority, that we know better than others. But what we want and don't want has no impact on the world and it doesn't make others want or not want the same things.

As a self-published author, I wrote dozens of books. A few of them produced the vast majority of my income. And the funny part is that most of them—according to me—are some of my worst works. Yet, the world doesn't care about my opinion. The reality is that for some reason, those books appealed to people. Meanwhile, the books I loved writing so much didn't work. There's no right or wrong in business (ethics aside). It either works or it doesn't.

I'd be lying if I said I'm okay with that. There are lots of things I don't like in business (again, ethics aside), yet that work well. It's a work in progress for me, too. It's a lifelong practice. Every day, you work on letting go of your opinions to become more flexible and adapt to the changing world.

You're free not to do the things that you don't like. You don't have to use that new hot platform if you think it's stupid. You don't have to offer a new line of your products that would appeal to a new hungry demographic that you don't like. You don't have to put out a product whose design you hate, even though it seems to work for your competitors. But if you choose not to engage in any of these things, at least admit that YOU are the problem, not the market. Because again: you don't get to decide what the market wants and your preference has no impact either way.

What you like or don't like is irrelevant in business.

If it works but you don't like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and do it.

If it doesn't work but you like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and look for something else.

And if it works and you like it, STILL swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and keep working on it while it's working. Your preference DID NOT make it work. In the end, your only responsibility is to serve your customer. Their needs may change. For now, theirs and yours preferences align but soon they may stop doing so.

If you let your own opinions stop you from doing what works, you may become that person wasting their life stubbornly working on business A. Meanwhile, you could have focused on serving the market regardless of your preferences with business B (and become rich the easier way).

P.S. The more opinionated you are, the more difficult life is in general. When you have strong likes and dislikes, you have a narrow band of experiences when you feel okay. Any situation, person, place, experience that doesn't match your opinions makes you miserable. Opening yourself to all kinds of things, without any judgments, is one of the easiest ways to make your life a whole lot more peaceful.

Thank you for this!

 

[vitalij24]

"We do not get to decide what works." - Dane Maxwell

"You have a place in the universe. And that place is not to make the universe be what you want. The place is for you to serve. You serve the moment, you raise the moment, you help, you bring love. You never take. You wouldn't even know what taking means. You have no preference about what that moment is. When you have no preferences, everything is beautiful. The highest life you can live is that every single moment that passes in front of you is better off because it did." - Michael A. Singer

A Quick Thought Experiment First...​

Imagine I'm giving you two businesses.

Business A is a beautiful business. It sells a product you would absolutely use. It ticks all your personal boxes for how a business needs to be set up to work well. Its marketing strategy, its brand, its story—it's so beautiful you could grab some popcorn and sit and watch how beautiful it is.

Business B is a disaster. It sells a product you think is silly. You find the way marketing strategy embarrassing. The brand is ridiculous and you have no idea who would ever buy anything from this business. In fact, it's so bad you don't even want to think about it anymore.

Without extra information, you'd surely go with business A. It seems like a perfect fit for you. There's no way whatsoever it wouldn't work.

And if the world behaved according to our own likes and dislikes, that's what would happen. But surprise! In my completely made up for the purposes of this thread example, it's the business B that's getting all the customers and business A that's struggling. Why? Because what you prefer has no impact whatsoever on whether it works. You don't get to decide which business works because you like it.

A Tough Pill to Swallow...​

As entrepreneurs, we love our ideas. We love our opinions. We love believing in our superiority, that we know better than others. But what we want and don't want has no impact on the world and it doesn't make others want or not want the same things.

As a self-published author, I wrote dozens of books. A few of them produced the vast majority of my income. And the funny part is that most of them—according to me—are some of my worst works. Yet, the world doesn't care about my opinion. The reality is that for some reason, those books appealed to people. Meanwhile, the books I loved writing so much didn't work. There's no right or wrong in business (ethics aside). It either works or it doesn't.

I'd be lying if I said I'm okay with that. There are lots of things I don't like in business (again, ethics aside), yet that work well. It's a work in progress for me, too. It's a lifelong practice. Every day, you work on letting go of your opinions to become more flexible and adapt to the changing world.

You're free not to do the things that you don't like. You don't have to use that new hot platform if you think it's stupid. You don't have to offer a new line of your products that would appeal to a new hungry demographic that you don't like. You don't have to put out a product whose design you hate, even though it seems to work for your competitors. But if you choose not to engage in any of these things, at least admit that YOU are the problem, not the market. Because again: you don't get to decide what the market wants and your preference has no impact either way.

What you like or don't like is irrelevant in business.

If it works but you don't like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and do it.

If it doesn't work but you like it, swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and look for something else.

And if it works and you like it, STILL swallow your pride, let go of your opinion, and keep working on it while it's working. Your preference DID NOT make it work. In the end, your only responsibility is to serve your customer. Their needs may change. For now, theirs and yours preferences align but soon they may stop doing so.

If you let your own opinions stop you from doing what works, you may become that person wasting their life stubbornly working on business A. Meanwhile, you could have focused on serving the market regardless of your preferences with business B (and become rich the easier way).

P.S. The more opinionated you are, the more difficult life is in general. When you have strong likes and dislikes, you have a narrow band of experiences when you feel okay. Any situation, person, place, experience that doesn't match your opinions makes you miserable. Opening yourself to all kinds of things, without any judgments, is one of the easiest ways to make your life a whole lot more peaceful.

what books did you write?

 

[raylech1986.it]

This is an excellent piece. Being in Sales, on a daily basis I say, "People are not going to be my way. They are going to be their way and my job is to help and serve, not judge them. I accept them as they are, not as I am."

You have to be ‘The Guide’.

The customer is the hero - Luke Skywalker - and we are Yoda (the guide).

Story brand by Donal Miller does an amazing job explaining this and validating what you said.

 

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[Iammelissamoore]

There's no right or wrong in business (ethics aside). It either works or it doesn't.

Every single point you highlighted is ABSOLUTELY relevant. These are the lessons I learned big time on my journey and my failures along my process spoke it so loudly to me.

This is the be-all and end-all of business, and these are the concepts value is built on. I always remember this.

The businesses booming/thriving during the pandemic are the ones that continue adding value, empowering others and assisting people during an already-difficult experience, offering solutions to the many facets of life.

Thank you for this.

 

[57felix]

Thanks for your advice. Let us look at life with more benevolent and agreeable eyes, and life will respond to us in the same way. Let's open our hearts and be ready to accept the new things that life offers, we will find life more interesting.

 

[MTF]

Bump because I also sometimes forget this truth.

 

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[raylech1986.it]

Because what you prefer has no impact whatsoever on whether it works. You don't get to decide which business works because you like it.

MIND FREAKING BLOWN!!!