It might take creating multiple businesses to truly solve the problem
One of the things I’m thinking about is how much stock I should put into a tested business idea that fails. For example, there was a company that attempted to guarantee freelance work, but they ended up pivoting to do something completely different, implying they failed to guarantee freelance work.
Does that mean that the conception of “guaranteed freelance work” is impossible to turn into a viable business? I don’t think so.
The reason for that assumption is because business are multi-variate in nature. You’re attempting to find a balance between feasible (it’s possible to make), desirable (people want it), and viable (it’s profitable) Some ideas might just hit two, one, or none of the marks.
(A side note, I’m adding impact — ability to improve someone’s quality of life — as one of my metrics.)
Not to mention that for a prompt of “guaranteed freelance work” (or anything for that matter) there’s conceivably more than one way to attempt to accomplish that goal.
To further increase the complexity, ideas that simply float around in the ether, not being tested in the real world, can appear to meet all the requirements of a successful business but in reality fall woefully short.
So we find ourselves looking at a problem we want to solve or an opportunity we want to create that expands the market. And with manifold ways to go about making that business, uncertain whether they’ll work until we test it, it seems foolish to assume that a single failed idea eternally seals its fate of what you’re trying to create as “impossible”.
In my pursuit to build an innovative business every month, some criteria has to be made to determine if the idea gets another try after it fails, and how many tries.
Inspiration from Einstein
As Einstein was discovering his general theory of relativity, there was a lot of prevailing wisdom of the day which, if he listened to it, would have prevented him from having so much conviction that the universe wasn’t like how Newton described it.
Even he used more than one method to arrive at the general theory of relativity. The physics lens that he was most acquainted with, and the pure mathematical lens that he was less so familiar with. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a single attempt that cleanly resulted in his discovery.
Here’s a quote from a biography written about him:
“To replace his doomed Entwurf theory, Einstein shifted his focus from the physical strategy, which emphasized his feel for basic principles of physics, and returned to a greater reliance on a mathematical strategy…”
Isaacson, Walter. Einstein: His Life and Universe (p. 214). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
It was sustained effort, with multiple attempts that led to one of the greatest discoveries in physics. Although it might not be fair to make the conclusion that innovation is exactly alike, I think it’s reasonable to assume that those who are convinced that they can create the next big thing (and their conviction isn’t unfounded. It comes from years of hard study and practice in their field that helps them intuit things that aren’t initially obvious) will, by their impudence, discover a way to make it reality.
As a result, I’m convinced that a failure at first doesn’t ensure its impossibility. However, the number of attempts you make before calling it quits is still a mystery to me.
I think true innovations that impact the world should be met with a healthy amount of respect regarding their complexity. The larger the innovation, the more tries you should be prepared to endure. So I err on the side of trying again rather than giving up.
It might very well be that a single problem requires a lifetime of trying because of its difficulty.
The problem then becomes making sure you pick a problem big enough or envision a world different enough that deserves a lifetime of your sustained effort.
Because it seems that the people who create the largest ripple effect in the world occur from those who’s lives are dedicated to a singular, lofty mission for most of their life.
My vision to dramatically improve a billion people’s quality of life by 2052 is big, but the more I think about it, it lacks a specificity that I think robs it of the very impact it intends to create.
So at least for now, the spirit of the mission is impact. As I stay in the field for longer, my ability to intuit new things will be improved, causing my mission to refine into something more specific.
Again, I come back to Einstein. He wasn’t trying to develop the general theory of relativity as a boy. He was learning the ins and outs of physics:
“The basic insight that he would develop over the next eight years was that ‘the effects we ascribe to gravity and the effects we ascribe to acceleration are both produced by one and the same structure.’” (emphasis added)
Isaacson, Walter. Einstein: His Life and Universe (p. 147). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
“It would take Einstein another eight years, until November 1915, to work out the fundamentals of this theory and find the math to express it. Then it would take another four years before the most vivid of his predictions, the extent to which gravity would bend light, was verified by dramatic observations. But at least Einstein now had a vision, one that started him on the road toward one of the most elegant and impressive achievements in the history of physics: the general theory of relativity.” (emphasis added)
Isaacson, Walter. Einstein: His Life and Universe (p. 148). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
So I like to think that I’m developing the insights needed to refine that mission.
Now as it relates to business, I think new discoveries illuminate new ways to solve a problem. What might seem like an impossible business now is still likely possible, but you’ve more learning to do. Or you have the knowledge, but it requires another attempt.
In either case, the old adage proves true again: “if there’s a will, there’s a way.” Except I’d hasten to add that “the way” is made more easily possible by the intuition developed through previous experience.
