Young, inexperienced, new blood can sometimes achieve what many practiced, knowledgeable, wise ones can only dream of.
Think of Facebook, Netflix or Twitter. Their success has a lot to do with venturing into unchartered territories unflinchingly. Implementation of fresh, out of the box ideas turned entrepreneurs behind these brands into trendsetters.
Here we take an elaborate look on how fledglings can leverage from their rawness and achieve some real feats by breaking existing moulds.
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1) Expertise can hold you back!
Being used to doing things in a specific way can limit your approach to do them differently. Experience teaches you everything, but takes a toll on the audacity required to act. It takes a newbie to question established rules.
Starting out and getting lucky doesn’t happen with everyone. Why? Because going ahead without over-scrutinizing your intent is considered bad planning.
Still, a variety of individuals with no prior experience of the industry did it, from Mint.com to Amazon to Zipcar. They acted upon an idea and got to the finish line first. Who knows how many more experienced players must have thought over those very ideas at the same time?
Reconsiderations or red-tapism, whatever must’ve kept them busy— they lost the race.
2) Lack of examples before you can be ‘inspiring’
Starting out without having anyone to look up to can be a blessing in disguise. It means beginning with no preconceived notions and no benchmarks. There’s no right or wrong
Hollywood czars knew that providing movies on-demand can be bad for their business, but Netflix’s founders hadn’t a clue. Well, they weren’t from the movie business.
French website zilok.com, is another case in point. The site has revolutionized renting out anything under the sun. People post their possessions and give them on rent to those who need it for a specific duration. Gary Cige, who didn’t know anything about the rental business thought of starting it when on one Sunday afternoon, he couldn’t find a drilling machine.
3) Going with your gut gets easy!
Ever tried a sport like archery or even Golf?
When you play for the first time, acting intuitively is easy. But it doesn’t remain so when you keep playing it. Soon you’ll start reasoning with yourself and start applying a strategy in every move.
Today’s entrepreneurs stand for, audacious, out of the box thinking and loads of experimentation. They aim to hit the sweet spot where a radical ideology, determination, intelligence, technology and innovation meet.
Trusting your gut isn’t about thoughtlessly taking risks. It is to do with gauging the consequences, assessing the environment, looking for an opportune moment and wasting zilch time.
4) When you don’t know the rules, you’re not restricted by them
Groundbreaking innovations are accomplished by those who are unaware of the rules.
Walt Disney, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg broke the rule that an advanced degree in business was a prerequisite to succeed. In fact, there are new rules in place to conduct business, way different from the earlier theorized norms.
An example could be the trendy boutique-hotel chain owned by Ace Calderwood- Ace hotels, that specializes in inexpensive rooms. Designing a hotel needs a whole lot of specifics to match the industry standards, but Calderwood followed his unique style. He took over old buildings and retained as much of their original flavor as possible. Entrepreneur magazine reported him quoting in 2010,“We didn’t come with any baggage of ‘this will or won’t work,’ and it’s served us well over time.”
Every business functions in an atmosphere of documented and undocumented rules. Many of such restrictions are voluntary and consumed without reasoning.
Final Thoughts
When Richard Branson launched Virgin Atlantic, he knew he was up against British Airways, Pan Am and American Airlines. All of them were established players who went by the rules that 1st class travelers are supposed to enjoy the finest service, then comes business travelers and then economy travelers with lowest frills.
But Virgin Atlantic shunned it. Branson got rid of the 1st class, but brought lots of first class services to economy travelers. He introduced things like free drinks for economy travelers, limousine service to the airport, videos on headrests etc.
Entrepreneurs are always surrounded with doubts about the next best step, no matter how experienced they are.
It’s not the risk you wish to take, it’s about your willingness to go out there, achieve, and grow with time.