Allan Nation told me, "Tai if your next door neighbor likes your new business idea it means you are probably too late to start it."
Success comes from being ahead of the curve. There is a great book on this called Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore which says that most people are pragmatists.
Pragmatists always think new ideas are stupid.
Only a small percentage of people are visionaries - the ones who will believe in you when you are first starting out.
So if you are someone who needs the approval of the masses, well my friend, you are in big trouble.
Be happy if you can just get the visionaries on your side.
Even smart people don't always see the potential of new ideas.
The great Albert Einstein was wrong when he predicted, "There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will."
I found this hilarious article on Distractify.com that shows famous celebrity rejection letters. I had to re-post it here.
I love the letter turning down the band U2... haha
1. Madonna
When Madonna finally signed with Sire Records in 1982, her debut album sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Clearly, the author of this letter didn't think such a feat was possible for an artist who "wasn't ready yet." She went on to become the best selling female artist of all time.
2. Tim Burton
This Disney editor didn't consider Tim Burton's first children's book, "The Giant Zlig", marketable enough. Burton took the feedback to heart and feverishly honed his skills. Just a few years later, he became an animator's apprentice at the company. He went on to write and direct films like "Edward Scissorhands", "The Nightmare Before Christmas", and "Alice in Wonderland".
3. Andy Warhol
In 1956, artist Andy Warhol gave one of his pieces to the Museum of Modern Art - for free. And they still rejected it. Obviously, Andy's luck turned around pretty fast. On top of having his own museum in Pittsburgh, the very museum that rejected him now features 168 of his original works.
4. U2
When U2 debuted in 1979, RSO Records was thoroughly unimpressed. Within months, the band signed with Island Records and released their first international single, "11 O'Clock Tick Tock." They went on to sell 150 million records, win 22 Grammy Awards (most of any band ever), and performed in the highest grossing concert tour in history.
5. Kurt Vonnegut
Three writing samples sent to The Atlantic Monthly in 1949 were deemed commendable, but "not compelling enough for final acceptance." Rather than giving up, Kurt framed the letter, which now hangs in the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis.
His most famous work, Slaughterhouse-Five , is rumored to have developed out of one of the samples.
6. Sylvia Plath
Although this wasn't a complete rejection, the New Yorker's editorial office requested the entire first half of "Amnesiac" to be cut. It's hard to believe that the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Sylvia Plath would have experienced anything other than a "yes" for her celebrated poem.
7. Gertrude Stein
In what might be the snarkiest letter of all time, Arthur C. Fifield turned down Gertrude Stein's manuscript for "The Making of Americans" without reading all of it, then mocked her. The celebrated novelist and poet later mentored the likes of Ernest Hemingway.
8. Jim Lee
Today, Jim Lee is the co-publisher of DC comics and one of the most famous figures in the comic book industry. But in this letter from Marvel (one of many rejection letters he'd received throughout his life), he was told to reapply "when he had learned to draw hands."
9. Stieg Larsson
This Swedish letter to Stieg Larsson, the man behind the award-winning "Millennium" trilogy, told him he wasn't good enough to be a journalist. Although he didn't live long enough to experience his own success, those in charge at the JCCJ in Stockholm must be kicking themselves.
10. Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar's claim to fame, "Tarzan of the Apes", has spawned 25 sequels and countless reproductions in film and other media. But before everyone knew about the world's most famous ape man, his story was unceremoniously rejected from a magazine in 1912. Luckily, a wiser publication accepted Edgar' piece the same year and helped start a legacy that is now over a hundred years old.
11. ...and many others
Other famous people didn't save any letters, but they'll never forget the words that fueled the fire for their later success:
Walt Disney - Fired from the Kansas City Star in 1919 because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas."
JK Rowling - Rejected by dozens of companies, including Penguin and HarperCollins, until a small publisher in London took a chance on her work.
Oprah Winfey - Fired as an evening news reporter of Baltimore's WJZ-TV because she couldn't separate her own emotions from her stories.
George Orwell - A publisher turned down his legendary novel, Animal Farm, with the words "It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA".
Jerry Seinfeld - Didn't find out he was cut from a minor role on a sitcom until he read the script and discovered his part missing.
Elvis Presley - After a performance in Nashville, he was told by a manager that he was better off driving trucks in Memphis (his former career).
Steve Jobs - Fired from the company he started, Apple, but was desperately brought back in 1997 to save the company. Apple is now the most valuable company in the world.
Stephen King - His first book, Carrie, was rejected thirty times. One quote was "we are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell."
Marilyn Monroe - At the start of her storied modeling and acting career, she was told she should consider becoming a secretary.
Abraham Lincoln - Demoted from Captain to Private during war, failed as a businessman, and lost several times as a political candidate before becoming President.
This article reminds me of quite a few other amazingly bad predictions:
-"Everything that can be invented has been invented." Charles H. Duell, an official at the US patent office, 1899.
-"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist-"
Last words of Gen. John Sedgwick, spoken as he looked out over the parapet at enemy lines during the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864.
-"The multitude of books is a great evil. There is no limit to this fever for writing; every one must be an author; some out of vanity, to acquire celebrity and raise up a name, others for the sake of mere gain."
Martin Luther, German Reformation leader, Table Talk, 1530s(?).
-"The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty, a fad."
The president of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford's lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Co., 1903.
-"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."
Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre, 1904.
-"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), maker of big business mainframe computers, arguing against the PC in 1977.
-"To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth - all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances."
Lee DeForest, American radio pioneer and inventor of the vacuum tube, in 1926
-"The cinema is little more than a fad. It's canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage."-– Charlie Chaplin, actor, producer, director, and studio founder, 1916.
-"It's a great invention but who would want to use it anyway?" Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. President, after a demonstration of Alexander Bell's telephone, 1876
-"While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming." Lee DeForest, American radio pioneer and inventor of the vacuum tube, 1926.
-"Rail travel at high speed is not possible, because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia." Dr Dionysys Larder (1793-1859), professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, University College London.
-"What, sir, would you make a ship sail against the wind and currents by lighting a bonfire under her deck? I pray you, excuse me, I have not the time to listen to such nonsense."
Napoleon Bonaparte, when told of Robert Fulton's steamboat, 1800s.
-"The world potential market for copying machines is 5000 at most."
IBM, to the eventual founders of Xerox, saying the photocopier had no market large enough to justify production, 1959
So, don't be afraid of what the crowd says. Follow the advice of Jim Collins in How The Might Have Fallen, when he says, "Never give in. Be willing to change tactics, but never give up your core purpose. Be willing to kill failed business ideas, even to shutter big operations you’ve been in for a long time, but never give up on the idea of building a great company.
Be willing to evolve into an entirely different portfolio of activities, even to the point of zero overlap with what you do today, but never give up on the discipline to create your own future.
Be willing to embrace loss, to endure pain, to temporarily lose freedoms, but never give up faith in the ability to prevail.
Be willing to form alliances with former adversaries, to accept necessary compromise, but never - ever - give up on your core values."
Stay strong my friend.
Tai
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