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July 03, 2007

On Entrepreneurship: There are times when you need to just “Follow Your Gut”

As an Entrepreneur, there have been many times when I needed both advice and guidance and I found the best advice came from within. While this may seem like a scene out of a motivational Jedi movie, the truth is that this is how it is sometimes. And this isn’t to suggest that you shouldn’t seek a mentor if one is available, but for the times when you are alone and on your own, I have learned that one sometimes has to look inward in order to look outward.

Once you allow yourself to actually believe in yourself, following your gut gets easier.

And when you wake up one day and you wonder to yourself “how did I get here?” the answer includes knowing when to follow your gut.

And if you are an Entrepreneur, how often do you just "Follow your Gut?" - please share your stories in the comments below.

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Posted by jeff on July 3, 2007 09:12 AM | Permalink

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Comments

Posted by: Alex Goldman at July 12, 2007 04:12 PM

Hi Jeff,
Thanks for this post.
Funny enough, this article showed up just while I was thinking how much to follow my gut in a new venture I’ve started recently…
Being an entrepreneur myself, and working with other entrepreneurs, I tend to think about the entrepreneurial way as a combination of “content” and “process”, or “wisdom” and “method” if you like. The experience needed that was mentioned in previous comments, observing patterns, having the right toolset, etc. are all part of the Method. This is definitely necessary but not enough. A lot has to do with how we make decisions, and how close our decisions are to who we really are. And for this, what you call following our own gut, our wisdom, is crucial. I think in a sense this is what makes an entrepreneur. And a lot of times we do not follow our gut because it is so disruptive, it is not the common way to go, and it is so scary.
I think for us entrepreneurs, one of the challenges is what can we tell each other about the entrepreneurial way, how can we cooperate and share our experience more so we can help ourselves and others follow our own gut more often, being able to make uncommon choices time and again.

Posted by: Avi Segal at July 4, 2007 06:16 AM

As a younger Entrepreneur I did rely a lot more on others views on things.

Now I tend to rely more on my gut feeling, I think experience give you that gut feeling, and confidence. But most importantly I think I am a better judge of my own ideas, and better at knowing when to following my gut and where my skills and expertise might be aided by others.

In general I always try to build teams, when I have an Entrepreneurial idea, I try to "embed" myself in a network or team to have relevant expertise at hand.


But to summarize; after 11 years as an entrepreneur I rely more on my gut than seeking aid of others, but I am also quite aware of the knowledge and experience I gathered through out the years (and where that is lacking), and find confidence in that.

To be an Entrepreneur means To be brave, be bold and dare to follow your ideas!

Posted by: Nicolai Wadstrom at July 3, 2007 05:29 PM

I guess that you raise a really important thing, that we really just need to trust our experiences here (one of the earlier commentators told us). I'm a very young aspiring entrepreneur and I find that in the projects I*ve been running now, I've failed quite a lot but I have to make sure not to get this stop me from wanting to take the next risk, chance or opportunity.

Posted by: Linus Kendall at July 3, 2007 05:02 PM

When we say "follow your gut" we are really just observing patterns. So the more experience you have, or can recall, the more patterns you have observed and the more likely your "gut" will be correct.

I mention this because I made many more mistakes as a younger entrepreneur than I do now.

So from a skills development perspective, you develop your gut through experience and reading like crazy to learn the patterns others have seen.

And yes, definitely follow your gut.

Posted by: Ed Schipul at July 3, 2007 12:49 PM

I think the most important time for me following my gut was when I started out. I moved to a new city, and rather than look for a job I decided to create one.

Previously I didn't think I had the entrepreneurial spirit. However, there was a greater demand for the freelance Web development work I was doing, and those became my first clients! Now 3 years into it, it was the best decision I made.

Sometimes opportunities are right in front of you, and your gut is usually closer to them than your head. :)

mp/m

Posted by: Mike Maddaloni at July 3, 2007 12:06 PM

A traditional entrepreneur once told me 'you can fail many times... but it only takes one success.

Posted by: yakoondah at July 3, 2007 10:40 AM

So much of what we do in small business can't be easily quantified.

How does an entrepreneur decide to revise a pricing strategy? A huge company would have a truckload of marketing research to consult. The individual small business person just has to trust her own judgment.

Where does this skill come from? It starts with asking mentors, doing the type of research you can, absorbing business concepts and lessons from all sources, and learning from your own failures.

Posted by: Becky McCray at July 3, 2007 09:45 AM

When you have a gut as big as mine you HAVE to pay attention to it.

I stopped playing other people's games a few years ago and can honestly say now that I've never been happier. I've avoided getting involved in things that went tits up a week later and have found myself involved in great projects on the ground floor simply by trusting my instincts.

That's not to say I don't make mistakes, but the trick is to pack them away as learning experiences and not carry them around as reasons not to take further risks.

Posted by: Mike at July 3, 2007 09:26 AM

I think this is a critical "skill" to develop. I know I've often come up with the answer and then talk to mentors and such to get their opinion for reassurance. The more you do this though the more you learn to trust your gut and run with it. It certainly is scary the first few times and the last few times, but it is something that everyone needs to learn to do.

Posted by: C.C. at July 3, 2007 09:22 AM

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