Entrepreneurship - Go For Gut

As they journey on the path of entrepreneurship, many successful businesspeople would identify their intuition or gut instincts as their compass and mentor. Without it, they wouldn’t have achieved the “unachievable.”

“Don’t let the noise of other people drown out your inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become,” advises Steve Jobs, Apple Computer CEO

So what is intuition or gut? For some it is a feeling in their stomach, for others, a compelling vision, and for more its an inner voice; all of which are promoting with conviction, a course of action.

It works best when there is no emotional connection to its finding.

Follow your Gut – Be an Entrepreneur!

Nurturing your intuition allows you to connect with an intelligence far greater than what’s available through your conscious mind. Disregarding it is the equivalent of cutting off your blood supply i.e. cutting off life’s messages in the context of truly reaching your potential in life.
In 1996 with a poor academic record in English, no background in writing and told I would not succeed by two award winning journalists ( not best selling authors), I decided to honour my intuition and commit to writing a Best Selling Book. Similar to many potential entrepreneurs it felt right to follow my gut but it didn’t make much sense and I didn’t have the know how. A few years later, I had sold approximately 15,000 copies.

Recently while reflecting on my time as a marketing consultant, I realised that very few projects whose market feasibility I had to check got the green light. I always found enough reasons why the business shouldn’t start. If I had applied the same level of analysis to the feasibility of the book, I wouldn’t have pursued this avenue either.

In the context of entrepreneurship, too often people disregard their gut in favour of the “practical, left brained approach” more often than not to the detriment of their project.

I now know that there isn’t a dream in the world that you and I couldn’t conjure up enough reasons why we shouldn’t proceed with it. Knowledge always gives you enough reasons not to act which is why I advise at all times to honour your gut in the knowledge that you will always end up in a place you describe and recognize as better than your starting point.

Oftentimes people don’t choose to go for gut because quite simply it doesn’t come with a pension plan. In the context of you reaching your potential and achieving meaning and significance, pain/discomfort will be part of the package. However this is nothing compared to the pleasure you will have at living and working in your own dream business.

Enjoy the trip.

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.” Einstein