Beyond Your Wildest Imagination
What does the world look like if you succeed beyond your wildest dreams? This is a question I asked myself recently as I was working on the business plan for another startup. I didn’t like the answer.
Let’s start at the beginning. I had discovered a way to amplify marketing content using new technology. It would be faster, cheaper and spread content all over the world with just a few clicks. Businesses would be able to reach customers in every corner of the internet and spread their marketing messages 100x further than organic sharing. Enterprises would ditch email marketing and spend their marketing budget on my new company.
This sounded great from a money-making-machine point of view. But then I asked myself what would the world look like if I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams? What if every single company used my service to amplify their content 100x? Would I even want to live in that world? Yuck.
There are two types of entrepreneurs I’ve encountered. Those who are enamored by technology today, but care little about the future it creates—and those who care about the future they create, and work to invent it today.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of pushing the boundaries of technology and letting the chips fall where they may. It’s easy to look at all the money flowing into your checking account and hide your head when you look outside and see kids shooting each other. What’s difficult is walking away from it all, taking the time to imagine the future you want to live it, and inventing it.
That’s where I’m at today.
I’m getting my eyes off the screen and letting my imagination soar. I can imagine a world where we care about kids—we inspire them, listen to them, give them the time they need to overcome whatever obstacles they face. I imagine a world where we are passionate about each other and countries build bridges not walls. I imagine a world where we work hard and are pleased by the craftsmanship of our skills, whatever they may be. I imagine a world where people remember our names and faces because we matter.
I can’t work on another business idea without knowing I’m inventing a future I want to live in.
Let’s start at the beginning. I had discovered a way to amplify marketing content using new technology. It would be faster, cheaper and spread content all over the world with just a few clicks. Businesses would be able to reach customers in every corner of the internet and spread their marketing messages 100x further than organic sharing. Enterprises would ditch email marketing and spend their marketing budget on my new company.
This sounded great from a money-making-machine point of view. But then I asked myself what would the world look like if I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams? What if every single company used my service to amplify their content 100x? Would I even want to live in that world? Yuck.
There are two types of entrepreneurs I’ve encountered. Those who are enamored by technology today, but care little about the future it creates—and those who care about the future they create, and work to invent it today.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of pushing the boundaries of technology and letting the chips fall where they may. It’s easy to look at all the money flowing into your checking account and hide your head when you look outside and see kids shooting each other. What’s difficult is walking away from it all, taking the time to imagine the future you want to live it, and inventing it.
That’s where I’m at today.
I’m getting my eyes off the screen and letting my imagination soar. I can imagine a world where we care about kids—we inspire them, listen to them, give them the time they need to overcome whatever obstacles they face. I imagine a world where we are passionate about each other and countries build bridges not walls. I imagine a world where we work hard and are pleased by the craftsmanship of our skills, whatever they may be. I imagine a world where people remember our names and faces because we matter.
I can’t work on another business idea without knowing I’m inventing a future I want to live in.
