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Monday, September 27, 2010

Patience, young Skywalker

Building a business takes a long, long time. You have to do things better than your competitors, and then wait them out. For years.

If you dedicate 10,000 hours to just improving your ability, the time required by Malcolm Gladwell's hypothesis to reach proficiency (see Outliers: The Story of Success), you're looking at about four years of full-time work on top of the time you currently spend delivering to customers as you should.

If you live in a rural area, add an additional year or two. The market is smaller, so usually takes longer to build.

The point: just because your "idea" hasn't taken off, and just because venture capitalists are not pounding on your door, doesn't mean your concept is wrong. It might just need to simmer for a bit longer. Keep delighting your customers as best you can each day, and wait.

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