Just A Gut Feeling

Sparkplugging is starting a new tradition called ‘Spark an Idea Thursday’. Each week we’ll be sharing some great ideas for a topic of interest to our readers. We invite you to grab our image and carry the tradition through to your own blog! If you do, please link back to this post so we know where you were inspired!

This week we’re Sparking an Idea About Following Your Gut

As small business owners, we’ve been doubted a lot. Some of us received is when we quit our jobs to start our own business, some of us received it along the way when we made some big investments or created a new product. I think it’s normal for those who aren’t in business to dish out the most doubt. It can be very toxic to our ideas and overall mentality. But what do you do when you just know in your gut if an idea is really worth while but everyone says no?

Avoid discussing it – when someone is always negative and you can’t avoid them, sometimes the best way is just to not bring it up at all.

Find those who do understand – it is much better to talk to those who are or were in the same boat and often they have good ideas and advise for you too. Makes the journey less painful.

Focus on the end result

Research, research, research – if you have a gut feeling but don’t have any evidence to substantiate the feeling that may not be so good. But if you can point to some evidence or get feedback from people who really are your target, that this is something people want, you’ll feel better. Not to mention, be a little more confident.

Be prepared for it to fail – some gut feelings are right on target but a lot of them aren’t. You need to prepare yourself for the possibility of failure and miscalculation. Everybody fails – even big companies like Google have some not-so-successful projects they have to cut off. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it and nothing to feel ashamed about. Yet, we can often be our harshest critic so prepare your own heart and mind. Be ready to pick up the pieces and move on.

Just go already! – That’s the whole idea behind a gut feeling right? That you just know it. The longer you wait, the more you’ll talk yourself out of it. Also, someone might come along and actually implement your idea. You’ll definitely feel worse about it then. If you tried it and it worked then great, if you tried it and didn’t work now you know what not to do.