If you are not good enough yet

Are You Good Enough?

Whenever you change your target market (clients, products or sector) or your industry is re-structured by disruptive innovation or economic challenges, you must embrace a new learning cycle with a clear entrepreneurial spirit. Let’s face it: there will be times when you will not be good enough.

During such learning cycles, renowned marketing expert Seth Godin outlines three fundamental problems:

1. We’re not that good when we begin. This is a fact. The breakthrough for anyone on this journey is adding the word “yet.”

It doesn’t pay to pretend that we’ve figured it out before we have. It’s counterproductive to adopt a brittle attitude in the face of criticism. In fact, during this stage, “you’re not that good” is precisely what we need to hear because it might be followed with insight on how to get better.

2. Once we start to build skills and offer something of value, some people will persist in believing that we’re not that good.

Fine. They’ve told us something about themselves and what they want and need. This is a clue to offer our leadership and contribution to someone else, someone who gets what we’re doing and wants it. The smallest viable audience isn’t a compromise. It’s a path forward. Find the folks who are enrolled and open, and eager. Serve them instead.

The danger is that when you hear rejection during this stage, you might believe that you’ve accomplished nothing instead of realizing that you might simply be talking to the wrong people.

3. The third comes full circle because it’s possible that we’re not that good yet, and there aren’t enough people who want what we’ve got.

We’re not good enough for this part of the market. So we embrace that truth and begin at the beginning. We’re not good enough yet. We haven’t practised enough, found enough empathy, understood the genre well enough and figured out how to contribute. Yet. At least for this audience.

And then we get better. Sooner or later, these three problems become milestones to making a difference and doing work we’re proud of.

Call to Action to become good enough.

Do you have an area of your business/life where you have been told: “You are not good enough”?

– Do you honestly feel you practised hard enough?

– Have you considered the case you might be talking to the wrong audience?

The path towards good enough is defined by the number of actions to be taken outside your comfort zone. Let’s embrace the entire learning cycle: Invest in yourself first, and sweat your assets.

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