We all know the feeling. A wonderful idea pops into your head and it creates an instant "aha" moment. Within seconds your heart is pumping a little bit faster and your eyes beam with delight. You're so excited that you can't wait to tell everyone you know about this amazing new business, idea, project or book that you're about to birth.
You get to writing and fill your notepad up with "the vision" and just when you think you're all set to go, you make an error. That error is that you share this newfound vision with someone. Perhaps it's a friend, a family member, a work colleague or even an investor. You expect them to love the idea but instead they tell you that it's "not that great," "it'll never work," or they utter these beautiful words, "you'll never make money doing that!" Although your gut tells you to press on and turn this idea into a reality, you decide that this person is for whatever reason right. You listen to their words and you reluctantly agree. In doing so, you become one of the millions of people who have come up with incredible and potentially world-changing ideas but give up because they succumb to the beliefs of others. And now that dream, idea or vision which could potentially have been incredible, has now dissipated and no one will ever know if it could have made some sort of difference or impact in the world.
Most of us have let go of something that we were passionate about because we were either afraid of the response that it might receive or we simply listened and followed the advice of people that didn't quite understand our vision. Whilst you might not realize it, the truth is that when we act on the advice of others and dismiss our innate intuition, we end up destroying our creativity in the process. The very act of placing someone else's opinion above your own is one of submission. In essence, by dismissing your idea or tossing aside that project that you were so keen to get started on, you're placing a lesser value on your self-worth and are subconsciously telling yourself that your ideas are inferior.
As a small business owner or the founder of a startup, it's essential that you believe wholeheartedly in the value and power of your ideas and that you don't seek approval from others. It doesn't matter whether it's the highly experienced investor who's run several multimillion dollar companies or your best friend Bob who's never owned a business but loves to make suggestions about any and everything you're doing, the fact remains that the only opinion that matters when it comes to your business is your own.
As Steve Jobs said, "don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice." Therefore, be selective about whose advice you take and don't be afraid to follow your own intuition. It's there for a reason.