The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth: Entrepreneurship for Weirdos, Misfits, and World Dominators

5Fall in Love with Not Knowing

Here's a typical conversation with Rob Hatch, president of Owner Media Group:

Me: I think we should launch a magazine.

Rob: Do we know how to do that?

Me: It'll be digital. Kind of like a blog, but I dunno…more.

Rob: Well, let's do it!

This wasn't always the way. A few years ago, Rob would say things more like “Maybe we should think about this for a while.” To which I'd reply, “I just bought the domain and ordered the software.” Rob has eventually come to the realization that we're going to learn how to do whatever we're about to do midway through. And I've come to learn to actually wait until Rob says okay before I start something new (most times, anyway).

Not everyone feels that way. They want the details. They want to be well versed. They feel that they must have every angle covered before they plunge into the fray.

Further, a great many people are deathly afraid of being seen making mistakes or, worse, failing. The worst thing in the universe would be to not have the answer to a question a customer or client might ask. A lot of times, this comes from some great childhood experience, either at school or at home (or both), where someone made you feel horrendous for any one of the following reasons:

• Not knowing an answer.
• Trying something and not succeeding.
• Guessing incorrectly.
• Making a mistake.

Of course, if you're reading this book, whatever you did back then evidently didn't kill you. I'll go on record hoping that it didn't kill or permanently ...