15When It All Goes Wrong
Talk about a bummer chapter! We've been looking forward to the future and sharing some great thoughts and ideas on how to build your business your way, and now I've got to go and ruin it by talking about all the poopy things that can happen. There's a reason for this: A lot of times, this is what you'll really want to know about in a pinch. Heck, this might become your favorite chapter in the book (I hope not, but you never know).
Because things will go wrong. What? I don't know. Something will.
Maybe you'll build your entire business on top of someone else's technology and that base technology will shut down (that happened to me). Maybe you'll find that the marketplace that was working so well for one version of your business doesn't work for others for some reason and that you can't replicate your success in some way (that happened to me). Maybe you'll upset your business partner, run out of rent money, or some other great icky bad thing will happen. What then?
Freaks Adapt
What you don't do is surrender. You might retreat occasionally, but you don't give up. You look for a way to make something else happen. Maybe the idea isn't too far from your original idea, but needs a tweak. Perhaps a new approach is in order. Above all else, the mind-set is to accept that what you're doing is not working, and then figure out why. A quick framework may help you develop a new view.
When Something Isn't Working
- Define what isn't working (money, people, resources, ...
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