Imposter Syndrome and Writer's Block

This short video by Seth Godin is an instant classic for me.

Why do we have writer's block? What we actually have is a fear of being judged, a fear that our stuff won't be good enough, and so we say I don't have any ideas - I don't know what to say. No, you have plenty of ideas, but you're worried they're bad ones. The solution is simple - you just need more bad writing. If you do enough bad writing, it is inevitable that some good writing will slip through.

Making imposter syndrome go away is a difficult fool's errand, because the harder you try to reassure yourself and to rationalize, the worse it gets. The answer is to realize that you are an imposter and so am I. That when we feel like an imposter, it is a good thing, because it shows we are onto something. We're doing something that might not work. We're doing something that's worth sharing.

Entrepreneurship - Problem Statement

A problem is a bad thing, right? Not necessarily. If you're trying to get hired to do a project for someone or start up your own business to provide various products and services to people, you have a clear problem you are trying to address.

The biggest issue I see with problem statements is that they generally come across as solutions or tritely state that the lack of this specific solution is a problem. In theory, it is great to be positive and go right to what you recommend in order to make your communications as clear as possible, but if there's no established problem, then no one will be listening, no matter how polished the sales pitch.

You have to bring attention to the imbalance, tension, or pain that exists in order to be able to show that your recommended solution will counteract it.

The following is a list of questions to ask to help define the problem. Without knowing the answers to these questions, the attempted start-up business is doomed to fail.

• Context - when does the problem occur?
• Customers - who has the problem most often?
• Problem - what is the root cause of the problem?
• Emotional impact - how does the customer feel?
• Quantifiable impact - what is the measurable impact (units)?
• Alternatives - what do customers do now to fix the problem?
• Alternative shortcomings - what are the disadvantages of the alternatives?

Look at each question and answer them honestly. Hopefully, an entrepreneur has a passion for their business, but sometimes that passion can create a blind spot, where it's difficult to be honest with how good the proposed new product/service is. Include some other people in the process who are willing to be honest in answering the above questions.

If you don't know when the problem occurs or who it occurs to, stop right there. Your target customer needs to be clear since they are the ones you hope will pay you to solve their problems. Knowing that there is a problem is one thing, but knowing what is causing it is something else. A more elegant solution will be to address the root of an issue rather than just the symptoms.

People are emotional. They're also logical. Sometimes one side of the psyche wins out. Sometimes the other one does. How much better is it if you can make both emotional and logical pleas?

If you see a problem, chances are someone else does, too. Sometimes problems are small enough that the big players in the market don't find it worth their time to address the niche. As you look at the current alternatives to solve people's problems, consider what both works well and poorly about those current solutions. You need to be able to find something you can do that they can't (or won't).

There are various ways of implementing a competitive solution to a problem. Sometimes the first person to think of an idea becomes known, and the first-mover advantage is enough to carry them in front of others who come later. But more importantly, it is important to implement a solution that is difficult for others to copy. Creating the solution is a topic for another day, but it does start with understanding other current solutions clearly in order to figure out what they are doing wrong so that you can suggest a better way.

Game Changer

The automobile is a source of freedom for all but big city folk who have solid, reasonable options for transportation (and ridiculous traffic and parking fees). So outside a few big cities, no one would be willing to give up their car, right? Maybe. I think everyone knows self-driving cars are coming. To some extent, they're already here, even if not widespread yet. But natural next step may not even be to purchase a self-driving car but rather rent one when you need it. I, for one, welcome our new taxi-bot overlords.

There is very little remaining to make these viable. Obviously GPS and mapping technologies are involved so the car's computer can find the route to get you from beginning to end, and we've largely handed navigation over to these devices already anyway. When was the last time driving somewhere new that you didn't pull out your GPS or look up the Google Map before leaving? Likewise, many vehicles are coming with sensors that warn the driver of other cars around it already.

But let's take it a step further than just having it to the heavy lifting on the freeway. This is definitely something that can be a game changer in terms of Porter's 5 Forces - talk about bargaining power over your customers - if you can reduce their costs so much that they don't need to buy their own car and make it so they don't have to hassle with parking, that's pretty amazing. You can already call a car to get you with an Uber or Lyft app. It's just combining that system with the self-driving car instead of a professional taxi driver or an amateur Uber/Lyft driver.

What could we do with all the parking lots in front of stores? What will we all turn our garages into when we don't need our own car? You might think that you'll always want to drive your own car, but what happens when insurance rates go up for self-drivers so much due to the fact that they drive unsafely and get into more accidents? Insurance companies already have devices they can put in your car to measure how good of a driver you are by collecting data about your driving habits. They just have to compare your habits to those of the taxi-bots, and your rates skyrocket.

So then ethically, how does this affect us? More tracking of where you have traveled to and from being stored in someone's database (more because it's already happening some). Actually, anywhere you go carrying your cell phone, you're already being tracked and recorded wherever you go, and in many cities your license plate number is tracked as you drive around town..

One of the big ethical questions is what happens when someone does get hurt or killed? Fewer people will be hurt with self-driving cars/taxis, but instead of it maybe being the fault of the person driving, what if it is the fault of the programming of the vehicle? What if a sensor is dirty and doesn't catch debris on the roadway?

What is a fair trade-off there handing over the control of your travels in contrast with the overall benefits to individuals and society? There are some very tricky issues here, but self-driving cars are here, whether owned by individuals or by taxi companies or long-haul trucking companies. How many jobs will be created vs other jobs that will be lost? Could a community taxi-bot take kids around to sports and lessons so the soccer mom doesn't have to anymore? Could the dream of sleeping through a night-time road trip and awaking as you pull up to your destination become a reality? How would that affect the airline industry? Will my youngest never need to learn to drive? There's almost no end of the implications here.

So you want to start a business?

A few years ago, I attended a presentation by the owner of a car dealership. He had some advice on starting a business. One of his first points was that the statistics showing large numbers of failed businesses are skewed, because smart people often go for the guaranteed money, working for someone else, so many that would be successful never start their own business.

The smart ones that do make it and build a successful business will run their business by the numbers, not by emotion (of course, this is all coming from an Accountant). The following principles will guide entrepreneurs to success:

• Know your break even point every month or day
• Staff according to your slowest month; you may be understaffed on occasion, but never overstaffed
• YOU be the key employee
• Put money into what will make you money (buy vs lease)
• Personal overhead = business overhead
• Don't spend money just to reduce taxes; pay taxes like you should
• It is safest to invest money in your own business, where you have the control; don't play the stocks
• Only grow the business if it will make your bottom line grow
• Always outsource if costs are the same as doing something in-house
• Reinvest in the customer
• Offense is exciting, but defense wins the game; that is, sales are exciting, but low expenses make the money