I need to tell you something that will shock absolutely no one who knows me: I’m terrible at business.
Not terrible at DOING business – I came up in the 1980s Gordon Gekko era when “greed is good” was an actual business philosophy and not a punchline. I made money. Pretty good money, actually. But I was also slowly turning into the kind of person who uses “synergy” in casual conversation, which is how you know you’ve lost your way.
Here’s what I’ve learned after escaping corporate America and trying to build something meaningful: The best businesses solve a problem nobody knew they had until you showed them.
Walt Disney didn’t ask people, “Hey, would you pay money to stand in line for three hours in Florida humidity to see a giant mouse?” He just built it. If he’d gone on Shark Tank, Kevin O’Leary would have laughed him out of the building. “You spent HOW MUCH on what? You’re dead to me!”
But Walt had something every entrepreneur needs, and most of us lack: the willingness to look completely insane while building something nobody else can see yet.
Steve Jobs said it best: “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” He didn’t do market research. He built what HE thought was cool and trusted people would get it. They did. Now people camp outside stores to pay $1,200 for a phone that does exactly what last year’s $1,200 phone did, except slightly faster.
Here’s my actual point (and yes, I have one):
If you’re building something just for money, you’ll quit the first time it gets hard. If you’re building something because you believe in it … because it helps people, makes them smile, adds something good to the world – you’ll keep going even when everyone thinks you’re crazy.
I keep a list, as Kobe did. People who doubted me. People who said it wouldn’t work. People who suggested I “get a real job.” As Deion says, “I keep receipts.” That list gets me out of bed on the days when my bank account is suggesting I reconsider my life choices.
Am I saying money doesn’t matter? Of course not. I still need to eat. I’m still figuring out my revenue model. I still lie awake at 3 AM doing that nightmare math where you calculate how many months you can survive if absolutely nothing changes.
But here’s what I know for sure: Do great work. Be so good they can’t ignore you. (That’s Steve Martin, who knows a thing or two about building a career on your own terms.) Put community first. Solve real problems. Make people’s days better. The money follows quality, not the other way around.
Your early work will probably be terrible. That’s fine. Even Steve Jobs shipped a beta product. Even Walt Disney made cartoons that haven’t aged particularly well. You get better by doing, not by waiting until you’re ready.
Will you succeed? Maybe. Maybe not. But you’ll definitely fail if you never try because you’re too busy listening to people who’ve never built anything tell you why it won’t work.
So to my fellow entrepreneurs and creatives struggling right now: Keep going. We’re all figuring this out together in a world that feels increasingly upside-down.
Do the right thing. Build something great. Be patient.
And get a dog. They’ll believe in you even when your business plan makes no sense, and you’re explaining to them why you can’t afford the fancy kibble this month. Dogs are excellent at unconditional support and terrible at financial advice, which makes them perfect business partners.
See you around town…
P.S. Be brave. Try new things. I’m not a writer, but I’m putting my thoughts out there anyway because waiting until you’re “good enough” is just fear wearing a perfectionist costume.
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Think Dave Barry with a camera. Photographer Glenn Shuck’s humorous and heartfelt take on First Coast life – sometimes through his camera, sometimes through his words, always with the perspective that comes from years of watching our community evolve.
