IN the past few weeks, I have been exploring the Creation Story and its similarities with how business begins.  Some of the insights from last week are outlined below:
•There are many known “accidental” start-ups.
•Business history is replete with people that stumbled upon an idea.
•One dimension of the chaos from which business originates is a challenge or a problem.
•A challenge identified and scaled is many times the beginning of business.
•The problems that individuals face might conceal potentially lucrative businesses.
•Starting one business frequently leads companies into territories not initially planned.
There are yet other aspects of chaos that show up at the point of starting a business. I’ll describe two of them in this article
1.    Business could begin with doubts in the mind of the promoter about its success.
It is good to start business with confidence about success but that confidence is sometimes in short supply. The chaos of starting an enterprise indicates that doubts are entertained by the initiator. Yet, in the midst of reservations, ideas are fuelled and individuals proceed against the wave of doubts. The internal dissenting voice can hardly be avoided as the “what ifs” from which ideas emerge change to “what ifs” about failure. In the real world, when a company or an enterprise takes its first steps of stumbling, shivering or sweating, then doubting usually joins the party. Of course, the stumbling may even lead to falling which in itself isn’t always a bad thing.  Andrew Koven’s marketing company had a few hiccups along the way yet he insists that “Failure is a natural by-product of success.” In a book about start-ups, titled Upstart Start-Ups, Ron Lieber writes that:
Lately, some venture capitalists have surmised that failure is an essential forerunner to success, so they examine the backgrounds of the entrepreneurs who want their money in the hopes of finding a character-building, lesson-bedecked disaster in their past.
Doubts and fears are therefore not bad assets to start business with. In fact, along with failure, they propel success. Jeffrey Hyman, an entrepreneur suggests that in starting a business, “start by assuming you won’t make it.” This sounds extreme and negative but it is the heart of enterprise – that willingness to risk loss or failure yet go ahead with the plans. This philosophy sets apart the innovators and entrepreneurs. These are the people that never see failure and carry on with inherent fear while finding a thrill in the risk. Haven’t we heard Thomas Edison’s famous view about failure? The great inventor explained that every seeming failure was simply a lesson on how not to do something. In other words, failure doesn’t exist in his personal dictionary of life. Other mortals see failure as shut downs. Men like Edison see failure as opening up new opportunities. Doubts may and indeed do reside in their hearts but they continue their exploits unperturbed – or seemingly so.
2.    Many business ideas or inventions have been dismissed outright
The history of enterprise cannot be told without the numerous suggestions of what was considered impossible or was destined to fail.
For one of the most famous dismissals of an idea, let’s roll back 133 years to 1876: The distinguished but short-sighted communications executive, William Orton (then of Western Union) was approached by Bell Telephone company with an offer of Alexander Bell’s telephone patents for $100,000. Orton rejected the offer with the mocking question, “What use could this company make of an electrical toy?” Well, the rest is history as Orton’s “electrical toy” continues to enjoy tremendous usage and impact globally as a mode of communication. It is more than an electrical toy; it is a business and personal tool. I wonder what Orton would say today if he could see what the telephone has become.
Another classic put-down was spoken by Roy Wilkins, a civil rights leader to John H. Johnson, the great black American publisher and entrepreneur. This was in 1942 when Johnson visited New York to share his dream of founding a magazine for black America. Wilkins words were: “Save your money, young man. Save your energy. Save yourself a lot of disappointment.” Once again, discouraging words did not discourage the entrepreneur. He eventually obtained a $500 loan using his mother’s furniture as collateral and started Negro Digest, the forerunner of today’s globally circulated Ebony magazine. Had Johnson listened to Wilkins, he would have dumped his dream on the altar of discouragement. What a loss to the world that would have been!
Ideas abound everywhere. However, the ones that survive would have faced discouraging put-downs along the path to success. Today, many business ideas still get the Orton or Wilkins treatment narrated in the previous paragraphs. The ideas that are utilised will not just stand the test of time but of words – not mere words, harsh, testing words. The stories of John H. Johnson and Alexander Bell should encourage those whose ideas seem either lost or irrelevant.