Page 94 - Benjamin Franklin\'s The Way to Wealth: A 52 brilliant ideas interpretation - PDFDrive.com

• 82% of people say they are in the top 30% of safe drivers.
• 86% of Harvard Business School students say they are better looking than their classmates.
• 81% of new business owners think their business has at least a 70% chance of success, but only 39%

think any business like theirs would be likely to succeed.

So what can we do to ‘keep near shore’?

The first step is to honestly admit our own limitations. That means being
realistic about what we really think we can do and not confusing it with
what we dream of being able to do.

The second one is to remember that we are always learning and we simply
never know enough. There is no substitute for good research and the tools
for researching a market have never been better or more easily available—
but all the tools in the world are of no avail if we don’t bother to use
them.

The third step is to beware of presumptions. Never presume that competitors
are wrong simply because they don’t have your forward-thinking attitude.
It’s tempting to dismiss the established opposition as being slow-moving,
entrenched dinosaurs and, who knows, maybe they are. But if you allow
yourself to work on that assumption without examining the reasons for their
behaviour you may be missing a major hurdle to market entry.

HERE’S AN IDEA FOR YOU…
Picture your own company from an outsider’s point of view, and try to
be objective about the likelihood of its success. You will need help, so
ask an unbiased third party about the chances and the risks. Now for
the tricky bit—listen to them.