I recently started reading Guy Kawasaki’s Art of the Start not necessarily because I was looking to start my own company, but more because I kept reading how good the book is. Part way into the book, Guy talks about bootstrapping a new startup and instead of using proven professionals who can be expensive, pick people with less experience and more exuberance. These folks don’t know what they can’t do, so they’ll try anything because they’re not as fearful of failing, or if they do fail, they’ll pick themselves up and try again.

I was a dot-bust casualty just prior to 9/11. Working for a small design studio that catered to some booming companies who eventually all went belly-up because of bad business models. When they were gone, half the staff was laid off including myself. The job market was severe, so I decided without hesitation that I was going to freelance. I was blissfully ignorant because I thought for sure I could handle it. I was wrong. I failed and eventually had to take a corporate job which I’ve been at ever since.

Talking a Good Game
I can’t even count how many times I’ve told myself I’m going to start doing more freelance consulting. I’ve repeated the process so many times, I’m beginning to think it starts with the lunar cycle. I have been making forward momentum though.

Over the past year, I’ve tried to ingest as much knowledge as possible because stepping away from the table for a few years left me a bit out of practice, especially when it came to new technology. I’ve read numerous books and subscribed to countless blogs. I’ve learned a lot but I realized I also became a bit more gun-shy about venturing out on my own because here are all these people that are smarter than me and doing it better. I sometimes feel like I can’t compete with these other pros.

Before I Knew You
The upside to blogging is building relationships with some really amazing folks, and in the marketing arena, it seems like there’s a lot of cohesion and support for one another. This is great, but the more I talk to them, the less confident I feel about my abilities. Then came Guy Kawasaki and another poignant lesson. With his comments about working with folks that “don’t know what they don’t know”, I realized that my problem was my lack of ignorance.

Before I knew any of these other marketers, I felt like I had what it takes to be a successful consultant. Now I’m more knowledgeable and better equipped, but less likely to make the jump. How screwy is that? If I had a therapist, he might say I just had a breakthrough. Now I just have to remember what its like to be ignorant without actually being ignorant.

The funny thing about breakthroughs is that they aren’t a fix, but rather just a realization that you’re somehow broken. The fixing takes time. Thankfully I have a few people I’m working with that are extremely appreciative of my work and advice. Without them, I’d probably still be second guessing myself instead of finally making plans to build a business.

Thanks to them and thanks to those fellow marketing geniuses that have helped me, directly or indirectly. Even though I’ll be pretending to be ignorant, I won’t forget you when I’m nationwide.

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