Ignore the real world

"That would never work in the real world." You hear it all the time when you tell

people about a fresh idea.

This real world sounds like an awfully depressing place to live. It's a place

where new ideas, unfamiliar approaches, and foreign concepts always lose. The

only things that win are what people already know and do, even if those things

are flawed and inefficient.

Scratch the surface and you'll find these "real world" inhabitants are filled

with pessimism and despair. They expect fresh concepts to fail. They assume

society isn't ready for or capable of change.

Even worse, they want to drag others down into their tomb. If you're hopeful

and ambitious, they'll try to convince you your ideas are impossible. They'll say

you're wasting your time.

Don't believe them. That world may be real for them, but it doesn't mean you

have to live in it.

We know because our company fails the real-world test in all kinds of ways.

In the real world, you can't have more than a dozen employees spread out in

eight different cities on two continents. In the real world, you can't attract

millions of customers without any salespeople or advertising. In the real world,

you can't reveal your formula for success to the rest of the world. But we've done

all those things and prospered.

The real world isn't a place, it's an excuse. It's a justification for not trying. It

has nothing to do with you.