Listen To Your Gut, But Don't Be Stupid

Written by Steve Young on Jan 6, 2009 5:27 pm

Read More: Mindset | Personal Development

I was looking through my Twitter stream of folks I follow for marketing information and business purposes and I came across a tweet from Gary Vaynerchk (@garyvee).

Gary is well-known for his WineLibrary blog and his daily wine-drinking-and-ranting videos. He's become a bit of a celebrity in the Web 2.0 business world as of late.

If nothing else he's certainly original and doesn't really care what anyone else thinks, which is of course part of his appeal...he's entertaining, enlightening, and educational, which are the three major keys to success in social media and today's 2-way communication environment on the web.

At any rate, the tweet had a link to his latest video, which is posted below.

Link to Video (BetterNetworker doesn't support Viddler yet)

My take on the video

I agree with Gary that too many people spend too much time trying to figure things out instead of actually taking some action to find out what works and what doesn't.

We're all looking for the "right way" to do things and don't want to make mistakes if we don't have to, but often times we get so hung up on waiting for all the lights to turn green that we never really leave the driveway!

Gary advises you to "go with your gut" and not to listen to anyone else but yourself.

While I think his sentiment is good, I wouldn't necessarily call that good advice for someone just starting out or lacking fundamental knowledge on how to start, operate, market, and grow a business.

I think it's a better idea to find a few trusted and respected mentors that can help guide you along the way while you get some basic skills down and develop your "gut feel". It's kind of hard to follow something you don't really have yet - it takes time to develop and personally I'd rather take the fast-track toward developing it by following someone who's proven they know what they're doing as opposed to making time & money-wasting mistakes that could have been avoided with a little guidance.

But after that "training period" where you learn the ropes and get a feel for your business and your style, then absolutely - fire away and don't be afraid to be original.

YOU are the most valuable business asset you have, so don't try to be someone else. You'll be more successful and appeal to more people when you let your personality shine through to your customers and prospects.