Everyone’s a critic. When you are thinking about starting your own business, some people will probably criticize your ideas before you even begin. This social deterrent prevents tons of would-be entrepreneurs from creating startups.
As an entrepreneur, it’s important to understand the difference between criticism and opinions. Advice from current entrepreneurs can be wide-ranging; some say you should ignore all critics and steam ahead, while others say that criticism is critical to your businesses success.
The truth is that criticism is useful, but not everything you hear is going to be criticism. People are prone to share their opinions on just about everything you might do, but a good part of what they say is going to be their opinion, and nothing more. While opinions can sometimes be useful, they shouldn’t have any place in your entrepreneurial world. If you put too much weight into others’ opinions of yourself and your business, you’ll eventually lose sight of your original vision.
So, how can you sort out the difference between criticism and an opinion? There’s no definitive test, but a criticism generally has the weight of a reason behind it. For example, an opinion might be “I think your business is going to fail.” But, a criticism should be “I think your business is going to fail because . . . “
What that reason is can be different. It could be because of past experience, or knowledge of the market or a million other things.
Sorting out the difference between criticism and opinions is natural to some, but knowing which is which, and what positive takeaways come from criticism, can also be learned with practice.
Entrepreneurship is about the self, not others.
You’ve likely heard that nobody can tell you how to be yourself. Similarly, nobody can tell you exactly how to be the right entrepreneur for yourself.
So, if nobody can tell you how to be yourself, then why put any stock in opinions?
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