When Being First Is The Worst

If you were the first person to discover America do you think that would make you pretty successful? Or perhaps important?

No it wouldn’t.

The truth is the first people to discover America came here hundreds if not thousands of years before Christopher Columbus. If you do a search on Google you’ll find articles stating everyone from the Vikings to the Chinese set foot on our great continent before Mr. Columbus ever hit the new world. Though I don’t ever remember learning about them in my third grade history class.

When talking to students I often find that they think they need to come up with an original idea to start their own business. But just like Christopher Columbus, you can come along much later and still reap the rewards.

I know what you’re thinking, “Mark, that was hundreds of years ago. What does discovering a country have to do with my business?”

Well, there are several business examples where being first meant little to those who pioneered it.

For example would you have liked to have invented the iPad 10 years before Apple did? Of course! The iPad was a major success… selling over 1 million units in only 28 days. At 500 bucks a pop that’s a ton of dough. Its first month sales smashed any record ever set by the iPhone’s first month sales.

What many people seem to forget is that Bill Gates first introduced the tablet PC 10 years earlier in 2000. And not to say Bill Gates isn’t successful in his own right, but it was clearly a failure for him.

Speaking of Bill Gates you would think he made all of his money off an original idea too. The fact is his graphic user interface was first created by Xerox.   It wasn’t until Bill Gates came along that Windows changed the way we use computers forever.  These are perfect examples of the second mouse getting the cheese.

So I don’t understand why people continue to look for original ideas. A better approach is to find something and improve upon it. Or do what I teach my students to do, which is starting businesses in sectors that are proven and established and then making it your own.

Was Wealth Authority products the first business to ever sell products on how to start a business or make money?  Of course not.  I simply spotted an opportunity to enter this market and create my own unique approach.

When I started Wealth Authority I realized that people were sick of buying from experts who simply didn’t care about them or their success.  I wanted to create a business where people could reach us when they needed help.  As long time customers know we answer all of our phone calls and answer all of our emails.  It’s this distinction that has helped Wealth Authority succeed in a very crowded marketplace.

So what’s a unique twist you can add to an existing marketplace?

This is how you should approach starting any new business. Simply look around at what’s already out there and think of your twist.

Next time you are watching television instead of changing the channel during commercial breaks try out this exercise. When the commercials start, actually pay attention! During each one imagine starting up a business to sell that same exact product/service being advertised and what you would do differently to make your business successful. Obviously there are going to be categories of products/services being advertised that you are not interested in starting up a business in. But the point is to get your innovation, imagination, and creativity flowing.

Practice makes perfect you know! You should practice as often as possible. You will train your brain to look at things in a very different way. This will also help you to spot the opportunities you do wish to pursue. It’s a great skill to have when you are running your own business. All successful businesses have applied this way of thinking, looking at and evaluating.

So STOP reading this and get to work! Use your creativity and innovation to create a new spin on things. If you already have a business use this technique to develop a new product/service or to spot a new opportunity you can profit from.  Or use this technique to jump into what you’ve always wanted to do!

Until Next Time…

Ethan Warrick

Editor & CEO


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