23 Comments
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Allen Hines's avatar

Love the Michael Scott quote at the end. My favorite from him is: “I’m not superstitious….. well, I’m a little ‘stitious.”

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Justin Welsh's avatar

Haha. Love a lot of Michael Scott quotes.

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Allen Hines's avatar

Yeah, those episodes never get old to me!

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Justin Mosley's avatar

I love this. Totally agree that validation of an idea is super important -- and to do so in as quick and cheap a manner as possible. All too often I fear people simply fall in love with their own idea -- or get fed false positive reinforcement from others -- and the target customers they thought who would exist in mass fails to materialize. Very sad actually. Especially when there are also tons of companies (e.g., marketing agencies) who'll take anyone's money, make it seem like it's the best idea they've ever heard, and then feign shock when the success doesn't materialize.

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Justin Welsh's avatar

Yep, I see that happen (false positive reinforcement from others) all of the time. The best reinforcement is a payment.

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Jared Moss's avatar

Most of my early shots here were misses. But with these tips from Justin, my latest post is a win https://jaredmoss.substack.com/p/shocking-how-one-family-turned-tragedy?r=5v0srs and donations are coming in to help entrepreneurs diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Thx Justin! Keep your shots coming - they are on target. Great job!

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Justin Welsh's avatar

Awesome work!

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Matt Romagna's avatar

the more chances you take

the more you increase your luck

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Justin Welsh's avatar

Yep. True story, Matt.

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Matt Romagna's avatar

thanks for the reply man! you’re an inspiration to me.

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Jenny Lane's avatar

Completely agree. Act fast. Fail fast. Do it as simply and as cheaply as you can. Follow where the successes start to show.

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Michael Shafer's avatar

Great post! Reminds me of the Jim Collins concept of bullets then cannonballs.

https://www.jimcollins.com/concepts/fire-bullets-then-cannonballs.html

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Lucas's avatar

tiny steps, gigantic results. Thanks for sharing, Justin.

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Justin Welsh's avatar

Sure thing. Thanks for reading.

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Zuby's avatar

Always shoot your shot.

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Justin Welsh's avatar

Shoot multiple!

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Amanda Haverstick's avatar

Learning from you to take small bets instead of big ones has made such a fundamental change in how I go about everything! My problem now is that multiple (very different) things appear promising. I’m trying to balance the ones that I love doing most with the ones that pay the most, and unfortunately they are not the same. But what an exponentially better problem to have than if I went “all in” before knowing both what I enjoy AND what will pay. Cheers to you, and I’m looking forward to a week from Thursday in NYC! 💌

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Justin Welsh's avatar

It's definitely a better problem than "I'm doing a lot of things I hate and nothing is working!" I'm so glad you're getting some traction. See you in NYC!

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Badal Nirwan's avatar

Fail fast fail cheap. Justin, this is something I have heard from you only. And this is really something to be learned asap. Instead of making a grand multiyear plan it's important to put small bets to start with. Then you will have the life to invest in the idea that worked.

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Chris Ware's avatar

As a Canadian, I am compelled to point out that Wayne Gretzky made this comment in relation to hockey 😉

Of course it applies to any sport that requires you to take a shot.

Love the ideas here and also applies to not trying to make an idea perfect before trying it.

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Sean McCormick, M. Ed.'s avatar

Upvote here for more basketball metaphors woven into your writing. That would be a slam dunk for me, selfishly writing. 🏀

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Victoria Okoroji's avatar

This hit me really hard because I have been working on something that I want to go all in. With this information now, I am going to do a lot tests and feedback and run with the one that finally sticks with my audience. Thank you so much.

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Stefano Miele's avatar

Nice, good reminder for me. I was pidgeonholing myself recently and trying to do one thing and one thing only. But also realised, well, I need to keep my doors open and pursue a few different things and take action along all of these.

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