Entrepreneurialism - The Power of the What If

By Scott Lindsay

Two words hold the power of change. These two words challenge a set standard and looks to exact a revolution on what is standard.

These two words have alternately disturbed and excited mankind through the centuries.

When answers come as a result of asking this two word question people often find that their personal views will have to change.

This is the power of “what if…”

Entrepreneurs understand that simply entertaining ‘what if’ has the potential to bring countless hours of work, sleepless nights and the need to build on a vision that just will not let them go.

Entrepreneurialism is not always the safest road, nor is it easy to walk. There are those who would derail the ‘what if’ when given the chance. The entrepreneur can expect to hear, “but it’s never been done that way.” They will be deluged with the glances of resident skeptics and if they are not careful the elusive ‘what if’ that has so captured them can fade under the withering gaze of conformity.

After all, sensible people don’t take unnecessary risks and ‘good’ people try their best to simply get along without rocking the boat.

You need to know that the entrepreneur is not trying to hand out heart attacks to those who think they may have lost their mind, it is simply that the power of ‘what if’ is so compelling that it is virtually impossible for the entrepreneur to stand by and watch an opportunity or idea disappear down a road they are sure they are able to travel.

Judged to be eccentric by some the entrepreneur is simply focused on something they’ve been given the vision to see. They would like for you to see it too, but if you can’t it does not diminish their drive to follow the ‘what if’.

Imagine all of the things that would not be if someone had not used those two words…

What if we could use electricity to light our homes instead of candles?
What if we could find an alternative means of keeping our food cold?
What if we could devise a way for connections to be made worldwide through a system of computers?
What if we could make it possible for people to stay in contact when they are not at home?

‘What if’ remains a potent elixir in the battle against the status quo and as entrepreneurs hear the call of this pied piper they are finding the answers to ‘what if’ and the world stands awestruck at answers they had not expected.