Right Timing is something that I've only started thinking about since hearing it from Alan Yong, amongst other drivers for business success. But I only had a vague idea of what he meant by it. This video includes an elaboration on the idea and it finally makes sense.
I certainly agree that if the market is not ready for an idea, the amount of money that must be spent to raise market awareness is phenomenal. Even if at a technical and structural level society is in need of the invention.
I can think of no better example of this than Bitcoin. There is nothing different about Bitcoin today, than there was in 2009. And it is reasonable to draw a parallel between the market becoming ready for Bitcoin and its value. This is because as the market recognises its value, its price goes up.
The market had to be educated before there was space for this product. I know this looks like it breaks Alan's rule about the market not being ready, causing business failure. I'm certain that if Bitcoin required a factory, materials, trained staff, marketing teams, and administration staff, as well as paying government licenses, fees, registrations and so on, it would have failed a very long time ago.
I have another rule about timing, and I'm sure I'll find echos of it in Alan's book.
Don't build a business around a product that new technology has just made possible. It can be really hard to have a new idea for something that is marketable. But there is a wellspring of ideas bubbling up around new technology. The problem is that well is crowded with others who are just as likely to have the same idea and bring it to market before you do.
Instead,
sit back and wait to see if anyone brings something like your idea to market. Give them plenty of time to develop, prototype, test, produce, and distribute the product. My experience is three to five years. If the idea still hasn't come about, then consider investing in it.
There seems to be a bit of a belief that if something was worth doing,
someone would have done it already. Many times I've been rebuked for a great idea with the comment, "Surely if it could work, someone would be selling them now."
This is not true, and you only need to look as far as some brilliant, simple inventions to prove it.
The paper clip was needed and possible centuries before its invention in the 1870s.
I suppose three of Alan's points all work together in this area.
1) Choosing the wrong business opportunity.
3) Inadequate preparation or lack of product differentiation.
10) Great ideas, but wrong timing.
I haven't done the research, so if the following point isn't really in the top ten (Or built into point 6-management), then it is close to the top. And this is
tenacity. Sticking with it and solving every problem instead of giving in when it looks too hard. It is true of most things in life, that
the person who succeeds in doing something is the one who didn't give up. Not the smartest, the most well resourced, the one who had an advantage. These all hit the same wall of something looking impossible to solve. The one who keeps trying and solves the problem is the one who succeeds.
There is a big
difference between not giving up when challenged with a definable problem,
and not learning that doing the same thing is giving you the same results. A business that is failing, and doesn't take corrective action should never be applauded for not giving up. Driving a business into deeper and deeper debt because you have faith in it, is not the same as stepping through different and ever more challenging hurdles.
