NOT EVERYONE GETS IT BUT BUILD ANYWAY

Most people do not understand what you are building until they can see that it works. And even then, some will still have notes. If you have ever had someone squint at your business idea, frown at your career pivot, or express unsolicited concern,  you are not alone. It is the unwritten rite of passage for anyone choosing to carve out their own version of success.

Your vision was given to you. Not to your cousin, not to your accountant, and definitely not to the guy in the office who just discovered ChatGPT and thinks he is the next Musk. That does not mean they are wrong for questioning your vision. It just means they are not responsible for building it. 

We live in a world obsessed with consensus. Share your idea, gather feedback, validate it, crowdsource approval, and only then do you proceed. But the reality is that anything worth building will confuse, confront, or concern someone who is not ready for it. People love what they understand and trust what is familiar. They cling to what has worked before. So when you introduce something new, whether that is launching your business, shifting your career, or even just doing things differently  it disrupts their script. And that disruption often sounds like concern. You are really going to leave your job for this? That is a lot of risk. Why can’t you just do that on the side? These are not always attacks. Sometimes, they are love and concern, sometimes, it is just projection, and sometimes, people simply do not have the imagination required to picture your next chapter. But hey, they are not supposed to, that is your job!

Your vision does not need perfect slides and a standing ovation before it becomes valid. Sometimes, the work has to come first. You build the website, launch the thing, tweak the offer, take the client call, all while answering the same questions over and over with grace, grit, and just a little internal screaming. The good news is that once it works, everyone becomes supportive magically. But if you wait for that moment before you act, you will wait forever.

This applies whether you are building a business, navigating a new leadership role, or starting something on the side while trying to remember how sleep works. It applies when you are launching your first product or rewriting your whole career story. Visionaries are resilient souls, they move before others believe, not because they want applause, but because they are compelled to do it anyway and that is where the growth happens.

There is a big difference between feedback and derailment. Learn to hear one without falling victim to the other. In my experience, the people who do not “get it” today might become your biggest champions tomorrow. They will repost your article, or forward your website, or ask you out for coffee to pick your brain.  

Not everyone will understand your next move so let them question your sanity or predict your failure if that’s their jam. Build your vision anyway because when it works, oh yes everyone will notice…and by then, you will not need to explain a thing.