I remember many years ago, thinking I wanted to be CEO of a major company. Have the corporate jet, private bathroom, gym, etc.
As I got older I thought that would conflict with the type of family life I wanted.
So I thought, perhaps I can own my own company.
As I got older I realized I didn’t have any idea what I could do/sell better than what others were already doing/selling.
I figured all of the “better mousetraps” had already been invented, and there wasn’t room for anything more.
If you want to do something on your own, I am telling you: DO IT!
There are other ways to do things. And maybe timing has a lot to do with it.
No one was doing JibberJobber (job search CRM) when I started it – it was THE better mousetrap for job seekers.
How about photo sharing? There are gobs of services out there that let you do it, right?
Who is gutsy enough to make a go at Flickr?? No one that is sane.
Well, some “insane” people (I say that as a compliment) figured they would go for it. They came out with Pinterest. This weekend my wife said “have you heard of pinterest?” I hadn’t… but apparently the rest of the world had.
This could easily be a flicker killer, imo.
Combine photos + social (Twitter (2006) wasn’t around with Flickr (2004) started) in a brilliant way, and let’s you see what is trendy and cool (what gets buzz) in a way that Twitter should but doesn’t.
In other words, Pinterest is doing something much better than Flickr (who has a bit of social but not much, and it doesn’t make it look this good) and Twitter (who has some pic stuff, but doesn’t make it this easy and fun and engaging to look at (and get sucked into!!)).
Better mousetrap?
Yes, way better.
I encourage you to not set your dream aside.
Work towards it. Believe in it.
Maybe the timing isn’t right for now, but it could be perfect soon.