I’ll start with a valuable perspective for entrepreneurs, startups, creatives or anyone trying to take something from an idea to a reality. Hugh MacLeod at GapingVoid:

“Good ideas have lonely childhoods”. When I say, “Ignore Everybody”, I don’t mean, “Ignore all people, at all times, forever”. No, other people’s feedback has an important role. Of course it does. It’s more like, the better the idea, the more “out there” it initially will seem to other people, even people you like and respect. So there’ll be a time when you have to press on, alone. This is normal. This is to be expected.

I highly, highly encourage reading the rest of the post and basically everything MacLeod writes.

MacLeod points out an unappetizing truth for entrepreneurs: the best ideas are likely the ones that everybody hates. Therefore, expect to hear “no” from prospective clients, customers, investors, employees; expect to hear resounding silence from the marketplace; expect even trusted advisers and friends to fail to understand your idea or grasp the opportunity.

The hardest part is knowing when the resounding “no” is just noise or a signal. And that can only come from you.

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I’m starting a series of posts on advice for entrepreneurs, aimed at people looking to make the transition from being an employee to creating their own business. There is a cacophony of advice out there, but so much of the advice is short-sighted, biased by personal experiences, or just simply wrong. I don’t have all the answers, but I can help you think through the right questions.

If you have any questions you would like answered on how to brave the entrepreneurial path and how to make the transition from an employee to an employer (of yourself), please drop a line in the comments, by email, by Twitter or by the contact form. I’d love to get your thoughts…