The downside is just your ego.

I'm always thankful that every time I am having second thoughts or when I'm a little down, God sends me a helpline in the form of an Amerian Indian man and some interview transcript.
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Jay: Think about anybody, you’re young, you don’t have any kids. I’ve got seven that are older than you. So the first time a child tries to walk, or talk, or eat, or poo-poo, or ride a bicycle, what happens?

Ramit: They fail.

Jay: It’s a nightmare.

Ramit: Yeah.

Jay: And if somebody doesn’t support them, re-encourage them, put them back on the horse. So it’s almost like the statistical probability is you are going to fail. It’s almost this, this is an aside, but I laugh all the time when people say “Well I’m calling people, and I’m just getting their voicemail” when they’re trying to sell anything, or make contact. And I go “Well, statistically what do you expect? Most people have no plan on getting a voicemail, they’re shocked.”

Ramit: Yeah.

Jay: I have, my strategies, I expect to get a voicemail. So it’s a way of critical thinking, and most people aren’t very good critical thinkers.

Ramit: Well what I’m hearing you say, like being realistic is the most critical part of it. When you first start, expect to fail.

Jay: Yeah.

Ramit: You’re not going to be great. But if you walk, and saying as we say “It’s not a failure, it’s a test.” We tested part one, didn’t work, great let’s move on to the next strategy, oh that doesn’t work? Move on to the next one. And like you said, you ran 33 tests with that furniture company. If you had walked away with the first one saying “I’m just not good at this” that would have been the end of the game.

Jay: Well here’s what people don’t realize, and I learned this very early in my life, and it was profound. That if you, that you, and I don’t have the right to make any decision ourselves unless we want mediocrity, or a suboptimal outcome. We have the obligation, the privilege to ask the market, that means a test. You can test a lot of suppositions.

I mean I can get into variability, and you know more probably than I do, but I’ve been exposed to millions, and billions of millions of dollars of variable tests, but most of these people don’t realize you can test a lot of suppositions, and the downside is just your ego. Who cares? 

Ramit: Yeah. Yeah.

Jay: Who cares? If you look at the, I mean, here’s the irony, let’s look at the ultimate testers. Let’s look at the venture capitalists, they’re testing 25 companies to find one that might win, and they’re happy with that. Why should you think that you’re brighter than they are? Why should you think I’m going to hit it on the first, I mean that’s delusional, and it’s beating yourself up unnecessarily.