One of my favorite quotes of all time is written by JRR Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings. You might be wondering, “What does this mean for business or startups?” Well, read on…
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run- JRR Tolkien
The moral is this: every decision you make, leads you in a different direction. If you are planning on starting a business that offers free geonavigational plotting on all handheld computing devices, it is going to make a difference what software you use to build it, what your features are, and so on.
In the same breath, if you tweak that idea every so slightly to include special tools for law enforcement or emergency personnel, the end product will be different. You might perhaps offer those services as something additional or spin off a whole new product because of it.
I know it is common sense, but think of it this way. The more you broaden your own horizons, the more you will be able to completely understand the world around you and develop your products and services with that increased knowledge.
Hell, I just signed up to be a volunteer firefighter which is way out in left field for me. Challenge yourself to something new, and you might be surprised at what new roads you come across…
xoxo