“Love is blind” is a popular saying that describes how it prevents people from seeing things as they are.
How many of us know people who have done foolish things in the name of love? Or how people who were blinded by love and couldn't see the flaws in their partners?
Entrepreneurs are not immune to this. In the name of love, many have done things that have hindered the growth of their business or contributed to its failure.
But how is that possible? I didn’t believe that at first, until I fell in love with my small business years ago.
One of the things I love to do in my free time is to read the experiences of other entrepreneurs and how they overcame the challenges they faced.
One story I read early in my entrepreneurship career stuck with me, and illustrated how dangerous one’s love for their business could be.
In the story, an entrepreneur who loved their business idea deeply refused experts’ advice about cost-cutting and unplanned expenditure. He eventually failed and had to close the business.
After reading it, I thought to myself: "How could loving our business make us fail?"
It contradicted the advice many entrepreneurs shared with me on how important it is to be passionate about what I do and to pursue a career that I loved.
The entrepreneur in the story explained that when someone is in love with their business, they may be blinded by the fact that their venture is not right for the current marketplace, or they are not managing finances properly or the target audience may not feel the same way that the founder does.
This is similar to a romantic relationship, when loving someone could blind us from seeing their flaws.
But that is not good when it comes to a business, because ignoring flaws could make it unsustainable in the long run.
I am glad I read that story early in my career, as it explained why I had performed poorly in some areas of my first small business.
I had a venture that I loved very much. In fact, I was obsessed with the idea.
Although it seemed great to me, my business had no growth potential, especially in our region. It required a large operations team and capital, and I was not equipped for it then.
When someone loves something so much, they may not be open to hearing criticism about it.
I loved my business so much that I wasn’t willing to hear any negative comments. I believed that my love for it was enough to help it not only fly, but soar.
Eventually, I had to shut it down. I realised that if I didn’t, I would be pumping money into a bottomless pit and wasting energy that could be invested in something that would serve me better.
But this is not to say that love isn’t important. Love is just as important as any other investment in the business.
Loving your business is what drives you to work, to overcome challenges and see the idea through. But too much of anything could backfire.
This means that we should not allow the love for our business to hinder our vision, to blind us from seeing its weak spots or stop us from hearing people’s constructive criticism.
Love is a great driving force — just don’t allow it to become a hindrance.
Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer and communications consultant based in Abu Dhabi
