One of the hardest lessons to learn as a founder is figuring out how to tell the difference between:

"That's not working because you're not good at that thing"

and

"That's not working, because there's a deeper problem the market is trying to tell you."

I've learned this in sales.

I was never a natural at it. I was *not* the stereotypical entrepreneurial kid selling lemonade, doing contract work, building snow shovelling businesses, etc.

This meant I had hang ups about the sales process, asking for the sale, & charging enough.

However, no amount of sales skills will help you sell something someone doesn't want or need.

Knowing the difference between a tire-kicker who will never buy, and a real buyer took a *long* time for me to learn the difference between.

I've seen people similarly struggle with things like:
- Marketing ("You mean I can't just build it and they will come?")
- Product ("Why don't customers want this thing I imagine they need?")
- Engineering ("Why can't an engineer build this vague thing really fast?")

This is why founders have to have a growth mindset & surround themselves with smart people.

A growth mindset helps you learn + embrace you might suck at some things you have to do.

Smart people will spot the things you're missing, if they're experts at it *and you listen*.

Unfortunately, I think some lessons have to be learned the hard way...and what those are differ from person to person.

This is also why I think repeat entrepreneurs tend to have a higher success rate; even if you fail, the lessons you learn help avoid failing the next time./end