Fake It Till You Make It!
Have you ever heard the phrase Fake It Till You Make It? If you have and you think you know what it means then you only know half of the story. Most people say it’s a street term or slang and they may be right but surprisingly it is almost standard practice for a lot of startups companies.
Let’s clear the air, fake it till you make it sounds misleading or Immoral, and most certainly can be in the wrong hands but advertisements misleading the consumer is nothing new. Ever ordered something online and when it got to your home it wasn’t at all what it looked like on the website? Misrepresenting your products or services is a short-term scam but knowing somebody with that product or service and selling it as yours isn’t.
Without getting back into The User System or the role of the middleman because this is a little different. It’s no secret that there are tons of businesses that got started overnight because they knew or met someone that was in the position to completely fund their entire venture.
You can hire the best of the best to work for you but money doesn’t buy experience. You can have a great product that sells or offer a top-notch service but maneuvering around business deals and learning how different people operate only comes from having experience. That lack of experience will seep out when you spend most of your time perfecting your products and not enough time learning what business you are in.
A lot of new Hip Hop artists have taken the fake it till you make it phase and turned it into an art form. The record labels not only encourages this but profits from it.
Have you ever seen your favorite new artist music video? If you have then I’m sure you’ve noticed the nice cars, big homes, yachts, and plenty of expensive jewelry. The question is, who owns it? Record labels invest in their new artist’s public appearance to make them look instantly successful which will attract new fans and concert promoters. The downside to this is that 9 times out of 10 the artist will end up owing the label for all of the luxuries and expenses accumulated during the artist promotional process.
Believe it or not, the stock market is probably the biggest culprit of this practice. That’s right! I called it a practice because it’s common for a company to get funding then go public. Now the company has gone from a 50k to a 5 Million dollar business instantly and the company worth are the numbers that will reflect in their share prices on the stock market. A business does not have to earn 5 million dollars to be valued at 5 million dollars. It’s an illusion to get new shareholders or current shareholders to buy more shares.
Exaggerating your status is ok to an extent. The Greyline between telling a flat-out lie and boosting your credentials is very thin but it exists. It’s the difference between being on a job interview and when they ask you say your the most reliable person you know and being on an interview and when they ask you say, yeah I’ve done this kind of work before. The difference is that when the opportunity presents itself you can practice and become more reliable but the odds of you learning the skills for your new job before you start are very unlikely.
The morals of these stories are it’s OK to put a little spice on it, tastefully. I’ve met some people that even appreciate being sold a little. It makes them feel like you worked for their business.
Don’t forget in business and in life honesty is the best policy. Disingenuous behavior will eventually expose you and the repercussions could be damaging to your career, personal life, finances, and peace of mind.
