Business criticism: how to manage it when starting a new venture?

Coming up with a unique business proposition is hard on its own, and it becomes even more stressful when you have people close to you critiquing your every move. “An idea like this already exists” or “how will you ever make enough money” are phrases and critiques entrepreneurs face all the time. Overcoming your business criticism, although difficult, is something necessary if you are going to become a successful entrepreneur, and here are the ways to do so.

Realize that business criticism is bound to come

In a perfect world, everyone would agree with everything. There would be no backlash or opposing viewpoints to any of your ideas, and you would be able to accomplish anything with ease. However, as I am sure you know, we don’t live in a perfect world. The best way to go about the business critiques you receive is to not let it surprise you. You should know that there will always be that one person who opposes you or doesn’t want to see you succeed. Acknowledge their presence and simply move on. It is important, as I’ll mention later, to sometimes ask what the purpose for the critique was, but you should realize that there will always be criticism. Not being taken aback by it is very important if you are to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Ask them what the purpose of the business criticism was

Once you have realized that for everything you do there will be a critic, the next step is to dive deeper into the criticism and look for the importance in the critiques. Sometimes people criticize because they are jealous of your success and your ideas. However, sometimes people criticize for a purpose. They see something flawed that perhaps you have not picked up on yet. Working on a project for so long can make you oblivious to things that are in fact easy to see from another perspective.

This is where good criticism comes into play. Having your ideas and propositions looked at and judged by someone new and someone who has no idea what you are creating can be a good thing. This allows you to see how the general public would view your ideas free from any bias. This is an important skill to have for any entrepreneur. Identifying good business criticism and factoring that into your entrepreneurial venture will help you be much more successful than if you just ignored the critiques.

Don’t jump on the first praise you receive

Just like how you shouldn’t ignore all the criticism you receive, you shouldn’t let the first bit of praise you get impact you any more. It is important to realize that what you are doing is right and that other people see it the same way, but it is more important to keep a middle ground. Value praise and criticism the same, and you will be on your way to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

See business criticism as a compliment

Finally, take the business criticism you receive as a compliment. Receiving criticism means you are making significant progress towards your goal, and people are willing to give you feedback along the way. Acknowledging this criticism as a compliment will help you move forward and allow you to collaborate with others who may know how to do something better than you and are willing to help you out.

Questions about handling criticism to discuss:

1. How have you dealt with criticism in your lifetime?
2. What did you feel when you started getting criticism about your business?
3. Are there other factors you deem to be more important to deal with business criticism?

About the author: Larysa Hale

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