Thoughts on Optimisim and Pessimism

Sometimes i wonder which of the following is a good thing when you are planning to start up a business.

Been optismistic definitely make it easier as you it gives you the motivation to keep going. But then you might at times suffer badly for unrealistic expectations.

Been pessimistic on the other hand keeps you down to earth but maybe bad as it stops you from taking the first step which is crucial. As the saying goes, "A journey of a thousand miles begin with taking the first step". Who say this?

I think a good balance of both is important. When we first decided to start Pitstop Cafe, one of the most important thing we do was kinda of try to look into the crystal ball and wonder if the whole idea was feasible practically.

It is tough considering that there are so many unknowns such as how many customers would we have, are we able to pay all our overheads, etc. It can be quite tough as i think more often than not, most people tends to be too optimistic instead of pessimistic. That is why i enjoyed working in a team because everyone has different perspectives and each one at time acts as the devil's advocate. This kinda of help to keep things in check.

Anyway what prompted me to write this entry is because of a really interesting article that i read in Sunday Times.


Does such an estimation really make sense or was it just to grab attention?

Basically the article is trying to find out how much the hawker earns. So they did some plate counting at various stores. So if one of the store average selling 50 plates per minute. Using their formula,

Maximum income = 50 plates/hr x 12 hrs/day x $4 per plate x 30 days = $72,000/mth!

Shoik right? In fact the article mentioned a hawker store that can earn a maximum of $120,000/mth! I personally find it super ultra optmistic even though in theory that might be possible. Don't get me wrong, it is definitely possible for some hawkers that really make it big and earn tons of $$$. My point is mainly trying to figure out if using the formula actually helps to paint a realistic picture. Is the intention of the article just to grab the readers' attention? I do not know.

But than again looking at the past recent events, perhaps we are genuinely at a loss when it comes to formulating formulas and numbers.

Sorry for digressing. So what are your thoughts? Which of the following do you think is an important trait of entrepreneurs? Optimisim or Pessimisim?

astroboy

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