The Art of Timing

Building your brand is no simple task. So much of success is failing forward when a vision that seemed bright turns out not to have collective resonance.

Bringing your dream to life is like giving birth to a brainchild. No one wants to be told they have an ugly baby -- or worse, have nobody interested in even looking at the baby they put so much effort into delivering to this world.

But it happens every day.

This is the challenge every creator faces -- whether male or female.

I've seen some of the smartest people fail because they had ideas 10 years before the market was ready for them.

It wasn't their idea that was bad; they were just too early.

The same goes in reverse: Sometimes, you wait too long, the market is already saturated, and you just don't have something that is different enough to make a mark.

Where there is success, others will copy; where there is no precedence, people will doubt.

That's just how things work in the marketplace. And there's this sweet spot where you just have to drop in like a surfer who has prepared for the perfect wave and keep your balance, faith, and stamina as things play out.

That's the real challenge: Being prepared, trained, and aligned when the tide surges in so you can put all your training to work in order to ride a big wave in.