Annabel Karmel played harp in front of live audiences, which taught her confidence and how to present herself. She argues that real entrepreneurship means trying things even when they'll probably fail, and that focus groups don't matter as much as actually making something and seeing if people buy it.
Chapters
So do you think by playing the harp and being in front of a live audience has helped you even now to this day being able to present and being— I do. It was good training. So is it helping with confidence? Yeah, definitely. Wow. Definitely, because you go in front of people and if you don't believe in yourself, who is going to believe in you? And if you don't push yourself out of your comfort zone, you're never going to be a true entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs will do something knowing that it probably will fail, and 90% it will fail, but it might get them to the next stage. I've done things that haven't worked, but I think the opposite of success is not failure. The opposite of success is not trying. Wow. And entrepreneurs will try things. And if you don't try something, you don't know if it's going to work. People in a focus group will give you lots of opinions, but it's only when you actually produce it and people have to buy it that you know if it's going to be a success or not.