Hi!There’s a phrase I hear at entrepreneur events in NYC that makes me cringe:
“Fake it until you make it.”
It’s not so much what it means that gets to me. It’s the fact that it’s often misused or misunderstood. Not always, but a lot of times I see/hear it misused. The phrase comes from a psychology technique to build ones own confidence to overcome something that they are having difficulty with. A good example is visualizing and becoming extroverted to overcome shyness in social situations.
Instead I see would be entrepreneurs taking this advice to portray them or their companies as something they are not. “Fake it until you make it” is not a way to rationalize lying, when it’s time to act on the misrepresentation of the truth you will run into problems. Be it about the size of your team, how much traffic you get, or how many clients you have. You don’t want to misrepresent quantifiable data because at some point false data will come back to bite you in the ass.
To me it makes more sense to acknowledge your limitations and position you are in. If you are a solo founder or a small team working on something, the best thing you can do is act within your means. There’s a fine art in managing expectations when you are aiming high and your resources are limited.
If you’re a team of 3 but your output is that of 8, then praise those accomplishments to show how good your team is. Don’t do your team a disservice by hiding their abilities behind a fake team.
If you are focused on how much traffic you are getting and aren’t where you would like to be, then focus on creative ways to get there and be proud of it. Saying you are already there means you have to make up for it and work double to get there.
If you don’t have many clients and inflate the number in hopes that it increases social proof, then consider that a client may prefer to work with a team that can focus more on their needs. You’ll be better able to establish trust and maybe learn more about your business by providing more hands on experience with a client that wants be a part of your success.
Building something from nothing is not easy, but lying about it won’t make you feel any better about your struggles. Wear those bruises as a badge of honor because you are going to be much prouder when you say “I made it so I didn’t have to fake it.”
