Navigating through Nay-sayers.

Once again, this is a more of a toughie when you're just starting out. As an entrepreneur you've presumably thought through your idea (read all the how-to's, attended all the workshops) and worked out a business model that looks promising. And then you run across people, many whom you may respect, who say flat out ' I don't think there's a market for this', 'It's been done', 'The big guys will do this soon', 'It looks like a hard sell' or, worst of all, 'I don't know if you can pull this off'. It's enough to make the most gung-ho person come to a screeching halt and wonder if this was such a bright idea after all.

There's no easy answer. For every Dell, Google or JetBlue that defied the doubters and nay-sayers to become a roaring success, there are hundreds of others that never made it ....and we don't know if they had their doubters too who just happened to be right. On the other hand if people gave up on their ideas at the first whiff of skepticism, mankind wouldn't never have taken the first step from lightning-struck branches to flint stones.

How should a would-be entrepreneur handle doubts?

First, it really helps to listen to the skeptics. Not necessarily believe them, but listen and understand why they may say what they do. And if you listen without getting either defeatist or defensive you'll find it generates some creative thinking. When I heard 'it'll be a hard sell' about my idea, I dug in and tried to understand why that would be the case and realized that the speaker was focusing on just one market segment. It made me question why one would assume that would be the primary segment, and got me to focus on improving the positioning.

Second, do tons of research. The more you know about your potential customers, competition, location, market trends etc., etc., the less likely it is to you'd get derailed by others' opinions.

Third, do the math. Not to impresss would-be investors, but to convince the most critical person - you, the entrepreneur - that your idea is viable one. When you're crunching numbers for yourself you won't try to kid yourself with the most optimistic guesstimates, but will use the most conservative ones so you know what the worst case scenario could be.

Fourth, come up with some alternatives. If it is possible that the doubters are right, are there ways to avoid the problem or mitigate the risk or soften the impact? Even if someone raises questions about your abilities (you're not technical enough, or you're too much of an engineer, or you don't understand sales, or you're too young or too old, or too impatient or too idealistic or whatever) - and you think they may actually have a point there - you can address them when you're building your team. Remember, most issues can be resolved, or at least lessened.

Finally, it's easier to figure out what will work if you have something to actually try out. If you're convinced your idea will work, and you're willing to take the risk, it's yours - go get it started. Maybe you'll have to change your offering, or your market, or your business model, or maybe all of it, but at least you're not stuck in the deer-in-the-headlights mode of operating which would only result in a non-startup.

Questions, caution, analysis. Good. Paralysis. Bad.