This is a great concept to keep in mind: most success is achieved by avoiding stupid mistakes rather than by doing anything particularly brilliant.
In the words of Charlie Munger (via Farnam Street):
“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent. There must be some wisdom in the folk saying, `It’s the strong swimmers who drown.’”
What are the stupid mistakes you see your competition making? How can you avoid making the same yourself?
I asked those questions in our private Freedom Business Builder community recently and a freelancer responded:
For writing: Going into oversaturated niches like travel and expecting to find lots of high paying clients. Can avoid by picking the topics that are actually in demand. Hint: it’s things people DON’T want to write about that makes you lots of money.
