I term it the ‘friendly market trauma’.
Spend a good amount of time building something to sell believing that your friends will buy it and you will hit break-even or even profit due to their support.
Then, face reality and realize on the launch date that more than 70% of your friends wouldn’t even look you in the eye for the anxious fear of having to purchase from you.
That is indeed traumatizing to someone who has based all his/her business numbers on their friends’ likelihood to make a purchase.
However, the friendly market trauma isn’t all bad. It pushes you into understanding that you do business with strangers and not with relatives or friends.
Zero expectations, zero disappointment.