Published: May 28th 2019; By: Nick & Judi Hughes
Are you sitting on a great idea? Have you been carrying this idea around with you in the hopes that one day you will get to it? Are you holding it “close to your chest” for someday? Are you concerned that maybe it isn’t a really great idea?
Mary Kay Ash said, “Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless.”
You will never know if your great idea has legs unless you move forward with it and give it a life. So, how do you make that happen?
Like everything that is worth anything, you set aside time and you just start!
What’s Your Really Good Idea? Get clarity so you can take action.
It always begins with a vision. Get total clarity about your great idea:
- Write it down so it has purpose. Give it a name so it has personality.
- Know what is does. What problem does it solve? What are you trying to accomplish?
- Know who it serves. Who benefits from this?
- What excites you about this idea? What weighs you down about this idea?
- Keep writing. Get as much detail as you can.
- Still a good idea? Keep going …
What’s Stopping You? Identify what’s getting in your way.
There are common things that stop people from starting. Get them out of the way.
- Not enough time – Do you truly not have enough time to work on this new idea or are you just not making it a priority? If you want it, you need to make it a priority. Are you practicing the art of avoidance?
- Overwhelmed – There’s an old Chinese proverb that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step”. Break your tasks into small steps, identify the first step and do it.
- No sense of urgency – Make yourself accountable. Promise someone a deliverable on a specific date and I guarantee you’ll do it.
- Not enough money – How much do you need? There are people who fund things
- Fear – To quote Carol Schulte, “courage before confidence”. Remember FEAR stands for False Evidence Appearing Real.
Who’s on Your Dream Team?
We get stopped because we don’t know how to do something, or we don’t want to do something. Knowing this, consider who you need and want on your dream team to help make it happen.
- What are the things about this project that weigh you down? Who could do those things better than you?
- Can it be outsourced? Can you partner with someone? Would an intern bring new energy? Is there a retired expert that would love to help?
- There is always an answer. Think outside the box to find your dream team to help make this happen.
Put It Out There. Shout it out!
It’s time to sell your great idea, talk the talk and do a little market research. The more people who know about your great idea the more likely you are to take your idea to completion.
- Tell the world; or at least tell your clients. Give existing customers first opportunity to participate and buy.
- Seek people whose opinion and experience you trust. You are looking for critique not validation.
- Include friendly competition in your conversations if it is possible.
- Post questions and thoughts on social media.
- Listen to the answers and the conversation. This is your chance to refine your great idea.
Still A Good Idea? Are you still excited? Good, then let’s keep going.
Find a Quick Win. Identify something that will get you on your way.
You’ve done your preparation. It’s time to make things happen. Do this and you will be motivated to keep going and to get into the habit of working on your great idea.
- Break your big picture into chunks and brainstorm everything you can possibly think of that will need to be done. Include someone else in this exercise for more input. Perhaps your dream team?
- Identify one low risk very focused deliverable you can work on immediately with minimal investment of money and time and that can be implemented within 30 days.
- Remember – “done is better than perfect”.
Your Action Plan. Implementing your great idea.
Your action plan will keep you focused on doing the right things at the right time. Treat this like a project with a beginning, middle and end.
- Identify all actions required to take your great idea to completion.
- Assign a start date and an end date to every action item.
- Assign dream team members to the action items.
- Do a budget. You want to know how much money you need and when.
- Put boundaries around the deliverable to avoid scope creep. Remember you can do a second release.
- Set your focus for the next 90 Days.
- Keep focused. 😊
Some Additional Words of Wisdom. Things to consider.
- Don’t worry about pricing. You won’t get it right in the beginning. Just do it and you will step into your pricing once you are out there.
- Start small and go big. Starting big takes too long.
- Be prepared to change your idea as you go.
- Don’t be afraid to stop. You are not a failure. It’s harder to say no to a project than to keep going. Steve Jobs said, “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1000 things.”
We’ve created a worksheet to guide you through the thinking process of turning your great idea into a reality. You can download your worksheet here!
