Level 1 – Lost in Building your business?

Level 1 – LOST

Build you business idea — Lost in how to build your business idea

At this level you are in effect ‘lost’ you know you want to do ‘something’ but it’s not clear:

What it is that you think you want to do
How you’re going to do the something

If you’re lucky you may have a firm idea of what it is you want to do (that will inevitably change by the way) and some inkling of how it is that you’re going to make it happen. Hurrah, you’re one of the few to our pages with this!

The most important thing is to recognise the feelings and ‘decide’ you’re going to do something about it. You see, it’s the ‘decision’ that’s important. Without you making a real decision to get off your backside and make it happen, then you will never get past Level 1….

Level 1 – Lost – how to start building your product idea

You have worked out that you have this idea or offering that you want to create, but you’re not clear on how to start, where to go for help, what help it is you need and most of all whether the idea or offering will really be of value to others.

This is perfectly normal and lots of people start from this place.

Let’s get started with the basic blocks you need:

Taking Action:

– Describe where or what you want to get to [Goals]. By knowing where you want to get to you can plot a course from A to B. And don’t worry about getting it exactly right first time – as your understanding grows we’ll create an action plan that finesses the how.

Skills needed:

– What skills and capabilities will you need to bring your idea to reality and which ones don’t you have [knowledge or knowhow needed]. This might be sales skills (more on later), communications, graphic design, web sites, machining, proto-typing you name it if you think you need it.

Making it:

– Do you know what the thing you’re going to make is and some idea of how it might be made. The vision for your offering and some description of how it might be created including what resources may be needed. [Vision and Description].

Finding People / Audience:

Who are the people that would be interested in your idea and offering. Can you describe how they would use it [Target User description] and hence what problem does it fix for them and what value does it add?

Summary of the practical tools you will have at Level 1:

Action	Skills
Goals Mission	– Knowledge or Knowhow needed
Make it	Find People
– Product Description	Target User description

Next we’ll look at the next level in building your understanding of your idea to help earn an extra income

Level 2 – STARTED to take your idea to business

Practical Tools and Motivation to turn your idea into reality

Make it Happen | parctical tolls and motivation to make it happen — Practical Tools and Motivation to Make it Happen

Everyone has within them that one great idea or book or ‘thing’.

It’s true that 99% of people do not get to the point of surfacing their ‘thing’, either because bringing it into reality is too difficult and they don’t know where to start, or through fear of failure that their idea is not worthwhile.

The reality is that for an individual to get their ‘thing’ from an idea to reality is ‘simple’ but ‘hard’. And with the right steps the risk that the idea is not worthwhile can be tackled early and put to bed.

Idea to Reality is Simple

I say it is simple because with the right steps and a sequence laid out before you to bring your idea to life in a way that you can understand it in more detail, define it and give it form (not just an idea in your head), and be able to communicate it to others so that the benefits of your idea can be understood, you can transform your idea into an offering that people can consume and realise the potential from.

Overcoming the Hard part

Okay, so sounds simple enough – right?

Most people will find this hard to do and won’t complete the task. This will be caused by their own internal blockers coming to bear and halting any progress before it has even begun. Safer to believe in your head that the idea is great than to actually put it out there into the world and really know it. There will be lots of excuses for not putting the effort in, whether it is not enough time, resources, family support, knowledge, etc…

So the ‘hard’ part is actually in getting off the bench, standing behind the idea and putting in some effort to bring it out of your head and into the world.

Are you ready to bring your idea to reality?

Over the coming weeks I will be laying out the steps to get you and your idea together out into the real world so that you can put shape to it, describe and communicate it, and share it with those who might consume it and realise the benefit from your offering.

Whether your reasons for wanting to are to escape your cubicle or job, to help others through the value of your idea or to make the world a better place. I intend to arm you with the simple practical tools and motivation to overcome the resistance and get your offering out there.

Practical Perseverance and How to Develop it

Level 1 – Lost in Building your Business

Level 2 – Started to take your idea to business

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly to start with

I have just listened to a great interview with Adam Urbanksi of TheMarketingMentors.com. He’s really down to earth and has gone through building a company and making it a huge success to falling flat on his face and having to pick himself up again.

He had a great motivational quote that is the title of this post:

“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly to start with”

Now what Adam is saying is that a lot of people don’t actually get off the couch and go make that thing that’s really worth doing happen. This is because they’re scared that they won’t get it good enough or perfect to publish and risk looking stupid.

Adam’s point is that it’s more important to do that thing and get it out there, you can work on tidying and perfecting it later – but your audience will help you shape it into what’s perfect for them (not just your own isolated view which could be wrong).

So please bear this in mind as you enter a new year and make sure you make those things that are worth doing happen! Rough and ready or good enough are the buzzwords to heed.

For practical tools and motivation for marketing then Adam Urbanski can help and give great advice.

To listen to the interview head on over to Entrepreneur on Fire and episode #433.

If you liked what you read then please go on and leave a comment or subscribe.

Jan 1st – isn’t it time you made that change?

Why 2014 is the year you change

It’s a new year and traditionally this is the time that many people get that extra shove to attack their situation and make a change.

I came across this great article that walks through the effects making a large scale change has on you.

I hope it gives you the courage to step up and make your change.

When you find your idea is already out there – here’s how to turn it around

When you find your big idea is already out there before you’ve had the time to create it – here is how to overcome the situation and continue to turn your idea into business.

You find your idea is out there before you’ve had the time to create it

I have been following Jason for a number of years now, since before he started the TWIST show and Launch conference, and before his falling out with Michael Arrington.

This piece in LinkedIn written by Jason covers how products such as the Facebook and the iPad were ideas that had already been ‘out there’ but through very effective execution and iteration the idea was improved upon and a very successful product was created.

Jason makes some good observations regarding how ideas get categorised into one of three of the following:
1. stolen/copied
2. evolutionary/iterative
3. groundbreaking/divergent

And how difficult it can be to convince people of the value once it’s been categorised.

But he leaves us with real examples where the ‘idea’ is not lost and through determination and execution things can be turned around.

So if you find your idea is already out there – don’t lose heart and take courage from the fact that some of the biggest successes out there came about despite the idea already being out there – just double down and do it better!

How to make actions actionable

How to create Actionable Actions

Action Man — How to write Actionable Actions.

If you’re going to get your idea or offering out there and in the hands of your audience then you’re going to need to take action.

But we’re not talking the kind of vague, loose action that hangs around for days on the list never getting done, and therefore keeping you from achieving your goals.

Here I will show you how to write ‘actionable actions’ that when you read them back they will drive you to take the action that gets your goals achieved – without this approach you are destined to a slow and low velocity action list that hangs around you for days.

Actionable Actions Formula

Action Verb	Activity	Purpose	Due Date
Complete	Month end report	for Accounting	by Friday 12pm

Some people find this formula for creating actionable actions useful.

Use action verbs – When you write an action make it a ‘command’ as if you’re ordering yourself to complete it.

Make use of ‘action verbs’ so when you read it back when you’re ready to tackle it, you already know what you’re going to do because it’s worded in the right way.

Action Verbs

Accelerate	Collect	Enact	Inform	Outline	review
Accompany	Command	Encourage	Initiate	Participate	revise
Achieve	Communicate	Enforce	Innovate	Perceive	Schedule
Acquire	Complete	Engineer	Inspire	Perfect	Screen
Adapt	Compose	Enhance	Install	Perform	Secure
Address	Conceive	Employ	Instruct	Persuade	Select
Adjust	Condense	Establish	Insure	Pilot	Serve
Administer	Conduct	Evaluate	Integrate	Pinpoint	Simplify
Advance	Construct	Exceed	Intensify	Pioneer	Solve
Advertise	Contract	Execute	Interpret	Place	Spearhead
Advise	Contribute	Exhibit	Interview	Plan	Specialise
Advocate	Control	Expand	Invent	Prepare	Staff
Allocate	Convert	Expedite	Investigate	Preside	Standardise
Analyse	Cooperate	Explain	Justify	Prevent	Streamline
Anticipate	Coordinate	Explore	Launch	Prioritise	Strengthen
Apply	Correlate	Facilitate	Lead	Process	Structure
Appreciate	Correspond	Finalize	License	Procure	Succeed
Arrange	Create	Finance	Locate	Produce	Summarize
Assemble	Cultivate	Focus	Log	Program	Supervise
Assess	Customize	Forecast	Maintain	Project	Support
Assign	Decide	Formalize	Manage	Promote	Survey
Assist	Define	Form	Manufacture	Propose	Synthesise
Audit	Delegate	Foster	Market	Prove	Systematize
Authorise	Deliver	Found	Master	Provide	Target
Balance	Demonstrate	Fundraise	Mediate	Publicise	Teach
Brief	Design	Generate	Mentor	Publish	Test
Budget	Determine	Govern	Minimise	Purchase	Train
Build	Develop	Graduate	Mobilise	Qualify	Transfer
Calculate	Devise	Guide	Modify	Quantify	Transmit
Catalogue	Direct	Handle	Monitor	Realise	Translate
Centralise	Discover	Head	Motivate	Recommend	Tutor
Chair	Display	Hire	Negotiate	Reconcile	Unify
Change	Document	Identify	Nominate	Recruit	Update
Clarify	Double	Illustrate	Obtain	Reduce	Upgrade
Classify	Draft	Implement	Operate	Reinforce	Use
Collaborate	Earn	Improve	Orchestrate	Reorganize	Utilise
Collect	Edit	Improvise	Order	Report	Verify
Command	Educate	Incorporate	Organise	Research	Volunteer
Communicate	Effect	Increase	Originate	Resolve
	Eliminate	Influence		Respond
				Revamp

List of action verbs to make your actions more actionable.

———–

Be specific and write down exactly what you’re going to do ‘write report’ is not the same as ‘complete the month end report for Beatrice by 12pm on Friday’.

Once you have specific and action oriented actions, be specific and don’t keep a long to-do list with you. Prioritise your actions and keep only the most relevant (no more than 20 actions) on the list.

Be realistic with yourself – you will only achieve three of your priority actions in a day. If you find you’re achieving many more, then re-visit what you’re terming an action.

Finally, my advice every time and all of the time is simply…….practice! The more you practice the better you’ll get….true of lots of areas.

Share your comments below with your own tips for writing actionable actions.

Your New Idea will Fail and here is why

fail-whale — Is Idea Research – your Fail-Whale?

There is a serious risk to your ability to succeed when you have a new idea and you want to turn it into a business, but you can avoid it…

You think of something that you think is a great idea. It has the potential to help lots of people and you can see in your mind’s eye the effect it coud have. The excitement is raging, you’re thinking of how it would look, the people who will use it, the benefits it will bring and the success you could have. You might have already started thinking of the name and checked if the web domain is available…………and then……….the kettle finishes boiling!!

We’ve all been there and had the world’s greatest product idea that would help thousands and fix a real life problem and you’re convinced it will make your mark on the world. Then 10 minutes later you’ve figured out three reasons why your idea will fail and then the idea is snuffed out before it even took a breath.

BUT – that’s not the threat we’re talking about today.

Let us assume your idea has passed this killer hurdle and is now gliding its path up into the upper hemisphere of your consciousness and is rising on a cloud to become a business. So you’re investing in this one and it’s managed to shake off the dark clouds of failure (for now). Your enthusiasm for this one is galvanizing around it, making this idea the nucleus of your attention. You start writing lists of the things you need to support the idea – like all good behavioural gurus will tell us – you start to build ‘legs’ under the idea to help stand it up. You search on the web for domain names, you start to research your idea in Google and look at Competitors, Alternatives, Locations and lots of other areas…..

THIS IS THE THREAT TO YOUR IDEA

THIS IS THE BLOCKER THAT THWARTS MANY

IDEA RESEARCH IS THE THREAT to your idea

Research has the ability to be very sexy and all the time you’re researching you feel like you’re really doing the work on your idea and building it out into something great and giving it legs to launch into the world…….but the reality is…..

You’re still just sat on a nice fluffy cloud someway up in the hemisphere bobbing around with your idea touching on this area of potential and that area of potential moving from cloud to cloud. It’s nice and its interesting but can hold your idea back from the gulf stream that’s hurtling along above your head and could really launch your idea into business.

Practical Action to turn your idea into business

The practical action you need to take to avoid this threat is to recognise when it’s happening and to time box your research and recognise that it has its value but it can only be of limited value – for an idea to get to business it needs REAL PRACTICAL WORK to build something and ship it into the hands of your customers. Once you have a product ‘out there’ then you’re riding the gulf stream – the insights you will get from the real world people out there that are using, interacting and handling your creation will catapult your ideas and business to a new level of success.

Bottom Line on Idea Research as a Threat to your Idea

The bottom line is to not let ‘research’ be an excuse for not doing the work to get your product into the hands of the people who matter. Business is simple…..but hard…and you have to do the work to achieve idea success.

Don’t you agree? Leave an answer in your comments to let me know and help others learn from your experience.

Motivation Management on the Entrepreneur Rollercoaster

Starting a business like all things in life has its ups and downs of emotions and motivation.

Motivation Management is a key skill and this short video by David Hauser (@DH) is a great short story on the path of an Entrepreneur. I love the fork scene before ‘Crash and Burn’ or Success and it’s a genuine point that a lot of us get to on our path to success. – Enjoy 🙂

Maximise your motivation and hang on in there to get to success.

Visit getontherollercoaster.com and let’s all get to Hopeful Realisation.

Getting from idea to business – how to select your offering

Perfect Match - two hearts A and B — Idea to Business | The Business chooses you.

Some say you don’t choose your business but your business chooses you…

What does this mean I hear you cry? Well how often do you listen to the stories of truly successful entrepreneurs and how their original ideas turned out to be something very different when they found success:

Facebook was originally FaceMash, a site to compare two photos of people and vote for who looked best )
YouTube started out as an on-line video dating site called TuneInHookUp

It happens all the time and this is what I am talking about.

Your future success in business is driven by a number of aspects all about YOU:

Your SKILLS – which of your current skills are the most relevant to get your idea to business quickly. If the skills you need aren’t there yet, then start learning
Your INTERESTS – if your idea isn’t something that peaks your interest then you should think long and hard before leaping in. It’s much harder to be passionate about something that isn’t REALLY interesting to you
Your COMMITTMENT – if you’re looking for a passive income then opening a retail store that needs you present and available day in day out is likely not for you. Match your committment to the idea you pursue to ge the most out of it

The successful business that will be borne of your idea is in there waiting to come out. Just make sure that when it comes around you’ve matched it up with your SKILLS, INTERESTS and COMMITTMENT to ensure your success – the business chooses you.

Where there is a mismatch in these factors then you may need to look more closely at the MOTIVATION section here to give you that extra boost.

Geordie’s Story – How to take an idea to business

This is a fantastic short video where Geordie Wardman gives us his story of one guy’s experience in starting with an idea and trying to build it up into a business that can sustain him.

Geordie talks of his experience at the well established course offered by Dane Maxwell called The Foundation.

He goes through his emotions of getting the idea up, the first customer, the gap between any more customers and Sales and then the elation of a steady 2-3 customers a week.

This isn’t a big scale, large volume success story. This is the warts and all gradual slog that is involved in seeing through on your idea and executing to get it from idea to business.

Geordie talks about how he became a lot more comfortable with dealing with ‘extreme uncertainty’ which, when he started was a huge part of the journey. He talks publicly of his first sales attempts and hit rate of less than 3%, and how he’s progressed in a very short time to a closer to 95% hit rate.

Have a listen and check out his very practical approach to the hand-drawn infographic sharing his experience.