Don’t Let Great Ideas Get In The Way

How many great business ideas do you have?

Do you own a business and are constantly looking at ways to improve?

Over the last two weeks I have been speaking with a gentleman who owns his own company. He has a great business model with tremendous potential for growth. The problem he’s having is he doesn’t know how to slow down. He has all these great ideas but can’t stay on one long enough to see if it will actually work.

This isn’t just a problem in business – I find the more fast paced our society becomes, the less patient we become as people in general.

Growing your business takes time. That saying you have all heard over and over, “Rome wasn’t built overnight”,  stands true.

So I sat with this gentleman and took him through the basic steps of a marketing plan. He had 17 ideas he was trying to implement all at once, which he justified by saying, “They’re all good ideas.”

And, to be honest, they were. But the problem with taking the “do it all at once approach” is there will be a lack of focus on all your ideas.

So we started with the most appropriate ideas first; we planned them out from start to finish; and plotted them into a well organized and time sensitive spread sheet. After all 17 ideas were laid out, we went through each idea individually, so we could understand what the purpose and expectation was and how it could somehow lead into the next idea.

Afterwards, we went through the steps on how to measure each one of the initiatives – measurement is key – and how to define what worked and what didn’t, so next time he could tailor his approach.

After we finished up, he went from having a great business with 17 ideas kind of happening but not really, to having a well organized marketing plan with details on how each tactic would be implemented, what the timeline was and how it would be measured.

So my message to you is a simple one – slow down and breathe. Take a step back and look at what your doing. Make sure you’re not taking on too much at once and be sure to ask yourself questions before moving forward.

Some of the questions I ask myself are:

• What will this look like?
• What will it cost?
• Will I need more staff?
• What are my timelines?
• What is my break even point?
• At what point can I expect to see profit?

There are many more, but that’s a start. Feel free to share yours.

Your Friend,

Troy Claus

“To do more for the world than the world does for you, that is success” – Henry Ford.

image: mateusdelbianco

Author : Troy

Director of Business Development at JumpPoint, Product Developer at Clarity for the boss, a supercharged Speaker and the founder of The Entrepreneurs Journey series. The secret to success is stored in my beard, but I will share it if asked nicely.