Most of us are armchair entrepreneurs. We can think of fantastic business ideas, which we are sure of we know will work, but when we get to the point we need to get practical and actually act on one of these ideas, we back out. Some people will go through life having a new plan every week and never pursue any of them. If you want to be a dreamer, that is perfectly fine. However, if, after you discard another idea, you still have that nagging feeling you should really pursue one of these ideas, then maybe you should. Here are a few tips to at least give one of those ideas a chance.
Change your mindset from ‘tomorrow’ to ‘now.’ It’s easy to park an idea and wait till tomorrow, knowing that this tomorrow will never come. You want to take action now. And it doesn’t matter if that initial action is small, even tiny. The key is to build up momentum and keep going. That small action will stack up with other small actions, and eventually become a significant movement for your business idea. In some cases, taking smaller steps, in the beginning, is actually smarter than making big ones. You can burn yourself out on an idea if you are not careful.
Once you explore and build up momentum on your idea, do check yourself. Once the idea turns into a list of actions, you will have the opportunity to review and reassess the approach. The critical question to ask if your plan actually fixes a problem that is very common and people want to see fixed. This will focus you on if your solution (product) is actually fixing a problem if this problem is widely spread (market size) and if your solution makes people’s life easier (demand).
Once you are going through this self-critical and reflective process, also say no to the naysayers, well kind of. People who don’t know you well might be dismissive of the idea and can demotivate you. Ignore them! Don’t ignore people who know you well and understand what you are trying to achieve. In most cases, these people can be involved as a soundboard to bounce ideas off.
When you have gone through rigorous concept testing (of the mind), and you still want to pursue your idea, it might be the right time to patent it, if your ideas lend itself for patenting. If this is the case, you really want to protect yourself legally from anyone else running away with it. This is prudent as you will reach the phase where the idea needs to go from your head into reality.
This is the part where an idea becomes a physical (assuming your plan was a tangible product) thing. There is much to say for 3d printing which can work perfectly for prototyping. If you are beyond prototyping, consider small production runs in countries that have the technology but are low on overall costs. The standard idea is always China, but other East Asian countries offer similar highly skilled and advanced technological production processes, against a fraction of the cost domestically. Take PVC card printing for example which can be produced and personalized perfectly abroad.
So there you have. Make sure to take action on your next big idea, small steps are beautiful, put the concept through mental concept testing, involve people you trust and know you and don’t shy away from thinking globally in terms of production. You never know if you can create the next big thing!
