DON’T Just DO It
You always see all of these affiliate blogs offering the advice “just do it!” While I see their point that the only way to see success is to try things, accumulate data and try again, i’m not sure it’s always the right advice for every situation.
I would currently like to concentrate a percentage of my efforts on a long term business model. I have no lack of ideas. In fact, ideas constantly pop into my head for longer term business models. The problem is that I’m smart enough to know that not all of these ideas are great nor practical. I’d say for the last 6 months i’ve been in a mode where I come up with ideas for long term business models but don’t act on them. The reason I haven’t been acting is that I don’t 100% believe in the concept or idea. I’m not afraid to take a leap or make a move – I just want to put my efforts towards something that I truly believe in because confidence get’s you through the tough times.
I think that all entrepreneurs should be able to tell a good idea from a bad one even if they came up with it themselves. It’s true that you need to do SOMETHING to move forward but leaping from project to project with no direction or plan in the name of doing something isn’t a good strategy at all.
Yeah. One thing I have learned this year is that startup companies and entrepreneurs don’t need yet another “idea guy”, because ideas are a dime a dozen. Just sitting here typing, I could think up like 10 great ideas. What they need, instead, is a brainstorming session of like 3 great ideas, with 3 being the number such that you can hedge your bets. Then, they need some focus, everyone rolling up their sleeves and pitching in even when it hurts for whatever reason, and getting things accomplished. The steps may be accomplished a little later than expected as time predictions aren’t always possible, as dead end coding approaches are discovered and worked around, as the quality is ironed out, and as one wishes to make the customer’s system or service “Fisher-Price” easy that even a third grader could use it.
Couple of days ago I posted on my blog a very short post on the same vein.
Iterating is very important IMO, but giving projects (ideas) a fair chance and sticking-to-it is very important too.
Just Do it…. but think about it before you do it. Good advice
I think the Just Do It rule mainly applies to people starting out. People who are smothered with of tonne of information and are a little scared to spend their money.
It was the best three words I heard when I was started out. Now it doesn’t apply as much.
I agree that the first step to being successful is just doing it and taking actions. But whatever it is you do, make sure its a solution/project for something in demand. And a huge need for it.
I found your blog a few weeks ago and have poured over previous entries in addition to reading/enjoying current postings. As a newbie to the internet marketing puzzle, your comments and case studies have been informative, invaluable, and inspired me to pull the trigger and start a campaign for a local business in my area.
I’m commenting here because I feel that though the advice in this post is topical, it is essential to success overall.
Anyone can have the idea, a few can act on it, even less can sustain it long term. The fundamental reason that I have had failures in the past and have seen so many others fail is a lack of planning before the leap. Even when you “don’t know what you don’t know”, a solid plan creates a strategy that can adjust more easily to the inevitable bumps and smooth them out more quickly.
Also, when you begin to dial in the “idea” further, the devilish little details begin to pop up and you get a more accurate sense of what’s required in terms of resources and time.
Anyway, that’s my .02. Keep up the great work and I hope that I get a chance to introduce myself at one of Ian’s meetups in the future and I promise no newbie interrogations. Peace.
@Nimble – If your at Summit, come say hi 🙂
Everything needs a good plan even a bad thing. I have plan for my posting too
u9wxwd