In our quest to chase our dreams and live out our passions, at the end of the day our idea should be able to put food on the table and clothes on our back. If it does this, we can live out the freedom and flexibility that all of us desire.
Unfortunately, ideas that won’t solve problems and doesn’t provide benefits to the buyer will leave us chasing a carrot and never experience the freedom we’re trying to obtain. Unless of course, we inherit a large chunk of money or we win the lottery.
What Should I Build?
The most common thing I frequently here is, “I know where I want to end up, but I just don’t know how to get there.”
When you begin to look at the very core of doing business it’s all about exchange. I have a product or service that I can provide for you and the benefits it provides causes you to excel, feel better, look better etc.
What you build should be able to generate revenue, but people should also want to buy what you’re offering. Building something that no one wants will be devastating no matter how great of an idea you think it is.
As you begin to build out your idea, ask yourself:
- Will people or businesses pay for this?
- How will I get paid?
- Is there anything like my product already being sold?
- What benefits will my product or service provide that will set me apart?
- Is this a one-time purchase or could I sell my product or service multiple times?
Once you can define if you have a valuable idea that people will pay for, it’s now time to start building, testing your idea and seeing how consumers buy and engage with what you’re offering. There’s no need to spend thousands of dollars if you’re just a one man band, do a test run, sell what you’ve built, make adjusts and then fire off round two.
As long as you’re building what people want to purchase, you’re on your way to having a viable business. Keep in mind, no matter how cool your idea appears unless there’s an exchange (your idea/product for cash) you don’t really have a business.
Stumbling into Success
I’m always intrigued by the success stories of small business owners. When I have the opportunity to ask, a lot of times their stories include, “we didn’t originally plan to end up here, but as we launched we discovered this is what our customers were looking for… We kinda just stumbled into success.”
There are things you’ll never learn about you and your idea until you start. Don’t worry about failure at this time. Ask yourself if it will generate revenue? Build it out. Test your idea. Make adjustments. Rinse and repeat!
Time to build!
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image courtesy of Fred Scharmen
