An ambitious mind is a blessing and a curse. I’ve explained my thoughts on this in a previous email.
It gives us a want for progress and an initiative that helps us see opportunities everywhere – fantastic things if used correctly but incredibly annoying if you can’t use them correctly.
One of the most annoying things when starting out can be finding the right idea. 😫
When you decide you want to start something your brain seems to kick into overdrive. You’re spotting problems that need solving everywhere and coming up with ideas all day every day (apart from the odd creative block every now and then). You create a notes section in your phone dedicated to the ideas or have a notepad by your bed to make sure you capture those midnight lightbulb moments.
All of these ideas are seemingly brilliant. World-changing. At the very least, nice, novel businesses that would all work. So how do you know which to pick? 🤔
Well, sadly, there are no right and wrong answers but here are some ways to help you pick and finally get started on being the leader/founder/entrepreneur/hustler you’ve always wanted to be.
1. Decide who you are…
Who are you… really? Not who you want people to think you are. Who are you and who do you really want to be?
It sounds like a deep question but often I find people are seeking out entrepreneurial ventures because of it’s glamorisation over the past decade and rise of social media improving exposure to ventures.
But let me tell you it is one of the toughest journeys you’ll ever go on. You’ll have days you can’t see a way out of. People who have rent to pay, relying on a salary you’ve promised them. Customers to not let down. And many more stresses that come with the job.
The upsides are amazing for sure. But the downsides are equally drastic. Are you sure that’s what you want?
Once you’ve decided you’re the person for the job… 🙋♂️
2. Realise that if you have multiple ideas, then it’s not a problem you’re passionate about…
When it comes to finding the idea there are two types of people: Those who are so passionate about problem, they fix it and are focused on it, or those who want the ‘freedom’ and ownership of entrepreneurship and can’t find the vessel to do it with.
This email is for those in the latter group, of course.
In this case it actually doesn’t matter just pick something and get started.
…But what do you pick? 🤔
3. Choose something that you’ll get out of bed (and stay up) for…
If at the start, your choice is just one of many ideas you had, it should at least be one you can see yourself being most passionate about. ❤️
Is there something personal about it? Does it align with your personal core values?
If so, it’s likely you’ll grow to become passionate about it (more so than you might expect) which will be fantastic for building a credible, personal, authentic brand around you and your business, as well as helping hugely with sales.
If not though, then decide that as soon as possible and shelve the idea because you’ll lose interest too easily, too quickly.
Overnight successes usually take years to cultivate. 📈
4. Pick something that suits your dream lifestyle
Do you want to be well known for building a huge business? Want to spend your days on the beach? Want to travel the world? Want to make an impact in your local community? 🤔
The reality is that some ideas will be able to tick the boxes you have and others won’t.
If you want to build a unicorn 🦄 (a business with a $1bn valuation) then a bootstrapped business with £1m ARR (annual recurring revenue) isn’t going to do that.
5. Realise you can’t do it all and get comfortable with that
Here’s the harsh reality: You can’t do it all. 🙅♂️
And if you try to, you’ll likely never get anything of note done on any of your ideas.
I know because I tried it myself. At one point I think I had 3-4 companies going at any one time and all of them were worth absolutely nothing. 🤦♂️
Lack of focus is what kills many businesses. Laser vision is what gets businesses moving and growing quickly. 🚀
Once you’re at a certain level of sustainability, you can choose to hire in your place, and move onto other things if you wish. That can be as soon as you’d like/can afford, but remember your business started with your vision and without you it may lose its way.
6. Use ‘long sprints’ to build a portfolio career
You may have heard people (or me) talk about ‘sprints’ before – a terminology related to ‘agile methodologies’ (ways of working in business).
Sprints are essentially projects that are broken down and can be delivered quickly, to see visible progress and compartmentalising the activities required. 📈
We loosely do this at Yena with everything from our quarterly members months (1 month sprints delivering extra value to members with sounding boards, video editing, Toolbox pitches, etc) to website developments and marketing campaigns.
You can also do this with your career over time, especially if you’re in charge of it.
Let’s assume you have 80 years to live and you start at 20 years old.
Instagram was bought by Facebook for $1bn just 15 months after it has started. Now, let’s be more realistic and say that getting to a good level of sustainability may take you 2 years.
That’s 30 businesses you can start & grow in 60 years.
Could you handle that many? Do you want that many?! 😱🤯
Maybe you’d really like to work on 5 of your ideas. Pick one and do the others in 3, 5,10 years time.
7. Timing is key…
The key to some of the worlds greatest business is timing. We’ve all seen ideas come and go before their time. Google Glass is a great example – many of us are fairly certain that VR, AR and technologies of this nature are the future for humanity but Google Glass was just too soon for anyone to want to adopt.
So out of those 5 ideas you’ve narrowed down, which would work best right now? 🤔
Consider the demands of the market, the trends, who’s doing what, where the investment money is going, etc and play to the strengths of the time you’re in right now.
8. Just get started dammit!
Don’t be a wantrepreneur. Be an entrepreneur.
Get going. Sell something. Make people happy. Sell more.
Congrats you have a business! 🎉
And remember – if you want the support of hundreds of other ambitious rebels like you, the tools to help you get started & grow, and the content to learn from experts to upskill and make everything a whole lot easier, then you can join Yena for £9/mo + vat. No contract. Your rules. Simple.
See you on the other side! 🙌
