Perseverance

I wanted to interrupt the flow of the posts for today to bring up a very important topic that any aspiring entrepreneur should always embrace...and that is the topic of perseverance. Starting a business is not easy, neither is keeping it going. If it was easy, then everyone would be doing it. However, that is why successful entrepreneurs reap the rewards, because they take the path less traveled.

I met a blind man on the subway the other day. His name is Bob, and he was born blind. Yet, everyday, he has the courage to get on the crowded New York City subway to get to work. He also has a wife and kids too.

As I helped him get into the train, I looked at the face of this courageous man. I asked him, "How do you do it? Getting around I mean." He turned his head to the source of my voice, smiled and said, "Trial and error. Mostly error though" and laughed.

As we talked, I asked him about how he became blind and what he does. He taught me that you really don't need sight to see. Many people out there look but they don't see. Even this blind man was able to live a normal and happy life. He was able to see the good in his situation and in others.

But what he also demonstrated was something all entrepreneurs need to embrace. Perseverance. Even the most legendary of business leaders like Henry Ford failed multiple times before finally succeeding. Like the blind man, it was trial and error for them. Mostly error though.

Because truly, when you enter that newfound frontier of entrepreneurship, you could have the best plan in the world, but you cannot control everything. Like the blind man, sometimes you just need to feel around to make your way through. No one knows all the answers or the right ways to do things. The key is to do the best you can, and not give up. If the blind man gave up on life, he'd have nothing. He wouldn't have his wife and kids, he wouldn't have his friends. He would be a broken shell of a man, who would receive nothing but the half-hearted pity of others.

This is the same for entrepreneurs as well. If you persevere, good things will come. If you give up, nothing will come to you. You will be destined to work for someone else, always wondering what you could have done.

Before his stop came, I asked the blind man, "What would be the first thing you would do if you had sight again?" He smiled and said, "I'd look at my wife and kids." Just before the train door opened, he leaned over and whispered "And then maybe some Playboy magazine after that" and laughed.

Eureka! How to filter and focus on an idea

Helix Nebula - Spitzer Telescope

Space...the final fron... woops... wrong topic ;) The reason you see that picture, is because there are MANY ideas out there, but only few end up shining upon greater scrutiny. It is important to focus, otherwise you'll find yourself never getting off the ground.

Here's a real story to illustrate the point. After about 40 minutes or so of brainstorming in dark rooms (they were separate rooms! Sorry ladies), we came up with a list of about 20 ideas for a new business. We were thrilled. It was one of our first times trying the whole dark room thing out, and it worked great. There's just something about a dark and silent room that just triggers your mind to think and be imaginative. Perhaps it's a subconscious desire for the mind to escape what seems to be emptiness and darkness? Who knows.

After our alarm clocks rang, we stepped out and I started to write our ideas down on a big board, while occasionally taking a deep whiff of my marker. There's just something about markers...anyone ever sniff those markers that actually smell like fruit? That was the best invention since the toilet. Yeah... TAKE THAT sliced bread!

Anyways, I digress...

We were pumped up for sure. We then took those 20 ideas, and filtered them down to 5 ideas, based on four criteria: 1) Can it make good money? 2) Is there a demand for it? 3) Is it resistant to economic cycles? 4) Is it fun? Yes...looking back, those exactly weren't the most accurate criteria to use. Each criterion was scored from 1-5, and we took the top 5 average scores.

Thankfully, we had a mentor. A real business veteran who started successful ventures in the past. We met up with him after we came up with our list. We felt like we could take on the world, that we could revolutionize the way things are done. We gloriously presented him the list of our ideas on our fancy little Excel file and proved to him that we knew how to use the =Average(B1:D1) function.

The one thing I remember the most about that meeting was how red his face got with laughter. In fact, it reminded me of a tomato with glasses and thin hair. Of course, I knew him for a while, so he had a license to laugh...for now...

The first question he asked was, "Guys, do you even have the skill set for these ideas? These are awfully complicated." He was right, we didn't. In fact, one idea we liked a lot would have needed either us or someone else who had deep experience in law enforcement and almost espionage.

Safe to say, ALL the ideas turned out to be just like that nebula above...just floating and as fleeting as gas. Sure, they look nice, but they can't do anything, not like the star in the middle. We hadn't found that shining star in the middle. It was back to the drawing board for us.

So... with that said, how can one go about filtering and focusing on a single idea? Well, there are a number of steps to do this.

1. The first step is to HONESTLY assess yourself and your partner(s) (if applicable):

• What skillsets and experience do you have?
• How much DISPOSABLE income can you put into a new venture?
• Who do you know in your network? Are they trustworthy?
  
• How risk tolerant are you? Although starting a venture is always risky, some ideas are way more riskier than others because of high start-up costs and overhead.
• Are you genuinely motivated to start a new venture? You have to have a high level of motivation and will, because starting a venture is not easy, and you need to toughen up to see it through.

2. Once you've identified the base foundation (you and any partners you may have), then you can determine what idea can be built upon that foundation. Like in the previous step, for each idea, you want to ask and answer the following questions:

• Do I actually have the needed skills to execute on this idea? If not, can I find someone trustworthy who does?
  

Trustworthiness is extremely important. Knowledge is power, and power is used. If you are clueless about an idea, then a lot will rest upon the shoulders of the person who has a clue. That gives them a lot of leverage over you...so you need to make sure you bring unique skills that the other person lacks to compensate. You also need to trust that person, otherwise you may find yourself left behind.

• What kind of need does this idea meet? What value do you provide? If your only answer is, "well, I think people will find this to be pretty cool." Don't waste your time. It has to bring some sort of value to people.

If a need is met, then there will be demand for it. How much demand, however, will be determined in the next phase. Right now, this is just initial vetting.

• Can I actually secure the resources to execute this idea?
  

I have a personal preference to try and stick with ideas with relatively low start-up costs and overhead. However, there are many successful entrepreneurs who start ventures with high costs and succeed. You just need to be realistic on how much money you can actually secure for yourself and WHERE you're going to get it.

• Where will the money from this venture be earned?
  

Notice that I didn't say "how much" money yet. That comes later. Right now, this is an initial idea vetting phase. What you need to answer in this stage is basically: Do you know how you will earn money from this?


If you can positively answer ALL the questions for any particular idea (i.e. "Yes, I have the skills for this idea" or "Yes, I can find someone, and I can secure the resources" etc.) Then it has some real potential.

Chances are, by putting all the inital ideas through this questioning process, you will end up with very few left or even just one idea. If you end up with none, then don't worry! Just go back to the drawing board. There's nothing wrong with that, it's all part of the process.

Once you've focused on one or two ideas, you're still not ready to execute on it. The next phase now is to do your homework. Now that you've identified the idea, now you need to quantify it through market research to determine its actual feasibility based on FACTS rather than assumptions.

Stay tuned for next episode. We'll discuss how to do homework on your idea to determine - factually - if it's feasible and worth the effort.

How to find inspiration for your future venture

Artist: Bruce Clarke

"Whether you believe you can do something or not, you are right." - Henry Ford

As you may have read in the post before, one of the first steps you need to do before starting a business is to think about what interests you first.

The next few posts are going to expand on each and every step. Today starts with finding inspiration. There are a number of ways to do this:

1. One of the best ways I've found is to learn from the example of entrepreneurs who have already made it. Publications like Inc. Magazine are a great source of success stories. In fact, these success stores can often trigger a creative spark and allow you to think of a great idea you never thought of before.

2. Talk to people! Whether it be friends, co-workers or people you meet at networking events or parties. Often times, people are glad to give you ideas...usually because they don't want to do it themselves! Obviously, I'm not saying you should steal ideas from others, that's not cool. Make sure you're not stealing an idea that someone is already working on. Although we live in a jungle, that doesn't mean you have to be one of the apes in it.

3. Sit in silence and just let your imagination run wild. You'll be surprised what your mind can conjure up when you allow yourself to silence your thoughts and distance yourself from un-needed distractions. When you put yourself in the right mindset, you'll find that ideas will come to you rather than the other way around.

4. Closely observe your surroundings. Usually in the chaos of everyday life, we forget to just step back, take a deep breath and notice what's going on around us. You may overhear your friends or even complete strangers say golden things like "God, I wish xyz could be done better" or whatever. Not only that, you may find how things could be done better in the very industry that you work in (if you work at a job).

5. Learn new skills. By expanding your capabilities and horizons, you will most likely develop a great idea....or finally be able to execute on an idea you already had.

6. Approach someone you know who has a great idea and offer to help. You don't always have to be the one who thinks of the idea. If you think an an idea is great, be part of its success! It's much like someone who becomes an entrepreneur through franchising. You don't have to be a grand visionary, you just need to have the determination. Like Edison once said, it's 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration.

7. Keep reading this blog...unless of course my mentioning of taking a dump in your boss' top drawer didn't already give you a business idea related to human resource counseling or waste management ;)

Stay tuned for the next episode. We'll discuss how to organize your ideas and focus on the best one.