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Business ideas don't happen in a vacuum

Idea threads
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GuestUser156

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I just thought about something, as I was browsing the forum.

As people dive into the world of entrepreneurship, they tend to isolate themselves. They find books on business and entrepreneurship and start reading for hours. Then they brainstorm ideas and then read some more. Then research on those ideas and kill them, just to start all over again.

There's a problem here.

I believe you have to go out in the real world and live life. You have to do stuff. You have to listen to people's problems and find out, how you can help them get what they want.

@MJ DeMarco didn't just start a limousine business. He worked long hours as a limo driver and listened to the customer's pains and build a site, that could help them.

I bet @biophase didn't start eCommerce stores based on random ideas out of nowhere. He had an active lifestyle and found a gap in the market, that he could fill. That's just one example out of many stores.

@zen******* (not a call for discussion about recent business activities) didn't just sit in his room and come up with multi-million dollar business ideas. He went out there, from when he was 19-years-old and talked to hundreds if not thousands of business owners and learned from them.

@Eskil probably tried to record a video with his iPhone on a vacation or something and realised it was damn hard to avoid shaking or jittering in the picture. So he built the StaybleCam.

@Likwid24, as we all know, experienced the problem first-hand of keeping a paintbrush from drying up and breaking, so he and the guys came up with a way to fix it.

And I bet @JackEdwards once went to the mechanic with his Bentley and found out, that the businesses selling auto-parts B2B did a bad job. So he built a business and outperformed them.

The list goes on and on.

Point is, don't just read and brainstorm all day at home.

Get up, get out and do something. Talk to people. Listen to them.
When you start doing this, good ideas will come to you.

That's my 2 cents.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Absolutely. Engage life and you will find opportunities... and yup, opportunities can even be found in that dreaded job that is "slowlane".
 

Don David

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I see this going both ways.

When I was a real estate agent there were always agents in the office, the so called movers and shakers, lot's of heat, noise and movement, people I looked up to as "in the know" of success. As time went by, however, I realized, they're here every day! They're all talking to each other! Agent to agent. The real producers didn't have time for all that, they were out doing actual business.

But I came full circle, finding out that those invisible producers we're just that, producers. Attaching their individual efforts and time to outcomes. Not having learned to disassociate their own labor from the money making process. They we're so caught up in the whirlwind of initial success and activity that they didn't have time to stop and take note of the third type of agent, the one alone on the phone or laptop, not office politicking, not running full speed just to wring out their hard earned 500k a year. But hammering away at the things that really matter, lead gen, building brand, leveraging the efforts of others...

All that may be anecdotal to the RE industry but I'm finding that in Entrepreneur land it's been pretty lonesome, but I don't think it has to be. That's why I've started posting on here, like you say I've been tied up in books and hypotheticals too long. Like MJ says if you do what you did last year you'll get what you got...gotta change it up to get new desired outcomes.
 
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AntEmpire

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I agree. I got the idea for my business after consistently encountering a specific pain point in my everyday life. If I hadn't taken time to live life, I never would've found my idea.
 
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GuestUser156

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Absolutely. Engage life and you will find opportunities... and yup, opportunities can even be found in that dreaded job that is "slowlane".
Right on. I also remember reading an interesting article about billionaires, who quit their job to build a business in the same industry ...
 

JAVB

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This is simply true. Plain and simple. I'm stuck right there.

I spent several years building an online business which helped and did produce (and still produces today) some profit, but it isolated me big time.

I'm also working remotely for a couple of clients, so I don't really go someplace every day and it's easy to just stay at home.

Today I'm all in trying to find my next project/idea. I've been brainstorming for quite some time and it always feels like I can't connect the dots... it's like muddy water, can't see clearly... but when I do go out and "live", it all starts kind flowing again.

A very good friend, an artist, told me... "your problem is that you keep searching for it... you gotta let it come to you, you gotta let it flow, you gotta let it present itself because the energy you spend searching prevents you from seeing it when it comes... inspiration comes, it's not really created"

I believe we need to:
  1. Build the proper mindset
  2. Go out and live
  3. Ask good questions
  4. Be vigilant, observant, curious, genuinely interested
Once these are in place, it is just a matter of time... because the other route, which is working really hard at brainstorming, hasn't really produced much for me.
 
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eliquid

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This is simply true. Plain and simple. I'm stuck right there.

I spent several years building an online business which helped and did produce (and still produces today) some profit, but it isolated me big time.

I'm also working remotely for a couple of clients, so I don't really go someplace every day and it's easy to just stay at home.

Today I'm all in trying to find my next project/idea. I've been brainstorming for quite some time and it always feels like I can't connect the dots... it's like muddy water, can't see clearly... but when I do go out and "live", it all starts kind flowing again.

A very good friend, an artist, told me... "your problem is that you keep searching for it... you gotta let it come to you, you gotta let it flow, you gotta let it present itself because the energy you spend searching prevents you from seeing it when it comes... inspiration comes, it's not really created"

I believe we need to:
  1. Build the proper mindset
  2. Go out and live
  3. Ask good questions
  4. Be vigilant, observant, curious, genuinely interested
Once these are in place, it is just a matter of time... because the other route, which is working really hard at brainstorming, hasn't really produced much for me.


Yeah, you are putting too much work into it.

I have other posts on this forum about ideas and brainstorming and how I "don't" spend time on coming up with the ideas. Meaning, focusing on coming up with them. Time is spent on them afterwards though once I have them.

My best ones always came when I relaxing or not stressing about it:

1. On my back deck in the summer
2. In the shower
3. On the pot
4. Driving by myself for long periods of time
5. Right before bed

I also agree with the OP and his examples.

In my presentation at the summit I talked about how you had to have authority. Each person the OP named has some kind of authority in that space when they finally jumped on their idea, even if it was just a little.

In summary, keep with what you are an authority of and don't focus on idea generation so much.

It will come to you.

.
 

El Príncipe

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Wow. This thread and all your posts are gold. Thank you guys.

This describes my current situation to a tee. Read TMF and just finished Unscripted . So last couple days I've been in "idea searching mode". Thinking, reflecting, re-reading sections, brainstorming. Trying to come up with a business idea.

And not getting anywhere. Going in circles. Trying to get to something concrete and not being able to. Not knowing, not knowing, not knowing.

At the same time I'm "freeing up" time to spend on this. Instead of spending it on actual work, learning, getting better, building a reputation (got a job I find purposeful, in a space I'm interested in and would like to contribute to and do business in). Or instead of spending it meeting up with friends and other people, having fun, building relationships, helping them out with stuff.

So glad I found this thread. Really needed to read this right now. Thank you guys.

Tomorrow I will spend my day on work and my evening on living life.
 

El Príncipe

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I think one of the reasons for this phenomenon is that we hear MJ and a lot of entrepreneurs say things along the lines of: "You gotta work hard. Execute, execute, execute. Twelve hours straight, 30 days a month."

So how do we reconcile this message and the message of this thread? @eliquid @JAVB @MJ DeMarco @Don David
 
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amp0193

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Been in this city in Europe for two weeks, and the business ideas are just everywhere.

I think international travel is one of the best ways to get you out of the "normal" and get those creative juices flowing. So many things to either bring here, or take back. Been taking a lot of pics of ideas for products. I see some every day.

I think a Tex-Mex restaurant chain could be huge here, if done right. At the grocery store, several "tex-mex" products on the shelves and in the freezer isle, and I've tried them all, and they all suck so bad. The public is aware of Texas (I've eaten a "Dallas Burger" here haha) and even the term Tex-Mex... I bet they'd love it.

Or, you could be a statistic and start the 8th Mexican restaurant in your city and probably fail.
 

Ayanle Farah

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Here is one idea I want to share in this thread for anyone who wants to pursue it.

Throughout the years I've talked to over 100 taxi drivers taking me places and from conversations I've had with them(including my dad and brother who used to work as taxi drivers), I was able to spot a problem that needs solving.

Nearly all taxi drivers of those I spoke to have varying degrees of back pain from long hours of driving.

My solution: Build a massage chair that will give them much needed blood flow and stimulation to their spine and legs.

That's how I would go about trying to solve it, obviously the best solution would be to stop sitting all the time but that's not an option for them as they need to constantly get clients.

Of course this can apply to truck drivers aswell or anyone in the transport industry with a back problem or anyone required to sit for long hours period.
 
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eliquid

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Wow. This thread and all your posts are gold. Thank you guys.

This describes my current situation to a tee. Read TMF and just finished Unscripted . So last couple days I've been in "idea searching mode". Thinking, reflecting, re-reading sections, brainstorming. Trying to come up with a business idea.

And not getting anywhere. Going in circles. Trying to get to something concrete and not being able to. Not knowing, not knowing, not knowing.

At the same time I'm "freeing up" time to spend on this. Instead of spending it on actual work, learning, getting better, building a reputation (got a job I find purposeful, in a space I'm interested in and would like to contribute to and do business in). Or instead of spending it meeting up with friends and other people, having fun, building relationships, helping them out with stuff.

So glad I found this thread. Really needed to read this right now. Thank you guys.

Tomorrow I will spend my day on work and my evening on living life.

Like I said in my post in this thread earlier to the other person, you are putting too much work into it.

Also if you are "not knowing", this touches on the other part of my prior post too.

Use your authority, and stop working so hard at idea generation.

When you work in your realm of authority, your idea will come to you at the right time.

You won't be able to "force" it.

.
 

El Príncipe

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Re-read Unscripted . There's no reason you shouldn't be getting anywhere when you understand the principles of value arrays, attributes, and skew.

Ok, "not getting anywhere" is an overstatement.

Since six months I've been the one in charge of events at the restaurant/bar I work at.

Events is a big space. Lots of opportunities. Plenty that could be made to comply with CENTS.

One that's interesting would be night life music events. Mainly because it doesn't require up front capital to get started. I identified the value array and attributes for this product. But I'm not sure how my competition is scoring.

This is where the limit of six months experience manifests itself.

So my next step would be to actually go visit more events and venues and talk to people to gain a better grasp of this space (which I've been doing). So I can then determine where I can skew value and build connections.

At the same time I want to keep an open mind to other opportunities in this space. As I'm climbing the tree I don't want to miss ripe, juicy fruit hanging right in front of me only because I'm so intently focused on that one apple I saw while I was scanning the tree from afar.

So I guess my current goal is to explore the space. Visiting venues and events. Talking to people. Asking the right questions. Evaluating. Even just doing my job contributes to this goal partly.

What's hard is that I feel like I should be "doing" something right now. It feels like I'm losing time just collecting data when I should be executing something that generates profits. That's why I keep going back to "looking for an idea".

Has anyone else been in this situation? What was your experience?
 

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