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Was referred to this forum by a friend, looks amazing! Hi :)

beaker

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Hi All,

I can see myself spending a lot of time here. To be honest I can use the inspiration. Although I have managed some success, and am managing to be self-employed from my business (building and running web communities similar to this site), I do feel a bit defeated lately. I'm an 'idea' guy, which is somewhat of a curse. My mind never stops generating ideas (everything from products to web, apps etc), it's even hard to sleep and I probably have 5-10 novel ideas pop into my head daily, which I know could make vast sums of money. However, whatever gene there is which makes some able to implement big ideas and build the business, well I don't seem to have it. What makes matters worse is VC wants to invest in 'people' and not ideas, so the world of the 'idea man' is quite depressing. So here I sit in a sort of entrepreneurial purgatory, where I have regular big ideas but can only actually implement the smaller scale ones I can grind out myself. I'd feel a lot better to know if some here are in the same boat! :)

Thanks
 
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Vegvisir

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Firstly, you have a good friend to point you to this community, most people have to find there way here on there own.

You will see alot of people point out here that execution trumps ideas. I heard it from somewhere awhile back that for every successful business dozens of people had the same idea but the person who was able to make it a reality was the one with the best execution.

Also, have you read the Millionaire Fastlane books?

Welcome!
 

beaker

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Firstly, you have a good friend to point you to this community, most people have to find there way here on there own.

You will see alot of people point out here that execution trumps ideas. I heard it from somewhere awhile back that for every successful business dozens of people had the same idea but the person who was able to make it a reality was the one with the best execution.

Also, have you read the Millionaire Fastlane books?

Welcome!
I'll look into the books thanks. Yeah, I know "execution trumps ideas" just by the number of my ideas that have been blatantly stolen, cloned and then made into successful apps and products. It's pretty frustrating. I hope to get better at executing.
 

Haelios

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Welcome @beaker! It's as @Vegvisir says, you've got good friends if they're directing you here.

As for your troubles with being just an idea guy, that's not a bad thing. That gives you a variety of options to select from when choosing your ideal business strategy. The thing that you've got to do is to actually act upon those ideas rather than just keep brainstorming. You'd be surprised at how many ideas there are that don't require that much capital.

First thing I'd recommend would be to gather a list of potential ideas you've got and start looking into what would work. If you need some assistance, MJ created this one site which determines whether or not your idea is a good fastlane opportunity based around how well it fills the need of CENTS through this website: Grade My Business Idea: Business Ideas and Opportunities Rated Fast

I'm not too established into my own fastlane idea yet but there's a whole heap of information out here to get you to where you need to go.

Best of luck.
 
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beaker

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Welcome @beaker! It's as @Vegvisir says, you've got good friends if they're directing you here.

As for your troubles with being just an idea guy, that's not a bad thing. That gives you a variety of options to select from when choosing your ideal business strategy. The thing that you've got to do is to actually act upon those ideas rather than just keep brainstorming. You'd be surprised at how many ideas there are that don't require that much capital.

First thing I'd recommend would be to gather a list of potential ideas you've got and start looking into what would work. If you need some assistance, MJ created this one site which determines whether or not your idea is a good fastlane opportunity based around how well it fills the need of CENTS through this website: Grade My Business Idea: Business Ideas and Opportunities Rated Fast

I'm not too established into my own fastlane idea yet but there's a whole heap of information out here to get you to where you need to go.

Best of luck.
Thanks man, very cool post, I will dig into this. Glad I found this forum, I'm starting to feel less alone in this scene.
 

RazorCut

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My mind never stops generating ideas (everything from products to web, apps etc), it's even hard to sleep and I probably have 5-10 novel ideas pop into my head daily, which I know could make vast sums of money.

Welcome @beaker A lot of us have had the frustration of coming up with ideas but not have the money, skills or resources to execute on them. Some people find it difficult coming up with one idea while for others like you and myself idea's are a dime a dozen which is why you see some of yours implemented by others and get a pang of of regret or jealousy when you see it become an outstanding success.

I just looked up one of mine that I was advised by an 'expert in the field' didn't have legs and, as it was going to cost me quite a lot of money to set up at the time, I heeded his advice and let it go. Currently they are making about $200m a year NET profit.

The thing is you need to still your mind. Find something to run with that will be within your capabilities of time, resources and finance and go for it.

However, whatever gene there is which makes some able to implement big ideas and build the business, well I don't seem to have it.

It's not a gene, it's dedication to one thing. Dogged determination to turn an idea into a success. It's FOCUS (Follow One Course Until Successful). It is having the ability to set aside all other ideas and distractions. It's a learnt skill.

Sometimes they master that skill after the painful lesson of a bout of shiny object syndrome. It is a powerful lesson.

This might help:


What makes matters worse is VC wants to invest in 'people' and not ideas, so the world of the 'idea man' is quite depressing.

VC's what a return on their investment. They want to invest in someone that has a proven track record of dedicating time and effort to building something worthwhile.

Would you bet your money on a guy that is all over the place? Who has a dozen ideas a day but cannot sit still long enough to stick with one of them?

Or would you put your money on someone who has a dream of making one thing a reality, building a successful business, and has all the drive and focus to accomplish that task? It's a no brainer really isn't it.
 

beaker

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Welcome @beaker A lot of us have had the frustration of coming up with ideas but not have the money, skills or resources to execute on them. Some people find it difficult coming up with one idea while for others like you and myself idea's are a dime a dozen which is why you see some of yours implemented by others and get a pang of of regret or jealousy when you see it become an outstanding success.

I just looked up one of mine that I was advised by an 'expert in the field' didn't have legs and, as it was going to cost me quite a lot of money to set up at the time, I heeded his advice and let it go. Currently they are making about $200m a year NET profit.

The thing is you need to still your mind. Find something to run with that will be within your capabilities of time, resources and finance and go for it.



It's not a gene, it's dedication to one thing. Dogged determination to turn an idea into a success. It's FOCUS (Follow One Course Until Successful). It is having the ability to set aside all other ideas and distractions. It's a learnt skill.

Sometimes they master that skill after the painful lesson of a bout of shiny object syndrome. It is a powerful lesson.

This might help:




VC's what a return on their investment. They want to invest in someone that has a proven track record of dedicating time and effort to building something worthwhile.

Would you bet your money on a guy that is all over the place? Who has a dozen ideas a day but cannot sit still long enough to stick with one of them?

Or would you put your money on someone who has a dream of making one thing a reality, building a successful business, and has all the drive and focus to accomplish that task? It's a no brainer really isn't it.
Thanks man, really appreciate this! I just launched a new site so am trying to focus hard, have been on it 15hrs a day trying to bring in new users.
 
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Bertram

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Thanks man, really appreciate this! I just launched a new site so am trying to focus hard, have been on it 15hrs a day trying to bring in new users.
Good luck as you go. Our ideas aren't worth a minute of our time until we have confirmation that there's a real need for them. I encourage you not to put off reading The Millionaire Fastlane or Unscripted . At the risk of sounding presumptuous, maybe taking the time to get through the book will prove more valuable than working 15 hrs a day on the website right now.
 

Andy Black

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@beaker

Welcome.

I have a Trello board called “Biz Ideas on Hold”. I add items to it and my brain considers it case closed. It allows me to stay focused.

I do lots of things and have a lot of variety, except it’s all related. There’s always a common strand running through them.
The grass is greener where you water it, and it’s often green where we stand but we don’t see it because it’s under our feet.


“Grow what you know.” If you’re going to do something in addition to your current business, then make it another leg for the same stool, not a completely different stool altogether.

I have clients, and this gives a lot of variety. This is my DFY offering. I have a course too. This is my DIY offering.

Stack your skills and experience to create your high ground. I’ve 15 years of IT, and 10 years of hardcore Google Ads. I stack one on top of the other and use my IT skills to build large Google Ads campaigns.

I’m apparently good at simplifying things too, and ok in front of camera. It makes sense to figure out YouTube to sell my video course. Especially since YouTube is another search engine and I can run Google Ads to videos on YouTube. Maybe I learn enough to offer YouTube ads as a service too?

See how I’m doing many different and new things, but stacking them all on top of each other?




EDIT: I just created a thread out of this:
 
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Vairavan

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I add items to it and my brain considers it case closed. It allows me to stay focused.

It will have the same effect if you write it down on paper. The basic principle is to get it out of your head and put it somewhere that your brain can be sure that it can reference it back later.I'm doing it ever since I've read "Getting Things Done" by David Allen.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Welcome aboard @beaker -- appreciate the introduction.
 

Walter Hay

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Welcome @beaker. Your friend has done you an immense favor.

I too am an ideas person, and I sometimes exhaust my wife as I tell her about the latest idea... and the next... and the next. I like @Vairavan' s suggestion about writing it down, and @Andy Black's more high tech approach also.

I was bombarded with requests from Chinese manufacturers who I met while exporting to China (and other countries.) They wanted me to import their products. Many of them looked promising, and knowing that I was considering selling my exporting business, I filed the promising ideas, almost filling a filing cabinet drawer.

After selling the first business, and with time on my hands, I went through them all critically. This enabled me to discard many, but I still had plenty left. I chose the one product category that looked the most promising, and started importing.

I cautiously kept those other files for several years, just in case, but the importing business boomed. I had won the jackpot.

Maybe I could have followed another of those ideas at the same time, but I have serious doubts that if I divided my attention, I would have prospered with either.

Walter
 

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