Hey peeps,
Nice to meet you, my moniker for this forum is The Black Lion. I've read MJ's book about 5 different times, along with other numerous books and programs about business. I may be new to this forum, but I have been fortunate enough to learn from some of the best in business about numerous topics. MJ happens to be my wealth mentor through his book. That is exactly the level of excellence that I seek in my other mentors.
Anyhow, let me get to what's important here. You see, I have written a number of essays related to business over the years that I planned to transform into a book for my local market. But right now I am more focused on paving my fastlane road, so the book project will be put on hold until later. So what does this mean exactly? It means that I am unearthing my best essays and making them available through the Fastlane Forum exclusively.
So without further ado, please allow me to introduce my first fastlane business essay...
Everybody, your friends and family love your idea! Congratulations, you're one step closer to anybody. Look, let's be real here - of course your friends and family love your idea. They kind of have to, really.
If they care for you, some will try to stop you while others will want to see you succeed. Of course, we should appreciate and encourage the latter.
And yet, at the same time these kinds of words can be misleading or even dangerous. But how?
Look, most of these people's hearts are in the right place, I can't emphasize that enough. But the reality is that you will have to listen and see if what they are saying actually fits in your overall plan in any way, shape or form.
The truth is that chances are that it doesn't.
This is going to sound harsh, but it's real: Their opinion of what you're doing will prove irrelevant... for the most part. Which brings me to the main point of this essay: the market will always have the last word over how good your ideas actually are.
The market decides if you live or die. The market decides if you fail or succeed. This fact should have a big influence on your plans at all times.
But how do you speak to your market? Well, it depends.
Each market is different and they all respond to different things. I can give you some pointers, but you will have to find your fit on your own. Truthfully, it's pretty easy to come up with ideas. It's even easier to get excited about them and to start telling your friends and family and they will tell you how brilliant they think that you and your ideas are. I know that I've been there.
Here's how the motions run: you get super pumped at the beginning, you do some research about the idea, maybe you find a competitor that's you weren't aware of before and you get discouraged. Or even better: you don't do the proper market research and product development and you put something out and very few people care about it, if anybody.
And then... nothing happens. Repeat ad infinitum.
Look, I get it. I've been there. I've actually lost entire nights of sleep due to the excitement and energy that some of my ideas have given me. It's fun. The method that I've used over the years to actually execute ideas worth executing (and Jack Dorsey does too I've recently learned) is to put your ideas on a shelf.
Your best ideas, the only ones that are really worth anything anyway, will keep coming back once and again. As a side effect, you will notice that some of your ideas begin to fit in the picture of your biggest and best ideas. So you're pulling ideas out of the shelf and integrating them into your most promising projects. Awesome.
The only cure for idea overload is to get to know your market and to cater to them specifically. Get started with just one of the ideas in your mind and look for a way to give it legs. Be obsessive about improving the areas of your product that your customers care for the most (customer service, product experience and general product quality tend to be among the best.) See if what you have to offer actually fits their need profile. Make your products and services irresistible (more on this in future essays) to them. The best entrepreneurs in the world let the customers show them where the gap is and get paid dearly to fill it.
Once you build respectable member base, see what makes them tick and keep moving forward in that direction. Do more of what works. And you'll begin to notice an amazing fact: your shelved ideas will begin to fit into this bigger picture. This project will incorporate the best of what you have to offer, because you let your ideas sit and breed harmoniously.
And how exactly do you accomplish this? Simple: you let all your ideas come to you in a natural fashion and you write them down. Do this as quickly as possible so that they are out of your head, which will make way for even more ideas. Just let them sit and put your focus on a single idea. The one that you consider to be the best. You will be amazed at how your small ideas fit the big picture.
And to finish off, just for inspiration, here's the first version of Twitter in a picture...
Alright, so there you have it. I'm going to let this essay serve as my formal introduction to the community. Feel free to comment on the essay, give feedback or even just say hi through the thread. I look forward to being an active part of this vibrant and extremely valuable forum.
Cheers!
Nice to meet you, my moniker for this forum is The Black Lion. I've read MJ's book about 5 different times, along with other numerous books and programs about business. I may be new to this forum, but I have been fortunate enough to learn from some of the best in business about numerous topics. MJ happens to be my wealth mentor through his book. That is exactly the level of excellence that I seek in my other mentors.
Anyhow, let me get to what's important here. You see, I have written a number of essays related to business over the years that I planned to transform into a book for my local market. But right now I am more focused on paving my fastlane road, so the book project will be put on hold until later. So what does this mean exactly? It means that I am unearthing my best essays and making them available through the Fastlane Forum exclusively.
So without further ado, please allow me to introduce my first fastlane business essay...
-
The Truth About Good Ideas & Idea Overload
“It is not enough to be busy... the question is: what are we busy about?†- Henry David Thoreau
“It is not enough to be busy... the question is: what are we busy about?†- Henry David Thoreau
Everybody, your friends and family love your idea! Congratulations, you're one step closer to anybody. Look, let's be real here - of course your friends and family love your idea. They kind of have to, really.
If they care for you, some will try to stop you while others will want to see you succeed. Of course, we should appreciate and encourage the latter.
And yet, at the same time these kinds of words can be misleading or even dangerous. But how?
Look, most of these people's hearts are in the right place, I can't emphasize that enough. But the reality is that you will have to listen and see if what they are saying actually fits in your overall plan in any way, shape or form.
The truth is that chances are that it doesn't.
This is going to sound harsh, but it's real: Their opinion of what you're doing will prove irrelevant... for the most part. Which brings me to the main point of this essay: the market will always have the last word over how good your ideas actually are.
The market decides if you live or die. The market decides if you fail or succeed. This fact should have a big influence on your plans at all times.
But how do you speak to your market? Well, it depends.
Each market is different and they all respond to different things. I can give you some pointers, but you will have to find your fit on your own. Truthfully, it's pretty easy to come up with ideas. It's even easier to get excited about them and to start telling your friends and family and they will tell you how brilliant they think that you and your ideas are. I know that I've been there.
Here's how the motions run: you get super pumped at the beginning, you do some research about the idea, maybe you find a competitor that's you weren't aware of before and you get discouraged. Or even better: you don't do the proper market research and product development and you put something out and very few people care about it, if anybody.
And then... nothing happens. Repeat ad infinitum.
Look, I get it. I've been there. I've actually lost entire nights of sleep due to the excitement and energy that some of my ideas have given me. It's fun. The method that I've used over the years to actually execute ideas worth executing (and Jack Dorsey does too I've recently learned) is to put your ideas on a shelf.
Your best ideas, the only ones that are really worth anything anyway, will keep coming back once and again. As a side effect, you will notice that some of your ideas begin to fit in the picture of your biggest and best ideas. So you're pulling ideas out of the shelf and integrating them into your most promising projects. Awesome.
The only cure for idea overload is to get to know your market and to cater to them specifically. Get started with just one of the ideas in your mind and look for a way to give it legs. Be obsessive about improving the areas of your product that your customers care for the most (customer service, product experience and general product quality tend to be among the best.) See if what you have to offer actually fits their need profile. Make your products and services irresistible (more on this in future essays) to them. The best entrepreneurs in the world let the customers show them where the gap is and get paid dearly to fill it.
Once you build respectable member base, see what makes them tick and keep moving forward in that direction. Do more of what works. And you'll begin to notice an amazing fact: your shelved ideas will begin to fit into this bigger picture. This project will incorporate the best of what you have to offer, because you let your ideas sit and breed harmoniously.
And how exactly do you accomplish this? Simple: you let all your ideas come to you in a natural fashion and you write them down. Do this as quickly as possible so that they are out of your head, which will make way for even more ideas. Just let them sit and put your focus on a single idea. The one that you consider to be the best. You will be amazed at how your small ideas fit the big picture.
And to finish off, just for inspiration, here's the first version of Twitter in a picture...
-
Alright, so there you have it. I'm going to let this essay serve as my formal introduction to the community. Feel free to comment on the essay, give feedback or even just say hi through the thread. I look forward to being an active part of this vibrant and extremely valuable forum.
Cheers!
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