When I have a business idea my initial urge is to write down all the things I have to do to make it happen. I need a logo. I need a website. It should be a physical product. It should be green. No, yellow… definitely yellow because it will grab more attention. I’ll sell it at Target or maybe I’ll go straight to my customers on my website. I’ll create a marketing funnel that starts with Instagram posts and gets an email address that feeds into a CRM and then I’ll package it in my warehouse….wait…what warehouse?!?!
Take a deep breath. Lets start again.
- What is the idea again?
- Can I write it down and explain it in simple words?
- How does it fit my long-term goals?
- Am I willing to work on this for at least 3 – 5 years?
- Is there a market for it / who would buy it?
- Where do these people hang out?
- Can I test if these people will buy it?
- Can I run that test for free.. how about for less than $50… less than $100?
You’d think that taking a step back to reflect if the idea has any feet might be the best place to start. But first… I should contact a manufacturer on Alibaba, then create a one-page website with product pictures taken with my Nikon DSLR and then I should use Facebook ads to run traffic to the page…. Aaaaah!!!
Here I go again….