Diving in....

The way I currently feel is a bit like this analogy...

I'm looking out over a beautiful & calm swimming pool and it looks inviting to swim around in it, so I get my swimmers on and head off to the poolside.

As I reach the pool side I still want to go swimming but I'm checking the temperature of the water by dipping my toe in. But its not really telling me whether its warm enough or not. So I hesitate a bit more to try & find out if its warm enough. All the while the water level is going down (probably a leak or something like that in the pool!) and I become more and more frustrated about how far I've got to go to get to the water's edge every time I try to test the water, and every time I still can't make my mind up about going for a swim.

So in short I'm doubly frustrated because I want to go for a swim but I'm also frustrated that I don't know whether its warm enough for a swim. And the frustration becomes a self perpetuating engine as I the longer I hesitate the more work I have to do, and consequently the less energy I have.

I FEEL I should just dive in... what's the worst that could happen? If its too cold for a nice swim and after 10 minutes I just come out, cold & wet. But I can get warmed up and dry over time. In the real world that means resigning, getting stuck in and seeing what comes of it, and if its a complete disaster then apply for another job somewhere else or

Overall I believe that even if its too cold at first, I'm sure it will warm up in time. Again in the real world then just get stuck in and see where it leads me... it might be successful or it might lead me into something completely different.

To help with the feeling of frustration that I am constantly having to work harder at keeping interested and not feeling I am making progress... May be its time for a reflection to see just how far I have come so far?

Free and easy...

... and I'm not talking about my last date (I wish!).

My rollercoaster continued today as I researched one of my business ideas.

Surfing the web I came across a number of services that offered something pretty close to what I had imagined I would offer... and my heart sank! They all looked very professional, very sleek and talked about their benefits. Bollox! Why did I think I could do this? They look good, they know what they're doing and they're already up & running (one company talked about being established back in the day of 1988!).

I was up against the proverbial ropes, but I had put myself there. I had allowed my doubt to eat away at my confidence. I felt I had been there before, there was something re-assuring in my doubt... surely I looked into this before I had this idea? And then I remembered the whole reason behind my idea - the opportunity that all these other supplier had conveniently left out though left out a critical element... their price!

My whole point (my USP, as a poncy management guru might say) is my service is FREE! Now I know just how powerful that word is - according to Asda its the most powerful word in a marketeer's thesaurus (and "New" is the second most powerful word, by the way!). Now being free means I have to get scale (i.e. a high number of people to use this service) in order for the business model to work and to get that scale I need to make it remarkably easy to use for all - so easy that my granny should be able to use it. But what the research did tell me was that I also need to offer absolute reliability.

So I need to remain focussed & single minded behind the real power of my idea... free, easy to use and reliable - and ignore any distractions of confidence!

Darkest hour before dawn...

I'm a bit disappointed...

Yesterday I was formally told my application for career break had been rejected as my role within the project I am working on was too critical (nice compliment!).

But I seem to be taking this all very stoically.

I had hoped I would win the Euromillions last night so that I could storm in to work on Monday and tell them to stuff their job, but alas the jackpot went to somebody outside of the UK. An outburst of jingoism is justified, I feel!

Anyway... the whole point of the career break was to being able to dedicate myself to my business ideas and get cracking on them. Now it seems I won't be able to focus solely on making my ideas happen.

But what this has done for me is make me think about how I can progress... I'm thinking that this actually allows me to radically reduce my risk. I can take a extended holiday, may be 3 or 4 weeks and then test my idea in the real world and be more confident from that about the next steps. If it works really well I can feel confident in taking time out (either by re-applying for a career break and feel confident that investors will step up to the plate for a proven success) or if it dives then working on something else. Overall its make me think differently - taking me away from the comfort of the BIG COMPANY THINKING.

So the dark disappointment is not the end of the world as I know it... just the start of a new dawn.

BIG COMPANY PLODDING, small entrepreneurial nimble thinking

Today was the start of my BIG FTSE top 100 company's new financial year, and to mark the new financial year we all gathered to hear our Managing Director and the leadership team set us up for the forthcoming year. It was professional, gave a clear direction and, I think, will set us up well to deliver this year and the future.


Throughout the presentation, stuck in a hot room, I kept thinking a couple of things...


Firstly, that I don't fit into the mould for my current employer. I am a maverick, and I'm not being big headed or vain about saying that. I clearly straddle two functional bases at work - marketing & sales - and have thus far been able to generate a role with feet in both camps. But the flip side of that is I don't have a firm home to which I belong at my current employers.

Secondly, all through the presentation I kept thinking - this is great stuff for my employer, but its not for my company. I think today I realised just how BIG COMPANY THINKING my thinking on my idea actually is. My idea, and making it happen, is currently framed in the context of a top FTSE 100 company executing the idea, as opposed to a small nimble operator who has an idea and gets on with it.

I'm reminded of a friend who started his own company & product in something like 7 weeks, and he was able to do this because all he had to do was get approval from himself and make it happen. He could change as he went along. He didn't need thousands or hundreds of thousands of pounds to bring it alive. I can't ever imagine bring something to life within a big company atmosphere in 7 months never mind in 7 weeks!

So how can you get the best out of BIG COMPANY THINKING and mesh it with nimble thinking? What is nimble thinking? I need to find out...

How do you eat an Elephant?

... one mouthful at a time.


And that's really what Innovation is all about as well. Looking at the enormity of the task at hand - to launch an new idea - can seem very very daunting. There are two things that are required to take the fear out of the task...


Firstly, break the task down into bite size morsels. It may seem counter intuitive, but start at the end, as this will focus the attention on the goal. Clarify what is the objective and think SMART - though I like to change Achievable with Ambitious as I believe Achievable is already connected with Realistic.


Once you have the goal set, work back and think about the things that are required to make that task happen. For example, if I set out that I wanted to make a cup of tea, I would first off define how I like my tea. Then I would have to work out the steps in the reverse order... serve the tea, stir the tea, put milk back in fridge, add the milk, take the milk out of the fridge, dunk the tea bag, add the water, place tea bag in mug, find mug, turn the kettle on, fill the kettle... Now I have the work flow set out, run through it in the correct order and see if it makes sense or if anything is missing. Now all that is left to do is to add in accurate timings & allocate resources to the

The second thing you need is perseverance & determination. And bags of it. Some little tools to help here... set time limits on each of the task outlined above. Make commitments to others, as you are more likely to do them. Allocate time during the week to do them (e.g. a Sunday evening). Keep it alive by constantly referring back to it, perhaps by keeping a copy of the plan in a workbook and checking progression daily - this will ensure that there's a sense of achievement & progression which in turn will revitalise the energy & input into the project - a virtuous engine.

Its simple... but that of course is how so many ideas have come to life... not in one big gulp, like a gigantic python with a dislocating jaw, but more of patient and determined single bite at a time.

Ignorance is bliss....

Last night I interviewed an ex employee of a potential customer to understand in a bit more detail the operations & workings that go on behind the scenes, and I'm back on the rollercoaster again...

First of all, my assumptions about how the customer operates have been confirmed. The systems and procedures are even more detailed than I suspected, which means the implementation of my idea will be even easier. Brilliant!!!

The other side of that coin, is that it actually becomes easier therefore for the customer to go & do it themselves. My idea would have little or no intellectual protection as its

So this then presents me with some dilemmas to ponder...

• Do I still go ahead as is, and take the risk that they might nick the idea?
• Do I think about how I could get them on board without developing their own idea?
• Do I make the idea more complicated to make it difficult for them to copy for themselves?
• Do I change tack completely, and develop a strategy that minimises their input?
• Do I go to them with the idea and develop jointly?

Just in that one conversation I have gleaned so much yet its also rocked my confidence - I've wondered if I am right to take time off work, never mind go ahead and seek investment & launch!!!

I need to reflect that I am now in a better place than I was before yesterday, and that now I can quantify their systems and have identified the risk of them taking this idea on their own as more realistic. Ignorance may be bliss, but I now have the power to make the right choice...

The first £100...

A few weeks ago I told one of my friends about my business idea as he has himself started his own business about 8 years ago.

And he gave me some great advice... concentrate on making the first £100.

This is has been invaluable for several reasons:

1. Focus on the achievable
2. By focusing on the achievable, it means it won't get too complicated, either in the start up or as an ongoing concern
3. By making it achievable, it means it can be tested and the offering in turn revised prior to full set up

And I've shared this principal with my buddy and it seems to have helped him as well, making it easier for him to see how he can start rather than wondering about how to get scale behind the business. It now provides a basis for building the self propelling business model he has adopted...

Its shaped my business plan, as I now have a solution that without it I would have immediately discounted and helps me transition my thinking from big business to the nimble entrepreneur. I can also set something up to make £100 quite easily, where as before I needed several hundred thousand pounds just to make a test. Now I can test quickly and easily with little / no risk and all the upsides from testing in order to get stacks of cash from investors to get to the next stage.

So focus on making the first £100, and everything after that will fall into place...