No going back...

£468. That is the measure of how much it has taken to move from theoritical discussions about my business plan to actually getting involved.

I have now bought into the game. I have made my investment in my test and I await to find out if this first instalment will pay off.

I know its either one of two things - its either a first instalment or my final instalment in this particular idea.

I actually know its not going to be my final instalment as I have already made other commitments to this idea over & above the £468, in web domains and building my first website.

As an aside, how addictive is buying web domains? I think I ended up buying 12 domains, and some of them were just for the hell of it! Keep me away from those damned domains...

"Geology is the study of pressure and time. That's all it takes really, pressure, and time"

The above quote comes from the film Shawshank Redemption, and I'm not going to spoil the plot of the film (though I think virtually everybody must have seen since its ALWAYS on FILMFOUR!!!) by giving away much more around the context of this quote. If you are in the small small minority who haven't seen this film, take the hint and see it...


Anyway, the reason for the quote is it recently resonated with me.

For what seems like an age, I've been chipping away at this idea, sometimes not feeling I have been making any progress and losing my confidence in the roller coaster of thinking I'm close to breaking through one moment, the next worrying about something falling down on top of me.

And what I've come to realise is that progress does not come all at once, but rather more incrementally, step by step over the course of a period of time. I have progressed my ideas somewhat since I first thought of them, and all of that is thanks to just applying pressure over a period of time.

With a nod to the film, its important not to lose hope and to make the most of the circumstances in which you find yourself whilst also applying the pressure constantly over however long a period of time it takes.

"We will either find a way, or make one!" - Hannibal

I awoke this morning to a text from my business buddy - "Someone else has the patent for my idea!". I was straight on the phone to find out the details & see how he was...

His patent search had revealed that in February of this year a patent had been granted for his own idea to an individual in the US. The world started to cave in, and we were back on the rollercoaster.... arghhh!!! We'd both put in so much time and now this goes & happens...

But there are two ways to look at this - either its over so we pack up now or we dig in and make another way. And I am for the former.

At the least now we know where we are - there's no need to go through the hassle of applying for a patent, and we could enquire about licensing the idea for outside of the US and get cracking on it. Or perhaps we could even buy it from the guy - may be he doesn't know what he's got on his hands...

I'm also feeling confident as at least somebody else has had the idea and subsequently gone through the hassle & cost because they believe in the idea so much.

So, we'll see how his thoughts & feelings have progressed when we ctach up during the week... hopefully he's as gung-ho as me.

How to develop a BIG IDEA...

I was recently asked to review an idea, and was delighted to have a look. The idea in itself was good and I can see people that would use it.

But I just think there's something more to it and I'm actually not sure exactly what the BIG IDEA behind it is... So I suggested trying to find this BIG IDEA by answering a number of simple questions and thought they might be of interest for others...

• Who is the consumer? Can you bring this person to life? Could you map out a week in there life?
• What are your consumers’ needs? What is the insight?
• Where / how do they get these needs fulfilled currently?
• What functional need does this idea meet? i.e. what does this idea do for me?
• What emotional need does this idea meet? i.e what does this idea make me feel?
• What is different about it? Is it new? cheaper? better?
• When would it be used?
• How would it be used?
• What three words could you use to describe this idea?

Now, assuming you can answer these questions to some degree, refining the idea into a simple paragraph of no more than twenty or so words, that your granny would understand and covers the 5 W's (what is it, who would use it, when would they use it, where they would use it, why they would use it & how they would use it). Ideally also add a picture of your product and you now have a visual concept which you can use to gain people's views & opinions on...

Following on from developing your big idea & concept, a couple of other questions might now arise that might need some reflection...

• What is the implication of the above questions?
• Where does this now take you?
• What are your options?
• How many different ways can this idea be implemented?
• Which are the best / strongest?

You are now in the realm of strategy development...

Friends are either lying or are idiots (according to Scott Adams)

Over the course of the last few months I have let a few friends into my secret idea, partly to ease their curiosity and partly to gauge the levels of interest as consumers.

But how do I know if their response is because they're my friend or whether they're actually interested in the idea...

Well according to the creator of Dilbert, Scott Adam's, there's a simple rule to remember about friends and whether they're being disingenuous about your ideas (although in his context he's talking about writing a comic strip).

Don't listen to your friends who tell you your comics are hilarious. They're lying. Don't listen to your friends who tell you your comics suck. They're idiots. The only reliable feedback is the copy test, i.e. does someone want to copy your comic and show it to someone else who you don't know. If someone says he likes your comic but he doesn't ask to copy it for someone else, he doesn't really like your comic.

With that in mind I have a couple of friends who want to try out my idea and also I have a couple of friends I'd like to show my business buddy's idea to, as I think they'd love and are the perfect target audience for his idea and it would be great to get their feedback.

Perhaps these ideas I've been blogging on about actually do have legs then...

We suck and we love to fail!

Last night was my first foray into the world of improvisation. Improv (as I am loathed to call it!) seeks to react to stimuli in the moment either through comdey, acting, singing or dance, usually discovering new areas that concioussly would never be discovered.

One of the key elements of Improvisation is to accept that the process doesn't always work, but when it does, the discovery is worth it. Its like making real gold out of commonal garden materials, that people see & use everyday, but don't always see the gold for themself. And its important to recognise & embrace that the process requires failure before there can be any gold.



With all of that in mind, the improvisation group have a motto which we embrace at the start of every session..."We suck and we love to fail!"



I somehow think we should all embrace that motto a bit more - not just if you have an idea but also in every aspect of life...

Roll with the punches

This week I went to see a potential customer& see if they spare some time for an interview with them.

I just came in off the street & basically doorstepped the customer.

Now looking back on it was a bit of a risky strategy. Here's me just coming in off the street & asking potentially sensitive questions about this person's business without knowing really who I am or what I do. I was rather naive.

But the funny thing is this week's experience hasn't knocked me down. In the past I would be taking a regulatory standing 8 count.

Instead this seems to have unlocked a couple of other avenues to explore & to chase down previous doors. So for example I chased down a friend of a friend who does this as her day job & she's called me back so at least this way she kind of knows who I am & what I’m doing.

The other idea was to address a specific setback I had, as I'd hoped that this customer might be willing to participate in my test. So instead of moping about I’ve now thought why not advertise in a trade publication & see if there are any takers for doing a test in return for an expected revenue stream of a few hundred pounds per week.

So generally feeling good about these things even though they're not the best of news!

Bottom Up!

For the whole time I’ve been looking at this idea I've been thinking about how I get scale from it & quickly in a way that allows me to realise my dream of Learjets, Astons & expensive yachts. That is to say I’ve been looking at it from a total market opportunity aka “top down” approach. And that has been a good way to look at the potential of what it could be.

But it has also meant I've focussed in making it big quickly which brings about specific problems & risks, spending chunks of cash to get scale, securing large multinational retailers etc.

Today as I walked to the tube I realised that for me to be NO WORSE OFF versus my current package, would take significantly lower scale than my top down expectation - actually under 5% of my distribution target & I'd be confident I could get that by walking round on my own calling in the outlets or through a couple of trade shows.

Now while that's good to know I'm still aiming for the top down version, but at least it highlights that actually the risk of going it alone is within my own power. The only drawback to going piecemeal on the bottom up version is that exposes myself to risk that somebody with the resource & contacts in the industry could really exploit my idea x get it to the big idea quicker than my incremental way.

Ranting & Raving

I was frustrated. But why? It was a simple enough suggestion. But for some reason it just got me into rant...

My business buddy had suggested he wanted to see a publically known inventor who was offering his “services” for £250 for an initial assessment, patent search and then if they thought it was a strong enough idea they would help & support the budding inventor for a stake in their company. So it’s Dragon's Den where in stead of getting money off the Dragon's you give them cash up front, and then they take a share of your success later on…

And the thing that REALLY annoyed me more than that was to think that this shower could offer us anything we either didn't know in advance from our own experiences or could easily get from one of our friends / colleagues. We have patent attorneys on hand, normal lawyers, accountants, designers, graphic artists, to name just a few… And never mind that we both have over 30 years of experience in Sales & Marketing…

So why did he need their help? Was it an insecurity that we couldn’t do any of the things that we had to do? Was it a lack of confidence in his idea? If that was the case why couldn’t he take his idea to a consumer panel to get their views? I didn’t understand his motivation for wanting to spend money & give a chunk of cash to these “clowns” (not very professional but I think that’s what I called them in my tirade!!!)

And now a few weeks later, he’s spent his money with this guy and when he told he had had a reply, he was punching the air – because somebody independent believes in his idea. I never thought he questioned his confidence in his idea, but I suppose we all do at some point. And now he has a palpable boost of energy for his idea in a similar way that I had a few weeks ago when I came up with my bodged production line. So I was wrong… it was worth the money to pay these “muppets” (again another word I may have used in the heat of battle!!).

And through all of this, I kept thinking… if they can have a business plan for what they do perhaps I too can beat them at their own game… may be a thought for another time…

Am I Daunted?

During my weekly guru time this week, I was asked if I felt daunted...

And I do.

I'll be dealing with big scary market leading companies, massive multinationals with market capitalisation's of billions of pounds. I'll be dealing with technology that I don't fully understand, but have a rough idea of how it works. I'll be juggling a whole load of things to make it work. I'll potentially be dealing with Venture Capitalists, seeking large chunks of wonga. I could be investing moolah in advertising and I will certainly be recruiting people to help build my idea into a profitable solution.

Of course I feel daunted but I don't necessarily feel scared. And that to me is really weird. I'm not scared but I sometimes feel daunted. This is a gargantuan mountain to climb, but I feel it can be scaled because the idea in itself is simple, easy and relatively universal.

Am I in denial at just how mind boggling big and difficult this idea will be to make it take off? Actually, now I come to think of it, making this idea work is the simple stuff - its the long term growth that feels more daunting - continually recruiting consumers into my idea and in turn building long term loyalty & repeat. Ok... now I'm a bit scared!

Its a bit of David & Goliath moment - I know I can hit anything with my stone & sling, and hitting this big giant smack in the right place will lead him to fall. So I'm ready to take on the giant but I better get my aim right and find a big enough stone!

Questions, questions questions...

I'm just about to do a test and I want to be really clear about what I expect from this small scale test.

In my mind there are FIVE key questions that the test will answer...

1. Does it work?
2. How appealing is it to consumers?
3. How appealing is it to the trade?
4. What is the right price point?
5. Can I sell 100 of these in a week?

From these I'll have more confidence around different components in my business plan and will highlight the areas that I'll need to focus on in the next stage.

For example, I'll have over a 100 consumers to evaluate the likely appeal rates. I think I'm being quite conservative & cautious at the moment so that will be a good measure to be more certain about.

The other big area that the test will answer is about awareness and whether or not I need a high level of awareness to begin with or whether I can rely on the customer's authority & trust with the consumer - if that's the case I probably don't need £8m marketing spend in year 1!

So... I need to know answers to these questions as I can see a crossroads in my commercial strategy coming up. Certain answers make the case for going one way significantly more appealing than other directions.

Je Suis Le Grande Homme!

To live through the roller coaster of setting up a business with a new idea, I have come to the conclusion that one needs a degree of arrogance.

Why would I be an advocate for arrogance, given I seem to continually fight off that label for myself? Well... when taking people through one's new idea, some people out there can only see barriers & obstacles or reasons why it won't work. And lets be clear here - it is vitally important to recognise those barriers & obstacles as real otherwise any opportunity is just a pipe dream.

But its important to know too that there is a way around those obstacles (even if right now one doesn't know what those are!) and to believe in the idea and believe in being able to deliver the idea, no matter what the obstacles are.

Although most people I have told about my business idea think its a good one, they have all thought it has ... well... deficiencies. Some are very relevant and also ones that I have considered and others are borne from a lack of capability or understanding about the product / market itself.

For example, I have the same recurring challenge from my dad - one of Intellectual Property. I hear exactly what he is saying and I share his point of view, but if all I did was listen to him I would have shut up shop ages ago and not bothered progressing any of this. What I continually think is ..."Well how can we overcome this?" and I believe I have a real life solution that overcomes this barrier (I need to run it past a patent attorney just to be sure) but he still has issues with this but I think that's because he doesn't really understand how "normal" this issue actually is for a great number of producers. Anyway... probably now going into a separate discussion about me & my dad...

So my thought right now is that to maintain the momentum in bringing to life any idea, is a prerequisite to have arrogance but not conceit (I'm beginning to sound like Sister Sledge's "He's the greatest dancer!").

Well that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it...

[Is it just me - when one uses "one" it sounds kinda arrogant & pompous! Point proven actually!]

Diversion

Over the last few days I've been a bit hacked off, and because of this my focus & energy levels for my business idea have dropped from the high I was feeling a couple of weeks ago.

The lack of energy & focus is not because I have met any new or unforseen obstacles. In actual fact I think I have actually found ways round some of my existing barriers which normally would have made me feel exhilirated.

What I think has happened (as I'm still in the process of working this out) is my energy and focus has been diverted into other areas around my life...

My work has stepped up a gear in the last couple of weeks and I'm needing to focus more & more time on that. Now even though I'm not working till crazy o'clock with work its actually taking up "processing" time out of work, so I'm thinking about things when I'm not at work, and that detracts from my thinking time on my business plans.

My personal life is all go too... I'm rarely having a night in and even when I am, I'm too knackered just to get things done. So what I've ended up with is a lot of semi-finished stuff that just needs some dedication behind it to finish it off so I can feel progress has been made.

So my energy levels for my business idea need an injection and I think I just have to re-prioritise and focus behind completing some of the outstanding actions, which once I've broken through these will re-energise me. This is where the "WILL" in my formula for success is really necessary...