Momentum...

The last few weeks have been rather hectic both in and out of work...

In the middle of the summer, I had a chat with my business buddy and he had been slightly deflated about his business plans.  Nothing had blocked his way.  No big  questions had been asked.  Just lethargy.  Perhaps even a bit of confidence taking a knock.

So to help him out, I offered to help him by taking some of the workload off him.  I thought this would generate some momentum and get him closer to his goal.  I offered to go 50:50 with him on selling 100 units by Christmas, to share the load for those first 100 units.  We made a plan for selling the units in different routes to market to see what was the most effective.  We also made a plan to produce the 100 units.  Christ!  I might as well run the business...

And the first meeting with a customer went well and we were off and running towards our target well before Christmas.

And then a funny thing happened... my business buddy had a thought.  A thought based on the experience he had with these first customers.  I think what happened (as I'm not really sure!) was that he saw how he could improve on what these customers were doing and how "easy" it was.  It wasn't revolutionary.  It was evolutionary.

What he saw was that that all the potential customers were offering a "functional" proposition, one that was based on what the product category was called and what it did.  It didn't communicate how the entire category solved the main underlying need.  And that was his idea...

So we got cracking on it... building a e-commerce site, looking at appropriate need based domain names, incorporating a business company with two directors, starting a business bank account and sourcing the products.  And I feel confident about it.  It feels right.  It's simple and incremental.  We know the category has appeal.  We're just doing it better!

But here is the weird bit!  I've not done one bit of analysis.  I've not done a single spreadsheet or business plan.  I feel exposed but I feel comfortable.  I feel exposed as I have no idea how big or small this could be.  I don't know what the cash flow forecast is.  I don't have a clue what the capital requirements are.  I don't know what the KPI's are.  But I feel confident.  I know this will work and I completely trust my business buddy, and I'm in for half the costs (and potentially half the profits!).

And all of this has confirmed a couple of things... The first is opportunities.   We wouldn't be looking at this by just sitting around feeling bad about the idea.  It came about by driving forward and by having the confidence to give up the things you started upon and seeing how to realise the opportunity.  It's all about opening doors...

The second thing is instinct.  I really know there is something in this and I don't need numbers to prove it.