Get Some Method Behind Your Madness

By Brandon Allen - Nov 15 , 2010

Behind every good business idea and platform is a solid foundation called planning. Planning is a feared word in business owner and thought leader circles, but it doesn’t need to be.  Here are my steps to putting a method behind your entrepreneurial madness and help you to not over think the process.

1.      Every good idea has good people behind it so step 1 centers around you. More specifically, who are you?  There are plenty of tools available to you to help you really understand who you are.  Here are a few of them.  Without understanding this, the rest of this process becomes that much more difficult.

2.     What problem are you solving? How are you going to change the market for the better?  Are you fixing something that is broken or improving on something that is already awesome?  As my daughter has been telling me from the 7 Habits of Successful Kids, “You need to keep the end in mind Dad.”  Where would I or you be without that piece of sound advice?

3.     What is the framework for how it will work? This includes who you are going to be speaking to and how your content will be delivered.  Is your idea going to be accessed through multiple channels or just one?  This is where you flesh out some of the details on how the idea will be delivered.

4.     Test it.  You want certainty around your idea right?  So get it in front of some people and get some feedback.  Don’t be afraid to get feedback.  You want honest feedback now so you can make your idea as viable in the market as possible.  This is a great tool to not only improve but to also build some social commentary around what you are doing.

5.     Just do it. Channel your inner Phil Knight and just get your content out there and stop worrying so much if it is perfect. The concept of natural talent is a myth.  No one goes out and just kills it on the first shot.  Killing it right away sounds sexy but a steady progression is what you are looking for.  You aren’t looking for glamour, you are looking for winning.

You want as much certainty around your idea as possible. Having a process in place makes your life much less hectic and increases the chances that your business idea will be successful. You don’t want to feel like you are taking big chances so get that method behind your madness so that you aren’t.

Where could a methodology make your life more straightforward?  What has kept you from putting it in place?