That’s a fantastic idea.
Thanks.
So, what are you going to do with it?
Sell it.
What? Just the idea?
Yeah, I’m the idea guy. Let someone else run with it. I want to get paid for the ideas. That’s my zone of genius.
Oh. Ok, genius.
People who have never tried to create anything think that the idea is everything.
That the most difficult part of writing, designing, inventing a service, a community, a business is coming up with brilliant concepts.
The writer Ann Patchett is constantly approached by people with an irresistible offer for her.
They have, they tell her, a life changing, world altering book inside of them.
It will be a blockbuster, a best-selling American classic.
Unfortunately, their busy schedule keeps them from writing it themselves.
And that’s where she comes in.
All I have to do is agree, and he or she will tell me the (Compelling! Unforgettable!) story, and I will type it up in his or her own voice, a task that is presumed to be barely above the level of transcription.
Like those random Internet letters that begin Dear Sir or Madam and tell of the countless millions that will be left to me, This is my lucky day.
Of course, the truth is that “[t]he journey from the head to hand is perilous and lined with bodies. It is the road on which nearly everyone who wants to write— and many of the people who do write— get lost.” This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Ann Patchett.
Because lack of ideas is not the problem. Execution is.
I have yet to meet a creative entrepreneur, or, for that matter, any creative person who did not have a verifiable metric ton of ideas.
Creative ideas are fantastic. But creative ideas are common.
You know what’s NOT common?
Someone who will devote everything they are and everything they have to bring their brilliant idea to phenomenal fruition in the real world.
Someone who will:
- Spend twelve hours a day wrestling with an issue and keeping puzzling it out long after their head has hit the pillow.
- Tolerate friends and family who think (and frequently tell them) that this is an impractical and irresponsible phase they will grow out of.
- Fight their solitary way through fear, self-doubt, and loneliness to emerge stronger, smarter, and more determined on the other side.
So, what do you do when these “idea guys” tell you how easy it would be to make money with just brilliant ideas?
Silently seethe and fume in frustration?
Argue, push back, and tell them all the ways they really, REALLY don’t get it?
I’ve got a better idea.
Don’t tell them. SHOW them.
No more futzing around.
Let’s take your labor of love and make it a labor of lucre.
Let’s turn that ridiculously expensive hobby of yours into a true money making (ad)venture.
Let’s make the extraordinary impact (& income) you want and deserve.
Let’s show them the difference between those who just talk & those who DO.
Ready to stop telling them and start SHOWING them? Your first step is right here.
