Starting out with your business idea

I have a problem... It’s more of an addiction really.

The addiction: ideas… I have a lot of business ideas that I want to try out. But, I don’t have the time. Some times it comes in the way of actually building my current businesses. Once an idea flows into my mind, it takes my focus, my time, and my energy. But in a good way, you know? I love it. But, it can be a productivity stopper.

I have developed a couple of ways to quickly discard ideas, or to continue thinking about them. The first one is always, would people actually pay for this? I think about the problem, the right solution for it, and then I think about if people actually would honker up a couple of dollars for it. Then, I think about distribution. Who would I sell this to? And where can I find them? If I have a good answer for this, the next question is: how do I create it? Is it technically difficult? Does it require a lot of time? Does it require more people just to create it? And, how much money would it cost just to test it out?

If the answers to my questions are a little something like this, then I continue down the rabbit hole.

• Yes, I do think people would pay for it. I think they might pay $X.

• I think I know at least 10 people who would pay for it. And I can sell this to them pretty easily.

• I don’t think this requires too much time, and I don’t think I need much help from anyone. Which means, I don’t think its going to cost more than $Y to test it out.

Then comes a quick napkin math scribble. If I can get 10 people to pay $X I will make $Z. And if my cost ($Y) of making it will be less than $Z, then it makes sense to try it out. And, if I can get 10 people every month to buy it, then I will make $ZZ per year, which means it will be worth it.

Pretty simple. But, the problem is also that a lot of ideas pass this test. And so, you start racking up several ideas. From there, you just start working on the ones that will make the most money, and will (hopefully) take you the least time to test out.

There you go, not too hard. Nothing special. Just common sense. And that’s how I manage my addiction.

Whats your way of thinking about this? You can answer right here to this email.