Start, Run, and Grow Your Business
How To Take Your Business Idea Out of Your Head and On To Paper
There it is again, that great idea for creating your own business. The one where you solve people’s problems using your inner expert. The one where you deliver a better solution, at a better price, with better service.
You have all these great ideas in your head, but they seem to just reside there, unable to escape. How do you get them out and on their way?
Identify Your Inner Expert
Start by identifying your inner expert.
Each of us has some area of expertise, that’s our inner expert.
· What do you like to do?
· What do you most love to do?
· Does your idea focus on your inner Expertise? If not, it needs to.
“The only way to do great work is to Love what you do.” Steve Jobs
Write about your idea. What niche do you shine in — sales, service, technical, Personal Growth, etc? Write about all that inspires you and what inspires you to get out of bed each morning.
Know Thy Competition
Knowing how other businesses are possibly providing your idea to customers is critical to your success. That’s where your inner expert comes in. You know what you want to do and why, do a Google search and discover what other companies are possibly offering as a solution to customers similar to your idea.
Write what each competitor is offering, and then write how your product or service will be better than what they have to offer. It will be better because it’s yours. Your inner expert will guide you to solutions based on your unique business proposition. Create a list of every possible solution to counter every solution offered by your competition and how you can offer it better.
If your research finds no one is providing a solution, is there really a problem. Dig deeper with more keyword research changing keywords and topics. Use synonyms if you get stuck. You’ll be amazed at the terms some people use to find answers.
Include your research in your notes. DO NOT rely on your memory. Write it down.
Keep A Business Journal
Owning and running a business is not just about solving a problem, or giving good customer service, it is also about:
· Keeping good records
· Recording daily events and sales
· Tracking your progress
· Brainstorming the best solutions for your customers problems on a regular basis.
You don’t need a fancy leather model with hand-made paper. A simple $.99 composition notebook works well. It’s for your daily records, ideas, another place to record your ideas. A place to expand on them, draw about them, put a story board together about them, and write an outline of how you’ll develop your business.
Whatever will help you get your idea out of your head and onto paper is your 1st goal. You’ll need to establish other goals during your journey, but we’ll talk about those in another post.
TIME TO WRITE
Time to write. Getting your idea out of your head is about writing. And starting your business journal starts here. Whether it is on paper or on machine, in order to get your idea out of your head you need to write about it.
I can hear the moaning now. You don’t have a journal and really hate to write. Why?
Was it your High School English Teacher who flunked you because you couldn’t diagram a sentence? That was my experience. Mr. Higbee could not pass any student that didn’t know how to diagram a sentence. Period.
Or maybe your college English Composition Professor gave you A’s all through the semester and an A on your final paper but a B- in the class because she didn’t agree with your conclusion.
Maybe you’re dyslexic and spell everything wrong. My husband says he can spell the same 3 letter word wrong 5 different ways. Needless to say, he loves spell checker.
Ignore your inner voice telling you “you can’t write”, or “you can’t spell”, or no one wants to read your writing.
Your business journal is for You!
For your journal, all that is important is that you write it and you can read it.
· Perfect handwriting? Heaven’s NO!
· Play grammar sheriff? Absolutely Not!
· Mimic a spelling bee? NO!
Just Write! Don’t overthink it.
Just Write! Blank pages should be another place to record your dream. Draw on it. Put a map on it. Do an outline of your business. Whatever will help you get it out of your head and on to paper.
No matter your experiences, now is the time to put them aside and “Write Your Way To Success”.
Measure Your Success
Create your own framework for success. Tell yourself what success looks like. Describe where you’ll be, what it feels like, smells like and how long it will take you to get there.
What three things inspire you to get up every morning (besides money)? I know you love doing something because you want to share that through your business. So, write about it. Tell your story. Share your dream. Write about your strengths.
Writing about your strengths also requires writing about your weaknesses. You might include what opportunities you are seeing and the threats to your success. That’s called a SWOT analysis and when you are honest with yourself, you’ll be surprised at your answers. Remember, this is for you!
Write the results in your Journal!
Writing to your success is possible for everyone. And I’m excited you’re on your way to creating a fantastic business using your :
· New Idea
· Business Journal
· Inner Expert and
· Strengths
You should have outlined your goals and discovered what you love to do the most. And best of all, you’ve started your business journal. You are using your journal aren’t you?
You should be able to write a couple of sentences in response to these questions.
What is your why?
What problem do you solve?
What’s your inner expert telling you?
And if you’re not sure you’ve completed all the first steps, visit our website and download our complimentary Business Journal because it’s time to take action. It’s time to write about your exciting idea.
Sign Up Now! It’s free and you’ll only hear from us when we have something new to share.