If you’re like most course creators, you have about 103 great ideas every single day. In fact, having a steady stream of great ideas is part of what helped you get your business off the ground. But, now that you’re trying to build momentum – you feel super distracted by all those great ideas. Where do you put them? How do you know which ideas to pursue?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today.
The reality is that what got you here won’t get you there. What WILL get you to a million dollar business is NOT a steady stream of ideas, but a system to manage those ideas so you don’t end up wasting time and energy pursuing something that won’t actually move you forward.
I have a 2 step process for managing your ideas in a healthy way and I want to share it with you today. If you’ve already had 7 great ideas since you started listening to this episode – you really need this.
Let’s get started.
Step #1 Create a management system to store all your brilliant ideas.
Here are two management systems that while popular ARE NOT helpful.
The first system consists of Post-It Notes All Over Your Wall. Now, this system is not ALL bad. I mean it does get those ideas out of your head and onto paper. But, the problem is that it can turn into a disorganized mess pretty quickly
The second system that is popular, but not helpful, is what I call: Stored In The Head. Basically, you have an idea, and you keep it in your head. After a while everything gets so jumbled together that you end up paralayzed in a state of over analysis. You aren’t getting anything done, because you’re just rehashing the same thing in your head over and over and over.
So, now that you know what NOT to do, how DO you create a management system to store all your brilliant ideas? The answer is simple: Create a database.
A few years ago I started keeping a business journal. It’s where I would store all my ideas and all my questions. It’s completely analog, which I like because taking the time to write forces me to slow down my thinking. And if I cross something out, I can still see what was there – it’s not permanently deleted. Some of my clients get fancy and store their ideas on a google spreadsheet or Trello board. But, that’s too many steps for me. Once I have an idea, I need to get it straight onto paper fast.
Step #2 Develop a set of criteria that you will use to make decisions about whether or not you should pursue an idea.
When I first started my business, my decision making criteria was pretty simple. It was: Will This Make Me $100 TODAY? I was trying to get things off the ground and desperately throwing things at the wall to see what stuck. The problem with this approach is that AS YOUR BUSINESS GROWS, there will ALWAYS be a $100 opportunity in front of you. And if you keep taking those $100 opportunities, you’re going to miss out on the $10,000 opportunities. If you’re looking to grow a million dollar course business, you need to remain focused on those $10,000 opportunities.
Another set of decision making criteria that’s very popular is asking yourself: Is Someone Famous Doing It? I see this happen all the time. So and so launched a membership, so now I’M going to launch a membership. So and so is doing an event, so now I’M going to host an event. The problem with this approach is that what you see “Ms. So And So” do is JUST the tip of the iceberg. You don’t know WHY they’re doing it, you don’t know the REAL numbers behind whether or not that is an effective approach, and if you are just starting out – it’s likely that they have a much bigger team and much bigger resources to work with than you do. If you’re always looking around at what everyone else is doing, you’re not going to be able to stay focused on what YOU need to do.
Another set of decision making criteria is asking yourself: Does It Sound Fun and Easy? The problem with this approach is that there are lots of things that sound fun and easy, but just because it SOUNDS fun and easy doesn’t mean it’s going to move your business forward. Your time is limited and extremely valuable. As CEO, you don’t have time to chase shiny objects that sound fun and easy – the growth of your business depends on you to focus your company resources on BIG problems that need to be solved.
So, how do you develop a set of criteria that you will use to make decisions about whether or not you should pursue an idea? Stop chasing new ideas and start solving existing problems. Track your metrics consistently to identify problems to solve.
There is NO time to solve problems that don’t matter…and most entrepreneurs do not have a system in place to accurately identify problems that matter.
Measuring results over time is something we are relentless about having our clients do for themselves. We don’t just tell them what to do, we teach them which data they should collect AND we teach them how to interpret that data so that they can make better decisions.
What you measure will change over time. Our clients that are working towards their first six figures in revenue are tracking very different metrics than our clients that are shooting for seven figures in revenue. And the numbers we are tracking in our own multi-million dollar business are different than those who are looking to reach their first million.
That’s because at every level of success, you will have DIFFERENT problems to solve. In order to identify those particular problems, you will need to track a DIFFERENT set of metrics.
Making the decision to be a PROBLEM SOLVER instead of an IDEA CHASER is the single best thing you that can do for your business.
Now, I want to know YOUR #1 takeaway from today’s episode. Send me a DM on Instagram or join my FREE Facebook group and let me know!
Today’s episode is brought to you by Scale With Success® Accelerator — an online course designed to help you generate launch-sized revenue without lanching. If you want to learn MORE about our proven method for success, click here to watch my free masterclass. See you in there!