Big Ideas are a Dime a Dozen
March 20, 2018
Got a dime? I got 12 Big Ideas for you.
The dime a dozen saying is so old, I think it's getting frayed around the edges. But, it's true for big ideas. Big ideas are a dime a dozen. For every big idea you have, I have three. For every big idea I have, someone else has six. And on and on. The problem with big ideas is that most of them aren't. Big, I mean.
Is this a big idea: Starting a pizza shop in downtown Binghamton, NY ? It might be. Perhaps the pizza joints already there aren't very good, and your pizza will put them to shame. But, on the surface, I would not call starting a pizza shop in downtown Binghamton, NY a big idea.
What about this - is this a big idea: Becoming a wedding photographer. Anywhere, USA. It could be a big idea. Good photographers are worth their weight in diamonds. In my brazen opinion (IMBO). But, if you're in a crowded space, somewhere that has a wedding photographer on every corner, you might want to think twice about building that website and planning to dominate the market. Even if you're better than everyone else, you might have a hard time breaking through the inertia. People will always do what's easiest and by the time you build your site, implement your SEO, and get a few 'free' clients to show you know what you're doing, most brides will have chosen their cousin, or aunt, or friend of a friend. That's inertia.
Here's a big idea if I ever heard one: pet rocks. Yes, that's a product whose time has come and gone, but in its time, it was a huge success. There are a lot of reasons why, which we won't go into here, but the idea didn't start out a something big. It was a joke. No one thought it would go anywhere. When folks started buying these pet rocks by the thousands, the joke became a really big thing and the idea took off.The one guy who started it all realized he had something that was probably not going to last, but he could see it was worth every moment and dollar spent on it, while it was popular. Pet rocks ultimately made Gary Dahl $15 million. And then, they went away, in 1975. I have no idea what happened to my pet rock. But I had one, just like millions of other people.
Big ideas appear suddenly sometimes, and other times, they bake in your subconscious for years and years, waiting for you to pull them out of the oven. There isn't one way to recognize a big idea, and truth be told, some big ideas get trampled by well-meaning friends and family. Another truth is that - any idea, your idea(s), is worth pursuing at least on paper. It's uncovering or 'discovering' the right one to work on, that makes a different.
Once upon a time I had a big idea. I decided to write a book about marketing to women online. No one else was approaching the idea and I could see how powerful a woman's purse was, in those early days of shopping online.
My book did not become a best-seller, but it did get me focused on helping women. I learned quickly, via this blog, that my big idea was bigger than I thought. It was also different than I thought. I thought I could help small business owners market to women who were shopping online. So many small businesses were beginning to build websites and sell products via that website, but too many of them were not marketing their wares properly. They weren't reaching buyers of any sort, and I saw that there was opportunity for them to reach women buyers, more effectively than anything else.
Over a short period of time, women online, creating new businesses, were coming to me via email asking for help. I discovered it wasn't the type of business I should be focused on, it was the new business owner. And she most often was... someone like you, I bet.
She had a big idea, and wanted to market it online.
She was creating marvelous products, but did not know how to sell them online - where she knew she could reach thousands of customers rather than a few hundred from selling locally at fairs and such.
She had taken her 'hobby' - photography, quilting, jewelry, and other amazingly creative ideas - and was managing to sell things offline at those local summer gatherings we all go to, but she knew she could make a killing online, if someone would just show her how.
Lipsticking started out as "Smart Marketing to Women Online" and over a year or so, it became "Smart Marketing for Women Online."
My big idea generated speaking engagements and a good bit of attention, and I managed to get Google to notice me, way back in 2005. But, I learned quickly that my market was the women I was trying to get others to reach. My market was women of a certain focus - women like you. Women who had big ideas to share, but didn't know how to share them effectively.
Your big idea could be a pizza place, in your local town or city. And, even if there are a dozen other pizza places, we can find the unique flavor or creative focus that you have, to make your pizza joint the go-to place to order out, or eat in. The key is to uncover what makes you different, and therefore, better.
You might have knitting to sell.
You might have photography to sell.
You might have design services - and trust me, we all need design services! But, we also want our design work to be totally unique. Can you help with that? (canva said yes, and they saved us from ourselves!)
You might have editing services. Or, you might offer freelance writing. Do you know the best way to do that? Freelancing isn't like it was back in the 20th century.
I know you have ideas. I know many of them are big, big, big ideas. And, many of them are not.
How do you decide which ideas are worthwhile to pursue, and which ones go in the refrigerator (as a good friend and mentor used to tell me - thoughts and ideas to be saved for a later date)?
It's hard when you're doing it on your own.
Life wants you to succeed. I firmly believe that.
I want you to succeed. You can believe that.
We can work together to both uncover the best big idea you have cooking away in your brain, and we can move it forward effectively, putting you on the right path to big success.
It's a matter of discovering it, creating the business the big idea is about, and nurturing it along the way.
Get on the Big Idea News mailing list, and start learning more about discovering, creating, and nurturing your purposeful big ideas - in a world drowning in dimes.
boy am I glad you posted this! I just signed up! Also, haven't forgotten you, I am still holding your blog post from last week, I am running way behind!
Posted by: CatChatCaren | March 21, 2018 at 03:37 PM