It’s a great business idea. What’s stopping you?

Oh boy, it’s time for that that great business idea conversation time again.

I know I should stop coming to meet this person, expecting a different result. Yet here I am, pushing the foam around the top of a latte, trying to seem enthusiastic.

Here we are (again) talking about that great idea (again) that will be the same great idea we’ll be speaking about (again) next time.

And I am trying to look interested. Really I am. But I have heard about this great idea for ages now and nothing but coffee conversations have ever eventuated. I am J Alfred Prufrock. I am measuring my days and ways in latte foam, feigned smiles and desperately encouraging nods.

All the time, I want to let loose and shout “It’s a bloody great idea. What’s stopping you?”

I am so very exhausted by having this conversation over and over (and over) again. My ear is being bent back by the idea that will never happen. It will never leave the imagination or the napkin. It will remain, stuck in that tiny period between the genesis of an idea and the hard work required to flesh it out in earnest.

At what point can I stop being polite and reject my role as the sole audience member to this idea re-run?

Here come the excuses on why this great business idea can’t happen (even though it should). I know them so well.

What will people say?

Yes, there are people in this world who will think your business idea is stupid. They are (probably) the people who think any idea is stupid. For a variety of different reasons, it’s not for them.

They don’t want to put their great ideas out like bare bottoms, waiting to be slapped and tickled. They don’t wish to walk away from the snooze parade of hated job and sagging satisfaction levels.

And they don’t want you to, either.

But does that really matter? Their opinion could be wrong. You do realise that, don’t you? That anyone who has ever done anything of merit has probably had at least someone who thought it was a dumb idea.

So who cares what they think? It’s your bare bottom on the line, after all.

Your business idea, your risk. Screw the gallery chiming in.

 

What if I try and fail?

Imagine a world where toddlers feared failure. Or skateboarders never wanted to stack. Where the future wheelchair basketball player was finding using their new wheelchair difficult and gave up.

Everyone fails. We fail many times over with the things we enjoy. The things we come to learn and perfect. The things that give us something by being the imperfect pleasure we get from trying all the same.

There is no such thing as natural ability if you don’t have the courage to take your talent further. You will be overtaken by the person who lacks the ability but who enjoys the challenge of application. Your mad skills become their mad skills because they were brave enough to do what you couldn’t. They built on them and used them to their advantage.

There is no try. There is no failure. There is only learning what you should try in order to succeed next time. Give your business idea the chance at least!

 

My parents won’t understand

They may have given you life, but that doesn’t mean they have the right to dictate the terms to you. Your parents are not the oracle. They can be wrong too, you know.

What if they are wrong about you? And by listening to them, you cheat yourself of your chance?

What if this is your chance to show them all their hard work and sacrifice was worth it by wowing them with a success they could never imagine for you? Do you really want to rob yourself of that victory and your parents of that joy?

Prove them wrong while building your business idea. Seems to fix two problems to me!

People are relying on me

Are they relying on you to feel tortured, unfulfilled and hampered by your existence?

A person who is fulfilled, content and finding their purpose brings so much happiness to the people around them. That ability to make others feel great through being the person that brings happiness is such a coveted thing.

There is risk involved. There always is in life. Entrepreneurship is no different. It’s about finding the balance, creating calculated risks, and working with what you have to grow.

Don’t hide behind the people who care about you. Do it for them instead.

If your business idea is what will make you happy and content, if it will help you break ground and be the best you that you can be, they will be all for it!

I don’t have enough time, money, opportunity

Around and around the words run – if you wanted this, you’d find a way.

Instead, the time spent creating the business idea is spent wishing it away.

The money that could be hustled and saved is never discovered or spent on other less important things.

The opportunity that may be needed to make the great idea work isn’t uncovered because the search for it never begins.

Of course these things never come to you if you aren’t actually out there making them happen! Do you think these things are magically handed out in pretty boxes tied with string to people who gaze lovingly at an idea for long enough?

No. Every great business idea floated to the top of the pile on a river of sweat, blood and determination. You are not lacking anything other than courage.

 

I am trapped in a pretty cafe’s good business idea graveyard

By now, I am eyeing the biscuits. I am looking for anything that could see me walk away from this conversation legitimately. Hoping for a change of subject, I’ve already tried the bathroom, but there you are, dog with a bone, chewing on that poor old great idea again.

And I can see your business idea, with its zombie-faced stare pulling itself from the good idea graveyard. I can see the thousands of other wonderful proposals that never made it to paper, along with all the career changes that never happened, the stances that were never taken, and the game-changers that failed to find the field. They weave in and out of the coffee scents, haunting and taunting the open mouths rapt with excuses of lost opportunity.

 

Yes, it’s a great business idea. Why don’t you do something about it? What’s stopping you? Looks like YOU.

I may very well have the remedy for that. So get in touch.