014: How to Know Which Ideas Deserve Your Attention & Which Can Wait!

You no longer need permission to wait for success. You no longer need to work long hours for a glimpse of that corner office in someone else's business or your own. You no longer need to suffer through an unfulfilling job you hate, whether you created it or someone else created it for you. Because you're better than that. You deserve more. And there's a new way to do business. It's your time. Your time to be happier, to impact more people, and to design a life on your terms. The world has been waiting for you and the time has never been better. Because you see there is a new style of CEO on the block. The modern CEO. And she is changing the way businesses are run. She's setting her own hours and her own salary. She's creating a business around what matters most to her. Freedom, family, impact. Your business, your way. The Modern CEO is here to stay. Hey, it's Amber McHugh, your host for the Modern CEO podcast. And I'm excited to be here with you today talking about a very serious problem. All the ideas, you know what I'm talking about? All the ideas that are running around in your head and you can never land on just one and do it. Oh, yeah, I said just one. And tell me, do all of these thoughts run through your head basically all at once? I need money now. I want to host an in person event. I should start a community. Everyone is starting a membership site. I better get online before I'm left in the dust. Oh, oh, oh. I've got this great idea for a one week challenge to build my list. No, wait. One on ones will get me there faster. It's a little something I like to call idea mania. Does it leave you feeling crazy overwhelmed? Yeah, me too. I haven't even done anything. I'm just sitting here and I feel overwhelmed with just those thoughts running through my head right now. And they weren't even real thoughts running through my head. I'm just acting for the podcast. I have had those thoughts go through my head before and that feeling just comes right back up when I am revisiting them now. It's very real, but the months just keep going by and nothing from the list is actually getting done. If you're like other entrepreneurs, I know you have no shortage of ideas. And they're probably pretty fantastic ideas too. I'm not going to lie. You've probably got some really good ideas. Just one problem. Ideas are useless unless you're able to buckle down, focus and implement. And while we can't always control the results we get, when we get in action, we will see results. So if we move into a space of action, when we start to step forward and move on some of these ideas, one idea in particular, we're going to see results one way or another. We're going to hear crickets and we're going to know we need to pivot or make some adjustments to our message or we're going to see traction and we're going to see where we need to make adjustments throughout the process as we go in our messaging. But here's the deal. You can't win without a plan. We have to choose an idea and get the plan in place to implement. So let's talk about why this idea mania and overwhelm happens. Commitment is scary. It is scary to make a decision. It's scary to take a stand. It's scary to make a bet and say, I am going all in on this idea for the next year. And it feels really good to have ideas. There's a spark of excitement, there's a momentum. Endorphins are released when we go through and we brainstorm. Right. Have you ever been a part of a brainstorming session with a group or even by yourself when you're journaling? Yeah, I could do this, I could do that. Oh my gosh, this is going to be great. I could do all the things. But again, nothing happens. Right. We have to move to that space of implementation to actually realize the benefits of all of these great ideas. So this is really the blessing and the curse of being an entrepreneur. And it doesn't matter if you're big or you're small. And it doesn't matter if you start small and you grow big. I've had the opportunity to meet with a lot of successful leaders and entrepreneurs who have grown from nothing to billions, nothing to millions. For example, Tony Hsieh and Burton, John Jacobs from the Life Is Good Company and it doesn't matter who I'm talking to. They've all identified that ideas are not the problem. They've all got plenty of ideas. But it's the focus that is hard to harness. It's the focus that is hard to keep. We have so many competing priorities. And again, this isn't a problem that's unique to small businesses, big and small. All companies have limited resources. There's a budget you have to stick to. There are only so many people that to go around and we just happen to have less people as small businesses to implement our ideas. In many instances, we have one person to start to implement These ideas, which is why it is so important to choose one and then lay out a roadmap. Lay out a plan for what? To focus on when. Because when you lay out the plan, it helps you identify what exactly is going to get your attention today and tomorrow. So you are free to focus and rock out the here and the now. So let's say you've got 10 ideas and this is the one I'm going to focus on right now. That doesn't mean all of the other ideas go to the idea graveyard. You give them a home for the future. You might even map out your calendar for the next few months and give those other ideas a home for another year. For months down the road. You might decide to revisit them later so they have an actual home on the calendar that is years from now. You can always pull them back up, you can always move them out further. Nothing is set in stone. You, you are the boss. But know that because you are the boss. You have to find the willpower, find the discipline to get the focus and build the plan. Because you won't win without this plan. You cannot win without a plan that helps you focus on the here and now and implement the most important things day in and day out. But you have to define what, what those things are, and we have to let go of some of those ideas just for now. Again, they're not going to the idea graveyard. We're going to put them in a parking lot for another day, for another time. Because ideas are useless unless we can focus and implement and the plan will enable us to do that. But if we're going to decide on one idea to implement, which idea comes first? What comes first? Is it the membership site? Is it the Facebook group? Is it the one on ones? Is it the in person event? What is it? Where do I start? So let's take a look at what idea you should start with. And number one, the number one place to start is by your goals. Right? What is your number one goal right now? And I say right now I look at goals for the year ahead, a year at a time. I have a goal outlined, I have a bigger vision that my goal ties to, but I have a very specific goal for the year ahead. And it's typically a revenue goal. Sometimes there's a marketing goal or sometimes there's something else associated with that. But a revenue goal is typically what I'm driving to. So are you driving to a revenue goal? If so, we want to make sure whatever idea you are executing against fulfills and aligns to you generating revenue. If you are going to write a book, but that's not going to generate you revenue right now. That's not going to increase revenue. That's not going to help you get closer to your goal of generating revenue. Maybe that's not the one we should do right now. If you are going to do an event, but it's going to be a loss leader and just you're going to break even on that event and it's not going to generate any new revenue. Of course that event could drive to new revenue. If that's part of the strategy, maybe that's okay. But think about what your core goal is for the year and that'll help you narrow down and define what the next idea you focus on is. Another thing to look at is what are your core values? Right. I could start running events, but hey, one of my core values is family right now and for my family and what my family has going on, I need to be very present. So running events may not align with what my family needs right now. So what are your core values? And, and is what you're thinking about doing? Are your ideas in alignment with your core values? Another question to consider is what do your customers want from you most? Do your customers want you to do a mastermind? Do your customers keep asking you for the same thing over and over? That might be a clue, right? That might be a clue as to what you should be doing. If you're trying to do something completely different and you're ignoring them, you tap into that. Ask yourself why? What's really going on there? What do you really want? So often I mentioned the live event thing, like, oh, I often come back to, oh, I should be doing more live events. I love seeing people in person. I don't know if I really want to host and run live events. So I don't know that that's what I want. And that's another good question to ask. What don't you want? What don't you want? There's this great quote that aligns well here from Roger Martin at the Harvard Business Review. And, and he says, if you think creating about when to play and how to win without consideration of aspirations and goals, you may end up with a strategy that's ineffective for its intended goal but isn't something you actually want. So it's so important to think about, yes, what are our goals? Right. I've got a revenue target, but hey, do I really want this? Is this something I want to do? And what don't I want? And what are my values? Are all of these things in alignment? And that might help you weed out some ideas very quickly because there are lots of things you can be doing right? That idea mania, those brainstorms, it can get a little wild. But is everything in alignment? When you're thinking about how to play to win, you can come up with a pretty freaking awesome strategy. They'll make you some money. But is it what you want? Does it feel good? Is it in alignment with who you are and how you want to show up? Keep those things in check. Another great thing to think about is will this take off? Right? Are there gaps in the market that you could be filling that might be an idea to tap into earlier rather than later? Of course. What do you do better than anyone else? Tap into that, my friend. And then we sort of talked about this one when we were asking about, what do you really want and what don't you want? What do you never want to do again? And, guys, when I get in the moment, I oftentimes forget that I never wanted to do this thing again. So sometimes I find myself doing something in my business, like, oh, going into WordPress, like, oh, my gosh, how did I get in here? I never wanted to do this again. And I forget. Which is why sometimes it's so important to reflect on these things proactively so you don't find yourself going down a path, oh, my gosh, I never want to do this again. Remind yourself in advance when you're planning, especially for the big ideas. I was being a little bit cheeky with my WordPress example, but if you're going to invest a lot of time in a big idea, because I'm challenging you to create your plan, because you can't win without a plan. Create your plan with just one big idea in mind. Right? One big idea. So the next step after you've considered these questions and narrowed it down to the one big idea. Dun, dun, dun, dun. You need to build a plan to move forward toward the goal that you're working toward. In fact, businesses with a plan grow 60% faster than those that don't. Let's get you in on that. All right, all right, all right. To build your plan, I definitely want to invite you to our annual planning event that's coming up this fall@theplanathon.com theplanathon.com Siri will try and autocorrect that, or all of the autocorrects will try and autocorrect that, not just Siri. So, yeah, planathon.com, like marathon or telethon, but theplanathon.com and we'd love to see you there. That event is 100% focused around getting your plan on for the year ahead. It's a one week live virtual planning event for entrepreneurs to get you set up for success in the year ahead. So we do some core overarching planning activities and then we do some deep dives into different areas of expertise. So depending on what your focus is for the year, you might want to join different tracks. So if you are running an online business, you might want to join tracks related to growing your business through Facebook groups or expanding your membership site or growing your business through webinars and building out your funnel. We've had great guests in the past talking about those things like Jill and Josh Stanton from screen the 9 to 5 and Rick Mulready. We also have people talking about growing on social media like Jasmine Star and the list of experts is just amazing. And then if you're not thinking about an online business, we also have people come in and talk about business generally. So general marketing strategies as well as money strategies and what it takes to hire a team and sales. Lisa Kieker was in talking about sales last year. Denise Stuff Field Thomas has been in the Plan A thon, I think since the first year we ran it in 2013, talking about money and finances. And then I am definitely going to be talking about how you can clone yourself and build out your team. So definitely join us to get your plan on for the year ahead. That event is coming up and it's coming up fast and it's a ton of fun. Thousands of entrepreneurs have gone through the Plan A Thon and thousands of entrepreneurs are already in the Facebook group waiting for this year's Plan A thon to start. So join us and let us know when you get there. We'd love to meet you. So in the meantime, every time you are taking action, before you do, ask yourself, does this get me closer to my goal? You have your goal because we asked that at the beginning when you were narrowing down your idea. What's my goal? Right? What am I working towards right now? Whatever I am working on should align towards that, should align to my core values. Think about what your customers want and what you really want and what you don't want. What do you do better than anyone else and what gaps are there in the market once you've got that idea narrowed down and you know what your focus is and you know know what goal you're working towards. Does this get me closer to my goal? Is the question you'll ask yourself. Maybe you're just hanging out watching Netflix and you're like, hey, maybe there's something else that I should be doing. Ask yourself, is watching Netflix right now going to get me closer to my goal? And if the answer is no, keep on driving and get back to business. Now sometimes the answer might be yes. You might just need a little bit of a mental health break. So if the answer is yes, right now I need Netflix, you just do that. You just watch Netflix right now because you might need that brain break. Take those brain breaks when you need them. But if you are just lollygagging or you are just scrolling on Facebook, hey, does that get you closer to your goal? If not, get keep on driving and get back to business. But this is just the beginning. It's not just about having an idea, right? We have a model and we are going to help you build out that plan and stick to it. And Joining us in theplanathon.com is a great place to do that and build out that plan in detail. So check it out. Join us in the Plan A thon and I cannot wait to see you bring your plans to life. That's what it's all about. No more ideas sitting back there on the shelf. I want to see them out into the world and tag me when you bring them to life. Definitely. If you join us in the Plan a thon in that Facebook group all year long, I would love to see what plans you're bringing to life. Talk to you soon.