Business Ideas, Are You A Starter Or A Finisher?

Some Places Need A Lot Of Work

My neighbor has some interesting patterns he has developed on his home projects.  For this blog post I sat down to think about how many projects he has on-going, right now.  I can count twelve of them.  Those are the ones that are visible to me.  He may have more of them I cannot see.  He may actually start another project while he is trying to finish up one of the ones he has going.  During the past 8 years, this is his pattern of operation.

We have come to the conclusion that he is not a finisher.  He is a starter.  He loves to start new projects.  I have a few projects in my yard that have not been completed.  I am a good starter, too.  I have six major projects I have not completed.  They are the type that will require great energy to complete and some bigger money than what was originally planned.  They will need some extended time chips to become part of the finishing process.  Currently I do not have that kind of time budgeted.  I also have not set aside enough of the right amount of money to complete them the way they need to be completed.  I have decide to take one of them on per year.  I had seven of them before this year started.  I just completed one of them.  That is why only six remain.  If funding becomes more available before this summer comes to a close, I will tackle one more of them.  I know which one should come next.  I now have the right tools acquired to use on that project.  I used it on the project I just completed.  It was my new cement mixer.  It was the perfect tool for helping me to complete the project I just finished.

Are you a starter or a finisher?  It is very important to know which one you tend to lean on the most.  Projects in your business like a good starting process and they also do best when they have a nice finish.  It is important to know which process you tend to do the most.  Most leaders are great starters.  Very few are good finishers.

If you watch the building trades people do their work you will notice most contractors and subs are great starters.  Most of them are not good finishers.  This is a typical pattern for most people.  Good ideas flow all around us and many of them get a quick start when they begin to flow around.  The trouble with good ideas is that they tend to die too early.  They get a good start and some after, they fizzle out.  They fail to reach a good finish.  Some of your business ideas are still waiting out in the rain for their day to finish.  Walk around your business model and count them.  You might be surprised with how many unfinished projects you have going at the same time.  Some of them have been started several years ago.  It is not uncommon.

We have talked about the value of critical and comprehensive thinking.  Performing these patterns of operational thinking is a big plus to a successful business model.  When good ideas begin to float around it is so helpful to have acquired the extra tool of adding critical thinking to the process of starting a new project idea.  Critical thinking leads to comprehensive evaluations.  New ideas need this type of care before they can become great finishers.  The planning is done so much more carefully when these two procedures are part of the starting methods.  When you get a good idea, do not just immediately get started on it.  Allow the idea to flow freely but at the same time, make sure your mind revs up its juices for critical thinking.  Begin the first work you do on a new idea by starting your critical thinking process.  Begin to think what the new idea will look like when it is finished.  See how it looks.  See how it is managed.  See how it is maintained.  Open up your mind to the comprehensive patterns that will be affected when the new idea begins its start.  Develop a solid comprehensive pattern of relational respects before you start your new project.

New Ideas Need A Lot Of Proper Attention

Your new idea will reach some points that will place its process in tight places.  When that happens, it is a good thing you thought this through before you started the work.  Your solutions to overcome these tight places will be easy to manage.  They will not easily kill the work you are doing on the new project.  It will not become another disaster that lays around for the next few years, undone.

When you equip yourself with the right kind of thought, the right kind of planning and the right kind of study your new ideas have a much better chance for reaching completion.  If you skip past all of those necessary and vital steps you undermine the probability for success.  Your new project may end up undone.  I have been told there are three kinds of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who have no idea what happens.  Sometimes a business owner practices all three of these effects on a new idea...all three of them at the same time.  Business owners tend to make things happen.  That is a common occurrence.  Business owners also sit idly by sometimes watching things happen that should not occur.  They permit what they should not permit.  They do what they should not be doing.  It is also common stuff.  I have witnessed many business owners introduce a new idea with absolutely no idea how it will affect other parts of their business model.  They develop a sense of tunnel vision for the new idea and cannot see how it relates to any other part of their business model.  I have seen this process a lot.  It, too, is very common.

Learn how to think this stuff through.  Learn how to become very comprehensive in your plans when a new idea pops into your head.  Try to develop strong methods for critical thinking that will help your new project become one of the great ones you finished.  Finished projects will perform the best.  You want your business model to be performing its best.

If you are fully prepared to handle the work a new idea requires, you will be able to persevere and perform the persistence necessary to finish the work you started on the new idea.  Trust me, obstacles will try to get into your way.  You will need to learn how to overcome them.  In my recent project, a saw I needed decided to burn out a small bearing.  New equipment was needed to complete the work.  I was prepared to make that happen.  It did not send this project idea to the back burner like so many other projects have become.  It got finished anyway.

Perfect the project.  Prepare for obstacles.  Plan the time chips.  Plan the budget.  Have alternative measures put in place.  Calculate the materials and the people you will need to help you complete the process.  Get all of the support systems squarely in place.  Get all of the proper prep work done before you actually do the project.  Make sure you know what a finished plan looks like so you know when it ends.  Make sure you give proper thought to the continuing maintenance of the idea.  Good ideas that were completed well can die later if they are not maintained properly.  Recognize this truth in your critical thinking and add measures to prevent failure from lack of maintenance.  Above all, remember, even a turtle gets nowhere until it sticks its neck out a little bit.  Be ready for criticism and handle it well.  Your project ideas need to become part of your business model for success.  Quit worrying about what others will think of the ideas you complete.  do them anyway.

Until next time...