Be Careful...It Might Be Irrevocable Passion!

Your Weird Idea Might Be Found!

The world of marketing is crammed full of great ideas.  I have a few of my own that I would like to share.  However, good ideas do not always work.  For one reason or another, they can fail miserably.  I have a few of those skeletons on my business trail also.  In fact, I think I have a lot more failed marketing skeletons on my business trail than I do in left over good ideas worth pursuing.  That might be something to think about.

I have taken a quiet stroll through some of the small business models located in a couple of little cities in the northwestern United States.  I have chatted with the owners of those small endeavors.  It is easy to strike up a simple conversation with them.  After a moment or two, they get real comfortable sharing their business passion with their audience, me.  That is when I discover some interesting things about marketing.

I can certainly appreciate it when a small business owner gets a bright idea.  I have a whole basement full of them.  Business owners tend to think that just because the idea sounds cool and interesting  it is also able to be translated into the market with great potential.  Unfortunately, that plan does not always work out so well.  A lot of great ideas and wonderful thoughts turn out to become very poor in the area of producing increased sales.  The longer a person remains in business the more they discover this relative truth.

One of the more challenging things for a small business owner to overcome is the inability to control the balance they must supply to the cool ideas they develop in their minds.  This is a requirement of success that often times goes unnoticed.  It certainly does not receive the overall respect it truly deserves.

Why is that?  Why do small business owners fail to recognize how to properly examine their market needs for cool ideas?  How do they do this step well before they invest time and money into trying that cool idea out?  Why do so many small business owners wait to discover not enough people in their market cared about that cool idea as much as they did until well after they have thrown a lot of time and money at the dud?  Why does that happen so much?  I think my travels may have found one of those driving reasons why this happens.  Passion.  Unbridled passion.  Irrevocable passion!

We see the world of business made up of extremely successful business leaders like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Zukerberg of Facebook and the likes of Larry Page and Sergey Brin founders of Google.  They were extremely passionate about some very forward and zany ideas.  They moved well before the market was ready to accept what they had rolling around in their minds.  It worked.  It not only worked, it worked extremely well.  That is one of the reasons why our passion to produce a sewing alterations shop into a healing boutique with beer, food and drum music in a laid out hippie den looks very much like a good idea in a small, rural farm town.  The only problem remains...no customers.  It is a very cool and progressive idea!  I grant that.  The passion for telling me why it is so cool is wonderful and deeply driven.  I also get that.  But marketability?  Oops.  That is looking much more like a flat tire in the remote heat of a vast desert.  Not good.

How does a small time business owner truly prepare themselves for the right kinds of effective check and balances needed when they go to the creative drawing board with new innovations?  Wow, now that is a big time challenge.  On one hand, standing ovation for the small business owner who produced a great retail environment surrounding the passion to get that alteration sewing shop converted into such a beautifully progressive supporter of this great idea.  What an amazing job done on a silver nickel.  Yet on the other hand, pray for the deeper requirements of understanding as to why the neighbors have all pitched in to help that small business owner make the next monthly rent payment.  How long can that kind of relationship remain?

Be careful...it might be irrevocable passion.

Page two.

If Nobody Likes Blue Balls, You're Toast!

I have been a part of leading several business models in my career.  I can vividly recall some of my more stupid ideas.  One thing that rings true about those very stupid ideas is that at the time of their unfolding, they were not very stupid to see.  They, in fact, seemed like they would take over the world by storm.  I was that passionate about them.  Nothing wrong with that kind of passion.  In fact, I do not ever recall anyone coming to my side and blasting me for how stupid those zany ideas truly were.  They in fact, got out of my way to allow me plenty of time and effort to destroy my own beliefs.

There are not very many rude people in this world that will strongly stand up and begin the classless act of killing someones dream.  In my opinion, killing someones dream is very close to the top of becoming one of the most classless acts anyone can perform.  It is selfish and short-sided as well.  Even the 'pet rock' did pretty good in the marketplace.  I rest my case.

If you own a business and you have some very interesting ideas, for goodness sakes, pursue them.  What's more, if your ideas are weird and at the same time you have a ton of passion for that kind of weirdness, by all means, get going on it!  However, be fully prepared to be let down with a crash when you discover you were the only one who felt strongly about how well this crazy idea of yours was going to do.  Do not cry over its failure.  Do not become discouraged by the losses you incurred.  Many of my best business adjustments came from some very stupid ideas.  Do not be afraid of stupid things.  Stupid ideas have been tweaked just enough to become some of the greatest marketing discoveries the world of business has ever known.  Go read the history of how stupid the glue was that eventually became the stuff that holds the Post-it notes together.  That glue sat on the failed effort shelf for many years before someone else discovered another use for its inability to stick better.  Stay clearly aimed at moving forward.

I am a bit more conservative in my business innovations now that I have a few decades of experience under my hat.  I love great and zany ideas and innovations.  I am a junkie.  However, I have learned a lot about how to keep both feet on the ground while traveling through the imaginations of what those great and zany ideas can produce.  I have learned how to be careful.  The hard part of this responsibility is to remain creative enough to move beyond the common grounds where resistance lives.  Being too careful has a tendency to stifle great creations.  Healthy innovation may never occur if the mind becomes too pragmatic.  Balancing these two extremes is a monster challenge to those who desire to build a huge business model.  On one side is the act of letting everything go to pursue some passionate ideas.  On the other side is the careful review of spending only productive time doing what truly has proven to work.

Innovation is not usually made up of the stuff we manage on the pragmatic side.  Innovation requires going out on a limb.  Innovation means we go do what others do not do.  Innovation means we go try what others would never consider trying.  Innovation means we must see the world in an all together different way.  In this sense, I recommend that we push our dreams over the edge and find out why others remain so careful in their creative ways.  I promote innovation first, comfort second.  Going over the edge can become a very uncomfortable place to be.  It takes great courage to create something that does not exist and make it become your profitable passion.  If you have this kind of courage blended with the resiliency to rebound well, go for it.  The world is truly waiting for your ideas.

Irrevocable passion is nothing to take lightly.  It can become a business owners best friend or it can destroy the last hope for lasting relationships.  The risks will always be there.  Be careful how you step.  Know what you may face.  Above all, know exactly what you will need to give up, either way you choose.

Until next time...