MindFrenzy

So many ideas go to waste because people simple don’t know how to move forward when they have one.  Even more ideas become failures because people don’t properly move forward with their idea. Hopefully these few steps can help you take your idea from a piece of paper to reality.

1. Find out if your potential customers would be willing to buy your product/service.

Now this is assuming you know who your potential customers are in the first place but if you have an idea you probably have some group in mind.  Now will those people use it?  Remember that just because something sounds great to you it may not sound so great to others.  There are millions of things out there and its unlikely you have used or heard of all of them.  However your potential customers may have.  There already may be a useful product or service in your industry and it may be hard to pull users away from it. On that point note that its harder to pull someone away from something they are familiar with then it is to introduce your product/service to someone who has never seen anything like it.

So get out there and tell your potential customers what you are thinking about.  You shouldn’t worry to much about someone taking your idea because in the end it comes down to what you do with the idea not what it is, just be practical .  Don’t give away all your plans and ideas just enough to make someone understand and be able to give a response to your thoughts.

2. Stalk out your competition

Who else is in your market? What are their products like and how is yours different? These are questions you have to be able to answer before you go after your idea. Search online using keywords for your idea and find out whose there and what their offering.  Examine their products or sign up for their web services.  Find out if you really have something different or if you can do it better.  Just because there’s already people in your market doesn’t mean you cant enter it, you just have to know what to say to someone who says why should I use yours instead of theirs.  Also find out how wide spread your competitors reach is.  They may have a great product but maybe you are a better marketer and can reach millions of more people.  Many times its not the better product/service that wins its the one that got to people first.

3. Figure out costs

Seems obvious but it is really important that you truly know what your costs will be.  More often then not people underestimate the cost of making their product or starting their service. Your going to find it very difficult to sell your product/service if you run out of money 3/4 of the way through! Here are some costs to think about.

Products:
- Patent or provisional patent
- Are you selling it? Maybe an LLC
- Graphic designer for product drawings
- Manufacturer for prototypes
- Driving/flying to pitch product
- If graphic designer/manufacturer needs to be replaced (Trust me it happens)

Services: I’m going to focus on websites
- Programming (initial, updates, fixes)
- Hosting
- Domain name
- Promotion (ads, online memberships, SEO)
- LLC

And don’t forget for both TIME and lots of it.


4. DO IT!!!!

It may sound odd but I have found that this is by far the hardest step for most people. People are always questioning themselves. Did I miss a competitor? Am I really a better marketer? Do I have the money? Did I miss something? Is this to risky? If you take your time and go through the basic steps and the numbers and the feedback points to a good project then it probably IS A GOOD PROJECT.  By no means is this a recipe for success there’s a ton of work ahead but if you have the drive you will have a good shot of at least making your investment back. But you will never know if you don’t try. 

Good Luck!!!

Check out the main site MindFrenzy.com for feedback/advice on all of your ideas!