Herman School of Business
What do I do with this BIG IDEA?
Donny Deutsch’s THE BIG IDEA is interesting television. It takes a guest who had a great idea and presents something about their story to show viewers they can do it too! He chides watchers who have THE BIG IDEA to simply get off their butt and make something happen to change your life and make you millions.
Listen folks…this is television. There are over 300 million people in America and he does shows with a few hundred per year. He also shouts that they have sold millions of dollars of products and you translate that into thinking every guest is now a multi-millionaire. Not so. Selling millions of dollars of any product doesn’t necessarily make you a millionaire. But presenting the image that any of us could wake up in the middle of the night and have their BIG IDEA and go from that moment to riches is rather simplistic isn’t it?
Look, if that show inspires people to try because they think it can happen to them, then that alone makes the show worthwhile in my opinion. But as a person who has won and lost in the real world business wars…I hope to present common sense and reality because more people with their BIG IDEA lose than win. And money and time are lost in the process.
Today another email came in from someone with their BIG IDEA. And I applaud this gentleman because he has indeed taken the first step to make his idea become a reality…he wrote to someone in business and asked for help. His product is in the medical care field, others have written with unique clothing products, a food item, and every person is to be admired because telling someone else means it has gone from your mind…and perhaps your workshop…to sharing it with the world.
So, what do you do with your BIG IDEA to start making it a reality? First…make a record of your product with pictures, drawings, copies and prototypes. Copyright it immediately if that is possible…check out something like Legalzoom.com for help. It may be too early to file for a patent, save that expense for a little further down the road. Next you should throw a rock onto the pond and see how many ripples you can cause. What? The rock I want you to throw is a letter to fifty places and see what comes back from your effort.
Fifty letters. Less than fifty dollars of cost. It will lead you to the next step for your BIG IDEA. Ten should go to companies that already make a product like yours. If your product is a stair lift to help people go up the steps, contact ten firms that already make that kind of product and tell them you have built a better mousetrap they may want to buy. The next ten letters are to companies that make other products in the field of your BIG IDEA, like a wheel chair manufacturer or other medical device manufacturer who may want to expand their product line. Ten more letters go to Venture Capitalists in your immediate area stating that you have something they may want to see, with a brief description. Ten letters go to commercial loan officers at the major banks in your area, because they have clients who make and sell products and they could suggest to their clients your BIG IDEA. And the last ten letters go to people in your circle of friends who are in business. Four weeks after these letters go out you should feel the ripples hitting the shore and that will lead you to the next step for your BIG IDEA.
OK. OK. Everyone wants to know where to get all of this information on who to write too. The Internet is amazing. Google in a few words and manufacturers pop up, banks pop up, lists of venture capitalists pop up, and on and on. If you want encouragement here it is. I did this effort on one of my own BIG IDEAS and it took a fifteen thousand dollar investment to a ten million dollar valued company in three years. This isn’t just theory folks. It works.
- Posted: 13 March 2008
- Comments: 0
- Category: Business success
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