Why You Should Share Your Ideas

Time and again it had been made clear to me, by family and friends, that talking to people about your business ideas is a big mistake. In a world where information is so freely available and spread at light speed, we are protective of that which we can still keep secret.

For many entrepreneur and even business leaders, this is the case when it comes to business ideas. At first glance it does make sense to keep your next big product to yourself. Because somewhere out there someone is bound to take it and make it their own, right? And that's what I was told again and again until I no longer questioned it. However once you actually think about it, you will see that sharing your ideas can be one of the best things you can do for your business.

Image taken from 'Share To Make Ideas Happen' by Behance Team

In order to explain, I'll be using a Forbes article by Patrick Hull as a backdrop. Patrick has over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience to his name and his article works through some key points as to why you should be talking about your ideas.

"I’ve heard a lot of great concepts for startups. I try to work with and help the ones I really liked. I don’t try to take those ideas and make them my own. For starters, I’ve got too much else on my plate to worry about taking someone else’s idea. I think this is true for most people"

I can personally vouch for this. Through my own entrepreneurial journey I have met individuals who have the resources and know-how to take my idea and turn it into a business tomorrow. But they haven’t. Why? Because ideas are cheap and you are almost certainly more passionate and committed to you’re idea than 99.999% of the world. Talking about your idea is easy, but turning it into a real business is the truly hard part and something which most aren't prepared to do. So don't be afraid to speak to powerful and capable people about your idea. Often if these people like your idea they will want to help you to prosper and succeed, not steal it and show you the exit.

"I’ve found it incredibly helpful to bounce ideas off others and ask for their feedback. In return, I’ve gained valuable insight and perspective that I wouldn’t have otherwise received…In many cases, they might be able to connect you with someone else who can help turn your idea into reality”

If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, having a strong network is essential. No one person can do everything and so we are constantly reliant on the knowledge and skill of others. This is where the value of speaking to other comes in. Just as Patrick says, some of the biggest realizations you will have in building your business will come from others. I know that some of the most drastic changes my business has already undergone in our short few months of development have come from people’s feedback. Meetings, pitching events and informal discussion have almost always yielded valuable feedback that have lead to a more refined idea and therefore end product. Also, by engaging in conversation about your idea, you can utilize and explore the networks of those around you. For instance, I have managed to find some of the key suppliers I will need from speaking to friends and family.

Image taken from 'Facebook and the Small World Experiment' by Winnie Hsia

It is said that we are all separated by only ‘6 degrees of separation’. So can you imagine how many people you could potentially get in touch with by asking just a few of the folks you know about who they know and who they could refer you too. There is certainly big potential in it. So get out there and get talking about your ideas, because there plenty more people out there to help, than there are to steal your idea.

Thanks as always for reading and if you have any thoughts please post them in the comments section below.

For more information on the article go to: http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickhull/2013/06/13/talk-about-your-idea-it-wont-get-stolen/

Top 3 Things To Make The Average Working Week A More Wholesome One

We all want to live our lives to the best of our abilities. We want to share experiences with people and indulge ourselves in the little things, like chocolate or wine, that bring a smile to our face. I'd like to add a few more things to the normal week that I think will make each one more fulfilling, productive and enjoyable.

1. First is almost always the best and so the most important point on this list. Reading is one of those things that many of the most successful and prolific business men and women do on a daily basis. Apart from the obvious benefit of not having a screen in your face, which is a big no no before bed, it allows you to distance yourself from the world around you. It can be humbling and soothing to take some time out of your hectic schedule and engross yourself in a book. The topic is almost irrelevant. For instance I just read 'The Martian', which is a phenomenal read, and once I finished that I moved to a Jeremy Clarkson book. The effect though remains the same. You go to sleep more relaxed and more distanced from the issue you got into bed with that have been bugging you since you left work. This means that when you get up you're more likely to be ready for the day to come, and so the benefits accumulate. Want more reasons to read? Well here's another 10!

2. Always make time for others. When work or life gets you down its important to be able to take a step back from it all and enjoy a few casual hours with some friends. I used to think that being with my mates was sucking time out of other work I needed to do. Oh how wrong I was. Once I started to think about it I realised that being with my friends offered a get away from the other stresses in my life. It's so crucial in the world that we live in that we can get away from it all and just enjoy the company of others, away from screens and noise. You're relationships with the people around you probably hold you together more than you realise so give them (and you) the time and respect they deserve.

3. Do something a little different every week. Now I'm not asking you to try snails or go bungie jumping because that would be impractical and (subjectively) disgusting. But trying a new cafe or restaurant, seeing an old friend, even going for a walk when you normally wouldn't can make a big difference. There is a weird satisfaction that many people derive from doing something different to the norm. A sense of achievement that they have for a few key hours broken the normal progression of the week. Variety is the spice of life after all!


Thanks for reading and as always please leave a comment if you have any thoughts on this post. Maybe you have some more ideas to add or have used these points already in your own life. I'd love to hear if you have.

Be well and I'll be back in a few days with some more tips, tricks and thoughts on the entrepreneurship and the wider world.

3 Ways To Be A Better Learner And Prepare For The Future

Thinking back to the year I was born, 1995, I can't imagine that half of the things we take for granted every day were even beginning to be thought of. Mobile phones with a million different functions, touch screens controlling the functions of your car, tablets, 4G mobile data, Bluetooth the list goes on. Every single one of these modern marvels requires a host of people to turn raw materials into the technological piece that they are.

If you had approached a electrical engineer at a major TV maker 20 years ago and told them that they would need to build a 4k screen, 3D imaging and Netflix into it they'd probably bend their head to the side and go 'huh'? What you can buy today is made using an entirely different rule book and instruction set to what was being built 20 years ago. can you imagine what the next 20 years will hold? To keep up with modern developments people have to re-skill and relearn to constantly stay up to date.

I can feel that some of you may be thinking 'well since we don't know whats coming how can we train for it?' and it' a fair point. But, and its a big fat juicy but, what if we could teach our children and ourselves to self educate, allowing us to be better poised to take on any new developments in the future and be better equipped to acquire the skills to take part in future industry. Here are 3 ways I think this can be done:

Image taken from Steli Efti of Quora.com

1. Instil a message that education does not end after you finish school or University. It's and ongoing process that never really ends. By doing this we can better inspire our kids to be life long learners and be open to new information later on in life.

2. Make sure that failure is seen as a positive thing because with new knowledge comes lots and lots of learning and forgetting and then relearning. Rarely do things go in the first time but need constant reinforcing and that's important to understand because it can be disheartening when you don't understand something the first few times

3. Be ready to be confused and challenge yourself. The whole reason that you learn new things is because you don't understand them. It can be quite uncomfortable feeling like you don't know something. But rather than it being a this to maybe be embarrassed about, turn it into a positive. You're going to learn something new today!

Hopefully this helps some of you in the future and I think that these 3 things are a good start towards better readying ourselves and those to come next for the future. As always comments and thoughts are always appreciated and thanks for reading!

3 Ways to Help Improve Your Chances of Developing a Successful Enterprise

1. Start off by thinking about what the customer you want to target may need, not what you think they need. These days it's quite common for entrepreneurs to come up with brilliant ideas to address problems that simply don't exist. To give an example, I’m currently in the process of developing an NFC product that I want to sell to schools. In developing the business model, we started off by thinking about what’s wrong with schools in our subjective opinion. While this generated some innovative solutions, once we spoke to actual schools, our actual customers, we realised that the issues which they needed solving were worlds away from what we had identified. This lead to us changing the purpose of the product that we initially envisioned, into something the customer would actually buy based on real feedback.
   
2. Customer focus is key and never loose sight of this. The customer is the single most important part of a functional and successful business. If you are not building, designing or offering a service that pleases and fulfils the needs of a customer, your business is unlikely to thrive. Remember it’s the cash coming out of their wallet that allows you expand and maintain your business.
   
3. ‘Be 10 times better now to be 4 times better when you come to market’. This is a saying that I have shamelessly copied from Dr Buzz Palmer, CEO of STC  and an individual fluent in entrepreneurial development. I feel that it’s the best way of expressing how important it is that what you want to create is not just better, its clearly better than anything available today. This ties in with fulfilling the demands of the customer. What you offer has to be so good that it overwhelmingly offsets the investment or ongoing costs to acquire whatever it is that you plan to sell.

For more tips on creating a successful product and business here are some useful articles from Forbes and Inc.