It’s the 8th Idea that Counts

Patience, Analysis keys to ideas that pan out Small business owners are constantly in search of new ideas to help build and strengthen their existing businesses. Whether you operate an on-line or off-line (traditional) business, you have probably had the exhilarating feeling of developing what you think is the next great marketing idea or new product for your business, only to have the feeling vanish when the idea turn sour.

As a small business owner myself and a professional marketer, I have learned one important lesson about idea generation in business: it’s the 8th idea that counts. My experience has shown me that the very first idea that is generated to solve a particular problem may not be the solution, but as long as you keep that idea alive and allow it to grow and change, it becomes an increasingly better idea. Eventually the idea grows into a very profitable and manageable business plan. In my case, it seems that it’s often the 8th idea that is a real winner.

It Happened to Me…

I’ll draw on personal experience for an example. When I launched my first online business a number of years ago, I had the idea to take advantage of my experience as a professional marketer in the staffing and employment industry to bring valuable knowledge and information to the general public. My first venture was a resume writing website, which was neither a success nor a failure. In short, it really did nothing.

As I look back on that venture, I realize now that I simply did not have enough information or internet savvy to put together a reasonably decent website and market it effectively. I pulled the business offline after only 3 months. What I did not do, however, was kill the original idea.

I went back to the drawing board to look at what went wrong and determine if the idea was still viable. After some thought, I decided to focus my efforts more on the small business community, since I had so much experience marketing for companies with tiny marketing budgets. That was the birth of my current website and business model. Since that time, my site has evolved, I’ve changed marketing tactics, revised my product offering, and so on. Each of these changes to the original idea made the idea progressively better and more marketable.

In my case, after the fundamental changes in the type of product I would offer and numerous changes to my marketing approach, I arrived at the “8th idea”. After morphing 8 times, my original idea has panned out very well in the form of my current business.

To make sure that you keep your ideas alive until the reach 8th idea status, follow these two simple guidelines:

Never throw away an idea:

You just never know what a few changes can do to a previously unsuccessful idea. Don’t ever completely discard an idea for your small business. Instead focus on what could be done differently with it to enhance its success next time around. Had I given up on my original idea, I would not run the business that I do today.

Evaluate your failures: Good ideas sometimes go bad. Remember “New Coke” In a recently published marketing book, the author (a driving force behind the creation of New Coke back in 1985) talks about how well they had planned for the launch of the new cola and how sure they were that the product would be a hit. It wasn’t. However, they quickly reacted to the situation by morphing their original idea (a new product) in a different direction (the re-introduction of Coke under the label “Coca Cola Classic”.). The relaunch was a massive marketing success.

By keeping your ideas alive, you’ll give them new life every time you make a change to their original composition. Sometimes, 8 ideas later, you’ll have a real winner on your hands.