I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
Too many good ideas? 3 steps to clarity
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Hey Reader, Do you have 10 new ideas every day? Do you struggle with choosing which ideas to pursue? Having a ton of great ideas may seem like a good thing, but if you’ve experienced it, you know it can be stressful. When you’re feeling conflicted about your ideas, it can cause split focus, resulting in none of your projects getting the attention they deserve. You don’t want to throw any of your ideas away, because you know some of them are really good. But you also don’t want to keep feeling overwhelmed and unsure. Here are 3 steps to help: 1. Admit you can’t do everythingI have no shortage of ideas for new things I want to do—personally and professionally (though I realized the other day nearly all my ideas are related to creators, rather than just general business ideas). Having “too many good ideas” isn’t a problem unless you don’t know how to handle it. Then it can be frustrating and overwhelming. If you have lots of good ideas, see it as a positive thing. But the first step is to admit to yourself: you can’t do everything. And you especially can’t do everything at the same. This is important in a professional environment where you may not be the one executing on your ideas. You want to strike a balance where you’re maintaining forward momentum without overwhelming your team or coworkers. Sometimes, you really do have to say no to a new idea. And that’s hard when you feel like it’s a good one. But how do you know when it’s the right time to say yes or say no to an idea? How do you know if you’re the right person to do it? That’s where I like to think in terms of lenses. 2. Pick a lens through which to view ideasOne idea isn’t inherently better than another. What makes something the “right idea” will depend on different contextual factors. What’s important to you right now? What are you short on? What do you want to maximize? Depending on what you are optimizing for, here are some of the lenses you could use when evaluating ideas:
“Most fun” doesn’t necessarily mean least important. If you’re someone who doesn’t focus enough on enjoyment, “fun” may very well be what you need more of right now. It’s a good idea to revisit your overall business goals to see if that gives you any insight around what to focus on. It can often help you choose between two ideas. If you need cash right now, you might need to set aside the ideas that won’t generate revenue in the short term and prioritize those that will bring in money. At least for now. Don’t forget to also look at the existing things you’ve committed to. Which of your new ideas makes the most of what you already have going on? Look for multiplier effects. 3. Order your ideas in a sequenceDerek Sivers talks about how you can do everything you want in life, just not at the same time. So put them in sequence and focus on each thing—one at a time—for a season. Once you’ve chosen a lens, sort your ideas in descending order of importance. If the order ever becomes unclear, bring in a second lens. Say you chose “most fun” as your lens, but your second and third ideas would bring equal enjoyment, and you’re not sure which to pick. Using an additional lens of “drives the most revenue” can help you pick one idea over the other for which project to pursue next. Here’s another thing to keep in mind when establishing your order of ideas: Is there a sequence where each idea naturally builds on the one before it? For instance, let’s say one of my ideas is to host events for creators and another is to build a recording studio. Well, if the studio space has room for hosting events, it would make the most sense to pursue that project first. Then I can use it as the venue for my events. Look for connections between your ideas. Instead of evaluating them in the vacuum, or looking at them through a single lens, ask yourself: does this feed my other goals? If so, how? – Lastly, remember: good things take time. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of new ideas and wanting to bring them to life as soon as possible. I have to constantly remind myself: “It always takes longer than you think.” PODCASTOur plan to scale this local newsletter from $80,000 to $500,000 per yearIn this week's episode of Billion Dollar Creator, I chat with Marissa Lovell who runs a 20,000-subscriber local newsletter called From Boise. Her newsletter currently generates $87,000 in annual revenue, and we map out a plan for her to get to $500k. We cover:
Watch or listen to episode » CONVERTKIT (SOON TO BE KIT)Edit scheduled email broadcasts without unschedulingSay goodbye to the hassle of unscheduling and re-scheduling emails when you just want to make a quick edit. You can now make edits to scheduled email broadcasts in ConvertKit (Soon to be Kit). Just select "Edit" in your Broadcasts, make your changes, and click continue. You’re all ready to go! Don't have a ConvertKit account yet? YOUTUBEBuilding 5 Studios in 7 Days7 years ago, I had a vision to build out a studio for creators to record in. Whenever I would go on other podcasts, I always admired their studios, because my home recording setup was in desperate need of an upgrade. In my opinion, the best person in the game at helping you design and build your studio is Kevin Shen. That’s why I hired his company, Dream Studio, to help us build out 5 amazing studios in Boise, Idaho. They share the full process in this behind the scenes video that shows you how Kit Studios became a reality. Check it out: Have a great week! —Nathan P.S. Question for you: Do you have a story of how you used a small audience (10 or fewer people) to level up in your career or reach a goal faster? Reply and let me know. I'd love to hear. |
Nathan Barry
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
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