Ideas Are Cheap, Execution Is Expensive
I am a man of many ideas. I used to come up with about 3-4 new websites a day that would be interesting to develop. Get me online talking to Mike, Colin and Matthew and we can come up with 2-3 good websites ourselves on top of the 3 I already came up with when I wokeup. I don’t mean just websites that are there just for the hell of it, but these are ideas with potential. Of course all of our ideas always seem like they have potential. So many great ideas get tossed around the 9rules forums it’s not even funny anymore. I figure we might as well setup a mini-angel fund just so we can see these projects get off the ground.
Everybody Got They Cups, But They Ain’t Chipped In*
*The grammar isn’t bad, that’s big Snoop Dogg telling it like it is.
If you own a site and you wish to partner up with us (or anyone else for that matter) you have to bring something to the table. It is really admirable to want to partner with the 9rules Network for example, but to do so I have to ask what would you bring to the Network? How would you help make the experience better for its users? I get answers to these questions, but they are never good. It all comes down to the person basically saying, “I know the Network gets a lot of traffic, so let’s partner up so I can get more traffic to my site.” That just doesn’t cut it.
Actions Speak
You have a wonderful idea, but it doesn’t work out in the end. The reason usually comes down to the effort you put into it. I have made the mistake of joining so many ventures with people that I have spread my resources thin. If I can’t depend on others to take action then usually these ventures go no where.
Our team has created some successful sites. They are not successful in the Nick Denton network sense of the word, but for me they are successful because I understand where we started and where we are looking to go. They are successful because I can see the amount of work I have put into them. You want a successful blog, put some work into it. It never fails.
Business is the same way. Put a lot of work into it and you are on the road to success. Of course I am assuming that the business plan and ideas are solid because without those foundations you have no path to walk on.
Time Is The Killer
If you wish to start something, better tighten up on those time management skills because you will need every second you can get. I have been in many discussions with people who wish to start a business, but the only thing holding them back is time. Usually the only thing required to start a business, besides money, is time so it’s time for some sacrifices to be made.
The Deciding Factor
It’s a shame how easy it is to start a website or blog. It gives people the idea that after only a few hours of work they can begin making money. Besides using shady tactics this is nearly impossible. I can’t tell you how much effort it takes to make a million dollars, but I can tell you getting that first $10 takes time, effort and a great strategy. People who understand that are the type of people we enjoy partnering with.
Finally I will leave with some tips when looking to start a business, site, blog or partnership:
- If you really want to partner with anyone and you believe you have a great idea it is much more impressive to see you put some work into that idea before it comes our way. This lets us know you are passionate and willing to put some elbow grease into making your idea a success.
- Ask others if your idea is really good. Better yet, ask a woman because they seem to be more honest about these things. If they can’t understand the point of your model maybe there isn’t one. I got that one from Guy Kawaski’s The Art Of The Start, a must read.
- Very few times will a partnership be a 50/50 deal. One party usually puts in more work or has more resources to offer than the other party son don’t be surprised if things aren’t split down the middle.
- Ideas are cheap. Execution is expensive.
- Once you have your idea stick with it. Patience is key because you might have other ideas that you try to venture off on, but this only takes away time from your current idea. This is a problem we have internally due to the talent and ideas we have. It’s a bit easier now though since we have almost everything we want with the Network. A good example is the person who decides it would be great to start their own blog network yet they have taken the time to make the first site successful. Without a successful Whitespace there never would have been a successful CSS Vault, Forever Geek, Business Logs, 9rules and hopefully Fine Fools Community (”successful” is a relative term).
Related reading:
2-3 good sites? Dude, you sure as hell know that we come up with at least 20 a day just between you and I! Between your brain and mine, I think we’ve build the 9rules Network 25 times over.
The Internet is still an infant, simply due to the fact that there has not been enough years that have passed for “everything to be done” yet. But that does not mean that “thinking outside of the box” is enough, you have to work outside of the box too.
Oh, and I got my cash for Gin and Juice.
By Colin D. Devroe on September 28, 2005 8:15 am
Good thinking Scrivs,
I think one of the most important points you raise is sticking with it.
I started a business while busy with my master’s, and only 3 years later have we really started to become successful. Why? Because at some stage we realised that constantly coming up with new ideas/products/services wasn’t what was needed. What was needed was the ability to do what we were already doing really well. To sell what we already had.
New ideas are critical, but often you don’t need to look that far to find success.
By Martin on September 28, 2005 8:34 am
Did somebody say time?
Uh yea, there is definitly a lack of it right about now in my life.
I have been lucky enough to have Paul spread his seed of knowledge upon me in some IM’s about the process of starting too many ventures at one time. Combine that with a baby on the way, a new house, my cpu crashing, my server crashing, and freelance deals on the side, and you can pretty much guarantee that 25th hour is not in the cards.
I have so much I want to do, just no time to do it in.
- Redesign/Reconfiguration of Major Championships.
- Redesign of Juiced Thoughts for CSSReboot
I have definitly been absent from 9rules with MajorChampionships.com for the past couple of weeks and I apologize. That is a combination of time issues but more with the server causing me grief (couldn’t post an entry or comment until last night, geez). I hate MovableType… :)
Good Post Paul.
By Bryan on September 28, 2005 9:24 am
Nice article. Really hit a nerve with me man. Time to get my head out of the clouds and put things into action.
By Keith on September 28, 2005 10:06 am
good post scrivs. i am also of the same mind that coming up with the ideas is the easiest part. executing and making anything of them is the hard part. i don’t know how many ideas i’ve had in my little journal/notepad that i discarded because of lack of funds only to see them make a ton of money years later. what would be interesting would be to see what types of mini-angel funds are available, as more and more web2.0 companies can and are being launched w/50k-100k or less. This is the realm of the angels, and not the VCs as they usually won’t touch seed capital unless its in the millions.
By Brian Breslin on September 28, 2005 10:19 am
“They are successful because I can see the amount of work I have put into them. You want a successful blog, put some work into it. It never fails.”
I guess that depends on how you define success, but there are many people who would say that their experience proves you wrong. Much more than hard work, it takes some good ideas, quality content, and Web skills sufficient to convert those things to something your users can access.
Hard work doesn’t always equal success. Sometimes it just turns out some good personal education.
And regarding ideas being cheap… You may be right about ideas being a-dime-a-dozen, but *good*, solvent business ideas are expensive and rare (which is the reason market research and marketing firms exist).
Finally, your comments on time management and initiative were spot-on. Plenty of us out here in Web land have some ideas, but until we put our hand to the plow and start pushing, we’ll never know how solvent they are.
By Nathan Logan on September 28, 2005 11:10 am
Nathan, I think it definitely is a combination of hard work, good ideas, quality content, and Web skills. Definitely wasn’t trying to make it sound as though hard work is the answer to everything. Some ideas just suck and no matter how much effort you put into them they will never get off the ground.
I think that good, solvent business ideas develop from the cheap intial ideas. Almost all business plans evolve over time and usually the great business ideas only seem so when looking back at them.
By Scrivs on September 28, 2005 11:13 am
I like what you said about time management. I know that I struggle sometimes to create the time to work on my own projects. It can be hard to justify working on one of your own ideas, when you could get paid to work on someone elses.
And if this is the first time you’ve worked on your own project, I think its even harder to justify spending the time. It’s like you get too worried about whether or not your project will fail, and you get scared to follow through.
By Kyle Posey on September 28, 2005 1:45 pm