Why Ideas Need A Plan to Work
Ideas Need a Plan or They’re Useless
Ideas need a plan or they’re useless. Worthless, even.
Over the course of my adult working life, I’ve been approached about a dozen times to be part of “an incredibly lucrative business idea.” Always a sure-fire way to create something profitable, even if the business plan wasn’t particularly clear yet.
In my early 20’s I was convinced, between being naive and having misplaced faith in this person, to design an entire app in exchange for a juicy chunk of equity. I still own that equity… but it’s worth precisely $0, as the coders were never paid by this person to finish developing the app I designed.
Later, one boss made me lofty promises of “growing as the company grows,” but never implemented any kind of plan to reach that growth. All ideas died at roadblocks of excuses. A year went by and then another with no changes that would get us towards more prosperity, so I left that job for one that could offer more for me than just pretty promises.
Talk Is Cheap
Then, years later, someone else promised me equity in an idea again, so long as I did all the design and website work to launch it, of course. Another asked me to join him in a business venture, where I would be a minority partner, even while I would be single-handedly running the operations of the business. And again after that, another person offered me a huge financial return in “business together,” so long as I took over their social media completely for free. To all of these I said no.
The most bewildering however, was my ex boss after I left them to start New Lore, who called me to meet for a coffee one day. As we did so, he began to explain that he was going to launch a second business, but even though he said tons of words none of them were adding up to anything. What exactly was his idea? The more we spoke the more apparent it became that even he didn’t know for sure, but that he wanted me to be a part of creating it. As I explained that I was happy with my new agency, he almost scoffed at the idea that my company could be successful, especially since he was sitting on this amazing new idea. What idea, though?
Don’t Listen to Someone Without a Plan
I don’t say any of this to tout the success of New Lore, or that somehow I am a maverick at entrepreneurism. Only to say that ideas are easy, but developing a plan to execute them is much harder. Along the way I’ve met a lot of people that think they have great ideas, and as long as you do the actual work of building it for them, then maybe, perhaps, you’ll see the reward.
This Goes for Marketing Strategy, Also
Content strategy works in much the same way, really. An idea is easy, just like setting an objective is easy. “We’re going to make an app and make millions!” is not that far from “we’re going to post every day for you and watch your grow sales by 500%! You only need to sign a contract with us for 12 months of marketing.” If there’s no plan or strategy to get there, then you’re not likely to get very far.
I did genuinely get approached by a marketing company recently that offered to help me with my client funnels, only for the low, low commitment of a 12 month contract with them. While I appreciate that it takes time to build a marketing plan that works, you’d have to show me an excellent plan of action for me to many any such commitment with you, and my readers should be just as critical.
It’s easy to make lofty promises about growth, profitability, etc., but how are you going to get us there? Or will you be stuck paying the price for no strategy?
That’s why ideas absolutely need a plan (and perhaps, investing properly in quality, talented partners) if we want them to take off.
Ready to get started with a content strategy agency that gets it?
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