You Have Dozens of Ideas - How Do You Decide Which Ones to Implement?
It’s been a while since I posted last. I have about 40 or so article ideas recorded in my Google Notebook, but I just didn’t feel good about writing on any of them right now. Enter Jarkko Laine, the man insanely interested in everything. About a week ago I received an email from Jarkko. He said that he was contacting the most famous (just kidding) bloggers that he knew to ask them one question: How do you decide which ideas to implement?
Continue reading for how I decide what ideas to implement.
Here’s How I Decide What Ideas To Implement
You Must Be Interested In the Topic
If you’re like me, you’ve got dozens of ideas bouncing around inside your head at any given time. Deciding which of these ideas to go forward with and develop can be difficult at times, but I try to keep it simple.
For starters, the ideas have to be something you’re interested in. If you’re not interested in the site’s topic, you’re setting yourself up for failure. I’m a huge fan of tableless design using xhtml and css, I love designing graphics with Photoshop and Illustrator and I’m a huge fan of golf. So, for me, it makes sense that just about every new idea I think up revolves around these topics. I do have the occasional random idea (currently brainstorming on a small niche review type site), but the vast majority revolve around what I enjoy the most.
Barrier For Entry Must Be Somewhat Low
So you know what you like and you’ve got a few ideas for a new site? The next step is to research the competition. You could have the most wonderful idea ever (or so you thought) and come to find out that numerous other people also had that same idea and actually implemented it way before you thought of it. True, there is absolutely nothing stopping you from going forward with this idea. You just realize that it will be more difficult to succeed. Please, don’t let me stand in the way of one of your ideas, even if the niche is croweded. If I listened to my own advice I never would have developed Nice Stylesheet. You can’t get much more crowed than the CSS showcase niche these days, but CSS is something that I have a passion for, so I went for it. The worst thing you can do is let someone tell you that you cannot do something (definitely don’t let me tell you). If other people strayed away from niches with existing competitors, we wouldn’t know Google today, and you all know how that turned out. You just have to be smart and weigh all of your options and possibly come up with a unique angle the idea that will make it totally original from the rest of the competition. I’m actually working on a couple original ideas to implement with Nice Stylesheet that will hopefully take it to a new level.
Most Of All, Just Do What Excites You
For me, it ultimately boils down to how excited I am about the idea. I could definitely come up with an idea revolving around something I find interesting, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to get excited about the idea. The ideas that excite me, keep me up at night thinking about them. I can’t wait to get to work on them the following day and I usually work on them throughout the night. You could have a great idea around a topic that you really enjoy but not be excited about it. At that point, I say put the idea on the back burner for a while and work on something else that does excite you. You’ll be surprised at what doesn’t excite you right now, could in fact get you very excited six months from now. If you do have an idea that you’ve decided to store away for a rainy day, for goodness sake, write it down! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had an idea and did not write it down because I thought it was so good that there was no way I would forget it. Well, guess what… I forgot. Studies have shown that the human brain can only store around seven things in short term memory, so you have a very good chance of forgetting. I have an excel spreadsheet of, I’m guessing 300 domain name ideas that I’ve accumulated over that last couple years. Once I get my current projects running, I’ll refer to that spreadsheet for my next great idea.
How Do You Decide?
Your turn to speak. In the form of a comment below, I would love to hear how you decide what ideas to implement and what ideas to scrap.
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Comments
Pretty much the same way you do.
Although I haven’t completed any of my ideas other than plainbeta…
I’m working on ‘em though!
Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008
Jarkko: Yeah, I know that feeling too. I’ve got a couple ideas right now, some for NiceStylesheet and some for a new site I’m working on and I’ve got really high hopes for them, so I’m pretty excited! But, like you said, everything I come up with excites me.
Brian: Keep up the good work Brian. You’ll get them launched. Just remember, that’s the most difficult part. Once you get over that hill, it’s much easier going forward.
Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008
Hey, I have a question. I really like your blog layout and am hoping to phase out with my blogger format. So I was wondering what you use. I bought a domain melbel.com but right now I haven’t got it set up as I have no idea how to do this. Any help would be awesome!
Posted on Sun Jan 27, 2008
Melanie: Hey, thanks for visiting. 
The layout is a custom layout that I designed. As for what powers the blog, I use ExpressionEngine. If you ask me, it’s the best CMS out there, although they may be simpler options if all you’re looking for is a simple blog? Seems everyone uses WordPress these days too, but I’ve never used it, so I can’t help much there. If you give ExpressionEngine a try, they have a free “Core” version which you can try out (this blog uses the free version). If you have any questions, feel free to give me a shout.
Posted on Sun Jan 27, 2008
Niyaz: That’s a pretty good approach too Niyaz. Get the easiest ones out of the way first. That way you at least have some sort of online presence while you work on your other ides.
Posted on Mon Feb 4, 2008
Ultimately without something like a journal, or using Google Notebook (thanks for the tip there), there are only two types of ideas, those you remember, and those your forget or are lingering on the back burner of the brainscape, percolating for another day
Posted on Thu Feb 7, 2008
Nice post - I usually just think about the idea a lot and see if I can plug wholes in it. If, after some thought, the idea still seems strong I’ll usually start it right away. There’s nothing worse than sitting on ideas and never implementing them.
Posted on Thu Feb 7, 2008
Ty: I’m with ya there! Unfortunately for me, if I don’t write my ideas down somewhere, majority of them become the forgotten ones.
Jayson: I agree totally. The problem I face a lot is that I poke and poke until I find holes in the idea that may not even be there. It’s like I try to find something, anything to discredit the idea. Not sure why I do that, but I do. It could be perfect in every way, but I’ll find something wrong. I’m getting better at just moving forward with ideas and not worrying so much about trying to poke holes. Even a bad idea can sometimes evolve into something great, so I try to give everything a chance. The hard part after that is when to say enough is enough and scrap the idea when it’s not working.
Posted on Fri Feb 8, 2008
Yeah, i agree with jayson, dont sit on ideas. Choose one and implement it - give yourself a suitable time to succed and if it doesnt work, start again with the lessons learned.
Posted on Wed Feb 13, 2008
Franchise Business Opportunities: Yeah, definitely. That’s the worst thing you can do is sit on ideas. You sit on them to long and someone else will take your idea and run with it and you’ll be left behind wondering why you didn’t go with it when you had the chance.
Posted on Wed Feb 13, 2008
The important thing is to decide on an idea and make sure you follow it through. Many people jump from idea to idea and never get anywhere.
Posted on Mon Mar 17, 2008
Once I have an initial idea I tend to sit on it for a few weeks and during that time decide if it’s really something worth going ahead with. I also use those two weeks to look for anyone else doing the same kind of thing. After a few weeks I either go for it or drop the idea.
Having said that, I have a few things that I really should get off my lazy ass and start.
As Shoemoney once said, “Stop f**king about and just get on with it. Wise words indeed.
Posted on Fri Oct 17, 2008
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My name is Deron Sizemore and I am a web designer, web publisher, blogger and serial internet entrepreneur living in Lexington, Kentucky.
Great post, Deron! What you say about ideas keeping you up all night - that happens to me a lot as well. And I love it.
Well, to be honest, I fall asleep quite easily. But still, when I have a new idea I keep thinking about whenever I have some spare time. Just before falling asleep - first thing in the morning when I wake up - and so on.
But the problem to me is that this happens to me too often. So often that I can’t use it as a criteria for deciding which project to do… They all seem too exciting.
Posted on Thu Jan 24, 2008