Does anyone else suffer from the 'too many ideas' problem? I find myself constantly researching new & interesting business ideas. I tend to get really excited, learning all I can, as if I actually plan to implement them.

However, once I feel I know everything I need to know about an idea, and I'm 100% convinced it's going to work, everything ends there. I really don't have much time to spend on another project: Nairaland is a full-time gig.

I can't stop working on new ideas because it's the most fun thing I do, but I'd really like to find a way to try out all of them in the next few years, because there will be many more in the future. What should I do?

First of all you have to learn how to fully exploit the art of delegating, which I  can see you already have knowledge of (by engaging moderators). But you could delegate more aspects to create more time for yourself. Next create a mastermind (people with similar ideologies, passion and perhaps knowledge) for the projects you have at hand and finally do not try to be a JACK OF ALL TRADES. Hope this helped.

A good way reduce it is to follow your passion. I presently work at an online publishing firm and we charge $650 to publish a paper(academic article) and publish roughly 1k papers monthly. I'm amazed at how easy this business can bring loads of cash and wanted to start mine, I got everything i needed ready then lost interest cos I don't have  passion in it. We didn't get to where we are overnite, I don't have the patience to wait for my biz to pick up.



So its your passion and bro there are ideas you've simulated and perfected in simulation but when you implement them in real life, new scenarios u didn't simulate start manifesting.

@Seun

one word - Leverage.

If it doesn't yield some financial reward, I normally don't waste my time.

Seun:

Does anyone else suffer from the 'too many ideas' problem? I find myself constantly researching new & interesting business ideas. I tend to get really excited, learning all I can, as if I actually plan to implement them.

However, once I feel I know everything I need to know about an idea, and I'm 100% convinced it's going to work, everything ends there. I really don't have much time to spend on another project: Nairaland is a full-time gig.

I can't stop working on new ideas because it's the most fun thing I do, but I'd really like to find a way to try out all of them in the next few years, because there will be many more in the future. What should I do?

YES! im exactly the same. I've lost track of al the ideas I've had cattle ranch, brick factory, paint factory, snail farm, import-export, natural gas, solid minerals etc. lol

So what ideas have you had, more websites?

Get a book/manual written on your well researched ideas and sell or give out.

You might derive greater satisfaction seeing your seeds flourish in another's yard, rather than perish in your barn.

Nairaland Nuggets
By Bestselling Author:
Seun Osewa

Do you mind sharing some these business ideas with us?

Seun, you are not alone in this ordeal. But i want you to know that you have a child at hand to take care of "Nairaland." why don't you take it to its fullest potential. Lol.

This is not really a problem now, what the OP is actually afraid of is failing in those new endeavours that he finds attractive. What you need to do is to register a business. It may be a sole proprietorship, partnership, private or public company. Having done that, you need to employ competent employees, let them run these new business units that you find attractive whilst you control by setting targets and ensuring that they are met by using an effective communication channel. If they are not met, find-out why and fix it as soon as possible.

This advice is particularly for Seun who I feel by now knows what a good business opportunity is or isn't. If you are not at that level yet, I suggest you read and study materials that will give you the required knowledge before trying to engage in business.

Your problem is to take ACTION on just one of the ideas.

Green world offers distributorship opportunity for you all. view my profile for web link.

Seun:

Does anyone else suffer from the 'too many ideas' problem? I find myself constantly researching new & interesting business ideas. I tend to get really excited, learning all I can, as if I actually plan to implement them.

However, once I feel I know everything I need to know about an idea, and I'm 100% convinced it's going to work, everything ends there. I really don't have much time to spend on another project: Nairaland is a full-time gig.

I can't stop working on new ideas because it's the most fun thing I do, but I'd really like to find a way to try out all of them in the next few years, because there will be many more in the future. What should I do?

[size=15pt]I do too and members of my family dismiss every knew idea i come up with as just another time waster.[/size]

Lol! Sometimes you just cant control your brain. Its on auto response. I have lost track of all the lucrative ideas i develop everyday. My motto has always been"see a need, fill that need". At a time, i started writing them down on a dairy. At times i felt i surely was gonna go crazy or worst still my brain would implode. And the most amazing thing is that almost all the business ideas i have are unique to Nigeria and a money spinner. So definitely you aint alone. The only difference i see is that, i never got the money to implement mine anyways. Lol.

This explains why the world is filled with numerous brilliant ideas. But unfortunately, the world lack seasoned entrepreneurs who have the guts to risk failure and take their ideas to the marketplace.

Seun:

Does anyone else suffer from the 'too many ideas' problem? I find myself constantly researching new & interesting business ideas. I tend to get really excited, learning all I can, as if I actually plan to implement them.

However, once I feel I know everything I need to know about an idea, and I'm 100% convinced it's going to work, everything ends there. I really don't have much time to spend on another project: Nairaland is a full-time gig.

I can't stop working on new ideas because it's the most fun thing I do, but I'd really like to find a way to[b] try out all of them[/b] in the next few years, because there will be many more in the future. What should I do?

In 2004 i thought it would be cool to create some kind of online platform where Nigerians can convene and just talk about "stuff." In 2005 while researching ways to go about this, i came across a scanty forum named nairaland with a similar objective. As the months passed, i monitored its progress closely n still cooked up my own ideas while observing daily through the window. In the middle of this, i got carried away by "greater" ideas, n some time in 2006 i registered on nairaland as if to say "forget it, i'll just join the movement"

The point is this. We both had the same idea, you executed yours n i did not. So, you have nairaland n i don't (only a company with 3 businesses ).

No knowledge acquired or information gathered ever goes to waste. Consider all the research you've done as education. Even in unrelated business fields, they will come in handy.

However, DO NOT attempt to try out "all" these ideas. Itemize them and it would be at your sole discretion to select what "few" you really want to implement. While you don't want to be a jack of all trade as someone has mentioned, n nairaland must be time intensive to run, you absolutely don't want to put 100% of your resources into it alone. Whenever you find yourself doing that, just think of myspace.com

If you are passionate about Nairaland why can't you give it your best shot?, implementing other ideas is not a bad idea, but you will surely need TRUSTED HANDS!

@SEUN. I swear to you dat u are my other half in this experience,i read deeply into things of life including business.thereby coming out with excellent business ideas but men i have somehow failed because all around me are people who think i am worthless with all my talk of business.pls lets just hook up on okeniyishola@gmail.com pls i will be waiting for your message cos we have a greater future in common.HOLLA

I have the exact same problem but in higher measure.

I have stacks of notebooks intensely detailed with plans of what to do. And I walk around with a notebook.

They range from IT(web apps, IT services, internet schemes) to education to power and even agriculture.

And the ideas never stop coming. Its even worse when they chase you down to your place of quiet. Church used to be the place to dance and focus on HIM but for some reason, thats where the superstar ideas seem to appear. Now I go to church #withanotebook.

The plan going forward is following few principles:
*Acre of diamonds (thoroughly exploit all the ideas within my immediate vicinity).
*Singlehandling (exploit one idea completely before moving on)

A few ideas though:
Clear your Yard First: Nairaland and Nairalist. They are facing challenges in a host of areas from within and without. (Dealfish, FB etc). Find ways of better engaging users. You have been running them as a sole owner but it might be a good idea to either delegate or automate. its time Nairaland gained some wiki-like capabilities to ease your burden. Dont know if you want all that effort but its worth it.

At least try to find a solution that separates forum policing from the forum admin tasks. that way you can focus on making it faster and keeping it alive without being scared that Spam and tribal warfare will take over the site while Musiwa entertains the combatants with beautiful maps.

Enter the Real World: Set up something small and basic and make it work. I am trying out something of that sort soon. It should be educational.

Essentially I am disavowing perfection for a while and entering a Get-It-Done Mode. Am releasing something soon that doesnt contain one jot of programming code from me. Why? to get a rough sample out of my head and into the real world while I build something more approximate to the idea in my mind.

And of course, we can team up.

Brand New said:

I do too and members of my family dismiss every new idea i come up with as just another time waster.

THE WORST MISTAKE YOU CAN EVER MAKE IS TO TAKE ANY OF THEM SERIOUSLY.

AND I MEAN ANY OF THEM.

Determine the feasibility of your opportunity by proper market research, NOT THEM.

permit me to SAY

, in my years of blogging on this forum, this one thread is the sanest. 'level-headed people giving responses after deep thought', no wonder ye all have IDEA problems, lol,

the one LAW of mine that has stood the test of time and that may never be proven wrong is this: 'one thing leads to another'.

Just as we are inter-connected, so are abstract things like IDEAS. Arrange your ideas in that order, bro. Try to solve your puzzle, you'd be shocked that the one which requires less time and less capital can lend you the right contacts for the big one.

uh, there's nothing beyond your reach, not even the sun. Only that when you reach for the sun, you get burned. GET SPONTANEOUS, bro. READ BOOKS, HEAR TESTIMONIES/STORIES, PLAN WELL, TAKE ACTION. kuorire!

djay x-pro:

permit me to SAY

, in my years of blogging on this forum, this one thread is the sanest. 'level-headed people giving responses after deep thought', no wonder ye all have IDEA problems, lol,

the one LAW of mine that has stood the test of time and that may never be proven wrong is this: 'one thing leads to another'.

Just as we are inter-connected, so are abstract things like IDEAS. Arrange your ideas in that order, bro. Try to solve your puzzle, you'd be shocked that the one which requires less time and less capital can lend you the right contacts for the big one.

uh, there's nothing beyond your reach, not even the sun. Only that when you reach for the sun, you get burned. GET SPONTANEOUS, bro. READ BOOKS, HEAR TESTIMONIES/STORIES, PLAN WELL, TAKE ACTION. kuorire!

The bolded part is what I'll be taking away from this thread. Much love.

Same problem I face sometimes. It's all an issue of delegating. That attitude doesn't encourage for greater exploits in business. To start with you'll have to learn to grow and nurture an idea, then systemize it and draw back a bit assuming only supervisory and overseeing role. Then you can start birthing another baby. As soon as I have my Technology solutions firm standing and I attract the right minds I will step back forsomething entirely interesting that I can't afford not to work on.

@kodewrita
hehehe. I'm pleased that out of my multitude of words, 5 words made the impact. Lol, Stay blessed,

Lol…I guess that’s what it means to be a serial entrepreneur!! This year alone, I bought 11 books from Amazon.com because I couldn’t get a copy of any of them from my local library. Topic of the books ranges from Mobile App Platform to Use Case Object Modeling. I currently have over 20 books in my Amazon.com’s shopping cart that are “Saved Items – To buy later”. I have stacks and stacks of print outs of WebPages everywhere in my house.

The funny thing is that none of what I read relates to my current profession. Oh, I also have four different companies and about 15 registered websites. Only recently did I start forfeiting my dormant companies and websites when time for renewal comes around.

If only I can find a capable person of like mind to delegate to!!!

After reading a book about the life of Warren Buffett, I discovered the solution!
For me, the solution is to operate as an investor and not as a serial entrepreneur.

A serial entrepreneur can only run one good business as a time, but an investor
can afford to  have many businesses in his portfolio at the same time.  Eureka!

^ i can see how ur money comes into play as an investor, but not how the warring ideas do.

Would u be investing in others, yourself, or in mentees?

Kindly expan(s)iate. Thanks

For each idea, I'll either:
1) Invest in a private company in the industry and try to motivate the CEO to implement the idea.
2) Share the idea with would-be entrepreneurs and offer to fund them if they choose to implement.

If the ideas work out, my ownership stake in the companies implementing them will gain value.

Seun:

After reading a book about the life of Warren Buffett, I discovered the solution!
For me, the solution is to operate as an investor and not as a serial entrepreneur.

A serial entrepreneur can only run one good business as a time, but an investor
can afford to  have many businesses in his portfolio at the same time.  Eureka!

wow, dude thats so simple, yet brilliant.

Chiefo, ur buffet solution can only work if you have money then.

For most people in naija who have little or no money to implement one simple idea, yet find themselves churning out thousands, what is the solution?

A marriage between the broke idea machines and the not so brainy money miss roads perhaps?

Pardon my language.

yamakuza:
For most people in naija who have little or no money to implement one simple idea, yet find themselves churning out thousands, what is the solution?

Go through your list of ideas and look for the most profitable ones.
The ones that can generate a lot of income with minimal expenses.
Keep streamlining your ideas by eliminating all unnecessary costs.
Eventually, you will have one idea you can implement right now.
When you do, just go ahead and implement it. Give it your all.