As I listened to the radio, I couldn’t believe the amount of grid lock in the Washington, D.C. area. Would both parties be so petty as to bring the nation to the brink of credit default?
There were many people depending on government official to survive. I turned the radio station to catch Dave Ramsey, national radio personality, go into a passionate appeal for Americans to take responsibility for their own lives and quit depending on the government. It sparked my attention. Yet, what Dave Ramsey suggested was no easy matter. How does an individual turn their ideas into a profitable venue?
Making money isn’t easy! People look for magical equations such as productivity equals outputs divided by inputs. Decrease your inputs and you can expand your outputs. Many businesses build their profitability on this simple equation.
Companies seek to reduce their inputs (outsourcing labor, better technologies) to obtain ‘more get.’ Yet, it’s pretty self-serving with little regard to the customer (places less value on employees too). Over the years, I have seen experts suggest that making millions is really easy if you have the right method.
Loral Langemeier, author of the Millionaire Maker, has created her own version of a Wealth Cycle Process. She notes, “You can make the decision to make a lot of money at any age and in any stage of your life….No matter who and where you are, wealth building is well within your grasp. You just need to step up to the plate.” Some of these processes may work. Yet, most are only ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes that leave people broken-hearted and empty pocketed!
Chris Anderson on the Long Tail Theory of Selling
Today’s profitability must be built on solving customer’s problems that have a financial value to them. What’s value? It depends on the individual. Value is defined as the net bundle of benefits the customer derives from a product or service. Value creation can be defined as an organization’s ability to convey the worth of its product or service to customers. Therefore, it goes to value, which focuses on the relationship between the customer’s expectations of the quality of a product/service quality to the actual amount paid for it.
Mark Johnston and Greg Marshall, authors of Relationship Selling, argue that understanding customer needs should be the primary objective for profitable businesses. Therefore, understanding the customer is the center point for creating value.
What has been your experience in turning ideas and concepts into profitable ventures?
© 2011 by Daryl D. Green
Nu Leadership Revolution Blog 
It was great seeing an idea take life and actually works. Even better was to see the results and see what I did right and what could be improved. Seeing the potential in the end helped me get prospective on the whole idea. This idea can actually be used in real life and not only in class.
Wala, excellent!
Visualizing the results is a great idea!
My experience is that timing is everything when starting a new venture or launching a new product. Great entrepreneurs have a knack for remarkable market timing. The single most important factor in a new venture is matching the customer need for a product/service with an innate ability to predict that need and to bring something to market before someone else. It is hard to say whether market timing is an art or a science. However, there is evidence to show that it is a repetitive trait in great entrepreneurs. Studies show that entrepreneurs who have success in timing their first venture often succeed in subsequent ventures. This provides empirical support that “market timing ability is an attribute of entrepreneurs” (Shontell, 2011).
Shontell, A (Jan. 2011). Why Businesses Succeed and Fail: Harvard Researchers Answer
10 Perplexing Questions. The Business Insider. Entrepreneur.com.
Retrieved from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217843.
Kevin, you are so right!
Bad timing has destroyed a great many ideas!
Turning ideas and concepts into profitable ventures can be done, but often takes money, time, and resources. As for myself, the money and time are the largest barriers. Taking something that I know and love seems to be the direction that would seem most efficient and effective. It’s amazing the resources that are out there, if one can take the time and effort to seek those out. Also, when venturing out into a new business venture, knowing who the target audience is a huge key point. Wasting time and money on promoting something to an audience that has little to no interest, is ineffective and less likely to make profitable. Networking, networking, networking! In any business venture, I think networking can be a huge advantage that has minimal cost, but can have limitless results.
Jennifer, an interesting point! Marketing is a key component of success in a new venture!
I have found that proper communication, proper planning and a little flexibility go a long way in turning ideas into profitable endeavors. Proper planning maintains the focus. Proper communication ensures that the team is working properly. Flexibility allows one to go with the flow, especially when inevitably things go differently than originally planned.
Suzzanne, very true!
I am a believer in serendipitous moments! You seize them right then and there or they are gone. With the disruptive change that Dr. Green brought to our groups, last week, I didn’t think that much could come about. I was lucky enough to be put into a group of a Gen Yers and let me tell you that they lived up to their reputation. We all kicked into high gear and we had a solid plan before we left class that night, got approval for the plan by 3:00 am the next morning. Upon approval, everyone was assigned a task, we ensured that our communication was solid (e-mail & cell #), we had the tools (camera) , we had a date/time/location/directions al before 9:00 am that day.
A section of the group was used for the field work, and a section was to be the recorder of the project. We had synergy and enjoyed the project. I gained a great deal of confidence in the varying group dynamics. The group brought the best out in everyone. Nobody hesitated volunteering for a task whether that task was needed for the success of the project, or not, in the long run.
Hi Heidi,
Outstanding thoughts! Getting outside of our comfortable zones can be positive!
Being at the right place at the right time is a combo key elements for the realizations of any ideas or concepts. Most of the time we come up with great ideas for solving immediate problems or innovations for future generations to find ourselves facing the common dilemma :lack of sponsors, the fear of failure ( a lot of great ideas vanished because of fear of what others might perceive of us if we do not excel from what we planned ) ,perseverance and courage to follow ones dream, nursing them until fully marketable (a great example of that will be trying to introduce the internet concept in early 19th century), enough skills and appropriate training to materialize them . At personal level these have been the blockage of what could be or might be !
Bassamba,
Interesting thought of fear holding a person back from profitability!
I have learned that planning, teamwork, communication, time and resources coupled with diligent follow-through to complete the tasks at hand are key factors in the process of turning concepts and ideas into a successful business venture. The keys to becoming profitable once these functions are in place are 1)having a product that provides the most value and customer satisfaction to the greatest number of people possible, 2)gaining knowledge of where those people are, and 3)finding a way to place the two together. Timing and the proximity to customers are really important especially when you have a limited time frame in which to operate. The overall theme that I will take away from this experience is that you must have all of these aspects in place and working efficiently together in order to build the most profit for the company.
Michael,
An outstanding list of things to consider for a successful venture!
It was a lot of quick brainstorming and having the right resources in place to evolve. Once we came up with our idea, everything fell into place. The instructor, the location, time and everyone’s availability. It was a great concept that was quickly agreed upon by everyone.
After seeing the implementation take place on Sunday evening, it has been a journey following the success of our real world creation.
Conclusion will be the presentation and follow up from committee