I often get to meet folks with ideas who aspire to launch a venture. At the beginning, I think of these folks as ”ideapreneurs.” All entrepreneurs begin with an idea. And if they can turn that idea into an enterprise, they’ve crossed over from ideapreneur to entrepreneur.
When we start with an idea, the obvious next step is to build something. But then we run into roadblocks:
- I need money to build that
- I don’t have the skills to build that
- I don’t know what to do next
Half the time, I hear #1 as the complaint. Yes, if we all had more money, we’d be able to do anything we want, right? Right? Hmm…
Usually, the most immediate problem is really #3 (hence our meeting!), and a conversation and a bit of research will usually fill that gap.
But that still, very often, leaves problem #2:
I don’t have the skills to built that
Are you a Builder?
My best overreaching and generalizing recommendation to ideapreneurs is to learn how to build something. Entrepreneurship is tied to creating new things and new value. An idea suggests there is an opportunity if we create some new thing.
In the process of starting something, we generate bills to pay and that means money. We must use tools to build things and that may mean money too. But the typical resourceful entrepreneur can figure out how to get by with a bit of determination and a savings account or sad puppy dog eyes pointed at the spouse or parents.
But over and over, I find–in my own pursuits as often as others–that the inability to bring an idea comes to life is caused by being ill equipped to build and make that idea a reality. And that is why I think that the best thing any ideapreneur can do to learn to be a Builder and take the step into full-fledged entrepreneurship is.
I am Learning to Program
I am learning to program. I can already do a little bit of static web development (HTML/CSS) and I have enough of a technical background that I can decipher a bit of dynamic code here or there (I’ve had a little success editing PHP).
Most ideas I hear are of the web development type. The good news is that those ideas are of lower cost to build (then, let’s say, building a bridge…) compared to many traditional businesses. And they can scale efficiently, making them attracted to investors who want their money to go far for the venture.
If you want to build dynamic sites (that do stuff…as opposed to sitting there, looking pretty) then learn to code. I recommend Zed Shaw’s “Learn Python the Hard Way”. Python is an excellent beginner language that can take you far in web development, in the book you learn by doing (typing code directly from the book as the main mode of learning) and overal it’s very gentle for beginners.
And it’s free. Yes, free.
Check out Zed’s site and start the exercises today.
Build it and They Will Come You Will Learn
If your idea is not solid, then what you build on that soft foundation will surely topple.
Interview potential customers. Figure out ways to introduce someone to the experience that your idea offers in a manual way (networking website idea? make introductions in person first!). When they experience the value you intend to offer systematically, you can justify and better plan out the development of that system.
I hope you will be bold. And take your idea to places beyond the confines of your imagination.
Bring it to life.
Become an entrepreneur.
