Ignite

Bring your business idea to life without burning out

Jo Richardson

• Publisher: Practical Inspiration Publishing
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781788603010
• eBook ISBN: 9781788603003
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Activité entrepreneuriale

***BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2022 SHORTLISTED TITLE***

So you have a great idea... but you're not an entrepreneur, right? Wrong! Every entrepreneur started with the same fears, doubts and anxieties that you have right now. The difference between them and you? Nothing more than the next choice you make.

Ignite will take you step by step through the process, turning that small spark into a flaming success. This simple, easy-to-read guide will walk you through what may seem today like an impossible journey. From business planning to balancing wellbeing and hectic life schedules, this book breaks down the seemingly impossible journey into small manageable steps that you can cover over a matter of weeks, months or even years.

You can use the helpful reflections tool to note your thoughts as you go along so even if you come back to the journey at a later date you can pick up right where you left off!

Jo Richardson has over 20 years' experience as a HR professional coaching and mentoring women in business. She has supported female entrepreneurs and small business owners to break through barriers and overcome personal and professional challenges.

Intention

What do I want to do?

Clarifying your intention

‘Pay attention to the things that you are naturally drawn to. They are often connected to your path, passion and purpose in life. Have the courage to follow them.’

– Ruben Chavez

When ideas come, they can be instant flashes of light and aha! moments that hit us out of the blue. They can also be slow-burning ideas that, over time, accumulate into a moment that results in a reflection and realization that everything that has come before was, in fact, signposting and leading to this moment. Ideas can arise from moments of despair or frustration and experiences that we do not wish to repeat ourselves or for others to experience. Regardless of what has brought you to this moment, I can assure you that you stand on the precipice of potential greatness. Whether you explore that greatness depends on your choices from here on in.

So, you have an idea – what now? Here’s where the journey really begins, and the good news is that this book will help you through every step of that journey, from ideation to implementation. The question is: are you ready? The decision to act, to keep moving forwards and plan with intention is in your hands at this very moment. Taking small steps every day or week will transform your idea into something real and tangible that others can also see, experience and benefit from.

Let’s start by considering your idea. Is it actually the right idea? This may seem like a strange question to pose as you may feel you clearly have your business idea clearly defined and are ready to go. More often than not, however, you will find that as you start the journey, things change. Time well spent honing your idea before action is key. There is nothing more frustrating than being half way down the road and realizing you’ve actually gone a long way in the wrong direction.

You may have an idea, for example, that you want to start a flower shop to cater for large events. The question is, do you actually need a shop? Could you manage such a business with a distribution channel and an online presence without the need for a shop at all? Depending on whether you see your business being local or scalable will depend on where you begin and whether your idea really is the right idea. Taking time to think this through before starting is critical… it is much harder to change your plans when you are halfway along the journey. Using the online tool, together with this book, will help you easily hone, finesse and expand your idea.

Drilling down into the end goal is important. You wouldn’t climb a mountain without first understanding the different routes, what equipment is needed, the time you will have to set aside to prepare and the best conditions in which to undertake the journey. Your business plan is no different. This book will guide you to ensure you’re choosing the right mountain to begin with. It will then break down the journey into manageable steps, ensure you have the skills needed or signpost you to where you may need help and expertise.

Let’s start by considering and defining the ‘what’ that sits beneath your idea. Entrepreneurs (you can call yourself that from here on in, by the way) have many reasons for starting a business and this chapter looks at your reasons, your intention and really understanding if that intention is, in fact, your true intention.

Reflection 1: Defining your intention – what do I want to do?

Use this tool to document your idea and clarify it into an intention. This exercise will also help you to sense check that it’s the right intention before you move forwards.

List your intention and all the reasons why you want to do this until you run out of ideas. Don’t overthink it, just write. When you have run out of ideas just take a few minutes to reflect on what you have written. Start to group your ideas into themes if the list is long. These themes will feed into your motivations in the next chapter. Now, revisit your list and ask the following of each statement.

So that…?

Asking this question will help you to uncover what lies beneath your intention. Again, you can cluster these ideas if it helps or if your list is pretty exhaustive. This exercise and the content you generate will help you later in your journey, informing your branding and marketing content – ideas captured in your toolkit are versatile content so don’t throw anything away. There is an example to help you in the online tool, which is also covered here.

Finally, try to draft one statement that concisely captures your intention.

Here’s an example to help get you started.

Reflection: What do you want to do?

• I want to write a book to help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality.

• I want to make it accessible to any business idea no matter how big or small.

• I want to help people to find the confidence to take the leap.

• I want people to maintain health and wellbeing along the way.

• I want people to see this as a journey that can work to your schedule and timeline even if that takes months or years!

• I want to help readers see the possibility of bringing an idea to life and still fit it into their busy lives.

• I want to ensure that great ideas find their way into the world and not die because they seem unachievable or impossible.

Reflection: so that…

• I can bring my knowledge and experience to others to fast track their journey.

• I can break down the journey into simple steps so that anyone can see it is achievable.

• I can bring wellbeing into the journey and show that entrepreneurs can sustain a healthy balanced approach.

• I can inspire people to take the first step and not let ideas die.

Reflection on themes: Accessible. Simple. Helpful. Manageable. Wellbeing.

Reflection on intention: Have everything in one place for entrepreneurs. Provide equity for all readers of this guide for the entrepreneurial journey. Encourage and foster empowerment. Provide a framework. Focus on wellbeing.

My intention: To write a step-by-step guide for all entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life and ensure they avoid stress and burnout by focusing on wellbeing throughout their journey. Provide an online tool to document the journey for future use.

People become entrepreneurs for many reasons. It may be to establish a multimillion-dollar business. However, more often than not, this does not begin as the end goal. For many entrepreneurs, starting a business can provide an alternative to the corporate world or the ability to be your own boss; it can be an avenue to balance work and personal demands beyond the 9–5; it can be born out of curiosity and pursuit of a hobby or passion. For some, the desire to overcome social or environmental challenges whilst creating something sustainable is the driving force. For other entrepreneurs, starting a business arises from adversity such as losing a job and seizing an opportunity to pivot into an entirely new career. There are even those who consider starting a new business just for fun. For those in the latter category – proceed with caution – anything worth doing well doesn’t often come easily or without challenge.

So, what is driving your intention? What has brought you to this point? It may be a combination of the above; however, I would challenge you that this is not your true intention. This is simply the trigger that has brought you to this point, a trigger that resulted in a decision. Your intention will most likely be bigger and more deep-seated than you realize. Through the next couple of chapters, we will bring clarity to what you want to do, why you want to do it and how you will do it or what we will call your intention, your purpose and your approach as an entrepreneur.

As an entrepreneur, it is likely that you may want to just get straight into action; however, clarity and planning are critical to ensuring you are on the right path. The time you invest now in defining your intention, purpose and approach will influence your journey and benefit you further down the line when the journey can become challenging or complicated. When your focus turns to exploring your brand and your networks or your content and client attraction strategies, clarity around your intention, purpose and approach will ensure that you can articulate what you are trying to achieve with stakeholders, clients, customers and investors.

When you have clarity on your intention and you know what you want to achieve at the end of the road, you have identified the finish line. However, you will come to realize throughout this book that the finish line can shift. What you will inevitably find along the way is that your intention evolves, what was once your finish line actually becomes a milestone on a much bigger journey – this is simply growth and the evolution of your business. Let us park this to one side as we have to start this journey before we plan the next! Any ideas that come along the way should not, however, be lost. You can document these in the future part of the toolkit, which can be found on the author webpage.

The future section of the toolkit is a catch-all space, to ensure your creative ideas along the journey are not lost. These future ideas or side roads will no doubt inform your business evolution or expansion. The key is to capture all ideas whilst staying firmly focused on the initial path you have chosen. These future elements may become different paths you explore along your journey; they can be complementary motivations or even secondary business ideas.

The beauty of a business idea is that it can be as big or as small as you choose – it’s also yours, which means you get to control the idea or get lost in the idea as much as you desire based on your journey. What’s important is that you decide whether to go exploring these paths or stay fixed on your current journey.

Balancing reflection and action

‘Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.’

– Peter Drucker

Through the first reflection exercise you have managed to balance both action and reflection. Hopefully, you feel you’ve achieved some progress already by working through the clarity of your intention and then reflecting more deeply to ensure it is the right path for you and your business idea. This first action and reflection is a small insight into the journey of an entrepreneur and one of the skills required to stay on track. Stepping back to reflect and balance this with action will be a discipline that serves you well.

Throughout your journey, it will become increasingly important to switch between a mountain view and a trail view. Sometimes we can be so focused on putting one foot in front of another that we forget to look up at the mountain top and remember the bigger goal or intention. Balancing reflection and action are critical throughout all the stages of the business cycle. The natural tendency of an entrepreneur is to be in a state of doing so it is important to learn that reflection is essential and is not inaction. Stepping back can sometimes mean that you spot a safer route to the mountain top or you see that other climbers have evolved a technique that is enhancing their journey. You may notice that shortcuts are creating knock on impacts to the terrain making the journey unsafe for others.

When you take a mountain view you can clearly see the full landscape and all the elements in and around your journey. We covered earlier in the chapter how planning with intention is critical. Planning reflection and downtime is also key to your journey and we will explore this in more detail later in the book. It is critical that you build reflective practice into your journey as an entrepreneur. Start to think about your time. How good are you at planning reflection? Can you still the mind and switch off? If not, how might you practise? Hold those thoughts… we will progress to this in Chapter 3 when we explore planning.

Vision

‘If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision will pull you.’

– Steve Jobs

Already, you should be starting to feel some clarity coming together around your intention and your purpose. We have ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. Intention: what do I want to do?
• 2. Motivation and mind: why do I want to do this?
• 3. Planning and focus: how, where and when?
• 4. Support systems: who will help me?
• 5. Know your business: how will I grow my expertise?
• 6. Pitch perfect preparation: how do I sell my idea?
• 7. Success, setbacks and ‘failures’: how can I plan for uncertainty?
• Conclusion