How difficult is your idea to act on & launch?

Difficult ideas have big rewards, but the journey to completing them is fraught with major hurdles, laws, long timelines, and more. You'll question your very being sometimes but have the desire to make it work. Are you ready to launch a difficult idea?

The great thing about hard ideas.

A hard idea is one where there is either so much you have to do or know before launch, or there are huge institutional hurdles to execute the idea.

In the medical world, you have tons of school to go through and certification to become a doctor. Or there are stringent laws around how one will handle patient health information.

If you're creating an idea in the medical space, you must overcome lengthy legal challenges. Your work must pass strict guidelines and regulations. This produces hard problems to solve. 

The great thing about a hard idea is they push you to do great things. Oh, and the nice little side benefit of less competition. It turns out fewer people really try hard things.

So while you will face massive challenges doing your work, the people you serve will appreciate the effort more. Your reward for success is higher.

Of course, there's the flip side of that coin.

The not so great thing about hard ideas.

Hard ideas typically take significantly longer to complete. They will sap your willpower. They can test your patience, your burning desire to do the thing you do.

Really huge challenges often cost a lot. There is a lot at stake. There's a good chance you're taking quite a lot of risk to working on it. Personal risk sometimes.

And even though you try your best not to become attached, you do -- simply because a lot rides on your effort.

It's not the best feeling in the world to hold the heavyweight of responsibility on your shoulders like that.

So how did you get here?

Why did you pick this idea?

If the idea is truly a difficult one to work on, why did you pick it? Is there something in particular about it you like? Do you hold a certification in the field and are better qualified to execute on it?

It is important to at least make a mental note about this. When the times get tough, the money starts to dry up, and it's one issue after another coming back to this "why" moment will ground you.

It's a difficult idea, not a bad idea, probably.

Remember, it is a difficult idea, not a bad idea. When things get bare-knuckle difficult, and you're questioning your every move -- remember, it's difficult for a reason.

You picked it for a reason. Take time to daydream about your successful launch day.

Just because it is hard to do doesn't mean it is a bad idea -- probably. It could be. But you won't know until you know, so there's no reason to dwell on that yet.

But is it actually a difficult problem or just one that is hard for you to execute on?

Is it actually a difficult idea? Or just difficult for you?

I mentioned medical earlier. Yes, that field generally has hard ideas. For a good reason, you don't want something to happen to a patient because someone had a brilliant idea -- and there were no checks and balances to verify its safety first.

But if the idea you seek to create doesn't have incredible laws to account for or certifications and nearly a decade of school -- could the idea not actually be difficult? But instead, it is simply difficult for you?

You're the founder, but perhaps you need to bring in a partner, or even a whole team. Or maybe it is all in how you organize (or rather didn't organize) the project.

Make the difficult idea easier.

Can you make the idea easier? Sometimes you can. When you study the topic, the reasons for its existence, the mistakes others have made, or the process inside it... you'll learn there are many parts to the complexity.

You can then break down this big idea into those parts and spend your energy more efficiently.

Break down the idea into parts.

This is where good project management comes into play. I'm not talking about the full-blown PMP certification style program management with charts, timelines, meeting minutes, and all that mumbo jumbo.

Instead, I'm thinking more like a bullet list of the parts that complete the idea. A great entrepreneur will do this before diving headfirst into their project.

They know there are steps to making a hard idea come together the way it should.

Do this. Break the overall idea down into all the parts needed to make it work. The writing, the programming, the 3D printing, the type of resin, the ligature of the font. Every tiny thing you can think of.

Group and order the parts as they need to be built.

After you have identified everything that will come together to form Voltron, you should group them into like parts. For example, writing goes with typography, maybe even color and layout.

Once grouped, put them into the order needed to execute on. Pay attention to what each part needs. If one needs something from another part, you'll need to complete that part first.

Be ready to have parts that must be worked on simultaneously.

If you are not working on the project alone, you should note who is working on each part. A rough timeline of deadlines wouldn't hurt too.

I mean, this is a hard idea you're working on. It's not meant to be comfortable the whole time.

Separate yourself from the idea.

Here's one of the hardest parts. The idea is not you. You create it. It is the result of your work. If it fails, you lose some things like time, energy, money, and maybe even some dignity. But it does not make you a failure.

But we're not there yet. Your idea hasn't failed yet. It's time for the best part of the process.

Love building each part.

Now that you know why you picked this idea, what you will be working on, and when each part should be done -- it's time to work.

Not just work but enjoy each part you're working on. Actually love the process. This is your baby, and it's all this hard work, dedication, and time that you put into it now that will bring the outcome you seek. And it is going to take time.

Put your ❤️ into it.

Crush the launch

After all the parts are done and put together to complete the puzzle, your hard idea is go time. Set a day, spend time testing, make sure you pass any checks, rules, and regulations you must, and get ready to crush the launch.

It's your countdown to putting something into the world.

Remember, your users won't care

As if I'm your advisor (or managing partner), I want to remind you that the users you will impact don't care how difficult your idea was to implement.

You can take that two ways. It's a bit of a letdown, isn't it? All that work and the users don't care!? Well, I mean, they care, but not necessarily about the process. They care you actually created a solution to their nagging problem.

But you can also look at it as a safe place. Users want their problem solved, and while the biggest fans will want to see behind the scenes, you can relax a bit.

You can make mistakes along the way, and so long as you deliver the result they want, you're good to go. 

You got this. Good luck!