From the Archives: Starting from Scratch: the best part of ANY project
December 8th, 2008 • From the Archives
So part of bringing this blog back will be featuring some of my writing from the past as well. This was written back in July 2007 when working on a now-failed startup. I had a lot of fun working on the very beginning steps, though, and this post expresses some of that feeling. Enjoy!
Today, I wanted to talk about the beginning of a venture, and what makes it so fun. Although I’m a young guy, I’ve been involved in a few ventures, both on my own and with a partner/partners. They’ve all existed for different reasons, whether it’s been simply as a way to pay the bills, or because I had an idea that I just needed to move on… or because I needed to get a certain mark in a high school class. Regardless of the reason behind the existence of the venture, they all shared one thing in common:
The start was really frigging fun.
Sitting down and brainstorming ideas is possibly one of the most personally rewarding things an individual can do for themselves. Taking something, finding linkages, identifying problems, and coming up with solutions is mentally taxing, but nothing beats the sense of accomplishment you feel looking down at your page (or laptop screen) and seeing the steps in place for you to actually do something. If you haven’t tried this before, do it – even if you weren’t thinking of starting a business but you have ideas, just give it a shot – I think you’ll be surprised at what you’d come up with.
Of course, then you hit the tough part – how do you go from your brainstorming stage to actually producing something tangible? The next step is to make actionable lists. By breaking things down into their smallest possible steps, you can ensure incremental progress, even if you don’t think you have the time. Past this is where I’ve faltered in the past, losing motivation with some of my ventures… Project Coffee Shop is different, thankfully.
You can also get significantly off track with any new venture as well, worrying about things like logo colour and business card design before what it is you’re actually going to do with the venture (which I’ve been guilty of, unfortunately… wasted money printing a bunch of useless stuff).
Remember, brainstorm, then make actionable lists. It’s so simple, and yet so often forgotten.
