After “Aha!”

by Jen Gluckow

You have a transformative moneymaking idea. Youre passionate about it. You believe in it. You think its your next move, and while you may have that belief, some of you will take the leap and others of you wont. Action vs. inaction.

After aha is that magical moment when you either transform your idea or turn it into trash.

On Sell or Die (subscribe to the podcast here), weve been talking about how to go from idea to after aha – how to take your idea and turn it into a revenue producing business.

I started my business three years ago. When I had my business idea, I was on fire and couldnt stop until I transformed it. Here are my A-Game strategies to help you get started. NOTE: Your A-Game requires that your plan B is in place and mastered.

Belief. Youve heard it before. Everyone says belief is important. Heres the reality: if you dont believe in your product, then why should others? Your belief, your passion, your attitude is what you will transfer to others when you begin to sell.
Because. I cant do this because or I cant do that because seriously! Stop with the excuses. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. Obstacles are going to come your way and its your job to figure out how and what you can do, not what you cant do.
Begin. Literally, just do it. Stop overthinking it. Begin by asking your trusted advisors for their opinion on your idea. Begin by testing the market.
Buyer. Before you begin marketing activities, advertising and a social media strategy, define your buyer. Who is going to want your product and service? Why? Whats their emotional reason to buy?
Blog and Post Strategy to promote as much as possible, so that you have to advertise as least as possible. Theres a mix of advertising and promotion that is needed. You CANNOT rely on advertising alone to create success for your idea or your business.
Beyond bubby. Of course your grandma wants your product, but make sure others besides your grandma wanna buy it.
Budget. Its 2017. Money isnt falling from the sky, at least not in NYC. Whatever you decide on will cost money loss of money from leaving your job, money to invest in the new endeavor. Create a budget.
Broke. Sometimes you may go broke. You may fail. Thats okay. Just go into this knowing that broke is a possibility. As long as your attitude is not broke, youre okay.
Be. Be your business. Be prepared to be totally consumed in your business your mind will be racing with creative thoughts write them down. Take on your business persona online and in-person.
Become. Who you become is even more important than who you are now. Who do you need to become to achieve exactly what you want? Invest in yourself and your ongoing studies on a daily basis for maximum achievement.
Best. Starting a new business is time consuming and takes a lot of energy. You need to be at your absolute best performance. Ask yourself: Is anything preventing you from acting your best? Hows your health, your weight, your attitude? If you need a boost, work on those and then you can be best both in life and in business.
Boss. Some are great at being their own boss. Others, not so much (not you, of course). How well do you allocate and invest your time? Determine your priorities? Get stuff done? Part of being your own boss is surrounding yourself with people who can make up for where you fall short. Be honest with yourself about where you need help so you can fill in the gaps.
Belong. Find a mastermind where you can bounce ideas off others with similar business minds. Find a networking group that can help you grow both your leadership skills and your networking skills.
Balls. You need balls to get started. To take the leap from whatever it is youre doing now. To put yourself and your ideas out there. To ask others to buy. If you dont have balls, then go fetch.
Bank it. Celebrate your success!

If youre going to start your own business, be ready to take action and most important, be prepared to sell or die. @jeninaNYminute

Here are a few nuggets of experts who give their take on after AHA!

Joe Apfelbaum, CEO of Ajax Union,says: What I tell people is your idea is worthless. Your idea is completely worthless. It doesn’t matter what your idea is, it doesn’t matter how great your idea is, if you don’t execute on your idea, your idea is worthless. There are millions of unread books in a cemetery. There are billions of ideas floating around but people don’t have the courage to execute. The first thing is your idea is worthless unless you execute.

Know your audience
Have a concrete goal
Marketing is about testing. Go to market and see if you have a market for this because you don’t know if your idea is not going to work.

Natalie Kathleen, CEO and Founder of Jibs Life,says:

It’s not build it and they will come.
It’s build it, tell everyone about it, ask for help and then hug them and kiss them when they come in the door, and then they’ll come back and they’ll tell their friends about it.

Jeffrey Gitomer, King of Sales at Buy Gitomer,says you need:

Confirmation from others that your idea is good.
Money to be able to make your idea a reality, because most people need some money to be able to make it a reality, and
Balls. If you have confirmation, a few bucks and some balls you can begin the process of starting.

AVOID THIS: The biggest reason people fail are because they are great at their trade and horrible at selling. While they may produce the best product or offer the best service on the planet (think: the coolest invention, the best bread, the best pie, or crepe, or amazing clothing) they dont know how to get in front of buyers and have the confidence to ask for the sale.

FINAL THOUGHT: If youre going to start your own business, or have a business worthy idea, be ready to take action and most important, be prepared to sell or die.