Myth #1: Idea at first sight
Do you believe in love at first sight? Or is that something to be left for fairytales? Lets face it – there is no big bang idea moment – when that million or we hope billion dollar idea comes to us in a moment of pure brilliance and we just know that this is it and merrily go off into the sunset.
An idea, generally starts with a moment of inspiration, a nagging problem that is driving you mad and you want to change it or just a simple thought of what if. To turn that into a sustainable business is the B to Y, the journey, and the combination of many people coming together to bring the imagination to reality and beyond.
Myth #2: First to market or die
One of the first responses you typically get if you bounce an idea off of someone, is that its been done before so don’t bother with it. If that doesn’t deter you then off you go to google and search if its been done before and generally you find some amazing website describing how successful they are and your conclusion – don’t bother its been done before.
Imagine if Nando’s thought that – KFC was already around so its been done before right? Steers to Burger King? Pepsi to Coke? And many more examples.
Myth #3: Mum’s the word
Ok so you have the idea, and you are pretty sure that its unique (refer to myth #2 as to why this shouldn’t be a criteria!) and you need to take it further. This is generally quite a stumbling block as the word out on the street is if you talk about your idea it will be stolen.
My view on this, is that people who steal ideas are looking for a quick return so generally if you idea is at its infancy then it will require much hard work to get it to the point that someone can actually see some cash flow. The conclusion – very unlikely your idea will be stolen.