Why entrepreneurs are like the Olive Garden.
When I say Olive Garden what do you think of . . .
For me? It’s unlimited salad and breadsticks. That salad just keeps coming and coming. There ain’t no bottom of that bowl. The salad and the ‘sticks just keep springing up like water from a well.
If you’re an entrepreneur, then I have got a feeling that you’ve got no shortage of ideas. You’ve got ideas for shows, t-shirts for those shows, posters for those shows, other shows, products that will help you write other shows more easily, maybe even ideas that have nothing to do with shows . . . but one thing is for sure, you’ve got a bottomless bowl of ideas.
You’re like the Olive Garden. Am I right?
Unfortunately, the ol’ clock on the wall ain’t unlimited.
There’s only a finite period of time to execute all those ideas. And the curse of the entrepreneur (especially the ADD-infused entrepreneur, which is most of us) is that we want to execute ’em all. Plays, screenplays, video games, reality shows (Oh wait! There’s another one!) . . . we want it all to happen and all to happen now.
But it can’t.
I’ve come up with a rule for myself to make sure that I give the appropriate amount of time and energy to an idea I came up with yesterday, so it doesn’t get neglected because of an idea I came up with today.
It’s simple.
No new ideas until the old ideas have been executed.
Or to put it in the language of my mom . . . “Finish everything on your plate first before you ask for seconds.”
I know too many entrepreneurs that spend too much time chasing new ideas and never finishing their old ones. Don’t be one of those.
The only way you’ll be a success is if ideas get to market. Because ideas on a shelf aren’t worth the shelf they are sitting on.
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