Why can't I think small?

[Brovashift]

Hi all,

I know this is probably a bit of a random question to be posting in here, and not sure if this is even the right section to post it in!

I have been doing some inwards looking recently and I'm very frustrated with myself because I can not for the life of me think of an idea to generate some small money to fund bigger projects.

I have 'big' project ideas constantly, and am always making mental tweaks to my ideas, from the moment I open my eyes in the morning to trying to get off to sleep at night. Sometimes, for a nano second, it would be nice to remove everything from my head just to have 5 minutes quiet time, but there's too much to do and think about for that.

I don't understand why I am unable to scale an idea down in order to successfully produce a few thousand pounds in order to get more profitable projects off the ground.

I don't know what sort of an answer I am looking for from UBFs, just need to vent, and maybe find someone who can relate or understand. Has anyone else had this problem, or recognize this thought pattern to be either a negative or a positive?

Thank you for taking the time, and appreciate all responses.

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

Hi,

I believe any business idea must start out small, and grow to what you want it to.

Good luck.

Ben.

 

[14Steve14]

Just remember that most men think things are bigger than they are, or so women say.

 

[sands67]

actually i think too many business people think small. But don't just think, do it!

Having ideas is easy - making it work is a little harder

 

[NDavid]

Think what ever u want

Every idea requires determination and time

Rome wasn't built in a day

 

[nickfrance]

I think it is something you have from childhood , and not what you picked up as growing up

 

[Deleted member 162294]

I have the opposite problem. I just can't think big. I'm very fussy about all the smallest details.

 

[leemason]

If you have a big idea then the best thing to do is to try to break it down into bite sized chunks. That way you can tackle the big thing but just not all at once. In this way you will be able to tackle the big idea. Also in braking it down into it's component parts you might find that there is a small idea lurking in there somewhere that you can actually exploit to make some cash toward the big idea.

I remember going on a time management course years (decades!) ago. They had an idea of the "Elephant" task that you needed to break down in order to eventually accomplish it. You can't eat a whole one but you can eat a little at a time!

 

[Talay]

My take on this is that you may have identified a larger business which appears very profitable and could be a lifetime business solution but this business may not be viable or profitable in smaller pieces which you could handle now and build from.

However, many small business ideas which you can do now with large resources of time but little in the way of capital cannot be grown to provide the much greater lifetime income necessary. Bridging the gap can be daunting and often seem impossible.

I recall a post made by, I think Moneyman, where he stated that some years ago, he went door to door asking to install door viewers. A drill, some easily and cheaply available parts and some common sense allowed him to pick up customers with quick turnaround and a decent generation of cash, which, if I remember correctly, was to finance a larger business idea.

The point of this is that sometimes it is necessary to do something which is unconnected with the end goal but which can get you started, much in the same way that kids in my day used to go house to house asking to wash cars for a few quid.

Few substantial business ideas require no or very limited capital but with time on your hands, it is better to look at what you can do now and then develop the bigger idea out of that. You never know, the little "can do now" cash generator may prove an unlikely longer term proposition.

 

[Berkshire Business]

I couldn't agree more with what's been said above, thinking small to start with is ok, but building it into something bigger is how most business's work.

 

[Swisaw]

What makes you think you are thinking big?

 

[nickfrance]

what is small to you might be big to the next man , or other way round

 

[businessfunding]

From recent experience of Young Enterprise I would ask - is it the fear of turning dreams into reality?

Having sat through numerous student meetings where ideas were discussed with great excitement - things always fell over at one point. The point where they actually had to do something

Big is the result of lots of small footsteps - make a few of those steps and things will start to happen!

 

[Talay]

From recent experience of Young Enterprise I would ask - is it the fear of turning dreams into reality?

Having sat through numerous student meetings where ideas were discussed with great excitement - things always fell over at one point. The point where they actually had to do something

Big is the result of lots of small footsteps - make a few of those steps and things will start to happen!

We must try to get rid of that fear, the fear of failure, in the young because it gets worse as you get older and have more to put at risk.

Putting everything on the line when you have next to nothing is easy compared to having to do so when you have a family, kids, a mortgage and all the other "grown up" financial issues, yet many are so scared that they won't take the risk.

 

[AlexandraS]

I think there are pros and cons for all ages. With age one would expect wisdom ;-) - however that wisdom might translate into better the devil you know to pay the mortgage.

I very much agree that the largest barrier is simply JFDI! Talk needs to progress into action for anything to happen.

 

[Gecko001]

You have to remember that there is always a learning process in any business. Learning the product and learning the business processes associated with the product and also just learning how to do business if you have not a background in business.

Starting small means that you can learn at a natural pace and the mistakes that you make will be small ones. All businesses make mistakes at first when learning how to do business and when developing a product

 

[ScottishTraveller]

I don't have anything of comfort to contribute.

But I just wanted to express that I am -exactly- the same. I can never think small, and have an array of bigger ideas that are often on improved successful formats. For the life of me, I can never - ever - think small enough to start up.

I'm in that handy 18-30 category, where there's pockets of start up cash ranging from £3,000 to £9,000.

One morning I will wake up and want to do Project A - which will cost £25,000. I'll focus on that for a day or two if I'm fortunate enough. Then float back to Project D which I had the week before last, because I feel more passionate about it again - but that might need x15 the start up, and I simply can't control that.

But finding something that I believe in passionately enough about, that could create a big enough net profit to fund my later ideas.. yikes.

I wake up first thing in the morning and cannot stop thinking until I go to bed. Infact, being unproductive in some form absolutely kills me. It's pure agony in my head, when you scream and no one can hear you. It's like an itch you can't scratch, it's a day wasted. I don't want a break, or a holiday. Just to start business in something I enjoy. Alas, can't even do that.

I read an article somewhere before, where a brewer who wanted to start a microbrewery had the similar 'issues', he called it Entreupeneur ADHD, and I've stuck with that ever since. There was another article with Richard Branson saying how much of an asset ADHD can be. (Naturally, I have to clarify. I'm not saying you, myself, or anyone else has ADHD)

Unfortunately I can't offer any advice.
But if any of this sounds familiar (it might not) then rest assured. You're not alone.

 

[WHARTY]

I don't have anything of comfort to contribute.

But I just wanted to express that I am -exactly- the same. I can never think small, and have an array of bigger ideas that are often on improved successful formats. For the life of me, I can never - ever - think small enough to start up.

I'm in that handy 18-30 category, where there's pockets of start up cash ranging from £3,000 to £9,000.

One morning I will wake up and want to do Project A - which will cost £25,000. I'll focus on that for a day or two if I'm fortunate enough. Then float back to Project D which I had the week before last, because I feel more passionate about it again - but that might need x15 the start up, and I simply can't control that.

But finding something that I believe in passionately enough about, that could create a big enough net profit to fund my later ideas.. yikes.

I wake up first thing in the morning and cannot stop thinking until I go to bed. Infact, being unproductive in some form absolutely kills me. It's pure agony in my head, when you scream and no one can hear you. It's like an itch you can't scratch, it's a day wasted. I don't want a break, or a holiday. Just to start business in something I enjoy. Alas, can't even do that.

I read an article somewhere before, where a brewer who wanted to start a microbrewery had the similar 'issues', he called it Entreupeneur ADHD, and I've stuck with that ever since. There was another article with Richard Branson saying how much of an asset ADHD can be. (Naturally, I have to clarify. I'm not saying you, myself, or anyone else has ADHD)

Unfortunately I can't offer any advice.
But if any of this sounds familiar (it might not) then rest assured. You're not alone.

Personally this is one of the best threads i have read on this site.
I can honestly say i have exactly the same issues. It's nice to hear i am not alone in mthe way i think. At some point though you have to just do it. Too much thinking eventually paralyses you.

It's been said before on this thread that you need to break all the components of your idea down and take it a step at a time.

Secondly, it's one thing having a "good idea" but would it make a good business?

It's no good developing a £50 product if it only solves a £5 a year problem.

Next time you have an idea do a business plan if you can and play with numbers. Believe me, when you have looked at the numbers the idea will soon fall out of your head if they don't add up.

 

[Gecko001]

It is interesting that a mental disorder such as ADHD has been mentioned Many "successful" business people are a "bit nuts". You have to be to put up with the stresses and strains of it!

But on a serious note "thinking big" can turn into grandiose thinking or all-or-nothing thinking ("if I do not launch the next cats eyes I in my eyes will be a failure" - that sort of thinking). Dangerous territory to be in I should have thought.

Also I think "thinking big" can often be a form of avoidance. Avoidance of getting down to making money for yourself.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Because starting a smaller business is often more difficult than starting a larger one, especially when the initial investment is in proportion with projected growth.

What you might not want to hear is that your habit of only being able to "think big" could be down to your inability to deal with the difficulties of a smaller venture.

It's quite a common problem. Someone thinks of an idea, thinks that they may need £100,000 of capital, and then rubs their hands at the idea of just buying everything they need to get their idea off the ground and working.

Stock? Sure! Just buy £10,000 of that.

Advertising? No problem! Just pay someone £5,000 to do that for me.

Cash flow? That's fine too! With £100,000 of capital, I can just cover myself and my staff until sales are up and running.

Everything seems much easier to do when you can envisage yourself having the capital to just buy whatever you need and pay other people to fix any challenges you have.

However, on a smaller scale, it's much more difficult. You have to make the decisions, the costs are still there and there's far more micro-management involved.

So the reason you can't scale an idea down is because it's a lot more difficult to do. It's not a case of thinking differently. It's just naturally harder.

 

[amac]

I like the phrase "start small, think big". There's nothing wrong with ambition, make sure you have it but also think about the realities of starting a company.