Do More Faster

A good business idea is important, but it’s not as important as passion.

Ever felt that all you needed to get your new business off the ground was one great idea? Well, the reality is, a fantastic idea isn’t the main prerequisite for making it in the business world.

There are probably other people out there who have the same or similar ideas, and there’s always someone who could pull it together before you. A good idea doesn’t guarantee an investment, either. Investors don’t necessarily look for good ideas. What they look for is people with passion.

Ideas are powerful, but remember: they can always be improved. Don’t settle on doing things a certain way. That’s why you should be getting feedback about your project’s strengths and weaknesses from other entrepreneurs, potential customers and investors, and using it to make your idea even better. If you don’t listen to feedback, you might create a product no one really wants or needs.

Even the best ideas are still secondary to the most important ingredient in business: passion. The story of Kevin Mann, the founder and CTO of Graphic.ly, is a good example.

Graphic.ly is a digital distributor of comic books. Mann had the idea for the company after he once drove 100 miles to a comic book store just to buy a new release, only to find it had already sold out. He realized how passionate he was about comics and decided to help make them more accessible to fellow fans.

In other words: aim to create a business around something you truly care about, like Mann did. Passion – not just detailed business plans – is what keeps people going when they’re starting out.