Forget Your Clever Idea, Make the Market King!

Every day a new and brilliant innovation is released into the market, and each time this happens, scores of people experience intense sadness and depression because they weren’t the ones who came up with the idea.

How awesome would it be if you invented Uber? Wouldn’t it be brilliant to have come up with Snapchat? How about airbnb?

It’s easy to waste time thinking about what could have been. However, wallowing in the pit of missed opportunities is not attractive.

 

There is Nothing New under the Sun

We’ve all heard the biblical phrase “there is nothing new under the sun.” This is 100% true.

Zuckerburg was not the first person to come up with the idea for a social networking platform. Instagram was not the first attempt at a photo-based site. Virgin was not the first airline.

There is nothing new under the sun!

Once this fact sinks in, you’ll quickly realize that there is no use in ‘what if’s.’

The sad truth is that we hoard our ideas hoping that someone else won’t steal them and succeed with them. We do this forgetting that our ideas are not entirely new or innovative- they’re picked and recycled from different sources.

When we refuse to share our ideas we never realize their full potential.

 

The Market Isn’t Ready

So, where is this going?

Well, keeping our ideas locked up might be the reason we are failing. When we are too scared to share our ideas, we eliminate the possibility of constructive criticism and quality feedback. We don’t open ourselves to pointers on what features we can improve or get rid of altogether. We don’t get to interact with potential customers and pre-sell them our idea.

What we do is create a product or service based on our own likes and dislikes.

But we’re not the customer, our opinions and interests do not matter!

What matters is the market, and unless it is ready and willing to accept your idea, then failure is guaranteed. You can have the most amazing idea in the world, but an unripe market will ensure that it doesn’t see the light of day.

Just imagine if Beats By Dre was released 15 years ago, would it have done so well? Probably not. It was released when the market was just right.

And how did they know the market was ready? Did they divine this wisdom? Did they visit a psychic?

Nope!

They simply listened to what their potential customers were asking for, and they created a product that solved their needs. This wouldn’t have happened if they decided to hoard their idea, fearing that someone else would steal it and succeed with it.

 

When the Market is Ready…

A great idea does not guarantee success. A ready market and quality execution does.

Like I mentioned earlier, Instagram was not the first photo-based social media platform. Several have come before and failed, because the market was not ready and their execution was shit. But Instagram has come at a time where photo sharing is popular, allowing them to flourish in a ready market.

They aren’t genius inventors who thought of something that no one else had thought of, they are just attentive to their audience.

So, quit stressing if you haven’t come up with a million-dollar idea. Stop trying to outsmart everyone and come up with a complex and tricky product that solves a thousand different problems. You’ll wear yourself down if you choose this path.

The smarter play here is to pay attention to what your target customer is crying for, what they are unsatisfied with, and what they need changed right now. Create a product or service that solves your customer’s needs, and disrupt the market that is not paying them any attention.

Be innovative and smart when creating a product or service that the market is ready for. Don’t look 10 years from now and create a product that we’ll need then, create what we need now, and then improve on it as your customer’s needs and demands change.

 

Final Verdict

Don’t hoard your ideas for fear that someone else will run with it, there’s no guarantee that a ‘thief’ will succeed. And if they do, there’s no shortage of ideas that you can bring to life.

Pay attention and LISTEN. There are plenty of innovations that the market is ready for right now, and you’re just the person to come through for us.

If you liked this article, remember to share it with your friends and colleagues, and drop me a comment letting me know what you think the market is ready for, and how you plan to meet this demand.

Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you back here next Monday.