WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:05.070 James: Hello, and welcome to another episode of behind the madness. 00:00:05.250 --> 00:00:08.490 I'm your host, James Roberts, founder, and owner of method. 00:00:08.910 --> 00:00:13.500 We are a growth agency who are hell bent on unlocking company's potential. 00:00:13.740 --> 00:00:18.420 Through graphic design and branding, web development, web design, digital 00:00:18.420 --> 00:00:21.960 marketing, and lead generation, as well as automation and some 00:00:21.960 --> 00:00:23.790 other time saving techniques. 00:00:24.226 --> 00:00:27.586 Today, we're going to be talking about how to get your idea off the ground. 00:00:27.886 --> 00:00:31.156 Now, this idea could be something that you've been thinking about 00:00:31.156 --> 00:00:35.716 that you've been brewing over for the last number of weeks or months. 00:00:35.766 --> 00:00:39.666 Or it could be something that you've been tasked with at work, or it could 00:00:39.666 --> 00:00:43.236 be something that you've come up with as part of a marketing campaign or 00:00:43.236 --> 00:00:45.636 strategy that you already have going on. 00:00:45.856 --> 00:00:51.856 What we want is this podcast to give you a number of steps to easily get this new 00:00:51.856 --> 00:00:53.716 idea off the ground to get it running. 00:00:54.136 --> 00:00:58.756 And to give you some tips and some advice of what we've learned over the years 00:00:58.756 --> 00:01:03.261 through people coming to us with these ideas and with these new concepts that 00:01:03.261 --> 00:01:06.957 they've had and how best to achieve them. 00:01:07.130 --> 00:01:11.090 A lot of the time with these ideas, we break them all down in a similar way. 00:01:11.180 --> 00:01:14.540 And it's that, that we want to cover today in this podcast. 00:01:20.821 --> 00:01:24.511 but before we dive in, I really want to go over some ground rules. 00:01:25.411 --> 00:01:26.761 We're a young podcast. 00:01:26.819 --> 00:01:29.369 We're only in our 13th episode. 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:31.310 So we're still kind of finding our feet. 00:01:31.790 --> 00:01:35.958 And with that we need help you, from our audience, from our friendly listeners. 00:01:37.068 --> 00:01:41.058 Let us know how we're doing, let us know what subjects you want to hear. 00:01:41.058 --> 00:01:43.968 If something's really interesting to you, or you want us to expand 00:01:43.968 --> 00:01:45.198 on something that we've covered. 00:01:45.528 --> 00:01:46.488 Then give us a shout. 00:01:46.848 --> 00:01:47.796 We're a friendly bunch. 00:01:47.839 --> 00:01:52.279 What we want is to produce more content that is valuable 00:01:52.279 --> 00:01:54.529 to you to help everybody out. 00:01:55.849 --> 00:02:00.259 We've got our list of clients and they're fabulous, we love them all to 00:02:00.259 --> 00:02:03.199 bits, but we want to help more people. 00:02:03.229 --> 00:02:07.249 And the only way of doing that is by producing content like this podcast, to 00:02:07.249 --> 00:02:09.529 be able to help these companies grow. 00:02:11.089 --> 00:02:16.159 One of the best ways of doing it is by producing content that is valuable 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:20.546 to multiple people, to get that right though, we need input from you. 00:02:20.906 --> 00:02:22.466 So help us out. 00:02:22.796 --> 00:02:24.626 Help us help more people. 00:02:24.906 --> 00:02:29.136 Drop me an email at james@hellomethod.co.uk with any 00:02:29.136 --> 00:02:32.916 suggestions or feedback on the podcast and we'll build it into the next episode. 00:02:33.436 --> 00:02:33.826 Okay. 00:02:34.066 --> 00:02:37.876 Without the way let's jump into today's topic how to get 00:02:37.876 --> 00:02:39.676 that new idea off the ground 00:02:45.310 --> 00:02:48.190 Today we're looking at getting ideas off the ground. 00:02:48.606 --> 00:02:53.076 Let's say your sat at home after a hard day's work, you've got your feet up on the 00:02:53.076 --> 00:02:55.356 sofa you're watching your favorite soap. 00:02:55.806 --> 00:02:58.019 You've got a lovely warm cup of tea and hand. 00:02:58.439 --> 00:03:02.399 Your mind's relaxed and all of a sudden you get hit with 00:03:02.399 --> 00:03:04.589 this lightning bolt of an idea. 00:03:05.026 --> 00:03:05.926 What are you going to do with it? 00:03:06.431 --> 00:03:07.541 Where are you going to start? 00:03:07.873 --> 00:03:11.023 As I mentioned it doesn't have to be that startup. 00:03:11.263 --> 00:03:14.953 It could be how you can get something going within a company. 00:03:15.326 --> 00:03:16.496 With all ideas. 00:03:16.496 --> 00:03:20.996 There is a long time that is usually required with incubation, 00:03:21.446 --> 00:03:23.606 something where you mull over ideas. 00:03:23.606 --> 00:03:25.076 You get creative with them. 00:03:25.406 --> 00:03:31.316 And you can take a long time to get that initial idea to a concept. 00:03:31.466 --> 00:03:36.046 And with all of these new ideas that are coming in, all of a sudden, this little 00:03:36.046 --> 00:03:39.113 idea that you had is starting to grow. 00:03:39.773 --> 00:03:41.843 It's almost becoming out of control. 00:03:42.263 --> 00:03:43.463 You can do this with it all. 00:03:43.463 --> 00:03:46.073 And we can add this in and in the future, it could do this. 00:03:46.110 --> 00:03:51.660 But what you want to do is really prove that concept, that first 00:03:51.660 --> 00:03:54.806 initial idea as quickly as possible. 00:03:55.290 --> 00:03:55.890 But. 00:03:56.174 --> 00:03:57.044 How do we do that? 00:03:57.246 --> 00:04:02.076 We have a term called or we haven't coined it, but it's a term called 00:04:02.136 --> 00:04:05.376 MVP, which is minimal viable product. 00:04:05.635 --> 00:04:07.465 Jumping into Wikipedia quickly. 00:04:07.855 --> 00:04:13.825 A minimal viable product is a version of a product with just enough features 00:04:13.945 --> 00:04:18.325 to be usable by early customers who can then provide feedback 00:04:18.445 --> 00:04:20.905 for future product development. 00:04:21.847 --> 00:04:25.507 So let's remove all of the bells and the whistles that we might've added in. 00:04:25.537 --> 00:04:26.647 Oh, it'd be great to do this. 00:04:27.036 --> 00:04:29.466 it's easy to get carried away. 00:04:29.976 --> 00:04:33.246 With the next thing and all we could do this and all, when, if 00:04:33.276 --> 00:04:34.896 we did this, we could add that in. 00:04:35.676 --> 00:04:39.862 But what we really want to focus on is what couldn't this product, 00:04:40.145 --> 00:04:45.545 or the website or this idea, what couldn't it live without? 00:04:45.905 --> 00:04:47.645 What is its main reason? 00:04:47.645 --> 00:04:51.303 What is its main objective and focus on that. 00:04:51.783 --> 00:04:57.273 And once we, once we understand what that is, We can think 00:04:57.273 --> 00:04:59.403 about how we can introduce that. 00:04:59.918 --> 00:05:04.309 there's a saying that certainly around tech, which is to fail fast. 00:05:04.939 --> 00:05:09.271 The reason say that is you can design something and develop something 00:05:09.271 --> 00:05:10.651 and spend years and years doing it. 00:05:10.711 --> 00:05:13.621 And it actually falls over at the first hurdle and you've got to go 00:05:13.621 --> 00:05:16.981 back through all of that, all of that work that you've already put in. 00:05:17.401 --> 00:05:20.641 So, if you can focus on the main objective for your product. 00:05:20.978 --> 00:05:25.058 And think, how can I get this in the simplest way in front of somebody? 00:05:25.383 --> 00:05:29.493 Then we can see if that core idea is going to work. 00:05:29.883 --> 00:05:34.053 Now let's take the example of you've come up with a new app. 00:05:34.563 --> 00:05:39.046 So I want to build a new app, now, apps are notoriously expensive. 00:05:39.316 --> 00:05:40.816 There's a lot of development work. 00:05:40.816 --> 00:05:44.066 There's a lot of design work that needs to go into produce an app. 00:05:44.110 --> 00:05:46.090 But if your core. 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:48.940 All it was, was connecting people. 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:52.000 Then, is there anything else that you can use? 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:54.370 Any other bits of software that are already out there? 00:05:54.370 --> 00:06:00.027 Any other, websites maybe you can utilize a Facebook group and focus on what 00:06:00.027 --> 00:06:01.527 you're trying to achieve with that app. 00:06:01.557 --> 00:06:04.692 And if it is connecting people, then, maybe you can focus down on what that 00:06:04.692 --> 00:06:07.242 reason is and set up a Facebook group. 00:06:07.962 --> 00:06:10.212 All of a sudden you haven't had to go down. 00:06:10.662 --> 00:06:12.492 A huge development cost. 00:06:13.002 --> 00:06:16.392 And you're actually using something, which rather than weeks months, 00:06:16.661 --> 00:06:18.671 even into years of development. 00:06:19.151 --> 00:06:23.951 Could actually just be proven quickly with something that already exists and 00:06:23.951 --> 00:06:25.811 your marketplace might already be there. 00:06:26.397 --> 00:06:30.597 We often work with this in terms of websites, people come to us and we 00:06:30.597 --> 00:06:34.197 want to launch a new website and it must have this and it must have that. 00:06:34.227 --> 00:06:37.107 And we often go through the why's. 00:06:37.227 --> 00:06:38.607 Why must have this? 00:06:38.637 --> 00:06:39.957 Why are you wanting to do this? 00:06:40.038 --> 00:06:41.448 How is this going to help your customer? 00:06:41.448 --> 00:06:42.438 Who are your customers? 00:06:42.895 --> 00:06:43.228 So. 00:06:43.228 --> 00:06:46.447 Once we've done all of that research, we can actually say, well, do you know what? 00:06:46.687 --> 00:06:50.137 This is going to be a huge amount of development and you want to 00:06:50.137 --> 00:06:51.757 get it live very, very quickly. 00:06:52.184 --> 00:06:55.754 How can we bottle the essence that you want to kind of get 00:06:55.754 --> 00:06:58.454 across and get that out quickly. 00:06:59.000 --> 00:07:05.810 And it might be that, you know, we don't go for this whole bespoke build and we 00:07:05.810 --> 00:07:11.780 use a, I don't know, Shopify, for example, and we launched the products to get it out 00:07:11.780 --> 00:07:13.370 to the customers really, really quickly. 00:07:13.730 --> 00:07:16.980 And we see if that one product is going to work seeing if 00:07:16.980 --> 00:07:18.360 it is going to attract people. 00:07:19.110 --> 00:07:23.297 The fact that they wanted to have a membership site and do 00:07:23.297 --> 00:07:25.457 all these other things on the back of selling that product. 00:07:25.457 --> 00:07:26.507 Well, that can come later. 00:07:26.893 --> 00:07:29.203 People often struggle with getting started. 00:07:29.593 --> 00:07:33.073 And the reason they do is because ideas can be plentiful, especially 00:07:33.073 --> 00:07:35.653 when you're super excited about getting something launched. 00:07:36.118 --> 00:07:39.448 There is a sales tactic, which is to sell the step. 00:07:39.928 --> 00:07:42.208 And not to worry about the whole staircase. 00:07:42.508 --> 00:07:46.318 We often get carried away through sales, where we want to sell 00:07:46.378 --> 00:07:48.298 everything we can possibly do. 00:07:48.538 --> 00:07:50.008 And the next big thing. 00:07:50.518 --> 00:07:55.048 But really what we want to do is focus on that step. 00:07:55.351 --> 00:07:58.651 As soon as you start thinking about the whole staircase, there's a lot 00:07:58.651 --> 00:08:03.331 of steps within it and that's how you don't even take that first step. 00:08:03.840 --> 00:08:06.540 Focus on what you need to do first. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:12.780 What steps do you have to take in order to progress to other steps? 00:08:13.590 --> 00:08:17.670 You'll find that some can't be done without others. 00:08:18.180 --> 00:08:22.170 So all of a sudden you can start to build up these steps 00:08:22.260 --> 00:08:24.180 in an order that makes sense. 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:28.770 And you can break them down into smaller chunks. 00:08:29.010 --> 00:08:31.380 Exactly the same as we've all heard the expression. 00:08:31.620 --> 00:08:34.440 How do you eat an elephant well it's a little bit at a time. 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:38.890 Then you can do the next step and the next step and the next step. 00:08:39.670 --> 00:08:42.580 But it doesn't have to be this complicated process. 00:08:42.850 --> 00:08:45.640 All of these ideas that are popping into your head, write them down. 00:08:45.670 --> 00:08:47.658 They're going to come in useful. 00:08:48.408 --> 00:08:51.558 But a lot of the times, certainly with startups. 00:08:51.724 --> 00:08:54.611 You are going to have to make the money first. 00:08:54.881 --> 00:08:56.981 So you're going to have to get something in the marketplace. 00:08:56.981 --> 00:09:00.731 That's actually starting to make an income and also proving to 00:09:00.731 --> 00:09:02.981 yourself that this idea is feasible. 00:09:03.348 --> 00:09:05.748 Then you can go back and revisit. 00:09:06.108 --> 00:09:07.608 What's you need to do next. 00:09:07.728 --> 00:09:11.578 And I know that these other ideas, and again, even when it comes to the 00:09:11.608 --> 00:09:17.368 secondary idea, how can you launch that as something as simple as possible. 00:09:17.675 --> 00:09:19.872 So let's take a membership system. 00:09:19.902 --> 00:09:22.362 So we've already got a website and all of a sudden we want 00:09:22.362 --> 00:09:24.102 to create a membership system. 00:09:25.002 --> 00:09:28.272 We're going to offer some ways of engagement. 00:09:28.272 --> 00:09:31.752 So people through this membership system are going to have a 00:09:31.752 --> 00:09:33.282 reason to keep coming back. 00:09:33.677 --> 00:09:35.733 We could also offer discount codes. 00:09:35.733 --> 00:09:38.133 We could also do a forum. 00:09:38.133 --> 00:09:41.313 We could also do a lot of things, but if we wanted to focus down on what 00:09:41.313 --> 00:09:44.343 is the reason that these people are going to use this membership site? 00:09:44.733 --> 00:09:46.593 Why are we creating it in the first place? 00:09:46.593 --> 00:09:48.753 And let's just build that. 00:09:49.563 --> 00:09:54.173 The discount codes, the area where they can chat, where they can connect with 00:09:54.173 --> 00:09:59.363 other members that can all be bolted on, but if you, if you spend all this time 00:09:59.363 --> 00:10:03.203 building all of these bits and bobs, and they're not being used, you've actually 00:10:03.203 --> 00:10:06.413 wasted a huge amount of time and not got anything launched in the first place. 00:10:06.693 --> 00:10:10.413 You'd be surprised, the amount of people who we get in through our doors with 00:10:10.443 --> 00:10:15.693 these initial ideas, mainly startups who don't really know where to get started. 00:10:16.053 --> 00:10:18.573 And they get overwhelmed. 00:10:19.023 --> 00:10:19.563 Now. 00:10:19.863 --> 00:10:23.433 With the amount we get through our doors, there must be a huge amount who don't. 00:10:23.733 --> 00:10:25.293 They just don't know where to start. 00:10:25.713 --> 00:10:30.033 And these brilliant ideas that we've had in our head are just going to go nowhere. 00:10:30.333 --> 00:10:34.143 Because of the issues we have in getting them started. 00:10:34.277 --> 00:10:40.397 So focusing on an MVP will give us the steps on what's the core value here. 00:10:40.757 --> 00:10:42.617 What can't I live without? 00:10:42.897 --> 00:10:45.507 And what's going to give me the most. 00:10:45.957 --> 00:10:48.830 The most benefit to even progress with this idea. 00:10:49.270 --> 00:10:52.418 Launching any product or idea is expensive. 00:10:52.563 --> 00:10:54.007 And sometimes. 00:10:54.007 --> 00:10:56.466 Getting the product built, designed. 00:10:56.567 --> 00:10:58.097 And out into the world. 00:10:58.637 --> 00:11:01.997 No matter what it is, is going to take some capital. 00:11:02.500 --> 00:11:07.780 But you might be surprised that the marketing budget can sometimes be more 00:11:07.900 --> 00:11:11.680 than that initial product expense. 00:11:11.800 --> 00:11:17.050 So all of a sudden having a gut feel about an idea, just isn't enough. 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:23.170 You need to get data feedback from people who aren't family members. 00:11:23.740 --> 00:11:28.960 To be able to go to investors or to take it to the next level, to get funding. 00:11:29.670 --> 00:11:32.380 in able to get this product off the ground. 00:11:33.066 --> 00:11:36.636 Here's a method we're going to try and help people as much 00:11:36.636 --> 00:11:37.806 as we can, as we already know. 00:11:37.806 --> 00:11:42.036 That's that's our mission is to help companies reach their potential. 00:11:42.786 --> 00:11:45.756 But what if these companies can't even get that started? 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:49.320 I hate the idea that there are some amazing ideas 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:51.030 cooped up in people's brains. 00:11:51.060 --> 00:11:56.100 And there is a fear that they just don't know what to do with them, where 00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:58.500 to get these, these ideas started. 00:11:59.101 --> 00:11:59.641 So. 00:11:59.806 --> 00:12:02.328 If you have an idea and you just want to bounce it off 00:12:02.328 --> 00:12:04.218 somebody we're a friendly bunch. 00:12:04.638 --> 00:12:08.225 Drop us an email, or even just pick up the phone and speak to us, we 00:12:08.225 --> 00:12:12.665 can give you the steps or even a rough cost of what it might cost. 00:12:13.215 --> 00:12:15.105 To get something into the world. 00:12:16.005 --> 00:12:18.525 At least this will give you an idea and hopefully you'll be 00:12:18.525 --> 00:12:22.568 able to take that first step and be the next mark zuckerberg. 00:12:23.403 --> 00:12:25.863 That's it for this episode of behind the madness. 00:12:26.253 --> 00:12:29.193 I hope it helped you think through how to get your ideas 00:12:29.193 --> 00:12:31.993 started and get that ball rolling. 00:12:32.196 --> 00:12:36.300 Every idea deserves an opportunity to flourish and working out how to 00:12:36.300 --> 00:12:40.160 get that idea moving can sometimes take a bit of thought process. 00:12:40.233 --> 00:12:42.633 If you have any questions for me, any questions about the podcast? 00:12:42.633 --> 00:12:44.703 Any questions about how to get your idea off the ground? 00:12:45.063 --> 00:12:46.053 Drop me an email. 00:12:46.273 --> 00:12:50.213 Send it toJames@hellomethod.co.uk. 00:12:50.753 --> 00:12:52.313 Until next time thanks for listening