Late last week, Chris Brogan had a great post up called 97 Ideas for Building a Valuable Platform. It’s jammed-pack with ideas on standing out, with so many I thought I’d underscore a few that resonated most with me here.
One common thread throughout the piece was something that should be familiar to readers of Jellybean Boom — a strong exhortation to get up and go.
1. Don’t fret as much about the technology. Don’t have a blog? Start one atWordPress.com or Tumblr.com. If you want more flexibility, get your own WordPress blog (affiliate link) by clicking the 4th option on this page.
39. Never worry that someone else “stole” your idea. Ideas are free. Execution is what makes you money. I’ve met countless bitter people who “invented Facebook” years before.
50. Start where you are. Lots of people worry that everyone’s so far ahead. Those people? They started somewhere.
Stop waiting for permission or for the exact right market conditions. You’ve got to start somewhere. That’s always been a strong theme of this blog — that acting, executing is as important as having all those brilliant ideas.
But Chris’s list also has a bunch of things I need to work on myself!
76. There are very few successes in the world that happened as solo acts. You need a team, a network, and a lot of goodwill.
After being inspired to by the advice of Susan Halligan, I’ve spent a lot more time this year making the time to actually meet people I admire, learning about what they’re doing and how they got started. While I’m actually a pretty introverted person, I’ve been delighted, time and time again, by how much energy and momentum comes out of a having a conversation with someone who’s doing something really cool and inspiring. A lot of new opportunities, too.
I’m also thinking a lot about how I’m connected to various communities — of bloggers, of tech people, of creative people right down the street. During this year I’ve made it a goal to be a much stronger participant in and advocate for those communities.
Definitely check out these 97 ideas — they deserve to be bookmarked by anyone who’s trying to start or grown a business.
