All too often as entrepreneurs, there are a million and one ideas swimming around your head.  You see trends in the marketplace that with the right mix of marketing, execution, technology, and effort could mean big success.  But all too often, that million dollar idea quickly loses its luster and is soon replaced by another million dollar idea, and so on, and so on.  Some of the keys to overcoming this obstacle were discussed in the “Goal Setting- the importance of 30, 60, and 90 day goals” panel discussion at NYEW this past November.

As entrepreneurs, you must realize that your vision and creativity is not only your greatest asset, but also your greatest weakness. Using the creative genius of the entrepreneur in you will always produce millions of possibilities, but not all of those possibilities are legitimate sustainable businesses.

The first way is to keep yourself focused and to stop chasing shiny things is to not let too much time lapse between the idea and your determination of its viability as a legitimate business opportunity.  In today’s fast paced global market, you cannot afford to sit on the sidelines and waste time chasing shiny things, so it is imperative that you place a maximum time limit that you will devote to the exploration of an idea.  This is especially important if you are a start up entrepreneur who has not yet opened a business.

The second way to keep yourself focused and to stop chasing shiny things is to develop a standard vetting process for all of your ideas.  Using this process, you ask key questions to determine if you should move forward on the idea.  If it meets the minimum criteria, then there should be another set of questions, and so on, if it fails, you either hold it off to the side for the future and move on to another idea, or discard it and move on..

The following are the 5 key questions to ask of any business idea to determine if it is worth pursuing.

1)     Does the opportunity fit my skills and experiences? If I am a restaurateur, opening a used car lot to take advantage of the growing demand for used cars may be a good idea, but is not a good fit for core skills and competencies.

2)     Is the opportunity a business or a job? Many ideas are great for a one man show but cannot be expanded into a large scale business. If you open one franchise, you have a job, if you become a master franchisor and open multiple stores, you have a business.

3)     Does the opportunity have large market appeal? Is the sales potential large enough to sustain the growth and revenues necessary to make this a lucrative business?  What is the size of my market, how many people will buy from me and why?

4)     Does the opportunity have a residual income component? I have a friend who sells custom outdoor kitchens, it is a great and lucrative business, but he is constantly hunting for elephants. Is this a business that requires elephant hunting or one where once you bag the elephant, he will continue to buy over and over and over.

5)     What is the execution timeframe? How quickly you can put all the pieces together and bring the opportunity to market and begin generating revenue.

Over the years, these questions have helped to separate the “nice to do” ideas from the “need to do” ideas and to spend my time most effectively.  The combination of setting clear goals based on predetermined time frames and a minimum standard vetting process has helped me stay on track and can also do the same for you.  Best of luck!

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About the Blogger: Will Corrente, is the founder of Operation Entrepreneur, an entrepreneurship consulting firm based in West Palm Beach, FL. In addition, he writes a weekly column on small business and entrepreneurship for The Bergen News.

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