Do you have too many ideas?

par François Beaudoin | 22 juin 2018

If I asked you: Do you have too many ideas? If you’re like me, you probably said yes. In this blog I’ll discuss about what I mean by too many ideas and how I experience it.

It seems that every week I’m presented with a new possibility: a new business opportunity, a new service for clients, a new technology, or a new growth activity that will dramatically change my firm’s financial results. Does this seem familiar? I haven’t been keeping stats, but after talking about this with a number of independent advisors, I’d say that a good many of them have similar experiences.

For me, it goes pretty far. I get all kinds of (business) ideas in all kinds of areas. It never stops! In a restaurant, I wonder how much of a profit they can make on a pizza. I enter a store and I come out with a ton of ideas about what I’d change if I were the owner.

The good side of this is that out of all the new ideas I get about how to move my business forward, some are really interesting and will have a major impact. The problem is that it’s VERY hard to move forward. It’s very painful for me to end a project because I suddenly get a new idea that’s just as interesting and, what’s worse, is even more tempting than the previous one! This causes problems for the people around me: one month we’re going left, the next we’re going right. We’re making headway, but it’s never as fast as we’d like. We often go around in circles and the main reason is me!

Does this seem familiar?

If it does, then I absolutely have to talk to you about a book that changed my life. It’s called Rocket Fuel.

In this book, author Gino Wickman explains the importance of two forces that are essential for a successful business: The power of the Visionary and the power of the Integrator. These two people have completely different ways of seeing the world and it’s that complementarity that drives success.

At the beginning of the book there’s a test to find out which type you are. For me, it’s clear that I have the profile of a visionary. Which doesn’t mean that I can see into the future and know exactly what to do to make sure the business grows. It simply means that I have the following strengths:

I generate lots of new ideas, am creative, easily take responsibility for important relationships (suppliers, bankers and major clients) and close big deals. 

Unfortunately, these strengths come with the following weaknesses:

It’s very hard for me to remain focused, I have too many ideas. The business goes in circles, it’s hard for me to manage a team and I don’t communicate my ideas very well. I tend to think that my team has understood what needs to be done because it seems obvious to me.  I also have a lot of trouble taking care of details. These weaknesses cause problems.

The bigger the project, the more interested I am. The more we get down to details and execution, the less engaged I become.

I bet there are others of you who find this familiar! 

We all know that projects need to be carried out. If you too have the profile of a visionary, you may now understand why it’s hard for you to see a project through to the end.

The opposite of the Visionary is the Integrator. It’s very likely that you have at least one in your entourage and Rocket Fuel will help you identify that individual. It’s the person who seems to be a bit of a killjoy about your projects, the one who always says: Sure, that’s all very well and good, but have you thought about this, or that?”

The strengths of the Integrator are:

Ability to handle the company’s day-to-day operations, manage the team and keep people accountable. Likes to carry out the plan and take a project right through to the end. Does excellent follow-up and is the voice of reason in the company.

Today I can say that before I read this book, I was a repressed entrepreneur. I was unaware of my real nature and my weaknesses drove me nuts. Now that I’ve got an Integrator beside me who complements me, I can focus on my strengths. I’m doing more and more of what I love to do, in ways that bring the most to the company. The whole team is doing much better and our business is moving ahead at a faster pace.

I won’t say anything more about it, but if you see yourself in anything I’ve said, you MUST read Rocket Fuel!

I hope this book will change your life as well …

Keep me posted!

François Beaudoin