Are you an entrepreneur who suffers from too many ideas? You just have so many. Maybe your business needs a better system or a program, or you're wondering if you niche down enough. All you want to do is distill all of your ideas into one profitable reality. Well, that's what we're going to talk about today in this two-part series: how to distill many ideas into one profitable reality here on the Resilient Faith Online Show. Welcome. I'm Arissa Shadrick, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm an online marketing coach and certified copywriter. In this podcast, you'll find a different perspective to the external and internal challenges we face as online content creators. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips as we create positive change online. To connect with me and my private Facebook group, go to marissahrick.com forward slash community. Hello, hello everyone. So glad to be here today. Today we're going to talk about not having a blank slate, but having too many ideas. It seems to me that lately I've been running across people in various groups that they have not one, two, three, maybe four or five different ideas of a product they want to launch, and some even have multiple audiences that they want to serve. These are true entrepreneurs that are very innovative and they do not lack fresh ideas, but sometimes it can get in our way from moving forward. So I have prepared this two-part series. We're going to tackle the first part today, and then next week part two on how to distill many ideas into one profitable reality. Here's the thing: we need to choose, and that is a commitment. And sometimes that makes us a little nervous to commit to one thing, but you know what? As you move forward, you can tweak, you can adjust, and it'll all work out. And one of the things I want to point out, the whole premise of this two-part series is that success happens from the inside out. Oftentimes it's not the external stuff that needs to be dialed in, it's something internally. So let me just start with saying that there's a lot of change out there. And oftentimes when the market changes, when things change, we feel the pressure of changing and tweaking what we're doing. And that makes us a little uncomfortable, and at the same time, it can trip us up because we have so many ideas. Our normal isn't permanent. Our normal changes. And so we do need to change and we do need to keep things fresh and relevant for our audience, but not at the expense of having so many ideas that it paralyzes us. The world is constantly changing. Our environment changes, our careers change. Many people have come out of corporate setting and they've started their own online business. They've taken their knowledge and they've packaged it to be able to coach or sell a program online. There's so many changes going on. Single people get married, married people have children, children grow up, technology changes, friends move away, we get older, there's constant change. We can't get away from it. And the problem is oftentimes we want to hang on to what's normal, but that's not possible. Our current normal needs to become a memory to make room for the new. Now, one of the things I do want to say about change and about wanting to hang on to what's normal, what's comfortable, stay within our comfort zone, is that God is far from normal. He is extraordinary and he's omnipotent and omniscient. Moreover, he dwells in his believers. So that means if you're a believer, if you're someone that loves God and serves God, you're not normal because he's working within you. And he's going to be working change within you as well. I love a quote from a movie uh called Wonder. It says, why try to be normal when you were meant to be different? So true. Why try to be normal when you were meant to be different? So it's no different in business. All things change. We try to adapt, and when we start brainstorming, let's not fall into the trap of having so many ideas that we don't know which direction to go. We come up with those ideas for courses and programs and services, and we feel like we keep needing to build and build and build amid all this change, especially when we feel there's a deficit in our business. But let me just say this: as you're thinking of all of these ideas, building and building and building more isn't necessarily the thing you need to do. Maybe you need to take what you already have and make it better. So why is it that we feel we need to build something new from scratch, right? I think the fact that we are living in the digital age, it offers a lot of options. And we continue to see what other people are doing, and we know that we can do maybe a digital course, or maybe we can do a mastermind, or maybe we can do a membership, or maybe we can do some type of high-ticket program. There's so many options out there, right? Because we have all this information at our fingertips. And I think that also contributes to the fact that we come up with a lot of ideas. And one of the things that I've discovered, at least for myself, that an online business is more about tearing down instead of building up. So, what do I mean about tearing down, not building up? I'm not talking about courses and programs and services, tearing those down. I'm talking more about what happens inside of the entrepreneur. Remember, I said earlier that success happens from the inside out. Sometimes we need to assess what's going on in our heart, in our soul. For example, if we're noticing that change is needed and we have all these ideas and we can't figure out which one to pick, we have to just tear down self-reliance and realize that self-reliance often brings frustration. So why are we so self-reliant? Why can't we reach out and find a coach or find a peer or a community where you can get some help and support? You don't have to do it all yourself, right? Because that can cause frustration. The other is pride. Sometimes we don't want to admit that we're struggling, and that can be rooted in some insecurities. But you know what? We all struggle, we all have insecurities, we've all been there, we've all failed, we've all succeeded. There's nothing new under the sun. So we just avoid letting pride hold us from being able to move forward. The other one is entitlement. Sometimes when we've invested a lot of money and tools and we've invested a lot of time, we feel like we deserve to be able to succeed. We deserve to have that $500,000 launch. And when it doesn't happen or the outcome does not meet our expectations, we begin to get bitter, which the root of it is anger. And we feel entitled, but I did this stuff and I should have had this, and I deserve this, and yes, you do, but it doesn't happen overnight. The other is comparison. Comparison will lead to false expectations. When we compare ourselves to other people, that is dangerous. Then we expect the same results for ourselves, and we're in a totally different space. It could be a totally different business, it can be a totally different audience. It's not the same. So just because we see something going on, you know, with our neighbor doesn't necessarily mean that that's going to happen for us. And so we have to watch for comparison and false expectations. The other is fear, fear of making that decision, that commitment, whatever that might be. And that will paralyze us. So sometimes when we have a lot of ideas, we've got to see, you know, am I struggling on the inside? Is there something that I need to align first? And then it'll make all of the decisions and everything else much easier. But it's hard because we feel vulnerable, fragile. But the reality is we've always been that way. It's just the business is drawing it out. So when we recognize it, acknowledge it, and we're able to reframe our thinking, then we can move forward. And one of the things that you can do is build on the softer skills, right? Like emotional intelligence and conflict resolution and building on those things. Self-awareness is a big one. That's why I love to journal. Self-awareness is a big one. This is developing your soft skills and empathy. Soft skills would include communication and connecting when you communicate, not just providing a monologue, but being able to communicate in a way that connects with an audience and honoring people, respect and integrity, innovation and creativity is all good, great things. They're soft skills. So we tear down those things that would not serve us well, like self-reliance, pride, entitlement, comparison, fear, and we build up on those soft skills. And that will help us make better decisions. That will help us be able to see things through that filter and be able to realize what's a yes and what's a no. Now, I mentioned earlier about comparison. Comparison is a real problem. And sometimes I fall into this one. I'll compare and I have to catch myself. So the best way that I can describe this, because I'm sure a lot of people have talked about this topic of comparison, but think of a jigsaw puzzle. Now, I've done jigsaw puzzles with my granddaughter, and there's different levels of difficulty. There's some when she was really young, you could get a little jigsaw puzzle that was maybe like 20 pieces, and they have some for a hundred pieces and then 300, 500, 1,000, 4,000 and up, right? I mean, try to build a 10,000-piece puzzle. I mean, that's challenging. But what happens is when people compare, they look at what someone else is doing, and maybe they have the skills to put together a 10,000-piece puzzle. When you are at maybe the thousand-piece puzzle, that's where you are in your journey. And you're trying to build this puzzle alone, right? This 10,000-piece puzzle, and see that finished product when really you should be working on something that is a little lower scale. That's the same thing when people try to create maybe some type of lead magnet that's a little bit more complex than a simple cheat sheet. So we want to make sure that even the programs we create, do we have the platforms to be able to offer a certain type of program? Or maybe it's just a video series that you send in an email sequence. So you have to realize that you can't build a 10,000-piece puzzle if you're not there yet. You got to start with something smaller, like a thousand-piece puzzle, or maybe you're at a place where you need to start a 300-piece puzzle and put it all together. Because the minute you start, it does feel like a puzzle putting all the pieces together. What do we do when we're putting a puzzle together? We look at the box cover to see what is it supposed to look like because we haven't done it before. And then we try to put this thing together. Can you imagine if it was 10,000 pieces and we look at that box cover and we see the beautiful landscape with a beautiful picture? And we're trying to figure out how to put all this together. We look at the box cover and we look at our pieces and it's not lining up. We'll try maybe to start with the edges, right? That's what I do. Take all the pieces that are the edges and start with the edges because it's easier. And sometimes we attempt to compare and do what somebody else is doing, and we'll do the easy stuff first. But at some point, it will become hard. And that's when we get discouraged or we quit. And then you can even begin to doubt yourself because you've taken on too much. So comparison can do this. That's the way I explain comparison. Don't try to put together a 10,000-piece puzzle if what you need to focus on is maybe a 500-piece or a thousand-piece puzzle. Now, one of the books that I've been reading lately is really, really good. And again, we're talking about having too many ideas and really figuring out how to narrow that down to what aligns with our values, what's going to serve our audience, how do we choose, how do we make these decisions? This is a book that I've been reading that I really like. It's called The Infinite Game by Simon Seneck. And this is a quote from him. To ask what's best for me is finite thinking. To ask what's best for us is infinite thinking. In his whole book, he's trying to get us to think beyond the temporal and think beyond the finite and think more of infinite. He says that infinite-minded leaders understand that best is not a permanent state. Instead, they strive to be better. Better suggests a journey of constant improvement and makes us feel like we are being invited to contribute our talents and energies to make progress in that journey. I thought that was really interesting about making it better. That's why I said earlier, maybe the choices that you have and some of the ideas that you're thinking about, creating something new, something big, maybe it's a matter of improving what you already have and making it better. All of your many ideas, which one would create a type of culture that would better serve the world? Not just think of what's going to bring me some income or what's going to get me to 100,000 in revenue in the year, but really think of what's going to make a difference in the world, right? Of all those ideas that you have, what's really going to impact people and better the world? Here's another quote from the book The Infinite Game, Simon Seneck. He says, the ability to succeed is not what makes someone a leader. Did you hear that? The ability to succeed is not what makes someone a leader. Exhibiting the qualities of leadership is what makes someone an effective leader. Qualities like honesty, integrity, courage, resiliency, perseverance, judgment, and decisiveness, those are those soft skills we were talking about before. So as you think of all the possibilities, all the ideas that you have, what will impact people the most? How can you serve up where you give them more than what they expected? How can you serve up? How can you impact in the way that you deliver your products or services or even your coaching programs in a way that really makes your leadership shine? Because as John Maxwell said, leadership is simply influence, and we all have influence. Some people have more, others have less, but nonetheless, we all have influence that makes us leaders. Let's recap a little bit. We started by saying that success happens from the inside out. When you have a lot of ideas and you're trying to keep up with all the changes that are going on, and there's so many things out there, so many options. We're living in the digital age where there's lots of options, and then we brainstorm and we end up with all these ideas. We don't know where to start first. We're looking at some of the things that we need to minimize, and then some of the things that we need to amplify, like the soft skills and to avoid comparison, right? Don't try to create that 10,000-piece puzzle when maybe you're supposed to be creating a 500-piece puzzle. And remember that you are a leader. Remember that whatever it is that you choose to do, what's the impact going to be? How are you going to make the world a little better? How are you going to serve your community? Okay, so we're going to wrap this up. Now, if you're sensing change and you think I need to do something, I need to create a new product or do something because I'm noticing the market is changing, things are different, I'm not sure what to do, but something needs to change. I've got all these ideas. Maybe it's to improve what you already have, maybe it's to create something new. I don't know. But that can be a little scary, right? But know this God is with you. He's with you. And he is not normal. He's extraordinary. And so he's gonna work through you. What would happen if we became more aware of his presence? What would happen if we prayed for a very unnormal day infused with God's love to make a radical difference in this world? Maybe it's time not to do business as usual. Maybe it's time to take a little risk to really look inward and consider what's something that would really create change for the better in the world and pursue that. What would happen if we pursued that extraordinary life? Something to think about, right? I know for me, it's important to create positive change in the world. It's important for me, no matter what it is that I do every day, that I help encourage, impact people, because we, my friends, are in the people business. And I know it might be just a tiny little slice, and maybe my contribution may seem insignificant to some, but at the end of the day, I can sleep and know that I've done my best with what I have, with my sphere of influence. Some people might have a lot, some people might have a little, but within my sphere of influence, I'm gonna try to be the best leader that I can and do what I can and give my two cents to help someone that's discouraged out there. And that's all I'm gonna say. So next week we will do part two. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll talk to you soon. Bye bye.