Josh Kayser

This has been the newest buzz phrase around the office lately.

I work with a bunch of entrepreneurial minded big thinkers with a lot of success among us so one can only imagine that in the spirit of the game we can sometimes get ahead of ourselves.

I may be the worst offender of them all but I cannot help it. I can have a 10 year vision before we can even have our first employee. What may be one of my greatest strengths could be one of my greatest weaknesses. With a lot of amazing deals coming through our growth partner initiative it is important we focus on getting the horse before the cart now more than ever before. How you ask?

#1 Justify the concept first.

A lot of times what we may think will work won’t. No matter how hard we try or how much faith we may have in some great idea if people don’t buy it we don’t have anything. Sometimes I am so worried about burning leads and customers I want to be sure we are 100% set up in an ideal situation to handle a large volume of business before we even close our first deal.

While some people may disagree, if it truly is the next multi-million dollar idea you will have a constant flow of new customers to draw from and burning the first 1,000 or so while you get underway won’t matter because a great idea will always have new customer’s lining up at your door.

Justify the concept first then go buy the cart you need to take your business to the next level.

#2 Cash flow as soon as possible.

Being in the situation I am it is sometimes hard to focus on cash flow. However great of a competitive advantage it is to have nearly unlimited funding, not focusing on cash flow can also be your greatest demise.

Sometimes one can get caught up in all the tangibles that aren’t really necessary. I am not talking about buying a company jet before your company hits green. But do you really need 26-inch monitors when a 17-inch will do just fine

A lot can be said for a boot strapped company that makes it through tough times and also comes out on top. A company that cannot cash flow is nothing more than some rich venture capitalists hobby.

If you can cash flow first on a smaller scale then you can go buy your cart and look towards the future.

#3 Get experience before getting wild.

We are great marketers. We claim to be nothing else. When we enter an industry we will enter it without knowledge any greater than the BS the first page of a Google search will get you. In the case of surety bonds or a similar untapped industry we will be on the first page before we even know what we are doing.

Regardless, it is important to get a knowledge and understanding of the industry before evaluating progress and moving past phase one. You may think you want to do all commercial surety bonds, but with a little experience and knowledge you may determine it is better to be the best at being a mortgage broker bond agency and market exclusively to that niche.

If you had bought the cart before you had a strong horse you could potentially overlook a golden opportunity or be too far along to capitalize on a golden opportunity and miss out on your next million dollar idea.

_________

If you truly think you have the next great idea and are ready to hire a dozen people and invest a million dollars all I ask is that you step back and evaluate your position.

Do you really have a great idea?
Have you justified your idea first?
Is your idea cash flowing?
Have you gained enough experience to dominate an industry or your niche?

Popularity: 6% [?]