Entrepreneurs: Stop waiting for a big idea by Ron Rule

Good evening fellow entrepreneurs! I hope you've had a diligent week. Continue to think thoughts of success.

The two minute read:

Entrepreneurs: Stop waiting for a big idea by Ron Rule

We’re always hearing about big ideas and founders who are doing amazing things, so it isn’t surprising that a lot of young Entrepreneurs think they need a big idea to get started. The thing is, waiting around for a big idea is a big mistake — it’s the small stuff that usually leads to the biggest wins. Here’s how to change your mindset in two steps:

1. Pick any store and walk down any aisle. What do you see — a bunch of ordinary products that do the exact same thing, right?
2. Realize that all of those companies, selling all of that ordinary crap, with all of those identical products right next to them, are making hundreds of millions of dollars with those items. Some of them are making billions.

You don’t need a world-changing idea to win. Your product doesn’t have to be unique or special, and it doesn’t even have to be better than anything else on the market. All it has to do is solve the customer’s problem.

When I was running As Seen On TV, we made more money selling ordinary items like pans and glue than we made on the “innovative” new products marketed on TV, because we didn’t have to educate the consumer. We didn’t have to explain what a pan was and why they needed it — we just had to convince them to try our pan.

Everyone needs a pan. Everyone needs a flashlight. Millions of people are buying millions of units of ordinary, boring products every year.

I remember once when I found some unbranded knife sharpeners for $1.00 from a closeout trader. We sent an email to a segment of past customers and made an extra $15,000 that afternoon, selling them for $9 each.

Was it the world’s best knife sharpener? No.

Was it “revolutionary” or “state of the art”? No.

Will it sharpen a knife? Yes. The product solved a problem. And we were doing promotions like this every day for different items.

That guy whose sitting around trying to come up with the next Uber is still going to be broke in five years. Meanwhile, the guy selling generic-ass knife sharpeners is getting a 900% ROI. Let that sink in…

If you aren’t sure where to start, go to Amazon, pick any category, and sort by best sellers. See all of that stuff? That’s what people are spending their money on. Sell that stuff. Market saturation = market validation.

Start small, build the needed experience and reputation, build an audience to sell to, and grow from there. Don’t wait around for a big idea. Just start doing something.

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