You Can Turn Your Dreams into Reality

Posted On: 2014-06-17

You know ... sometimes you can just spend way too much time indoors. At least that's my excuse for sitting out on the veranda on a rather cold and grey morning as I write this column.

Of course later I'll jump in the car and head down to the office in town where it's nice and warm but for now I just need to be outside. And if that sounds a little crazy then I have to admit it ... I'm crazy and so is my partner. Perhaps that explains why we did a round trip of a couple of hundred miles last night just to be part of a three-hour meeting of people who have some great ideas for new and innovative products and businesses.

It's not that we have anything new and innovative to start but we went to support one of our mainstream clients and to listen to a lot of very enthusiastic people who have some great ideas. These are people who are prepared to put in some very hard yards as they work to take their bright ideas and dreams and turn them into something that's a lot more than just a great idea.

If you've had a great idea ... an idea that will change the way others do things or an idea that you think will make you a lot of money here in adult ... then these guys may have some lessons for you.

It has probably been done before
The biggest problem that a lot of people who dream about developing their bright idea into something more concrete is that it's probably been done before and if you've got a great idea then you may face that problem too.

Sadly most people who have these great ideas believe that their idea is unique and ground-breaking and they're so involved in their dreams that they don't take time to look around and do a little research to find out if someone has had the same idea before.

When they eventually do find out that their idea is not unique they're often so shattered that they just walk away from their plans and that's a real shame because they don't have to do that. Sure their idea might not be new but that doesn't mean they shouldn't run with it.

Instead of walking away totally disheartened they should be looking at ways of improving on what's gone before. Just became someone invented the wheel doesn't mean that another person can't develop a better wheel.

So before you run with your great idea ... before you invest a lot of time and money into your plans ... look around and if it's been done before look for ways that you can do it better.

It's too big for one person/strong>
Many of those that we met last night started with the view that they would be able to do everything they would have to do to turn their dream into reality. But then as they sat down to develop their dream they suddenly realised that what they were trying to develop was going require a lot more time and skills than they had ... and it might even turn into a monster that would destroy them.

That can be quite confronting for someone who starts with the idea that they're on their way to making some serious coin. Suddenly their dreams of wealth turn into visions of poverty and that can make a lot of people run away as fast as they can.

If you have a dream of developing something big ... something that will make you rich ... then be prepared for the time when you reach that point where you find that you can't do everything yourself. Even before you reach that point start looking around for people to help you ... people who have the skills you don't possess ... people you can work with to turn your dream into reality.

You've got to be able to sell your dream/strong>
Every one of those dreamers that were there last night have either reached ... or are going to reach ... the point where they need someone to invest in their idea. Most are going to need money while one or two need people to invest their time in the project.

The problem for those dreamers is that they have to learn to sell themselves. They have to develop that thing called ‘an elevator pitch'. They have to be able to describe their dream and show how it will make money in 30 seconds or less and most of the people last night can't do that.

But if you've got a dream then that's a skill that you need to develop ... and develop very quickly ... and you also need to know what the next step is in developing your dream. One participant last night had a great elevator pitch ... you could see that they were really speaking from the heart and that they had clearly identified a major problem for a lot of businesses that their product would overcome.

There were some people there last night who were very interested but when that person was asked what they needed right now to turn their dream into a reality they had a three word reply ... "I don't know."

They didn't know? In a room full of people who could help them with the next step they didn't know?

Actually that person did know what they needed ... they just couldn't articulate their need ... and so they missed a great opportunity.

If you've got a great idea that will change the world or make you rich take time to do some research so that you don't waste time reinventing the wheel. Be prepared to get others involved in your project because it's almost certainly going to be too big for you to do alone and learn to sell yourself and your ideas because sooner or later you're going to need money and you won't get it if you can't sell yourself.

Do those things and you could turn your dream into something that will make you serious coin.