Hi Reader,
Have you ever had an idea for a new service or offering and immediately started figuring out how to make it happen?
I have.
You start thinking about what it could look like, what you might charge, how you could package it, maybe even what you could call it. And when you're excited about the idea, it's pretty easy to move from I could do this to I'm going to do this.
Sometimes that's exactly the right move.
But I've learned there's a step worth taking before I start investing real time, money or energy into making that idea happen.
The Weekly Edge
When you add an offering to your business, you're not just creating something new to sell. You're creating everything that has to happen around it.
That's the part I find we don't always think through before we start building.
I've seen this play out in different ways. Someone invests significant time creating an offer before getting clear about who it's for or whether there's a need. Another idea gets interest, but the communication and follow-up haven't been figured out yet. Or the offer is already being delivered, but no one has really thought through what needs to happen afterward.
The idea itself may be perfectly good. The missing piece is thinking about how it fits into the rest of the business.
So when I'm thinking through a new offering, either in my own business or with a client, there are four questions I want answered:
1. Does it fit?
Where does this fit in the business you're building? Does it support your goals and priorities? What does it require from your existing capacity? And does it make sense alongside the other things you already offer?
2. Is there a need?
Who is it for? What problem does it solve? What do you know about whether those people actually want or need it?
3. What does it require?
Think beyond creating the actual service or product. How will someone learn about it, decide it's right for them, purchase it and receive it? What communication, systems, delivery and support need to happen?
4. What happens next?
Once someone buys it or completes it, what have you committed yourself to? Is there ongoing support? A renewal? Follow-up? Administration? An offboarding process? Something else that now has to happen because this offer exists?
None of those questions mean the idea isn't worth pursuing.
They help you understand what saying yes to the idea actually means.
One Small Move
Think about one idea you've been considering for your business.
It could be a new service, package, workshop, product or even something you've already started creating.
Before you do anything else with it, spend ten minutes thinking through these four questions:
Does it fit?
Is there a need?
What does it require?
What happens next?
You don't need a business plan. You don't need a spreadsheet. And please don't spend the rest of the afternoon creating a 14-tab project plan. 😂
You may decide it's absolutely worth pursuing. You may discover something you need to figure out first. Or you may realize it's a good idea that doesn't belong in your business right now.
Whatever you discover, it's useful information.
What I’m Paying Attention To
A friend and business colleague recently recommended Ryan Leak's Leveling Up: 12 Questions to Elevate Your Personal and Professional Development, and I started reading it last week.
The timing couldn't be better. I'm continuing to think about how I want to grow and refine my business, who I most want to work with and why, and what I want this next stage to look like.
Early in the book, Leak talks about defining success for yourself and identifying where you are now before deciding where you want to go. He describes different levels we can find ourselves in, from aimless through mastery, and points out that we may be at very different levels in different parts of our lives and careers.
What has me thinking is how easy it is to focus on where we want to go next without first getting really clear about where we are now.
There's something useful about taking stock of where you are and making sure the version of success you're working toward is actually your own.
I'm still early in the book, so I don't have a big takeaway or recommendation yet. But it's already giving me some good questions to consider as I start thinking about the next stage of my business.
I don't plan to stop getting excited about new ideas anytime soon. That's part of what makes running a business interesting.
I just want to get better at knowing which ones deserve my time and attention, and which ones I'm perfectly happy to leave in the idea file for another day. 😂
Have a great week,
Lucy
P.S. Want to see Leveling Up or some of the other books I've read and recommend? I keep a running list HERE. I'll let you know what I think of this one once I'm a little further into it.
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