Lesson #10
Treat an Idea Like Clay
The process of pursuing an idea is a lot like putting a complicated puzzle together one piece at a time. There is not necessarily a linear progression to assembling it. Larger, more complicated puzzles may require a team that can work together, with each member trying to fit the various pieces into the right places until a clear picture emerges.
One benefit to using a team approach is that you can assign tasks, which is similar to movie-making in some respects. Producers and directors film the scenes out of sequence, depending on economics or availability of actors, and then put it all together in the right order in the cutting room.
The same can be applied to creating a business. You determine the most efficient and effective path available, and then take it based on the availability of resources, including people and money. I have found that definitive business plans that do not include flexibility generally don't work well. There are always many moving pieces, and changes must be made quickly—sometimes on the fly, and as often as weekly and sometimes daily—to avoid dead ends before you complete a project. Entrepreneurs often fail here because they fall in love with their plans, not the intended results or the benefits to their customers or investors. They refuse to deviate or adapt, to reshape the idea and rework the plan.
To this day I have yet to see a plan that produces precisely what the entrepreneur originally thought or financial results ...
