You get better idea pass the hours wey you get, and that one na sign say the thing dey alive. One customer ask whether you fit make am for second size. Your padi sketch full product line for you over coffee and true true na good line. You wake up 4am with better version of the whole business, and e really better. None of that na problem wey you need fix. Na inventory, and e go keep.
Wetin go decide whether the next twelve months go move no be how many of those idea you get. Na which three you write down as the ones wey you no go build, and whether you put date for the list. A no wey you name na small, calm thing wey dey protect the one thing wey you don already promise somebody, and na to protect that promise dey make one person business see second year.
Why I dey stuck when I get too many better idea?
Because every idea wey dey open dey hold piece of your attention, and na one head you get. Switching between task get cost wey dem fit measure for lab, and the same shape dey show for workbench: four project wey you start half dey heavy pass one wey you finish, and na true.
One person business na the only kind where the backlog and your nervous system na the same thing. Inside company, project wey never start dey sidon for document and e no dey worry anybody sleep. For your own business e dey sidon inside you. You dey carry the second size, the second product line and the better version around the whole week, and every one of dem dey quietly charge you storage fee.
The tax no dey show as failure. E dey show as slowness. The order wey go out Thursday instead of Tuesday. The listing photo wey you never reshoot because half of your mind still dey think about the wholesale idea. Nothing look wrong, and the year just waka pass.
This no be argument say make you cut your ambition small small. Na the opposite. You dey name wetin you no go build so that you fit face the one thing wey you dey build with everything wey you get, without the low noise of four other option wey dey run under. Michael Porter talk this same point about big companies decades ago: strategy na about wetin you deliberately no go do as e be about wetin you go do. Person wey get one product and three written no na ambitious pass person wey get seven maybe, because na only one of dem go ship.
How I go choose the three things wey I no go build this year?
Write every idea wey you dey carry now, then pick the three wey go likely chop this year finish without you finishing anything. Usually na the biggest, the newest, and the one wey another person suggest, no be the ones wey you like least.
Three na the correct number because e small enough make you remember am and big enough make e pain you small. If the list no cost you anything, wetin you write na three idea wey you no even plan to do, and e no go protect even one hour.
For side of each one, write one line: why not this year. No be judgement on the idea, na reason about capacity. Wholesale, not this year, because e need stock wey I go buy before anybody order. Second product line, not this year, because the first one never finish. Custom order, not this year, because e dey take four times the message for the same money.
Then put date for the list. List wey get date na decision. List wey no get date na mood, and mood go dey argue with you again every Sunday night. The date dey do something kind too: e dey talk say the idea no die, dem don schedule am for conversation wey you go get for one particular day, with better information pass wetin you get now.
No be the same thing as not this year?
No. A no dey close idea, but not this year dey park am with date attached, and na that version almost every small business really need.
You no dey decide wetin your business go be forever. You dey decide wetin the next twelve months dey for. Most of the idea for your list no dey wrong, dem just dey early, and to treat early like wrong na how people dey throw away the second best thing wey dem ever think.
Keep the parked list somewhere wey you fit add to am. When the 4am idea land, e go enter the parked list and you go go back sleep, and na most of the point be that. The list no be graveyard. Na waiting room, and to know say waiting room dey na wetin dey allow you stop to argue with yourself for your desk.
One rule dey keep am honest: something only dey comot from the parked list when another thing enter am or when something finish. One in, one out. If not, the waiting room go quietly turn to the plan again.
Wetin I go tell customer wey ask for something wey I no dey build?
Name wetin you dey finish instead, and give dem date. A no wey come with your real plan attached dey sound like person wey dey control him week, but ordinary no dey sound like person wey no send.
The sentence get three parts and e short. Thank dem for the exact idea, talk wetin you dey focus on and till when, then tell dem wetin you go do with the request.
Something like this. That one na good idea, and na you be the second person wey ask. I dey keep the shop for three sizes till the end of the year so I fit bring delivery time down. E dey the list wey I go read for January, and I go message you if e happen.
Nobody go vex for that. Wetin dey lose customer na silence, or vague yes wey no ever come. And you don just tell dem, without saying am, say na the kind person wey dey keep list and dey read am you be, and na most of wetin anybody wan know before dem spend money with stranger.
If na third time wey person dey ask for the same thing, that one no be distraction. Na data, and e suppose enter the January list for bold.
The quarterly reread
Put repeating date for your calendar, once every quarter, fifteen minutes. Read the three noes out loud. Most quarters you go keep all three and the reread go feel like waste of time, and na exactly how working system dey feel from inside.
Sometimes you go promote one. The wholesale idea wey no get stock behind am now get buyer wey don ask twice and offer to prepay. Move am up, and move another one down, because the number go remain three.
None of this na caution and none of am na permission to want less. Na the ordinary machine wey dey allow ambitious person go hard for one thing for the whole year instead of going at five things for six weeks each. The people wey still dey stand for year five no be the ones wey get fewer idea. Na the ones wey write three of dem down, put date for the page, and continue with the fourth.
Sources
- Harvard Business Review, What Is Strategy?
- Advances in Cognitive Psychology, Common Cognitive Control Processes Underlying Performance in Task-Switching and Dual-Task Contexts
- U.S. Small Business Administration, Plan your business