Are you Ready to Make a Change?

I have been thinking a lot this week how hard it can be to decide to move forward with a new plan of action. The ladies in my current 26-week Tele-seminar are all moving forward with new ideas and it got me thinking about myself and what I am doing to move forward these days since I am not actually designing anything new right now. What I came to realize is that I wanted new solutions – fresh ideas and a new plan.

I too can get stuck and not know what to do next, or how to improve sales, attract new customers, or just feel stale about how I am doing things. I LOVE new ideas and try to always be coming up with something or some new way to do things – but no one is perfect right?

When I first started my handbag line I didn’t have plan of action. I just had an idea and thought it’d be fun to try to make it. As I progressed and my line started to take off, I realized how important a plan is, as well as a support team to help you execute it. Since I didn’t know the first thing about anything to do with manufacturing, selling, promoting or how to build a website I relied on people I met along the way to give me some advice and tried it all myself. I am a big believer in trying it all yourself first so you understand what needs to be done so you can know how to instruct the person helping you do the task.
I realized last week, that with everything I have going on in my life with work, my 17 month old twins, classes I am taking and teaching, that I had sort of let the delegating fall by the wayside – actually off the cliff the truth be told.

I recently met a very interesting man through a mastermind group I go to once a month at Ketchup in West Hollywood. I love this group. I find sitting with other entrepreneurs is so invigorating and gets your creative juices flowing. Anyway – this guy has a company that does market intelligence research to help you determine the best approach for your brand. He states “Information is the key to the market knowledge and success”. I was so taken by his presentation (and the fact that he thought he could really help me get a competitive edge going with my handbag hanger) that I hired him to consult for my Simply Sarah Company. I am so excited by the prospect of all the new information and the ideas he is going to bring me I don’t know how I am going to wait the 4 weeks for the full report! By just taking this ONE step, I feel totally reinvigorated and have a brand new excitement towards my own products.

I feel like I have a new plan of action and am looking forward to implementing it.

* What is your plan of action?
* What can you change about they way you are doing things this week?
* How can you take the first step towards realizing your ideas?
* Can you get something down on paper this week?

Here are a few simple steps to get your new ideas in motion:

Once you are armed with this information you may feel inspired to get an action plan and turn that “big idea” into a real product!

1. Write a description of your idea
2. How did you come up with this idea?
3. What does it look like?
4. How does it work?
5. Does it solve a problem for people?
6. What are the benefits?
7. Do you have a name for it?
8. What makes it unique
9. Who will buy it?
10. Where will you market it?

I want to hear from you – are you inspired?

Written by Sarah Shaw