B-I-G Lesson – Execution

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I had a really interesting discussion with a Member in a recent Inner Circle Meeting.
The Member concerned was reluctant to share with the group an idea they were “working on”, but they were really keen (actually, desperate!) to talk about it and get help from the group. Conundrum.
It takes you back to your school days.
Covering your entire notebook with your arm to make sure that no one could see what you were writing and copying your answers. We’ve always been pretty good at keeping our ideas close to our chests.
Now, I do understand people being protective of their ideas. And I’m not suggesting, in this article or anywhere else, that you should be cavalier, because there are some shitty people out there who will try and rip you off. Key word there though is “try”.
You see, one thing I’ve learned over the last 15 years is that ideas are worth nothing unless or until they are properly executed.
Ideas are just a multiplier. It’s the execution that brings an idea to life. The execution that sets you apart from all those people who just think they want to do something. It’s the execution that is worth millions.
Let me try and explain:
We can give ideas a numeric value.  Something like this:

  • Awful idea =    -1
  • Poor idea =     1
  • Average idea = 5
  • Good idea = 10
  • Great idea = 15
  • Brilliant idea = 20

Then we can look at the value of execution:

  • No execution = £1
  • Poor execution = £1,000
  • Average execution = £10,000
  • Good execution = £100,000
  • Great execution = £1,000,000
  • Brilliant execution = £10,000,000

To make a business, you need to multiply the two components.
It’s simple mathematics.
The most brilliant idea, with no execution, is worth about 20 quid.
The most brilliant idea that takes great execution can be worth £20,000,000.
 Seriously.
Over the years, I must have met at least 20 people who told me that they had the idea for something like thebestof back in the early 2000s, but, of course, they did nothing about it.
Same is true for MyMag.
The difference is though, I executed. I did something about those ideas and built them into super-successful businesses. Other people, just let their ideas wither and die. They didn’t grab the bull by the horns and bring it to life.

An average idea

At best, MyMag is an average idea. So it would score five as an idea on the grid above.  But we executed it really, really well and, hey presto, it became a £5,000,000 business.
We weren’t the first people to invent the parish magazine and stick some adverts in it.
But we were the first to make it accessible and market it well, so that hundreds of women across the country could not just earn a living, but build a really successful, very sustainable business on the back of it.
Hundreds of MyMag publications have celebrated their tenth anniversaries over the last 18 months.
Because we executed the idea – and in turn, those MyMaggers executed and brought their publications to life – it became the outstanding success it was. Not down to luck. Down to execution.

Execution? That’s the hard bit

What I’ve learned over the years is that the execution’s the hard bit.
Doing something really well is really rare.
Of course, the way to increase your chances, markedly, is to make sure you’re doing your 90 minutes every day.  That’s when the execution gets done.  The reality is that all eight of our million pound plus businesses have been built in 90 minute chunks.
Execution.
Yes, it’s a message I’ve repeated before. But it’s a message I’ll keep repeating.
You see, it really is that important.
You can have the best idea in the world, but if you don’t focus on the execution – the getting stuff done – that idea means nothing.
They’re not interesting…
The new Implementation Plans are, genuinely, brilliant. The biggest benefit is they help you to get things done quickly. You can leverage your staff now.
Just tell them that you need to get some Facebook ads running, say, so can they work through that particular Implementation Plan, follow the instructions and do what it says.
Execution.
We’ve pulled together all the templates and checklists and cheat-sheets and strategies, and made them so easily accessible, with the intention of helping YOU to execute better.
Because, be under no illusion, wherever you or your business gets to it will all, fundamentally, come down to execution. Not ideas. Did you manage to get it done?
There are plenty of good talkers in EC. I’m not being disrespectful, but anyone that’s been around for a little while will know who some of them are.
They’re not bad people. They’re very well intentioned. But they’re rubbish at execution and, as a consequence, their business doesn’t move that much forward every year. Execution.
And this is why I’m really not that fussed about hearing people’s ideas.
They’re not interesting until I see their execution.
 
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