Before any brilliant or seemingly brilliant idea goes anywhere some planning must first happen. For it to become a brilliant idea a few factors must also be considered. By doing this the idea is evaluated properly and screened and either pursued or abandoned. Apparently there's no such thing as a bad idea but rather a bad solution…
So you have an idea but before anything you need to work out if there is a market or demand, determine if you can in fact deliver it or whether you can physically do it. There are other marketing principles that come into play.
Firstly, looking at planning ahead; start with a specific result or having the end-in-mind and working up a plan to implement. This principle looks at everything that you will need to do to reach your goals. This principle is a more thought out and structured process.
Where as the bird-in-the-hand principle looks at what you have available now. This approach allows you to take your idea, create a plan based on what you have and basically start now… today. This type of evaluation is something that is more common with entrepreneurs.
Looking at both principles more closely they can be broken down simply like this. You can work through what you need to get started, build a plan to implement and achieve your vision; or look at what you already have available and see what you can do to make it happen now.
So the factors that must be taken into consideration when working out whether an idea should be pursued, no matter which principle is used, include looking at strategy and market positioning. But also is it realistic, can the idea be pursued because you have the resources including money, the know how, physical assets and people.
Again it comes down to what consumers want and need. If there is no demand or no potential then it's harder to market and may not be something that would be successful. After all generally three out of four start ups don't make it!
With that being the case, if i were to pursue a business idea i would be more inclined to work with the bird-in-hand principle. It could possibly be cheaper rather than working through from scratch and leaning on what resources were available at the time. But it really depends on the idea and the circumstances.
RM
