Welcome! My name is Jay Johns, founder and CEO of 3r Interactive. I’m here with my cup of coffee, bringing you another conversation within Caffeinated Advice. There’s a little chip in my cup, but I like this cup, so I’m going to keep using it. Today, I want to make a comment illustrating the whole purpose of me doing Caffeinated Advice. My goal is to get information to people that are interested in building some sort of technology component (usually as part of a company). These people may happen to be non-technical and don’t have a technical co-founder or the equivalent of a Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Essentially, what I want is to give a bunch of information that allows entrepreneurs to start down the path.
I often equate what I do to being a lighthouse in the distance – if you have to go down a path to do something you’ve never done before, you can feel like you’re in a fog, not knowing what to do. In this case, building a piece of technology if you’re not technical. So I would like to be a lighthouse that gives you a direction. It’s like, “Hey, start walking down this path.” Now there’s a high chance that you might need to turn left or right to avoid some obstacles. Having a direction is going to be so much more beneficial. So that’s why I do this, and I’m not here to ask for anything, I’m just trying to give information. Hopefully, I’m going to increase some of the likelihood that projects can get made, to reduce the loss of tens of thousands of dollars (if not more), and to overcome communication problems. Anyway, I just want to get that out, because I don’t know if I explained that in the other posts I’d made thus far. Hopefully, I am providing value through information for those who want to build some sort of technology, but who happen not to be a technical person.
Today’s Topic
I’m passionate about this notion that actions are way more valuable than ideas. I don’t think that’s a new concept, and I don’t think that’s something that someone would disagree with if they thought about it. However, I’ve noticed throughout my time as an entrepreneur, a lot of people are spending so much time coming up with the “perfect idea” without actually taking steps to do it.
To me, the thing that gets people excited is action – going out and saying, “Hey, I want to do this, so I’m just going to start doing it. I’m going to start cobbling together whatever I can do to start learning how to do these things, to start making makeshift versions.” Yet, there’s this notion locked into people’s heads that you need to have the best version of something if you’re going to release it. A worry that if you somehow put out a subpar version, you’re judged on your inability to be perfect, particularly if it’s your first attempt. You’re judged on it not being this “perfect” product.
I just can’t agree with that. Trust me, as someone who lives too much in my head, I live too much into the future. Once I was able to get past this worry about what people are going to think based on the stuff that I’m producing, I was surprised at how much progress happens because you can make something, get it out, and get some feedback. Then, you’re able to know exactly what to do. Otherwise, what you’re waiting on is the perfect alignment of ideas to come about. You’re waiting for the technology piece to come together, or for your skill level to demonstrate what you can do.
That’s not how people learn! It’s not how people get excited about your product. Keep in mind, any product that you see started somewhere. They didn’t get created in whatever form you see it in. Even the best product you can think of started somewhere, and it didn’t start very well. People could see seeds of value in it, and that’s all you need as an entrepreneur or creative. You need to get out of your way and start creating stuff. Even if you had a whole book of ideas, it means nothing.
Idea’s Without Action Are Not Valuable
An idea has zero value. Let me just put that out there: your idea doesn’t mean anything, because everyone you know has ideas. So what is important is the actions you take to make it happen. That’s the critical part, and I hope that comes across as clear as possible. Hopefully, it is motivating people to get out there and start doing stuff.
I can feel your resistance because I was this person. When I say “just start making stuff,” if your vision is to make a building-sized mural, but you haven’t even experimented with using spray paints, you haven’t yet learned the steps to do that. Well, you still have to start somewhere and get good at it. You have to start moving. Just saying, “I thought about doing that once,” or “I had that idea,” that’s not important.
Another important point, having an idea doesn’t somehow make you a valuable person. I know that sounds harsh, but many times during a conversation with software developers or anyone who can make stuff. People say, “Hey, I have an idea for something, so you make it, [you do all the work by making it], then you give me half the money because I had the original idea.” That doesn’t fit!
Your idea, whatever it is – simple, elaborate, or grandiose – has zero value, and I need you to understand that. What is important is your idea plus action! That is what’s important, and I hope that I’m inspiring you to get up and just start working on something. Even if it’s just small little sketches of an idea that you have, start moving towards the creation of it. You can start thinking about little areas of the product that you wouldn’t have thought about because you haven’t taken steps to figure out “how would I actually make this thing? What would it feel like to use it?”
Actions Are Valuable
Actions are what’s valuable! So if you want to be an entrepreneur, especially if you need to get funded, you can’t walk around to everyone who might have money (like a venture capitalist) saying, “Hey, I have an idea, now fund me.” That doesn’t compute. You have to demonstrate that you can do the thing; that you somehow have some actionable steps that you can do, as opposed to somebody else; that you can be a part of this team.
I want to make sure that I’m coming across clearly, part of these talks is that I don’t go into it knowing what I’m going to say. With any of the Caffeinated Advice things, there’s just a topic. I do think of it as if I’m just sitting down with you all, enjoying a cup of coffee, sitting across the table, and having a chat. If we were to be sitting down with each other and you asked me a question, and this kind of topic came up, I wouldn’t have a pre-written answer. It would just be things that are based on my experience and things that I can think of at that moment. Sure, if I were to spend four weeks on something, I could have an excellent response, but this ties into practicing what I’m preaching. I’m just putting stuff out there, not expecting this Caffeinated Advice thing to be perfect. I am just trying things, me sitting here in this little chair in my basement with a wooden wall behind me and a couple of pieces of artwork. I want to be authentic, and I don’t want to sound pre-recorded. I don’t think there’s value in that for me. I find it more interesting, being able just to have a conversation between the two of us where it isn’t predetermined. Hopefully, other people find that interesting too.
See, this is a great example: I could not have come up with excuses to not start this series, telling myself that I needed to wait until I had fifty years of experience as opposed to ten-plus. I could have come up with a lot of reasons to get in my way, but I didn’t. I made a choice, “let’s just start; let’s go and see where it takes us.” That is my biggest wish for everyone reading to this.
Be The Flame, Not The Moth
Just start doing something. It’s more important to start moving in a direction than to sit and wait for everything to be perfect before you start. That “perfect” will never come, and I want to see everyone succeed. I want all of your projects to be successful and to have everyone look back and say, “I’m happy that I tried doing that.” I just talked about this topic a few days ago with someone, and it’s funny because it’s something I heard many years ago. It’s this weird song by a band called Hoobastank; I don’t even know what the song was, but the phrase that has stuck with me was, “I would rather be me than maybe.” How I internalized, that was, “I’m not going to regret the things that I did do, but I’m going to regret more what I did not attempt.” The regrets will come from where you fail to take action rather than trying something and learning from it, and seeing what happens. I didn’t put that into practice until a few years ago. The song is really old, but I think it’s important.
I’m a firm believer, and I want you just to start making stuff. If your dream is to make the supercomputer that can compute infinity, but you have never even coded before, then start figuring out how you can go about doing this. There’s another little phrase I’ve used that has stuck with me for a long time, which is “Be the flame, not the moth.” That’s something I believe in, too. People are going to be more attracted to you if you are taking action; if you are moving forward. If you’re the moth who’s chasing after the flame, people just won’t connect as much. But if you can illustrate, “this is my vision; this is my dream, and this is what I’m doing to try to make it happen,” man, people get drawn to that.
I feel I’ve brought my overall point home pretty hard, and I’m sure there’s going to be some pushback on the notion that ideas aren’t worth anything. In the grand scheme of things, you need to figure out how to put your ideas into action for them to have tangible value. If you’re expecting other people to build the thing that you want to do, and your only contribution is the idea, then your plan doesn’t work. Ultimately, be motivated; start doing your thing, put it out there, and get feedback. Be upfront with the fact that “this is my first attempt at this thing. This is a prototype of something I have an idea for.” If you’re writing a play, if you’re making music – whatever it is – if you have the vision to do your own thing within that space, just do it. It’s as simple as that. There’s the caveat that things I say are easier said than done. I fully acknowledge that, but you will be more satisfied knowing you took the risk.
Thank you for indulging my little rant about how an action is more valuable than ideas. I wish that everyone out in the world can pursue their dreams, be successful, and find happiness. I look forward to our next conversation.
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Jay Johns
Founder / CEO
3r Interactive, LLC
www.3rinteractive.com
