Ok, You Decided to Take the Leap…What Now?

Once you’ve decided you want to move forward with a business idea, you’ve already completed the one of the hardest parts. Choosing which option in life to pursue is always going to be the most difficult thing to decide.

But once you do have that idea going, how do you know quickly to move? Do you sit on it for a while? Run with it? Strategize? Consult business associates?

There have been businesses that I sit on for such a long time, it’s insane. Sometimes years even pass before they get executed on. I let them marinate, I let them refine.

“The hard part wasn’t starting it, the hard part was asking “Is it a good use of my time?”

And then there’s the other side of things: me and Jerome Jarre have dinner, and literally the next day there’s a talent agency for Vine stars, Grape Story.

Of course, it really depends on the business, and both options have merit. If you’re working with a partner, always take the time to discuss things out loud with them. I’m serious. Just get in a room and talk. See where it goes.

Before we started our marketing agency VaynerMedia, my brother AJ and I thought for ten or eleven months. We made sure we were making the right decision. VaynerMedia started in 2009. My daughter Misha was born in 2009. My second book Crush It came out in 2009. All those other things were happening. So when people ask me what the hardest thing about starting VaynerMedia was, I tell them that the hard part wasn’t starting it, the hard part was asking “Is it a good use of my time?”

And here’s a fun little known fact: before starting VM, we were probably on third base in starting a fantasy sports site. True story. But in the end, VM won out. So you can see how so many different things can happen before that one idea comes to fruition. Don’t rush it if it doesn’t feel right. Go with the flow of the idea.

But the most important aspect of making a new idea reality might be timing. Not how quickly but when. It’s what I was saying above about 2009 being such a big year. And it applies today too. I have so many ideas running through my head on a day to day basis, but I know the timing is bad because I have so much other stuff going on. You need to ask yourself a few questions: Are you ready? Do you have the time?

The biggest failures in my business career have been when I bit off more than I could chew. Let’s not forget that other period around 2009 when I did all the above (baby. agency. new book) and because of that wasn’t able to give my online wine review website Cork’d my full attention. We started in 2006 but closed in 2009.

Think about that. Remember it. Choose your battles.

So before you wonder what the next steps are, or how to move forward, figure out your own timing. Map your life and make sure this is going to get you where you want to be.