170 | How to Choose One Idea When You Have Too Many Service-Based Business Ideas

Speaker A: So when you throw multiple things at a lion at once, it cannot focus on any single one. And it's just like us too. It's the same thing that happens when you try to launch your business with too many ideas. You experience a psychological paralysis and passivity just like the lion, whenever you're confronted with too many simultaneous imputes or targets or things you have to do all at the same time. And the reason why this is is because each idea you're trying to launch requires time and effort. So when you try to work on all of them all at once, you're splitting your time, your energy, your resources across everything all at the same time. So nothing moves forward because you only have so much time and effort to go around. So you become passive. You abandon the ideas because your focus is divided. You're currently working at 9 to 5, but you know you're called to do more. You feel unfulfilled at a job you've clearly outgrown. You ignore the quiet nudge prompting you to move in a new direction because you're afraid of losing your predictable income and stepping into something God sized. If that resonates with you, you are in the right place. Welcome to Start that Business podcast where you will find the clarity, strategy and um, systems you need to start your service based business without leaving your job yet. My name is Chichiu Komodu. I um, am a business strategist, an execution coach and a Jesus follower. I knew I was called to start a business but I struggled with lack of clarity, self doubt and the fear of losing a predictable income. My lack of courage kept me stuck until I traded it for obedience to God's calling. I left my job, built a seven figure service based business and ran it for 13 years. Now I help other Christians working a, uh, nine to five do the same. You don't have to stay stuck in unfulfillment, fear, doubt or lack of clarity. It's time to partner with God and step boldly into your calling to start that business. You know the one I'm talking about? Yes. That one you've been putting off for a long time. When I was launching my first service based business, I was working with my business bestie at the time. She was helping me as a brand and business strategist to launch the first version of my first service based business. And I remember one of the working sessions we had, I was working on my offer at that time and she told me to focus on only one offer to launch the business. And after I had launched and Served some clients, I can add more offers to my suite. But I was so ambitious. I told her I can do everything all at once. I told her I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, I can launch all the offers all at once. So I argued with her back and forth and she just left me to myself. It wasn't until I actually launched the business and saw what it really took to deliver just one offer, uh, on my own. Once I experienced that, nobody told me to strip down my offerings just to the one I could handle. Because at that time I didn't have a team yet. I was still trying to put my systems in place. So it was only me. I was a solopreneur when I started. And the reason why I resisted her, uh, advice or recommendation was because I was comparing myself to my competitors that were already established in the business with their teams, with their systems. I was looking at all the things they were offering and I said, yeah, if I'm launching my business, I should offer the same thing they are offering. But I forgot that I didn't have what they had. Some of them were already five years ahead of me, some of them were six years ahead of me. And I was just starting. And that fear of, oh, I'm going to lose out if I don't do everything all at once made me really struggle at, uh, the beginning. And this is the same struggle I see with my clients. The struggle to choose one business idea to start with because of the fear of losing the other ideas. You see, having too many ideas reminds me of what is called the lion syndrome. I first heard about the concept of the lion syndrome during a, uh, productivity training I attended in Austin, Texas a couple of years ago by Monroe Thomas. And the whole concept of the lion syndrome originates from the traditional practice of a lion tamer using a four legged wooden chair to control and defend itself against an attacking Ohio. So this was the observation or the technique that the lion tamer, uh, uses to overpower or subdue a lion. Now when a lion charges or prepares to, ah, attack the lion tamer, the lion tamer will hold up a four legged chair and um, point it directly at the lion's face. And what was observed was so remarkable. So once the lion sees the four legged chair, rather than focusing on the lion tamer, uh, as a single threat, the lion's brain experiences an information bottleneck because now it's seen each leg of the chair as a threat. So it's seeing five things attacking it instead of just one human being that is holding Up a chair. And what the lion tamer observed was that the lion became overwhelmed by multiple focus points. So the lion is trying to focus on all four legs of the chair at the same time to attack the team. Ah, also observed divided attention because the lion is trying to focus on the four distinct advancing points all at once. The lion cannot decide which specific leg of the chair to attack first because now it's seen multiple threats. Then another thing that Tamar observed is the lion becomes paralyzed due to, um, the analysis of the multiple threats in front of it. And instead of striking or charging at ah, the tamer, the lion becomes confused, hesitant and highly passive. So it allows the tamer to maintain dominance over the lion. Can you imagine that? When I heard about this concept, I was like, oh my goodness, this is exactly what happens to us too as human beings. So when you throw multiple things at a lion at once, it cannot focus on any single one. And it's just like us too. It's the same thing that happens when you try to launch your business with too many ideas. You experience a psychological paralysis and passivity just like the lion, whenever you're confronted with too many simultaneous imputes or targets or things you have to do all at the same time. And the reason why this is, is because each idea you're trying to launch requires time and effort. So when you try to work on all of them all at once, you're splitting your time, your energy, your resources across everything all at the same time. So nothing moves forward because you only have so much time and effort to go around. So you become passive. You abandon the ideas because your focus is divided. And for people that are multi passionate like myself, choosing one idea to launch or start with, it feels like you're losing out on everything else. So you hold onto all of them and you're trying to launch everything at the same time. But when you try to start multiple things, it actually slows you down. When you focus on one at a time, you're able to move faster because focus increases speed and speed builds momentum. So here's how to choose one idea. When you have too many service business ideas, there are three questions you need to run each idea through. So that at, um, the end of the three questions you have your one idea that becomes the clear winner for you to start with. And the fact that you're choosing one idea to start with doesn't mean that you're going to lose the other ones. The other ones will still be there and you can come back to them later. So the first question you need to run your ideas through is, what's the common theme among all my business ideas? Now the fastest way to figure out the common theme among all your business ideas is to reflect on, um, the story of your life, the things you have overcome, your calling, and, um, all the different business ideas you have. Ask yourself, what are the defining moments you have experienced? Maybe growing up in your childhood, maybe during adulthood, maybe in your corporate career. What patterns do you observe? What is the common thread in your life story or your life journey that you can see? I was having a conversation with a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago and she was telling me how she spent time to research and come up with the common theme in all her businesses and her life journey. So she's an entrepreneur. When I met her, she had a concierge business serving wealthy people who needed things handled. From there she moved into event planning because she always liked things done excellently and she was also big on protocol. Then from that business she went into wedding and event invitations, designing and printing them because she's also a graphic designer. Then from there she went into personal branding, using her artistic gifts to make products like cards and gift items. Then she transitioned into a, uh, product based company that makes sustainable, fashionable personal organization products. And from there people started asking her to speak. And her presentations were always elegantly done. And now she has an etiquette school for ladies, for kids. So she said she took all of these things that she has done, different defining moments in her lives, and she put it into her AI tool. And she asked the AI tool, what is the common theme in all of these things I've done? And the AI tool reviewed all the things she put in her milestones, her businesses, everything she had worked on up until this point. And the word that came back for her was refinement. That was the common theme in all the businesses I just mentioned that she has done. So this common theme was expressed in the different businesses that she had done all the while. Now, she didn't start by trying to do all these businesses all at once. She started with the concierge. From there she added another business. So I want you to do the same thing. I want you to write out three defining moments in your life. Write out a list of every job or, uh, project you have done in your 9 to 5 that made you feel the most alive, you excited about it. That is also relevant to the business ideas that you are trying to choose from. Then also write out the things people have always complimented you on or come to you for help with. Then write out a description of your calling, your gifts, your passion. Then write a brief description of all the different business ideas you're trying to choose from. Then put it into your AI tool, either Claude or ChatGPT or whichever one you use. Then ask uh, it to evaluate all the information you put in and um, identify the common theme that is running through all of them. And what you're looking for is the common theme that shows up the strongest in one business idea. So for my friend it was refinement. For you it might be something else. So let me give you an example so that you can know how this can play out for you. So if my friend was working a 9 to 5 now and she had the following business ideas, which is event planning business, wedding and um, event invitation business, personal organization, product business, and an etiquette online school, maybe these are the four business ideas she's trying to choose from. Which one to start first. If she takes all her information and puts it into AI and AI comes out and says, oh, the common theme here is refinement. Based on the common theme, she can now ask herself, which of these business idea does refinement show up the strongest in? And um, in my opinion, it will be the etiquette online school. So that idea comes all the way to the top. So that's an example for you to know how this will play out. Once you've identified your common theme, it's easier to choose one business idea and ah, save the others for later. Now if you go through this and you're still struggling to choose your one business idea, then I will encourage you to go listen to episode 153. Still struggling to choose the right business idea. Here's why and uh, what to do instead. That episode will help you go even deeper. All right, the second question you need to ask to help you choose your one business idea to start with is which business idea can I actually deliver, uh, on my own right now with the help of AI now don't be like me when I was starting my first business where I was saying, oh, I can handle all these things all by myself and my business bestie will say, no you cannot. It's just you do an honest assessment of what you can deliver, uh, alone right now. Remember, you're working on nine to five, you have other responsibilities. You most likely will be starting this business as a solopreneur with maybe an AI tool that is helping you along the way. So make a list of what it actually takes to deliver just one offer. Uh, in the different business ideas you have, write it down so you can see it. Then ask yourself, without a team, without another human being helping me, can I deliver this offer by myself? Maybe with the help of AI and do this for every business idea you have. And the business idea that you can deliver on your own with the help of AI should come all the way to the top. So again, let's run through an example so that you can see how this plays out. Now if I'm using the same example I used before, you have these four business ideas. You want to start an event planning business. You want to start a wedding and event invitation business. You want to start a personal organization product business. You want to start an online etiquette school. If it's just you, you can handle a ah, one on one online etiquette session. You can create a self serve etiquette course that people can buy and go through on their own. Where there's not much support that you need to give them. You can handle maybe a small group etiquette coaching program. You actually have to have the bandwidth to deliver the offer that you decide to go with. So if I uh, look at the four businesses of business ideas I listed, the etiquette school in my opinion will be the easiest. I can start on my own because I can record things, I can have one on one sessions. So again you see that that business idea comes all the way to the top again as uh, the one that I have the boundary to deliver by myself, maybe with the help of AI. So when you are looking at the different offers for your business ideas, think of it as a spectrum of how much each offer demands a done for you service where you do the work yourself. It's high touch but it's simple to start with one client. A small done with you offer is medium. A self serve course or uh, template is a low touch. So once you viewed it you can use it multiple times. But you have to look at the offers and what it will take to deliver them in light of the season you are in, working your 9 to 5 and also starting a business. So which of these business ideas do you have the bandwidth to deliver on? So out of all your many business ideas, the one you have the most bandwidth to deliver on right now should rise to the top. And that should be the business idea that you should consider starting now. The third question you need to ask yourself is which one gets you a paying client the fastest? Again I will use the example I used before. You have this four business ideas you want to start an event planning business, a wedding event invitation business, a personal organization product business, an online etiquette school. So if we look at all of them, for you to start an event planning business, you have to have someone that has an event for you to plan. So the person has to be maybe doing a wedding or some kind of special event. The same with the wedding and uh, event invitation business. An event needs to be going on for you to be hired to create an invitation. Now for the product business, you need to create the product, you need to produce the product. So getting a paying client for those three options might involve more. Now the last option, which is um, an etiquette online school. You can find people online who want to improve in the way they speak, in the way they carry themselves. So it might be easier for you to get a paying client fastest with that idea. So you see how running these ideas through this question can help you determine which idea gets your paying client fastest. And that idea now becomes what you choose. If you start with one on one coaching or a uh, one time service, you can often get a client faster than with a group program. Because a group program needs multiple people to sign up at the same time before it even works because it's a group. So look at all your ideas and ask or research which one solves a problem people are already paying for and which one needs the least building before someone can say yes. If people are already paying for it, you can build it quickly and get it out there. When I say which gets you paying clients the fastest. Fast usually means the offer already has a hungry buyer and little to build time. So it's a service you can start the moment someone says yes. You it can be a one on one package, it can be a paid intensive, it can be a done for you project, something you can easily do slow usually means you have to build the thing before anyone can buy it. So like a big course or a signature program with multiple modules, an app, a membership that needs a crowd to fill it up so you it would take more time to get a client that way. When you're choosing your first one, pick the one where money can show up soonest. Because when you're starting your first business, getting your first paying client is such a morale booster and it fuels you to keep going on in that business. So the quicker you can get your first paying client, the more momentum you will have to keep building that business. So when you run all your business ideas through these three questions, the business idea that scores the most or comes all the way to the top on all the questions should be the business idea you pick first to launch with. And oftentimes, this business idea is the most obvious one, is the one the Holy Spirit has been nudging you to start. It's the ordinary one that you keep skipping because it feels too simple to be the one that you start with. But that's usually the one. So run your business ideas through these three questions, then pick the one that is a yes for all three questions, and start with it. Now, the whole principle behind choosing one idea to start with is, is focus. Like I said earlier, focus increases speed. A mentor of mine, John Lee Dumas, describes the word focus as follow one course until success. So that's the principle we're using here. We're using the principle of focus. We are following one idea until we successfully launch it. Then we can go back and look at what else we can add to that idea. Because if you try to take all four or five ideas to market all at once, it will be difficult to launch any of them. So my challenge to you is, can you focus on one idea until success? Can you focus on one business idea until you launch it? Then come back to your basket of ideas and ask yourself, okay, now that I've launched this one, what else can I add to what I already have? Now, all the ideas you set aside, you're going to put them in an idea bank. Your idea bank can be a, uh, physical or digital notebook where you write your remaining ideas, the ones you're going to put in the parking lot for now. Then you can set a reminder to revisit them, uh, a year after you have successfully launched the idea that you've chosen to focus on right now. That way your other ideas are not forgotten, your other ideas are not lost, and you're able to focus on the one that you're going to take to market and launch it. Now, if you've been afraid to choose one business idea, if you've been struggling under too many ideas, I would love to help you choose. In my business Clarity session, we will work together so you finally know the one idea you can move forward with. And I will show you exactly where to put the remaining ideas so that the fear of losing them is taken care of. And, uh, we can finally take your one business idea to market. Go to from jobtobusiness.com and, um, book your session so you can move from too many ideas to one clear next step. All right, let's recap real quick. Too many ideas keep you stuck because you split your time and effort and it slows you down. But when you focus on taking one business idea to market, that focus increases your speed and momentum. So take all the business ideas that you are currently grappling with, run them through the three questions that we identified earlier. Then choose one. You don't need to overthink it. Just choose one and let that one be what you focus on for the next 12 months and you launch it and you get it going. Save the remaining ideas in your idea bank and, uh, revisit them, um, after you have followed one business idea until success. Thank you so much for listening. Listening to today's episode, I pray it made you feel seen, taught you something new, and encouraged you to take action. If it did, please hit the follow button so you are notified when a new episode drops. It will be a huge blessing if you left a review for this podcast on whatever platform you are listening from right now. It's the number one way I know this podcast is serving you and it helps more Christians just like you find this show and take that first step toward their business. Until next time, Remember, your expertise is needed. You're calling it real, and I'm here to help you make it a reality.