O MANNY's

5 simple questions first.

Whether it’s your next big business or a unique marketing campaign, when that next ambitious idea hits, ask yourself these five questions—and if the answer is yes to all five, well, roll up your sleeves and make it happen!

1. Does my idea solve a problem? What’s that saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention?” Ideas that are born out of needs come complete with a built-in demand. It’s harder to sell someone something they don’t need.
2. Is this an idea I can execute? The worst thing you can do is get your heart—and any investment money— set on an idea that you simply can’t pull off in the end. Give yourself the time to really think through how this idea is going to work. Do you have the resources? Do you have the time or the budget to make it successful? Challenge yourself to ask the hard questions, and get specific.
3. Is this idea something people will talk about or share? The best ideas are ones that market themselves. You want to pour your effort into something that’s going to make people talk or something that’s going to “turn heads” virtually. If your idea has that surprising element or share factor built in, it is much more likely to be successful. Word of mouth is king!
4. Does this idea have a shelf life? Maybe it seems like a good idea today, but is it something that will be a good idea in six months or five years? Think hard about where your market is now and where you think it’s headed. Does your idea still solve a problem down the road or will it still be shareable? For example, you know that technology will probably only get more and more advanced as time progresses. Knowing this, does this make your idea more valuable in the future, or less valuable? Put your idea in the context of some of those future external market conditions or internal business conditions and then evaluate it.
5. Is the value of this idea worth the investment? Crazy ideas can be crazy smart—or a crazy waste of everyone’s time, depending on the idea. If you’ve already answered yes to the previous questions, sit down and ask yourself if the outcome is going to be worth the input. Will your idea bring enough value to the end user that you have to make it happen?

*Original author unknown