Do you pay attention when someone suggests a business idea to you? If you’re not doing that, I highly encourage you to do so.

Recently, Riah Gonzalez of Linq Consulting Solutions interviewed me for her Client Experience Revolution Podcast. At the end of each podcast, she always asks her guests two questions:

  1. If there is just one idea that you would like the podcast listener to take away from the episode, what would it be?
  2. What’s the best piece of advice you have ever gotten?

Before the podcast interview started, she gave me a heads-up that she would ask these two questions. I appreciated her doing that, as it gave me some time to reflect on how I would answer them.

I knew for sure how I would answer the second question regarding the best advice I’ve gotten. That answer was when my dad told us as kids to respect everyone, no matter who they were.

The answer to the first question came to me over the course of the podcast interview. What I most hoped each listener would take away was to be open to other people’s suggestions about their business.

“Have you ever thought of helping other baby boomers understand how to use social media?” That’s the business idea that my manager at the time posed to me in March 2010. I credit my manager with giving me the idea that led me to create Boomers’ Social Media Tutor.

 

Some Criteria to Use when Reflecting on Ideas Others Suggest

During the podcast interview, Riah and I spent some time reflecting on the ways in which business ideas have come to us. Our businesses have grown in ways we hadn’t anticipated because we selectively followed ideas that others suggested.

In the ten years that I’ve had my business, there are a number of ideas that people have suggested to me. Here are some criteria I’ve used to sort through these suggestions and decide if I wanted to pursue them:

  • Do I immediately resonate with the idea?
  • How well does this idea align with my values and the mission of my business?
  • How would following this idea impact the rest of my business offerings?
  • Do my closest business associates think that this idea makes sense for me?
  • What would implementing the idea cost me in time and money?

 

Example of a Business Coach’s Recommendation That I Implemented

In the summer of 2017, my business coach encouraged me to start a group of my own. He observed that since I was attending a number of business networking groups, I already knew how they operated. When I had my own group, he proposed, I could set it up as another offering of my business.

Applying the above criteria, I resonated with this idea immediately. However, I then needed to figure out what kind of a group to start and who the group would serve. I envisioned a group where business owners would come together monthly in a fun, interactive setting. The purpose of the group would be to provide presentations about social media and related topics.

I created the Simplify Your Social Media group in December 2017, and the inaugural meeting was the next month. We are now in our fourth year, with over 300 members in our Meetup group. An average of 15-20 people attend each meeting, and the presentations we offer are very well-received. As a result of creating the group, I’ve gained clients, made friends and most importantly, created a community of learners.

 

About Joyce

Joyce Feustel helps people, especially those age 55 and up, to become more effective using social media, especially LinkedIn and Facebook.

She works with business owners, business development professionals, business consultants, job seekers, and more – ranging from entrepreneurs to people in large corporations. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com.