Why you shouldn't be afraid to share your business idea: Phil Fraser

Whilst all of those are difficult, in my opinion the hardest step in the new business/start up journey is actually sharing your new business idea with someone else.

It’s been rolling around in your own head for days, weeks, months... perhaps even years.

Ruminating, conjugating, fermenting. Should I shouldn’t I.....You may have even taken the first step and put your thoughts down on paper. But now you have to jump off that cliff and share it with

someone else. Maybe with a friend or family member or perhaps a work colleague or business connection. Exposing yourself and your idea.... OMG !

“I’ve got this idea. What do you think....?”

The fear, the potential embarrassment, the mocking, the endless ‘what about this’ questioning, the Imposter Syndrome, the ‘WTAF are you thinking’ response, the glazed look in their eyes, the ‘oh, I didn’t think of that’ moments, the ‘that won’t work’. It’s enough to make you think ‘nope, you know what it’s not worth it’ and chuck it all in the bin.

DONT !!

Please let me reassure you.

You won’t be mocked. You won’t be judged. You won’t be laughed out of the room. You won’t be

called a fool.

 You will be supported.

 You will be encouraged.

 You will be positively critiqued.

 You will receive invaluable feedback.

 You will probably even be given ideas & suggestions that IMPROVE your idea.

I promise, you will go away from that first tentative reveal overflowing with excitement, ideas, motivation, renewed vigour and even more determination to make it succeed.

But how do I know this? How can I make such a wild promise?

1) A very close friend ‘exposed himself’ to me this week with his new business idea.

2) I ‘exposed myself’ to a number of people with my new business idea

I know my friend has got his first stamp of approval and is, as I write, putting more ‘meat on the bone’ to his new business idea. If he suceeds in launching it I know he will be immeasurably more

happy than he is now. On my own new project, the feedback I’ve received has been invaluable and is helping me hone and

develop my idea. So go on.... expose yourself. Take that first scary step. You won’t regret it. That new business idea that you keep promising yourself you’ll launch won’t happen until you at least tell other people.

And as a final thought ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’ So they don’t like your idea. They poo- poo it. OK so at least you tried. You now have two options; admit it’s not going to make you Zuckerberg millions and forget about it. Or, go back to the drawing board, take the feedback on board and develop the idea and make it even better. I’d always suggest the second option.

Phil Fraser is a business coach behind the Business Sounding Board.

Find out more at www.philfraser.co.uk