Business Plans

 El Nino is coming! Get your sandbags!!

Entrepreneur Journal

Journal

Reality is like a huge sledge hammer. As I was preparing to write the one-page business plans, I was deciding which “Big Idea” to focus on. I decided to do it on my invention from when we had small children (about 20 years ago). It was a child carrier car seat that sprouted wheels and handle and turned into a stroller. I called it the “Strolla.” Back then, I had even done some crude drawings using the first version of CorelDraw. I had been excited, back then, about bringing my invention to market but did not know how and so the idea just sat in my mind. Over the years as I’ve seen new moms struggle, like my wife did, lugging the baby around in the carrier and straining their backs. It was either that or pulling a stroller out of the back of the car, setting it up, and then transferring the baby. I knew there was a better way; I had invented it. A few years ago, I saw the advent of the combination car seat stroller where moms could snap the carrier on top of a stroller, an improvement that eliminated the baby transfer, but you still had to get the stroller out and set up. As I was pulling my “big idea” for the Strolla out of the mothballs in my brain and doing some research, I was hit over the head with the sledgehammer of reality. I came across “the Doona: the infant car seat that turns into a stroller!” I had taken too long to do my “big idea.” What a disappointment. While I feel my idea is a better design, easier to use, and I could do it at a lower price point, I could never be the first.

As I switch gears and focus on another “big idea,” I can’t help but wonder; will this idea live the same life as the Strolla? Will I see someone come along and capitalize on it? Probably. I can envision my big ideas, I even know theoretically how they could happen, but getting to that point…, I don’t know where to start. It all seems so daunting.

 “$100 Challenge” Progress

I completed my one-page business plan for the $100 challenge. I guess, now that my strategy and goals are in writing, I am committed to them (at least the goal). Even though the goal is pretty lofty, I am pretty confident I can reach it. I am going to start implementing my plan by buying the water, making the posters, and printing the labels next week. Hopefully I can launch the following Saturday.