Make Your Innovation Idea Happen, First!

A few years ago I saw a website offering a product called After the Rapture Pet Care. It claimed to offer a service for Christians concerned about the welfare of pets that would be left behind after the Day of Judgment.

Subscribers were promised a network of non-Christians who’d swoop in, collect pets, and promise to care for them and tend to their needs in the absence of their owners. I’m not sure if this was a parody or not. My suspicion is that even if it were offered as a sincere business, the owners had no expectation of ever needing to make good on their service. Still, it makes a point.

What Comes Next?

The only boundary to the innovation and development of a new product—a What—is your willingness to get out there; think up an idea, no matter how crazy; and give it a shot. Venture capital is a great thing, but if you’re sitting there telling yourself you can’t do something, can’t get your What out there because of a lack of cash, time, expertise, etc., then you’re missing the point. Success has always been part inspiration, part ideation, and part tenacity. Don’t put yourself in the position of seeing someone else make your idea happen. Don’t be that person sitting in a bar, telling everyone within earshot about how you had that idea first. It doesn’t matter if you had that idea first; it matters if you made it happen first.