It’s there inside of you. Pulling at your heart, swimming in your thoughts. You’ve got a big idea and all the reasons in the world not to do it. Today, Platform University is here to tell you that those reasons don’t matter.
You’ve got a big idea inside of you. It’s time to get it out.
Prepare to Tackle
We’ve previously outlined how to create an online course in a day. (LINK TO POST 20) We hope you’ve tried it or will do so in the future—it’s incredibly motivating to experience these quick wins.
But at some point, you’re going to have to tackle something larger. The big project is coming, and you’ll need a lot more than a day to get it done.
This is precisely what Michael Hyatt discovered when he set about starting his podcast. The project was a massive undertaking, and Michael learned a lot on the way. Because he’s Michael, he’s outlined the steps for us here at Platform University.
7 Steps to Launch Something Big
Here are the seven steps you need to take to launch a big project.
- Write down a goal and a due date. Many people skip this step. Don’t. There is something that happens when you write down a goal. It’s a way of focusing your intention and clarifying what you want to accomplish. And be sure to attach a date—no goal is complete without it. For example, in the case of his podcast, Michael wrote this down as one of his ten goals for 2012:
Launch a podcast by February 15, 2012, and acquire 50,000 subscribers by December 31, 2012.
When Michael wanted to quit, the due date pulled him forward and kept him focused. - Confront your biggest fears. If your goals don’t scare you, you aren’t thinking big enough. Most of the value in goal-setting is the growth that must take place in you to achieve them. Often, this is frightening, but courage isn’t the absence of fear. It is the willingness to take the next step in spite of the fear.
- Get the necessary training. You can learn how to do almost anything if you are willing to read, take a class, or hire a coach. Not only has someone somewhere in the world figured out what you want to do, but someone has also mastered how to teach it. In the case of podcasting, that person is Cliff Ravenscraft. Michael listened to numerous episodes of his free podcast, The Podcast Answer Man, and also bought a number of his courses.
- Get started on the work. Some things can only be learned by doing. Yes, you can read. Yes, you can listen to or watch online training. But at some point, you have to jump in the pool and get wet. Sure, it won’t be perfect. But as Brendon Burchard and Cliff Ravenscraft instruct their audiences, imperfections actually create authenticity and build trust. The only way you will figure this out is to create the workflow, give it a try, and then tweak as you go. It will get better with practice.
- Trust the process. This is huge. Usually, when we take on something really big, we only have a foggy idea of how to get from point A to point B. We have enough light to take the next step, but that is usually enough. When we take that step, the next thing we need shows up. Not always, but usually. Continue to do the next right thing, and the process will take care of itself.
- Go ahead and launch. At some point, you have to ship. So many people keep fiddling with it, hoping to get it perfect. General George Patton once said, “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” You could tweak your work endlessly as there will always be something else you can change. At some point, you have to pull the trigger and move on to step 7.
- Tweak as you go. The great thing about most projects today—especially web-related or new media ones—is that you can keep fiddling with your project after you ship it. While launching your project is a one-time event, constant and never-ending improvement is ongoing. But you can never get to the second if you don’t do the first.
As we said at the beginning, launching any new project is tough. But if you understand the steps, it’s easier to overcome the resistance and ship.
