I had just finished telling my friend an idea I had. I was so excited to tell him because I knew the idea was absolutely brilliant. But after taking about two sentences to describe the idea, it felt silly to me.
Suddenly my brilliant idea felt too simple to be worth anything. I almost sensed my friend asking, “Is that it? That’s the whole idea?”
I’ve noticed some of the best ideas often feel ridiculously simple. Take Amazon.com. It started as a company selling books online. That’s all they did. They sold books at a slightly lower rate than traditional bookstores. It’s not like online shopping didn’t exist. Why would selling books online turn into such a massive industry?
Sure, Amazon.com grew and started doing more. But the basic idea was dreadfully simple. I imagine Jeff Bezos experienced a similar situation to mine.
And Jeff could have been tempted to complicate the idea. He could have added more—making it more elaborate. But I don’t imagine the company would be as successful as it is today if he had done that.
Simple ideas make for quick executions. You can always modify later. But if you spend your time making the perfect, elaborate scheme from the get-go, you’ll probably get overwhelmed and just avoid the idea completely.
One of the coolest benefits of having simple ideas, is that most people won’t steal them. Because your idea seems so elementary, nobody else will see the amazing value in them. Until you do it, most people won’t realize how awesome your idea is.
So you don’t have to run around with non-disclosure agreements when you tell people your dreams. You can relax and just enjoy yourself. Share your idea, listen for the crickets, then go for it anyways.
Simple ideas make for great futures.
