Why People Reject Your Business Idea And How To Convert Them

Do you have a brilliant business idea that you think can take the business world by storm? Well, it’s one thing having an idea and another thing executing it.

You see, it’s always cheap to have an idea. I mean, anyone can have an idea. The difference between you and someone else successful in the field you want to venture into is the execution part.

Not all good ideas see the light of the day. But at least you should put in some work. However, sometimes we tend to give up when people – mainly friends – disagree with our ideas and take away the strength needed to push on.

Have you ever been in that situation?

Well, it happens. That’s why we needed to tackle this today.

Most friends will shut down your ideas

I have seen this happen to many people. You may be having this brilliant idea that you feel can revolutionize how we do things. However, if you share it with a friend, they often say things like;

Who would even do that?

Don’t stress yourself out because this will never work.

You are wasting your time on something risky

Despite all that, there will always be those who will stand in your quarter. These are the people who will give you the support and encouragement you need. Go with them.  

This happened to me when I decided to leave my job to focus on building a life of freedom. I literally had friends calling and telling me that it was a stupid idea to do so.

Ideas at Shark Tank

If you are a Shark Tank fan like me, you must have learned a thing or two about ideas. There are hundreds of fabulous ideas out there. We just need to find them.

However, not all brilliant ideas get accepted at Shark Tank. Sometimes back, I watched one of the presentations and was sure that he did well with the presentation.

Funny enough, he was never picked. I may not have been to Shark Tank, but I know a thing or two about pitching. I can say that particular one was excellent.  

That means hundreds of ideas get rejected. But something interesting is that some of these entrepreneurs pick themselves up and establish successful businesses after that.

One of the companies that got turned down at Shark Tank was Ring back in 2013. It’s now a multimillion company.  That means it’s not the end when someone you were relying on turned down your business idea.   

Here is a little story

We’re all familiar with  Microsoft, right? It’s one of the biggest tech giants we have right now in the world. You can only compare it with Apple and maybe Facebook. And as a side note, I was once working at Microsoft.

A few years before the creation of Microsoft, Bill Gates was sourcing funds for Microsoft. He had an idea but no capital. I know most entrepreneurs think you need money to start a business.

Well, money is required, but the most important thing is an idea and the energy to bring it to fulfilment. Develop an idea first. Even if you have money and no idea, money doesn’t generate ideas for you.

Bill Gates knocked on the doors of potential investors and shared the idea with 1200 people. Out of these, 900 said no to the idea, 300 developed some interest, 85 did follow up and did a thing or two, 30 of the people took a serious look, and 11 made Bill Gates a multimillionaire.

See?

People will always reject your idea. What matters is if you can carry on after a setback or a discouragement.

Anything new will create a disruption

There is a thing about ideas. You see, you will not launch an idea in a vacuum, can you? No. It has to be in a place with support structures and systems.

The problem is it replaces old structures, patterns, and processes. For example, when we introduced the automation tools and platform, we got rid of several business processes and tools. Thus, the owner of these software lost customers.

When mobile phones and computers came in, nobody was using letters anymore. When Netflix began to offer movie streaming services, nobody would go to the movie shop anymore.

So, when you have an idea, you are basically introducing a disruption to the system. And if you think about it, not so many people like that, right? I mean, you will be destroying their businesses and position of influence.

That’s why it’s so easy to get a rejection from people in the same niche as yours because they often see competition rather than cooperation.

You can bring your ideas to life

Despite all the challenges above, don’t give up your ideas just because someone said it couldn’t happen. Here are some tips:

Write it down

Remember to write down your ideas. It helps you to conceptualize and understand the idea better. It is also easy to share documented ideas. Remember, you are human and tend to forget things faster.

So, have a notebook or sticky notes and jot down ideas that flow when you are at work, shower, or during your ‘me’ time.    

Understand that ideas are rarely new

Your idea might not be new in the market. There could be someone out there with the same ideas as yours.

Thus, the only way you can come across similar ideas is to undertake in-depth research. Research out on the internet, call experts in the field and visit the library often. With time, you will have a lot of assumptions or facts about the idea.  

Test it out

Before testing out the idea, it’s still a theory or an assumption, which can’t help as much. The numbers can really help to determine its viability.

There are different ways to test out your idea. The easiest way is always to deploy it to your audience. You can also ask a question about it, such as, “I’m working on product X, and Y. Would you guys be interested?”  Based on the number of replies, you can gauge the viability of an idea. You can also run ads.

Get the data and optimize

After testing the idea and getting the figures, you are bound to make a decision. The decision will always be based on the data you have at hand. Marketing data will help you make profitable and less risky decisions.

You can also optimize the data and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your product or service.

Conclusion

I know how painful it is when someone throws your idea out of the window. These can be the tribe you relied on, the investor who was appearing promising, or the client you were working with. If that happens, always bounce back on track and keep going.

Tap into the Wavemakers group and we’ll help keep you on track!

One Love, 

Big Marv