I hate to tell you this, but someone else has already thought of it.
You know, that million-dollar gem that you thought of last year but haven’t told anyone about for fear they would steal it?
Go ahead. Tell them. Tell anyone. Tell everyone.
Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK wasn’t the first guy to think about making money by hauling people’s trash away. He just executed better than anyone.
Ev Williams and Biz Stone weren’t the first people to have the idea that microblogging would take off. But they were the first ones to build Twitter. They executed. They won.
The value isn’t in the idea. (Here are 999 ideas you can have for free.) The value is in the execution.
If you can out execute the competition, you’ll win. It doesn’t matter how many people know about your idea.
If you can’t out execute, be honest with yourself. That isn’t likely to change anytime soon, so share the idea with someone who can. Write a blog post. Send a letter to an expert. Start a Facebook page. Partner with somebody who can execute and maybe they’ll bring you the next idea.
Either execute on your idea or share it liberally.
