Kevin Bell

Speed from Idea to Action

Twitter Post

  1. IDEA FORMATION - The idea comes into my head. It could be something I read, something I heard, something I saw, a variation of something that exists. Whatever. The idea is formed.

  2. DONT LOSE IT - I immediately write this down in my iPhone notes. I have thousands of notes, but my brain dump/ to-do note is where everything goes from the start. I need to get it down fast so I don’t lose it.

  3. SAVE FOR LATE - Most of the time, I don’t have the ability to deep dive right then. That’s why I write it down. But later, I come back and start digging in.

  4. FLESH OUT - Next is the “flesh out” phase. I take this idea and open chat GPT. I either text or voice record anything and everything I can think of with the idea. the target audience, the flow, the mission, the operations. EVERYTHING. I’m not worried about being accurate or factual. It’s just about getting it out there.

  5. GPT TALK - At this point I ask GPT to help me further flesh the idea out. I use this prompt: Ask me one question at a time so we can develop a thorough, step-by-step spec for this idea. Each question should build on my previous answers, and our end goal is to have a detailed breakdown I can build upon. Let’s do this iteratively and dig into every relevant detail. Remember, only one question at a time.

  6. FILTER - This might take a little bit of time as I work through everything. In this phase, there are plenty of ideas that didn’t make it through. I realize it’s not as feasible as I originally thought, or there are variables I don’t like or something else that pops up that turns me off. This is a FILTER PHASE. You need these filters through the process to test both YOU and the idea.

  7. RESEARCH - From the filter phase, you’ll enter into the research phase. This is all one and the same in my mind, but it’s important to separate here on the steps so that you actually do it. Research is easier now than it’s ever been. Right in GPT you can use deep research or any other LLM out there to find what you need to know. Even just “old school” Google works find. Other sources I like to use are Reddit, YouTube or even fb groups to see what’s out there or what people are talking about.

  8. NEEDLE MOVING - This next phase is where the rubber meets the road. You’ve now processed through the idea, you believe that it’s possible AND needed, now what? Well, you need to do something about it. It’s SO easy to stop here and hold this idea tight. But what you do next is what separates you from the pack. Maybe it’s an app, maybe it’s a business, maybe it’s a book, maybe it’s content to post… whatever it is, just do something that moves the needle

  9. SOMETHING - I know that’s broad. And I wrote it like that for a couple reasons. 1) because I’m not talking about any specific idea here and 2) because at this point it’s not WHAT you do, it’s just that you DO SOMETHING that matters.

  10. SEND IT - Take this idea that you’ve vetted and “send it”. This looks different for everyone and for eve idea, but the concept remains— throw it out into the world and see how it lands. For MANY cases, I’d recommend just running FB ads to really test the business (if it is a business) before you build too much out. This will help you vet it even further and narrow down your targeting

  11. HOW - Different ways to “send it”

  1. FEEDBACK - From this point, it’s a matter of gathering feedback, taking the good and the bad and modifying as you see fit. Scaling and growth are totally separate conversations. The first hurdle is just taking your idea and putting action behind it.

  2. GET TO WORK - Once I’ve fleshed out, filtered and vetted the idea, I’ll get to work.

  1. IMPERFECTION - This process isn’t perfect, nor is it everything that’s involved, but it’s a start. And that’s really all you need to do something great.