Making Ideas Happen – Book Review

making ideas happen

Business ideas are an important topic on this blog. They are the basis and starting point for each business. Before one month, I bought the Kindle version of Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky and my first impressions of this new way of reading are on a very high level.

At first what I can say about this book is that it is much different from the rest books that I’ve read about business ideas. While most books concentrate on how to come to a good business idea, this book concentrates on how to make the best business ideas become reality (to happen, to transform into a successful business).

A business idea is one of the factors that contain business potential energy (a concept which I define and use for business improvement). However, sometimes that business potential energy is not converted (transformed) into kinetic energy (real business action). And exactly this process of transformation of an idea into action is covered in this book.

What is Making Ideas Happen?

The book begins with the following sentence:

Ideas don’t happen because they are great or by accident.

So there is no accidence or warranty because the idea is great that it would succeed. To succeed or happen, according to Scott Belsky, there is a need for the following sum:

Making Ideas Happen = Ideas + Organization + Communal Forces + Leadership Capability

This book covers everything except getting to the ideas.

  • Organization. Without proper organization that will provide additional action steps and future directions for completing the project (idea), the idea can be forgotten and left somewhere on the side without the potential to become a reality.
  • Community. Each idea must not be in isolation. Your business will not be just for you. Because of that, this concept includes the community that will spread the idea. Besides spreading of the idea at this stage it is necessary to listen to the community and make improvements to the idea.
  • Leadership Capability. Everything that is new or creative is causing resistance. Therefore, effective leadership in the process of implementation of business ideas is inevitable for a proper success.

For Whom is This Book?

Firstly, this book is for all entrepreneurs, present or future. I do not believe that there is no man who does not have at least one idea for starting a business. We are all creative. It is inborn in humans. The whole of our life can be presented as solving problems, and problems require creativity.

However, different individuals have different quantities and qualities of the ideas. The book is not only about business ideas, but it is also about ideas for projects, activities, lifestyle improvements… Especially help from this book can receive all those who have many ideas, and at the same time weak implementation. With the help of this book, they will learn a process on how to transfer ideas from something abstract, something non-existent in reality into something real.

A Few Excerpts That Were Interesting To Me

With the Kindle, I was able to highlight interesting or important parts of the book. Here are some of them:

  • Once you have everything classified as a project, you can start breaking each one down into its primary components: Action Steps, References, and Backburner Items.
  • No Action Steps, no action, no results.
  • The more clear and concrete an Action Step is, the less friction you will encounter trying to do it. If an Action Step is vague or complicated, you will probably skip over it to others on your list that is more straightforward.
  • When it comes to organizing your Action Steps of the day – and how your energy will be allocated – create two lists: one for urgent items and other for the important ones.
  • Make daily focus areas.
  • Whether you work alone or with a team, a commitment to early action –without too much conviction – will help ideas materialize.
  • A big part of execution is persistence.